Sermons, preached partly before His Majesty at White-Hall and partly before Anne Dutchess of York, at the chappel at St. James / by Henry Killigrew ...

The Thirteenth Sermon. (Book 13)

MARK viii.2, 3.

I have Compassion on the Multitude: because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat.

And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.

THESE Words were the Introduction to that Illustrious Miracle, by which our Lord fed four thousand Souls with seven Loaves, and a few small Fishes; made the bare and spare Allowance of seven Persons (as some suppose) sufficient to satisfie the Hunger of so great a Multitude. A Miracle that baffled one of the clearest and most irrefragable Prin∣ciples in Natural Reason, namely, That the Part is less than the Whole; making it appear, that when the

Lord of Nature will have it so, a Part shall as many times exceed the Whole, as he pleases: as the Bread and Fishes here encreased, by being eaten and consu∣med; multiplied, by being dol'd and distributed a∣bout; and the Fragments which remained, exceeded seven times seven fold the Provision, which at first was set before them that eat.

Our Lord wrought this Miracle, as himself de∣clares, to relieve the Hunger of the Multitude: but his principal Design here, as in all his other Miracles, was to create Faith in such as received Benefit by them; to teach those whom he healed, that he was the great Physician of the Soul; and whom he fed, that he was the true Bread that came down from Heaven. And if We (at this great Distance of time, by our Medita∣tions and Reflections on this Miracle) shall make it also nourish our Souls, refresh our Faith, relieve and sustain our fainting Spirits, ready to sink under the con∣tinual Opposition of Sin, and the length of Duties, we shall add yet to the Glory of it, and, in a Spiritual Sense, make these Words spoken to us: I have Compassion on the Multitude: because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat, &c.

This Portion of Scripture is part of a larger Nar∣rative, and I shall take that Way in handling it, which those do, who make Remarks and Observati∣ons upon Notable Occurrents and Events in History, reflect and descant on the Principal Passages in it, as I conceive they may be most edifying and useful. And in order to this I shall observe in the Words three things: 1. Our Lord's tender and compassio∣nate Spirit, I have Compassion. 2. The Object of his Compassion, the Persons to whom he shew'd it, the Multitude, I have compassion on the Multitude. 3. The Motives of his Compassion, which are exprest to be

two, Their present Distress, they were Hungry, and had nothing to eat. And their future feared Danger, in case they were so dismiss'd, they will faint by the way. I begin first with Christ's tender and compas∣sionate Spirit.

I have Compassion.

The Great Preacher, our Blessed Lord, had ended his Sermon to the People, and as the antient custom of the Church was, at the End of the first Service, to dismiss the Poenitentes and Catechumeni, all such as were not qualify'd to receive the Sacrament, with these Words, Ite, missa est, Depart and void the Church: So the Disciples might very fairly here have pronounc'd an Ite, missa est, to the Multitude, Ye may be gone, there is nothing more at this time to be ex∣pected, the Prophet has no further words of Instruction to impart to you. For, as for their want of Bread, whether it proceeded from Negligence or Necessity, it was not chargeable on the Preacher; he that mini∣stred Spiritual things, was not also to minister Tem∣poral, but in these to be ministred to. But our Lord had no purpose to shift off a Work of Mercy, when 'twas seasonable and in his power, though he might never so fairly have done it: he cast not therefore in his thoughts, how he might plausibly Excuse his not relieving the peoples Hunger, but which way he might do it best for the Glory of God, and their Comfort and Edification. There were a Sort of Preachers in this Kingdom in the days of its late Troubles, who when they had usurp'd the whole Re∣venues of the Church, grudg'd to allow the least part of them to the Just Owners: but thought they appro∣ved themselves faithful Pastors, absolved all the Du∣ties

