The heathens thought that man had not a power over his life, but a power over his actions — Quod vivamus, Deorum munus est; quod bene Vivamus, nostrum. But the Psalmist acknowledgeth God in both: ‘Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy law;’ that he could not live nor keep the word without God’s grace. This latter he amplifieth in this verse, that he was so far from keeping it, that he could not so much as know it savingly and practically without divine grace: ‘Lord, open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.’ Here is—
1. A request, ‘open thou mine eyes.’
2. The reason, from the end, benefit, and fruit of it, ‘that I may,’
or then I shall, ‘behold wondrous things out of thy law.’
In which reason is intimated the necessity of divine ifiumination, and then the
profit of it.
1. The necessity, that I may behold, &c.i.e., otherwise I
cannot.
2. The profit, then I shall behold wondrous things out of thy law.
Doct. 1. That we need that God should open our eyes, if we would have a right understanding of his word.
1. What is meant by opening the eyes.
2. The necessity of such a work in order to a right understanding of the word
of God.
First, What is meant by opening the eyes. Before I come to the particular explication of the terms, let me premise two observations.
1. The saints do not complain of the obscurity of the law, but of their own blindness. The Psalmist doth not say, ‘Lord, make a plainer law,’ but, ‘Lord, open mine eyes.’ Blind men might as well complain of God that he doth not make a sun whereby they might see. The word is ‘A light that shineth in a dark place,’ 2 Peter i. 19. There is no want of light in the scripture, but there is a veil of darkness upon our hearts ; so that if in this clear light we cannot see, the defect is not in the word, but in ourselves.
2. The light which they beg is not anything besides the word. When God is said to enlighten us, it is not that we should expect new revelations, but that we may see the wonders in his word, or get a clear sight of what is already revealed. Those that vent their own dreams under the name of the Spirit and divine light, they do not give you mysteria, but monstra, portentous opinions; not show you the wondrous things of God’s law, but the prodigies of their own brain; unhappy abortives, that die as soon as they come to light: Isa. viii. 20, ‘To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.’ The light which we have is not without the word, but by the word.
Now to the phrase. The Hebrew signifieth ‘unveil mine eyes.’ There is a double work — negative and positive: there is a taking away the veil, and an infusion of light. Paul’s cure of his natural blindness is a fit emblem of our cure of spiritual blindness: Acts ix. 18, ‘Immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received sight forthwith.’ First the scales fall from our eyes, and then we receive sight.
1. There is a taking away the veil before we can have a true discerning of
the mysteries that are revealed in the word of God: 2 Cor. iii. 14, 15, the
apostle, speaking of the Jews, saith, ‘But their minds were blinded; for
until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away, in the reading of the Old
Testament; which veil is done away in Christ: but even unto this day, when
Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts.’ Now this veil is
diverse.
[1.] The veil of ignorance. Though man hath reason, and is capable of
understanding the sense and importance of the words that are used about the
mysteries of godliness, yea, and the matter too, yet he gets not the saving
knowledge of them by his natural abilities. There is a grammatical knowledge
and a spiritual knowledge; a man mayknow things grammatically and literally
that is ignorant of them spiritually; as a child may read the letters and words
that doth not conceive of the sense. So a man may know what is said concerning
God and Christ, and sin and grace, the vanity of the creature, the excellency
of heaven, and have yet no saving knowledge of these things; and therefore the
scripture useth the expression that they oversee in seeing; as Acts xxviii. 26,
‘Hearing, ye shall hear, and not understand; seeing, ye shall see, and not
perceive.' Though truths are never so plainly delivered, never so powerfully
pressed, and though they are capable to understand the words, yet they do not
take the truth into their hearts, so as to profit by it. So Deut. xxix.
2—4, ‘Ye have seen,’ yet ‘ye have not an heart to
see.’ Most will declaim against the vanity of the creature and evil of sin
; but they do not see with an affective heart-piercing light; they have on them
the veil of spiritual ignorance.
[2.] The veil of carnal knowledge and wisdom, that puffeth up, I Cor. viii. 1,
2, by which, seeing not, we think we see. This is a great hindrance to the
entertaining of the word. So Christ telleth the Pharisees, who were conceited
of their own knowledge, John ix. 39, ‘For judgment am I come into this
world, that they which see not might see, and they which see might be made
blind.’ The Pharisees were the rabbis of the age, the most seeing and
learned men of that time. Carnal men are puffed up with a conceit of their own
abilities, and so are obstructed by them from profiting by the gospel.
