1. Material creation. Secrets of nature.

2. The decrees of Providence. "Clouds and darkness are round about Him." Social inequalities.

3. The mysteries of redemption. "Great is the mystery," etc.

II. THAT IMPENETRABLE SECRECY IS COMPATIBLE WITH PATERNAL BENEVOLENCE.

1. All nature proves this.

2. Family mercies prove tiffs.

3. Never make God's secrets a plea for neglecting His bounties.

III. THAT DIVINE SECRECY IS NO ARGUMENT FOR HUMAN DISOBEDIENCE. "Those things which are revealed belong unto us."

1. An acknowledgment of a Divine revelation.

2. The confession of our relationship to God.

3. An implication of our power to obey the Divine requirements.

IV. THAT INQUISITIVENESS INTO SECRET THINGS IS A FRUITFUL CAUSE OF SCEPTICISM. Let us leave God to deal with His own decrees, to manage the boundless realm of causes, and to work out His inconceivable purposes.

(J. Parker, D. D.)

II. THAT THERE ARE, PROPERLY SPEAKING, NO MYSTERIES IN RELIGION. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, and only things revealed, things that are intelligible, belong to us.

III. THAT THE GREAT END OF REVELATION IS PRACTICE, THE PRACTICE OF SUBSTANTIAL VIRTUE; that we may do all the works of this law. From whence it necessarily follows —

IV. THAT NO DOCTRINES WHICH IN THE LEAST ENCOURAGE IMMORALITY CAN BE PARTS OF A DIVINE REVELATION.

V. That the importance of the several doctrines of revelation is to be judged of by this rule, namely, THEIR TENDENCY TO PROMOTE AND ESTABLISH A BECOMING REGARD TO PURITY AND TRUE GOODNESS.

(James Foster.)

II. IN MATTERS SO VASTLY BEYOND THE REACH OF OUR CAPACITIES, IT IS NOT ONLY NEEDLESS BUT DANGEROUS PRESUMPTION, TO BE TOO CURIOUS AND INQUISITIVE CONCERNING THEM. That it is needless, appears from the difficulty to understand them; and that it is dangerous, the many heresies and errors which have sprung up in the Christian Church may abundantly convince us.

III. THERE ARE OTHER MATTERS OF MUCH GREATER CONSEQUENCE TO EMPLOY OUR MEDITATIONS, WHICH IT IS OUR DUTY TO STUDY AND EXAMINE. Revelation discovers to us many secrets of nature, many great designs of Providence, many engaging motives to the practice of our duty, which would otherwise have been concealed from us.

III. THIS AND ALL OTHER KNOWLEDGE WILL BE VAIN AND INSIGNIFICANT UNLESS IT HAS AN INFLUENCE ON OUR LIVES AND MANNERS.

(J. Littleton.)

1. In nature. Science has its bounds.

2. In Providence.

3. In religion.

II. "THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE REVEALED BELONG TO US AND TO OUR CHILDREN FOREVER."

1. God has revealed them that We might be profited by them. Where are these revealed things? In the Bible.

2. God has made revelations to man elsewhere. In the different departments of science and discovery.

3. These revealed things belong to us and to our children.

4. It is the Church's duty to foster the education of the whole people.

(D. L. Anderson.)

1. In reference to the nature, character, and perfections of the Deity, there are many secret things which belong exclusively to the Lord our God. It is true that God has told us something of His own nature; but it is equally true that there is much more that He has not told us. Something He has revealed;. but much still remains concealed.

2. Not only in the doctrines of revelation, but in science, in natural operations, and in the ordinary occurrences of life, we find many things which exceed the comprehension of reason, and which we must class among the secret things belonging to the Lord our God.

3. In the dispensations of Divine Providence there are many things secret and mysterious. To this subject we may apply those declarations: "Thy judgments are a great deep"; "The Lord reigneth; "Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne."

