141. Jesus Christ--Feeding the Multitude

Jesus Christ--Feeding the Multitude

John 6:1-14. After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philippians Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? (and this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.) Philip answered him, Two hundred penny-worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that everyone of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, Them is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes, but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the face. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he ad given thanks he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and like-wise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them to ether, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and move unto them that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world. The course of nature is a standing miracle. To be an atheist is to cease from being a man. To think of arguing with such a one is to undertake a labor as fruitless as attempting to reason the lunatic into a sound mind. A case like this ought to excite no emotion but compassion, mixed with gratitude to God that he has not reduced us to a condition so deplorable. Refinement in reasoning is, in general, both unprofitable and inconclusive. The man of plain common sense may advantageously observe and devoutly acknowledge the wisdom and goodness of the Great Supreme in the regular ebbing and flowing of the tide, though he cannot trace the process of the sun’s action on the waters of the ocean; or of the wind, in conveying the fluid to the mountain’s top; or of gravity, sending it down to water the plains beneath; or the supposed influence of the moon, or of the melting of the polar ices, producing an alternate and regular flux and reflux on our shores, or in our rivers. Of what importance is the theory of vegetation, compared to the simple but valuable labor and experience of the gardener and husbandman? The same observation applies to the religion of the Gospel. Here the learned have no advantage whatever over the illiterate. It consists of a few plain, unadorned facts, authenticated by the testimony of a cloud of unsuspected witnesses; of a few simple, practical truths, level to the most ordinary capacity; and of a few precepts of self-evident importance, which it highly concerns every man to observe. Should it be alleged that these are blended with things hard to be understood, it is admitted. And here again the wise and prudent have no superiority over the vulgar, but both meet the God of grace as well as the God of nature exercising his divine prerogative, in ministering to the necessities, while he checks the pride and presumption of man. The miracles of our blessed Lord which have hitherto passed in review, had a more limited object. Their design was to relieve individual, or domestic distress; they were an appeal, public indeed, to the understanding and senses of all who witnessed them, but slightly felt, imperfectly understood, and little improved, except by the parties more immediately interested in them. They were granted to importunity, and as a reward to the prayer of faith. That which is the subject of the passage now read, embraces a much wider range than any of these, and is the spontaneous effusion of his own divine benevolence and compassion. Ten thousand persons, at a moderate calculation, were at once the witnesses and the subjects of the miracle, and in a case wherein it was impossible they should be mistaken, for they had every sense, every faculty exercised in ascertaining the truth. And here he waits not, as in other cases, till the cry of misery reaches his ear, but advances to meet it, to prevent it; he outruns expectation, and has a supply in readiness, before the pressure of want is felt. The duration of Christ’s public ministry, from his baptism to his passion, has been calculated from the number of passovers which he frequented. This, as may be supposed, has occasioned considerable variety of opinion. The attentive reader will probably adopt that of our illustrious countryman, Sir Isaac Newton, who reckons five of these annual festivals within the period. The first, that recorded in the St. John 2, at which he purged the temple, predicted his own death and resurrection, and performed sundry miracles. The second, according to that great chronologist, took place a few months after our Lord’s conversation with the woman of Samaria, which he founds on that text, John 4:35--“Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” The third, a few days prior to the sabbath, on which the disciples walked out into the fields, and plucked the ears of corn, when he cured the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda. The fourth, that which was now approaching at the era of this miracle; and the fifth, that at which he suffered. The people were now therefore flocking from all parts of Galilee, on their way to Jerusalem to keep the passover: and this accounts for the very extraordinary number who at this time attended his preaching and miracles.