[3.] The veil of prejudice and corrupt affections. The passions of the mind,
love and fear, desire and anger, hinder us from judging aright in the things of
God. Our hearts are overcast with strong affections to the world, and so cannot
clearly judge either of practical truths or of the controversies of the age.
Not of practical truths: When Christ had taught that they ‘could not serve
God and mammon,’ it is said, Luke xvi. 14, ‘And the Pharisees, that
were covetous, derided him.’ Holy mortifying truths are unpleasing to a
carnal ear, though they be represented with never so much evidence. How will
men distinguish themselves out of their duty! They shift, and stretch, and turn
and wind hither and thither, and prove truth to be no truth, rather than part
with their lusts. So present truths, as the apostle calls them, 2 Peter i. 12,
when the dust of interest is raised, are not discerned. The orthodoxy of the
world is usually an age too short: 2 Cor. iv. 4, ‘The god of this world
hath blinded their eyes.’
[4.] The veil of carnal sense: 2 Peter i. 9, ‘He that lacketh these things
is blind, and cannot see afar off.’ There are so many mists and clouds in
the lower world, that men cannot outsee time, and without the prospective of
faith have a sight of eternity. Nature is shortsighted, so inured to present
things that we receive no light concerning things to come. These are the scales
that are upon our eyes.
2. There is an infusion of light, without which men of excellent wit and sharp understanding in other things are stark blind in the things of God. What this light is will appear by the degrees of knowledge and the uses of this light.
[1.] The degrees of knowledge.
(1.) In some there is a simple nescience, both of terms or notions, and things,
as in those that have not a revelation, or have not regarded it when the
revelation is made. As the Gentiles, that have not a revelation: Eph. iv. 18,
‘Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their
heart.’ Or rude and ignorant Christians, that have not the advantage of
education, so as to understand the notions in which the doctrine of God is
propounded: Isa. xxviii. 9, 10, ‘Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom
shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and
drawn from the breasts: for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little.’ So
sottish and brutish are some, that a man had need teach them as he teacheth
little children, letter after letter, and line after line, little good done.
(2.) In others there is a grammatical knowledge but not a spiritual, a
repeating things by rote, a talking of all that a Christian enjoyeth.
(3.) Besides the grammatical knowledge, there is a dogmatical knowledge, when
the truths of the word are not only understood, but begin to settle into an
opinion that we bustle for in the world. An opinionative receiving of the truth
is different from a saving receiving of the truth. Many are orthodox, or have
so much judgment and knowledge as to hold the truth strictly, but the heart is
not possessed with the life and power of it. Those are intended in Rom. ii. 20,
‘An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which have the form of
knowledge and of the truth in the law.’ And such are described 2 Tim. iii.
8, ‘Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.’ It is
not to be imagined that this is always in design, though many times carnal men
swim with the stream, and take up with the opinions that are current in their
age; but also out of conviction of judgment; there is somewhat of conscience in
it. A sound judgment is a different thing from a sound heart. The truths of God
have great evidence with them; and therefore a rational man, being helped with
some common work of the Spirit, may close with them, though they have no
experience of the power and prevailing influence of them.
(4.) Besides this dogmatical knowledge, by which we see round about the compass
of truths revealed in the word, there is a gracious illumination when men are
taught so as drawn to God, John vi. 44, 45, and they do so understand
Christ’s doctrine as to apply and make a right use of it; such a knowledge
as is called not only sight, but taste: I Peter ii. 3, ‘If so be ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious;’ and a feeling of what we understand:
Phil. i. 9, ‘And this I pray, that your love may abound more and more in
knowledge and in all judgment.’ This sense and experimental knowledge is
that which the saints seek after.
[2.] The uses of this spiritual illumination.
(1.) To give us a clear sight of the truths of God.
(2.) An applicative sight.
(3.) An affective sight.
(4.) A transforming sight.
(5.) Such a sense of the truth as is prevalent over lusts and interests.
(1.) A clear sight of the truths of God. Others have but an hear-say
knowledge, gathered out of books and sermons, and the common report which is
made of Christ; but he that is divinely enlightened drinks of the fountain, and
so his draught is more fresh and sweet. They do not talk of things by rote
after others, but it is written upon their hearts: Heb. viii. 10, ‘I will
put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts;’ and so
groweth more intimate and satisfactory, and moving upon them.
