instructing mankind to ask God's blessing on their portion which He provides. "And they did eat, and were filled; and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets." Probably this miracle had the same effect on the minds of the people as that of feeding the Five Thousand. In their wonder they would gather round Him, and endeavour to detain Him. But He sent them away, and returned in a ship with His disciples to Galilee. "He came into the land of Dalmanutha;" or, as St. Matthew says, "into the coasts of Magdala." Dalmanutha is not mentioned in any other part of Scripture; and no one has been able to discover any certain trace of its position. It was probably some district near to Magdala, which lay on the edge of the Lake, and which is supposed to have been the town of Mary Magdalene, about two miles from Tiberias, in or near the beautiful tract of Gennesareth;1 "but the place thereof knoweth it no more." Here He again encountered the Pharisees, from whose intrusion He had been freed, whilst He journeyed along the distant outskirts of the land of Canaan, by the Mediterranean, round the northern parts of Galilee, and on the further side of the Lake. Those captious disputers were now joined by their rival sect of Sadducees: they forgot, for a while, their mutual contests, that they might make common cause against the Messiah; thus fulfilling the Prophecy of David, "The Rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed."

As soon as He landed, "they came forth, and began to question with Him, and tempting Him, desired Him that He would show them a sign from Heaven." As St. Matthew mentions this immediately after his account of the miracle of feeding the four thousand, we may conclude that the sign they now demanded was to be fed with manna from Heaven, even as they had done before, in the synagogue at Capernaum, after the feeding of the five thousand," What sign showest Thou?" "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert." Surely His numberless miracles might have been sufficient

1 Robinson's Bib. Res., iii. p. 276. Stanley's Palestine and Syria, p. 375. Van De Velde's Syria and Palestine, vol. ii. p. 394. Malan's Magdala. Day by the Sea of Galilee, p. 7.

2 John, vi. 30, 31. See Catena Aurea, Remigius, vol. i. p. 574. Tostatus Abulensis, In Matt. xvi., Quæst. 5; quotes also Bede.

signs of His Divine Mission! But He had not made any visible display of glory from Heaven; and only some such sign would satisfy their unbelief. The compassionate Redeemer "sighed deeply in His spirit," being grieved, as He had often been before, because of the hardness of their hearts. Perhaps at this moment all the terrors of the destruction coming upon Jerusalem rose up before Him: and "He answered and said, When it is evening, ye say, 'It will be fair weather for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'It will be foul weather to-day: for the sky is red and lowering.' O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" that is, the fulfilment of the prophecies of the coming of Christ, now testified by daily miracles wrought before your eyes. Behold, Daniel's mystical weeks are passing quickly on to their completion,-"when Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the prince [the Romans under Titus] that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." A sign they should have in due time; but not such an one as they desired. And now once more, under the type of Jonah, He prophesied of His Resurrection from the dead on the third day, as the great witness of His Divinity; saying, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; but there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas."

There could be no quiet or seclusion whilst He remained amidst these jealous enemies. He might say, as of old, "My spirit shall not always strive with man ;"3 and in the words of Isaiah, "I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth." He would rather dwell with the humble in spirit. Therefore He left them; and at once, "entering into the ship, again departed to the other side" with His disciples. What maxims of Heavenly wisdom must the Twelve have gathered in their daily and hourly intercourse with such a Master, in those many crossings of the Lake, and constant journeys to and fro during His Circuits! Many of His sayings were beyond their present understanding; but they would be trea

Gen. xlix. 10.

3 Gen. vi. 3.

2 Dan. ix. 26, 27.

4 Isai. Ivii. 16.

T

sured up in their hearts, and afterwards called to remembrance, when all things which He had prophesied of Himself should come to pass. As they were crossing to the other side, He warned them against the hard infidelity of His enemies, who so constantly grieved Him. "Take heed [He said] and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees," of, as St. Mark says, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod." St. Luke records a similar admonition to them afterwards," Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."1 We have already seen that the Sadducees disbelieved in the resurrection of the dead, the existence of angels, and a future state. Their peculiar leaven was infidelity; whilst that of the Herodians was worldly conformity. He warned the disciples against them all. But they misunderstood His meaning. The leaven of which He spake, was spiritual: but with the mention of leaven they could only associate the idea of loaves. Now it so happened, that they had forgotten to take bread with them, and had only one loaf in the ship: therefore" they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'It is because we have taken no bread.' Which, when Jesus perceived, He said unto them, "O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Perceive ye not, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?'" He reminded them of the Five Thousand, and Four Thousand, fed with a few loaves, which ought to have assured them how little need they had to fear a lack of bread. "Then understood they how that He had bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees, and of the Sadducees."

