The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 17

incredible to the worldly and the unconverted; hidden from the wise and prudent of the world, but revealed to the babes in Christ. '!'hat knowledge is a gift; it is not gained by thought end study. It is given in the gift of the Holy Spirit of God to those who come to Christ in faith. It is not given to all, for not all have the will to come. It is n law in spiritual as in natural things, that "whosoever bath, to him shall be given." It is eo in all the various aspects of life-in the pursuit of wealth, honour, learning. Wealth leads to wealth; one step in rank t.o another; the learning already gained is the means for acquiring more. There must be energy, ability, industry. Bo in things spiritual there must be a receptivity, an honest and good heart ready to receive the holy seed; even that is God's gift. Every measure of grace given is a means of gaining more. There is a continued progress from strength to strength, nearer and nearer to God, "But whosoever bath not, from him shall be taken away even that he bath;" or, as it is in Luke viii. 18, "that which he seemeth to have." The one talent must be taken from him who doth not use it. He seemed to have, but it was only seeming. That is not really ours which is hidden in the earth, which is not used. The means of grace, the opportunities of improvement, what seems to be natural goodness, the very receptivity of grace,-all this must at last be taken away from him who bath not (Heh. vi. 4-6; x. 26-29). (2) The fulfilment of prophecy. The prophecy of Isaiah, fulfilled first in the prophet's own experience, was fulfilled again in its ultimate meaning in the result of the preaching of Christ. The multitude heard his words, and yet they heard not, for they did not understand them with the understanding of faith. They saw him, and yet they saw not; for they saw only bis outward form, and failed to perceive his Divine character. Their heart was gross and their ears dull, and they had closed their eyes, lest they should see and hear and understand, and should turn unto Christ. It is instructive to notice that in the prophecy the gross heart and the dull ears and the closed eyes are attributed to the will of God. The blindness is a judicial infliction, a penal viHitation. But here our Lord himself seems to give a somewhat different turn to the prophet's words. The blindness is self-caused. "Their eyes they have closed." Then these two statements, contradictory as they may seem, must really express only two sides of the same truth. Both are true; we cannot wholly reconcile them; we incline sometimes towards the one, sometimes towards the other. We cannot yet unite them in one point of view. We must be content with our izr.perfect vision now; we shall see plainly hereafter. In some sense, then, the use of parables was penal. That mode of teaching would conceal the truth from the profane and bard-hearted, from those who bad wilfully closed their eyes and judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life (Acts xiii. 46). The paro.bles were ""'°""IIT" a-uv,.,.oia-1. They conveyed precious lessons of spiritual wisdom to the thoughtful; to careless hearers they were mere ordinary stories. God, in his awful justice, hides the truth &t last from those who will not see it. It is a law of his moral government that perseverance in sin should result in hardness of heart and insensibility to the truth. That law is the ordinance of God, the expression of bis holy will. The sinner by his obstinacy in sin brings himseH under its operation. Hence it is thnt Holy Scripture tells us sometimes that God hardened Pbaraoh's heart, sometimes that Pharaoh hardened it himself. (3) The blessedness of the disciples. Their eyes were blessed, for they saw the Christ of God; they saw him not only with the outward eye; as others saw, but with the vision of faith. Their ears were blessed, for they heard his holy words. They heard them not only with the outward ear, as scribes and Pharisees beard; but they heard them with the spiritual understanding, with the attentive ear of obedience. Many prophets and righteous men bad longed to see o.nd hear the Christ. Abraham had seen bis day by faith, Isaiah had seen bis life in the prophetic vision. But they had seen only glimpses. They had seen the promises afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them. Now the Christ was come; the kingdom of heaven was in the world. Blessed are those who see by faith the Lord Christ, and hear his voice speaking to them in their hearts, guiding, teaching, comforting. 1V. 'l'HE INTEnPRETATION, 1. The seed. It is the Wo,d of God. Even the weightier words of men are seeds germinant with a living power; they strike root in the heart, and produce, sometimes noxious weeds and poisonous fruit, sometimes good and fruitful growths. How much more is this true of the living Word of God l 11.ATTBEW-II, 0  18 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [en. xm. 1-58,