(2.) An applicative sight; not only knowledge, but prudence: Prov. viii. 12,
‘I, Wisdom, dwell with Prudence.’ Wisdom is the knowledge of
principles; prudence is an ability to apply them to our comfort and use, that
we may know it for our good, Job v. 28. Many are right in generals; but the
Spirit doth not only reveal the truths of the gospel, but applieth those truths
to awaken the conscience that was asleep in sin. Many men that are unrenewed
may be stored with general truths concerning the misery of man, redemption by
Christ, the privileges of a Christian; but they do not reflect the light of
these truths upon themselves, so as to consider their own case; and so it
serveth rather for matter of opinion and discourse than for life and
conversation; it is not directive.
(3.) An affective sight: Prov. ii. 10, ‘When wisdom entereth upon thy
heart,’ which is the seat of affections, it stirs up in the soul
answerable motions to every truth; whereas when truths rest in empty barren
notions, without feeling and an answerable touch upon the heart, the knowledge
of them is like a winter’s sun, that shineth, but warmeth not; the misery
of man is not affective, and doctrines of redemption by Christ are apprehended
without any joy and relish.
(4.) A transforming sight: 2 Cor. iii. 18, ‘We all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image,
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.’ It is a light
that is both directive and persuasive. A man may hear the gospel
nomikos, when it is only known as a rule, not as a means to convey the
Spirit; whereas a believer hears the law evangelikos. The apostle
preferreth the gospel above the law in the afore-mentioned place, for
comfortableness, perspicuity, efficacy, &c.
(5.) It is a light that prevaileth over our lusts and interest, such a light as
hath fire in it to destroy lusts: 1 John ii. 3, 4, ‘He that saith I know
him, and doth not keep his commandments, is a liar.’ A true knowledge and
sight of God is able to bridle lusts and purify the conscience. Therefore it is
said, ‘He that doth evil hath not seen God,’ 3 John 11; hath not a
true sight, whatever speculations he may have about the nature of God. Other
light doth not check and control vicious desires; reason is not restored to its
dominion: Rom. i. 18, the reputed wise men of the world ‘held the truth in
unrighteousness.’ Truth may talk its fill, but can do nothing; as a man
that is bound hand and foot may rave and evaporate his passions, but cannot
relieve himself from the oppressor or the force that he is under.
Secondly, Reasons that show the necessity of this work.
1. Spiritual blindness is natural to us, as that man that was blind from his birth, John ii. 1. We are not all born blind in body, but all in mind. By tasting the tree of knowledge, all Adam’s sons have lost their knowledge. Satan hath brought a greater shame upon us than Nahash the Ammonite would have brought upon the men of Jabesh Gilead in putting out their right eyes. The eye of the soul is put out, so as we cannot see the light that shineth in the word. By the fall we lost the true and perfect light of reason, but retain the pride of reason. It is no small part of our blindness that we cannot endure to hear of it: Rev. iii. 17, ‘Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’ Man desireth to be thought sinful rather than weak, and will sooner own a wickedness in morals than a weakness in intellectuals. Men are dishonest out of choice, and therefore think there is more of liberty and bravery in it; but to be simple argueth imperfection ; Job xi. 12, ‘Vain man would be accounted wise, though man be born like a wild-ass’s colt;’ not only for untamedness and affectation of liberty, but for rudeness and grossness of conceit; yet man would be accounted wise. The Pharisees took it ill that Christ charged them with blindness: John ix. 40, ‘Are we blind also?’ We all affect the reputation of wisdom, more than the reality; that is the reason why we are so touchy in point of error; we can easier brook a sin reproved than an error taxed. Till we have spiritual eye-salve, we do not know it, and will not hear of this blindness, Rev. iii. 17. It is a degree of spiritual knowledge to know that we know nothing.
2. Observe how much spiritual blindness is worse than bodily.
Those that are under bodily blindness are glad of a remedy, glad of a guide.
[1.] Glad of a remedy. How feelingly doth that man speak, Mark x. 51,
‘What wouldst thou have me to do? Lord, that mine eyes may be
opened.’ Those that are blind spiritually are not for a remedy; not only
ignorant, but unteachable; and so their blindness groweth upon them; to their
natural, there is an adventitious blindness. If we cannot keep out the light,
we rage against it.
