should be watchful, and attentive to the bearing of the events which were passing before their eyes, without any distinct announcement of his character and destiny.

Presently we find him (Matt. xiii, 2) surrounded by such multitudes that he has recourse to the expedient of addressing them from a boat, to prevent their pressing too much upon him. His preaching is characterised by a succession of plain and expressive parables, remarkable for the high degree of dignity and authority which they, incidentally, ascribe to himselft, while they call the attention of his hearers to the supreme importance of the expected "Kingdom of Heaven".

t See Matt. xiii, 41 : "The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom," etc.

u While explaining one of these to His more immediate followers He uses expressions which denote, incidentally, the great dangers and difficulties to which their adherence to Him would expose them (Matt. xiii, 21); "For when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended."

Agreeable to this is an expression of His recorded presently afterwards, addressed to one who was desirous of becoming His disciple, but wished first to take leave of his relatives; "And Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke ix, 62.

This fairly announces the difficulty of the undertak

E

After this he is recorded to have caused a miraculous calm on the lake of Galilee, and, when arrived on the other side, to have repressed the wish which a demoniac, whom he is stated to have cured, naturally expressed, that he might accompany him; directing him to make known to his friends at home what had been done for him ". At the desire of the people of the country where this happened, he retires again to the other side, where a multitude awaited him (Mark v, 21; Luke viii, 40); the place where he disembarked being, probably, Capernaum ".

ing. The same is shown by his answer to another, probably a hasty disciple; "And a certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Matt. viii, 19, 20.

His disciples were thus both directly and indirectly warned of the difficulty of the service they undertook.

* This is the only instance which has yet occurred of our Lord's commanding the person healed to proclaim his cure. A reason may perhaps be found in the remoteness of the place from the usual course of His journeyings and preaching.

y The Evangelists often omit to add what they were so habitually acquainted with that it did not occur to them to mention, the name of the city which they designate as our Lord's usual residence (♥ idía módis) 'his own city."

Here, on being questioned by the disciples of John why his disciples, in opposition to the practice of themselves and of the Pharisees, did not observe fasts, he replies in these remarkable words: "Can the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days." Mark ii, 19, 202.

The metaphorical language of this passage has the effect of rendering its meaning less obvious and (so to use the word) obtrusive: while at the same time it perhaps adds force to the prediction, inasmuch as it appears delivered because the event predicted was present to the thoughts of the speaker, and not from any wish to make a strong impression on the minds of those who heard hima.

z I repeat that I do not cite the parallel places when they add nothing to the information, or contain essentially the same with the place quoted.

a The metaphor was perhaps the more intelligible because more than once used by our Lord of Himself. St. Paul has adopted the same; and, what is more to the purpose, it had been employed by John the Baptist with reference to our Lord: "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom," etc.

While here, he is entreated by a ruler of their synagogue to heal his young daughter, whom in consequence he is recorded to have restored to life on which transaction I would only remark, incidentally, that he prefaces the miracle by a declaration which was any thing but ostentatious, and was capable of being understood in a sense inconsistent with the supposition of any thing miraculous, when he says to those who were lamenting her death; "The damsel is not dead but sleepeth "." At the same time, the derision with which this was received on the part of those present, and who had been present at her decease, shows the certainty of her death.

We may observe also that he does not allow any persons to be witnesses of the miracle but the father and the mother of the girl, and his own most immediate disciples.

Lastly, he strictly charges them not to allow it to be made known. Mark v, 43.

I do not cite these particulars because they

b Compare his use of the same characteristic expression on a like occasion: "And after that he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well." John xi, 11, 12.

c Them that were with him;" Mark v, 40. From Luke viii, 51, it appears that these were Peter, James, and John.

evince simplicity and unostentatiousness of conduct (though that might be truly observed of them), but merely because they all evince an avoidance of publicity, and, if I may use the word, of effect, which I would attribute to a final purpose, that of guarding against a too hasty notoriety and popularity, and exposure to danger, not at the time, nor in the place, nor leading to the peculiar manner of death he appears to have designed.

Immediately afterwards, we find that he gives the same injunction of secrecy to two blind persons whom he is stated to have restored to sight:

e

i. e.

The Greek is very strong; éveßpiμńcaτo.

They had addressed Him as "The Son of David," "the Messiah." Our Lord, probably in order to try whether this was a genuine or only a vague expression of belief, questions them, "Whether they believed Him to be able to do for them what they desired?" Observe also that he does not yield to their request at first, or while in public; but after they had followed him into the house. Matt. ix, 27, 28, 29; (compare His conduct in the instance of the daughter of Jairus).

We may remark the great similarity existing between the circumstances of the above transaction and those of the cure of the blind men near Jericho, who in like manner address our Lord by His proper title as the Son of David (though he had been described to them only as Jesus of Nazareth, which implied nothing; Luke xviii, 36, 37; Mark x, 47), yet notwithstanding their