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Chapter Verfe

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faid unto them-I am the bread of life: he that John vi. 35 cometh to me, fhall never hunger; and he that believeth on me, fhall never thirst. But I faid unto you, that ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wife caft out. For I came down from Heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that fent me. And this is the Father's will which hath fent me that of all which he hath given me, I should lofe nothing, but should raise it again at the last day. And this is the will of him that fent me, that every one which feeth the Son, and believeth on him; may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the laft day. Such a studied ambiguity appears to run through the whole of this interefting difcourfe, that we-are not at all, furprised at the event. The Jews then murmured at him, because he faid- I am the bread which came down from Heaven.' they faid, Is not this Jefus the son of Jofeph, whofe father and mother we know? How is it then that he faith- I came down from Heaven?' Jefus therefore anfwered, and faid unto them. Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath fent me, draw him and I will raife him up at the laft day. It is written in the prophets: 'fhall be all taught of God.' Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Fa

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Chapter Verfe

John vi. 46 ther, cometh unto me.

Not that any man hath feen the Father, fave he which is of God, he 47 hath feen the Father. Verily I fay unto you, he

that believeth on me hath everlafting life. I am 48 that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna 49 in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the

bread which cometh down from Heaven, that a 51 man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the li

ving bread, which came down from Heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he fhall live for ever: and the bread that I will give you, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. All this was unfatisfactory, it could not convince, because it was not understood: and we findThe Jews therefore ftrove amongst themselves, 52 faying-How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Then Jefus faith unto them, Verily, verily I fay

unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life 54 in you. Whofo eateth my flesh, and drinketh

my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raife him 55 up at the laft day. For my flesh is meat indeed, 56 and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth

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my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in 57 me, and I in him. As the living Father hath

fent me, and I live by the Father: fo he that 58 eateth me, even he fhall live by me. This is that

bread which came down from Heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread fhall live for ever. I

know

know not how to account for this ambiguous, Chapter Verse unintelligible, and to the chief part of his audience it must appear, abfurd, difcourfe. Was it to try how far faith could prevail against reafon? We cannot fuppofe many of them were -learned men; but we may fuppofe most of them had common fenfe. Offended by his attack upon this quarter, and not being drawn to him by the Father, even fome of his disciples faidThis is an hard faying, who can hear it? Inftead John vi. 60 of reconciling them, by an explanation fuited to their understanding; he drives them to extremities, by faying-Doth this offend you? What, and if ye fhall fee the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are fpirit, and they are life. But there are fome of you (not a few I apprehend) that believe not: therefore faid I unto you, that no man can come to me, except it were given unto him of my Father. And we are not surprised when we read- From that time

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many of his difciples went back, and walked

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no more with him.' Alarmed at this defection, and notwithstanding-Jefus knew from the beginning, who they were that believed not, (vide v. 64.) he faid to the twelve- Will ye alfo go away? Peter, whofe faith never failed him, but in cafes of danger, replied- Lord, to whom fhall we go? thou haft the words of eternal life: and

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Chapter Verfe and we believe, and are fure that thou art that John vi. 69 Chrift, the Son of the living God.' To this 70 courteous anfwer, Jefus replied-Have I not chofen you twelve, and one of you is a devil. This (John tells us) was meant of Judas, that 71 should betray him. Not deriving that information from this fcene (exhibited in the fynagogue at Capernaum) which we might reasonably have hoped, we will return to Matthew's history. In his 15th chapter he informs us that the Scribe's and Pharifees, which were of Jerufalem, dcmanded of Jefus, why his difciples tranfgreffed the tradition of the elders, by omitting to wash their hands when they eat bread. Upon which he 7 expofes their hypocrify, and adds-Well did 8 Efaias prophecy of you faying-This people draw

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nigh unto me with their mouth, and honour me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain do they worship me, teaching for I doctrines the commandments of men. He tells

the multitude, that it is not what entereth the mouth defileth the man, but what cometh out of 15 the mouth. His difciples, not understanding this, request an explanation, and he informs. them, that what comes out of the mouth is fent from the heart, from whence proceed evil 19 thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, falfe witneffes, blafphemies, &c. From thence Jefus went into the coafts of Tyre and Sidon, where a woman of Canaan folicited him

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to heal her daughter, who was grievoufly afflicted Chapter Verfe with a devil, and he giving her no anfwer, his difciples befought him to fend her away, as she cried after them. They were answered-' I am xv. not fent but to the loft fheep of the house of Ifrael.' Upon which the woman worshipped him, and again folicited his affiftance. He then faid to her- It is not meet to take the childrens 'bread, and to caft it to dogs.' She ftill intreated, and he, obferving the greatness of her faith, granted her request. Jefus departed from thence, and went up into a mountain near the fea of Galilee. Where he healed the maimed, the lame, the blind, and the dumb, who were brought to him by the multitude, who glorified the God of Ifrael upon feeing thefe miraculous cures. Here Jefus again feedeth the multitude (about 4000 men, befides women and children) who had fasted three days: with seven loaves and a few little fish. The fragments of which filled feven baskets. It is remarkable that when Jefus expreffed his concern for the fafting multitude, and his defire to relieve them, his difciples afk him-Whence should we have fo much bread in the wilderness, as to fill fo great a multitude? Could they fo foon forget the feeding 5000 men, with five loaves and two fish? Did they doubt it, or, did they think his power exhaufted? Mark, as ufual, gives us nearly the fame account; but neither Luke or John mention this fecond mira

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