and api^ointed, and commissioned by God tlie Father for this very purpose. Like Joseph in the Egyptian famine, it is His office to be the Friend, and Almoner, and Reliever of a sinful world. He is far more willing to give than man is to receive. The more sinners apply to Him, the better ]Ie is pleased.
And now, as we leave this rich passage, let us ask our- selves, what use we make of it ? For what are we labour- ing ourselves ? What do we know of lasting food and satisfaction for our inward man? Never let us rest till we have eaten of the meat which Christ alone can give. They that are content with any other spiritual food will sooner or later "lie down in sorrow." (Isa. 1. 11.)
Notes. John YI. 22—27.
22. — {The day following, etc^ In this, and the three following verses, we have an instance of the extreme minuteness with whicli St. John describes all the particulars connected with any of the miracles of our Lord which he records, — Here, for exam- ple, he tells us that our Lord's remaining behind, and not accom- panying His disciples when they went into the boat, was observed by the multitude; and that nevertheless they could not find our Lord the next morning, and were puzzled to account for His being found at Capernaum when they got there. — All these little things help to prove that the circumstances of our Lord's joining the disciples was something miraculous, and c n- not be explained away, as some rationalists pretend to say. In particular^ the question, " When camest thou hither? " (ver. 25) is plain evidence that the multitude did not think it possible for our Lord to have walked along the shore, as some modern writ- ers suggest, and did not understand how He got to Capernaum except in a boat.
In each of the seven great miracles recorded by St. John, this fulness and minuteness is very noticeable. Had he been inspired to relate as many miracles as we find in Matthew and Mark, his Gospel would have been fifty chapters, instead of twenty-one. Writing long after the other Gospel writers, and at a time when many who witnessed our Lord's miracles were dead, there was a fitness and wisdom in his supplying the abundant particulars which characterize his descriptions.
\^The people luhich stood on the other side of the sea.] Thia