4. All those events which lie in futurity are to us secret things. We have the means of acquiring some knowledge of things past and off things present; but we have no faculty by which we can penetrate into the future. We know not what a day will bring forth; we know not what shall be on the morrow.

5. We may very properly inquire, "Why is our knowledge confined within such narrow limits? Why are so many things kept secret from us, and reserved for the exclusive cognisance of the Lord our God?"(1) To this inquiry it may be replied, Such a mode of treatment is proper and necessary in reference to creatures like us, who are at present in the mere infancy of our being.(2) These secret things are also designed to exercise our faith.(3) By keeping many things secret, the Almighty designs to humble us, under a consciousness of our ignorance and weakness.(4) Finally, it is our heavenly Father's purpose in keeping these secret things to Himself, to teach us that we should be diligent and faithful in the discharge of the various duties incumbent on us, and, at the same time, should be in a state of habitual preparation for death and eternity.

II. Let us turn our attention, therefore, to the second truth stated in our text, namely, "THE THINGS THAT ARE REVEALED BELONG UNTO US AND TO OUR CHILDREN FOREVER, THAT WE MAY DO ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW.''

1. Among the "things revealed" we are to include the whole of the sacred Scriptures. This Divinely-inspired volume comprehends all that God has been pleased to reveal to man. And, oh! what a cause of gratitude is it that we possess this heavenly treasure! Possessing the Word of God, we are laid under the most solemn obligations to read it, so that we may, by Divine assistance, understand its meaning, apply its principles, and obey its precepts.

2. "Those things which are revealed," says the man of God in our text, "belong unto us and to our children forever." It was Jehovah's design that the deposit of Divine truth with which the Jews were favoured should be carefully guarded and transmitted from parents to children, from one generation to another, as long as that dispensation continued. And professed Christians are under equal obligations to perpetuate the knowledge and influence of Divine truth from age to age, by instructing their children in these revealed things.

(W. P. Burgess.)

II. THESE SECRETS BELONG TO GOD.

1. Consider that great secret of the coincidence of the human and the Divine will. Who shall say that there is no profound mystery there? How have the eyes of men's spirits ached as they peered into this thick darkness! You know the old legend of the ancients: that one of the mortals stole fire from heaven, and the terrible punishment of the eagle gnawing his vitals was inflicted by the angry Jove. What is it but a symbol of that heedlessness which has made man seek to prove himself one of the counsellors of heaven, and in dreadful retribution has his error recoiled upon himself.

2. Another mystery which is often brought up as an argument against the Divine revelation is the presence of evil and sin in the world. The wise and devout will abstain from pronouncing any judgment on the question. And let not the man of science, or the philosopher, despise the preacher who would speak of things not seen, not felt, but trusted in. Are there no mysteries in science? Can the most skilful observer explain the great series of events that we term life? And what of our philosopher? Can he answer all the profound questionings of the moral nature of man?Lessons:

1. The fact that there are these great mysteries, that there is something more than we can know, that there is a Being, a Personality, to whom these truths are clear, to Whom all things are known; these facts ought to make us careful to live in the light of these unseen realities, and, whilst engaged in earthly service, not to forget our heavenly destiny. Have you never known a man in whose life there seemed the unseen Divinity? He had filled himself with God. His life was passed in the continual thought of God. That man awes his fellows. His life is a power everywhere.

2. Another result of this faith in the unseen will be not only to give fulness to this life, and satisfaction to the higher wants of nature, but, believing that secret things belong to God, we shall never allow merely intellectual difficulties to overwhelm our spiritual powers. Doubt is difficult, I know; but there is no sword like life to cut the knot. Live down your doubts.

3. There is another frame of mind that the perfect knowledge and obedience of the truth will produce, and that is complete submission to the will of God.

(L. D. Bevan, LL. B.)