of Good Men, if they shew'd but Strong Sides, and able Lungs, stood three Hours, as they call'd it, in the Pulpit, but after that concerned not themselves, though their poor Brethren stood as many Days with∣out Meat. The continual Burden of their Sermon was, The Word of God, the Word of God! Frighting the People with a Fear of a Famine of that of which there was no fear, viz. of their seditious Doctrines, and shutting their Eyes to all other Famine, the Want of those things which should cherish the Life of Man. But our Lord, who was Pastor bonus, as well as Doctor bonus, a good Shepherd, as well as a good Teacher, thought Tender Bowels were requisite, as well as Tough Sides; and fed his Sheep Corporally, as well as Spiritually, when necessity required: he consider∣ed that the devoutest Souls stood in need of Meat, and that as Man did not live by Bread only, so neither did he live by the Word of God only; but that Food was necessary, as well as Precepts; Relief to the Hungry, as well as Instruction to the Ignorant. In the Church of Rome they have an Order of Fryars-Preachers, men of learning and ability to confute Hereticks: and another Order, which were called Fratres ignorantes, the Unlearned Fryars, whose bu∣siness 'tis to tend Hospitals, and to do other Offices of Charity: And though we approve not the bringing of Ignorant Orders into the Church and Clergy, yet this double Care of theirs, in providing for the Bodies, as well as the Souls of men, is highly com∣mendable, and may be justified by the Practice of the Church in its Earliest and holiest days: as we read Acts 6. that there were not only Apostles to preach, but also Deacons to serve Tables. The People had been our Lords Auditors now three days fasting in a desart place, and his compassionate Heart would not

dismiss them hungry, lest the Dissolution of the As∣sembly, should be the Dissolution of the Souls and Bodies of many of them; he resolved therefore to supply by a Miracle, what was wanting in the Desart; to furnish from the Granaries of Heaven, what the Villages did not afford.

The Word in the Original rendred by our Tran∣slators [Compassion] implies more than a bare Pity, viz. that our Lord felt a Strong Impulse, or vehement Percussion in his Bowels, for the Suffering of the peo∣ple. He wanted not meat himself, but he was ne∣vertheless sensible of the hunger of others; his own Stomach grip'd him not, yet he was pain'd, because the Multitude lack'd Sustenance. And this is the true nature of Compassion and Goodness, it lyes under no Evil it self, but yet 'tis afflicted for what another suffers; it is safe in its own particular, and yet agast at the Dangers which it hears of. Who is weak, says S^t Paul, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? That which Flattery does in Pretence and Dissimulation, Compassion does in truth and Reality. The Satyrist makes the Sycophant, if his Patron says, 'Tis cold, call presently for his Furr-Gown, though in the midst of Summer; and again, if he says, 'Tis hot, strip himself of it in the Extremity of Winter. Compassion feels the heats and colds, the pains and griefs, the wants and nakedness of those that are un∣der such Afflictions, not apishly imitating, but truly suffering their Distresses. And our Saviour shewed that this Passion was predominant in him, not only at the present, but on many other Occasions; he sigh'd for the Sick, shed tears for the Dead, pray'd for his Persecutors upon the Cross, &c. And now I have said so much of our Lord's Compassion, it were to reproach my Auditory, and not to exhort them, to

use any Arguments to shew, we ought to sympathize with him in the like Tenderness; that when he was all Pity, and melted at every Calamity, it will ill be∣come us to shew our selves Rock and Steel at the Mi∣series of our Brethren. I proceed to the Object of Christ's Compassion, the Multitude.

I have Compassion on the Multitude.

Our Lord in journeying from Decapolis and the Regions thereabout, had gathered to himself by the power of his Preaching, and the sight of his Mira∣cles, a great Number of promiscuous People, styl'd in the Original 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a Rabble of the Meaner Sort, such as the Priests and Pharisees pointed at John 7. when they said, Have any of the Rulers believed on him, but only this People, who know not the Law, and are accursed? For the over-weaning Pharisees reckoned the Poor among Publicans and Sinners, Re∣probates and Harlots; esteemed those who had no Name in the State, who were capable of bearing no Honour or Office, to be also uncapable of receiving any Special Mark of God's Favour: according to the Proverbial Speech so common among them, Spiritus non requiescit nisi super divitem, the Spirit is sent only to Eminent Persons, and refuses to rest on the Mean and Abject. And yet it was the Distress of these undervalued, despised People, the Hunger of this condemned reprobated Rabble (in their Rulers ac∣count not worthy to be fed, if with trouble, scarce to be starved, and who if they did dye through Want, the World would find no Want of them.) that so nearly affected our Lord, and so sensibly toucht his very Vitals. A Commiseration fit to be transcribed by those that are in Power and Great Place, who

