104 The NEW and COMPLETE L IFÈ Of Our BLESSED defert mountain : they faw him afcend to the fummit the foregoing evening, and were very much furprifed that he could not be found ; but having wearied them - felves in an unfuccefsful fearch, they pro- bably concluded, that he had departed in tome boat which belonged to the fea of Tiberius, that had been forced by the dorm to take fhelter in fome creek, at the foot of the mountain. With this expeda- tion, they departed to Capernaum, where they found him in the fynagogue, teaching the people; and, with a mixture of fur- prife and joy, afked him, Rabbi, when came/t thou hither? To this queflion, our great Redeemer anfwered, that they did not follow him becaufe they were con- vinced by his miracles of the truth of his divinity, but becaufe they had been mira- culoufly fed: Verily, verily, I fay unto you, faid he, ye feek me, not becaufe you few the miracles, but becaufe ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Hereby our great Redeemer intimated, that their views in following him, were low, felfifh, and fordid, and far below what might be expelled from the Meffiah's kingdom. Food for the body is of fmall confequence,, when compared with thofe things which promote the welfare of the immortal foul. It was not mere animal food which the Son of God came down from heaven to beftow, but that divine wifdom and grace which would lead the immortal mind in the paths ofeternal happinefs; and, there- fore, he exhorted them not to follow him for common food, but for that meat which endureth to everlafting life. Labour not, Paid he, for the meat whichpereth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlafling life, which the Son of man (hall give unto you : for him hath God the Fatherfealed. The Jews, if they had attentively con- fidered the writings of their prophets, where divine wifdom and knowledge are frequently held forth, under the metaphors of meat and drink, might eafily have un- derftood what our Saviour meant by the meat which endureth unto everlafting life. But their popular notions of a temporal dominion, led them into the idea of Come corporeal food, which the Meffiah would give them to enable them to purfue the defigns, and eflablith the glories- of his, kingdom. It is, therefore, no wonder that this difcoisrfe fo affeSed their minds, that they afked him, what they fhóuld do to erect the Meffiah's kingdom, and obtain that wonderful bread, which, he faid, God had commiffioned him to-beflow; The minds of the Jews were filled with vad conceptionsof the fplendour and glory of the Meffiah's reign, and, as they expelled that CHRIST was about to eftablifh his great empire, doubtlefs, they, imagined he wouldhave given proper direllions for their rifing againft, and oppofing the Roman power, as the fielt flep towards raifing that dominion which had been fo long promifed to their nation. But our great Redeemer, to convince them of their miflake, and inform them what'God really required of them, in order to erell the Meffiah's kingdom, told them, that the way to obtain the favour- of the God of Ifrael, was to believe in the perfon whom he had fent. The Jews were exceedingly offended at this unexpelled anfwer, and feemed determined not to receive CHRIST as their Meffiah, becaufe he declined all means ofeflablifhing a temporal kingdom : as, therefore, he appeared in a character fo contrary to their expectations of the mani- fellation of the Meffiah, they required him to produce 'fome figns, -which might de- monftrate that he was greater than Mofes, or any of the old prophets. As to the miracle of feeding the multitude, they fuppofed, that fuch a pre-eminency 'could not be gathered from thence, becaufe Mofes had fed their whole nation with manna in the wildernefs, which, they infinuated, was a greater miracle than CHRIST'S feeding ten thoufand perfons in the wildernefs. What fign fhewe/t thou then, faid they unto him, that we mayfee, and
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