Matthew 14

Let us not presume on our own strength. When Peter cried to Christ on the water, Lord save me, then Christ took him by the hand (Matthew 14:30), but when he grew confident of his own strength, then Christ let him fall. O pray to God for auxiliary grace.

For among all men none are more maligned and hated than those that profess Christ: and for none other cause, but because they profess Christ. And upon this the very profession of religion is laden with nicknames and reproachful terms by all sorts of men (Matthew 26:59; Matthew 1…

That this reason may be of force, two things must be proved: first that true faith is a certain assurance of God's mercy to that party in whom it is. Secondly that faith is a particular assurance thereof. For the first, that faith is a certain assurance, Christ says to Peter (Ma…

But yet he so carried on his public work as not to forget his own private communion with God. Therefore you read in Matthew 14:23 that when he had been laboring all day, yet after that he went up to a mountain alone to pray. O let the keepers of the vineyards look to their own v…

God's heart was so full, that he could not hold from expressing it in the largest favors and grants. And whereas kings upon their own birthdays use to grant such favors to their favorites: So Herod on his birthday to the daughter of Herodias, promised with an oath to give her wh…

And fourthly, faith had need be increased, in respect of the acts, the proper acts of faith, which are chiefly persuasion and trust upon the name of Christ, and those heavenly truths, in which the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed, and graciously dispensed to the hearts of his peopl…

1. For height, though God hears us everywhere, wherever we lift up pure hands without wrath and doubting, yet a mountain is not altogether disagreeable to this duty; it is good to be as near heaven as we can, I am sure it is good to get up the heart there. We have a freer prospe…

He can make a little means go far. As he blessed the pulse to the captive children (Daniel 1:15), and made the widow's barrel of meal, and cruse of oil to hold out (1 Kings 17:14), and his filling and feeding five thousand with a few barley loaves, and a few fishes (Matthew 14:2…

Luke 3:19. Now Herod the tetrarch. Luke alone explains the reason why Herod threw John into prison: though we shall afterwards find it mentioned by Matthew 14:3, and Mark 6:17. Josephus says, (Antiquities 18, 5, 2,) that Herod, dreading a popular insurrection and a change of the…

Matthew 14:1-2 1. At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,

Matthew 14:13-21 13. When Jesus heard this, he departed thence to a ship to a desert place apart; and when the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot out of the cities.

Matthew 14:22-33. 22. And immediately Jesus constrained his disciples to embark, and to go before him to the opposite bank, till he had sent away the multitudes.

Matthew 14:3-12 3. For Herod had seized John, and bound him, and put him in prison, on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.

Matthew 14:34-36 34. And when they had passed over, they came into the country of Gennesareth.

In ancient times (and the custom in some places remains to this day) great men and princes kept the memory of their birth-days with feasting and triumph. Thus we read, (Genesis 40:20) And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birth-day, that he made a feast to all h…

This were to be wanton with Scripture. The literal sense is not to be left without necessity, nor yet pressed too literally, as if prayer should be confined to a chamber and closet: Christ prayed in the mountain (Matthew 14:23) and, (Genesis 24:63) Isaac went into the field to m…

Be not over-confident, nor over-diffident, in an hour when God casts us upon trying times. Not over-confident, in casting yourselves upon needless troubles without cause: (Matthew 14:28) Peter said, Lord, if it be you, bid me come to you on the water. Peter thought he could do a…

Or that there be three days pestilence in the land? John Baptist to Herod (Matthew 14:4): It is not lawful for you to have her. Jehu to Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17:2): Should you help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?

2. The Lord Christ is a Savior throughout, a perfect and complete mediator; he has not shed his blood by halves, nor satisfied the justice of God, and redeemed sinners by halves; no, but he went through with his undertakings, he bore all our sins, and shed all his blood, he died…

And thus plainly John the Baptist who had the same Spirit dealt with Herod. He does not beat the bush, and go behind the door to tell him his faults, and mince the matter with some intimations, but he speaks out (Matthew 14:4): It is not lawful for you to have your brother Phili…

No more had he been, but that he vexed and troubled his own righteous soul, because he was driven to a daily consideration of them which cut him to the quick. The word is observable, it signifies to try by a touch-stone, and to examine, and then upon search to bring the soul upo…

They are like the church of Philadelphia which had a little strength (Revelation 3:8) — so they have a little faith, a spark of love. Christ chides a little faith (Matthew 14:31); Christians should increase with the increase of God (Colossians 2:19). The apostle prays for the Ph…

If Heathens be damned, Hypocrites shall be double-damned. Hell is called the place of Hypocrites, (Matthew 14:5). 1. As if it were chiefly prepared for them, and were to be settled upon them in fe[illegible]simple.

Whereas they object that Christ came out of the Sepulcher being shut: and entered in among the disciples, the doors being shut: that makes never a whit more for maintenance of their error. For as the water like a fast pavement made a way to Christ walking upon the lake: so it is…

1. Meditation is the soul's retiring of itself; a Christian, when he goes to meditate, must lock up himself from the world. The world spoils meditation; Christ went apart into the Mount to pray, Matthew 14:23. So, go apart when you are to meditate.

And yet were ignorant of great points of Faith, as of his death (Matthew 16:21-22), of his resurrection (John 20:9). 2. So there be great faintings and doubtings, when a storm arises, and the soul is sinking (Matthew 8:25-27; Matthew 14:3). Yet a little Faith is Faith.