ability of Christ to supply to the uttermost every want of human nature, is the very comer-stone of Christianity. Christ, in one word, is " all." (Coloss. iii. 11.) Let the study of every miracle help to engrave this truth deeply on our hearts.
We should notice, thirdly, in these verses, our Lord's practice of occasional retirement from public notice into some solitary place. We read, that after healing many that were sick and casting out many devils, ''he departed and went into a desert place." His object in so doing is shown by comparison with other places in the Gospels. He went aside from His work for a season, to hold communion with His Father in heaven, and to pray. Holy and sinless as His human nature was, it was a nature kept sinless in the regular use of means of grace, and not in the neglect of them.
There is an example here which all who desire to grow in grace and walk closely with God would do well to follow. We must make time for private meditation, and for being alone with God. It must not content us to pray daily and read the Scriptures, — to hear the Gospel regularly and to receive the Lord's Supper. All this is well. But something more is needed. We should set apart special seasons for solitary self-examination and meditation on the things of God. How often in a year this practice should be attempted each Christian must judge for himself. But that the practice is most desirable seems clear both from Scripture and experience. We, live in hurrying bustling times. The excitement of daily business and constant engagements keeps many men in a perpetual whirl, and entails great peril on souls. The
128 . EXPOSITORY THOtTGHTS.
neglect of this habit of withdrawing occasionally from worldly business is the probable cause of many an incon- sistency or backsliding which brings scandal on the cause of Christ. The more work we have to do the more we ought to imitate our Master. If He, in the midst of His abundant labours, found time to retire from the world occasionally, how much more may we P If the Master found the practice necessary, it must surely be a thousand times more necessary for His disciples.
We ought to notice, lastly, in these verses, the declaration of our Lord as to one of the objects of Sis coming into the fcorld. We read that He said, " I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also : for therefore was I sent."
An expression like this ought tq silence for ever the foolish remarks that are sometimes made against preach- ing. The mere fact that the eternal Son of God under- took the office of a preacher, should satisfy us that preaching is one of the most valuable means of grace. To speak of preaching, as some do, as a thing of less importance than reading public prayers or administering the sacraments, is, to say the least, to exhibit ignorance of Scripture. It is a striking circumstance in our Lord's history, that although He was almost incessantly preach- ing, we never read of His baptizing any person. The wit- ness of John is distinct on this point : " Jesus baptized not." (Johniv. 2.)
Let us beware of despising preaching. In every age of the Church, it has been Gods's principal instrument for the awakening of sinners and the edifying of saints. The days when there has been little or no preaching have been days when there has been Httlo or no good