[Though he had withdrawn from them, they concluded that he would follow his Disciples ; and therefore they followed him, though with much difficulty, and to a great distance, in the confidence that he would supply their every want. Herein also they erred, because they sought only " the meat which perisheth:" but if you will seek of him the meat that endureth unto everlasting life, he assures you, that he will give it to the utmost extent of your necessities ; for that " God the Father has sealed" him to this very office s. You see how he supplied thousands of persons with food : and can he not equally supply your wants, though they should be ever so numerous ? He can ; he will. He has all fulness treasured up in him for that very end. " He is ascended up above all heavens, that he may fill all things^" Indeed, by the ministry of his word, he is working this miracle yet daily. How many does he nourish and strengthen by the bread of life that we dispense ! Know, then, that he will not commit this ministration to us in vain, as it respects you : for God has said, He will "supply all your need out of his riches in glory by Christ Jesus1."]
b ver. 27. h Eph. iv. 10. i Phil. iv. 19.
iMDCXXXVI.
John vi. 27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, ivhich the Son of Man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
OUR blessed Lord never failed to improve any occasion that was afforded him of doing good to the souls of men. His labours collected people from every quarter ; and sometimes they must actually have fainted by the way, if he had not interposed by miracle to supply their necessities. But these very exertions of his, in administering to their temporal wants, were made an occasion of fostering in many their favourite sentiment, that he was come to ac- complish for them a temporal deliverance. He had just " fed five thousand men with five loaves and two small fishes:" and we are told that, in order to prevent their " taking him by force to make him a