PART I.

FROM THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD.

1. General allusions to this mode of concealment.

THE object of the present inquiry is to ascertain, whether there is not in God's dealings with mankind, a very remarkable holding back of sacred and important truths, as if the knowledge of them were injurious to persons unworthy of them. And if this be the case, it will lead to some important practical reflections.

It is not intended to speak of it as a mark of judicial punishment, nor as denoting the anger of the Almighty, nor as connected in any way with intellectual acuteness: but, if I may so speak with reverence, I would say, that there appears in God's manifestations of Himself to mankind, in conjunction with an exceeding desire to communicate that knowledge, a tendency to conceal, and throw a veil over it, as if it were injurious to us, unless we were of a certain disposition to receive it.

And though this cannot explain the speculative difficulty, why the truth is not set before mankind so strongly and clearly that they cannot fall; yet it may tend to satisfy a fair mind, to see that we have symptoms of such a thing being not good, or perhaps possible in morals; and such we may assuredly gather from what we see of Gon's dealing with us in all His moral government, both natural and scriptural, so as to show us, that as we are to be thankful for what is revealed, we have also to be thankful for what is not revealed.

At the first view, we have the remarkable fact of the many generations of the heathen world, in a state of great ignorance of many things which we know to be of the very highest importance to our well-being. In the next place, we may notice the silence

observed respecting a future and eternal life in the books of Moses, as one of "the secret things which belonged unto God." The fact that the Patriarchs were supported by an indefinite, but full assurance of God's unfailing goodness, which could not cease with this life, will be a confirmation of this point; for it shows that it was in some measure revealed unto them, as they could bear it. In the next place, the numerous rites and types are instances of a veil thrown remarkably over moral and spiritual truth; for it is very evident that to David and others, they conveyed all the "secrets of wisdom," and spoke of "the hands washed in innocency," and "the sacrifice of a broken heart," and "the circumcision of the heart"-but it was through a veil. The expression "I am a stranger upon earth, hide not thy commandments from me," seems to imply, that the commandments being hid from him was the thing which the Psalmist apprehended from unworthiness; and the verse preceding, "open thou mine eyes, that I may behold the wondrous things of thy law," and indeed the whole of the 119th Psalm, indicates something great and wonderful, contained in the commandments beyond the letter. Origen says (contr. Cels. p. 197.) " if the law of Moses had not any thing of a more latent meaning, the prophet would not have said, 'open mine eyes, that I may behold the wonderful things of thy law.'" The descriptions of the Messiah's kingdom in the prophets were exactly of this kind, such as a carnal mind would take literally; a good man would see that God had something better for those that waited for HIM.

2. The general Historic Narrative of our Saviour's Life and

Resurrection.

The whole of the Gospel History may be seen to be remarkably in harmony with this view of God's dealings in the Old Testament. The circumstances attending our LORD's birth, and the important transactions at the early period of His life, we might have expected beforehand would have been more known to the Jewish nation',

1 Chrysostom mentions it as the opinion of the Fathers, that our SAVIOUR'S being born of a virgin, was perhaps one of the secret things, not at first made known to the Jews. See also Ignatius ad Ephes. and Origen.

instead of being concealed, like the actions of apparently obscure persons (as, for instance, the LORD's appearing in His temple as foretold by Malachi). The account of all these things is so familiar to us, that we are perhaps scarce able to judge clearly of the wonderful and mysterious economy of GoD, in these circumstances. There is something in the thought of our SAVIOUR'S being for thirty years among men, not known and not believed on, even by those about Him, and the witnesses of his early life, very remarkable and awful. And the great pledge and seal of the truth of the Gospel, the Resurrection itself, seems in such a striking manner to have been kept back, if I may so speak, from the gaze of the multitude, from the broad light of the common day. Its great manifestations break forth, as if indistinctly, and according to the great need of certain persons, the watchful and weeping Mary, then the penitent Peter, then (the perhaps aged) Cleopas. And we find the obscure Galilee marked out so repeatedly' and pointedly to be the chosen scene of these manifestations, more than the crowded Jerusalem. Surely, in all this there is something of mysterious wisdom, which it is good for us humbly to consider.

