Bible Commentaries

DISCOURSE: 221

MEN’S BLINDNESS IN SPIRITUAL THINGS

Deuteronomy 29:4. The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, 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. 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 revealed [Note: Isaiah 53:1.]?” Our blessed Lord had but too much reason to make a similar complaint respecting the issue of his labours also [Note: John 12:37-38.]. 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 separate 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 experience 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 heavenly Canaan. As for the Law that had been given them, whether the moral or ceremonial law, they knew not the true intent of either: they had no idea of the one as shutting them up to the only possible way of salvation through faith in their Messiah, or of the other as shadowing forth that Messiah in all his offices. In fact, they had no spiritual discernment of any of these things, but were uninstructed and unedified by all that they had seen and heard [Note: All these hints admit of profitable enlargement.].]

2. The obligations which it entailed upon them—

[The very first and most obvious effect of all these wonders should have been, to bring them to the knowledge of Jehovah as the only true God, and to make them his faithful worshippers and adherents to the latest hour of their lives. Yet, behold! they had not been delivered from Egypt three months, before they made and worshipped the golden calf: yea, and all the way through the wilderness they “took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of their god Remphan, figures which they made as objects of their worship [Note: Acts 7:41-43.],” in preference to Jehovah, whom thus they provoked to jealousy, till he was constrained to pour forth his wrath upon them to their destruction. It might well be expected, too, that they would yield up themselves to God in a willing obedience to his Law, and live altogether devoted to his service. But they were “a rebellious and stiff-necked people,” from first to last. The mercies of God could not win them to obedience, nor his judgments deter them from disobedience. The present and future gratification of their senses was all that they desired: and, if only they had their enjoyments, they cared not whether God were glorified or not.

We say not that this was the character of all that people: but when we recollect, that of that whole nation two only, of all the men that came out of Egypt, were suffered to enter into Canaan, we cannot but fear that the exceptions were very few, and the great mass of the people were of the very description represented in our text.]

Humiliating as this complaint is, we must also consider it,

II. As applicable to ourselves at this day—

Infinitely greater have our advantages been than those enjoyed by the Jewish people. They had the shadow only, but we the substance. The whole of redemption has been set before us: yet we, for the most part, have but a very faint and inadequate conception of it. By the great mass of nominal Christians,

1. The nature of the Gospel is very indistinctly seen—

[A mere general notion of salvation by Christ may be entertained: but of the grace of the Gospel, its freeness, its fulness, its suitableness, how little is seen! and how far are we from “comprehending the length and breadth, and depth and height of the love of Christ” contained in it! How few amongst us have any just views of “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” and of all the divine perfections, as united, and harmonizing, and glorified, in this stupendous mystery! The various offices of the sacred Three, all sustained and executed for us, how little of them is known! Indeed, indeed, the generality of those who call themselves Christians are as dark with respect to the excellency and glory of the Gospel, as the Jews themselves were of the scope and character of their Law.]

2. The effects of it are very partially experienced—

[What might we expect from those who have been redeemed by the blood of God’s only dear Son, and renewed in their souls by the operation of his blessed Spirit? Should we not be full of admiring and adoring thoughts of God? Should we not be wrapt, even to the third heaven, in love to Christ? Should we not be “yielding up both our bodies and our souls to God, as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to him as our reasonable service?” And to what an extent should we not be sanctified, in all our tempers, dispositions, and actions, if we were duly influenced by the principles of the Gospel! In a word, if we felt as we ought, methinks our every feeling would be love, and our every word be praise.

But look at the great majority of those to whom the Gospel has been ministered, and say whether any measure of these effects be visible upon them? Alas! it is as true of us as of the Jews, that “God has not given us an heart to perceive, or eyes to see, or ears to hear, unto this day.”]

Let me then address myself,

1. To those who are altogether blind—

[Perhaps you will be disposed to say, “If God has not given me this discernment, the fault is not mine.” But this is a fetal error: for the fault is altogether yours. Had you sought of God the illuminating influences of his Spirit, he would have opened your blind eyes, and unstopped your deaf ears, and renewed you in the spirit of your mind: no earthly parent would so readily bestow bread on his famished child, as God would have given to you his Holy Spirit in answer to your prayers. If, then, you “perish for lack of knowledge,” it must be ascribed to your own obstinate neglect of those means which God has appointed for the attainment of spiritual instruction.]

