Matthew 13:1

The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.

Ver. 1. The same day] Wherein Christ had had a sharp bout and bickering with the scribes and Pharisees in the forenoon, he sat and taught the people (as it may seem) in the afternoon. A precedent of preaching twice a day. Chrysostom's practice was to preach in the afternoon, and by candle light; as appears by his note on 1 Thessalonians 5:17, where he fetcheth a similitude from the lamp he was preaching by. a Luther likewise preached twice a day; which because one Nicolas White commended him in, he was accused of heresy in the reign of Henry VIII. And this commendable course began to be disgraced and cried down in our days as puritanical and superfluous. A learned bishop (Andrews) was highly extolled in print, for saying that when he was a lecturer in London, he preached in the morning, but prated only in the afternoon. A fair commendation for him.

He sat by the sea side] As waiting an opportunity of doing good to men's souls; which was no sooner offered, but he readily laid hold on. So St Paul took a text of one of the altars in Athens, and discoursed on it to the superstitious people. A minister must stand ever upon his watch tower, prompt and present, ready and speedy to every good work (as the bee, as soon as ever the sun breaks forth, flies abroad to gather honey and wax), accounting employment a preferment, as our Saviour did,John 17:4 .

a Quench not the Spirit, σβεννυσι δε αυτοβιος ακαθαρτος. Chrysostom.