things ho O!tn. It Is " pitiful confession to make; but most men are compelled into forethought through sheer necessity. III. Tnl!l IlESPEOT WHIOH OUGHT TO BE PAID TO BREAD. Lane, in bis • Mo<lem Egyp- tiAns,' says of them that they show " great respect for bread as the staff of life, and on no account suffer the emnllcst portion of it to be wasted if they can avoid it. " I have often observed an Egyptian take up a small piece of breud which had by accident fallen Into the street or road, and after putting it before his lips and forehead three times, placo it on one side, in order that a dog might eat it rnther than let it remain to be trodden underfoot." Consider the marvellous transmutation by which bread becomes flesh and blood. Make the very best of it, then. Remember how Jesus bas taken it 11s the symbol of that spiritual sustaining force which is to be found in him. One would have expected these people each one to take his own remaining fragment as an interesting memento of the wonderful deed. Even if it had become hard as a stone it would still have been there to recall the mercy and power of Jesus on an occasion of great need. IV. WE ARE REMINDED THAT THERE 18 NO ULTIMATE WASTE IN THE UNIVERSE. Jesus will have us waste nothing. We may be sure, then, that he wastes nothing himself. A great deal of rain falls where it cannot freshen anything, but sooner or later it finds its work and does its mission. We must not measure utility by our power to see it. What are called waste products in many manufactures turn out even more valuable than the direct products. Things reckoned useless are experimented on, and so in due time their value is discovered.-Y. Vere. 27-29.-Working and eating. In looking at the feeding of the five thous&nd, we must not allow the miraculous provision to hide the equally important element of the free donation. Jesus might have provided all this vast supply of food miraculously, and yet have said also," Now you that cRn pay must pay." But all the necessities of the case required promptitude, and it was beet to give freely. We see, however, that immediately the people began to draw wrong conclusions from this free giving. They wanted to make the Being of so much ready power their King, to be at their beck and call, so that the table might never be without a meal, the cupboard without a loaf. Jesus had to tum the people sharply away from these dreams of sweet nothing to do. Jesus is a Giver-Giver of ample and appropriate gifts-bnt always upon conditions. Not without great need does Jesus speak here of work. Jesus did not come into the world that men might work less, but rather all the more. I. THE AIM OF WORK ACCORDING TO Gon's WILL. This work must be for much more than the getting of a living. Jesus sees us sweating, straining, worrying, all to support natural life; 11nd yet this support will neither make natural life safe, nor will it stave off the decay of natural powers. The old man does not get ont of bread what the young man does. Natural life is but a means to a life more precious still. We tum things upside down when we give the chief thought of life to the produciag of daily bread. That is a thing we must, indeed, think about, but let it be in the right way. A joiner must think about the sharpening of his tools; if he lets them get blunt his work will soon come to grief. But suppose a joiner thinks so much about the sharpening of his tools ae never to do anything but sharpen them; why, he will soon sharpen them out of existence altogether. He does enough when he keeps his tools sharp for their proper work. The natural exists for the spiritual. The earthly exists for the heavenly. Let there be the work that men can see, but alongside of it let there be work just as hard, just as steady, having for its aim the prosperous growth and maintenance of the life that men cannot see. II. THERE CAN BE NO SUSTAINING OF BPIBITUAL LIFE WITHOUT WORK. This point cannot be dwelt upon too much. There is no danger of us forgetting that we must work for the perishable bread. The world is full, 11lways has been full, of them that work w:th their hands. Civilization means work-hard, continuous work. But some- how, when we come to consider spiritual life and growth, the idea of work seems to slip out of the mind altogether. So much of our talk about spiritual life and growth is mere talk, without basis of real experience and urgent desire of the heart. 'l'hen, too, we talk so much of God's grace, and God's giving, and man's inability, and the virtue of simple trust, that it is very easy to forget the need of spiritual industry. It is well, 300 THE GOSPEL AOOORDUiG TO ST. JOBN. [on. vr. 1-71.
therefore, to ha'l"o Jesus emphasizihg this very need. Man does not leave tho earth to brin:;i; forth of itself. Other things being eqnal, it is work that tells the most. And surely the same l11w m11y be expected to apply in our spiritual concerns. It cannot ho all the same for the devout, prayerful, humble reader of his New Testament and for him who altogether neglects it. III. THE MAIN ELEMENT IN SPIRITUAL INDUSTRY. "Ilelieve in him whom God hath sent." True faith is true work. ,ve are apt to get confused in distinguishing between faith and works-&s if faith were not work, and very hard work too. Distinguish between faith and works as much as you please, but let it be a distinction between one kind of work and another. Is it to be supposed that a rMl, cairn, intelligent, steady trust in Je.sus can be got all at once? Surely it is one of the great attainments of the regone- ratod heart, coming after much experience, to say as Paul said, " I know whom I have believed."-Y.