ted to take place upon their touching the remotest part of his clothes; in order to show that it proceeded from him.

REFLECTIONS.

1. The passage of Scripture which we have been reading furnishes us with more than one example of our Lord's piety: he would not taste of the bounties of Providence in an ordinary meal, without lifting up his eyes and heart to heaven, in grateful thanksgiving. In the same manner, let us thank God, when we take refreshment, for providing for men agreeable and wholesome food, and giving us liberty to use it; not in a mere form of words, repeated without thought; but accompanied with serious reflection, with lively gratitude and sincere devotion. Let this example likewise teach us that whenever we receive fresh benefits from the divine bounty, although of an ordinary kind, such as the refreshment and preservation of another night, protection and assistance in discharging the duties of another day, it becomes us to acknowledge the hand of God in these blessings. It is the more necessary to notice these favours in this manner, not merely because they are some of the most valuable mercies of life, but because they are common, and liable, on that account, to be forgotten, or attributed to second causes. ordinary and unusual favours, men are disposed, if they have any degree of gratitude, to acknowledge of themselves.

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But such short and imperfect addresses to the Divine Being, as these, offered up in the presence of men, could not satisfy our Lord: he must retire from the multitude, that he may have leisure for meditating upon the divine excellencies, and more particularly upon the divine

goodness, and pour forth the sentiments of a devout heart before heaven, without reserve and without interruption. This employment is so delightful to him that he can retire to a cold and solitary mountain to enjoy it, part with all the pleasures of society, and break in upon the hours of sleep and rest, at a time when oppressed with fatigue, and most in need of this refreshment. From his conduct let us learn that nothing is more agreeable to good minds than the exercises of devotion, and remember that neither public worship, nor the most active and laborious employments, will exempt us from the obligation to private prayer.

2. In the alarm which the disciples felt at the approach of their master, we have an example of that misconstruction of events which is so common among Christians, and which is often the source of unnecessary pain. The dispensations of Providence appear to be hostile and alarming in the highest degree: they see in them the certain cause of their ruin and misery: they deplore their wretched condition in being doomed to endure them, and cry out for fear. Yet what at first appeared to be an enemy, proves to be a friend in disguise, sent for the express purpose of their deliverance or benefit. Let us not therefore be too hasty, in indulging our fears when evils threaten us, nor judge from the first appearance of things.

3. From the behaviour of Peter, let us learn to be diffident of our strength, and not heedlessly expose ourselves to danger. Such a temper of mind would probably subject us to disgrace; as it did him, by bringing us into trials which we are not able to support. Those best consult their own safety and honour, who are distrustful of themselves and careful to avoid trials.

4. The conduct of those who were in the ship, in acknowledging Jesus to be the Messiah, and in showing such reverence to him, was just and natural. Two miracles so extraordinary as walking on the sea and making the winds to cease, were a proof that he was no ordinary prophet, but that he must be commissioned to

deliver some very important message to the world, and that he therefore deserved high marks of respect and reverence from all who were about him. How inexcusable shall we be, if, after beholding not one or two miracles performed by him, but a great number, exhibited on a variety of occasions, we do not draw the same conclusion and act towards him in like manner; if we do not acknowledge that he is the Son of God, and deserves from us at least as much homage as the greatest monarch in the world!

Matthew xv. 1----20.

1. Then came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,

The Scribes were teachers and expounders of the law of Moses, and of the traditions of the elders. Pharisees are joined to them not because they were a distinct class of persons, but to intimate to what sect they belonged: they were scribes by profession and of the sect of Pharisees, or Pharisaic scribes. This was a private mission, dispatched, to watch Jesus, from the metropolis, where the principal leaders of the party resided.

2. Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

The traditions of the elders were the maxims of men eminent for their learning or wisdom, to whom the Jews gave the title of Elders, in the same manner as it is usual to give the appellation of Fathers to those who are highly respected, and at the same time advanced in years. To these maxims the Pharisees paid the same

regard as to the law itself, and in some instances, set them before it; by the opinion of these teachers the Jews were enjoined to wash their hands before they sat down to an ordinary meal, not for cleanliness, but sanct ity; for their idea was that if a stranger, or a person on any account impure by the law, touched their victuals, or any vessel in which they were dressed, the impurity was conveyed first to the body, and then to the mind. We perceive the symptoms of this Pharisaical notion among the disciples of Christ, when they so interpreted his caution respecting the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees, as if he had forbidden them to take meat from either of these sects. The opinion of the necessity of washing the hands before meat derived some colour of propriety from the divine law, which declared that the person, by touching certain bodies, contracts defilement, from which it could not be freed without certain purifications, to be performed by washing: yet the mind was not defiled by these impurities, except where a command of God had been neglected. The mistake of those who required this practice of purification consisted in this; that they thought the touch of certain bodies was in itself impure, without any divine law to make it so, and that the minds of those persons who had been unknowingly exposed to it were affected with the impurity; and lastly, that the defilement of the mind could be washed away by a rite which God had not commanded, but which they themselves had invented.

3. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by, rather, "for," your tradition?

Before Christ disputes with them the particular tradition which they objected to his disciples, he takes away the foundation upon which their reasoning rested: for they set it down as a certain and infallible maxim, that they were to abide by the opinions of their wise men, without any exception. That they did wrong in

relying upon it, he shews by a most evident example, where the received opinion was directly contrary to the divine law.

4. For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother; and he that curseth, rather, "revileth," father or mother, let him die the death; " let him be put to death."

That the precept of the fifth commandment, "honour thy father and mother," included in it an honourable maintenance, by furnishing them with meat, drink and clothing, was admitted by the most learned of the Hebrews: there was no occasion, therefore, why Christ should take pains to prove this point; but he has very properly added the law delivered in another part of the book of Moses, which imposed the punishment of death upon the child who reviled his parents. See Exod. xxi. 17. For it would appear hence that the law which they had broken was not an insignificant or trifling one, but of such importance, in the estimation of God, that he thought proper to sanction it by capital punishment.

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5. But ye say, or teach, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, i. e. to God, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me,

6. And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free.

The construction of this passage is difficult and obscure. Our translators are obliged to add words which are not in the original, in order to make out the sense. Bishop Pearce translates it thus; "but ye teach Be that by which I might profit thee a gift! then he shall not honour his father or his mother;" and it may be thus paraphrased: "But your doctrine is, a man may say to