Voluntary ignorance and blindness. he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 13. He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with the fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. Is, 1. 2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 168. Do sinners hate the most important knowledge, and cherish ignorance and delusion? Job 5. 14. They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noon day as in the night. Job 12. 25. They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. Ps. 50. 16. Unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. 21. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee. Ps. 58. 4. They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Ps. 82. 5. They know not, neither will they understand: they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. Pr. 1. 22. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 29 They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Pr. 4. 19. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. Voluntary ignorance and blindness. Is. 30. 8. Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not, and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Jer. 17. 23. They obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. Jer. 32. 33. They have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. Dan. 12. 10. None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. Jn. 3. 19. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Jn. 17. 25. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee. Rom. 1. 21. When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 28. As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. 1 Cor. 2. 14. 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. Ep. 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. Light resisted and abused. 1 Jn. 4. 8. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love. 169. What is said of those who resist the light and motives of the gospel, and remain in impenitence, unbelief and blindness? Mat. 11. 20. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Wo unto thee, Chorazin! wo unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment than for thee. Lk. 10. 13-15. Mat. 12. 41. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold, a greater than Jonas is here. Lk. 11. 31, 32. Lk. 12. 47. And that servant who knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Jn. 15. 22. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. 24. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin; but now they have both seen, and hated both me and my Father. Identity of. Ac. 17. 30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent. Heb. 2. 2. If the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. Heb. 10. 26. If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? Jam. 4. 17. To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. 2 Pet. 2. 21. It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.* 170. Has human nature been essentially the same in all past ages? Pr. 27. 19. As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. Mat. 23. 29. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we *For other manifestations of human depravity, see Pride, Flattery, Slander, Intemperance, Swearing, Idolatry, Lying, Stealing, Lewdness, Slavery and oppression, Persecution, War. Trust in man- would have not been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore, ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Ac. 7. 51. Ye stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 171. What is said of putting trust and confidence in the frail and depraved children of men? Ps. 146. 3. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Pr. 25. 19. Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, or a foot out of joint. Pr. 28. 26. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Is. 2. 22. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? Is. 31. 1. Wo to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord! Jer. 9. 4. Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanders. Jer. 17. 5. Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Diet. 172. What is said respecting diet? Gen. 1. 29. And God said, Behold, I have given |