[2.] Glad of a guide; as Elymas the sorcerer, when he was stricken blind,
looked about for somebody to lead him by the hand, Acts xiii. 11. But the blind
world cannot endure to be directed, or ‘the blind lead the blind, and both
fall into the ditch.’ He that prophesieth of strong wine is the teacher of
this people, saith the prophet. Men love those that gratify their lusts and
humours: let one come soundly, and declare the counsel and will of God to them,
he is distasted.
3. We cannot help ourselves out of this misery without God’s help. Our
incapacity is best understood by opening that noted place, 1 Cor. ii. 14,
‘The natural man receiveth not the things that are of God, for they are
folly to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned.’ Let us a little open that place: anthropos psuchikos,
‘the soully man,’ that is, a man considered in his pure naturals.
Jude 19; psuchikoi, pneuma mei echontes, ‘sensual, having not the
Spirit.’ However, he useth the best word by which a natural man can be
described; he doth not say sarkikoi, not only those that are brutish and
depraved by vicious habits, but take nature in its excellency, soul-light in
its highest splendour and perfection, though the man be not absolutely given up
to vile affections. Well, it is said of him that he neither doth nor can
receive the things of God, hou dechetai, and hou dunatai gnonai.
The ta tou pneumatos, ‘the things of the Spirit,’ are such
truths as depend upon mere revelation, and are above the reach and knowledge of
nature. There are ta tou Theou, ‘things of God,’ that may be
known by a natural light: Rom. i. 19, ‘That which may be known of God, is
manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them;’ but ta tou
pneumatos, things revealed in the word, though a natural man be able to
understand the phrases and sentences, and be able to discourse of them, yet he
wanteth faith, and a spiritual sense and relish of them; they are folly to him.
It noteth the utter contempt of spiritual things by a carnal heart, who looketh
upon redemption by Christ crucified, with the consequent benefits, as things
frivolous and vain. Paul at Athens was accounted ‘a babbler,’ Acts
xvii. 18. The same disposition is still in natural men; for though these
truths, by the prescription and consent of many ages, have now obtained
veneration and credit, yet carefully to observe them, to live to the tenor of
them, whatever hazards and inconveniences we are exposed to in the world, is
still counted foolish. Mark, for greater emphasis, it is noria, folly,
as carnal wisdom is echthra, ‘enmity against God,’ Rom. viii.
7. ‘Neither can he know them.’ It is out of sloth and opposition and
moral impotency; as it is said, Rom. viii. 7, ‘The carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it
be.’ Reason is a short and defective light, not only actually ignorant,
but unable to conceive of them. It is not only through negligence he doth not,
but through weakness he cannot. Take mere nature in itself, and, like plants
neglected, it soon runs wild; as the nations barbarous and not polished with
arts and civility have more of the beast than the man in them: Jude 10;
‘But what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they
corrupt themselves.’ Suppose they use the spectacles of art, and the
natural light of reason be helped by industry and learning, yet how erroneous
in things of religion: Rom. i. 21, ‘When they knew God, they glorified him
not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and
their foolish hearts were darkened,’ &c. The most civil nations were
most foolish in matters of worship; and many placed fevers, and human passions,
and every paltry thing, among the gods. The Scythians worshipped thunder, the
Persians the sun; the most stupid and blockish nations seemed most wise in the
choice of their gods; others were given up to more gross superstitions. All the
arts in the world could not fully repair the ruins of the fall. The heathens
invented logic for polishing reason; grammar and rhetoric for language; for
government, and as a help to human society, laws; for bodily necessities,
physic; for mollifying and charming the passions, so far as concerned human
conversation, ethics; for families and private societies, economics: but for
the soul and religious concernments, how blind and foolish were they ! Nay, go
higher. Suppose, besides the spectacles of art, nature be furnished with the
glass of the word; yet John i. 5, ‘The light shined in darkness, and the
darkness comprehended it not.’ We see how great scholars are defective in
the most useful and practical points. Nicodemus, a teacher in Israel, was
ignorant of regeneration, John iii. 10. They always err in one point or
another. And in these things of moment, if they get an opinion and a dogmatical
faith, and have an exact model and frame of truth, yet as long as they are
carnal and unregenerate, how much doth a plain godly Christian exceed them in
lively affection and serious practice !