II. Let us now turn, in the second place, to TAKE NOTE OF MAN. We pass hero at one bound from the infinite to the finite. Philosophy asks for some bridge between them; but thus far always in vain. That there should be Divine Sovereignty is plain enough; and equally plain is it that there should be human freedom. But the two united are an enigma. The things revealed are the facts themselves unreconciled; on the one side, a Divine efficiency, which seems to clasp the universe as with iron arms; on the other side, a human freedom, which seems to threaten riot and anarchy. These two elements we must accept, and hold them together as we can, denying neither, and abating the force of neither. And as to the harmony between them, let us despair of finding it in this world. Let us rather leave it, and leave it cheerfully, till we stand on higher summits, in a clearer light. For the present, let us take care only that God be honoured, and our own destiny happily accomplished. If God only is great, man surely is responsible.

III. It remains for us to consider now, in the third place, THE NEW RELATION OF GRACE WHICH HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED BETWEEN GOD AND MAN. From sin we pass on to redemption as the great radiant centre, not less of all knowledge than of all hope. If the Scriptures reveal no speculative solution of the mystery of evil, they do yet propound a practical solution of it in the proffered deliverance of men from its power and curse. And yet this deliverance opens up yet other mysteries, and at every point we come across these secret things of God, which belong unto Him and not to us or our children. Human philosophy, in its pride and self-reliance, comes along discoursing of culture. It understands a change of purpose accomplished by moral suasion. It comprehends what is meant by a moral improvement and progress. It believes in growing better. But it has no conception of that radical transformation of character by the Spirit of God, which is described as the new birth, the passing from death unto life, Christ in us the hope of glory. Speech of such things sounds fanatical. The now birth is a stupendous mystery of life, which can be known only by being experienced. Consider the revelations of Scripture in regard to the future life. Definite and comforting beyond all the guesses of unaided reason; and yet, as compared with what we sometimes pine to know, how meagre. So also of the life that now is in its duties and its discipline. The great human duties are Prayer and Work: Prayer for every needed blessing, and Work to realise it; Prayer, as though God must do the whole, and Work, as though we must do it all ourselves. These are the two poles of the great galvanic battery. But who that waits to know the philosophy of answered prayer will ever pray? And who that waits to be sure there shall be no mistake will ever work? The hand that beckons us to glory waves at us out of impenetrable clouds. Partial revelation, then, is the method, and obedience the end. In the practicable improvement of our subject, it may be remarked —

1. First of all, we are taught a lesson of humility, and that, too, at the very point where we most need it. There is no pride on earth like the pride of intellect and science. A modest confession of ignorance is the ripest and last attainment of philosophy. But childlike docility is of the very essence of religion, required of us all at the very threshold of our Christian experience. And in order to this, no better discipline could be imagined than the discipline to which we are actually subjected under the existing economy of revelation. The secret things do so vastly outnumber the things which are revealed! The greater portion of all our inquiries and all our reasonings must always have for their issue, "Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight."

2. We may learn to distinguish the more vital articles of our faith. Controversy is apt to rage the hottest about the subordinate points. But the stress of revelation is on the grand essentials. The very design of the Book necessitates this feature. What the Bible is fullest of is therefore, of course, most vital.

3. And finally, our shortest way to the end of doubt and controversy is by the path of an humble obedience.

(R. D. Hitchcock.)

II. THIS OUR DESIRE OF KNOWLEDGE OUGHT TO BE REGULATED AND LIMITED BY THE CONDITION OF OUR NATURE AND BY THE WORD OF GOD.

1. We ought not to be ambitious of that knowledge which the condition and circumstances of our nature make it impossible for us to obtain.

2. As we ought not to be ambitious of what it is impossible for us to attain, so neither ought we to be solicitous after that which it is unlawful for us to desire. And here that which the Scripture determines in respect of our desire after knowledge is this —(1) That we ought not to endeavour to penetrate into things too deep for us, such as are the hidden and secret counsels or unrevealed decrees of God.(2) The Scripture further forbids the desire of that knowledge, the means of obtaining which are unlawful.(3) The Scripture forbids us so to search after the knowledge of anything else whatever as in the too earnest pursuit of that to neglect the study of the law of God. Those Divine truths which influence our practice, which furnish our mind with worthy notions of God and charitable dispositions towards our neighbours, and make men wise unto salvation, are the things which God has proposed to fix our thoughts and our studies upon.

