Luke x. 21. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes : even so, Father ; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
DEEP and mysterious are the ways of God, and " as far above our thoughts and ways, as the heavens are above the earth." But the more they are con- templated, the more will they approve themselves to to us ; even where they are most inscrutable, and where the heart of the natural man would be most ready to rise against them, a humble and pious mind will find abundant cause both for submission and joy. Of our blessed Lord we are often told, that he groaned in spirit : for indeed he was altogether " a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," as his daily and hourly companion : but on one occasion it is said, that " he rejoiced in spirit ;" and it was in an hour when he had been particularly contemplating the dispensations of his Father in relation to his Gos- pel. To the proud indeed this would be a subject of complaint and murmuring ; but to the humble it was a proper ground of gratitude and thanksgiving. This is evident from the words before us ; for the fuller understanding of which I will shew,
I. The conduct of God in relation to his Gospel —
Two things are here specified :
1. " He has hid it from the wise and prudent" —
[By " the wise and prudent" we are not to understand those that are truly wise and truly prudent, but those who are " wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight," who are just objects of God's heavy displeasured
From these " God has hid" his Gospel. Not but that they have the same access to it as others, and might attain to the knowledge of it as well as others, if only they would seek it in a becoming spirit : for God does nothing either to with- hold it from them, or to incapacitate them for the perception
a Isai. v. 21. with Rom. xii. 10.