CHAPTER XIV.

Our Lord adds to the confirmation of his Mission and Doctrine, by working a Miracle in the Wilderness of Bethsaida. - The People, struck with the Power and Grace of the blessed Jesus, propose to raise him to the earthly dignity of King. - Peter, by means of his blessed Master, performs a Miracle in walking upon the Sea. -Our Lord's improvement of the Miracles wrought in the Wilderness, introduced in a Discourse delivered in the Synagogue of Capernaum.

THE disciples were so alarmed at the cruel fate of the Baptist, whose memory they highly revered, that they returned from their mission, and assisted in performing the last offices to the body of their old master, many of the apostles having been originally the disciples of John. As soon as the pious rites were over, they repaired to Jesus, and told him all that had happened.

Their compassionate Master, on hearing this melancholy news, retired with them by sea into a desert place, belonging to Bethsaida, that by retirement, meditation, and prayer, they might be refreshed and recruited for their spiritual labors; and, at the same time, leave an example to us, that we should retire from the noise and hurry of the world, and offer up the most fervent prayers to our heavenly Father.

But the multitude attended so closely, that their departure was not long concealed; and great num

bers of people repaired to the place where they supposed Jesus and his disciples had excluded themselves. Struck with the greatness of his miracles on those that were sick, and anxious to hear more instructions from the mouth of so divine a teacher, no difficulties were too great for them to surmount, nor any place too retired for them to penetrate, in search of their admired preacher.

Nor was the beneficent Saviour of the world regardless of their pious esteem. He saw them, and was moved with compassion towards them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd; multitudes of people without a pastor; a large harvest without laborers-motives abundantly sufficient to excite compassion in the Son of God.

The situation of these numerous throngs of people scattered abroad, without a guide, without a guardian; a flock of defenceless sheep, without a single shepherd to defend them from the jaws of the infernal wolf, was truly deplorable: the blessed Jesus, therefore, that "good shepherd who came to lay down his life for the sheep," was moved with compassion towards them; the same pity which brought him from the courts of heaven, for the sake of his lost and wandering sheep in the desert, now brought him to this multitude of people, whom he instructed in the doctrines of eternal life, and, with his usual goodness, healed all the sick among them.

Intently devoted to teaching and healing the people, our blessed Saviour did not seem to notice the day wear away, and that the greatest part of it was already spent; but his disciples, too anxious about

the things of this world, thought proper to advise him of it, as if the Son of God wanted any directions from man. The day, said his disciples, is now far advanced, and the place a solitary desert, where neither food nor lodging can be procured; it would, therefore, be convenient to dismiss the people, that they may repair to the towns or villages on the borders of the wilderness, and provide themselves with food and lodging; for they have nothing to eat.

But our Lord prevented that trouble, by telling them there was no necessity for sending the people away to procure victuals for themselves, as they might satisfy the hunger of the multitude, by giving them to eat; and, at the same time, to prove what opinion his disciples entertained of his power, addressed himself to Philip, who was well acquainted with the country, and said, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"

Philip, astonished at the seeming impossibility of procuring a supply for so great a multitude, with the small sum of money which he knew was their all, and forgetting the extent of his Master's power, answered, "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little." John vi. 7.

Our blessed Saviour might now put the same question to Philip that he did on another occasion: "Have I been so long a time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?" John xiv. 9. Hast thou beheld so many miracles, and art still ignorant that I can supply food, not only for this people, but

for all the sons of men, and for the cattle upon a thousand hills?

But he contented himself with answering, "Give ye them to eat." The twelve, not yet comprehending the design of their Master, repeated the objection to Philip; but added, that they were willing to expend their whole stock, in order to procure as large a supply as possible. "Shall we go," said they, "and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, that they may eat?"

But this was by no means the design of their great Master, who, instead of making a direct answer to their question, asked them, "How many loaves have ye?" How much provision can be found among this multitude? Go and see.

The disciples obeyed the command of their Master; and Andrew soon returned, to inform him that the whole stock amounted to no more than five barley loaves, and two sinall fishes-a quantity so inconsiderable, that it scarcely deserved notice. “What are they," said his disciples, "among so many?" What, indeed, would they have been among such a multitude of people, if they had not been distributed by the creating hand of the Son of God?

Jesus, notwithstanding the smallness of the number, ordered them to be brought to him; and immediately commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, with which the place abounded, directing his disciples, at the same time, to range them in a regular order, by hundreds and fifties in a company, each company forming a square, containing a hundred in

rank and fifty in file, that the number might be more easily ascertained, and the people more regularly served.

In obedience to his command, the people sat down in the manner they were ordered, big with the expectation of what this uncommon preparation portended; while the great Master of the banquet stood ready to supply the necessities of the guests banquet, where, though they had no canopy but the azure sky, no table but the verdant turf, where their food was only coarse barley bread and dried fishes, and their drink only water from a bubbling fountain, yet displayed more real grandeur, by the presence of the divine Master of it, than the royal feast of gorgeous Ahasuerus, or the splendid entertainment of the imperious Nebuchadnezzar.

The multitude being seated, Jesus took the loaves and fishes into his hands, in the sight of all the people, that they might be convinced of the small quantity of provisions that were then before them, and that they could only expect to be fed by his supernatural power. But that hand, which had constantly sustained nature, could now easily multiply these five loaves and two fishes; for, as the Psalmist elegantly observes, "He openeth his hand, and filleth all things with righteousness." Accordingly, he looked up to heaven, returned thanks to God, the liberal giver of all good things, for his infinite beneficence in furnishing food for all flesh, and the power he had conferred on him of relieving mankind by his miracles, particularly for that he was about to work. This done, he blessed them; and so peculiarly efficacious