darkness: they know not at what they stumble." Hence Jesus said to the Sadducees, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." This, however, is the thinnest of all the vails; and if this were the only vail on the heart, the knowledge of the truth would instantly dispel it; just as light chases away the darkness. For as Jesus said again, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." When, therefore, the light does not effect this, we may know at once that there must be other vails still upon the heart, requiring to be removed, before the light can shine into it. Hence the next vail to be noticed, is Prejudice: which knowledge of itself will not dispel. For prejudice acts upon the mind, as blindness does upon the body. The eyes of "the understanding" must, therefore, first be opened, before the light can enter.1 Hence our Lord's commission to the great apostle of the Gentiles was, first, "to open their eyes," or, in other words, through the power of the Divine Spirit, acting upon their hearts, to remove from thence the vail of prejudice; and then "to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,"5 &c.; or, in other words, through the same Spirit, to take away the vail of ignorance, by letting in "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; that they might thus "believe" in Him "and be saved." For the vail of prejudice is a far thicker and more difficult vail to remove than the vail of ignorance: for a prejudiced man takes a standard of judging other than God's; and instead, therefore, of letting God's Word judge him, he judges it, either as a whole, or in part, as the case may be. Hence the threatenings in the Divine Word against such. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.”1 Now it is manifest, that no one could possibly have called good evil, unless he had first taken evil for good; could have put light for darkness, unless he had first accounted his own darkness as light; could have taken sweet for bitter, unless his own vitiated taste had made him prefer bitter to sweet! Hence our Lord says, "The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light," (i.e., the supposed light) "which is in thee be not darkness." "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" And of such, therefore, He says again, "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent "-i.e., those who esteem themselves to be such; and in consequence of the vail of prejudice, despise the humbleminded, who are really such-" and hast revealed them. unto babes"-i.e. "babes in Christ." "Even so, Father: for so it seemeth good in Thy sight." Closely allied, therefore, with this vail, is the vail of misinterpretation and misapplication of the Scriptures of Truth: which, I may certainly say, is frequently woven very thickly through the "vain conversation received by tradition" by men from their "fathers." It was this vail that hung so heavily upon the Jewish heart; and certainly it was woven much thicker, through the vain traditions of the leaders of the people, as our Lord Himself asserts: and it was this vail that caused them to reject His testimony to the 1 Isaiah v. 20, 21. * Luke xi. 34, 35. 5 1 Peter ii. 2; 4 Col. iii. 12; 1 Peter v. 5, 6. 3 Matt. vi. 23. truth. For, addressing "the Scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem," He said unto them, "Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" "Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."1 "And because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not. Which of you convinceth Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me? "2 It was the remnant of this vail, which still hung upon the hearts of Christ's disciples, which prevented them from understanding words which He uttered, which were so plain and precise, that it might have seemed almost impossible for them to have misunderstood them. "Then He took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death: and the third day He shall rise again. And they understood NONE of these things : and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things that were spoken." This it was likewise, which caused them such profound astonishment, even after Christ's resurrection, when He led them to the Mount of Olives, and in their sight ascended up to heaven, and again left them, without "restoring again the kingdom to Israel." It is this vail on the heart, which causes the Romanist to reject the truth of God, for the false teaching of His Church; 1 Matt. xv. 1, 3, 6-9. 2 John viii. 45, 46. 4 Acts. i. 4-11. that blinds the mind of the Unitarian, so that when he looks into God's Word, he cannot see the Divinity of the Lord Jesus, although it is written therein as with a sunbeam; that prevents the Arminian from perceiving the infinite security of the everlasting Covenant, and the absolute and eternal blessedness of every true believer who is interested therein, and that likewise causes so many to stumble at, and to misunderstand the Prophetic Word itself. But I have to mention a deeper, darker, more impenetrable vail even than any of these-the vail of unbelief : for unbelief is not only blind, it is blindness itself. For "if our Gospel be hid," says Paul, "it is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this age 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." "But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him: that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them." "What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." For "Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone."4 "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."5 1 2 Cor. iv. 4. Rom. ix. 31, 32.. John xii. 37-40. 3 Rom. xi. 7. Now all these vails are upon the hearts of all men by nature but some remnants of them, of greater or less extent, are upon the hearts of even believers in the Lord Himself. There is one vail, however, and it is the last which I shall mention, which is only on the hearts of unbelievers; and that is the vail of death: for by nature all men are "dead in trespasses and sins:" and this vail will not be effectually removed from off the face of the earth, until the Second Coming of the Lord Himself. For thus it is written of the "Mount" of "Zion," "in Jerusalem ""He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all And it shall be the earth for Jehovah hath spoken it. said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."2 How then can any of the former vails be removed? As Israel's will be, "in that day "-"when" he "shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away:" for all vails are "done away" only "in Christ."3 When, therefore, any soul, taught of the Divine Spirit, learns that any vail is on his heart, and comes in deep humility to the Lord Jesus, and beseeches Him to remove it, He will most assuredly do So. For no vail, however thick, or dark, or impenetrable, can ever resist, or obstruct, Him. For He is "the brightness of" the Father's "glory, and the express image of His Person," upholding all things by the Word of His power:" and "all power" "in heaven and in earth" "is 1 Eph. ii. 1. 2 Isaiah xxiv. 23; xxv. 7-9. • Heb. i. 3.. |