shew too much of that Anti-Christian Turkish Principle, That the Lives of the Vulgar are of no Moment, fit only to be sacrificed to the Lusts and Pleasures of the Rich in times of peace, and in War to fill up Ditches, and blunt the Enemies Sword: thus not being content to be at Ease only, and out of the Peoples Danger, unless they may be also without all Sense of their Misery. 'Tis said, as I remember, of Pompey the Great, mavult Rempublicam turbari, quàm Comam, he would rather the Commonwealth should be disordered than his Hair: and too many there are of this nice Temper, to be deeplier concern∣ed for every trifling Curiosity about their own Per∣sons, than for the Publick Good or Evil of their Country; and if their Lot be so happy, as to exempt them from bearing a part in a General Calamity, they easily exempt themselves from feeling any Trou∣ble for it. But our Lord shew'd himself of a Publick Spirit; for when he was above the Evils and Calami∣ties of Mankind, he espoused their Nature to no o∣ther End, but that he might espouse their Miseries; and after he had laid aside his Glory, he laid down also his Life for the Salvation of his Creatures; he disdained not to converse with the Meanest of the People, to instruct their Ignorance, to heal their In∣firmities, to relieve their Hunger. And this to teach us, That Christians ought to shew Regard, where o∣thers shew Scorn; there to place their Pity and Com∣passion, where the Custom of the World is to place its Contempt; to teach by his Own Example, what he afterwards taught his Apostle S^t Peter by the Sheet of all Sorts of Creatures let down from Heaven, To hold none Refuse or Common, no, not to esteem the People themselves Vulgar. I pass to the Motives of our Lord's Compassion, which I said were two.

The present Want of the Multitude, They have no∣thing to eat. And their fear'd future Danger, in case they were so dismiss'd, They will faint by the Way.

1. Their present Want, They have nothing to eat.

Our Lord not only exercised his Compassion to∣wards the Meanest of Men, but even in the Meanest things which concerned such men, the catering or providing Food for them. His Disciples after him thought it a Disparagement to their higher Calling of Preaching to stoop to such Low Employments. It is not reason, say they, that we should leave the Word of God, to serve Tables: but He despised not to serve Tables too. Meat is not the Reward or Aim of a Follower of Christ, but Grace and the Holy Ghost, Heaven and Eternal Life: Food, raiment, houses, land, and the rest of things Temporal, are indeed but Impedimenta Religionis, the Baggage or Luggage of our Christian Warfare, cumbersome to a Believer, as well as useful; yet because they are useful in our pre∣sent Condition, Christ indulges them to us, and is troubled if we want a Sufficiency of them; and however there is but Vnum Necessarium, One Great Requisite, Faith; yet the other things of this Life, which are necessary, in their kind, to that One Ne∣cessary, he wills and commands should be given to his Servants; and if they be, he imputes it to the Gi∣vers of them for Righteousness; and if they be not, to the With-holders of them for Unrighteousness.

The second Motive of Christ's Compassion was, The fear'd future Danger of the People, lest they might faint by the way. He shew'd himself not only troubled at present and incumbent Distresses, but so∣licitous for those that were future and possible, for

all Emergences of Evils which might happen. Thus he wept for the Destruction of Jerusalem forty Years before it was destroyed: bewail'd the Desolation of Capernaum, while it yet flourisht, and was exalted to heaven. Compassion, or Fellow-feeling, of anothers Misery, expresses not the Commiseration that was in Christ; his was an Ante-passion, or Fore-feeling; he felt not only what his Servants felt, but what they felt not, but might possibly feel: If I send them a∣way fasting, says he, they will faint by the way: We are sensible of one anothers Calamities, when they fall out, Christ even when they are contingent. He well deserves the Title of a Merciful High-Priest, who shew'd himself not only touch'd with the Evils that oppress men, but with those also that threaten them.

