1 Corinthians 2:13-14 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches… I. THERE IS NOTHING HERE WHICH IS NOT ACKNOWLEDGED AND INSISTED ON IN EVERY-DAY LIFE. There are things that are only instrumentally discerned. 1. Here is a large brilliant diamond, and you pronounce it to be without fault; but the lapidary gives you a magnifying glass of great power, and bids you look at the centre of the stone; and there sure enough you see a black spot. The lapidary says the naked eye can neither receive it nor know it because it is microscopically discerned. And nobody arises to say, "Sir, you have introduced a painful mystery into human thought and inquiry." People are rather glad that a medium has been supplied by which the hidden truth may be brought to light. 2. Yonder are two shining surfaces, and you say there must be a great fire there. The scientist who overhears you, however, says, "One of those surfaces has no light at all." "But can't I believe my own eyes?" "No," he says, "just look through this instrument— the polariscope — and now you see that the one surface was primary light and the other but reflected. The naked eye can neither receive nor know it because it is polariscopically discerned. And you thank him for the information. 3. Yonder are two men who have undertaken a mineral survey. One is a mineralogist, the other a man who believes that if he cannot find things out with his naked eyes and fingers that nothing can or shall be found out. The former walks slowly over the ground holding in his hand a little crystal box, watching the instrument within. Presently the needle dips, and he says, "There is iron here." Can you see it, touch it? No. But the scientific man digs for iron and finds it, and then turns round to hear what the other has to say, and remarks, "The senses cannot receive or know it, for it is magnetically discerned," and then receives the confidence he deserves. 4. Look at this ruddy-faced boy. You cannot walk out with him, but he challenges you to leap a five-barred gate; and you say, "What a vigorous lad! There will be a long life and a happy one." A physician, however, drops in on your return, and hearing your verdict, applies an instrument to the region of the boy's heart, and then, taking you aside, says, "He will never see five-and-twenty. He has had rheumatic fever and contracted valvular affection of the heart." The untrained ear can neither receive it nor know it because it is stethoscopically discerned. Now in all these things we confess our need of instruments. Suppose that everything were taken away that cannot be discovered or read by the naked eye! Shut up the heavens, for astronomy must go; cover up the fields, for botany tells little to the naked eye. All science indeed would be impoverished and degraded. Yet the man who cannot read his own mother's letter without an eyeglass insists upon reading the infinite and eternal God by his unassisted powers. 5. The same principle holds good in spheres where instruments are not required. (1) Here are two men listening to the same piece of music. The one is inspired, enraptured, and says, "I would this might go on for ever." The other says, "I wonder when they will be done." The best ear cannot receive these things or know them, for they are musically discerned. The one man would be tormented if one note were the thousandth part of a shade wrong; but all the notes might be wrong so far as the other man knew. (2) Here are two men looking at the same picture. The one is chained to the spot; the other, with a thick shilling catalogue, does not see much in that, and hastens on to something that has superficies, no matter what the superficies may be: only let it be extensive enough. Paint for such men with a broom, II. THE APPLICATION OF THESE THINGS IS TO THE THINGS OF GOD AS ACCESSIBLE TO THE SPIRIT OF MAN. There are blind minds as well as blind eyes. "Except a man be born again he cannot see." 1. As ministers, therefore, we are not to be discouraged because some people cannot understand us. There will always be men to whom the best preaching will be foolishness, because they have not the spiritual faculty. 2. Do we wish for this discernment? "If ye being evil," &c. "If any man lack wisdom," &c. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. |
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