deficiency of liquid for quenching thirst. Some plants, which grow in arid soils, are wonderfully provided with an agreeable and salubrious liquor, secreted from their vessels. The cocoa-nut, and the pitcher plant, may be mentioned as familiar instances of this, not less obviously beneficent than they are singular.

The power of distilling seawater by art, is another method by which, in extensive localities, the want of wholesome drink may be remedied. This is but an imitation of the natural process; and it is not to be forgotten, that all the supplies of fresh water with which the earth is replenished, are derived from the brine of the ocean, where the liquid exists in a state unfit for the sustenance of both vegetable and animal life. We should, indeed, be wanting in gratitude to the Supreme Designer, if we did not recognise his goodness in that provision, by which the water of the sea, when evaporated and formed into clouds, is separated from those noxious particles, with which, doubtless for wise purposes, it is in its great receptacle naturally combined.

FIFTH WEEK-SUNDAY.

66 THE BREAD OF LIFE.

IN the preceding papers, the reader's attention has been directed to the goodness of God, as displayed in the wonderful provision which has been made for the support and refreshment of the human frame. It is most interesting thus to trace the hand of a Father in such wise and beneficent arrangements, and to be able so clearly to discern his providential care in the articles of food which we daily consume, but which, nevertheless, we are so apt to receive and to enjoy without one thought of Him.

But there is a subject still more deserving of grateful acknowledgement on the part of man, which the foregoing considerations naturally suggest for our meditation on this

day. I allude to that provision, which a merciful God has made for the support and refreshment of our immortal part. This has been furnished in inexhaustible abundance. Even as in animated nature the mother abounds with sweet and nutritious aliment for her offspring, so, in the kingdom of grace, the most suitable nourishment has been tenderly provided by our Heavenly Father for all who are born of Him. There is what is called in Scripture, "the sincere milk of the word," viz., the simple truths of the Gospel in all their native plainness, and sweetness, and efficacy,―uncorrupted, unimpaired, pure as they originally came from the Divine Mind. This is the heavenly aliment which has been prepared for the "new-born babes in Christ," of whom the apostle Peter speaks; this they are taught to "desire," that they may 66 grow thereby," and its nourishing virtue is derived from the sacrifice of Christ, which alone gives efficacy to every thing that the Gospel has revealed.

But, just as a child, when it arrives at a certain age, requires food of a stronger kind than milk, so he that is born of God, when he has been taught the simple truth, as it is in Christ, longs for a more accurate and extended and intimate acquaintance with his nature, person, character, and finished work. Nor is he precluded from attaining to this, his more mature desire. "I," says

Jesus, 66 am the bread of life; he that cometh unto me shall never hunger."

Bread has well been called the staff of life. In all nations, it is the principal article of food. Now, to Christ, this similitude may well be applied, inasmuch as it is from Him, that the Christian derives nourishment to strengthen and sustain his spiritual existence. Deprive him of Christ, and all his holy affections, devout feelings, heavenly aspirations, and pious resolutions, must be as if they had never been. Deny a man the bread that perisheth, and he may have recourse to some other kind of food, perhaps more nutritive than itself. But let his soul be prevented from feeding on Christ crucified," the bread of God, which giveth life unto the world,"-and, whatever other supposed means of spiritual subsistence he may

have recourse to, it will impart to him no nourishment at all; it will leave him as feeble and unsatisfied as before. From the moment he ceases to receive support from Christ, his spiritual decline begins; and with sure and gradual progression it goes on, the soul becoming fainter and fainter every day, and sinking into its original state of death, till again it feeds on the Bread of Life. But, on the other hand, how feeble soever the soul may be, if Christ be received and fed upon as its only sustenance, it must live. Nothing can prevent its growth in grace. Christ proves at once its antidote and its support. The deadliest poison that the Adversary may have succeeded in infusing, has no effect in hindering the progress of resuscitation. It must go on; and just in proportion to the frequency of the applications to the Bread of Life, and the eagerness with which it is longed for and devoured, will be the rapidity of that resuscitation, and the stability of that principle of life which is thus implanted in the soul. And it is only by virtue of this, that the Christian is enabled to maintain a uniform advancement in the Divine life, rising to the "fulness of the stature of the perfect man," "growing into the image of Christ from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

