136 "HE SATISFIETH THE LONGING SOUL."

 Everybody there had enough to eat; and when they
had all stopped eating because they did not want any
more, Jesus, who would not waste good food, said," Gather
up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." Does
it seem as if there could have been anything left? There
was more to put away and save than they had at the
beginning! They went around, and wherever they had
given too much and there was something over, they gath-
ered it up; and there were twelve baskets full: and yet,
all had eaten enough, five thousand hungry men, without
counting the women and the children.
 The next day, while the people were yet talking
about the wonderful miracle, Jesus said to them, I am
the Bread of Life." Did he feed that multitude of hun-
gry ones only because he was sorry for them without
food in a desert place? He did it also that we might see
his power and his tender pity for all our wants, and know
that he could fill every desire. He knew that your young
hearts would sometime be hungry to know about him,
and how your soul might be happy for ever with him.
That is what he meant when he said, He that cometh to
me shall never hunger." If you want the Lord Jesus for
your friend, and ask him with all your heart, he will be
as sure to grant your desire as he was to give food to a
hungry boy in that crowd.