Second part of Sermon LXXI. for the Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity.
Jer. xxiii. 5-8. St. John vi. 5-14.
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.—JER.
viii. 20.
(for the first part, on the Lesson.)
... And then this prophecy in the Scripture appointed for the Epistle
seems, as it were, to pass into the Gospel, where Christ on feeding His
people is acknowledged as “that Prophet which should come into the world.”
The connexion is obvious, the teaching is one.
In the appointed services for this day before the Reformation the Epistle
and Gospel were different; the Epistle being that which we now have for
last Sunday; the Gospel consisting of the striking account of the Day of
Judgment which occurs in the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse, “And
I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it.” . . . “and I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened.” Now
this lesson was very appropriate and very impressive on the last Sunday
of our sacred year, wherein so great a part of the book of life was closed,
to be opened only on the Last Day. And this makes one the more earnest
to inquire what is the full power and meaning of the Gospel which we now
have, and the more so as it is but a repetition of the same Gospel which
we had on the Fourth Sunday in Lent; the account of our Lord feeding the
five thousand ‘with the five barley loaves. But this is not all. For it
is the account of this miracle as given in St. John’s Gospel, when it might
have been a statement of the same selected from one of the other Gospels.
Whereas the peculiarity of the circumstance in St. John is this, that this
Evangelist seems merely to insert in his Gospel the account of the miracle,
in order to introduce that remarkable discourse of our Lord at Capernaum,
wherein He explains the spiritual meaning and intent of that miraculous
Bread, as representing His own Body and Blood, by which He should feed
His people unto the end of the world. This then, (blessed be God, and blessed
for ever be His holy Name, through Christ our Lord!) this then is our altar-lesson
for this Sunday, this last and best, this highest of all consolations;
and yet, while it is reaching itself down to the lowest of all, as the
manna adapting itself to every taste—full unto abundance for each, yet
with no fragments that remain—the sheet let down by the four corners from
Heaven to earth, in order to lift us up from earth to Heaven, —the altar
itself, and the altar service throughout the year, and all the prayers
of Holy Communion, do but sound again and again this Gospel, and seem to
say, “Lord, evermore give us this Bread.”
To repeat the Scriptural account. “When Jesus then lift up His eyes,
and saw a great company come unto Him,—that is, after healing so many
who had been brought to Him in the wilderness to which He had retired,
and when He had sat down there and taught them, and lifting up His eyes
saw still more and more crowds flocking to Him in this retreat,—He saith
unto Philip, for Philip was of Bethsaida, that town which bordered
most nearly on this wilderness, 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 every one of them may take a little. One of His disciples,
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, the friend and fellow townsman of Philip,
saith unto Him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves,
and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? They do
but serve to show the greatness of our want, and our poverty in this wilderness.
The boy with the five barley loaves, whom St. Andrew and St. Philip
bring, may well represent the childlike spirit which Christ receives, the
little ones which His Church brings to Him, looking up to Him in meekness
of faith. It is all we have to bring and offer Thee, O Lord; but even this
Thou wilt deign to receive, if brought in a childlike spirit, with eyes
that wait on Thee. It is enough. And Jesus said, Make the men sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about
five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given thanks,
He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set
down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. That which
God receives into His hands is increased always, and multiplies. If into
His hands He receives our hearts and lives, they abound with blessings;
if our worldly goods, they are restored to us an hundredfold in this present
time; if our good intentions, they are strengthened; if works of charity,
they are made to abound like the Nile; if our prayers, they return as drops
that replenish the earth. But almost all His blessings He bestows through
the medium of others, delighting to make them the channels of His mercy.
"He distributes to the disciples, and they to the multitude.”
When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, Gather up the
fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Why should this be added?
