Faber’s sermons, that he may judge for himself whether he deserves the praise I have accorded to him.
Fourth Sunday in Lent.
St. John vi. 13. “They gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves.”
Introduction.
There were twelve baskets full of food gathered from this feast which Jesus made in the wilderness, and twelve are the wholesome lessons which I gather from it, and with which I feed you to-day.
1. Learn fervour and zeal for hearing the Gospel.
“The people,” we are told, “ran afoot out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto Him.” Behold their earnestness, and contrast it with your indifference. They came on foot, they came long distances, they came in great numbers, they outwent Christ and His Apostles, they came voluntarily and without having been summoned, they came oblivious of their bodily wants, bringing with them their wives and children. Faber draws a contrast between these people and his hearers, undoubtedly just, but certainly not flattering: and he applies to the latter the words of God to Ezekiel, “Ye pollute Me among My people for handfuls of barley, and for pieces of bread.”