And whilst they are disputing of the natures and offices of Christ, and the
nature of justification and sanctification, others enjoy what they speak of,
and have a greater relish and savour and power of these truths upon their
hearts. For ever it was a truth, and ever will be. Rom viii.5, ‘They that
are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh; and they that are after
the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.’ Nature can go no farther than
itself, than a fleshly inclination moveth it. They have not this transforming
light, and that sense of religion which is prevalent over lusts and worldly
interests. The next reason is, because they must be ‘spiritually
discerned;’ that is, to know them inwardly, thoroughly, and with some
relish and savour; there must be a higher light, there must be a cognation and
proportion between the object and the faculty. Divine things must be seen by a
divine light, and spiritual things by a spiritual light. Sense, which is the
light of beasts, cannot trace the workings or flights of reason in her
contemplations. We cannot see a soul or an angel by the light of a candle; so
fleshly wisdom cannot judge of divine things. The object must be not only
revealed, but we must have an answerable light; so that when you have done all,
you must say, ‘How can I understand without an interpreter?’ Acts
viii. 31. And this interpreter must be the Spirit of God — Ejus est
interpretari, cujus est condere. To discern, so as to make aright judgment
and estimate of things, dependeth upon God’s help.
4. When this blindness is in part cured, yet still we need that God should open our eyes to the very last. We know nothing as we ought to know. David, a regenerate man, and well instructed, prayeth to have his eyes opened; for we need more light every day: Luke lxiv 45, ‘Then opened he their understandings, that they might understand the scriptures.’ Christ first opened the scriptures, then he opened their understandings.
Use 1. To show us the reason why the word prevaileth so little when it is preached with power and evidence; their eyes are not opened: Isa. liii. 1, ‘Who hath believed our report; and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?’ No teaching will prevail till we are taught of God.
Use 2. What need we have to consult with God, whenever we make use of the word, in reading, hearing, study. In reading, when thou openest the Bible to read, say, ‘Lord, open mine eyes.’ When thou hearest, beg a sight of the truth, and how to apply it for thy comfort. Haec audiunt quasi somniantes, Luther saith of the most — in seeing they see not, in hearing they hear not. There was a fountain by Hagar, but she could not see it: Gen. xxi. 19, ‘God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad to drink.’ So for study; it is dangerous to set upon the study of divine things in the strength of wit and human helps. Men go forth in the strength of their own parts, or lean upon the judgment of writers, and so are left in darkness and confusion. We would sooner come to the decision of a truth if we would go to God, and desire him to rend the veil of prejudices and interests.
Use 3. Is to press us to seek after this blessing, the
opening of the eyes. Magnify the creating power of God: 2 Cor. iv. 6,
‘God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus
Christ.’ Make use of Christ: Col. ii. 3, ‘In whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge;’ beg it earnestly of him. The apostle
prayeth, Eph. 1. 17, 18, ‘That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may
know what is the hope of his calling,’ &c. Yea, mourn for it in cases
of dubious anxiety. John wept when the book of the seven seals was not opened,
Rev. v. 4.
Mourn over your ignorance; refer all to practice: John vii. 17, ‘If any
man will do his will, ho shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or
whether I speak of myself.’
Wait for light in the use of means, with a simple, docile, sincere, humble
mind: Ps. xxv. 9, ‘The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will
he teach his way.’
Doct. 2. Those whose eyes are opened by God, they see wondrous things in his word, more than ever they thought.
‘Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy
law.’ Law is not taken strictly for the covenant of works, nor for the
decalogue as a rule of life; but more generally for the whole word of God,
which is full of wonders, or high and heavenly mysteries.
In the decalogue or moral law there is wonderful purity, when we get a
spiritual sense of it: Ps. cxix. 96, ‘I have seen an end of all
perfection; but thy commandments are exceeding broad;’ and Ps. xix. 7,
8,’ The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of
the Lord is sure, making wise the simple: the statutes of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the
eyes.’
A wonderful equity: Rom. vii. 12, ‘The law is holy, and the commandment is
holy, just, and good.’
A marvellous wisdom: Deut. iv. 6, ‘Keep therefore, and do them; for this
is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear
all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and
understanding people.’
