things of this short life, and how little they cared for the things of the life to come, though they knew it would never end. He told them to raise their thoughts and wishes higher, and to labour or work for that which He, the Son of man, would give them. He was indeed their Messiah. The long lookedfor had come at last, and even as a man's writing may be known from the writings of all other men, by the seal he puts upon it, so might He (Jesus) be known to be the Son of God, by the seal his Father had set upon him. This seal was, not only that He fulfilled all the prophets had spoken of him long before, but, that the power of God was plainly in him, as it never had been in mortal man since the beginning. "The Father, even God," had set His seal upon him, when He bore witness to him by a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." He set his seal upon him in each of the miracles in which Jesus, acting in no name but his own, showed that He and the Father were

one.

It seems as though the words of Jesus struck the people; for when He said unto them, "Labour (or work) not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life;" they immediately answered :

Verse 28. "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?"

It is nearly two thousand years ago since that question was asked by the people who stood round the Messiah, and ever since, and always now, that question rises to the lips of every one who has found out how vain it is to labour for the meat that perisheth; how vain it is to wear away our lives and happiness, in trying to take a firm hold of those things that perish even in our grasp.

What shall we do that we may work the works of God? Listen to the answer of him whose words are truth :

JOHN vi. 29. "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom He hath sent."

Yes! this is the work of God, the work which alone can bring peace and rest; all else is but as the meat which perisheth; this alone can satisfy the hunger of the longing soul which has been awakened to feel its need of the life that is for ever. And it is the work of God. Easy it may seem, for in words it sounds easy to believe on him whom God hath sent, but to believe with the heart unto salvation is the gift of God, and none can so believe who are not taught of him.

Blessed be his name, He never has, and never will, refuse this precious gift to those who ask it of him. Why then do we wear our lives away in labouring for the things that perish ? for the things that even, while we have them, bring with them more care than peace? Above all, why do those who seem to follow Christ in anxiety to find the kingdom of God, like the people of old to whom Jesus spoke,-why do they refuse simply to receive the gospel? Why do they, like the Pharisees, vainly seek to find some work of their own which may seem to make them fit for God's favour? Why not listen to the words of his own Son, who must know his will, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom He hath sent." There has always been the same unwillingness; for it belongs to the natural heart of man. By the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, chap. lv., God in his loving-kindness had long before called upon his people to come unto him, and receive, as a gift, that pardon and peace which they can neither buy nor earn for themselves, and both Christ and his evangelists in the gospel of glad tidings again and again repeat the call.

The people perceived that this belief, which the Lord Jesus demanded from them, was something much beyond what had been required by any of their ancient prophets; and they asked

what sign he had to give, that could compare with the sign that had been given to their fathers in the old time. Moses had fed them with manna, two millions of people in the desert, for forty years could the miracle of Christ in feeding five thousand persons, once, with five barley-loaves, be at all compared to this?

JOHN vi. 30-33. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee; what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world."

*

We may observe that when the Lord Jesus spoke his most solemn truths, He almost always began by the words, Verily, verily, as if to call upon his hearers to listen with the greatest attention. Let us listen with the greatest attention to his words now, for "they are spirit, and they are life;" they will give life to our souls. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven." The manna which fed the children of Israel in the wilderness was created by a miracle, by God's command, that it might be food for the people; but it was not bread from heaven. It was food for their bodies, it did nothing for their souls. "But," said the Lord Jesus, "my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven." Yes, God was now offering to his people the true bread from heaven; "for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." Why does Jesus call himself bread," the bread of God? Because he is, to the hungering soul, what bread is to the hungering body. The starving man Truly, and of a truth.

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is weak in body and faint in heart; his eyes fail, he cannot see; his limbs are feeble, he cannot work. Not the best news that could be told him could give him any joy; he must have food, or he must die. Give him but a morsel of bread, and he will revive; the pain will pass from his head, the sickness from his heart; his eyes will brighten, and soon his limbs will find their strength. This will bread do for the body; and this, and more than this, will Jesus the Saviour do for the soul. Receive him into the heart in loving child-like trust, and the weary sense of need that has hindered all gladness of spirit, the fear that, like a heavy weight, has lain upon the soul, preventing the service of a willing mind-all this will pass away, and the believer in Christ the Saviour will find that a mist is gone from his eyes-he can see how God can be just and yet justify him, a sinner-how, though there is nothing good in himself, he will yet, by the power of God, be made able to render Him good service. And, if this bread which the Father giveth from heaven has not been found till life itself is passing away, Oh, more than ever will the dying sinner find that it is life to his soul to believe on him whom God hath sent to be his Saviour. Let him take Christ into his heart for the very purpose the starving man would take bread into his body —that he may live-and he will live ;-yea though he die, he shall live for evermore, and that which men call death shall be to him the beginning of eternal life, for he shall be one with Christ, and, dying with him to sin, with him he shall rise again; for Christ has conquered death, and it is swallowed up in life.

Prayer.

Lord! I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Thou camest down from heaven to give life to the world. Oh give me to receive thee into my heart as the starving man would receive the bread which he must eat, or die. We are journeying through the

wilderness of life, for though the world is fair to look upon, it yields nothing that can support our souls; that must come from heaven; and that thou art, the true bread of God which the Father hath given us. O let us not then labour for the things that perish, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life. "This is the work of God, that we believe on him whom He hath sent." O let this work be accomplished in us, that evermore we may live to thee, by thee, and in thee, we in thee, and thou in us, our Saviour and our God. Amen.

LIX.

Though the people did not understand our Lord's meaning, when He said unto them, "The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world," they yet believed that He spoke of some unknown good which He was able and willing to give them.

JOHN vi. 34. "Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.”

Whatever it was, they believed that it was a good gift, and they desired to have it.

Verse 35. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

In plain and simple words Jesus declares himself to be the bread of life-that which can satisfy the soul. Nothing else can-no repentance-no good works-no self-sacrifice-not any one thing-nor every thing that man can do, can satisfy the longing need of the soul. And why? Because the sin that is, alas! in our very nature, mixes with every thing we do, and the nearer we draw to God, the more clearly we see, the more