men's blindness in spiritual things.
Deut. xxix. 4. The Lord hath not given you an heart to per- ceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
THERE is nothing more comforting to a minister, than to see " the word of the Lord running and glorified" amongst the people of his charge. On the other hand, it is extremely painful to him to find that his labours have been in a great measure in vain.
221. J men's blindness in spiritual things. 428
Yet such are the reflections which many a faithful minister is led to make, after an attentive survey of his ministrations. The Prophet Isaiah felt occasion to lament this, in his day; saying, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealeda?" Our blessed Lord had but too much reason to make a similar complaint respecting the issue of his labours alsob. Thus we find Moses, after the most indefatigable exertions for the space of forty years, constrained to adopt towards the Jewish people the language of my text ; " The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day." Would to God that there were not grounds, also, for similar complaint amongst you, my Brethren ! But Christian fidelity compels me to declare, that to a most lamentable extent these words are verified in this place : and, of course, I must open to you the complaint,
I. As uttered by Moses against the people of his charge —
They had " seen" with their bodily eyes all the wonders that had been wrought for them in Egypt
and the wilderness But they had no spiritual
perception of them. They understood not,
1. The true character of that dispensation —
[They viewed the various occurrences as so many sepa- rate and detached events ; and had no idea of their figurative import, no conception of them as shadows of good things to come. They saw not that more wonderful redemption which was typically exhibited to their view. The paschal lamb led them not to the contemplation of their Messiah, and of the deliverance which he should effect through the shedding, and the sprinkling, of his most precious blood. Their subsistence by manna, and by water from the rock, served not to shew them what it was to live by faith on the Son of God, or to ex- perience in their souls the refreshing communications of the Spirit of God. And though they had already seen a portion given to three of their tribes, yet did they not contemplate the issue of a believer's warfare in the possession of the hea- venly Canaan. As for the Law that had been given them, whether the moral or ceremonial law, they knew not the true
a Isai. liii. 1. b John xii, 37, 38.