Use. It informeth us —
1. Of our misery by nature. For as the reprobate lost world are, so are we all by nature ; we have no knowledge of the true God : Job
VeR. 25.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 127
xi. 12, 'Vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt' We are apt to think ourselves angels, but we are beasts. Ever}' one affects the repute of wisdom ; we would rather be accounted wicked than weak. If a man were born with an ass's head, or were monstrous and misshapen in his body, this were sad. It is worse to be born with the heart of an ass, to be born like a wild ass's colt, with such gross and rude conceits of God and holy things. This is our estate by nature.
2. The danger of ignorance ; it is the state of the reprobate world. It is good to think of it, partly that we may avoid it ourselves, and strive for knowledge ; partly that we may be thankful if we have obtained knowledge ; and partly that we might pity others, as Christ wept over Jerusalem : Luke xix. 41, 42, ' And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes.' It is one of God's sorest judgments ; when the Lord hath left threatening other things, then he threatens a blind heart and a vain mind. The great reproach that Nahash would lay upon Israel was to put out their right eyes. The great design of the god of this world upon the men of this world is to put out their eyes, that they might not come to the knowledge of the truth.
3. Positive ignorance is a sign that we are of the world ; I mean, where we have means and opportunities to the contrary, and do not come to the knowledge of God, and of his ways : 1 John ii. 13, ' I write unto you little children, because ye have known the Father.' God hath no child so little but he knows his Father. The blind world knows him not ; when there is night in the understanding, or frost in the heart, it is a sign of a worldling ; when men are ignorant, unteachable, and do not grow in knowledge. God's children many times may be ignorant, and do not profit according to their advantages : John xiv. 9, ' Have I been so long with thee, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip ?' that is, not known so distinctly God the Father, and me, as coming out from him. But God's children are not alto- gether unteachable.
4. We have no reason to trust the judgment of carnal men in matters of godliness, for they do not know God. Can blind men judge of colours ? I urge it, that you may not be discouraged though the world scoff at holiness. Who would take notice of the judgment of fools ?
5. That ignorance is not only the badge of silly weak persons, but of great men, and those that are carnally wise : Mat. xi. 25, ' I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.' Whaterer parts they have, they have no saving knowledge of God. The godly man is the only knowing and wise man ; all others they are but fools, however they swell with an opinion of knowledge, and count it a reproach to be so called.
The second illustration is by the efificient and exemplary cause of our knowledge, ' But I have known thee,' &c. All along our likeness to Christ and unlikeness to the world is asserted.
Observe, that Christ's knowledge is the pattern and cause of ours.
128 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [Ser. XLIII.
We have all things at the second hand : * I have known,' and ' they have known.' All the candles are lighted at this torch ; or, to use a comparison more celestial, all the stars receive their light from the sun. Therefore he ia called, ' the Father of lights,' James i. 17, and ' the Sun of righteousness,' Mai. iv. 2.
Christ giveth us knowledge two ways— by his word and by his Spirit. Now none is fit to establish the word, none to pour out the Spirit, but Christ.
1. None can give us a sufficient revelation of the Father but Christ, that came out of his bosom, that knew all his counsels : John i. 18, ' No man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.' Our knowledge is by the senses, by sight and hearsay. Now no man hath seen God, but Christ, that was God-man, who came out of his bosom. So Mat. xi. 27, ' No man knoweth the Son but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.' To know him perfectly and comprehensively, so neither men nor angels know him. To know him originally, so as to esta- blish a revelation with authority, and so as fit to offer the light and knowledge of him to the creature, so none but Christ knows him ; our faith is built on God. Human authority begets but a human faith and credulity. It was necessary that in the bede-roU of gospel preachers the Son of God should have the first place, that in tlie latter times he should preach to us by his Son, that the ultimate resolution of faith might be into divine authority : John vii. 29, ' Biit I know him, for I am from him, and he hath sent me ; ' and John x. 15, ' As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father.' It is for our confidence that the full discovery of this doctrine was reserved for the Son of God.