Abiit Jesus trans mare Galileae: et reliqua.
"Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is called of Tiberias, and a
great multitude followed him, because they {183} had seen the miracles
which he had wrought on the diseased men. Then Jesus went up into a
mountain, and there sat with his disciples, and the holy Easter-tide was
then very nigh. Jesus then looked up, and saw that there was a great
multitude coming, and said to one of his disciples, who was called Philip,
With what can we buy bread for this people? This he said to prove the
disciple: himself knew what he would do. Then Philip answered, Though two
hundred pennyworth of bread were bought, yet could not every one of them
get a morsel. Then said one of his disciples, who was called Andrew,
Peter's brother, Here beareth a lad five barley loaves, and two fishes, but
what is that for so great a multitude? Then said Jesus, Make the people
sit. And there was much grass on the place pleasant to sit on: and they
then all sat, about five thousand men. Then Jesus took the five loaves, and
blessed, and brake, and divided them among those sitting: in like manner
also he divided the fishes; and they all had enough. When they all were
full, Jesus said to his disciples, Gather the remainder, and let it not be
lost. And they gathered the fragments, and filled twelve baskets with the
remainder. The people, who saw this miracle, said that Christ was the true
prophet who was to come to this world."
The sea which Jesus passed over betokeneth this present world, which Christ
came to and passed over; that is he came to this world in human nature, and
passed over this life; he came to death, and from death arose; and went up
on a mountain, and there sat with his disciples, for he ascended to heaven,
and there sits now with his saints. Rightly is the sea compared to this
world, for it is sometimes serene and pleasant to navigate on, sometimes
also very rough and terrible to be on. So is this world; sometimes it is
desirable and pleasant to dwell in, sometimes also it is very rugged, and
mingled with divers things, so that it is too {185} often very unpleasant
to inhabit. Sometimes we are hale, sometimes sick; now joyful, and again in
great affliction; therefore is this life, as we before said, compared to
the sea.
When Jesus was sitting on the mountain, he lifted up his eyes, and saw that
there was a great multitude coming. All those who come to him, that is
those who incline to the right faith, Jesus sees, and on them he has pity,
and enlightens their understanding with his grace, that they may come to
him without error, and to these he gives ghostly food, that they may not
faint by the way. When he asked Philip, whence they could buy bread for the
people, he showed Philip's ignorance. Well Christ knew what he would do,
and he knew that Philip knew not. Then said Andrew, that a lad there bare
five barley loaves and two fishes. Then said Jesus, "Make the people sit,"
and so on, as we have before repeated it to you. Jesus saw the hungry
people, and he compassionately fed them, both by his goodness and by his
might. What could his goodness alone have done, unless there had been might
with that goodness? His disciples would also have fed the people, but they
had not wherewithal. Jesus had the good will to nourish them, and the power
to execute it.
God hath wrought many miracles and daily works; but those miracles are much
weakened in the sight of men, because they are very usual. A greater
miracle it is that God Almighty every day feeds all the world, and directs
the good, than that miracle was, that he filled five thousand men with five
loaves: but men wondered at this, not because it was a greater miracle, but
because it was unusual. Who now gives fruit to our fields, and multiplies
the harvest from a few grains of corn, but he who multiplied the five
loaves? The might was there in Christ's hands, and the five loaves were, as
it were, seed, not sown in the earth, but multiplied by him who created the
earth.
{187} This miracle is very great, and deep in its significations. Often
some one sees fair characters written, then praises he the writer and the
characters, but knows not what they mean. He who understands the art of
writing praises their fairness, and reads the characters, and comprehends
their meaning. In one way we look at a picture, and in another at
characters. Nothing more is necessary for a picture than that you see and
praise it: but it is not enough to look at characters without, at the same
time, reading them, and understanding their signification. So also it is
with regard to the miracle which God wrought with the five loaves: it is
not enough that we wonder at the miracle, or praise God on account of it,
without also understanding its spiritual sense.