These were the two Motives of our Lord's Com∣passion, The present Distress, And the future Dan∣ger of the People. But the Distresses and Dangers of all Sorts of Men do not equally affect him, but only those of the Worthy. It was the Singular Faith and Devotion of the Multitude which brought them into the Inconvenience they were in, and our Lord's words do not only express a Disposition or In∣clination to relieve them, but an Indignation that they should suffer; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that men should do Well, and yet suffer Evil, his Gracious Nature could not endure. The Circumstan∣ces of the Peoples Worthiness and Goodness, which may be collected from the Words of my Text, are these four:

1. The End for which they follow'd Christ, It was purely for Instruction and Conviction: they had no other Design, no other Interest in attending him,

but to hear his Words, and to see his Works; and such deserved not to be starved away. The Lions do lack and suffer hunger, says the Psalmist, but they which seek the Lord, shall want no manner of thing that is good. Those that sit assiduously at Christ's feet, deserve to be fed by his hand; who neglect all for him, to be cared for by him; and till he had here relieved the Multitude, he himself suffered; for they appeared to him not only to be his Disciples, but his Mar∣tyrs.

The second Circumstance of their Worthiness was, The Pains they took in following Christ, Divers of them, says he, came from far. To follow Christ only from Street to Street, and Synagogue to Syna∣gogue within the City, merited Regard: but to at∣tend him from Town to Town, from City to Coun∣try, from Mountain to Desart, call'd for a greater measure of our Affection. To receive the Gospel, when 'tis brought Home to us, is commendable; but to go on Pilgrimage to hear Wisdom, like the Queen of Sheba, deserves, as she did, to find more Satis∣faction than was expected: those that submit to hear the Word of God, shall find Comfort and Refresh∣ment to their Souls, but they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness, inebriabuntur ubertate domûs tuae, they shall be even gorged and sated with the Plen∣ty of his House. The Church of Rome, among o∣ther vain and false Glories, reckons that of Pilgrima∣ges: but who looks nearly into the Mystery of them, will find, that when they are undertaken by Great Men, 'tis with a Perswasion, that the most heinous Offences may be expiated by Bodily Pains and pro∣fuse Offerings, without Reformation of Life: and when by those of the Meaner Sort, 'tis but, under a

Colour of Religion, a plain running-away from their Wives and Children, or the Burden of their Calling; and as they went out Idle and Profligate Persons, they return commonly Thieves and Murderers.

The third Circumstance of their Worthiness was, The Generosity and Spiritual-Mindedness they shew'd: Though they had continued with our Lord three days, and had made no Provision for the Body, yet they felt no Hunger, or despised it; they were so transported with his Conversation, that what Christ said of his own doing the Will of his Father, That it was Meat and Drink to him, appear'd true in the Multitudes hearing his Gracious Words, That it was Meat and Drink to them: they practis'd this Precept before it was taught them, Anima est plusquam esca, the Concerns of the Soul are to take place before those of the Body. 'Twas said of the ancient com∣mon People of Rome,—duas tantum res anxias op∣tat, Panem & Circenses —that they passionately set their heart but upon two things, Bread and Plays, their Belly and their Pastime. But the People here of a Nobler Strain, despised their belly, pleasure, profit, ease, Life it self, for Religion and Instruction sake: And therefore though our Lord many other times sent away the People Empty, or slipt away him∣self from their importunity, he treated and feasted these, and dismist them with Respect and Com∣plement.

The fourth Circumstance of their Worthiness was their Constancy and Perseverance, they forsook not Christ in three days. Those that are not discoura∣ged at the first Onset on Religion, yet many times length and hardness of Duties, severe Discipline, Dan∣ger and Persecutions, will make them stagger and re∣coil.

