X.-FRAGMENTS ALL TO BE SAVED.

"Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”— John vi. 12.

The goldsmith's shop-The mountains weighed-The stars named-The little gleaners-Christ feeding the multitude-Wrong to waste thingsWrong to waste money-The deep river-Brimstone matches-The expensive drink-Hamilton's duel-Life wasted-The sailor's dream-The ringThe ring lost-Burning mountains-The ring recovered-The dream supposed to be true and real-Limbs lost-The Bible wasted-The mind ruined -Six things seen-The SOUL-The SOUL.

I SUPPOSE most of these children have been into the shop of a goldsmith. A goldsmith is a man who works in gold, and makes rings and other such things, out of gold. If you have ever been in such a shop, did you see the man work at the gold? What fine and beautiful tools he has! what little saws, and files, and drills to bore with!

And then

he is very careful not to waste any gold. When he files it, or bores it, he is very careful to have a fine, soft brush, with which to sweep up every grain of gold, even the smallest and finest dust. He is very careful not to lose any fragments,

Did you ever read the 40th chapter of Isaiah? How wonderfully is the great God described there! When he spread out the mighty heavens over our heads, "he measured" them, so as not to have them too large or too small. When he made the great waters, he "measured" them, so as not to have a drop too much or too little. When he made the hills and the lofty mountains, he "weighed the mountains in a scale, and the hills in a balance," so as not to have a grain of sand, or a single atom, too

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much or too little; not because God has not water enough, and ground enough, but because he would teach us to waste nothing. Every fragment must be saved and used.

Go out, on some bright, star-light evening, and look up. What a multitude of stars! How thick they are! If any of them should go out for ever, we should not know it. And if new stars were to be added to them, we should not know it. They may seem useless to us. We cannot count them. God knows every one, and has not made one too many nor one too few. David says, "He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." What a family! All have names, and all

"For ever singing, as they shine,

The hand that made us is divine !"

But

Have these children never been out in the time of harvest, and seen the men reap the wheat and rye? They cut down the waving grain with the greatest care, and then bind it in bundles, and then carefully carry it home on the cart. They try not to lose any, because every kernel will make a little flour. But after all their care, they do lose some. Some heads of wheat do drop out, and some kernels will shell out. God knew this would be so. he would have nothing lost; and so he has made the "little gleaners," such as the little bird and the squirrel, to follow the harvest, and pick up the fragments, that nothing be lost.

But

So Jesus Christ teaches us. He preached out in the open fields, for he had no church; and, although such a building could have been got, it would not

have held half of those who wanted to hear him preach. A great many thousands followed him ; and when he had taught them for a great while, and found that, under the hot sun, they were weary and hungry, he requested them to sit down on the grass in companies. I suppose this was to allow neighbours and friends to sit together, and also that they might be counted. He blessed the bread, which was only five loaves, and the fishes, which were only two little ones; and they all ate enough. One loaf of bread was enough for a thousand people, after Christ had blessed it. After they had done eating, he told the disciples to gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost. So they gathered up the pieces and the crumbs, and had each of them a basket full. Now, Christ could have made bread enough to feed the world. He does make enough for every mouth every year. every year. And he could make it at any time. But he would have nothing lost. The twelve baskets of fragments would do for the poor, and do for the disciples at another time.

You see what I am teaching you in this lecture. It is, that it is wrong to waste anything.

Follow what I say, and see if it be not so. Suppose you know of a narrow river, where the waters are dark, and almost black. They are deep, too-so deep that no one, with the longest pole, can reach the bottom. The stream runs swift, too; so that, if you drop any thing into the river, it sinks, and can never be found again. Now, suppose that on the bank of this river, a little way back, there is a widow and five or six little children. The woman

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is sick and poor, and can neither work nor buy food for her hungry children. She is in great distress. Suppose a man lives not far off, who has money, a great deal of money. He hardly knows what to do with it. So, every night, he comes just before that cottage, where the poor children are crying for food, and there drops a dollar into that river. It sinks, and is lost for ever. To-morrow night he will do so again, and so every night, while that wretched family are starving. Now, does he not do wrong? Has he a right thus to drop his money into the river, and let poor children suffer? No, no; he has no right to do it. But suppose, instead of throwing it into the river, he spends it for something which he does not want, and which will do him no good. Is this right? No. It is wasted even then. Suppose he spends it for something fine and showy, but which is really of no use. Is that right? No. It is still wasted. You see, then, that it is wrong to waste money, when people are starving.

A Bible can be printed and bound, and sent to a poor family, or to a poor child who has none, for a very small sum. Some gentlemen went out, one day, to ask such as choose to give, for money, in order to send the Bible to the heathen, who have none. They went to one house and another, and at last went up to a house where they were not acquainted. As they stopped on the door-steps, they overheard the gentleman of the house talking to a girl for wasting a new match every time she wanted to light a candle. This, they thought, was real stinginess. "Let us go," says one; "we shall get nothing

here. A man who scolds about a match will never give anything."

We can but try," said the other.

They went in, and told their errand. The gentleman took out his purse, and gave them more than any one had done, enough to send a hundred Bibles to the heathen. They were astonished at his giving so much. They told him how they had overheard him talking about a match, and did not expect anything.

Oh, this is the very reason," said the gentleman, "why I can give so much to send the Bible. I allow nothing to be wasted, and thus, by saving all, I have money with which to do good."

But people love to spend their money for handsome and fine things, rather than give it to send the Bible to those who have not any Bible. I know they do. But do they do right? Suppose there is a kind of drink that you love very much. It tastes so good, you could drink a whole tumbler full;-but this drink, though it does not hurt you now, will, in the end, shorten your life one minute for every drop you taste; one minute for every drop; one hour for every tea-spoon full; one year for every tumbler full. Would it be right for you to drink this awful drink, though you do love it? No; no. You know it would not be right. You have no right to waste your own life. You may not throw away a year, nor a fragment. Nor have you a right to waste money because you love the useless things

which it will buy, any more than to waste life by such a miserable drink.

There was once a great man of the name of