it by his power. Thou hast wrought this miracle, O Lord, more than once upon my heart: but I believe, I hope, I expect another to be wrought upon my body, when thou shalt reanimate dust and ashes by thy almighty voice, and command the dead to rise and appear before thee. Grant, O Jesus, that I may continually live in this hope, and let it be the constant rule of my conduct and behaviour! 55. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat. When the soul is truly risen again, it may be fed with the holy eucharist, and not before. This is the bread of the living, and not of the dead; and if the dead eat it, it only makes them die the more. When once we shall be raised with that resurrection which will be performed in an instant, we shall then eat in the kingdom of God that bread which is the life thereof, and shall be forever satisfied with that food of our souls which is God himself, as being eternal truth. 56. And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done. By this example, Christ plainly teaches how necessary humility is to those whose labours are directed to the salvation of souls. The more extraordinary the conversions are, the more care they who have been instrumental in them by their ministry ought to take not to ascribe to themselves the honour of them. Christ, who is the truth, has no fear upon his own, but only upon man's, account, who is nothing but vanity; and who is apt so much the more criminally to attribute to himself the works of God, as they are more divine. Let not this poison, Lord, insinuate itself into my heart! CHAPTER IX. SECT. I.-THE MISSION AND POWER OF THE APOSTLES. 1. THEN he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. The call to the ministry, and the application to the exercise of it, are two different graces: we must depend upon Christ for both. A man is often unsuccessful in the functions of the ministry, not for want of a call, but because he chooses and undertakes such a particular function of his own head, and upon other considerations than that of God's glory. The power of absolving is one thing; the gift of moving and converting sinners, by casting out the devil of vice and curing the diseases of the soul, is another. 2. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. A man ought not to labour in the church till he has received (1.) A call; (2.) Power; (3.) Mission; and (4.) Instruction. Our blessed Lord, when he sends his apostles, gives them at the same time means to prove their mission, and by outward miracles to oblige men to look upon them as the ministers of God: it is this which distinguishes them from false apostles, to whom the devil gives a mission without miracles. Christ here gives them the power to work only such miracles as should be beneficial to mankind; to teach them not to act in the spirit of Elias, or in that of the old law, but in the spirit of the Saviour, and of his law, consisting wholly of gentleness and love. He does not give them the power to make rich, but to restore health, which is a blessing more natural, innocent, and common to all than riches. 3. And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. The mission and poverty of the apostles is the pattern of that of missionaries. Those who preach up the love of eternal possessions, and an indifference to all perishing enjoyments, ought to do it by their life and conversation. Men will never be able to establish the kingdom of God in the hearts of people, so long as they do not appear fully persuaded themselves of those truths which they preach. And how can they appear to be so, if they plainly contradict them in their practice and behaviour? In order to persuade others to be unconcerned for superfluities, a man must not himself appear too much concerned even about necessaries. 4. And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. A minister ought to be very careful not to wander from house to house upon human motives. If he have the spirit. of evangelical poverty, he will think himself well everywhere. The love of the conveniences of life is a great hinderance to the work of God in a missionary or a minister of the gospel; because the poor, who cannot accommodate him with them, are those with whom there is most to be done in the business of salvation; and the rich, who enjoy them, are more likely to inspire into a minister an affection for them, than he is to wean those from them. 5. And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them. How extremely dangerous is it not to receive the blessing which offers and presents itself to us! Though we do not dishonour the ministers of the truth in the very manner here set down, yet we do it, perhaps, in several others which are criminal. Is it nothing, think we, to decry them by calumnies, to cause them to be driven away and persecuted out of envy, to represent their doctrine as false and corrupt, to render them useless in any manner whatever, and to hinder the fruit of the divine word in their mouth? Alas, who can express what damage is hereby done to the church, and what crimes a man thus renders himself either directly guilty of, or in some measure accountable for ! 6. And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where. They who would imitate Christ, must seek rather to instruct the poor than the rich, and join, as much as they are able, bodily relief with spiritual instruction. O wonderful goodness of our blessed Saviour, to be the Saviour of bodies. as well as of souls! Hereby he makes it evident that he came to reform the whole man, corrupted by sin in the outward man as well as in the inward. If ever such miracles were wrought by any others besides Christ and his servants, let his religion and doctrine be taken for a mere human invention; but let it be owned by all for the true religion, if it be a thing unheard of, that men should cure, not only some particular person by choice, but all manner of sick persons without distinction. 7. Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: und he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead; Ambition and a bad conscience are endless causes of perplexities and disquiets. There is a very great difference between knowing all that was done by Christ, and knowing it after a saving manner. Herod was extremely well informed of all, because he needed only eyes and ears to be so; but he was not in the least changed or altered thereby, because no man knoweth the Son to any benefit or advantage, but only he to whom the Father has been pleased to reveal him. Thou hast vouchsafed, O my God, to reveal to me this Son, in whom is my salvation and eternal life; but cease not, I beseech thee, to reveal him to my heart, lest it should know him only unprofitably. 8. And of some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again. 9. And Herod said, John have I beheaded; but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him. Let us admire how fruitful in false notions of religion the mind of man is when it is not enlightened of God. Natural curiosity, with respect to men of God, produces nothing of itself toward salvation. It is instrumental thereto when God designs it for that purpose, as in Zaccheus; it is prejudicial when men have not grace to make a good use of it, as in the case of Herod. The death of John, in which Herod's veneration for him terminated, the design of this tyrant upon the life of Christ, and the scorn he made of him at the time of his passion, are the works which make it evidently appear from what principle this desire to see Christ proceeded. What an example is this for the great! SECT. II.-THE RETURN AND RETIREMENT OF THE APOSTLES. -THE MIRACLE OF THE FIVE LOAVES. 10. And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. Ministers, after the evangelical labours, ought, (1.) To give an account thereof to the prelates. (2.) To recollect them selves in retirement with Christ. (3.) To interrupt sometimes the course of their instructions, on purpose to make them the more desired. See here the pattern of a bishop, intent on forming under his eyes the subordinate pastors, and who is wont to retreat with them from time to time in that retirement, to reform whatever they may find amiss in themselves, by prayer, by paternal instructions, by private conferences, and by examining the maxims which they follow, the conduct which they observe, and the faults to which they are subject in the administration of the sacraments, in preaching, in catechetical lectures, etc. 11. And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. This is the pattern Observe here four effects of the goodness of Christ: (1.) He receives those well who seek him. (2.) He instructs them. (3.) He heals them. (4.) He feeds them. of the four chief duties of a good pastor. his charity has so far gained the hearts of his sheep that they themselves seek him who should seek them. More happy still, if he instructs them with so much care and blessing that he sees the fruit thereof in the cure of their souls. But most happy of all, if he has nothing more to do than only to feed them in the desert of this life, till they come to be satisfied "in their own country. 12. And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals; for we are here in a desert place. God would have men sensible of human weakness, before he exercises his divine power. We can want nothing when we have Jesus Christ; much less, if we have forsaken all to seek him in retirement. It is a counsel merely human, to advise a man to leave the safety and sweetness of solitude on purpose to seek in the world a subsistence, which is never wanting but to those who are themselves wanting in fidelity to their state and condition, in trust to the providence of God, and in affection toward Jesus Christ. There is no barren |