large multitude came into a desert place-not desert in the sense that nothing grew upon it, for it might rather be called a place of steppes or plains, covered with grass, where there was no possibility of making a purchase, still less of gathering any thing that would sustain fainting nature; and when he found that this immense multitude had been long without meat, and were ready to perish for want of bread, he showed them that if he could heal the sick and make the lame leap like the roe, unstring the dumb tongue that it might praise him and open the deaf ear that it might hear him, he could also so multiply the little bread that it would be able to supply the wants of five thousand instead of being able to meet, as it seemed, the necessities of only five. He therefore answers first the question he addressed to Philip, when he lifted up his eyes and saw a great company, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"-a question it appears which was put by Philip in the morning, to which the miracle, judging from the whole strain of the narrative, was his answer in the evening. The difficulty was addressed to Philip in the morning, that he might think upon it all the day, and work it out as a great problem in his own mind. And only when Philip had come to the conclusion that there was no possibility of feeding them, would Christ begin to show that with omnipotence all things are possible; and that confidence in God is a richer practical supply than the available treasures of the world. This is God's way of dealing still with his people. There are no such things as superfluous miracles in the New Testament; or works of supererogation on the part of God. He works a miracle where a miracle only is required; he supplies necessities only that are truly felt. He makes man feel his own insufficiency before he manifests the fulness of God,―he causes the creature to see that his cisterns are

broken and empty before he unseals to him the fountain of living waters, that he may drink and be abundantly satisfied. This question was perhaps especially addressed to Philip, because he seemed, by a previous remark which he had uttered in this Gospel, to have made greater progress than the rest of the disciples. It was Philip who, in the first chapter of John, is stated to have found Nathanael, and to have said unto him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." It will be also recollected that Moses had wrought a miracle analogous to that which is recorded here, when he brought, as it is said, food from heaven. We read also that the prophet Elisha once wrought a kindred miracle. It might therefore be supposed that Philip, having pointed out Jesus as that glorious Being of whom Moses wrote, as the prophet like unto him in all things, and whom Elisha foreshadowed as a greater and more illustrious than he, would expect that this Jesus, with greater power than Moses and Elisha had, would be able to perform a miracle that would feed the five thousand even with a few barley loaves and a few fishes. But Philip had forgotten these facts. He had not come to this conclusion. It shows us that we need to be taught the emptiness that is within as well as the unsatisfactoriness that is without. The case of Philip shows that it is possible to know Scripture, and to quote Scripture, and to prove prophecies performed, and yet not be able to see savingly Him to whom all the prophets gave witness. Philip learned slowly to depend upon Jesus. He saw nothing but the outward means and elements and powers of nature, and had no idea, if we may judge from this passage, of the presence of nature's Lord. He unfolded in his character a striking feature, still obvious enough in man, the strange, but true fact, that he never appeals to

a divine power as long as he can work his way by means of human power. The creature never goes to God for

salvation till he has found out that there is no salvation any where else. He never thinks of applying to God for interposition in the hour and power of famine, or of pestilence, or of trial, till he has learned that human granaries are empty in the one, and that human prescriptions are unsatisfactory in the other, and then he goes to God. And what a God! After we have tried the creature in all its phases, and found that creature fail, God, instead of rejecting us, as we deserved, for so doing, accepts us when we flee to him as a last resort, and makes us welcome; and heaven is glad that they who found all cisterns broken, have applied to the fountain and found it sufficient.

Andrew was next appealed to, and he seems to have had no more faith or trust above the creature than Philip, for he saith, "There is a lad here which hath five barleyloaves and two small fishes; but what are they among so many?" We have in Philip the commercial power at its wits' end money, a little money, but not enough money in the market. We have in the case of Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, the agricultural power at fault: a little bread, a few fishes, but what is the use of these? We have money and bread both deficient; the creature paralyzed in the terrible emergency, and seeing not one ray of hope, or of light, for deliverance or for safety. So true is it that God paralyzes first our agriculture, next our commerce, lastly our health; and, as recently shown, how precarious are our religious privileges; and perhaps it is just upon the back of the sorest judgments that God is about to cause to shine upon us mercies exceeding abundantly above all we have either asked or thought. We will hope. I must say, that I have of our country greater and brighter hopes than ever. I think it will yet be a Goshen

in the midst of the nations of the earth. Recent judgments, physical and moral, have brought to light an amount of deep Protestantism, hidden and real piety, which I trust is only the beginning of that dawn of brighter and better things which will soon overtake the world. May God grant that it be so!

We read that our Lord prepares a table in the midst of the wilderness, and in order to do so, he says, “Make the men sit down. Now, there was much grass in the place." I cannot help noticing the remark, "there was much grass in the place." A mere writer of a story got up would never have thought of using that expression. It is so natural, so unartistic-like, that it is plainly the evidence of a story written upon the spot, and describing facts that had been actually seen. "So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.' God is the God of method and of order. Just take a survey of all God's works in providence and nature. How beautifully arranged they are! what harmony and order among them! And so here he shows the same great law pervading this temporary arrangement, when he bids the people sit down in platoons, or in companies, as the language would bear, like garden plots nicely and neatly arranged; partly because order is one of heaven's first laws; partly because it was so convenient that the poorest and weakest were not likely to be omitted when the whole company was divided into twelve sections, and the twelve apostles were made to minister to those companies. So should it be in our communion arrangements; so should it be in the construction of our churches. They should be arranged so that in the first every one may be administered to, and in the second that every one may hear and see. The grand end ought to be always in view. Architects, ministers, and elders should always recollect the object for which a house is built or an institution is

arranged. It is for practical purposes: every thing as beautiful as can be, but every thing should be subordinated and made to contribute to usefulness. When a church is so beautiful that everybody admires the architecture, but barely hears, or scarcely attends to the sermon, it may be splendid architecture, but it is a bad church. When the sermon is so eloquent that everybody is charmed with the language, but does not think of what it is meant to teach, it may be a very intellectual sermon, very grand, very beautiful, very fine, but it is not worth hearing. And when the arrangement in any thing connected with the worship of God is made to take the place of the real object, the means of the end, the machinery of the result, there is a radical defect at the very core. God is the God of beauty and order, but the good and benefit of his people are the grand results he contemplates in all.

We read that, when he had thus arranged these people, and made them so conveniently seated that they could easily be ministered to, he took the loaves, and gave thanks, and then distributed to his disciples." He gave thanks. What a beautiful model and precedent for us! The Lord of glory gave thanks for the bread that he held in his hand. Do we ever think sufficiently, that two things are needed in order that we may derive benefit from our daily bread? There is first the bread to be eaten-and that is the least important, although many people think it the most important; and there is next the health to eat it. The most pure bread may be poison without the blessing of God; the most imperfect bread may do us good with the blessing of God. At all events, we who have the best bread surely do not omit to thank the Giver; and those who have all the comforts and luxuries of life, surely they do not omit to give the glory to Him who gave them all; or to show the reality of their thanksgiving by distributing