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of different sects, though the most numerous and close were, of course, in his own church and among his own kindred. He was venerated and beloved as an eminently devout and holy man, by those who knew him best. He was stigmatized as a fanatic and a saint, by those who could find nothing against him but what 'concerned the law of his God.' At length, worn out by public labour, but laden with honours and ripe in goodness—distinguished by title, which his sovereign, the fountain of earthly rank, spontaneously conferred, and still more by the hand and grace of the King of kings-at the comparatively early age of fifty-nine, our illustrious philanthropist was called to his repose. His life, in all respects, was eminently prosperous, useful, and happy. He was blessed in relation to both worldsin the concerns alike of his spiritual interests and public career. He, who gave him power to get wealth,'-who surrounded him with friends and family, and made his home as a paradise about him,—who gave him success in most of his works for his generation and his race,-sustained him to the last by spiritual influences and religious faith, so that the closing scene was one of radiant hope and tranquil triumph! Thus aided, honoured and blessed, Sir Fowell Buxton purposed and worked, and lived and died; and when he died, it was felt by numbers of all classes, of various churches, and of many lands, that 'A prince and a great man had fallen in Israel.'

(To be continued.)

THE BREAD OF LIFE.

(From Green's Addresses to Children'.)

It was a beautiful afternoon in Spring. The sun was near its setting, but still shone gloriously. The broad water of the lake was clear and golden, and the grassy hill that slanted down to the water's edge was bright with living green. A large company of people were on that hill. Not standing or moving about, but sitting quietly down; in rows too, fifty men in a row. Count them, there are a hundred rows. Some of you boys who go to the British School can tell me that this would make five thousand altogether. Right, and there were women with their husbands besides, and little children in their mothers' arms. It

was a greater number in all than many of you would be able to count. But see. One is standing there before them. All are looking at him, wondering and silent. He raises his face towards heaven, he clasps his hands. Listen! If you were nearer, you could tell that those sounds are words of prayer, that he is solemnly thanking God for the food they are about to eat, and asking it to grant that it may do them good. The prayer is over: and now the great company are looking for their food. What is it? It is there in that basket. What! in the small basket which that little boy has in his hands? Yes, there. Five loaves of bread and two little fishes! But now they are beginning. He, who just now gave thanks, takes the bread and fish in his hand, and passes slowly along the first row, breaking off a piece for each. Every one of the fifty has enough; the more that is given, the more there seems to be. Then the second row, and the third, and so on, until the thousands sitting there have all eaten as much as ever they wanted. They were very hungry too: for some of them had not tasted food before, that whole day. And, to finish that wonderful story, when the people had ended their meal and gone away to their homes, there was found left upon the grass as much as would fill twelve baskets. Twelve baskets full of crumbs and broken pieces, though before the meal began there was no more than would fill one basket, carried by a child!

I hope, my dear children, you all know that he who did this mighty thing was JESUS. It was one of the miracles which he wrought to show his great power, and to make all men know that he was in truth the Son of God. You may well think that the hungry people were all very glad to be fed in this wonderful and unexpected way; and I dare say you will not be surprised to find that the next day they left their homes again, and came to the hill to look for Jesus. But he was not there. He had gone across the water in the night. So great numbers of them got into ships and boats, and crossed after him. They found him at last. He was in a town called Capernaum. And very soon there was a great company around him, just as there had been the day before.

But Jesus well knew for what reason they had come. If they had really loved him, and had wished to listen to his

gracious words that they might become wise and good, he would have been pleased. This, I am sorry to say, was not their desire; they thought only of the loaves and the fishes. They thought that perhaps Jesus would feed them again, and came to him for what they could get. Like some boys and girls that I have known, who come to the Sunday school very regularly, and love their teachers very much, when there is going to be a treat, or when they are hoping for a reward. There is no goodness in this, you may be sure. So the Saviour told these people of their fault, "Ye follow me," he said, "not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled." And then he spoke to them of better bread, "bread that cometh down from heaven; bread which should save them from hungering any more; bread which he who eateth should live for ever. They did not yet understand him. It seemed a hard saying to them. But Jesus said again, to make it plain, "I am the bread of life.”