2. To those who think they see—

[Multitudes, like the Pharisees of old, are ready to ask with confidence, “Are we blind also?” To these we reply, Let your lives declare: let the fruit determine the quality of the tree. Yes, brethren, “if you were indeed blind, you would comparatively have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth [Note: John 9:40-41.].” Your conceit and self-sufficiency render your blindness tenfold more odious, more incurable, and more fetal — — —]

3. To those whose eyes God has opened—

[Verily, the mercy vouchsafed to you is beyond measure or conception great. You doubtless feel what a blessing the gift of reason is, which so elevates you above the beasts: but fax richer is the gift of spiritual discernment, which enables you to see “the things of the Spirit,” and elevates you above your fellow-men, even above the wisest and greatest of the human race. Compare the Apostles with the philosophers of Greece and Rome; mark, not merely their intellectual powers, but their moral habits and their spiritual attainments ; then will you have some conception of the mercies vouchsafed to you, and will appreciate, in some poor measure, the obligations conferred upon you.]

DISCOURSE: 222

DANGER OF CARNAL SECURITY

Deuteronomy 29:19-20. And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.

GOD has declared that he “desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live:” and this is abundantly evident from the forbearance which he exercises towards sinners, and from the means he has used for their restoration to his favour. When he brought the Israelites out of Egypt, he entered into covenant with them on Mount Horeb: and when that whole generation had perished in consequence of their violations of his covenant, he was graciously pleased to renew the covenant with their children in the land of Moab: and the reason he gives for that condescending kindness is, lest they should presumptuously sin, and miserably perish, after the example of their fathers [Note: See ver. 1, 15, 18–20.].

In the words which we have just read, he intimates,

I. The astonishing delusion of sinners—

That the greatest part of mankind are walking after the imaginations of their own hearts, is evident ; and that God denounces his vengeance against them, is equally evident: yet on every side we behold,

1. Their fearlessness—

[God speaks to them in the plainest terms, that “the soul that sinneth shall die,” and that “the wicked shall be turned into hell, even all the people that forget God.” They themselves too cannot but acknowledge, that “the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” Yet they hear the denunciations of God’s wrath with perfect indifference: they account them not worth the smallest consideration: yea, to use the expressive language of the Psalmist, “they puff at them [Note: Psalms 10:5.],” ‘What though they do “set at nought God’s law, and walk rather after the imagination of their own hearts ?” What though they do “add drunkenness to thirst,” and “draw out sin as a cart-rope [Note: Isaiah 5:18.],” adding fresh materials continually, and drawing it out without any intermission to an indefinite length, will God regard such trifling matters ? No: He does not see them, or deem them worthy of his notice [Note: Psalms 10:11 and Job 22:13-14.]. He does indeed threaten to punish these things ; but he will never execute his threatenings.’ If any menace their temporal welfare, they are open enough to the impressions of fear, and anxious enough to escape the danger: but if God threaten them with his everlasting displeasure, they regard it as an empty sound. Thus do they cast off all fear of God, and treat both him and his word with the utmost contempt [Note: Psalms 10:13.].]

2. Their self-complacency—

[They can see no evil in sin: they are sensible that they do not conform to God’s law; (nor indeed have they any wish to do so ;) but yet, though their actions are not correct, their hearts are good: they mean no harm: they do as they would be done by; and that, in their estimation, comprehends all that is required of them. It is truly astonishing to see how, in the midst of all their iniquities, men will “bless themselves in their hearts,” as much as if there were nothing amiss in their conduct. They quite resent the idea of being sinners, and of deserving God’s wrath and indignation: they conceive that they are very good sort of people (as the expression is), and deserving of God’s favour. Thus it was with the Jews of old; “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these [Note: Jeremiah 7:4.]:” they thought that no expressions were too strong to characterize their goodness. And thus do sinners in this day boast of their goodness: yea, not only the moral and sober do so, but even the drunken, the sensual, the profane: all are ready to think themselves as good as they need to be, and to answer, like the Youth in the Gospel, “What lack I yet?” So blinded are they by Satan, and hardened through the deceitfulness of their own hearts!]

3. Their confidence—

[They entertain no doubts or fears: they think that all go to heaven, and that they must of necessity be happy when they die. “I shall have peace,” is the bold assertion of every one amongst them ; nor will they suffer the safety of their state to be once questioned. On some occasions perhaps a suspicion arises in their minds that it is not quite so well with them as they imagine; but in general they go on as assured of happiness as if all the promises of the Gospel were on their side. Nor is this only in the thoughtlessness of youth: their confidence increases with their age: and even in death they frequently retain it to such a degree as to feel no fear of death: and this delusion of theirs is considered by the survivors as an evidence of their final acceptance. Well does the prophet say of them, “A deceived heart hath turned them aside, so that they cannot deliver their souls, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?”]

