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hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

Having thus addressed himself, in a direct act of thanksgiving, to his Father, with his eyes, we may suppose, lifted up to heaven, Jesus now looks to all who were present, and thus proceeds, in a connected train of thought: "All things are delivered to me of my Father." As God, Christ is equal with the Father, and one with him; but as Mediator between God and man (and it is in this character he here speaks), he sustains a delegated authority. He is appointed, in the divine counsel of mercy to negotiate in the glorious business of the salvation of sinners by the covenant of grace; so that he not only has all things in himself as God, but all things committed, delivered over, to him as Mediator, for the purpose of being communicated to those whom he came to save, all of whom, moreover, are themselves delivered to him to be saved, while all things are rendered subservient to him, and put under his feet, for this end. It hath pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell, in order that we, out of his fulness, should receive grace upon grace. Very similar to what he says here are his words at the beginning of his intercessory prayer: Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee; as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him :" so also, after his resurrection, he said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth :" and at his ascension, God set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, and gave him a name which is above every name.

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Our Lord goes on to say, "And no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father;" that is, none-no person, fully understands the Son but the Father. There are mysteries relating to the Son, which none but the Father can comprehend; and this shows the Son to be, strictly speaking, divine. "And" no man knoweth “who the Father is, but the Son," that is, none fully knows the Father, except the Son; and this also proves the Son to be God, and possessed of that infinite knowledge which is necessary to comprehend an infinite object. When our Lord says that none knoweth the Son but the Father, and none the Father but the Son, he is not to be understood as speaking to the exclusion of

the Holy Ghost, who is the Spirit of wisdom and of perfect understanding. What is here said is quite consistent with the passage to the Corinthians: * "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the

Spirit of God." These passages, when compared, and brought together, plainly establish the doctrine of the Trinity, three persons in one God, united in infinite wisdom, and in the perfect knowledge of each other. Christ adds, that no man knoweth who the Father is, but "he to whom the Son will reveal him."—"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." The whole of that knowledge of God, and of the way of salvation, which has been published to the world, has been revealed by Christ himself, or by his divinely commissioned prophets and apostles, for his sake. Besides, no individual comes to the personally saving knowledge of God, except by the particular revelation, or discovery, of scriptural truth to his soul, by the grace and Spirit of the Son of God. He opens men's understandings to understand the Scriptures, and teaches them rightly to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal,

Then Jesus, turning away from the multitude, "said to his disciples, privately," or apart, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see: for I tell you that many prophets and kings," or, as in Matthew,† prophets and righteous men, "have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." The privileges of the Church were well understood by the ancient prophets and worthies (among whom were some of kingly dignity), to be intended to be so much greater after the coming of Messiah than they were before, that they looked forward to his coming with great desire. Jacob spoke of him, on his death-bed, as Shiloh, and "waited for his salvation." Abraham " rejoiced to see," or greatly desired to see, "his day, and he saw it," by faith, though not by sight, "and was glad." David evidently looked forward with great delight to Him in whom his kingdom was to be established for ever. Messiah's com

* 1 Cor. ii. 10.-This mutual and equal knowledge is declared, John x. 15, q. v.

Mat. xiii. 17.

ing was a constant subject of prayer with the Jewish Church. He who was "the Desire of all nations," was especially the Desire of his own. The spirit of the prophets in regard to gospel salvation, is thus described by Peter: "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired, and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto us; searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." The Old Testament saints "all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were persuaded of them, and embraced them." The outward privileges then enjoyed by those who saw and heard what these disciples saw and heard, were very great-great beyond those of the Old Testament saints. But more especially, blessed were they whose eyes were opened to see, and their ears to hear, these things, so as to believe to the saving of their souls. Already blessed in the light of truth, the favour of God, and peace of conscience, they were preparing, and looking for the perfect and endless blessedness of immortality. A few things may yet be added, for the further improvement of this passage.