“After these things,” says John. The other three evangelists connect this scene, in respect of time, with a most memorable event in the history of Christianity, the decapitation of John Baptist in the prison.--When these melancholy tidings were told to Jesus, Matthew informs us, that “he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them; and he healed their sick;” and then immediately follows the miracle of feeding the multitude, recorded with exactly the same circumstances in all the four evangelists. Mark affixes an additional date. It was at the time when the disciples returned from the execution of their first commission, with an account of their success: “And, the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.” On this Jesus proposed a temporary retirement from the public eye, for the convenience of private conversation, of repose, and of the necessary refreshment of the body: “And he said unto them, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately;” and this, as before, prepared for the miracle of the loaves and fishes. The self same circumstances are minutely narrated in Luke’s gospel. These mark the precise epoch when Christ went over the sea of Galilee, and retired with the twelve to a mountain in the desert of Bethsaida. But though he went by water, to escape for a season the multitudes which thronged after him, the place of his destination is discovered, and thousands, filled with impatience, admiration, gratitude, hope, outstrip the speed of the vessel, by a circuitous journey along the shore of the lake. Their motives were various. The powerful principle of curiosity attracted many. A thirst of the word of life impelled others. “A great multitude followed him, because they saw the miracles which he did on them that were diseased,” and many had themselves “need of healing.” An affecting view is exhibited of Christ’s benevolent character. As from the elevation of the mountain he beheld the people pressing forward by thousands to the spot where he was, all thoughts of food, of rest, of accommodation lost in an appetite more dignified and pure, his bowels, melted: “And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and, was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd and he began to teach them many things.” The sight of a great assembly of men, women, and children, must ever create a lively interest in every bosom alive to the feelings of humanity. The view of his mighty host melted Xerxes into tears, merely from reflection on their natural mortality.--What then are the “bowels and mercies” of the compassionate friend of mankind, on surveying innumerable myriads ready to perish everlastingly for lack of knowledge, dying in their sins! He feels even for their bodily wants, which, in the ardor of their spirits, they seem to have themselves forgotten, and a supply is provided before the cravings of nature have found out that it was necessary. And thus a gracious Providence, in things both temporal and spiritual, outruns not only the supplications of the miserable, but their very hopes and desires.

“The day began to wear away,” they were in a desert place, the multitude was prodigiously increased, they had fasted long, no provision of either victuals or lodging had been made, and the adjacent villages promised but a slender accommodation of either, even had there been money to purchase them. A case of truly aggravated distress! The forethought and sympathy of the disciples went no farther than to suggest the propriety of an immediate dismission of the assembly, while sufficient light remained to procure what was needful for exhausted nature. “When the day began to wear away then came the twelve, and said unto him, send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place.” But their gracious Master looked much farther, and felt more tenderly. He addresses himself particularly to Philippians who was of the city of Bethsaida, and might be supposed to know the state of the country, and how much it could produce in an emergency of this kind, on the supposition that their stock of money was equal to the demand: “he saith unto Philippians Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?” Why the appeal was personally made to Philippians may be accounted for from some peculiarity in that disciple’s character. He appears to have been one of those who slowly, suspiciously, reluctantly admitted the evidence of their Master’s divine mission; for we find him, long after this, discovering a diffident, scrupulous incredulous disposition; and his kind Master administering a just and seasonable rebuke “Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou, then, show us the Father?” Thus was it needful that the witnesses of the truth to others should have their own doubts completely removed. And, thus, He, who knew what was in man, will bring out of the man himself what is in him; not with the insidious design of deceiving and exposing him, as men often act by each other, but of making him feel his own weight; of enabling him to form a just estimate of his wisdom and strength; of affording him a fresh and irresistible proof of his Master’s supreme power, and divine intelligence. “This he said to prove him: for he knew what he would do.”