But God views them with other eyes, and denounces,

II. Their awful doom—

The terms in which this is declared are sufficient to alarm the most careless sinner. The wrath of God is here denounced against him. This must be his portion: and this doom is,

1. Infallibly certain—

[Sinners imagine that God cannot inflict punishment: they suppose that if not inconsistent with his justice, it would at least be contrary to his acknowledged goodness and benignity. They think that, when the time comes, he will relent, and spare them. But, in our text, he meets that error, and declares, “The Lord will not spare him.” “I have spared him long enough,” the Lord will say: “I bore with all his wickedness for many years:” “I waited long to be gracious to him:” “I called to him, but he would not hear ; I entreated him, but he refused to hearken: and therefore he now may call, and I will not hear: I will even laugh at his calamity, and mock when his fear is come.” Now God would “repent him of the evil which he has thought to bring” on any sinner: but how inflexible he will be in that day, the prophet has abundantly declared [Note: Ezekiel 8:18; Ezekiel 24:14.]. The sinner may “knock at the door which is shut against him, saying, Lord, Lord, open to me: but I will say, Depart from me, I never knew thee, thou worker of iniquity.”]

2. Inexpressibly severe—

[What must it be to have “the anger and the jealousy of Almighty God” incensed, and so incensed, as to be, as it were, “smoking against us?” But, to form a just idea of the sinner’s doom, we must take all the most terrific passages of the word of God, and contemplate all the images contained in them, and then conceive of all of them combined to fill up the measure of his misery. Oh, if we think of “that lake that burneth with fire and brimstone,” “where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,” where there is nothing but “weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth,” and “the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever,” what an idea does it all give us of the judgments that await the impenitent transgressor! Yet these, yea and “all the curses that are written in the sacred volume ” from one end of it even to the other, shall come upon him, and shall “lie and abide upon him for ever and ever.” Once, if he had sought for mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ, his name might have been “written in the book of life;” but now “God will blot out his name from under heaven,” and it shall be found registered only with those of the devil and his angels.

We are well aware that these truths are unwelcome to the generality of men: but it is infinitely better to contemplate them in time, than to be left to experience them in eternity.]

Let us learn then from this subject,

1. To compassionate the ungodly world—

[Were we to see men in danger of perishing in the sea, the most hardened amongst us would be moved to compassion: why then do we not pity those who are ready every moment to sink into the flames of hell? That they themselves are not alarmed is rather the reason why we should feel the more alarmed; because their foot will infallibly “slide in due time,” and “the wrath of God will come upon them to the uttermost.” Let “our eyes then run down with tears for them,” and “our head be a fountain of tears to weep for them day and night.” Let our efforts too be exerted to awaken them to a timely care of their own souls.]

2. To be on our guard against being influenced by their advice—

[Those who see not their own danger will be equally secure respecting us [Note: Ezekiel 13:22.], and will endeavour to lull us asleep by their confident assertions. But, if their presumption will not benefit themselves, it will assuredly not benefit us. The antediluvian world, and the inhabitants of Sodom, despised the warnings given them, and accounted them as idle tales: but the threatened judgments came at last, and the deceivers and deceived perished in one indiscriminate mass. So will it be at the end of the world [Note: 2 Peter 2:4-9.]. Every title of God’s word shall be fulfilled; and therefore let those who would draw you back to the world be disregarded by you [Note: Ephesians 5:6.]. “Let God be true, but every man a liar.”]

3. To be thankful if God has made us to differ from them—

[What reason had Noah and Lot to be thankful that they were enabled to believe the divine testimony! And truly, if we are enabled to come forth from an ungodly world, and to enter into the true Ark, the Lord Jesus Christ, we have no less reason to be thankful than they. It is no less the fruit of God’s sovereign grace, than was the mercy vouchsafed to them. Let us then be increasingly watchful against presumptuous confidence, and all the delusions of our own hearts; and, in an unreserved attention to all God’s commands, let us “keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”]

DISCOURSE: 223

SECRET THINGS BELONG TO GOD

Deuteronomy 29:29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this Law.

