your guilty souls, your wretched impotence. Here the comparison fails; the disciples had some small matter to bring to him, we have nothing.

Ver. 19. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass.-Think you are all now here set down to be fed by him. And O! that you were, in obedience to his command, and with a true hunger for his bread of life!

And took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed. See the effect of his blessing! Can it be less, now that he is in heaven, where he is interceding for us, and has all blessings in his hands to bestow upon us, if we do but look up to him for them? Learn also from hence to do as he did, to pray over your food, to bless and give thanks.

And brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. So he still conveys his This is the order of his appointing, and the method he commonly takes. For though he alone has any thing to give, and he only blesseth what is given, yet he employs others, his ministers, and faithful followers, to dispense it. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst put it into my hand; and, if thou lookest down from heaven, and commandest a blessing, great will be the increase.

blessings of grace to man by man.

Ver. 20. And they did all eat, and were filled.-Well, the miracle is apparent; there was enough and to spare for five thousand, out of five loaves and two fishes. What use do you intend to make of this? What is the miracle to you, if you always continue empty, and do not regard it as designed to raise your faith in Christ, and your call to him to receive of his fulness?

LECTURE.

In the former part of this portion of Scripture, we have a lively picture of the strength of natural corruption, and the power of divine grace, in Herod and John. Herod, notwithstanding some uneasy scruples, gives up to death a man whom he knew to be innocent, and regarded as a prophet: John, in discharge of duty, puts his life in his hand, and with undaunted boldness reproves a King for having his brother's wife. See, I say, both what nature and grace can do. The former sacrifices all considerations to its own interests, or a prevailing lust; the latter prefers conscience to life, and without it we none of us know what degree of wickedness we are capable of. Let us not be high-minded, but fear; and, if we have nothing of Herod prevalent in us, and much of John, give the praise where it is due. But I wave this, and proceed to the consideration and improvement of the miracle now before us.

We cannot say of the scripture-miracles that one is greater than another, because they are all equally impossible to man, and all alike possible to God. But we may well suppose, that, besides their general tendency to excite and confirm our belief in Christ, they have some farther design, and carry in them some peculiar instruction. All of them exhibit him to us in his capacity of healing, that is of saving, when applied to the soul; and many, or perhaps all, of them, have their use and benefit in affording matter, particularly arising from them, for our meditation and comfort. In this view we may profitably consider the miracle of the loaves, which has now been brought to your remembrance. The man who has his eyes open, and his heart turned to God in the reading of Scripture, says, " Were the multitude in a desert place,

"and in want of food where none was to be had? So am "I, so is every one by nature, destitute and helpless, "and sure to perish without relief." When the disciples desired Christ to "send the multitude away, that they might go and buy themselves victuals," and he said unto them," they need not depart, give ye them to eat," their answer to him was to this effect, that what he said was impossible, the provision they had being as nothing to so great a number. Oh! says the awakened man, this is the very answer of my soul to Jesus; I am in a starving condition, I have sins innumerable to be forgiven, a crooked nature to reform, a foul heart to cleanse, and a stubborn will to conquer; and it is not in my own power, nor in the power of man, to supply my wants. He reads on, and hears him saying, Bring them hither to me. He sees him in the very act of commanding the multitude to sit down on the grass, taking the five loaves and the two fishes, looking up to heaven, blessing and breaking them, and distributing them by the hands of his disciples, so that they did all eat, and had enough and to spare. He muses deeply upon all this, and says to himself, they were in want of bodily food, my wants are spiritual; has Jesus no power for me suited to my case? Yes, says he, blessed be God, these things were done and written on purpose "that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing we might have life through his name.” He came to seek and to save that which was lost; he has all power in heaven and earth given unto him, and is with us alway even unto the end of the world, to feed and support, to bless and comfort his people, to revive their fainting souls, and nourish them to eternal life; and every miracle he wrought is an assurance put into their hands, that he will be their Almighty Helper, and suffer none of them to want what he has to give.

Do not then say, as the disciples did, how can this be?

how can he feed so great a multitude with five loaves and two fishes? Do not say, how can my numberless sins be forgiven? how can my worldly heart be turned to God, how can such a corrupt and weak creature as I am ever attain to holiness? but look unto Jesus. He died for thy sins; he bore them all in his own body on the cross, and God, who laid them upon him, will never lay them again upon any soul which is troubled for them, and turns to him in repentance. And thy Saviour will also be thy strength, and by the grace and power of his Spirit enable thee to live to God in obedience. In all thy straits and difficulties, in the hunger of thy soul, call to mind what thou hast now heard; think who it was that fed five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, and doubt not of his power and will to help thee to the utmost of thy desire. Hast thou any such desire? Art thou sensible of thy poverty and helplessness? Art thou following him for what he has to give thee, and will do for thee, and dost thou see thyself undone without it? Here the matter sticks heavily with us, and we generally live and die unhelped, because we are ignorant of our misery and danger, will not have our eyes opened, and never turn to Jesus with a true prayer for deliverance. But be persuaded, be assured that there is no other way of being Christians, but coming to him hungering and thirsting, in faith and longing for his benefits; to have the guilt of sin removed from our consciences, and the power of it from our hearts; to rejoice in him as our Saviour, and show our love to him, and thankfulness to God for him, by keeping his commandments. Then whatever we read in Scripture will be opened sweetly and powerfully to our hearts, and we shall see our own help and salvation in every chapter of the Gospels. We shall look up to Jesus as now set down at the right hand of God to succour us, beseeching him to look down upon us in mercy, and to

add this to all his other mighty works, and trusting humbly that he will to give us repentance and forgiveness of sins, to establish our hearts with his peace, to keep us from all evil, to confirm us in all goodness, and bring us to his heavenly kingdom.

PRAYER.

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was manifested that he might make us the children of God, and heirs of eternal life; we beseech thee turn our eyes and hearts to him as our Saviour and mighty Deliverer. Bless what we have now heard to our instruction and comfort, that, keeping his miracles in remembrance, we may be persuaded of his power to help us, and fly to him for succour in our time of need. And to this end, O Lord, convince us of our misery and danger, poverty and helplessness, that, with earnest desires and feeling hearts, we may ask of him the gift of repentance and forgiveness of sins, be renewed by him to the desire and love of holiness, rejoice in thy peace, and the blessed hope of everlasting life which thou hast given us in him, Jesus Christ, our only Saviour and Redeemer. Amen.

SECTION XXXI.

ST. MATTHEW, XIV. 23.

He went up into a mountain apart to pray.-For himself, and all mankind; that the good pleasure of the Lord for their salvation might prosper in his hands; that we might hear all the words of this book, and live through him. He who came to fulfil all righteousness, could not but be a man of prayer, and was our pattern in this, as well as every other instance of duty and holiness. If he needed prayer, how much more do we, and how can we ever think ourselves alive unto God without it?