CHAPTER VII.

GIVE US, DAY BY DAY, OUR DAILY BREAD.

THE Bread prepared for us, and so by His Divine appointment made ours; that which is needed and is proper for our subsistence, that with which alone we can live, and without which we must die. The life of the saint must be sustained, it hangs on the life of the Blessed One, and is life only, as it partakes of His life. There is the living by' Him, and this is not like the animal life, an existence for a time; 'for what is your life? it is even a breath which appeareth for a while, and then passeth away. It is not that, but a life for ever, each one having in himself or herself the seeds of immortality. But we are encompassed by dangers and liable for ever to falls, so we need constant help, the 'daily' help and sustenance by which we are upheld and kept for future perfection. Christ revealing the greatness of of our being. reveals the need of that being to he sustained, and sustained supernaturally. So I think we must take these words first in their highest and supernatural sense as bidding us pray for the very Bread of life, as a confession that the soul cannot be sustained by anything short of Himself. Thus does He speak

of Himself, in the striking words, 'I am the 'Bread of Life,' I am none else, and none less, and he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me; the 'I' and the Me' being the power of life in the soul. The soul can only be sustained and nourished, can only be cultivated and sown with the seeds of perfection by His indwelling, by Himself.

It is in this way, and in this way alone, that the child of God becomes the saint, ripens unto the perfect holiness, without which no man can see God. It is thus that He, the Father, gazes on His children, seeing them in the face of Jesus Christ. It is thus that the loving Saviour goes out of Himself, and condescends to enter into our nature, to make His abode with us, to become one with us, and enable us to become one with Him. So His life in us is immortality, and whoso eateth of this Bread 'shall live for ever.' That it is a great mystery in no way takes from the truth of the prayer: the whole of Redemption is a mystery, the whole of the reconstitution of man's nature and reconciling of man to God is a mystery, but a mystery of love, of His boundless compassion; for the love wherewith He hath loved us breathes in these words, and inspires the prayer, Give us, day by day, our daily Bread.' The Divine thing is ours, and is to be asked for; Lord, evermore give us this Bread, and daily,' day by day,' in the ever-recurring needs of the soul. It is ours, for if we ask bread He will never give us a stone.

Bread is the staff of the spiritual life. So, while pointing to the figure of the love and care of the Father for His people of old, how

He fed them with manna in the wilderness, to His own personal care for them, for the Rock that followed them was Christ.' He proceeds to tell them of the higher life which His Passion was to make possible, and of which His life was to be the example, He the door through whom we were to enter into heaven here and hereafter, in Him our joy should be full. "Your fathers did eat manna in the desert and are dead, he that eateth of this Bread shall live 'for ever. There is an entrance into immortality in the present, by the very act of our incorporation into Him we become partakers of the heavenly life. Thus are we admitted into the counsels of God, and shewn the preciousness of our souls, what indeed life is, and for what so mighty a gift is vouchsafed, that it may be sustained; for a life begun indeed here -a life in Him, but perfected in another condition, where the Lamb is the light thereof, and in the city which hath no need of the sun, and where decay and sin have no entrance. The words of the prayer sustain the hope of the soul, and open out the promise as a certainty.

Most true is it, that plant the tree as carefully as you will, and who shall doubt the care of Him who makes us 'God's husbandry'? there needs nourishment, there need the winds of heaven to blow on it, the dew and rain of heaven to water it, the sun of heaven to give it warmth and force the early shoots into life; so, though baptized, though planted in the likeness of Christ's death, yet we need to be nourished and fed daily with the Bread of life. The spiritual as well as the natural, by the very

law of our being, depends on this for its continuance. Without Me ye can do nothing; with Him we can do all things. Then comes the cheering thought, that though of myself and by myself I can do no good thing, yet I can obtain help from Him with which any thing is possible. Ye shall say to this moun'tain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into 'the sea, and nothing shall be impossible.' Ye shall tread on serpents, and if ye take up any deadly thing it shall not hurt you.' We cannot, we dare not, limit the possibilities of grace; we dare not, say how much may not be given to us for the very asking. A glance at the saintly life, as exhibited in any one of God's blessed ones, is enough to shew that while with man, alone and unaided, things are impossible, with God all things are possible. With the help of my God I shall leap over the wall. So speaks St. Chrysostom: Mark, I pray you, how, even in things bodily, that which is spiritual occurs, for it is neither for riches nor for delicate things, nor for costly ornaments, nor for other such things, but for Bread only that we are commanded to make our prayer.' Let us then think of the joy of Christ in imparting this life to us and in giving us this prayer. He opened unto us the gates of everlasting life, He pointed out the way, and how to get the power to follow it. He is thus the 'Life' as well as the Way; so calling Himself The Bread of Life,' He bids us ever pray for His indwelling and our feeding on Him. The spiritual obviously takes the first place. Risen with Christ, we are to seek those things that are above. The spiritual gained first,

the temporal will easily follow in their train, Christ in us is for all things the power of God and the wisdom of God. We are thus brought face to face with the means of sustaining the life of the soul. How does He sustain it? How does He make the soul strong for the battle of life and able to contend for the faith, and 'having done all to stand'? how amid the dangers and temptations, changes and chances of life, its uncertainties, and our constant need of watchful care, can we walk secure? By Himself, our Daily Bread.

Mark the joy of the Lord in revealing what to men at first, and for a long time, only seemed connected with the bodily sustenance, with the food which in the same sermon He told them was sure as coming from the Father, who fed the birds, and to whom they, as souls, were of more value than many sparrows. Men are naturally gross, and so when He unfolded the meaning of these words of prayer, opening out the mystery of His communion with the soul in the sixth chapter of St. John, the mystery of life and holiness, the secret power of the saintly character which was to be the special gift of His Passion, it was a hard saying, and many walked no more with Him. Without a doubt, though the light dawned but gradually, there was a difficulty in taking it in; but He rejoiced to reveal this, and willed that the saying so startling should sink down into their ears, and after His resurrection they should remember that He had told them of it.

So are the words of the Apostle to whom the Divine mystery was by a special revelation