table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, 28 great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the 29 Sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, having with 30 them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others; and cast them down at Jesus's feet, and he healed them; insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw 31 the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see; and they glorified the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have 32 compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. And his disci- 33 ples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude? saith unto them, How many loaves have ye ? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. And he commanded the multi- 35 tude to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves 36

after him still, and beseeching him to help her, though he answered her not a word; the entreaty of the disciples that he would send her away, and his reply to them "that he is not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;" all these things, instead of discouraging her, only leading her to prostrate herself before him, and calling out from her a more affecting appeal to him for help; every one of the particulars is worthy of attention, and may furnish an instructive lesson. Such persistency in asking, and yet such submissiveness; such earnestness, and yet such reverence and delicacy, are rarely combined, and they furnish a beautiful type of Christian character. We see here as elsewhere how the miracle is subordinated to its higher influences and teachings. 30. And great multitudes] Jesus Jesus returns to Galilee, and is encompassed again by multitudes of people. To those who travel in that region now, it is a matter of wonder

And Jesus 34

where such crowds could have come
from. But according to Josephus
(See Milman's Hist. of Christianity,
Bk. I. Chap. IV.) the whole province
of Galilee was at that time crowded
with flourishing towns and cities,
beyond almost any other region of
the world. According to his state-
ments, "the number of towns, and
the population of Galilee, in a dis-
trict of between fifty and sixty
miles in length, and between sixty
and seventy in breadth, was
less than 204 cities and villages, the
least of which contained 15,000
souls." This would make, for the
whole province, a population of
more than three millions. There is
some reason, we think, to question
the exactness of the large numerical
statements which are found in
ancient writers; but after all rea-
sonable deductions have been made
from this account, there will still
remain a population sufficiently
dense to confirm the Gospel nar-
ratives in regard to the ease with
which large multitudes were col-

and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to 37 his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did

all eat, and were filled; and they took up of the broken meat 38 that was left seven baskets full. And they that did eat were 39 four thousand men, beside women and children. And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.

39.

lected in that region.
Magdala] In Tischendorf's edi-
tion, this is Magadan. "As Herodo-
tus (II. 159) turns Megiddo into

Magdalum, so some MSS., in Matt.
xv. 39, turn Magdala into Maga-
dan."
dan." Stanley. In the Curetonian
Syriac Gospels it is Magadun.

CHAPTER XVI.

1-4.- A SIGN FROM HEAVEN.

1-4. THE Pharisees and Sadducees demand a sign from heaven. They had witnessed his miracles, but wished for something more. “In the Jewish superstition," says Alford, "it was held that demons and false gods could give signs on earth, but only the true God, signs from heaven." "And thus we find that, immediately after the first miraculous feeding, the same demand was made, (John vi. 30,) and answered by the declaration of our Lord, that He was the true bread from heaven." Reference to the same habit of the Jewish mind is found in 1 Cor. i. 22, “The Jews demand signs, and the Greeks seek for wisdom." It probably was at the close of the day when the demand for a sign from heaven was made of Jesus, and the sunset glow of the heavens suggested his answer. For the Jews, according to Lightfoot, were curious in observing the seasons, and in foretelling the state of the weather. They asked of him a sign from heaven. He replies, looking probably to the western sky, "It being now evening, ye say, It will be fair, for the sky is red; and, in the morning, ye say, there will be a storm, for the sky is red and lowering. Ye know how to distinguish the aspects of the sky, and can ye not also understand the signs of the times." As if he had said: "It is your business to understand things spiritual and divine. You profess to be the moral and religious teachers of this people. And here you are asking a sign from heaven. But how is it that ye do not understand the signs which are actually given? You know how to foretell the state of the

weather from the aspect of the sky, and can ye not, in the miracles which I have wrought, and the truths which I have been teaching, and the new life that I am awakening, see the signs of the times? Can ye not see in them the signs of a new era, of a purer and higher kingdom to be established on earth? If your minds were open to spiritual, as your eyes are to material things, you would see all around you manifest indications of the changes that I am to introduce."

5-13. The noticeable fact here is the extreme slowness of spiritual apprehension which is manifested by the disciples, especially when their perplexity here about bread is compared with the specific instructions on that point which had just been given to them, (xv. 11,) and repeated with an explanation, (xv. 17- 20,) which could not be misunderstood.

13-18.-ON THIS ROCK I BUILD MY CHURCH.

The above conversation took place on the vessel as they were crossing the lake. They arrived at Bethsaida on the northeast corner of the lake, and in passing from that city to Cæsarea Philippi, which lies far to the north, near Mount Hermon, the remaining incidents recorded in this chapter took place.

Who do men say that I the Son of man am? They reply, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and some Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. These different views prevailing at that time show the vague, but at the same time the active and wide-spread expectations of the time. The reply of Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," is the first distinct declaration of faith on the part of the disciples. Jesus excepts this one article of faith as containing the true idea of his office, and the foundation of his Church. "Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonah, because Faflesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my ther who is in the heavens. And I say unto thee that thou

art a rock (Peter means rock), and on this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of death (Hades, not Gehenna) shall not prevail against it.”

There are two explanations of this passage. According to one, Peter is identified with the declaration which he has just made, as the person hearing the word is identified with what he hears (xiii. 20.) When Jesus therefore says, “Thou art a rock, and on this rock will I build my Church," he means that this confession of faith in him as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, is the foundation on which his Church is to be built. According to the other explanation, Peter himself, as the foremost of the disciples, and the first to recognize from the teachings of Jesus this essential truth, is the stone or pillar on which his Church is to be built. "He was," says Alford, "the first of those foundation-stones (Eph. ii. 20, Rev. xxi. 14,) on which the living temple of God was built: this building itself beginning on the day of Pentecost by the laying of three thousand living stones on this very foundation." For this sort of reference to the pillars and stones of the spiritual building see 1 Peter ii. 4-6, 1 Tim. iii. 15, Gal. ii. 9, Eph. ii. 20, Rev. iii. 12.

19.— THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

In verse 19 the figure is changed. "I give to thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” The kingdom of Heaven is, 1. The religion of Jesus, with its Divine influences, entering the individual soul, and establishing its dominion over it. 2. When it has entered different souls and united them under its authority into a community, it becomes an outward institution or kingdom, receiving or rejecting men according to its influence over them individually. 3. But the kingdom of Heaven does not fulfil and complete its work here on the earth. When those who have