them in an unguarded state when they came to assault it; or they would assuredly have found it impossible to effect their purpose. Take notice that they looked for resistance. Only one unclean spirit had been expelled; but eight, (and seven were more wicked' than the other,) were employed to recover the lost habitation. They entered in,'-perhaps by surprise; perhaps by violence. We are not told how. What is certain, they did not meet with the resistance they expected. The 'good man' cannot have been 'watching. There must have been a want of vigilance and Prayer. He had forgotten to 'watch and pray,' or this terrible result could never have been effected.

A terrible result, truly! inasmuch as the last state of him who so relapses into Sin, is worse than the first.' For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.?... And

St. Matth. xxiv. 43.

с

2 St. Pet. ii. 20, 21.

this is the end of the matter; it is the threat, as it were, which follows the warning; the penalty which attends the violation of the Divine Law!

Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall!' Every advance in Holiness does but provoke the Enemy's malice; every successful effort to expel the plague of our own hearte, is but a challenge to the Adversary to come on. Our truest strength is to know ourselves weak. Our best confidence is to cherish godly fear. He is our only Hope, who hath promised to be our refuge and fortress';' but who, in the meanwhile, commands that our habit shall be Watchfulness: our weapon, Prayer.

d 1 Cor. x, 12.

1 Kings viii. 38.

f Ps. xci. 2.

The Fourth Sunday in Lent.

THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND WHEN THE PASSOVER WAS NIGH.

ST. JOHN vi. 4-6.

And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When JESUS then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this He said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do.

THESE words will be recognised as forming part of this day's Gospel. They are found in a very striking narrative, namely, the miraculous. feeding of the Five Thousand. St. John relates that our SAVIOUR had crossed the Sea of Galilee: that a great multitude 'followed Him, because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased;' and that, having gone up into a mountain, He sat there with His Disciples.' It was evening. When JESUS then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this He

said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do.'

The

Our LORD addressed these words to Philip, because He desired to arouse that Disciple to a sense of His Divinity. Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip ?' were His words, a year after, to the same favoured follower. Philip remarked that as much bread as two hundred pence would buy,-(all their store of money, probably,)— would not suffice to feed so great a multitude. Our LORD inquired how many loaves the Disciples had. A little boy, it was answered, had five barley loaves and two small fishes. command was given to make the men sit down. They did so, on the green grass, in parties of a hundred and of fifty. Our LORD then lifted up His eyes to Heaven, gave thanks, and brake. To each of the Twelve, He then delivered a portion; and lo, it was found that the Creator's Hands had endued that Bread with unheard-of power of growth! those fishes, with mysterious power to increase and multiply! The Apostles brake, and gave away; but the fragment that remained was not less than it was before. fresh piece had grown where there had been a

St. John xiv. 9.

A

piece removed: and thus, as they went about from company to company, they discovered to their amazement that Creative Power had impressed upon those wondrous morsels the faculty of self-production and endless increase. All did eat, and all were filled; and, O wonder! there remained in the end more than had been in the beginning. Every Apostle filled his basket with the fragments that abounded; so that twelve baskets-full were taken up. Then these men, when they had seen the miracle that JESUS did, said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the World!' They meant to say that our SAVIOUR must surely be, (as He surely was,) the Prophet whom Moses had foretold as hereafter to be raised up like unto himself. Moses had fed the people in the Wilderness: CHRIST had done the like. He was, of a truth, that Prophet that should come into the World!'

And now, what is the teaching of this wondrous incident?-It sets forth, beyond a doubt, and in the most lively manner, the benefits of the great Sacrifice which CHRIST Himself was to offer shortly upon the Cross. This becomes clearer, when it is stated that on three out of

Deut. xviii. 15.