We have here a most sublime representation of the Redeemer’s foreknowledge of the natural reasoning of the human mind, and of the existence and effect of second causes. That a thousand persons, of as many different inclinations, pursuing as many different interests, with as many different capacities, should be brought to one point, should co-operate in promoting the same purpose, should, unknown to each other, involuntarily enter into exactly one and the same pursuit, is not to be explained on the common principles of human sagacity, and can proceed only “from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.” Philip immediately has recourse to arithmetical calculation; he estimates the multitude at so many, he examines into the state of their finances, and finds them deplorably deficient: “two hundred pennyworth, of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.” No, the difficulty was not to be thus resolved. Neither was the matter much mended to human apprehension, when Andrew, Simon’s brother, brought information that there was a lad present who had five barley loaves and two small fishes to dispose of. He himself sets no great store by his intelligence; a single loaf to a thousand men appeared to him a mere nothing, an aggravation rather than an alleviation of the distress: “but what,” says he, despondingly, “are they among so many?” The case is thus brought to an extreme point. Five thousand men, beside a multitude of women and children, probably to an equal, if not a greater number, feel the pressure of hunger, and of no one of our natural appetites are we more acutely sensible than of this; everyone of this myriad, therefore, down to the youngest child, was a distinct and a competent witness upon the occasion, of the individual and of the general calamity, and of the total want of an adequate supply. Providence thus frequently permits things to come to the very verge of woe, that man may feel his own weakness and insufficiency, feel his entire dependence, and learn to acknowledge and to adore the seasonable interposition of heaven; that God may be seen as “our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.” As if every preparation of human sagacity had been made, Jesus with dignified composure, commands, saying, “Make the men sit down.” The attention and sympathy of Christ are observable in minute circumstances. His guests had passed a day of uncommon fatigue; they were now overtaken with two great infirmities, want of food and want of rest. A standing meal, weary as they were, would have been, an unspeakable benefit; or to have stretched out their exhausted limbs to repose, even with a slender provision, for “the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much.” He who careth for oxen, who feedeth the raven, who sustaineth the sparrow on the wing, “shall he not much more” hear the cry of human wretchedness? Both the precious gifts of bread and rest are bestowed at once, and both unhoped for, both unasked. “Make the men sit down:” and it is remarked, “Now there was much grass in the place.” What a delicious assemblage of natural and interesting beauties! It was the still evening of a day in spring; the fragrant fertile earth had spread an ample carpet, at once delightful to behold, pleasant to the smell, and softened to the pressure of the faint. Twenty thousand eyes are turned in silent expectation to their common friend and benefactor. The very order of their arrangement embellishes the scene, and the subdivisions and straight lines of art set off the majestic irregularity of nature: a hundred rows of fifty each. What, compared to this, was the men royal “feast which the king Ahasuerus made unto all his princes, and his servants: the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces!” What, compared to this, was the great, but impious tenet, which “Belshazzar the king made to a thousand of his lords!” These noisy and profane revels were quickly disturbed, and issued in sorrow. What a different spectacle did the mountain in the desert of Bethsaida present! All is calmness and harmony, all is peace and joy. The great Master of the feast surveys his vast family with complacency and delight! they behold in him their condescending teacher, their merciful physician, their liberal provider, their almighty Lord, in whom all fulness was pleased to dwell.

“And Jesus took the loaves.” He miraculously supported his own body for forty days in the wilderness, without eating or drinking; and the same divine power could undoubtedly have refreshed and sustained this great multitude, for a night, without bread, as easily as by a supernatural multiplication of it. But this would have been less sensible and convincing; and natural vigor of constitution might have been supposed equal to the load. In the method of relief which our Lord was pleased to employ, every man had the witness within himself, and could bear a clear testimony concerning all around him, that not the powers of nature, but the God of grace had ministered to their common necessities. “And, when he had given thanks:” two different words are employed by the evangelists to describe this action of our Savior. The first three say, “he blessed” the loaves, pronounced upon them a solemn and powerful benediction, in virtue of which they became prolific, and multiplied far beyond the extent of the demand. Our evangelist represents him as “giving thanks,” ascribing to God his heavenly Father the glory of every gift of an indulgent Providence, whether bestowed in the order of natural increase, or produced by an extraordinary interposition. The form of words, employed by Christ on this occasion, most probably blended both ideas, as indeed they cannot be easily separated. To give thanks for what God has given is a devout acknowledgment of dependence upon him, a tacit expression of hope in his goodness for the time to come, and the most likely means of increasing our store. He acted as the great pattern of his disciples, teaching them in difficulty to look up to heaven for direction and assistance, to improve the blessings of Providence by referring them to their great Author, and to cast every future care on him who hath helped hitherto. Man cannot pronounce a benediction capable of communicating efficacious virtue, but, what is equivalent to it, he can “in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let his requests be made known unto God;” and time employed in devotion is not loss, but unspeakably great gain.

