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must needs make clean work; of so little there could be left nothing: yea, there were fragments" remaining. Perhaps some crumbs or crusts, hardly to be discerned, much less gathered: nay, "twelve baskets full:"

more remained than was first set down!

O work of boundless Omnipotency! Whether this were done by creation or by conversion, used to be questioned, but needs not. While Christ multiplies the bread, it is not for us to multiply his miracles. Shall the Israelites be fed with manna, Elijah by the ravens, the widow by her multiplied meal and oil, Christ's clients in the wilderness with loaves and fishes? O God, while thou dost lay us under obligation by thy providence, let us not wrong thee by distrust.

BISHOP HALL.

Little or much is the same in the hands of Jesus Christ. Here was an incontestable miracle-five thousand men, besides women and children, fed with five cakes and two fishes! Here must have been a manifest creation of substance: the parts of the bread were not dilated to make them appear large, nor was there any delusion in the eating, for they all ate, and were all filled. Here, then, is one miracle of our Lord attested by at least five thousand persons! But did not this creation of bread prove the unlimited power of Jesus? Undoubtedly; and nothing less than eternal power and Godhead could have effected it. This miracle is mentioned by all the four evangelists. It is one of the most astonishing that Christ has wrought. It is a miracle which could not be counterfeited, and a full proof of the divinity of Christ. DR. A. CLARke.

We find from this evangelist [John] that the bread multiplied on this occasion was made of barley, though the promised land abounded with wheat. The multitudes expected that the Messiah would be a Prophet as well as a King: they had a temporary conviction, from the miracle which Jesus had wrought, that he was the Messiah; and they probably imagined that he would not be displeased to have a kind of constraint laid upon him to declare himself the expected King of Israel.

Blessed be our God that he has given us "the true Bread from heaven.” May he create in us an appetite for it, that we may intelligently and cordially say, "Lord, evermore give us this Bread!" "The flesh of Christ is meat, indeed, and his blood is drink, indeed." Here the soul, which hungers and thirsts for God, for righteousness, and true felicity, and is made sensible of its state and wants, finds a suitable and abundant provision: here pardon, peace, hope, communion with God, and whatever can calm the conscience, serene and cheer the heart, or promote true holiness, is comprised in one glorious Object, a mighty Redeemer, "God manifest in the flesh," shedding his precious blood to atone for the sins of his rebellious creatures! This is that "living Bread, which came down from heaven, that we might eat and live for ever. Oh! how adorable, how stupendous, is this love of our divine Redeemer !

REV. THOMAS SCOTT.

Here we have a general account of Christ's cures.— 5.-Matt. xv. 30, 31. The tokens of Christ's power and goodness are neither scarce nor scanty; for there is in him an overflowing fulness. They glorified the God of Israel, whom the Pharisees, when they saw these things, blasphemed. Miracles, which are the matter of our wonder, must be the matter of our praise; and mercies, which are the matter of our rejoicing, must be the matter of our thanksgiving.

And here is a particular account of his feeding four thousand men with seven loaves and a few little fishes, as he had lately fed five thousand with five loaves. The guests, indeed, were not now quite so many as then, and the provision a little more, which does not intimate that Christ's arm was shortened, but that he wrought his miracles as the occasion required, and not for ostentation. When once the powers of nature are exceeded, we must say, This is the finger of God.

They did all eat and were filled. Those whom Christ feeds he fills. While we labour for the world, we labour for that which satisfieth not (Isai. lv. 2;) but those that duly wait on Christ shall be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of his house. - Psal. 1xv. 4. Christ thus fed people once and again, to intimate, that though he was called Jesus of Nazareth, yet he was of Bethlehem, the house of bread ; or, rather, that he was himself the bread of life. Here were four thousand fed; but what were they to that great family which is provided for by the Divine care every day? REV. MATTHEW HENRY.

With what a circle is our blessed Lord surrounded, as this story exhibits of his feeding the four thousand! Let us pause a little, and endeavour to paint him to our imagination, on this mountain, where the astonished multitude so justly extolled all these mingled wonders of power and grace. Let us reflect on the dumb speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, the deaf hearing, and the blind seeing, that with them we may glorify the God of Israel !

So evidently true is it, that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God! How wonderful did the power of Christ appear, in thus multiplying the food! - and how amiable his compassion in his affectionate concern for the relief of his necessitous followers ! May we learn in every state to be content !---Phil. iv. 11. In want, may we cheerfully trust Providence! In plenty, may we not wantonly abuse it! but learn, by his command of gathering up the fragments even of this miraculous feast, a wise frugality in our enjoyments: that nothing may be lost, nor a reserve be wanting, by which the streams of future liberality may be fed! The disciples of Christ received from the hand of Christ the food they delivered to the people: and so should ministers be concerned, that they may receive from Christ what they dispense to others as the bread of life, and that they also at the same time live upon it, as the support of their own souls. How great an honour is it to be employed as stewards of the mysteries of God!

may

DR. DoDDRIDGE.

Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river.-Exod. vii. 17, 18.

And Moses cried unto the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which, when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.-Exod. xv. 25.

SACRED NARRATIVE.

AND it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering, said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing: nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

P