the devil, and he will flee from you." Angels came.-Yes; God did give his angels charge concerning him. Their aid was patiently waited for, and then faithfully supplied. Adam fell in Paradise and turned it into a wilderness; Christ conquered in a wilderness, and turned it into paradise. And ministered unto him,-brought him a supply of food, and gave him their services. Ps. xxxvii. 3. Thus also a timely and suitable supply of divine strength and consolation may be to ourselves the consequence of a persevering and successful struggle against temptation. Let us trust in the Captain of our salvation, and may we conquer in his strength! HYMN. I hate the Tempter and his charms, He feeds our hopes with airy dreams, Now he persuades "How easy 'tis By mischief and deceit, Ye sons of God! oppose his rage; WATTS. § XIII. CHAP. IV. 12-25. Christ dwelleth in Capernaum: beginneth to preach; calleth Peter and Andrew, James and John, and healeth all the diseased. 12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was || cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; 13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15 *The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16 'The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. Follow me, and I will make fishers of men. you 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. 23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, 'teaching in their synagogues, and preaching "the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan. i Mark i. 14. Luke iii. 20, & iv. 14, 31. John iv. 43. || Or, delivered up. A. D. 31.-k Is. ix. 1, 2.—/ Is. xlii. 7. Luke ii. 32.-m Mark i. 14, 15. n ch. iii. 2. & x. 7. -o Mark i. 16, 17, 18. Luke v. 2. p John i. 42.q Luke v. 10, 11.- Mark x. 28. Luke xviii. 28.-s Mark i. 19, 20. Luke v. 10.-t ch. 9. 35. Mark i. 21, 39. Luke iv. 15, 44. u ch. xxiv. 14. Mark i. 14. * Mark i. 34.-y Mark iii. 7. Theophilus. It is said that Capernaum was upon the sea-coast; but it is not marked as a maritime town in the maps. Reader. "Upon the sea-coast" means here "on the borders of the lake of Gennesaret," otherwise called the sea of Galilee or of Tiberias. This lake was about fifteen miles long, and from six to nine wide. It is often mentioned in the New Testament. Upper Galilee is here called Galilee of the Gentiles, because it bordered on heathen countries, and because a great number of Phenicians, Egyptians, and other foreigners had settled there. Theophilus. How do the expressions "by the way of the sea" and "beyond Jordan" agree together? Reader, "By the way of the sea," i.e. to the west of the lake of Gennesaret, towards the Mediterranean; "beyond Jordan," i.e. to the east of that river and the lake; so that the expressions, taken together, denote the whole neighbourhood of the lake, east and west. Others read "along the banks of Jordan" instead of "beyond Jordan." The prophecy here quoted is from the ninth chapter of Isaiah. In its primary sense, it related to deliverance from the army of Sennacherib. St. Matthew points out its farther application to the spiritual blessings attendant on the presence and preaching of Christ, in which these words. received their complete fulfilment. It is said that our Lord preached in their synagogues. I suppose you know what the synagogues were. Theophilus. Places of worship among the Jews, in which the Law and the Prophets were read and expounded, and prayer was offered up every Sabbath. The services were under the presidency of certain superintendents, who frequently invited different members of the congregation, especially strangers, to expound the Scriptures, and to address the people on religious subjects. Reader. Mention is made in verse 24 of" persons possessed with devils" or demons. Read a passage to which I point, describing the case of these unhappy persons, to whom frequent allusion is made in the New Testament. Theophilus. They were "persons under the influence of evil spirits, who had complete possession of their faculties, and produced many symptoms of disease not unlike melancholy, madness, and epilepsy. Christ and the Apostles spoke to them and of them, as such; they addressed them, and managed them precisely as if they were so possessed, leaving their hearers to infer beyond a doubt that such was their real opinion. The evil spirits spoke, conversed, asked questions, gave answers, and expressed their knowledge of Christ, and their fear of him; Mat. viii. 28; Luke viii. 27. They are represented as going out of the bodies of the persons possessed, and entering the bodies of others; Mat. viii. 32. Jesus threatened them, commanded them to be silent, to depart, and not to return; Mark i. 25; v. 8; ix. 25. This could not be said of diseases. Nor is there any absurdity in the opinion that those persons were really under the influence of demons. It is no more absurd to suppose that an angel, or many angels, should have fallen and become wicked, than that so many men should. It afforded an opportunity for Christ to show his power over the enemies of himself and of man, and thus to evince himself qualified to meet every enemy of the race, and triumphantly to redeem his people." He came to destroy the power of Satan; Acts xxvi. 18; Rom. xvi. 20. READER. We may learn much from successive portions of this passage. Leaving Nazareth,-from which place our Lord was, in fact, rudely thrust out. Luke iv. 29.-God justly withdraws the means of grace from those who continue to slight and reject them; although, in his mercy, he often pleads long with such miserable offenders. Christ left Nazareth, even the town in which he had been brought up. Let us give him a welcome in our hearts, and he will never leave us nor forsake us.