III. To show HOW GREAT A SIN IT IS NOT TO REGULATE OUR DESIRES OF KNOWLEDGE BY THE FORE-MENTIONED RULES. And —

1. To determine dogmatically in things not clearly revealed, and to take delight in imposing upon each other such determinations, is in effect directly striving against that order and constitution of things which God has appointed, and endeavouring to make ourselves what God has not made us.

2. The not regulating this desire by the forementioned rules was the occasion of our first parents' fall. This appears from the description of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:6). It is also evident from the description of the manner of the temptation (ver. 5). A desire of knowledge not regulated by the rules before set down is very apt to put men upon unlawful practices to attain what they so desire. For that which is not to be attained but by unwarrantable practices, the desire of it cannot but be also sinful. From what has been said it follows —(1) That the vain desire of knowing beforehand things to come is such a desire of the knowledge of secret things as is not permitted us by the present circumstances and condition of our nature, or by the Word of God.(2) That a desire of prying into the unrevealed decrees, counsels, and purposes of God, and desiring to impose upon others our opinions concerning them, is also such a desire of the knowledge of secret things as is not permitted us by the law of our nature, or by the Word of God.(3) An over-earnest desire of knowing things subtle and unnecessary to be known, so as in the pursuit of the knowledge of these things to neglect the study of that which more nearly concerns us, is also a sort of that search after knowledge which is forbidden in the Scripture.

(S. Clarke, D. D.)

III. SO MANY ARE THE THINGS WHICH GOD HATH REVEALED THAT ALL I SHALL ATTEMPT TO DO IS JUST TO TOUCH UPON A FEW OF THEM. I observed that our great God Himself is the greatest of all mysteries to minds like ours. He hath uncovered so much of His perfections to us, He hath so far "laid bare" to us "His holy arm," and made known the thoughts He thinketh with regard to us, that His people may say, in some measure, "we know Him and we have seen Him." Only look at Christ, and say whether the love and mercy of our God are not among "the things revealed" to us! I have said that we know little or nothing about heaven. But observe, our gracious God has revealed to us as much about heaven as "belongs to us and to our children." We observed that the duration of our lives is kept a secret from us. Yes, but our blessed Lord has told us that which does concern us, namely, how to be prepared for death whenever and howsoever it approaches us. We know not what is to happen to us in this life. No; that is a "secret thing belonging to the Lord." But this is a "revealed thing," that "all things work together for good to those that love God."

III. And now, FOR THE USE WE ARE TO MAKE OF THESE "THINGS WHICH ARE REVEALED TO US." What says our text of the reasons why they are revealed? "The things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children, that we may do all the words of this law." It is not, then, to fill our heads with notions that God hath revealed to us the things we read of in our Bibles. If He hath told us of the path of life, it is that we might rise up and walk in it. Let us not err, then; let us not mistake knowledge for religion; let us not suppose ourselves enlightened men merely because we can talk well about the Gospel. Better not to know the way of righteousness at all than to know it and be idle.

(A. Roberts, M. A.)

II. The next rule which Moses gives is, THAT WE SHOULD RECEIVE WITH ATTENTIVE HUMILITY WHATEVER INFINITE WISDOM COMMUNICATES TO US. For those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.

III. The last rule implied in the text is, THAT WE SHOULD ALLOW EVERY DIVINE TRUTH ITS DUE INFLUENCE ON OUR BEHAVIOUR. For we are to learn them, that we may do all the words of this law. Indeed, merely receiving the truth in the love of it is a moral act, and in some cases may be one of great virtue. When our Saviour saith of St. Thomas, "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." Blessed in proportion to the integrity of their judgment, not the positiveness of their persuasion. But scarce will it be found that any article of faith is proposed for the probation of this only. Each hath its practical consequences, either flowing of necessity from it or built with propriety upon it.

