-- CHAPTER IV: What are the spiritual wants and defilements in men's understandings, which can be he
and needed not any new assistance to the attainment of all knowledge, not only natural, civil, and moral, but divine and spiritual also in the letter, yet still the defilement, the corruption of the mind might remain, yes, and doth continue in men who are enlightened in all these. So that suppose in none of these the mind had received any wound or darkness, so as to need no new light, or suppose that a man hath received all this knowledge from the Holy Ghost, yet there is a farther knowledge required than all this, which till it be wrought, the understanding may truly be said still to be defiled and blind, and to know nothing as it ought to know.
CHAPTER IV:
What are the spiritual wants and defilements in men's understandings, which can be healed only by true regeneration.
They cannot have a spiritual discerning of spiritual things.—This proved from. Scripture, which expresseth, not only that such things are hid from them, that they have something over their eyes which hinders the sight, but that there is darkness in the eye of the mind itself Having discoursed of those natural wounds which the understanding hath received by the fall, I now come to treat of the spiritual wants and defilements, which are healed by true sanctification, saving and spiritual knowledge.
1. The first spiritual defect in man's understanding, is that blindness and inability to know and discern spiritual things spiritually, as a regenerate man doth: 1 Cor. 2:14, 'But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him;
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.'
You know what spiritual things are, viz., the things which God hath revealed by his Spirit for your peace, those things which are necessary for you to know, if you be saved: Luke 19:42, 'If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace; but now they are hid from thine eyes!' There they are called the things belonging to our peace. Now to know them spiritually, is, in brief (to express it to vulgar capacities), so to know them, as to know the true way of making our peace with God by them. Thou mayest know them so as expressed to others, and be affected with them also, and yet make no application of them to thine own use, good, and benefit, and then thou dost not spiritually understand them; for so to understand them is to know them, as they are in themselves, and in that true and full manner, and to that end they are revealed by the Holy Ghost in the word; and therefore we do not spiritually discern the nature of these things, if we do not see the true, right, particular way wherein we may come to salvation by them; because that was the mind of Christ and of the Holy Spirit in revealing them. Now, then, to see sin and a man's own sinfulness, so as to be thoroughly humbled for it, and to have the heart broken off from all sin, and from putting any trust in himself; as Job and Paul had a sight of it, with such an effect of it upon them: Rom. 7:13, 14,
'Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin, by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.' This is to see it in a spiritual manner, and to behold the excellence of Christ, and the necessity of his righteousness with such an eye as he doth, who accounts all but dross and dung in comparison, and seeks to be found in him, not having his own righteousness, as Paul did: Philip. 3:8, 9, 'Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith.' This is a spiritual knowledge of Christ. To know the promises of free grace and mercy, so as to see the way fully open, for himself or any such poor sinner to have a share in it; this is spiritually to discern the infinite riches of free grace; to see the strictness of that holiness which God requires; to approve that good perfect and acceptable will of God; to know how we are to serve him in all duties, in such a manner as God, who is a Spirit, and who is infinitely holy, commands; to see good and full reason for an absolute necessity of doing this; to see beauty, excellence, and happiness in performing it.
This is to know the law as the saints know it: Rom. 7:12, 14, 'Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.' Now such thoughts and apprehensions as the saints have of these things unregenerate men cannot have, their understandings being so blind, as they do not and cannot enter into them. This blindness and utter inability to discern spiritual things is the first subject of my discourse, which I am to explain, and prove to you, and you will the better apprehend what it is, if first I lay open the several degrees of it, according as the Scripture sets it forth to us.
(1.) The Scripture tells us that spiritual things are hidden from the eyes of men who are in their natural condition: Luke 19:42, 'If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.' Mat.
11:25, 'At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.' They are hid, i.e. they are as far from our finding out as things are which are on purpose laid aside in places where our eyes can never come to spy them or find them out; so as, suppose a man had a mind to find them, and know them, yet he might search to eternity and never light on them, unless God revealed them. Thus speaks Christ to Peter,
Mat. 16:17, 'Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.'
