wont to forbid; but the injudicious, irregular, indiscriminate publication of them. What he laboured to prevent was the casting of his pearls before swine, the scattering of his good seed where there was no soil. Such a mission as this of the apostles, divided into six parties, might have been requisite in order to give an opportunity to men everywhere of hearing the offer of salvation, of witnessing the miraculous testimony of its being from God, and thus of becoming his disciples. The apostles, in fulfilling this mission, were, no doubt, to exercise a discrimination not less strict than that which the Lord observed in his own ministry.

Another very important object, however, presents itself, as connected with this mission of the apostles, during his lifetime. It might have been designed to give them a foretaste and experimental proof of his spiritual presence, support, and guidance of them, when, after his ascension, they should be permanently separated from his presence in the flesh; even as Moses and Aaron, in their mission to Pharaoh, went through a probation, and acquired a practical assurance of God's miraculous assistance, before they were called on to undertake the adventurous task of conducting the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness. No situation is conceivable which would more require a provision of this sort-a confidence founded on actual experience of support and guidance by their unseen Lord-than the situation of the apostles, when called on to begin their ministry, after

that he had ceased to be manifested in the flesh. It is true, that the miraculous strengthening of the promised Comforter might (as we suppose) have been made sufficient to supersede the need of all this precaution; but it is equally true, that this assistance does not, in the course of their ministry, seem to have been designed to supersede the acquirement, by ordinary means, of qualifications for their duty; but only to accomplish that for which such qualifications were inadequate.

The whole arrangement of the embassy on which the apostles were now sent, favours this view. Every circumstance was so ordered, as to awaken in them, throughout this journey, a sense of miraculous support from their absent Master. They were to take no provision-no clothes-to claim shelter and hospitality without scrip or purse-to heal the sick, and to cast out devils. When the period approached, too, for the final separation, for which they had been thus prepared, he reminds them of all this, in order that the effect intended by it might not be lost on them: 'When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything?'*

The cure of the sick seems, from this account, to have been performed through the ceremony of anointing. It gave rise to the practice of anointing the dying, observed in the Romish Church-a practice which is now superstitious, because the miraculous

*Luke xxii. 35.

efficacy attached to it, for a time, by divine appointment, has manifestly been withdrawn.

:

DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Ver. 14-29.

And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad :)—and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets. But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded he is risen from the dead. For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee; and when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to

the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.

In so concise a history as that of each Evangelist, we are led to expect no more account of John the Baptist than has reference to Jesus and his Gospel. Accordingly, the mention of John is occasional, and forms nothing like a connected narrative. He is only introduced to our notice as proclaiming the Lord's approach, baptizing him, and bearing testimony to him.

The more detailed narrative of his birth, and here also of his death, is no exception to the rule which probably guided the sacred penmen in selecting their notices of him. They record minutely not only the circumstances of his birth and parentage, but of his death; as if in contrast with the corresponding portions of the history of Christ. In our Lord's case, each of these periods had been especially marked by the finger of prophecy; and it might have been expedient, not only to testify that these prophecies had been fulfilled in Jesus; but also, that they had not been fulfilled in the other great personage who appeared with him, and whose appearance had occasioned in some a surmise that he was the Messiah.* In accordance with this supposition, St. Luke, who details the circumstances of our Lord's birth and parentage, relates also the birth and parentage of

*John i. 19.

John, whilst St. Mark, whose Gospel contains the narrative of the crucifixion, but not that of the nativity and parentage of the Saviour, records the death only of John.

JESUS FEEDS FIVE THOUSAND PERSONS WITH FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISHES.

Ver. 30-44.

And the Apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things. And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed: send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat. He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they