lasting
vdamnation. "And when he had sent the multitude away, he went up in a
mountain to pray." He will not send away the multitude of the
Gentiles till the end of the world; but he did dismiss the multitude
of the Jewish people at the time when, as saith Isaiah, "He
commanded his clouds that they should rain no rain upon it"; that
is, he commanded his Apostles that they should preach no longer to
the Jews, but should go to the Gentiles. Thus, therefore, he sent
away that multitude, and "went up into a mountain"; that is, to the
height of the celestial kingdom, of which it had been written, "Who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall rise up in his
holy place?" For a mountain is a height, and what is higher than
heaven? There the Lord ascended. And he ascended alone, "for no man
hath ascended up into heaven save he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man which is in heaven." And even when he shall come
at the end of the world, and shall have collected all of us, his
members, together, and shall have raised us into heaven, he will
also ascend alone, because Christ, the head, is one with his
body. But now the Head alone ascends,--the Mediator of God and man
--the man Christ Jesus. And he goes up to pray, because he went to
the Father to intercede for us. "For Christ is not entered into
holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true, but into
heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."

It follows: "And when the evening was come, he was there alone."
This signifies the nearness of the end of the world, concerning
which John also speaks: "Little children, it is the last time."
Therefore it is said that, "when the evening was come, he was there
alone," because, when the world was drawing to its end, he by
himself, as the true high priest, entered into the holy of holies,
and is there at the right hand of God, and also maketh intercession
for us. But while he prays on the mountain, the ship is tossed with
waves in the deep. For, since the billows arise, the ship may be
tossed; but since Christ prays, it cannot be overwhelmed. ...

We may notice, also, that this commotion of the waves, and tottering
or half-sinking of Peter, takes place even in our time, according to
the spiritual sense daily. For every man's own besetting sin is the
tempest. You love God; you walk upon the sea; the swellings of this
world are under your feet. You love the world; it swallows