In the bread which man uses for the support of his earthly tabernacle, there is always more or less of what is either injurious or of no use. He that partakes of the Bread of Life, incorporates with his soul (if I may use the expression) nothing but what is purely and intensely nutritious. Whatever view may be taken of Christ's character, as represented in Holy Writ; whether He be considered in the capacity of a Prophet, of a Priest, or of a King; whether He be regarded as setting his people an example that they may follow his steps; as praying for them; as pouring forth his blood in their behalf; or as holding out the offer of pardon to all mankind,―nothing but the most unmingled benefit is to be derived from the contemplation. Should it appear to be otherwise in any case; should the soul that thus views Christ, fail of being elevated, ennobled, spiritualized; we may be sure that the fault lies not in the food, but in him that partakes of it.

Under the similitude of the Bread of Life, when considered as distinct from the sincere milk of the word, of which I have already spoken, Christ is evidently to be regarded, in the more extended discoveries of Himself, which by his Spirit he makes to the believing soul. Bread is strong food compared with milk, and more suited to the condition of the human frame, after it has attained to a certain age. In like manner, the deeper, less obvious, and more enlarged views of the truth as it is in Christ, are better adapted to the condition of the soul, after it has attained to a certain degree of advancement in the Divine life. The lively Christian does not rest satisfied with slight and transient views of the Saviour whom he loves; he longs, with the avidity which hunger implies, for a more profound and intimate acquaintance with all that pertains to Him and the Gospel; and in order that he may be satisfied, in so far as the Divine will allows, (for there are "deep things" which belong exclusively to the Lord,) he is directed to the Bread of Life, and to the Bread of Life alone; he is taught to contemplate Christ in all his offices; in all his excellency; in all the self-denying love which He has shown to the human race; in all the fulness of his finished work. And the more lively the faith with which he dwells on these subjects, the more extensive are his attainments in the Divine life, the more enlarged, confirmed, and decided do his spiritual views become.

But not only does the Bread of Life nourish and refresh the soul, he that partakes of it in a right spirit, experiences, in the act of doing so, emotions far more exalted, delightful, and refined than any that are ever known by the unregenerate man. The Almighty has, in his great goodness, connected certain pleasurable feelings, with the act of satisfying the natural appetite for the food that perisheth. But in these, there is little that is not enjoyed in common with us, by the very lowest of the brute creation. The pleasures inseparable from a right participation in the Bread of Life, are essentially heavenly and Divine; nor do any emotions more pure and holy swell the bosoms of the loftiest angels that surround

the throne of the Eternal; and what language can express the calm, yet exquisite joy with which the real disciple of the Cross dwells on the character and work of “Christ crucified, the hope of glory." He feels that He has died for him, and therefore that he has a peculiar interest in his mediation and intercession. All the blessings of the new covenant he appropriates to himself; his doubts and fears yield before the convictions of his judgement and his heart; the peace which passeth all understanding reigns within him: Christ is, in his eyes, "the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely,” He is all his salvation and all his desire."

How

Let every one, then, that has any regard for the salvation and comfort of his soul, come without delay to Christ. He that applies to Him for bread, is in no danger of being sent away empty, or being offered a serpent. painful to behold such multitudes of our starving fellowcreatures, "spending their money for that which is not bread," and greedily feasting on worldly and sensual objects," those husks which the swine do eat!" In them there is no nourishment; but O! there is enough of poison in any one of them, to destroy the soul. It is in Christ, alone, that true strength and refreshment are to be found; and blessed are all they that feed on Him with an earnest and enlightened faith. We may hunger for the bread that perisheth, and never have the craving of our appetite allayed; but he that hungers for the bread that hath come down from Heaven, and takes it as it is offered to him in the Gospel, has all his wants supplied; the longings of his soul are satisfied; his eye brightens with an expression of lively hope in the Divine promises, nor does he ever know what it is to hunger, again, without having abundance within his reach. W. W. D.