NEVER were mercies granted to any people, so rich as those which were vouchsafed to Israel: nor were there ever judgments so signally, through successive ages, inflicted on any other nation, as on them. And all this was in accordance with prophecy, even with the prophecies which Moses himself delivered to them previous to their entrance into Canaan. All was foreseen by God ; and was foretold also, with sufficient clearness, if they would but learn to act in obedience to the divine warnings. To inquire into the reasons of God’s dealings with them, and especially to sit in judgment upon God as though he dealt hardly with them, would be to no purpose. The reasons of his determinations were hid in his own bosom: and his determinations themselves were made known to them for their benefit: and God expected that they should make a suitable improvement of all the information which he had given them. This seems to be the general import of our text ; from whence I shall take occasion to shew,

I. The proper limit for our inquiries into the things of God—

God has been pleased to reveal much to us respecting his nature, his dispensations, his purposes: but there is infinitely more which he has not seen fit to communicate; and which, if communicated, we should be no more able to comprehend, than a child could comprehend the deepest discoveries of philosophy. Even what we do know, we know only in part: in fact, our knowledge of every thing is so superficial, that it scarcely deserves to be called knowledge: and, therefore, in relation to every thing the utmost possible diffidence becomes us. For, after all, what know we,

1. Of God’s nature?

[We are informed that “He is a Spirit;” that he is, from all eternity, a self-existent Being: that “the heaven of heavens cannot contain him.” But what idea have we of a Spirit? What notion can we form of eternity and omnipresence? The greatest philosopher in the universe has not a whit more adequate conceptions of these thing, than a little infant. Nor do we, in reality, know any thing more of the moral perfections of the Deity, than we do of those which we call natural. We speak of his holiness, and justice, and mercy, and truth: but out knowledge of these things is altogether negative: we merely know that he is not unholy, or unjust, or unmerciful, or untrue ; and that is all.

And what shall I say to his subsistence in Three Persons, each possessing all the attributes of Deity, whilst yet there is but One God ? We know that the Father is spoken of as the Fountain from whence all proceeds; that the Son also is spoken of as executing all which the Father had ordained for the redemption of the world ; and that the Holy Ghost also is spoken of as applying to the sons of men all that the Son has purchased, or the Father ordained. But of these things we know nothing beyond what God has told us in his word: and if we attempt to descant upon them, “we only darken counsel by words without knowledge.” In the contemplation of such mysteries, it becomes us to bear in mind the pointed interrogations of Zophar; “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection ? it is high as heaven; what canst thou do ? deeper than hell ; what canst thou know [Note: Job 11:7-8.]?”]

2. Of his dispensations?

[We know that God ordereth every thing both in heaven and earth; and that without him “not a sparrow falls to the ground,” nor “an hair from the head of one of his servants.” But will any one inform us how God overrules the minds of voluntary agents, so as infallibly to accomplish his own will and yet not participate in the evils which they commit ? Our blessed Lord was put to death “by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God:” and yet, throughout the whole of that scene, the agents followed altogether the dictates of their own hearts, and “with wicked hands crucified and slew him.” And will any one inform us how this was done ? And if we know so little of God’s Providence, who shall declare to us the wonders of his Grace ? Will any one tell us why the world was left four thousand years before the Saviour was sent to redeem it? or why Abraham was chosen in preference to all other persons upon earth, that the Saviour should descend from him, and that it should be in the line of Isaac and Jacob, rather than through the line of Ishmael and Esau? Will any one tell us how the Spirit of God acts upon the souls of some, to quicken, sanctify, and save them; whilst others never experience these operations; or experience his influence only in such a degree as ultimately to aggravate their eternal condemnation ? Let any one only tell us how mind operates upon matter in any one motion of his own body: and if he cannot tell this, how shall he presume to judge of God, “whose ways are in the great deep, and his paths past finding out?”]

3. Of his purposes?

[We are assured that “God doeth every thing according to the counsel of his own will; and that none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” But who has searched the records of heaven, so as to tell us what shall come to pass, either in reference to nations, or to any solitary individual? Our blessed Lord repeatedly checked all presumptuous inquiries into these things. When his disciples asked him, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? he answered, It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power [Note: Acts 1:6-7.].” And when Peter inquired of him respecting John, “Lord, what shall this man do ? our Lord replied, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?”

In truth, we know nothing of God; nothing of what he is, or does, or will do, any further than he has been pleased to reveal himself to us: and all our inquiries respecting him should issue in that profound adoring exclamation, “O the depth [Note: Romans 11:33.]!” Instead of complaining that our knowledge is so circumscribed, we should be thankful that it extends so far: for if there be little communicated to gratify a foolish curiosity, there is every thing made known to us that can conduce to our present and eternal welfare.]