(Archbishop Secker.)

II. REVEALED THINGS BELONG TO US AND TO OUR CHILDREN. Now notice —

1. That the Holy Scriptures contain these revealed things (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21).

2. The things revealed we could not have known without the Scriptures.

(1)We could not have known God.

(2)We could not have known the nature and evil of sin.

(3)We could not have known the way of salvation (Romans 10:14).

(4)We could not have known of the eternity before us; whether it be an everlasting sleep, or what?

3. The things revealed meet all the demands of the mind of man.

4. The things revealed are adapted to every state and variety of condition.

5. The things revealed are to be regarded as a sacred deposit from God to man.We are responsible for —

(1)Their reception.

(2)Reading and understanding them.

(3)Their diffusion. Application —

1. Let the subject teach us to avoid presumptuous curiosity.

2. Let the subject teach us the true test of all doctrines, ordinances, and duties.

3. We shall have to give an account of revealed things at the last day.

(J. Burns, D. D.)

(C. Holland, M. A.)

2. Amongst the things pertaining to religion which have occupied the minds of men to no purpose, we may reckon what has been called absolute predestination, or the everlasting decrees of God concerning the salvation and destruction of particular persons.

3. Another secret is an accurate knowledge of God, of His nature and perfections. He is infinite and eternal, and we are limited both in time and place, and there is something in infinity, eternity, and absolute perfection which perplexes us and involves us in difficulties.

4. Amongst the things which we must not expect thoroughly to understand is God's providence, the manner in which He presides over rational beings, the reasons of His conduct, the ends which He proposes, and the methods by which He accomplishes them, and how far He is assisting, hindering, or permitting in all events.

5. Under this head, which concerns the mysteries of providence, may be placed the reasons for which God bestows prosperity upon one and adversity upon another.

6. The future condition of the righteous and of the wicked is one of those things of which we cannot have a distinct and particular knowledge.

7. Amongst those things which are hidden from us we may place many difficult parts of the Scriptures.

8. There are some parts of Scripture which seem to be designedly concealed from us, and they are those prophecies which are as yet unfulfilled, for which many reasons might be assigned. As the prophecies concerning Christ were never perfectly understood till He came and fulfilled them, so those predictions which relate to future ages and have not received their completion are dark to us, and will continue so till the day itself unfolds them; and all attempts to interpret them have been unsuccessful. Indeed, it concerns us very little to know what shall be done upon earth after we are gone from it, and we might as well be solicitous to learn what passed a thousand years before man was created.

9. Lastly, the knowledge of things to come, of the good and evil which will befall us in this life, and of the time when our life will end, are secrets which God hath concealed from us.

(J. Jortin, D. D.)

II. CONSIDER WHAT THE REVEALED WILL OF GOD RESPECTS. It respects what is right and wrong, what is good and evil, or what is duty and sin, without any regard to the taking place of these things.

III. SHOWS THAT GOD'S REVEALED WILL, AND NOT HIS SECRET WILL, IS THE RULE OF DUTY.

1. That God has revealed His will in His Word for the very purpose of giving us a rule of duty. No secret purpose, intention, or design of the Deity can annul or diminish our obligation to obey this His revealed will.

2. The will of God revealed in His Word is a complete rule of duty. The obligation of a child to do what his parent requires does not depend upon his knowing the secret will of his parent, or the reason why he commands him to do this or that lawful thing. The obligation of a subject to do what a civil ruler requires him to do does not depend upon his knowing the reasons of state, or why the civil ruler requires certain acts of obedience. So the obligation of creatures to obey the revealed will of their Creator does not depend upon their knowing His secret will or the reasons of His commands. It is the revealed will of God, therefore, and not His secret will, which is our infallible rule of duty.