The Seed that fell upon Stony Ground, sprung up faster for a season, than that which fell on the Good Ground: but when the Sun arose and smote it, it presently withered, wanting root. The Children of Israel went cheerfully and lustily with Moses out of Egypt, but when their Food grew scarce, and they saw the Host of Pharaoh pursue them, they boggled in their Enterprize, and in their hearts returned a∣gain into Egypt, preferring Bondage with Safety and Plenty, before Freedom with Hardship and Danger. But their Posterity voluntarily follow'd Christ three days without Sustenance, and never lookt back to their houses, or yet to their beloved City. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem! says the Psalmist, let my right Hand forget its Cunning. But these Israelites, when they heard Tidings of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem above, they cast behind them all thoughts of Jerusalem below, it appeared to them no better than a second Babylon, or house of Bondage. As our Lord therefore made others of the People his Scholars, he made these of his Family; as he taught them, he fed these; revealed not only the Word, but the Power and Glory of God to them. To conclude:

I shall raise from all that I have said but this One acceptable and comfortable Doctrine, Whosoever fol∣lows Christ faithfully, affectionately, and constantly in these days, will find him as Compassionate in their Wants and Distresses, as the Multitude here did. For he has the same Bowels and Tenderness, now at the Right Hand of God, which he had when he conver∣sed with men on Earth: he is ascended Intire into the Heavens, he did not carry up his Body thither, and leave his Affections in the Grave. If we there∣fore

seek the Kingdom of Heaven, in the first place, and its Righteousness, we may rest assured of our Lord's Promise, That all the Necessaries of this Life shall be added to us; that if we perform the Princi∣pal, he will take care to make good the Acces∣sory. What is said of the Productions of Nature, That she brings forth nothing but what she provides for, is much more true of the Productions or Children of Grace. For when the Earth with-holds its Fatness, and the Clouds their Dew, when the Creatures that should nourish Men starve themselves for want of Nourishment, when the Breasts of Nature seem whol∣ly dryed up, venit Coelum in partes, Heaven it self will come in to succour, and take Part with the Faithful: and if Sterility abounds, Grace (on this occasion also) will much more abound; if the Soil af∣ford no Corn, Bread shall be rained from the Sky; if the Springs fail, the Stony Rock shall send forth Wa∣ter, and Rivers shall run in dry places; the Ravens shall feed the Righteous, or their little Stock shall encrease as fast as 'tis spent; the Courses of Nature shall be inverted, rather than Christ's Truth fail; Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but not one Tittle of his Word shall fall to the ground. And if any say, How comes it then to pass, that the Servants of God do suffer Want? Nay, that commonly they are more destitute and persecuted than other Men? I an∣swer to this, as our Lord did to his Disciples urging him on a time to eat, I have Meat to eat, says he, which you know not of: So the Faithful have Meat to eat, which the World knows not of; they have Peace, Plenty, and Prosperity, though not seen by every Eye. They have the Grace of God, which is as a hidden Manna in their Hearts, and

as a Well of Living Water, which suffers them neither to hunger nor thirst. And is it not much more Eligible and Glorious to fast with Mo∣ses and Elias forty days, than to feast even at the Table of Princes? To be in the State of An∣gels, who need neither Food nor Raiment, than to be clothed and served with all the Sumptuous∣ness and Magnificence of Solomon? The Righte∣ous have Content in Poverty, which is more than Riches; Joy in Bonds, which is better than Free∣dom; Satiety in a little, which is not always found in Abundance. And what is this, but to receive Bread from Heaven, when the Earth af∣fords none? Water from the Rock, when the Springs are dryed up? To be fed even by a more Wonderful Way, than by the Ministry of Ravens? Neither is the Favour of God this Way shew'd to the Followers of Christ, less than that which he shew'd to his Own Servants of old, but much greater: for it speaks yet a higher Grace to be content to perish under Hunger, Poverty, and Bonds, than to be snatch'd out of these Evils af∣ter a Miraculous Manner. Saint Peter rejoiced more, when he was scourged for bearing Testi∣mony to Christ, than when he was delivered by an Angel from the Death design'd him by Herod. And Saint Paul gloried more in his Persecutions and Sufferings, than he did even in his Charisma∣ta, his Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost. And thus our Gracious Lord relieves the Necessities of his Servants from the Store-houses of the World, or from the Riches of his Grace; rescues them out of their Afflictions, or makes them delight in them; supplies their Wants, or sets them above the Wants

of other Men; takes away their Wants, or takes them up to that Place, where no Wants are, and where all Tears shall be wip'd from their Eyes. To which blessed Place, God of his infinite Mercy, through our Lord Jesus Christ, bring us all. And

To God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed all Honour, Glory, Worship, and Thanksgiving, this Day forth and for ever∣more. Amen.