3. Christ, when he teacheth, makes us obey. Others may instruct, but cannot command obedience ; they teach to be hum- ble, but men remain proud. The Prophet had been denouncing judgments against the people of Judah, but they would not hear, Jer. xliv. 17., " We will do whatso- ever goeth out of our own mouth, to bake cakes to the queen of heaven." Men come quasi armed in a coat of mail that the sword of the word will not enter ; but when Christ comes to teach, he removes this obstinacy ; he not only informs the judgment, but inclines the will. He doth not only come with the light of his word, but the rod of his strength, and makes the stubborn sinner yield to him. His grace is irresistible.
4. Christ teacheth easily. Others teach with difficulty. Difficulty in finding out a truth, and in inculcating it, Isa. xxviii. 1 0., " Precept (must be) upon precept, and line upon line." Some may teach all their lives, and the word take no impression. They complain, as Isa. xHx. 4., " I have spent my labour in vftin," plowed on rocks ; but Christ the great Prophet teacheth with ease. He can with the least touch of his Spirit convert ; he can say, " Let there be light ;" with a word he conveys grace.
5. Christ when he teacheth, makes men willing to learn. Men may teach others, but they have no miiul to learn, Prov. i. 7., " Fools despise instruction ;" they rage at the word, as if a patient should rage at the physician Avhen he brings him a cordial, thus backward are men to their own salva- tion. But Christ makes his people a ' wil- ling people,' Ps. ex. 3. They prize know-
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ledge, and hang it as a jewel upon their ear. Those tliat Clirist toaclietli, say, as Isa. ii. 3., " Come let us go up to the moun- tain of the Lord, and lie will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in them ;" and, as Acts X. 33., " We are all here present before God, to hear all things commanded."
G. Christ, when he tcaclicth, doth not only illuminate, but animate. He doth so teach, as he dotli quicken, John viii. 12., " I am the light of the world ;" he that follows me shall have lumen vitcs, — the lijjht of life. Bv nature we are dead, therefore unfit for teaching ; who will make an oration to the dead ? But Christ teach- eth them that arc dead, he gives the light of life. As when Lazarus was dead, Christ said, " Come forth," and he made the dead to hear, " Lazarus came forth :" so when Christ saith to the dead soul, come forth of the grave of unbelief, he hears Christ's voice, and comes forth, it is the light of life. The philosophers say, color et lux concrescuv.t, — light and heat increase together. 'Tis true here, where Christ comes with his light, there is the heat of the spiritual life going along with it.
Use \d. Of information. 1. See here an argument of Christ's Divinity : had he not been God, he could never have known the mind of God, or revealed to us those arcani coeli^ — those deep mysteries, which no man or angel could find out. \Mio but God can anoint the eyes of the blind, and give not only light, but sight? Who but he, who hath the key of David, can open the heart ? Who but God can bow the iron sinew of the will ? He only who is God can enlighten the conscience, and make the stony heart bleed.
2. See what a cormicopia, or ])lenty of wisdom is in Christ, who is the great doc- tor of his church, and gives saving know- ledge to all the elect. The body of the sun must needs be full of clarity and brightness, which enlightens the wh(»le world : Christ is the great luminary, " in whom are hid all treasures of knowledge," Col. ii. 3. The middle lamp of the sanctuary gave light to all the other lamps : Christ diffuseth his glorious light to others. We are apt to ad- mire the learning of Aristotle and Plato : Alas ! what is this poor spark of light to
that which is in Oirist, from whose infinite wisdom both men and angels light their lamp. #