For God is wont, in His kingdoms of nature and grace, to spread abroad
with great profusion; He openeth His hand, and His gifts abound as the
sea; there is no lack, and no let or limit; not only on the good ground,
but also on the trodden ways, and on the rock, and amid the briars, are
found the superabundant seeds of life ‘which He scatters. So does it appear
in the finite vision of man; for even the stars are in man’s view as the
sands on the sea-shore, in waste prodigality of infinite life. But not
so with God. He telleth them all by their names. All things are numbered
by Him, and known in measure and weight. And so is it now though at His
table in the wilderness the superabundance seems great, and lavish the
profusion as He opens His hand, yet it is all in measured exactness, and
known of God. 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 had eaten. “Twelve baskets,” according to
the number of them that gathered, and of the tribes of Israel scattered
abroad, but not lost in the sight of God.
Again, it may be that this is said also in condescension as an example
for the conduct of man. Let there be no waste prodigality in that ‘which
is the staff of life to the poor. What love of God’s poor can there be
where there is not carefulness to preserve and to distribute that which
is of much account and precious to them? Has He not provided in the
law that the gleanings of the field should be for the poor and the stranger?
And if in the gathering of the manna “he that gathered much had nothing
over, and he that gathered little had no lack,” (Exod. xvi. 18. 2 Cor.
viii. 15.) this was likewise to convey in another form this same lesson
of unselfish care for the needs of each other, avoiding covetousness or
prodigality.
But further, these words have likewise another meaning, as they must
sound in the ears of us all as applied to things spiritual and the opportunities
of salvation in this temporal life. “Gather up the fragments that remain,
that nothing be lost.” Indeed I do not know any warning that comes more
seasonably to an earnest Christian at all times. He finds continually a
day well-nigh gone, and some little opportunities of good which he had
hoped for departing with it unfulfilled; but then comes this merciful voice,
“Gather up the fragments that remain,” and in doing so he may find more
than he had at the beginning. And so with the passing year, and all its
seasons of grace, instead of sitting down in despondency when he considers
the gifts of God which he has abused, and the talents he has neglected,
he is rather aroused by a more earnest call to repentance to “gather up
the fragments that remain.” Where Christ is there must ever be self-distrust,
never despondency.
And why have the words a peculiar power and efficacy as thus applied
which they have in no other sense ? It is because God measures the work
done by a Christian, not by time, but by the love which, it evinces; not
by external actions, but by the heart from which it flows. The Bread which
He gives is His Body, and this Bread is eternal life. To partake once of
eternal life is to partake of the same for ever. “Strengthen then. the
things which remain.” That which hath power to shut out indolence, and
presumption, and despair, shall enlarge the heart to receive the hidden
manna. They said to Him at Capernaum, “Lord, evermore give us this Bread.”
It was a good prayer, the best of prayers, and better than they knew, and
the Spirit of God gave them to make that prayer, and it was answered by
Him that heareth prayer far beyond what they thought, or knew, or desired.
But yet the prayer which they of themselves had then need to make was not
only “Give us this Bread,” but also, Give us to know and to understand
what this Bread is; give us to. long after this Bread according to our
need and the value of it; enlarge our desires after it, after Thyself Who
art This Bread, and art come down from Heaven to give Thy flesh for the
life of the world, that partaking of Thy risen Body we may be with Thee
at the right hand of God. “Lord, evermore give us this Bread,” and give
us faith to be nourished by it, and love to know its worth, and knowledge
to weigh it aright with the things of time.
My brethren, in the diseases our bodies are subject to, faith in God
is often of more avail than all the medicines which human skill can apply;
and in some weaknesses and depressions of the mind which are connected
with the body, faith in God is, I am convinced, oftentimes the only remedy
and means of restoration. Men seek, and seek, and seek in vain, till they
find that rest. But infinitely greater is the power of faith in that which
is peculiarly its own province,—in apprehending aright the Son of God,
and in discerning in mean elements His Body when we eat of that Bread.
