154 TO THE READER.
future things present, so it makes reuaote things near, and things * pre- pared ' to affect as if they were enjoyed. But what hath God prepared ? If I could answer this, it might not only satisf}^ hut inebriate. ' Such as eye hath not seen,' &c. It seems to bo a proverbial form of speech, whereby the rich plenty of the divine blessings and benefits which God iutendeth to us in and by Christ, according to the gospel, is shadowed forth. The words are to see-to* as a riddle, but here is ' one of a thou- sand, an interpreter,' Job xxxiii. 28, at hand, to unfold them. I could say much to invite you, but that the matter itself is as a loadstone. My testi- mony will add little weight, yet, having some care committed to me by Mr P. N.,f M'hom this business chiefly concerned, I could do no less than let you understand here is one rich piece of spiritual workmanship, wrought by a master builder, very useful for the building up and beautifying of God's temples. The blessing of God Almighty be with it, and upon the whole Israel of God. — So prays L. Seaman.^
♦ Cf. ante, = sense.— G. t That is, Philip Nye. Cf. Vol. II. p. 3.— G.
J Dr Lazarus Seaman was one of the ' Ejected,' having been at the time in Alhallows, Bread Street, to which he had been presented by Laud in 1642. He died in September 1675. Jenkyn preached his funeral sermon. See the Noncf. Mem., I. 80-83._G.
HIDDEN SECRETS REVEALED BY THE GOSPEL.
But, as it is ivritten, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prejmred for them that love him. — 1 CoK. II. 9.
The holy apostle St Paul, the trumpet of the gospel, ' the vessel of elec- tion,' was ordained to be a messenger of reconciliation, and to spread the sweet savour of the gospel everywhere. And answerably to his calling, he makes way for the excellency of his embassage into the hearts of those he had to deal with. This he doth by the commendation of his function. And that he might the better prevail, he removes all objections to the contrary. There were some that would debase his office, saying that the gospel he taught — Christ crucified — was no such great matter. Therefore, in the 6th verse of this chapter, he shews that the gospel ' is wisdom, and that among them that are perfect ; ' among the best and ablest to judge. St Paul did not build, as the papists do now, upon the bhndness of the people. But it were not popery if they did not infatuate the people. St Paul saith to this eftect : — We dare appeal to those that are the best, and of the best judgment, let them judge whether it be wisdom or no ; the more perfect men are, the more able they are to judge of our wisdom.
It might be objected again, You see who cares for your wisdom, neither Herod, nor Pilate, nor the great men and potentates, the scribes and Pharisees, great, learned men, and withal men of innocent lives, notable for carriage. Therefore, saith he, 'We speak not the wisdom of this world, or the princes of this world, that come to nought.' Do not tell us of such men's wisdom, they and their wisdom will come to nought too. We teach wisdom of things that are eternal, to make men eternal. As for the princes of the world, they and all that they know, their thoughts and all their plots and devices, perish. But 'we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery;' that is, the wisdom of God's revealing, a deep wisdom, a mystery that ' God ordained before the world ; ' ancient wisdom, not a yesterday's knowledge, though lately discovered. The preaching of the gospel is the discovery of that wisdom that was hidden before the world was.
And to invite you, and make you more in love with it, it is a wisdom ' to your glory.' God hath a delight to shew himself wise in devising a plot to glorify poor wretched man.
As for the words themselves, they are a proof of what he had said before,
156 A GLANCE OF HEAVEN.
•why none of tlie princes of the world knew this great mystery. If so be that the 'eye of any man hath not seen, nor the ear of any man hath heard, nor the heart of any man hath conceived,' what do you tell us of the wise men, which were not all, nay, what should I speak of men ? The very angels (as we know by other places) are excluded from a full knowledge of these mysteries. Therefore it is no marvel though none of the princes of this world knew them. They arc universally hidden from all natural men. This I take to be the sense of the words. They are taken out of Isaiah Ixiv. 4. St Paul delights to prove things by the prophets. But here it is not so much a proof as an allusion, which we must observe to understand many such places. For Isaiah there speaks of the great things God had done for his church, such as eye had not seen, nor car heard. And the apostle alludes to it here, and adds somewhat. This clause, ' nor hath entered into the heart of man,' is not in that place, but it is necessarily understood. For if the eye doth not see, and the ear hear, it never enters into the heart of man. For whatsoever enters into the heart of man, it must be by those passages and windows, the gates of the soul, the senses.