2. " Eye saw not." When He came into this world, who was the Truth and the Life, in the body which God had prepared for Him, He came not in the glory of form : He was a root out of a dry ground : He had no form nor comeliness ; when they saw Him, there was no beauty that they should desire Him. The eye did not behold, even in Christ, the things which God had prepared. This is an eternal truth. There is a kingdom which is appreciable by the senses, and another whose facts and truths are seen and heard only by the spirit.
^[ It was rumoured that underneath a certain piece of ground there was iron to be found, and two men were appointed to go and inspect the land and see whether there was really iron there. One man, a scientist and mineralogist, was very conscious of his own limitations ; and, knowing his own weakness, he took with him some scientific instruments. The other man, who was buoyant and self-confident, said, " I believe what I can see, and what I can't see I won't believe " ; and so he walked over the field, and got over it in no time. He said, " Iron ? nonsense ! I see no
i CORINTHIANS n. 9 51
iron ; there is no iron here." This man went to, the syndicate and said, " There is no iron there : I walked all over the field and I could not see a trace of it.'"' The other man did not trust to his eye at all. He carried in his hand a little crystal box, and in that little crystal box there was a needle, and he kept watching that needle. He paused, for the needle in that crystal box had pointed down like the very finger of God, and he said, " There is iron there." He passed on, until again that needle pointed down, and he said, " There is iron there," and when he handed in his report he said, " From one end of the field to the other there is iron." " Oh ! " said one of the adherents of the first man, " how do you know, when you did not see it ? " " Because," he said, " that which cannot be seen with the eye can be magnetically discerned." 1
ii. The Ear.
" Ear heard not."
Eternal truth is not reached by the sense of hearing ; nor does traditional knowledge reveal it.
1. The many beautiful and varied sounds of nature speak to us of God, if God's existence be already thrilling our hearts, but of themselves they do not reveal the things of God. How many sounds there are that gladden us ! Think of the cooling sound of a rippling stream, or a waterfall, or a playing fountain on a hot summer evening. Think of the many pleasing notes and songs of birds. Think of the human voice. There is no sound that we would miss more than that. Then think of music, with all its varied modes of appealing to our feelings. Think of the music of the great masters, how it attracts and fascinates and subdues us, how it inspires and strengthens us, how it makes us glad ! But " things which ear heard not," and which ear can never hear, are prepared by God for those that love Him.
2. No revelation can be adequately given by man to man, whether in writing or orally, even if he be put in possession of the Truth itself. For all such revelation must be made through words : and words are but counters — the coins of intellectual exchange. There is as little resemblance between the silver coin and the bread it purchases as between the word and the thing it
*A. G. Brown.
52 THINGS PREPARED FOR LOVE
stands for. Looking at the coin, the form of the loaf does not suggest itself. Listening to the word, you do not perceive the idea for which it stands, unless you are already in possession of it. Speak of ice to an inhabitant of the torrid zone, the word does not give him an idea, or if it does, it must be a false one. Talk of blueness to one who cannot distinguish colours, what can your most eloquent description present to him resembling the truth of your sensation ? Similarly in matters spiritual, no verbal revelation can give a single simple idea. Talk of God to a thousand ears, each has its own conception. The sensual man hears of God, and understands one thing; the pure man hears, and conceives another thing. So that apostles themselves, and prophets, speaking to the ear, cannot reveal truth to the soul — no, not if God Himself were to touch their lips with fire. A verbal revelation is only a revelation to the ear.
3. Traditional knowledge will not reveal eternal truth. There are men who believe on authority. They have heard with the hearing of the ear that God is Love, they have heard that the ways of holiness are the ways of pleasantness and all her paths peace. But a hearsay belief saves not. The Corinthian philosophers heard St. Paul; the Pharisees heard Christ. How much did the ear convey ? To thousands exactly nothing. He alone believes truth who feels it. He alone has a religion whose soul knows by experience that to serve God and know Him is the richest treasure.