2. God's secret or decretal will cannot be known, and for that reason cannot be a rule of duty to any of His creatures.

4. Supposing God should reveal to us all His purposes respecting all His intelligent creatures in every part of the universe, this knowledge of His decretal will would be no rule of duty to us. His decretal will is only a rule of conduct for Himself: our knowing what it becomes Him to do cannot inform us what it is becoming us to do.

5. That the secret will of God cannot, if it were known, be a rule of duty, because it is entirely destitute of both precept ,and penalty, and consequently of all Divine authority. Improvement —

1. If God's secret will respects one object, and His revealed will respects another object, then there is no inconsistency between His secret and revealed will.

2. It appears from the representations which have been given of the secret and revealed will of God that our text has often been perverted and misapplied.

3. If God's secret will respects the taking place of future events, then all uninspired men who pretend to reveal God's secret will, or to foretell future events, are guilty of both folly and falsehood. For secret things belong to God only, and He only can reveal them.

4. If God's secret will cannot be known, then it can have no influence upon the actions of men.

5. But if God has a secret will respecting all future events, and will always act according to His secret will, then it is easy to see the real cause why mankind are generally so much opposed to the doctrine of Divine decrees. It is entirely owing to their fears that He will execute His decrees, or bring to pass whatever He has decreed.

6. If God will certainly execute His wise and holy secret will, then all His friends have a constant source of joy under all circumstances of life. For He has assured them that in executing His secret will He will cause all things to work together for their good.

7. If God's secret will be His governing will, and respects the existence of everything that comes to pass, then it is very criminal in any to deny or to complain of His secret will. It is the same thing as to deny that God governs the world, or to complain that He does not govern it in the wisest and best manner.

(N. Emmons, D. D.)

(J. Parker, D. D.)

(Enoch Mellor, D. D.)

1. Physical nature is full of the mysterious.

2. The Divine Providence is full of the mysterious.

3. The sacred Scriptures are full of the mysterious.

II. THE OBJECTIONS OF THE MODERN SPIRIT TO THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERIES WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE.

III. THE MISSION OF MYSTERY.

1. It strongly suggests the superhuman origin of Christianity.

2. It is the mission of mystery to fill us with the spirit of genuine humility.

3. It is the mission of mystery to inspire human activity.

4. It is the mission of mystery to keep our faith-faculty in constant exercise.

5. It is the mission of mystery to keep alive our spirit of adoration.

6. It is the mission of mystery to intensify the enjoyments of heaven.

(J. Ossian Davies.)

(W. J. Dawson.)

1. Because He knows them. They are His secrets. Of these secrets He is completely the master. It matters not whether we discern the whole truth clearly or not; it is enough that we discover what concerns our salvation, and that the rest, however cloudy to us, burns with brightness in the bosom of God.

2. They are His, because they are the reserves He has made in communicating knowledge to man. God has a right to determine in what manner, and where, and to what extent He will communicate knowledge. All we have to do is to say (thankful for what we have and are), "Even so, Father; for so it hath seemed good in Thy sight."

3. They belong to Him in another sense; they are His property. As they are His secrets, it is an act of great boldness for any man to pry into them.

II. THE THINGS REVEALED.

1. A revelation of God.

2. A revelation of man.

3. It is a revelation of Christ. Here the peculiar character of the Gospel scheme comes forth in all its glory. In fact, both the Old and New Testaments are a revelation of Christ in different modes.

4. It is a revelation of a future state, and of the means to secure final happiness. Of what importance is the Gospel in this respect! It has brought life and immortality to light. It has dissipated the gloom; it has burst the involving cloud; and all is day.

(R. Watson.)

