of it. God is said to do what he permits to be doneb: and it is not by any active exertion of his which man cannot with- stand, but by such means only as leave men altogether respon- sible for their own blindness, that he hides his truth from the minds of any.
The Gospel is hid from this description of persons, partly, through the very constitution of the Gospel itself: for it reveals such a way of salvation as a proud conceited mind cannot receive : " it is foolishness to the natural man ; neither can he receive it, because it is spiritually discerned0." The doctrine of the cross is to the Jews a " stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness*1." It was foretold by the Prophet Isaiah, that the same person who should " be for a sanctuary to his believing people, should be for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, many amongst whom should stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken e." And to the same effect was it said of Jesus, by the holy man who took him in his arms, that " he was set for the fall, as well as for the rising, of many in Israel, and for a sign that should be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed f."
It is yet further hid from them through the agency of Satan, to whom the blindness of unbelievers is especially ascribed, and who labours incessantly to prevent " the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, from shining unto them'*."
Doubtless it is also still further hid from them through their being given up by God to judicial blindness. " God's Spirit will not always strive with manV After having been long resisted, he will cease to " work upon their minds1 :" they will then be given up to believe their own delusionsk, and to be taken in their own craftiness ; and all " their wisdom and prudence will be brought to nought1." In this way vast multitudes have been blinded in former agesm, and are blinded at this very hour.]
2. But "it is revealed unto babes" —
[The term, " babes," includes not only those who are weak in respect of intellectual attainments, but those also, who, though of vigorous and cultivated minds, are sensible of their inability to discern spiritual truths without having first a spiritual discernment imparted to them.
b Compare 2 Sara. xxiv. 1. with 1 Chron. xxi. 1.
c 1 Cor. ii. 14. d 1 Cor. i. 23. e Isai. viii. 14, 15.
f Luke ii. 34, 35. e 2 Cor. iv. 4. h Gen. vi. 3.
1 1 Thess. v. 19. k 2 Thess. ii. 11
1 1 Cor. i. 19. and iii. 19. m Rom. ix. 7, 8.