Let all who live under the gospel dispensation remember, that the fire of christian truth, cast among a people as it has been cast among us, must produce effects—important effects-effects, the full importance of which eternity only can develop. If it do not melt the stone, it will rend it; if it do not purify, it will destroy. It is no neutral element. It is "the savour of death unto death," if it be not "the savour of life unto life." It is "a quick and powerful word;" and, as received or rejected, it will manifest its power in complete salvation, or in aggravated destruction. A neglected, despised Gospel, will, in the regions of hopeless misery, be a fire that cannot be quenched, burning, without consuming, the very vitals of him who has neglected and despised it. These are weighty words of our Lord: "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him”—that shall judge, condemn, and punish him—“ the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." Ay, it will punish him through eternity; and one of the most earnest, hopeless wishes of a lost soul, throughout unending duration, will be, 'O that I could forget the Gospel which I heard, but believed not!' But it cannot be; the recollection is burnt in to the very centre of his being. In addition to the fearful voice sounding unremittingly and endlessly in the ears of all the lost, “You knew your duty, and you did it not," a still more heartrending announcement will be constantly forced on the attention of the Gospel neglecter and despiser- Salvation, free, full salvation, was offered you, and you refused it. It might, it would, have been yours, had you but received what was sincerely proffered. It can be yours no more for ever.' Unbeliever! take warning in time. If you persist in unbelief, it must come to this. You cannot escape this—are you prepared to endure it?

1

1 John xii. 48.

2 Pollok.

EXPOSITION VII.

TRUE HAPPINESS, AND THE WAY OF SECURING IT.

JOHN VI.

THE discourse, on the consideration of which we now enter, was, like most, if not all, our Lord's discourses, occasional, rising out of the circumstances in which he was placed when he uttered it, and from them taking its particular form, and deriving its peculiar illustrations. Its subject is the most important and interesting which can engage the attention of the human mind. It contains a discussion and decision of two questions, which, in all countries and ages, have occupied the thoughts of reflecting men, but to which unassisted reason, though applying all its energies to the task for a long course of centuries, had failed to find a satisfactory reply-What ought to be the object of man's supreme pursuit? and, How is he to secure the attainment of this object?

I. INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVE.

JOHN VI. 1-25.

The circumstances which led our Lord to deliver the discourse now before us, and suggested the instructive and

beautiful imagery by which his doctrines are at once illustrated and adorned, may be shortly stated.

Our Lord on the return of his apostles from the evangelical itinerant labours in which he had employed them, having heard of the anxiety which Herod the Tetrarch had expressed to see him, left Capernaum, a city on the west side of the sea of Galilee, belonging to that prince's dominions, where he had chiefly resided for a considerable period, and where his time and attention had been continually occupied by the crowds who came from all quarters to hear his doctrine, and to experience or witness his miraculous power, and crossed over to the opposite side, to a retired spot in a somewhat thinly inhabited district, apparently with the intention that the disciples might have that repose which their fatigue required, and that he might be out of the way should Herod show a disposition to use force in order to have his curiosity gratified, and his remorseful fears either confirmed or removed.

Our Lord's departure, though private, soon became matter of notoriety, and a vast multitude from Capernaum, and the neighbouring country and villages, made a hasty journey round the north end of the sea of Galilee, and were ready to welcome him, on his disembarking on the eastern shore. Ascending a mountain, followed by the multitude, whom he regarded with melting compassion," as sheep scattered without a shepherd," he spent the day in performing beneficent miracles, and uttering heavenly instructions: "teaching them many things," "speaking to them of the kingdom of God, and healing them that had need of healing."

1

As the evening drew on, his disciples proposed to him to dismiss the multitude, that, dispersing themselves among the villages and throughout the adjacent country, they might find refreshment and lodging. Far from acquiescing in this proposal, our Lord replied, "They need not depart ;

Matth. xiv. 14. Luke ix. 11.

give ye them to eat." His disciples, astonished at these words, stated that the expenditure of two hundred denarii, between six and seven pounds of our money,' which probably constituted all their store, in buying food, even if such a quantity of it could have been procured in so retired a situation, which was not probable, would scarcely suffice to furnish a mouthful to such a crowd; and on inquiry, it was found that the stock of provisions which they had with them, was only "five barley loaves, and two small fishes." This information in no degree shook our Lord's determination to provide with bodily refreshment, before dismissing them, the multitude fatigued by their journey, and faint from long-continued abstinence.

The confused mass of human beings, amounting to five thousand men, besides women and children, was soon, by his orders, transformed into fifty orderly companies of guests. Standing up and holding in his hands the slender stock of provisions, he invoked the Divine blessing, which so miraculously increased them, that he filled the baskets of the twelve apostles, and they distributed them to the multitude, and the multitude handed them from one to another, till the vast assembly had eaten to satiety, and "twelve baskets full of fragments" remained from the wondrous feast.

This miracle produced on the multitude a deep and general impression, that he who performed it could be no other than Israel's promised deliverer, and many of them were disposed to employ every means in their power to induce him to assume immediately those royal honours to which, in that case, he was entitled, and which he had shown he could so easily maintain. Aware that should such a proposal be made, his disciples, from their remaining prejudices, were very likely to second it, he prevailed on them, somewhat re

"This sum, rating the denarius at 74d., would amount to £6, 5s.; or reckoning the denarius, as is more usual, at 7¡d, it would amount to £6, 9s. 2d. of our money."-BAGSTER, "Comprehensive Bible.”

2 John vi. 9.

luctantly, to embark without him for the opposite shore, and he remained behind, probably because he knew that had he offered to go, the multitude, in their present temper, would have attempted forcibly to detain him, and certainly because he contemplated making a new trial of his disciples' faith, and giving them a new demonstration of his divine knowledge, and power, and kindness.

The multitude, finding that our Lord had not accompanied his disciples, and concluding, that as there was no other boat on that side of the sea, he could not leave that neighbourhood without their being aware of it, were induced peaceably to disperse, with the intention no doubt of coming together early next morning, and pressing on their chosen leader the acceptance of the honours and allegiance they were ready to yield him. On the multitude departing to find lodging in the villages and country around, our Lord retired into the recesses of the mountains, and spent the greater part of the night in devotional communion with his Father and God.

ment.

Meanwhile his disciples encountered a storm in their passage across the lake, and had spent a great part of the night in laboriously struggling, against a strong wind and a stormy sea, to gain the opposite shore. While they were about the middle of the lake, a human form appeared to them, walking on the troubled waves, as on a solid paveThe surprise, not unmixed with terror, with which men have always regarded intercourse with the inhabitants of the invisible world, was their first emotion; but, on ascertaining that it was indeed their Lord, their fear was turned into joy. Peter, with his characteristic forwardness, requested permission to come to meet his Master on the waters. His request was complied with, and he met with a very impressive demonstration of the weakness of his own faith, and of the omnipotent kindness of his Lord. On Jesus coming aboard the vessel the tempest instantaneously ceased, and in a very short period, if not "immediately," in