When they heard him speak of bread from heaven, they thought at once of what they had read in the scriptures about the wonderful way in which their fathers long ago were fed. Do you remember the account? It is in the 16th chapter of Exodus. The Israelites, you know, were travelling out of Egypt where they had been slaves, to the land of Canaan which God had promised to give them. On their way they had to pass through a great wilderness, a wild and barren country, where no corn grew, nor fruits, nor any kind of food. The people had brought some victuals out of Egypt, but these were soon all eaten, and then nothing was left. This made them very sorrowful, as you may think, for the last morsel was gone, there was no way of getting any more, and they feared they must be starved there in the desert, and die. Some were angry: they complained against Moses who had led them out of Egypt; they were so wicked as even to murmur against God. “Let us go back," they said. What, back to Egypt, to be slaves again! "Yes; we had rather be slaves than die of hunger here, we and our poor wasted little ones!" Oh, they should have remembered that God, who had brought them out of the land of slavery and sorrow, would surely care for them and keep them now. But they forgot this. And men, and women, and little chil

dren, grew thin and pale, and walked feebly about, and while some murmured, others fell upon their knees and cried to God to send them food and save them. God heard their prayer, and promised to give them bread.

One day, a pale and starving child rose early from his little bed, lifted the curtain of his tent and looked out into the soft light of the morning. In an instant, he came running back, calling to his parents; "Come, father, mother," he said, "come and see it is a frost!"

"A frost!" they answered, "nonsense, it is summer time; snow and ice only come in winter." But they rose and went out, and there, sure enough, the whole ground was sparkling with little diamonds of white frost, just as you have seen it at Christmas. At all the other tents too, people were standing and wondering, and asking one another, What can it be? The weather was not cold; it was very warm; how then could the frost have come? A little boy stooped down and put some of it to his mouth; it was not at all cold like ice, but very sweet and pleasant. Other people tasted it, they liked it very much; and as they were so very hungry, every one at last began to gather it busily, to eat it heartily, and did not leave off until they had all made a very good and refreshing breakfast.

But all this time the sun was rising higher and higher; the sparkling food began to melt away; the people began to think what they should do for dinner; and then you might have seen the women hasting into the tents, fetching out all the pitchers, and bowls, and baskets they could find, and quickly filling them, that when hungry again, they might have something more to eat. And now, while hard at work gathering it up, they began to ask each other once more, "What is it? It is not frost, that is certain. We never saw anything like it before. It must be the very food which God promised us. He has sent it down from heaven. But what is it?" Now you know, my dear children, that they spoke in another language-a language called the Hebrew. I will tell you the very Hebrew words they said. Will you try and remember them? The Hebrew word for "what," is MAN; and the Hebrew for "is it?" is NA. So you see that, in their way of speaking, their question, “what is it?" was Man-na? And as no one could explain what it

was, they determined to give it for a name the very question they had so often asked. From that time they called it Man-na; and God in his goodness sent them enough for every day through forty years, until at last they came to the land Canaan, the "land that flowed with milk and honey," and needed the

manna no more.

It was this that the Jews thought of when Christ spoke to them of bread from heaven. You will see, in the 31st verse, that they said "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat." Perhaps they thought that Jesus was going to perform the same wonder again. But he soon told them that they were mistaken. It was another sort of food he meant. He spoke of better manna than that which came down in the wilderness, and said, "I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

Now, my dear children, shall you understand me, if I say that the bread which Jesus promised, is not food for the body but for the soul? You all know, I think, that you have within you 66 SOMETHING that can think and know, can wish and desire, can rejoice and be sorry, which your body cannot do." This "something" is your soul. It is with your souls that you are listening so attentively to me now, and can understand what I say. The words pass through the ears of your body, and get into your minds, or souls, and there you think of and remember them. How much better then is your soul than your body! Why, the little birds, and sheep, and oxen have bodies, and the reason why you are better than they is the mind, the thinking rejoicing, remembering, loving mind, which God has given you. Now bread, and meat, and manna, or whatever you eat, is food for the body; but the food of the soul is instruction, wisdom, truth. Those poor Israelites were starving in the desert because they had no food for their bodies; but there are many, my dear children, whose bodies are strong and blooming, who yet have starving souls. Their minds have no food. get instruction. They have not learned wisdom.

know the truth.

They cannot They do not

I will tell you about a little girl I met the other day, whose soul was starving for want of food.

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