3

Having thus crossed the Lake, our Lord came once more into the territory of Herod Philip, on His way back to the northern part of Canaan. There He was about to reveal to three of His Apostles something of the nature of His essential Glory, in a mysterious vision of Moses and Elias, as an earnest of the blessedness that awaits the justified at the Resurrection.

Luke, xii. 1.

Chap. xviii. p. 162.

3 "This is a lesson to us how to bear with the infirmities of the weak in faith, and not to be harsh with them; but lead them on from strength to -strength, till their faith is perfected."-Jansenius Gand., cap. lxv. p. 501.

Some such sign the Scribes and Pharisees had often demanded in vain; but to His faithful disciples it would be granted unasked. At Bethsaida "they bring a blind man unto Him, and besought Him to touch Him. And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town." Behold the Son of God, in whom was centred all dominion, becomes the guide of the helpless blind! He directs his footsteps to some retired spot, where He might open his eyes to the joyful light of day. This recalls to mind a passage in the forty-second of Isaiah, the title of which chapter is, " The Office of Christ graced with meekness;" "I will bring the blind by a way that they know not: I will lead them in paths that they have not known I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight." Jesus did not, as on other occasions, say, "Receive thy sight;" but deigned to perfect the cure by degrees; for, "when He had spit on his eyes, and put His hands upon him, He asked him if he saw aught? And he looked up, and said, 'I see men as trees, walking.'" He was no longer dark; but the faculty of sight was still imperfect. Jesus put His hands again upon his eyes; and he was completely restored: "he saw every man clearly." And He sent him away to his house, commanding him to tell the miracle

to no man.

In these miracles of healing we should constantly discern the type of the cure of the soul by the Great Physician: how, for example, He takes those who have been blinded by the world aside out of the world, and opens their eyes by the illumination of the Spirit; how He confirms, or reconciles by the laying on of hands; how the spiritual sight returns but slowly at times, after a second use of whatever means are suited to the case; how, finally, He sends men back to their homes in humility,-by silent goodness, rather than by many words, to proclaim His grace.

1 Isai. xlii. 16.

2 "Christ did not always perform His cures in the same way, that we might learn how to trust simply to His mercy, and not prescribe the manner of our receiving His assistance and grace; for He knows what means of safety and escape from danger are best suited to each."-Jansenius Gandavensis, cap. lxv. p. 502.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE MESSIAH GOES TO CESAREA PHILIPPI-PETER CONFESSES HIM TO BE THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD, AND RECEIVES A BLESSING-CHRIST THE ROCK OF THE CHURCH-HE PROPHESIES HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION; IS REBUKED BY PETER; HIS ANSWER-HE PROPHESIES THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, AND HIS TRANSFIGURATION.

Matt. xvi. 13-28. Mark, viii. 27-38. Luke, ix. 18—27.

AFTER the cure of the blind man, the Lord, still seeking retirement, left the borders of the Lake, and came to Cæsarea Philippi, which lay amidst the lower ranges of Mount Hermon, at the most northern point of Canaan. This city was the ancient Paneas, where a wide grotto, and a heathen temple, were dedicated to the sylvan god Pan. In front of this cavern, beneath a perpendicular rock,1 a fountain gushes out with sparkling brilliancy to the light of day, bounds through a winding bed of basaltic rocks to a place called Daphne, and there joins two other streams from Dan3 and Hasbeyia. From thence, under the name of Jordan, they all pass together into the marshy lake of Merom; and then through the Lake of Tiberias to the Dead Sea. Herod the Great built a new city at

Josephus, Antiq., lib. xv. 10. 3.

2 Van de Velde, ii. p. 420. Robinson, iv. p. 393.

3 The town of Dan was founded by a colony of five hundred bold adventurers, who marched through Canaan, from their own Tribe on the shore of the Mediterranean to the ancient Laish in the North. They destroyed the inhabitants; and "built a city and dwelt therein; and they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father."-Judges, xviii. 27-29. See Stanley's graphic description, Sinai and Palestine, pp. 387, 388. And there in after times Jeroboam, when he was made king over the revolted Tribes, set up golden calf, that the people might not go to Jerusalem to sacrifice: "and thing became a sin."-1 Kings, xiii. 28-30.