Therefore they are called the wisdom of God, and not only so, but in mystery too: 1 Cor. 2:7, 'But we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God had ordained before the world unto our glory.' They are such a mystery, which is as far from our ability to find out, as the thoughts of the most deep-hearted men are; which instance the apostle useth to illustrate it in ver. 9–12,
'But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear Leard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his
Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.' Ay, these deep things of God's heart are farther from a natural man's search and scrutiny than the deepest thoughts of the wisest man on earth are; for, what says Solomon, who best knew wisdom, and the utmost extent of it? That though the heart of a man be deep, yet a man of understanding may fathom it:
Prov. 20:5, 'Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.' He instanceth there in the thoughts of a man, because of all things in the world they are most unsearchable. But though these may be searched into, yet what man can penetrate the counsels of God's heart? Rom. 11:34, 'For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor?' And upon this he breaks forth into that great exclamation: ver. 33, 'Oh the depth of the riches bath of the wisdom and knowledge of God! 'how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!' But though this is a great degree of spiritual blindness, that men are unable to make the first discovery of the things of God, and it may be easily granted that they are so; yet you will say, When these spiritual things are once published, and made known and common, and laid before men's eyes, as in the Scriptures they are, then a man is able to discern them. Therefore, (2.) Consider what farther the Scripture says in this matter. It not only says that men sit in darkness, but (to leave all under expressions) it tells us that we are darkness itself: Eph. 5:8, 'For ye
were sometimes darkness,' &c. Now, a man who is in the dark, especially if he carry darkness about with him too, though the thing he looks for be laid just before him, not concealed, but brought out, yet he is unable to see it. For that which makes all things manifest is light, says the apostle: 1 Cor. 3:13, 'Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.' And lumen est actus perspicui, saith philosophy. But now he doth not say, we are in the dark, but darkness. There are some creatures which, though they be in the dark, have an innate light by which they can see things, as cats have; but we are not only in the dark, but darkness itself. God hath put into the mind of man wherewith to see other things, a light which philosophers call intellectus agens, which doth irradiate those images that are received from the senses, so as a man carries a candle in his head, and not only an eye able to see, which they call intellectus possibilis. But as to spiritual things we want this, and instead of a light we carry darkness in our heads, which must be dispelled by new light, brought in over and above the propounding and publishing of the object: Acts 13:41, 'Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.' Paul having plainly and openly preached to them Christ, and the gospel, and forgiveness of sins in the former verses, thus concludes his sermon with this caution, that they Should beware lest that came upon them which was spoken by the prophet, that though they should have eternal life and salvation set before them in a clear light, yet they should perish because they did not believe it. Therefore it is not bare declaring or propounding the things of the gospel that will serve the turn, for these men heard it preached and published with the clearest evidence. The gospel, though preached never so plainly, may be still hid to them which are lost: 2 Cor. 4:3, 4, 'But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.' And, indeed, as to see with bodily eyes, it is not only necessary that an object be before us, but that we have light also
shining into the room where we are, so it is not enough that we have the truths of the gospel rationally proposed, but it is also needful that a light shines into our minds to illuminate them. Who hath not experience that a spiritual reason and argument which convinceth a man to-day, yet shall not hare the same effect upon him on the morrow, though as strongly urged? And why? But because a new light is required to set it on. Thus a man looks comfortably upon his graces and evidences for heaven to-day, but the next day, or perhaps but an hour after, he sees nothing but darkness and discomfort; and though he doth recal his former thoughts, yet he cannot see things as he did before. What is the reason? Because that light which before made his graces and evidences visibly apparent is now withdrawn, though the eye of his mind be the same, and the object where it was.
(3.) Consider that if the object is propounded, and light shine round a man, yet if his eyes be shut or closed up he is not able to see anything. Therefore the Scripture, to shew a further degree of our inability to discern spiritual things, says that men have veils, scales, and films before their eyes. The dirt and muck of this world doth not only, by being daubed over them, hinder the sight, but the god of this world hath blinded them lest the light should shine into them: 2 Cor.
4:4, 'In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.' And veils are over their hearts too, that as we say of the eye that it is blood-shot, so we may of the heart that it is sin-shot. This veil was over the Jews' hearts when
Moses was read: 2 Cor. 3:14, 15, 'But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away, in the reading of the Old Testament: which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.'
Though at the great turning of that people unto Christ this veil shall be taken away, ver. 16, 'Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.' The falling of the scales from Paul's eyes at his conversion was a type of opening the eyes of his mind, for upon them there was an hard film too. There is upon the minds of men a πώρωσις, or callousness: Eph. 4:18, 'Having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.' The world is πώρωσις, and there is this foreskin of flesh upon the eye to be cut away.
