overwhelm him. His faith now staggered; his presence of mind forsook him; he forgot that his Saviour was at hand; and, in proportion as his faith decreased, the waters yielded, and he sunk. In this extremity he looked around for his Master, and, on the very brink of being swallowed up, cried, "Lord, save me!" His cry was not disregarded by his compassionate Saviour; "he stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

Peter was convinced, before he left the ship, that it was Jesus who was coming to them on the water: nor did he even doubt it when he was sinking, because he then implored his assistance. But when he found the storm increase, and the billows rage more horribly than before, his fears suggested, that either his Master would be unable or unwilling to support him amidst the frightful blasts of the tempest.

This miracle alarmed the disciples, for though they had so lately seen the miracle of the five loaves, they did not seem to have before formed a proper idea of his power, but being now persuaded that he could be no other than the expected Messiah, they "came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God." Matt. xiv. 33.

Our Saviour seems to have confirmed this miracle by working another; for the evangelists tell us, that he had no sooner entered the ship, and hushed the violence of the storm, than they arrived at the place whither they were going. "Then they willingly received him into the ship; and immediately the

ship was at the land, whither they went." John vi. 21.

When our Lord disembarked, the inhabitants of the neighboring country ran to him, bringing with them all those that were sick; and they were all healed. It must be remembered, that though Jesus ordinarily resided in the neighborhood of Capernaum, yet he had been absent ever since his visiting Nazareth; and therefore it is natural to think, that the inhabitants, on his return, would not omit the opportunity of bringing their sick in such prodigious crowds, that it seems our Saviour did not pay particular attention to each of them, and this was the reason of their beseeching him "that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole." Matt. xiv. 36.

The virtue of that power by which he wrought these things lay not in his garments, for then the soldiers who seized them at his crucifixion might have wrought the same miracles; but it was because Jesus willed it to be so. It was now the acceptable time, the day of salvation, foretold by Isaiah, and Christ's power was sufficient to remove any distemper whatsoever.

CHAPTER XV.

Pharisaical Superstition severely reprimanded. The great Redeemer continues to display his Power and Benevolence in the relief of several Objects of Affliction.-Guards his Disciples against the prevailing Errors and Fallacies of the Scribes and Pharisees. Proceeds on the Work of his heavenly Father.

THE season of the grand passover approaching, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, to attend that solemnity. But the Jews being offended at his discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum, made an attempt upon his life. Our Lord, therefore, finding it impossible to remain at Jerusalem in safety, departed from that city, and retired into Galilee.

The Pharisees were sensible they could not perpetrate their malicious design upon that occasion; they therefore followed him, hoping to find something by which they might accuse him; and at length ventured to attack him for permitting his disciples to eat with unwashed hands, because, in so doing, they transgressed the tradition of the elders.

Moses had, indeed, required external cleanness as a part of their religion, but it was only to signify how careful the servants of the Almighty should be to purify themselves from all uncleanness, both of flesh and spirit. These ceremonial institutions were, in process of time, prodigiously multiplied, and the Pharisees, who pretended to observe every

tittle of the law, considered it as a notorious offence to eat bread with unwashed hands, though, at the same time, they suffered the more weighty precepts of the law to be neglected and forgotten.

To expose the absurdity of such superstitious customs, our Saviour applied to them the words of the prophet Isaiah: "This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me:" adding, that all their worship was vain, and displeasing to the Almighty, while they praised themselves, and imposed upon others the frivolous precepts of man's invention, and at the same time neglected the external rules of righteousness; and to remove all objections that could be brought against this imputation of gross profaneness in the Pharisees, he supported it by a very remarkable instance.

God, saith the Saviour of the world, hath commanded children to honor their parents, and to maintain them when reduced to poverty by sickness, age, or misfortunes; promising life to such as obey this precept, and threatening death to those who disregard it. But, notwithstanding the peremptory commandment of Omnipotence, you teach, that it is more sacred to enrich the temple than to nourish their parents, reduced to the utmost necessity; pretending, that what is offered to the great Parent of the universe, is much better bestowed than what is given to the support of our earthly parents; making the honor of God absolutely different from the happiness of his creatures. Nay, ye teach that it is no breach of the commandment for a man to suffer his parents to perish. provided he has given what ought to nourish

them to the temple at Jerusalem. Thus have ye concealed, under the cloak of piety, the most horrid, the most unnatural crime, any person can commit.

Having thus reproved the Pharisees, he called the multitude to him, and desired them to reflect on the absurdity of the precepts inculcated by the scribes. These hypocrites, said he, solicitous about trifles, neglect the great duties of morality, which are of eternal obligation. They shudder with horror at unwashed hands, but are perfectly easy under the guilt of a polluted conscience, though they must be sensible, that "not that which goeth into the mouth, defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." Matt. xv. 11.

The haughty Pharisees were highly offended at his speaking in a degrading manner of their traditions. And the apostles, who would gladly have reconciled their Master and the Pharisees, insinuated to Jesus that he ought to have acted in another manner. To which the Saviour answered, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Matt. xv. 13. As if he had said, You have no cause to fear their anger, as both they and their doctrine shall perish together, for neither of them come from God: adding, "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Matt. xv. 14.

His disciples, not fully comprehending this doctrine, desired their Master to explain it. This our Saviour complied with, and showed them, that meats being of a corporeal nature, could not defile the