One of the great miseries under which lapsed nature labours^ is spiritual blindness. * Jesus Christ brings that eye-salve which only can cure it; Rev. iii. 18. " I counsel thee to buy of me eye- " salve, that thou mayest sec " Those to whom the Spirit hath applied it, can say, as it is 1 John v. 20. " We know that the Son " of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we " may know him that is true ; and we are in him that is true, " even in his Son Jesus Christ : this is the true God, and eter- " nal life.
f " To the spiritual illumination of a soul* it suffices not that " the object be revealed, nor yet that man, the subject of that u knowledge, have a due use of his own reason ; but it is further " necessary that the grace and special assistance of the holy Spirit " be superadded, to open and mollify the heart, and so give it a " due taste and relish of the sweetness of spiritual truth." By- opening the gospel, he reveals truth to us, and, by opening the heart, in us. Now, though this cannot be without that, yet it is much more excellent to have truth revealed in* us, than to us. This divines call proccipuiim v.lud airolsXeffpa muneris prophetici ; " the principal perfective effe tof the prophetical office," the special blessing promised in the new covenant, Hel viii. 10. " I will put " my laws in their mind, and write them in th -- hearts."
For explication of this part of Christ's prophetical office, I shall as in the former, shew what is included in the opening of their understanding, and by what acts Christ performs it. And,
First, Give you a brief account of what is included in this act of Christ ; take it in the following particulars.
1. It implies the transcendent nature of spiritual things, far exceeding the highest flight and reach of natural reason. Jesus Christ must by his Spirit open the understandings of men, or they can never comprehend such mysteries. Some men have strong natural parts, and by improvement of them are become eagle-eyed in the mysteries of nature. Who more acute than the heathen
* The eyes of the blind must be anointed with eye-salve, by which man, being cured of his blindness, is restored to spiritual sight, das. Phil. 2 part. p. 340.
f Ad pcrfectam et propriam rerum supernaturalium cognitionem, non svfficere ex parte objecti revelationem, nee ex parte subjecti debitum usum rationis, sed insuper requiri gra- iiam Christi, et speciale adjulorium Spiritus Sancti quo cor aperiatur, emolliatur, et super- naturalis veritatis dulcedinis recte habeat proportionam S%'V et gustum spiritualis judicii, Reynold. Animal. Homo. p. 23.
134< THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. X.
sages ? Yet, to them the gospel seemed foolishness, 1 Cor. i. 20. Austin confesses, that before his conversion, he often felt his spi- rit swell with offence and contempt of the gospel ; and he despi- sing it, said dedignabar esse parvulus ; "he scorned to become a " child again.'" Brad war dine, that profound doctor, learned usque ad stuporem, even to a wonder, professes that when he read Paul's epistles, he contemned them, because in them he found not a metaphysical wit. Surely, it is possible a man may, with Beren- garius, be able to dispute de omni scibili, of every point of know- ledge ; to unravel nature from the cedar in Lebanon, to the hyssop on the wall ; and yet be as blind as a bat in the knowledge of Christ. * Yes, it is possible a man's understanding may be im- proved by the gospel, to a great ability in the literal knowledge of it, so as to be able to expound the scriptures orthodoxly, and en- lighten others by them, as it is Mat. vii. 22. The Scribes and Pha- risees were well acquainted with the scriptures of the Old Testa- ment ; yea, such were their abilities, and esteem among the peo- ple for them, that the apostle stiles them the princes of this world, 1 Cor. ii. 8. And yet notwithstanding Christ truly calls them blind guides, Mat. xxiii. Till Christ open the heart, we can know no- thing of him, or of his will, as we ought to know it. So experi- mentally true is that of the apostle, 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15. " The natu- " ral man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they " are foolishness to him ; neither can he know them, because * they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual, judgeth " all things ; yet he himself is judged of no man." The spiritual man can judge and discern the carnal man, but the carnal man wants a faculty to judge of the spiritual man : as a man that car- ries a dark lanthorn, can see another by its light, but the other cannot discern him. Such is the difference betwixt persons whose hearts Christ hath, or hath not opened.
2. Christ's opening the understanding, implies the insufficiency of all external means, how excellent soever they are in themselves, to operate savingly upon men, till Christ by his power opens the soul, and so makes them effectual, f What excellent preachers
* The most refined and ingenious sort of unregenerate men have nothing in them which is more excellent than con.jaon grace ; and common grace leaves them in the state of nature, under the power of sin, and in the very suburbs of hell, wholly at the command of Satan. And if any man think otherwise, let him take heed that every thought doth not nail him fast to that unregenerate and cursed state for evermore. Dr. Chynelles Divin. Trin. p. 410, &c.
•f- We maintain a twofold manner of prophetic teaching, the one immediate, the ether mediate ; by the former, with some help of the latter, men's minds may be en- lightened, and their hearts inclined to the obedience of faith : by the latter neither of these effects can be produced without the help of the former, Synopsis jmrior, Theoi. disp. XXVI. 518.
SERM. X. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 135
were Isaiah and Jeremiah to the Jews ? The former spake of Christ more like an Evangelist of the New than a Prophet of the Old Testament ; the latter was a most convictive and pathetical preacher : yet the one complains, Isa. liii. 1. " Who hath believed " our report ? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed p* The other laments the successlessness of his ministry, Jer. vi. 18. " The bellows are burnt, the lead is consumed of the fire, the " founder melteth in vain." Under the New Testament, what peo- ple ever enjoyed such choice helps and means, as those that lived under the ministry of Christ and the apostles ? Yet how many re- mained still in darkness ? Matt. xi. 27. " We have piped to you, " but ye have not danced ; we have mourned unto you, but ye " have not lamented.'" Neither the delightful airs of mercy, nor the doleful ditties of judgment, could affect or move their hearts.