“He distributed to the disciples and the disciples to them that were set down: and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.” The fare was ordinary, barley bread and dried fish. “The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet.” Mark, the quality of the food is not changed, the quantity only is increased, for the object of the miracle was not to pamper luxury, but to satisfy hunger. The disciples had nothing to give but what they first received. And what must have been their astonishment, their satisfaction, as they walked from rank to rank, to behold the food not diminish, but multiply to the mouth of the eater! No murmuring could arise on account of a partial distribution, for all had enough and to spare. No doubt could arise respecting the fountain of supply, for every ear heard the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; every eye beheld his face lifted up to heaven, and his bands extended to diffuse plenty. The body and the mind were refreshed together, with food convenient for them. Thus seasonable, thus suitable, thus satisfying are the good and perfect gifts which come down immediately from the Father of lights. The selfsame miracle, my friends, is repeated day by day, through a different process, and we observe it not, we feel it not. An unseen hand “causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man:” it “bringeth forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.” “O that man would praise. the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”

“When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” There is a criminal forethought about tomorrow which the Gospel condemns, because it implies distrust of the care, wisdom, and goodness of Providence, and because it mars the enjoyment, and encroaches upon the duties of today. But there is likewise a prudent and pious forethought, which both reason and religion highly approve and powerfully recommend, because it is the co-operation of human sagacity with the benignity of Providence; and the happiest and most honorable condition of man is exertion, as if no supernatural aid were to be expected, and reliance on God, as if human efforts amounted to nothing. “Gather up the fragments;” was the command of Him who had the power of multiplying without end, but who would lay himself under no obligation to exert a miraculous energy to repair the profusion, or supply the negligence of thoughtless man. What occasions the present dearth of every necessary of life? Not the unkindness of heaven, for the earth has yielded her increase, and our garners are full; but cruel oppression on the one hand, and abominable waste on the other. The precious fruits of the ground are, contrary to nature, hoarded up in expectation of glutting avarice with a higher return, till they corrupt; or they are vilely cast away by the minions of opulence and grandeur, who care not what they destroy, because the master’s fortune is able to support the expenditure. It is one, and not the least of the evils of war, that of the provision necessary to the maintenance of fleets and armies, one half at least goes to loss, through dishonesty, carelessness, and willful prodigality. This profusion is often found in company with a hard and stony heart. It appears to have constituted great part of the criminality of the rich man in the Gospel. He “was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.” But this was not in itself sinful, nor is it charged upon him as guilt. The offal of his table was not wisely used. While detestable luxury reigned within doors, the cry of misery at the gate was disregarded. The beggar Lazarus desired, but desired in vain, “to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table.” It is in every man’s power to reduce the price of provisions. Let him purchase no more than what is needful, and let him be careful to look after the fragments which remain. The opulent man is responsible for the inhumanity, the extravagance, the criminal neglect of his domestics, and to no purpose does he exclaim against the rapacity of combinations to engross and enhance, while he is fostering the mischief by the wretched economy of his own household. “Let nothing be lost” is the economy of nature, the maxim of true wisdom, and a precept of Christianity.

“Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that bad eaten.” Thus the miracle was complete: ample provision was made for the moment, and a lesson of prudence given for all generations. The bodies of thousands were refreshed by homely but wholesome food, and the sacred impress of divine truth was applied to the human heart. Thus transitory things are rendered permanent, and provision made for supporting the body is converted into food for the immortal soul. The conviction produced was perfectly natural, and it operated uniformly on the minds of the whole assembly: “Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world.” There was, therefore, it is evident, a generally prevailing expectation of the appearance of the august personage, whom the prophets had announced; and what proof of a divine mission more illustrious could be displayed, than that which had just reached the understanding through all the avenues of sense? But it is truly humbling to observe the perpetual intrusion of a worldly spirit. That prophet whom all ranks looked unto and waited for, all ranks thought proper to invest with temporal power and splendor. The idea of raising him to kingly supremacy is immediately entertained. What quality could a prince possess that led more certainly to success than that of subsisting his armies, without the expense and encumbrance of magazines? Under this impulse the multitude are disposed instantly to rear his standard, and to enlist in his service. And when a man faithfully examines himself, he will find that the world, in some form or another, is lurking in his heart. He will find time, and sense, and self blending with his purest, most generous, most exalted views, and directing his most seemingly disinterested exertions. Jesus demonstrates that he is much more than a king, by withdrawing from popular applause and proffered royalty. “When he perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.” He meets and relieves their real necessities, but retires from their projects of power and ambition. To the demand of Pilate, “Art thou the king of the Jews?” this was his modest reply: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”

We conclude with a few practical reflections.

1. The law of man’s nature is a stated religious monitor to him. Every day he hungers, he thirsts, he waxes faint, he must lie down and go to sleep. He is as often admonished of his frailty, of his dependence, of his obligations. Let the animal functions be eve too little deranged or suspended, and the whole man, spit as well as body, pines and languishes. An eye which never slumbers nor sleeps watches him by night and by day. An unseen hand spreads his board, fills his cup, feedeth him with food convenient for him. A careless spirit overlooks common mercies, lightly esteems them, wastes, perverts, abuses them. And where the hand of God is not seen, felt, and acknowledged, there can be no enjoyment superior to that which the beasts of the field have in common with the rational creation. The devout spirit refers all to Deity, and thereby a relish is communicated to the simplest and most ordinary things. “A dinner of herbs where love is, a dry morsel, and quietness therewith,” far exceed the luxury of the “stalled ox,” and of “a house full of sacrifices.” Herein the poor have infinitely the superiority over the rich and great. Hunger seasons the poor man’s food, thirst sweetens his cup, labor softens his couch. He beholds his daily supply coming from the bounty of a Father in heaven, he gives God thanks. Thus meditates the Psalmist in contemplating the providential care exercised over all creatures, especially those of the human race: “Man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labor, until the evening.” “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches: so is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships; there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy s spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works.” Thus is the eye of man, from day to day, alternately directed to the ground out of which he himself was taken, to behold the support of his life likewise springing up out of it, and to heaven, toward “the Father of lights,” for, “every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above.” God, in his great mercy, has not entrusted to human reason the preservation of the body, but constantly warns him by an animal instinct of what his frame requires, and renders that savoury to sense which he knows to be necessary to life; and thus pleasure and duty, as they ever ought, go hand in hand. “O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men; for he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”

2. If God is pleased to humble man, and to suffer him to hunger, it is to “make him know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” In the animal art of his nature he is reduced to the level of the beasts that perish; in his spirit he rises to the rank of angel, he draws supplies immediately from the Father of spirits, he feeds on immortal food, he drinks of the “pure river of water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” The Christian, like his divine Master, has meat to eat which the world knows, not of. “My meat,” says he, “is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work:” and, speaking of his doctrine, in contrast to the support and refreshment of the natural life, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life;” and again, under the same image of necessary food: “My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God, is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Most.” The believer’s feast is thus described by one who was a liberal partaker of it: “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us;” and in another place, “I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a goal fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