1. Let me ask you if you resemble Christ in rejoicing at the success of true religion? He greatly rejoiced in spirit, and gave thanks to his Father, that Satan was dethroned, and that, though some were obstinate, others were blessed with a saving discovery of divine things. In like manner, all his genuine followers are alive to the importance of the overthrow of Satan from tyrannizing over the minds of sinners, and are glad when they see or hear of God's having savingly revealed his Son in the hearts of any. When Barnabas came to Antioch, and "had seen the grace of God," then "he was glad;"- "for he was a good man," and that joy was one evidence of his goodness. When Paul and Barnabas and certain other Christians "passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, they caused great joy unto all the brethren." Now, how is it with you in this respect? If it be really so that the sight, or intelligence, of such success, bring you no pleasure, then you have not the Spirit of Christ, and of course, are none of his: or, if it bring you only a very slight and questionable satisfaction, then the faith is at a very low ebb in your souls, and you are peculiarly called on to be watchful, and to strengthen the things which are ready to die.

Surely, all who love the Lord, and are alive to the value of the human soul, ought to look on the conversion of sinners as the most important of earthly events, and be very glad, and give glory to God, when they hear of such a happy change taking place on men, of whatever rank, or whatever country. When people that were walking in darkness see the great Light, and God, by their accession, multiplies his own nation, then let our joy be increased: let us joy before him according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

If you would be saved,

2. Beware of being proud of your own wisdom and prudence, and cherish the humility and teachableness of babes. Human learning is never despised but by those who are destitute of it; and common, worldly prudence, is never despised but by those who are themselves lamentably stupid, or rash: but learning and prudence are both dangerous, when not under a higher than human guidance. "Though ignorance is certainly to be avoided, and that man is brutish who desires not to know; yet it is much to be lamented, that people of the finest parts, and those who have the greatest compass of human erudition, are most exposed to the infelicity of thinking highly of themselves, and of becoming dupes to their own vanity, or the splendid fallacies of the human understanding. In proportion as they can make these fallacies shining and specious, they are the more liable to be ensnared themselves, as well as more dangerous in deluding others. Most of the arch-heretics were men of undoubted parts and accomplishments, as to the world; but they sought distinction by those parts, invented new opinions to create it, and at length became the victims of their own vanity and pride. The wisest of men, or rather God by him, gives a strong caution, therefore, on this head, 'Lean not to thine own understanding.' Nothing can be truly wisdom, which does not render a man better and happier for eternity. Where, then, shall we find this, except in the Bible? By whom shall we obtain this, but by the Spirit of wisdom? And what is he who despises and rejects both? The answer," to this last question, "is a harsh monosyllable in proud ears; and a man would not venture to utter it, but from something better than men's authority."* "He that trusteth in his own heart, is a fool." Beware of this. "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the

* Serle.

kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." The gospel is proposed to you, not with the view of asking your opinion on it, or of exercising your ingenuity, but as that by which, according as you receive or reject it, you are to be saved or condemned. Give attention to it, then, when it is read and preached; attend to it with that deep sense of its importance, with that conviction of your own insufficiency, with that spirit of implicit submission to the declaration of Scripture, and with that earnest prayer for divine instruction, which God wisely requires, and which he will graciously bless.

3. We should learn, from the 22d verse, never to separate the truths of what is called natural religion from the gospel. The idea that there is, or can be, any true and acceptable religion whatever, apart from the revelation of Christ, is here shown to be quite preposterous. The true Witness declares that no man can know the Father except he to whom he shall reveal him. Hence, all worship offered to God, not through Christ, is offered to an unknown God, to a God of men's own imagination, and is therefore idolatrous. Jesus Christ not only reveals the true God, but is himself the way, the truth, and the life; so that no man cometh unto the Father but through him. Let, then, all our ideas of religion be of a truly Christian complexion. "Ye believe in God," saith Christ, "believe also in me." "All men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father who hath sent him."

4. Let us be thankful for the precious religious privileges which we enjoy, and careful to improve them. All things considered, our privileges are at least as great as were the privileges of those to whom Jesus said, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see." But we cannot too

anxiously inquire whether we be improving these privileges to our actual personal salvation: for thus alone it is that they can ultimately prove blessings to us. Lord, grant that we may not "receive the grace of God in vain," but may be of those of whom, in the highest sense of the words, it may be said, "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day; and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted."

Lastly: Are we blessed because our eyes see, and our ears hear these things?—then, Christian benevolence should

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