This idea points out to us,

II. The proper use to be made of all the knowledge we obtain—

Every thing that God has revealed is intended to have a practical effect: and every thing contained in Holy Writ has a direct tendency to convey some spiritual benefit to our souls. Let us briefly trace this in what is revealed concerning,

1. God and his perfections—

[All that is spoken in Scripture upon this sublime subject, tends to fill us with holy fear, and love, and confidence; and to bring us to God, as his obedient subjects and servants — — —]

2. Christ and his offices—

[There is no way to the Father but through the Son. When, therefore, we read of him as the Prophet, Priest, and King of his Church, we are of necessity taught to look to him for the illumination of our minds, the pardon of our sins, the subjugation of all our spiritual enemies. We are taught to “live altogether by faith in him, who has loved us, and given himself for us” — — —]

3. The Holy Spirit, and his operations—

[If we can come to God only through the Son, so neither have we any access to him but by the Spirit [Note: Ephesians 2:18.]. Hence, in desiring his gracious influences, we should seek to have the whole work of grace wrought within us, and to be “transformed into the divine image,” and be “made meet for our eternal inheritance” — — —]

4. The Gospel, with all its promises and precepts—

[Nothing of this is to he contemplated as a mere matter of speculation ; but the whole Gospel is to be embraced as a remedy, as a remedy suited to our wants and sufficient for our necessities. Every promise of it is to be embraced as a ground of hope ; and every precept in it is to be obeyed as an evidence of our faith and love — — —]

5. The realities of the eternal world—

[No one ever came from heaven or from hell to inform us what those states were, or what was the full import of those terms under which those states are displayed. Nor is it of importance to us to know more of them in this world. We already know enough to call forth into activity our hopes and our fears: and our wisdom, is so to improve our knowledge of them, as to “flee from the wrath to come,” and to “lay hold on eternal life” — — —

In a word, “whatsoever is revealed belongs to us and to our children for ever, that in all succeeding ages we should do all the words of God’s Law,” and approve ourselves to him as a faithful and obedient people.]

Hence, then, we may see—

1. What answer we should make to the proud objector—

[Persons will sit in judgment upon God and his revealed will, as if they were capable of determining, by their own wisdom, what was fitting for him to reveal or do ; and they will decide with confidence on all which they either see or hear, precisely as if they were competent to weigh in a balance all the mysteries of divine wisdom. With what impious boldness will many revile the mystery of a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead; the incarnation of Christ, and his atoning sacrifice ; and the influences of the Holy Spirit. But to all such proud objectors I will say, with St. Paul, “Nay but, O man! who art thou that repliest against God [Note: Romans 9:20.]?” Thou mistakest utterly the province of reason, if thou thinkest that she is to sit in judgment upon such mysteries as these. She is to judge whether the book which we call the Bible, be of divine inspiration: but when that is once admitted, then she must give way to faith, whose office it is to embrace all that God has revealed, and to make use of it for the ends and purposes for which he has revealed it. And if thou wilt presume to “reprove God, thou shah surely answer for it [Note: Job 40:2.]:” for “he giveth not account to man of any of his matters [Note: Job 33:13.].”]

2. What direction we should give to the humble inquirer—

[There may be many things brought to your ears which are above your comprehension, and which you may find it difficult to receive. But there is a standard to which every sentiment may be referred, and a touchstone by which every doctrine may be tried. Our blessed Lord said to those who doubted the propriety of his instructions, “Search the Scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me [Note: John 5:39.].” And the Prophet Isaiah told his hearers to bring every thing to this test: “To the Law, and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no truth in them [Note: Isaiah 8:20.].” All that is needful for you to know, is contained in God’s word. Whatever agrees with that, is true: whatever is contrary to it, is false: and whatever cannot be determined by it, may well be left among those “secret things which belong to God alone.”]

3. What encouragement we are to afford to the true believer—

[“The secret of the Lord,” we are told, “is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant [Note: Psalms 25:14.].” Yes, this is indeed a most encouraging truth. Not that we are to suppose that God will give any new revelation to his people: we have no reason whatever to expect that: but he will shine upon his revealed truth, so that they shall have a perception of it which others have not. I need not tell you how much clearer any thing is discerned when the sun shines upon it: or how much more accurately it is seen when the eye is fixed more intently on it: or how things most minute or distant are rendered distinctly visible by glasses suited to our organs of sight. Now, in all these ways will God discover his secrets to the believing soul. He will, by his Spirit, cast a flood of light upon the word; and make the soul most eager to apprehend his truth; and by the medium of faith bring that truth directly upon the tablet of the mind; and thus fulfil that promise, “All thy people shall be taught of God [Note: John 6:45.].” Yes, “the meek he will guide in judgment; the meek he will teach his way [Note: Psalms 25:9.].”]