-O God, make clean our hearts within us, and take not thy Holy Spirit from us! He came and dwelt in Capernaum ; i.e. he made that town his principal place of resort. If some men refuse to entertain Christ and his Gospel, others will receive himself and his blessings with open and thankful hearts. The people which sat in darkness.— Sad and dangerous was the temporal condition of that people, before God sent them the deliverance of which Isaiah speaks. Still worse was their spiritual condition when our Lord began his ministry among them. All men, by nature, are in darkness; nay, they are sitting in darkness, like the Egyptians of old, of whom it is said that none moved from his place by reason of the plague which wrapped them in impenetrable gloom. To be without the knowledge of God, to be deprived of his favour, and to be destitute of any means of obtaining either the one or the other, is indeed to be enveloped in thick darkness, which may be felt. Such is the benighted and woful condition of every man by nature, in this fallen and apostate world.-But, it is added, that they enlivening, reviving and cheering the souls of those who entertain it, how great soever their outward darkness and distress may be." Well may the language of this verse be applied to ourselves, as the inhabitants of a country once heathen, ignorant, and barbarous! How grievous is the case of those among us, and how great will be their condemnation, who sit in darkness even while the light of the Gospel is shining clearly around them! Let not such misery and guilt be our own. We have the light, and well may we rejoice in the light which we possess; but let us remember that it is also our solemn duty to walk as children. of light! (See John i. 5; 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4). Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.-Repentance is a demand made by Christ, as well as by his forerunner. And our Lord not only gives a call to repentance, but also bestows power to repent and turn to God. Acts v. 31. He saith unto them, Follow me.— These were poor, illiterate fishermen, whom Christ called to be his disciples and preachers of the Gospel; thus choosing "the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." See 1 Cor. i. 26-29. Hence the divine power by which the Gospel was established in the world was rendered the more remarkable. But this is no warrant for the employment of men ignorant of Scripture, and of things necessary for the right understanding of Scripture, as preachers of the Gospel in our day. Matthew Henry says very truly, | lowers before we are his ambas "This will not justify the bold intrusion of ignorant and unqualified men into the work of the ministry; extraordinary gifts of knowledge and utterance are not now to be expected, but requisite abilities must be obtained in an ordinary way; and without a competent measure of these, none are to be admitted to that service." Follow me.-These disciples had already become acquainted with Jesus; but now they are called to devote themselves entirely to give attendance on his sacred person, and to perform the work which he should assign to them.-"Even those who have been called to follow Christ have need to be called to follow on, and to follow nearer; especially when they are designed for the work of the ministry." They must follow him in the way of faith, and in the exercise of patience, humility, self-denial, and all other graces of the Spirit. I will make you fishers of men.— "It is Christ that qualifies men for this work, calls them to it, authorises them in it, and gives them success in it." The call and teaching of the Spirit within the heart, as well as an outward call and designation by the church, are needful to make a good and faithful minister of Christ. Fishers of men.-How beautifully characteristic are these words of the real nature and effect of the ministerial office! See 2 Cor. xii. 14-19. "We must be Christ's disciples," says a pious commentator, "before his ministers; his fol we are sadors. We must learn Christ before we preach him; otherwise we may fish for a livelihood, for honour and applause, but not for souls; if we be not first enclosed ourselves in the net of the Gospel, we can have but small hopes of bringing in others." But when Christ's ministers faithfully preach the Gospel, in sincerity, humility, and love, they have many encouraging reasons to hope that their labour "will not be in vain in the Lord." Still, however, the blessing and success must be derived from Christ himself. "Our labour," says Bishop Hall, " is only in the cast, Christ's power wholly in the draught. Some fish cleave to the rocks, others play upon the sands, and more wallow in the mud; and we shall labour all our days and catch nothing, if Christ doth not bring our fish to the net, and enclose them in it, as well as assist us in the throwing of it." Let us pray that it may please God to give his grace and benediction to Christian ministers, that both by their life and doctrine they may set forth his glory, and set forward the salvation of all men. They left their nets-left their ship and their father, and followed him.Observe here the power of the Lord Jesus, and the efficacy of his word.Consider the obedience of his disciples, as an act of faith, resembling that of their father Abraham; Heb. xi. 8.-And remember also, that "those who would follow Christ aright, must leave all to follow him. Every Christian must leave all in |