(4.) Consider that the Scripture seems not to rest here, but expresseth the weakness and incapacity of the mind to know spiritual things to be yet greater. One (as you know) who hath a veil and scales before his eyes, to be restored to his sight, needs no more than to have them removed, as Paul saw well enough when his scales were fallen off. And why? Because he had an eye under those scales which still retained the faculty of seeing. But, indeed, and in truth, there wants a power, an ability, and faculty in the minds of unregenerate men to see and discern spiritual things, which power must therefore be created anew. Our understandings must not only have the scales of sin removed, but a new eye must, as it were, be put into them.
Now, though art may remove the scales, yet it can never make a new eye when it is once put out; and we are not as one that hath contracted blindness by a film or skin over the eye, but we are born blind, and so are incurable by all the arts of reason. We have our blindness from the womb, and to heal such an one is a miracle indeed, John 9:32. It was never heard of from the beginning of the world that one born blind received sight, because the organ of sight is wanting, and there must be a new creation of an eye in such a man, which is a work that none but God can do. We are not yet to think that this defect of sight is the same in a man as in a stone, &c., for a man hath an understanding, which, without renovation, may have some apprehension of spiritual things; but to know them spiritually, to see them as they ought to be seen, and are to be seen, the best mind unrenewed is incapable. And therefore there mast be a new disposition put in, which is to the understanding as the organ of the eye is to the faculty of seeing, which elevates and enableth it to see that which of itself it hath not a power to discern. The Scriptures accordingly call conversion not only a turning from darkness to light, and opening the eyes: as Acts 26:18, 'To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins,' &c. But conversion is also expressed as giving as eyes to see: Deut. 29:4, 'Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.' And in another place it is styled giving us an understanding: 1 John 5:20, 'And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given as an understanding, that we may know him that is true.' He hath given as an understanding that we may know him, ἱνα γινώσκωμεν. 1. It is not natural, for it is a gift, and that proper only to some, as it is declared to as by Christ himself: Mat.
13:11, 'He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.' So in 1 Cor. 2:12, 'Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.' 2. That which is given is not barely light, but διάνοια, an understanding to know, which imports not an act only, but a power and ability to produce acts of knowledge, for otherwise those words, ἱνα γινώσκωμεν, 'that we may know him,' would not have been added; for if by the former διάνοια he had not meant the faculty of knowing, but only the act, then his sense would be, he hath given as to know that we may know, which would be a tautology.
So that now this want and defect in the mind is not of light external only, or a denial of revealing the objects themselves, but it is the want of an inward ability; and the deficiency is in the understanding itself, as is plain from what Paul says: 1 Cor. 2:14, 'But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' The natural man (saith he), that is, one that hath but natural abilities and is not regenerate, and made a spiritual man, as they are opposed one to the other; this natural man doth not receive the things of God. Now, since the understanding is made as a window to let in all that comes into the soul, all the beams of knowledge, whence is it that spiritual things have not admission?
Why, because there is a stop, and that stop is in a deficiency of the understanding, that it cannot receive them.
The defilement, then, of men's understandings is an utter blindness, and want of the true spiritual knowledge of spiritual things. You must only remember, and take this along with you, that this blindness is only in regard to spiritual things, and such spiritual things as are peculiarly possessed and enjoyed by the saints, and freely given them of God; for these things, and the spiritual discerning of them, are appropriated by the apostle to them in 1 Cor.
2:12, 14, 'Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' He says, the natural man receives them not. What things are they which he doth not receive? Such as are spiritual, and peculiar to believers, such as God's free grace and love in Christ, such as Christ and his righteousness, such as all those blessings of the covenant of grace which Christ hath purchased, and which accompany an interest in him, such as the work of grace and regeneration, and how we may serve God acceptably in that state; these are the objects which we mean, and in respect to which we say, the understandings of unregenerate men are utterly blind as to the spiritual knowledge of them.
But if spiritual things be more largely extended to comprehend all things whatever which are revealed in the Scriptures by the Spirit, as the wrath of God against sin and sinners, the outward acts of sin forbidden by the law, the many discourses, moral or natural, which are laid down in the word of God, and run in the veins of it, and which fall under the common sense and light of conscience; of all these an unregenerate man, without any new creation in his mind and judgment, may have a knowledge by the assistance of the common light of the Spirit, who wrote the Scriptures, and hid these treasures in those mines. There is yet this difference, that an unregenerate man hath only the notion of these things, without the warmth or life, or knowing how to make use of them; but a believer hath both.