I. THESE ARE MANY THINGS WHICH GOD ONLY PARTLY KEEPS SECRET, AND EVIDENTLY WITH NO ULTIMATE INTENTION OF KEEPING SECRET AT ALL. These are such things as the Inspiration of the Scriptures, the Trinity, the Atonement, Prayer, Providence, and the like. In these cases God may be said, generally speaking, to have revealed the fact, but to have kept the explanation secret. Why should we not understand God as saying to us: "Here is the fact of Inspiration; find out the theory of it"; "Here is the fact of the Trinity and the Atonement; search out the explanations of them"; "Here is the fact that prayer is efficacious, and that providence is always beneficent; see if you cannot sweep away the difficulties of the one position, and unravel the mysteries of the other"? The only condition that God seems to lay down is this: that we are to make these inquiries reverently, and that we are to take on trust whatever we cannot explain, remembering that it is the fact of things, and not the theory, which is, after all, the important matter.

II. THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT GOD SEEMS INTENTIONALLY TO KEEP SECRET. These are things which to pry into is apt to bring us some kind of natural punishment rather than reward.

1. His time of bringing any event to pass.

2. The way by which He means to lead His people. It is in mercy that He always keeps this secret. Put it to yourselves, if you could have come all the way you have come in the event of your knowing beforehand what it was to be like. Would you not have shrunk back from entering upon the journey of life? But when you cannot see beyond the first bend of the way — when all beyond this is God's secret — you are emboldened to step out right manfully or right womanfully.

III. THERE ARE MANY THINGS WHICH GOD HAS FULLY REVEALED. God has fully revealed all that is necessary both for our weal here and for our wealth hereafter.

(D. Hobbs, M. A.)

(R. Ainslie.)

I. THAT WE SHOULD NEVER PRY INTO MATTERS WHICH INFINITE WISDOM HATH CONCEALED. For we shall seldom, if at all, he wiser for such inquiries: we shall never be happier or better; and we shall usually be more wretched, and less innocent.

II. THAT WE SHOULD RECEIVE WITH ATTENTIVE HUMILITY WHATEVER INFINITE WISDOM COMMUNICATES TO US. For that God is able to communicate many important truths to us, which we have no means of knowing otherwise, concerning His own nature, His designs and dispensations concerning the inhabitants of the invisible world, and our future state in it, can no more be doubted than whether we ourselves, according to our various knowledge of men and things, are able to give unexpected and serviceable notices one to another. And that we should understand nothing further of His secrets than is unfolded to us, nor be capable of answering many questions that may be asked about them, otherwise than by confessing our ignorance, is so far from being a plea against their being really His, that it is a necessary consequence of it: so far from being strange in supernatural things, that it is common in natural ones.

III. THAT WE SHOULD ALLOW EVERY DIVINE TRUTH ITS DUE INFLUENCE ON OUR BEHAVIOUR. In proportion as we know God, we are to glorify Him as God: according to every particular which the Scripture hath manifested concerning Him. And the several obligations incumbent on us towards Him, ought not to be estimated, however commonly they are, by their influence on the affairs of our present life, but by the stress which He, who alone knows the proper one, hath laid upon them. Our performance of these obligations, as it was the true motive to the delivery of each article, is the just measure of our belief in it. If we know enough of the mysterious doctrines in religion to fulfil those duties, of which they are each respectively the foundation, our knowledge, however imperfect, is sufficient. And if those duties remain unfulfilled, the completest knowledge will not avail us.

(Archbishop Seeker.)

1. The state of man. Perverted and depraved. Incapable of purifying himself. Turning away from the things of God, and seeking the things of man.

2. The means by which man may be delivered from the threatened evil. Gospel of Christ.

3. In what way man is to be interested in the Saviour.

II. FOR WHAT END THESE THINGS ARE REVEALED. "That we may do," etc. Right thinking, right feeling, right action.

(J. Burnet.)

II. THESE REVEALED THINGS BELONG TO MAN FOREVER.

1. They are objects of interest.

2. They are objects of knowledge. Our faith should have an intelligent basis.

3. This revelation is a solemn trust. It is our duty to band it on.

III. THESE THINGS ARE REVEALED THAT WE MAY DO ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW. This is the key to revelation. The Bible read in the light of this truth: that it reveals in order that men may be changed and turned to God; and that it reveals that men may do the words of God's law — the Bible thus considered will everywhere exhibit consistency, and never seriously harass and disquiet by difficulties of comprehension and harmony.

