704
November 1927
T h e " K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
Fragments and Portions B y T h e L ate D r . J oseph P arker . Many Years Pastor o f The London Temple.
“Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost” (Jn. 6:12).
and when the feast is over he says, “Pick up the bro ken portions' that remain, that nothing be lost,” Not “Gather us your leavings,” but “Gather up my treas ures;” not “Sweep up your crumbs,” but “Take care of the unsearchable riches of your Lord.” All that we have heard of the little economy was neat and thrifty and domestic, but it is not authorized by this text; this verse shows the larger truth. There is no need to waste our crumbs or our leavings, but what Christ is teaching is that He has laid up treasures for ever, and we have to carry them with us wherever we go. What a different view is th is! We started with economy, we end with faith; we began by keeping thrift boxes (the thief heard of them, and took them all away one n igh t); we end by keeping our treasures where moth arid rust do not corrupt, where thieves do not break through nor steal. I shall have enough, not because I have swept up the crumbs, but because God has broken bread enough to keep His universe through all the ages of eternity. - Only, the universe must take care of the broken portions; that is where thrift comes in, the great thrift, the noble economy. T h e M iserable P rudence O f M en We have had occasion to point out and denounce the miserable prudence of some people, the little nibbling, mouse-like activity and industry and thrift and prudence of some small natures that always end by some act of glaring imprudence. You watch a man who is too pru dent, neatly prudent, prudent on a small scale, and that man will die an open, palpable fool; at the last, when nearing fourscore, he will do some deed that will topple him over, and the world will laugh at his mouse-like pru dence. There is another prudence, the larger, grander philosophy, the faith that lives in God, and that says, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, because the Lord is my Shepherd.” That prudence will grow, that wisdom will be justified of her children, and many who trembled because, of the momentary eccentricity will live to see the day when he who trusted most in God has broken portions to eat’ that the world knew not of, the world did not give, and the world cannot take away. Observe how characteristic this action is of the whole method of Providence. God never gives just enough. If He does, tell me where. The calculator who is wise says, “Tomorrow a month, fifty guests will come to my table: for their satisfaction what shall I provide ?” The fare is detailed, totalized, pronounced sufficient, a little is thrown in for foam—what is the tankard unless it foam up high above its own level? That is supposed to be hospitality. With certain obvious qualifications it is what it claims to be. When does God give just enough, so that there is nothing to spare? I refer you to all you know of nature: is there just sunlight enough to last the little day and to creep to bed by? Does the one side of the earth say, “I, could have done with a million more beairis, but they were not fo be had, because the other, side of the globe needed them” ? Why, God rains whole oceans of light upon the globe that the globe cannot re tain; the little globe-vessel cannot hold the wine of the sunlight; down it comes in river and torrent, and At-
T lectures we have heard upon gathering the fragments! Economists have said: .ther up all the odd moments of time; fr have any spare moments that you do know how to use; when there is a little ik in the continuity of your labor, com
mit to memory some portion of Scripture, or some verse of poetry, or some words of a foreign lan guage which you are anxious to learn and to speak. Never be idle; if you add up all your spare'moments, you will find in the course of the year that probably they will amount to days; be very economical of time; be very miserly of periods of five minutes and half hours; gather up the fragments that nothing be lost!” And we have said, “Well done, economist; what thou hast said, thou hast well said.” Then the motherly economist has come in upon us and said: “Waste not, want not;” and she has chosen for her trencher one that bears that motto carven on its hospitable edges. “Waste not, want not;” throw nothing away; if you have cut too much bread and cannot eat what you have cut, be careful to treasure the remainder; you yrill want it in an hour or two; and pick up all the crumbs, and throw not one to hungry dog or waiting bird; take care of the little things, and things that are great will take care of themselves; take care of the pence, and the pounds will manage on their own account.” And we have heard the sweet old mother say all this, and have felt in our hearts that (excepting the dog and the bird) she was speaking words of truth and wisdom. E conomy N ot T h e P o in t H ere Have we a word to say against all this economy? Only this, that when it is proposed to base it upon this text it is nonsense. It is very good in itself; we all need to learn something of that economy, but we must not base it upon this particular Scripture. Hence the difficulty in using single texts; hence the mischief that is wrought by many poor teachers that would build a denomination upon a semicolon. If we turn to the Revised .Version, we shall find a change which has been pointed out by the Very Reverend, the Dean of Llandaff, himself one of the re visers, as important, showing the meaning of the text to be infinitely larger than the trifling economy which has prided itself on its own ignorance. “Gather up the bro ken portions that remain, that nothing be lost.” “Frag ments” is displaced by. the word “portions,” and to the word “portions” is attached the word “broken.” “Gather up the broken portions that remain, that nothing be lost.” Look at the word “broken” ; we have seen in Mark that Jesus took the bread, the loaves, and brake them; we have seen in Luke that the word “brake” is also used as denoting the action o.f Christ; now we read, “Pick up all the broken portions that remain, that nothing be lost.” See the picture; observe the breaking hands of Christ. The loaves grow under His touch; He breaks until He is surrounded by heaps and piles and hills of bread; and still He breaks, and still the multitudes continue to eat;
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