The harvest is past, the summer is ended,—but are we not saved I—if
Thou our Saviour art with us, art within us ? But thou art a God that hidest
Thyself, and carnal eyes cannot discern Thee. Our services on this Sunday
seem to turn our eyes in hope to another Advent. “The plowman,” says the
Prophet, “shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that
soweth seed.”
Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus
did—when they had seen: they were Jews of whom our Lord said,
“Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe,” when they
had seen the miracle, they said, This is of a truth that Prophet that
should come into the world. The day was well-nigh gone, and the shadows
of evening were spread out, when, lest they should faint by the way, He
prepared for them that table in the wilderness. It was a little after,
in the same night, that the disciples beheld Him walking on the sea, and
drawing near unto them in their trouble, and heard His voice, saying, “It
is I; be not afraid.” And it was on the next day, at Capernaum, that He
taught the people in a manner so earnest, so impressive, so forcible, of
what He was about to do, of which that miracle had been the sign—of His
Body which is meat indeed, and His Blood which is drink indeed. They that
sought and found Him at Capernaum had acknowledged that He was “that Prophet
that should come into the world,” they were desirous to make Him a King,
to acknowledge Him as the Messiah of God; but oh, how far short was this
of that which -was needed for the saving of their souls! Their hearts were
still on earth, not in Heaven; and when He spake of His mysterious indwelling,
and of the true Bread in which is life, they “murmured in themselves;”
they said, “It is an hard saying; who can hear it?" “Many went back, and
walked no more with Him.” For the Father alone Which is in Heaven
could draw them unto Him; the Father Who had revealed the Son unto St.
Peter as the Son of the living God. He, therefore, could now say, “Lord,
to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
Alas ! my brethren, the harvest is past, the summer is ended; we have
been saved, but we are not safe. How can we be safe, as long as we love
anything more than God in Christ, and value anything more than the Bread
from Heaven? Mother and sister, brother and friend, these one by one drop
away as the autumn of life comes on; but all this, my Blessed Saviour,
hast Thou promised to be to me. Knowledge, and honour, and possession,
and rest hast Thou promised to be; and all this Thou surely art, when Thou
givest Thyself at Thins holy altar to me; but the heart must be emptied
and enlarged to receive Thee there. For Thou art all fulness: there is
no room for aught else where Thou art. All is summer without end where
Thou art, for there is no time with Thee. All is harvest and ingathering,
and nothing a. lost where Thou art; for of Thy fulness do all we receive,
and grace for grace.
And now, Christian friends, we have come to the end of our sacred year,
during which, from Sunday to Sunday, in unfolding the Scriptural instructions
from the altar, I have had one especial design and purpose, as peculiarly
seasonable. to these times, viz. to dwell on Him Whose delight it was to
be among the sons of men; to show forth the tender compassions and sympathies
of Him Who in unspeakable lowliness was ever pleased to designate Himself
the Son of Man; and Whose human “compassions fail not,” though He be now
on the right hand of God. Let us then lift up our hearts to Him, the Alpha
and Omega, the Beginning and End, the Author and Finisher of our faith;
ever remembering this, that it is not enough for us to acknowledge the
Word of God, or even that the Word was with God; we must also acknowledge
that the Word was God.
Summer and winter, seed-time and harvest-time, days and years, how soon
shall each one of us have to bid adieu for ever to you! Nay, Christ
Himself, Whom we have known after the flesh, soon shall we as such have
to know Him no more; nay, even already must it be so. That sea-shore of
Galilee, where He so often taught; those places which are hallowed by the
recollection of some miracle of mercy or divine parable ; Bethlehem and
Nazareth, Capernaum and Jerusalem; these scenes which have become endeared
to us, because they have become associated with the knowledge which we
have of His infinite goodness; all these things too are fading away like
the visions of the past, or the works of His hands on earth in the pride
and glory of the field; but the Word of God abideth for ever, because the
Word is God. In that world where sun and moon are not, He shall be to us
no more the provision by the way, (Viaticum) but yet shall ever be
still “the medicine of immortality,” and “the Bread of Life.”