3. “In proportion as this spiritual appetite increases, attachment to the world will diminish. Nature, says the proverb, is satisfied with little, and grace with still less. The disciple of Jesus knows and feels that he has here no continuing city, and therefore seeks one to come. He “coveteth no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.” While the rich worldling is pulling down his barns and building greater, in which to bestow his fruits and his goods, laying up treasure for himself, without being rich towards God, the follower of Christ is employed in laying up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” He desires “a better country, that is, an heavenly:” he looks for “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” His master has taught him, when he prays, to say not, “give me much goods to be laid up for many years,” but “give us this day our daily bread;” “my heavenly Father knoweth what things I really need.” He knows that the day of the Lord cometh, “in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up.” He, according to the promise of God, who cannot lie, “looks for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Hence he learns “in whatever state,” Providence may be pleased to put him, “therewith to be content.” “I know,” says Paul, “both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where, and in all things, I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” “Brethren, the time is short, it remaineth, that they who weep be as they who weep not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away.”

4. Let the ministers of Christ remember that they are “stewards of the mysteries of God,” and that “it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” That which they deliver to others, they themselves received from the Lord. There is one and the same fare provided for them, and for their fellow-servants, and the provision is at once excellent and abundant. Everyone is entitled to the portion most suitable to him, and in the proper season. “New born babes,” in Christ, “desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby.” “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” In various ways may a steward be found unfaithful to his trust. He may be negligent, and then the household runs into confusion and every evil work; everyone does that which is tight in his own eyes, and of consequence everything goes wrong. He may withhold what is due, and the family starves. The food may be improperly mixed, and thereby changed into poison. He may be injudicious, and the aliment of the healthy and vigorous is administered to the puny and feeble, while the delicate nourishment that suits sickliness and imbecility is presented to maturity and strength. He may be deliberately wicked, and betray the trust which he was appointed to guard. As a contrast to this melancholy picture, turn your eyes to the portrait of that faithful steward, and able minister of the New Testament, the apostle of the Gentiles, in the solemn appeal which he makes to the elders of Ephesus, on bidding them a final farewell: “Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews; and how I kept beck nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me; but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.” “I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men; for I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God--remember, that, by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears.--I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak; and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.” But there is an appeal still more solemn and affecting, and in circumstances infinitely more interesting, that of the chief Shepherd himself, addressed to his heavenly Father, in the near prospect of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me: and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things, whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee: for I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me: and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.” “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.”

5. Let not the constant and regular operations of Deity, in the course of nature and providence be overlooked. Like the people who “did eat of the loaves and were filled,” we take and enjoy the repast, but discern not the miracle which produced it. The naturalist traces the progress of vegetation as an amusement, as a branch of science. The husbandman pursues it as his destined occupation, he casts seed into the ground, leaves it there and goes to sleep, observes it day after day springing and growing up, he knoweth not how; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear, but his eye and his heart are all the while set on the time of putting in the sickle, when the harvest is come. The eager merchant too watches the process, as a commercial speculation, as favorable or unfavorable to his plans of buying, and selling, and getting gain. With what a different eye does a devotional spirit contemplate Deity spreading a table for everything that lives! The Christian considers the fare upon his own board, whether simple or sumptuous, flowing in whatever channel, coming from the east or from the west, from the south or from the north, as a supply immediately furnished by the hand of his heavenly Father, as children’s bread, as a foretaste of the rich provision of his Father’s house above. This communicates to ordinary things a relish unknown to the banquets of the luxurious and the proud. With the five thousand he beholds his God in person feeding him. He passes from the table which he calls his own, and at which his divine Master sat as a guest, though invisible, to that which Jesus emphatically calls his, and he finds it replenished “with all the fulness of God.” He eats and is satisfied, he goes on his way rejoicing, he advances from strength to strength, he mounts up as on eagles’ wings, he runs and is not weary, he walks and faints not. Thus may everyone of us in the Zion that is above appear before God. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”