[3.] Those that have knowledge of Christ, but abuse their knowledge to countenance their lusts, and to defend their sins. Oh, this is sad ! The Gnostics were so called from their knowledge, and yet were the impurest heretics. These are those who, as the apostle saith. Gal. v. 13, ' Use their liberty as an occasion to the flesh,' and make the knowledge of Christ the ground of looseness and laziness : Jude 4, ' Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness ; ' that is, the knowledge of the gospel. Carnal hearts are like the sea, that turneth everything into the nature of itself, even the sweet influences of heaven into salt waters. The learning of Christ, and the looking upon Christ, is made the great ground of holiness everywhere in the scripture ; and they make it the ground of carnal liberty and a loose life : like the devil, the more cunning the more wicked ; the more knowing, the more hurt they do to their own souls, and to the souls of others.
[4.] When men grossly affect their ignorance. And this is seen in two things: —
(1.) By the unteachableness of their hearts. They are not know- ing or tractable ; the plainest truths of God are riddles to them. A child of God may be ignorant, but a child of God cannot be un- teachable. There is a suitableness and cognation between his spirit and divine truths ; there is something in his heart that answereth to it, though he never heard it before. When God regenerates the heart, he introduceth a frame of truth, something that is of kin, and answer- able to everything that is revealed. But now it is not so with wicked men ; they are carried aside with contrary inclinations, that their spirits bear no proportion with truth. As the apostle saith of silly women laden with sin, and led away with divers lusts, 2 Tim. iii. 7, they are ' ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth ; ' that is, they make not use of the advantages, occasions, and oppor- tunities of learning ; for otherwise it might be the description of a godly man ; they never reach the uttermost truths of the spiritual life, though always learning. Oh, it is a sad thing this untractableness and
432 A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [ISA. LIII. 11.
unteachableness of heart ! Men cannot tell what to make of divine things : Isa. xxviii. 9, ' Whom shall I teach knowledge, and whom shall I make to understand doctrine ? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts ; ' that is, he were as good go and prattle -.villi poor infants as teach them. Men have unsavoury, inju- dicious minds that do not relish the things of God.
(2.) By downright opposition, raging against the light. As the Ethiopians, that are said once a year solemnly to curse the sun ; so their hearts rage against knowledge, because it revivetii guilt : Job xxi. 14, ' They say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.' They did not desire knowledge. This is the perverse- ness of man's nature, to love his own blindness, to refuse the means of helping and relieving his soul. We are not only blind, but mad ; when we cannot keep out the light, we rage against it: Jer. xliv. 16, 17, ' As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee ; but we will certainly do what- soever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth.' Who would not pity such mad persons as these ? Here is the result of blindness and ignorance, desperate opposition against the word. They will have their old ways, their old principles, their old customs. Oh, the malignity that is in their hearts !
Use 2. Is exhortation, to press you to get knowledge. If faith be knowledge, there lieth a great necessity upon you to get it. You can as well be without the sun in the world as without knowledge and light in the heart.
1. To get knowledge. Shall I press it in the general, — the know- ledge of divine things, and the knowledge of God in Christ ?
[1.] The knowledge of divine things in the general. And here consider : —
(1.) You cannot be well without it : Prov. xix. 2, 'That the soul be without knowledge, it is not good.' Men will plead thus : We are ignorant, but we hope we have a good meaning : the spirit cannot be good without knowledge. This shows the goodness of your spirits.
(2.) It is your excellency above the beasts : the more knowledge, the more manly ; and the more ignorant, the more brutish : Ps. xlix. 12, ' Nevertheless man, being in honour, abideth not, but is like the beasts that perish.' In all communications of grace, God beginneth with the understanding. The perfection of man is his angelical nature: Job xxxv. 11, ' Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven.' Common light is man's excellency, but to have a mind to know God distinguishes you from other men. Others may go beyond you in other things, but this will be your excellency, to know him : Jer. ix. 23, 24, ' Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might ; let not the rich man glory in his riches : but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that 1 am the Lord.' If you will glory, there is your glory. It is not who is most wealthy, or who most mighty, or who most wise ; this is your excellency above other men, that excel in wisdom and know- ledge. Tliey may be able, with Berengaiius, to dispute de omni scibili, from the cedar to the hyssop, from the highest star to the lowest