TsA. XXV. G, 7.] BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH. 465
possibly we can in this world. In heaven we shall see face to face, snail see him as he is. And then will be the joy of this excellent feast, and the con- summation of all sweet promises, which here we can but have a taste of.
Reason 2. So that is the first reason of it, that God is only * the taker away of the veil, which ariseth from the unsuitableness between the soul and divine truths.
There is nothinrf in the heaH of man but a contrariet)j to divine lirfht. The very natural knowledge, that is contrary. Natural conscience, that only checketh for gross sins, but not for spii'itual sins. Obedience and civil life, that makes a man full of pride, and anneth him against self-denial and against the righteousness of Christ and justification. There is nothing in the soul but, without grace, riseth against the soul in divine things.
Reason 3. Again, there is such disproportion between the soul, being full of sin and guiltiness, and heavenhj things, that are so great, that the heart of man will not believe unless God convinceth the so'ul, that God is so good and gracious, though they be great and excellent, yet God ivill bestow them upon our souls : and therefore he sendeth the Spirit, that overpowers the soul, though it be full of fear and guilt that sin contracts.
Though we be never so unworthy, he will magnify his grace to poor sinners ; and without that the soul will never believe there is such an in- finite disproportion between the soul and the things, between the sinful soul and the Spirit, so that God must overpower the soul to make it believe.
The Scripture is full of this. As we are naturally ignorant and fall of unbelief, so God only can overpower the soul and take away the veil of ignorance.
Reason 4. All the angels in heaven, and all the creatures in the ivorld, the most skilful men in the world, cannot bring light into the soul, they cannot bring light into the heart. They can speak of divine things, but they understand them little. But to bring hght into the heart, that the heart may taste of them and yield obedience to believe, that they cannot do. And therefore, all God's children, they be theodidactoi,f taught of God. God only hath the privilege to teach the heart, to bend and bow the heart to believe.
So that God only by his Spirit takes away the veil of ignorance and un- belief.
Obs. 3. Now, the third thing is, that this is peculiar to the church and to tJie children of God, to have the veil taken off. * In this mountain,' saith the Scripture, ' the veil of all faces shall be swallowed up or taken away.'
I partly shewed in the former point, that it is peculiar to God's children to have the veil taken off. There is a veil in all things. Either the things be hid from them, as amongst the Gentiles, or if the things be revealed, there is a veil upon the heart ; their lusts raise up a cloud, which, until God subdue by the Holy Spirit, they be dark, yea, darkness itself. Goshen was only light when all Egj'pt was in darkness ; so there is light only in the church, and all other parts in the world are in darkness. And amongst men in the church there is a darkness upon the soul of unregenerate men, that be not sanctified and subdued by the Spirit of God. And all godly men are lightsome, nay, they be * lights in the world,' Phil. ii. 15. As wicked men are darkness, so gracious men, by the Spirit of God, are made lights of the world from him that is the true light, Christ himself.
It is peculiar to the church to know the greatest good, and the greatest evil. It is nowhere but in the church, who are the people of God. None * That is, ' God only is.' — G. t That is, asoS/aaxro/, Of. John vi. 45 ; 1 Thcss. iv. 9.— G.
VOL. II. G g
466 THE MAKEIAGE FEAST [SeEMON III.
but God's elect can know the greatest evil, that is, sin, which the Spirit of God revealeth ; and the greatest good, that is, God's mercy in Christ, and sanctifying grace. The same Spirit doth both. As light doth discover foul things as well as fair ; so the same Spirit of God discovers the loath- someness of sin, and the sweetness of grace. Where the one is,* there is never the other ; where there is not truly a deep discerning of sin, there is never knowledge of grace ; there is none but in the church. Those that have the spirit of illumination, they have sanctification likewise.
"We shall make use of all together. You see, then, what naturally we are, and that God's grace must take away the veil ; and this is from all them within the church, and in the church those whom God is pleased to sanctify.
Obs. In the fourth place. Where this veil is taken off from any, there ii with it spiritual joy and feastimi, as here he joineth them both together. ' I will make a feast of fat things, and will take away the veil,' ver. 7.