Some particular expressions of this kind.

We may reasonably expect some more distinct intimations of this, in our blessed LORD's own teaching and mode of disclosing Himself. And do we not find the same SPIRIT," who spake by the prophets" with type and figure, in things of this kind?

In the use, for instance, of figurative expressions to persons who did not understand the meaning of them. To this we cannot but apply the remark of Bishop Butler, where he observes the vast difference between Holy Scripture and any human composition, in this respect, that in the latter our object is by words to convey most fitly our meaning to others; we cannot say this of God's

1 Galilee, the marked place of our SAVIOUR'S manifestation, foretold by Himself, Matt. xxvi. 32, by the Angels, xxviii. 7, by our SAVIOUR Himself, v. 10, and in v. 16 it is mentioned that our SAVIOUR had appointed the spot, a solitary mountain in the obscure Galilee: this is very observable.

written word. It may have other objects quite of another kind, which its very obscurity serves, better than its distinct meaning would do.

Thus, when our SAVIOUR told his disciples, that it was now time that he who had not a sword should sell his garment and buy one, it is evident that they took the meaning literally; nor does our LORD appear to have done away with their misconception; although their erroneous impression was of a practical nature, and perhaps led to a subsequent action, wrong in itself, but overruled by His mercy for good. The expression of "the living Water" to the Samaritan woman, “the Leaven of the Pharisees," and "the Bread from Heaven," with perhaps many others, seem not to have been understood, and were spoken in such a manner as to bear a striking analogy to the figurative expressions of the Old Testament and their reception.

Such, it may be added, is the expression of rebuilding the Temple in three days, which was not comprehended. And at twelve years of age, it is said, His parents understood not the saying that He spake unto them; but Mary "kept all these sayings in her heart." (Luke ii. 51.)

And are not the numerous expressions in the New Testament, which are taken from the Old, and are either brought forward in a new sense, or in a light which opens and expands their fuller meaning, of the same kind? for they are made to convey a lesson different from what is at first sight perceptible to a careless hearer, such as that of taking the lowest place in order that we may gain honour in the presence of those who sit at meat; and that of the Apostle, to do good to our enemy in order to "heap coals of fire on his head?" And in the Old Testament itself are there not passages that refer to this reserve of wisdom? what is the meaning of that expression, (in Proverbs xxv. 2.) "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter?" Does it not allude to this?

But what is much to be observed with regard to those expressions of our LORD is, that the not understanding of them was considered as matter of reproof, as implying something morally deficient, not intellectually. This would, I think, appear to be the case; as for instance, when He spoke of the "leaven of

the Pharisees," ""He saith unto them, Why reason ye because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand; have ye your heart yet hardened?" (Mark viii. 17.)

In St. Matthew the same expression of complaint or rebuke is repeated, "do ye not yet understand?" (ch. xvi. ver. 9.) and "how is it ye do not understand?" (Mark viii. 21.) And in the explanation of the parable of the sower, "the understanding" or "not understanding" is spoken of in some higher sense, evidently, than that of the mere reception or barren acknowledgment of a Truth: "when any one heareth the word and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart;" where, of course, it cannot be the mere intellectual apprehension, for without that it could not be received at all. And again, "but he that received the seed into the good ground, is he that heareth the word and understandeth it." (St. Matt. xiii. 23.) In the Gospel of St. John (c. vi.), when the Jews murmured at the literal expression, and said it was a hard saying," it seems to be implied that it was the teaching of GOD only that could bring them to a better mind, so as that they should understand the full meaning of such typical expressions, "JESUS answered and said, Murmur not among yourselves: no man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him." "It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of GOD; every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto Me."

Again, of the coming of Elijah in the person of John, our SAVIOUR says, "If ye will receive it, this is Elias who was for to come." "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." From which it is evident that it was a certain state of the heart which could alone receive it in the sense implied. The Baptist had before declared that he was not Elias in the manner that the Jews conceived.

Add to this that the Disciples are reproved, for not understanding the parables. (Matt. xv. 15.) "Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand?"

Again, does not the expression of the Disciples in St. John, (xvi. 29.) "Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no