The five loaves which the lad bare, betoken the five books which the leader
Moses appointed in the old law. The lad who bare them, and tasted not of
them, was the Jewish people, who read the five books, and knew therein no
spiritual signification, before Christ came, and opened the books, and
disclosed their spiritual sense to his disciples, and they afterwards to
all christian people. We cannot now enumerate to you all the five books,
but we will tell you that God himself dictated them, and that Moses wrote
them, for the guidance and instruction of the ancient people of Israel, and
of us also in a spiritual sense. These books were written concerning
Christ, but the spiritual sense was hidden from the people, until Christ
came himself to men, and opened the secrets of the books, according to the
spiritual sense.
Alii evangelistae ferunt, quia panes et pisces Dominus discipulis
distribuisset, discipuli autem ministraverunt turbis. He brake the five
loaves and gave to his disciples, and bade them bear them to the people;
for he taught them the heavenly lore: and they went throughout all the
world, and preached, as Christ himself had taught. When he had broken the
loaves then were they multiplied, and grew in his hands; for the five books
were spiritually devised, and wise doctors {189} expounded them, and
founded on those books many other books; and we with the doctrine of those
books are daily spiritually fed.
The loaves were of barley. Barley is very difficult to prepare, and,
nevertheless, feeds a man when it is prepared. So was the old law very
difficult and obscure to understand; but, nevertheless, when we come to the
flour, that is to the signification, then it feeds and strengthens our mind
with the hidden lore. There were five loaves, and there were five thousand
men fed; because the Jewish people was subject to God's law, which stood
written in five books. When Christ asked Philip, and proved him, as we
before read, by that asking he betokened the people's ignorance, who were
under that law, and knew not the spiritual sense which was concealed in
that law.
The two fishes betokened the Psalms and the sayings of the prophets. The
one of these announced and proclaimed Christ's advent with psalm-singing,
and the other with prophecy, as if they were meat to the five barley
loaves, that is, to the five legal books. The people, who were there fed,
sat on the grass. The grass betokened fleshly desire, as the prophet said,
"Every flesh is grass, and the glory of the flesh is as the blossom of
plants." Now should everyone who will sit at God's refection, and partake
of spiritual instruction, tread and press down the grass, that is, he
should overpower his fleshly lusts, and ever dispose his body to the
service of God.
There were counted at that refection five thousand males; because those men
who belong to the spiritual refection should be manfully made, as the
apostle said; he said, "Be watchful, and stand on faith, and undertake
manfully, and be bold." Though if a woman be manly by nature, and strong to
God's will, she will be counted among the men who sit at the table of God.
Thousand is a perfect number, and no number extends beyond it. With that
number is betokened the {191} perfection of those men who nourish their
souls with God's precepts.
"Jesus then bade the remainder to be gathered, that it might not be lost;
and they filled twelve baskets with the fragments." The remainder of the
refection, that is the depth of the doctrine, which secular men may not
understand, that should our teachers gather, that it may not be lost, and
preserve in their scrips, that is, in their hearts, and have ever ready to
draw forth the wisdom and doctrine both of the old law and of the new. They
gathered then twelve baskets full of the fragments. The twelvefold number
betokened the twelve apostles; because they received the mysteries of the
doctrine, which the lay folk could not understand.
"The people, who saw that miracle, said of Christ, that he was the true
prophet who was to come." In one sense they said the truth: he was a
prophet, for he knew all future things, and also prophesied many things
which will, without doubt, be fulfilled. He is a prophet, and he is the
prophecy of all prophets, for all the prophets have prophesied of him, and
Christ has fulfilled the prophecies of them all. The people saw the
miracle, and they greatly wondered at it. That miracle is recorded, and we
have heard it. What their eyes did in them, that does our faith in us. They
saw it, and we believe it, who saw it not; and we are therefore accounted
the better, as Jesus, in another place, said of us, "Blessed are they who
see me not, and, nevertheless, believe in me, and celebrate my miracles."
The people said of Christ, that he was a true prophet. Now we say of
Christ, that he is Son of the Living God, who was to come to redeem the
whole world from the power of the devil, and from hell-torment. The people
knew not of those benefits, that they might have said that he was God, but
they said that he was a prophet. We say now, with full belief, that Christ
is a true prophet, and Prophet of all prophets, and that he is truly Son of
the Almighty God, as mighty {193} as his Father, with whom he liveth and
reigneth in unity of the Holy Ghost, ever without end to eternity. Amen.
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