Ver. 27.-Nevel' turned away. It is the disposition of some men so to act as if they should have it written up on their doors, "Him that cometh to me I always send empty away." Others go to the opposite extreme. They have the giving disposition, but they give without judgrnent. Here we are directed to a Giver, a Helper, who never turns a suppliant away, never says a harsh word to him, is always both able and willing to give, if only the needy will get themselves ready for what is offered. Such are the resources of Jesus, such his sympathy, such his insight into human need, that he can ever say, " Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." The words are at once a finger- post and a welcome. L REMEMBER DISTINCTLY THE DEPENDENT OONDITION 01!' ALL lllJMAN BEINGS, We are, constantly, every one of us going to some one or other; and just as constantly others are coming to us. The dependence is none the less real because we come with money in our hands. Life begins with dependence and ends with dependence. We are members one of another. Jesus himself was not free from this great law of reciprocity In need. It was part of the fulness of his humanity that he should come to other human beings for the supply of common wants,just like all the rest of us. Even in the higher matters connected with his great spiritual purposes, there is a coming of Jesus to us. Not only do the branches come to the vir.e for the life that is to make them useful, but the vine also comes to the branches to find places where it may deposit and manifest its life. So when Jesus speaks of coming to him, this great fact of human dependence should excite in all of us the deepest interest in his words. • II. THE LIMITS Ol!' THIS DEPENDENCE. There is a great difference between buying bread and begging bread. You will not be cast out as long as you have money to pay for the loaf. But go begging instead of buying, and you will soon be cast out. If you were to give to every one asking, turning not away from a single suppliant, such an army of askers wonld gather round you as would soon bring your giving to an end. A great deal must be done in the way of casting out for this reason, if for no other, that our resources are so limited. We are not as Elijah when he lodged with the widow at Zarepbath. The secret of the unwasting barrel of meal and the unfailing cruse of oil is not with us. IIL WE HAVE ONE WITH UNLIIDTED BUl'PLIES. Jesus spoke to those who knew the attitude of the suppliant and the needy. A great crowd had come to him, hungering for the bread that perisheth, and he bad not cast them out. But now he desired them to come, seeking for a better bread. We are not as concerned about spiritual life and spiritual sustenance as we are about natural life and natural sustenance. What greater calamity can happen to the natural life of men than that bread should become dear and scarce, and those who go seeking to find it cheap and plentiful should be, as it were, cast out? Such may happen in transactions over the bread that pcrisheth. Ilere is Jesus, speaking of the bread that endures to eternal life. As the appointed Donor and Custodian of that bread, he says no one coming to him will be cast out. You daro not write such an inscription over your door. The most capable of men, the man of largest resources understands perfectly how he is in charge, not of a fountain, but of a reservoir. Jesus oniy can make the declaration without limit as to numbers or to time. Coming to him, we come to One who speaks out of the infinite and the eternal. IV. THOSE WBO FAIL TO STAY WITJI JESUS GO Wl'l'B A VOLUNTARY LEAVING. on. v1. 1-71.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 801
"Many disciples went back, and walked no more with him." But they were not driven nway, cast out; they went of their own accord. Jesus never turns any one back to sole <lependence on the things of time and sense. H we like to call refusal of selfish desires 1md discoumgcment of frivolous pleasures a casting out, we may do so, but that is truly no casUng out which is a voluntary going out. God seems to say to us every morning nfteroursolid, substantial breakfast," I have given thee the natural; wilt thou not also have the spiritual?" Days will come when all the abundance of bread will do our bodira little good. The flesh will fail. The outward man will perish. Jesus makes his declaration that the inward may be renewed day by day.-Y.