In the whole word of God, the harmony and correspondence between all the parts,
how the mystery grew from a dark revelation to clearer, is admirable. In the
gospel, every article of faith is a mystery to be wondered at The person of
Christ: 1 Tim. iii. 16, ‘Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested
in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,’ &c. A virgin conceiveth, the
Word is made flesh, the redemption and reconciliation of mankind, are the
wonderful works of the Lord’s grace. It is ‘the hidden wisdom of God
in a mystery,’ I Cor. 11.7. ‘We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery,
even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world to our glory;’
and it is called the ‘mystery hidden from ages,’ Eph. iii. 9.
The glory of heaven is admirable: Eph. 1. 18, ‘The riches of the glory of
the inheritance of the saints in light.’ That a clod of earth should be
made an heir of heaven, deserves the highest wonder. All these are mysteries.
So the wonderful effects of the word in convincing sinners: 1 Cor. xiv. 25,
‘Thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on
his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.’
Heb. iv. 12: ‘The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a
two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and joints
and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart’
It is a searching and discovering word: John iv. 29, ‘See a man that hath
told me all that ever I did.’ In changing sinners: 1 Peter ii. 9,
‘That ye may show forth the praises of him that hath called you out of
darkness into his marvellous light.’ Peter’s getting out of prison
was nothing to it. In comforting, every grace is a mystery, to depend upon what
we see not, to be as a rock in the midst of a storm. ‘Dying, yet we live;
as poor, yet making many rich,’ 2 Cor. vi. 9, 10. All the operations of
the Spirit are wonderful: 1 Peter i. 8, ‘Joy unspeakable and full of
glory;’ Phil. iv. 7, ‘Peace that passeth all understanding;’
Rom. viii. 26, ‘Groans that cannot be uttered.’
And now, what divine illumination contributeth to the sight of these wonders?
1. It revealeth the truth of them, which otherwise is incomprehensible to the flesh: Mat. xvi. 17, ‘Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.’ Without this, no certain knowledge of Christ’s person and office.
2. It more intimately acquainteth us with them: Mat. xiii. 11, ‘To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God; to others it is not given.’ All God’s works are full of wonder, yet blind men cannot see them, though the sun shineth never so clearly. A beautiful room into which there is but a crevice, when we lay our eye close to it, we see it.
Use 1. From hence we may learn, that it is one degree of profit to see so much in the word of God as to admire it; either at the mysteries of godliness or ungodliness, which the word discovereth, o bathos. They that are most enlightened have most cause to wonder; for then they find truths which exceed all common reason, such as do not come into the minds of others, or, if they do, they seem incredible.
Use 2 is to encourage us to study the word; the wonders of God’s works are many, but the wonders of his word greater. Quot articuli, tot miracula, the Papists say of Aquinas’s Sums; but more truly may it be said of the word of God; all the doctrines of the word are a continued mystery. After man was fallen, it came not into the head of any creature how to satisfy justice, to make up the breach. Oh, the folly of them that despise the word, as curious wits and worldlings do, as if it were a mean knowledge in comparison of what may be acquired from Aristotle and Plato or the politicians of the world ! If there be in it some rudiments, something common with other writings, yet there are greater things than these: ‘The deep things of God,’ 1 Cor. ii. 11; never such a revelation made to the world. And worldly men, that despise this study of the word, they despise that which angels wonder at, Eph. iii 10, and ‘desire to pry into,' 1 Peter i. 12, and make great matters of trifles. The Sun of righteousness, is not he worth the beholding?
Use 3. Let us cease wondering at worldly things, great places, honours, heaps of wealth, fair buildings, as the disciples, Mark xiii. 1, ‘Master, see what manner of stones and buildings are here !’ It is said of Christ, Col. ii. 9, ‘In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily!’ Fulness of the Godhead! oh, wonderful ! The people wondered at that mass of money provided by David to build God a house, 1 Chron. xxix. 7, 8. Oh! but the unsearchable riches of grace, the rare plot of man’s redemption, mega musteirion, how wonderful! All in and about Christ is rare. His name is Wonderful. All the promises of God are ta megista kai timia epangelmata. ‘exceeding treat and precious promises,' 2 Peter i.4; they transcend man's capacity. It condemneth the stupidness of them that are nothing moved or taken with things so great and wonderful - great in themselves, and should be precious to us.