(L. D. Bevan, L. L. B.)

I. THE SIGNIFICANT EXPRESSION BY WHICH THIS PROPERTY OF CHRISTIANS IS HERE DESIGNATED. "Those things which are revealed" — revelation and mystery are correlative terms, hence we are reminded —

1. Of the original mystery connected with these things. They are still "revealed mysteries," but without revelation they had indeed been a mystery in the most unrestricted sense of the word. Man's dim eye never penetrated them, his feeble mind never comprehended them, his puny intellect never grasped them.

2. Of their source. If these things were originally superior to man's research, if they lay beyond an angel's ken, then surely we are at no loss to ascertain their origin. We perceive at once that they are an emanation of the Infinite mind — a brightsome ray from the throne of glory. If we consider the love they display, it bears the impress of heaven; the wisdom they proclaim, it bears the impress of heaven; the mystery they bespeak, it bears the impress of heaven.

3. Of the importance of "those things which are revealed." If it be true that these things were a mystery, but have been revealed — that God is their author, and that He hath made them known unto us, then without controversy they are clothed with a transcendent importance. Yes, it is important that those who are far removed from God should be brought back and restored to His image. It is important that those over whom the leprosy of sin hath diffused its loathsome disease, should be washed, clothed, and be brought to sit in their right mind at the feet of Jesus. It is important that the soul should be snatched from the fearful doom that threatens the sinner, and prepared for that blissful reward which awaits those "who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality."

II. THE REMARKABLE ADAPTATION OF THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE REVEALED TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THOSE TO WHOM THEY BELONG, EVEN "UNTO US AND TO OUR CHILDREN."

1. Man is a sinner, and because he is a sinner, conscience upbraids him. Now, behold how beautifully the "things which are revealed" harmonise with man's circumstances in this respect. Here we are told "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself"; here we are assured that the blessing of reconciliation is to be secured on the simple terms — "only believe." Thus moved by a sense of our own weakness, and encouraged by the revelation thus made, we raise the silent cry, "Lord, give us of this faith," teach us how to believe, "Lord, save or we perish!"

2. Man being a sinner is in circumstances of present suffering. But when we turn to the "things which are revealed," we learn at once the Author, the cause, and the end of all that comes upon us.

3. Man being a sinner is exposed to death. Death natural. This is in consequence of sin, and this cometh to all, "to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not." This constitutes part of the curse so solemnly pronounced on the apostasy (Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:17-19). But in the case of the believer the curse is converted into a blessing. Revelation has made known the cheering truth that the death of Christ has drawn the sting of death, and now "blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."

(J. Gaskin, M. A.)

1. It conducts us to the mysterious nature of our rights. They are revealed things; they are not the result of human reasonings, however deeply pursued — however long continued. They are revealed things; things, therefore, of a Divine and mysterious nature. Now, they are called "the purposes of God"; then, "the mystery of His will": at one time, "the deep things of God"; at another, "the will of God"; and again, "the wisdom of God in a mystery." If we look at the being and attributes of God — a trinity in unity — the Godman Mediator — His sacrifice and atonement — the effects of faith in that atonement — the doctrine of a future resurrection — and all, in fact, that is called revelation — we shall see how much they are above the level of mere human intellect. "The things that are revealed!" I love this designation; because —

2. It marks our religious immunities in the glory of their manifestation. If they be revealed, let us remember that God only could reveal them; and that He has. They are truly revealed, or manifested things. The whole has been the scene of Divine manifestations from the beginning. The Bible is a history of manifestations.

3. It points out the transcendent importance of them. They are "revealed things."

II. THE VALIDITY OF OUR CLAIMS TO THESE IMMUNITIES. They "belong unto us"; so it is said in the text. But what is the ground of our claim to the things that are revealed? It cannot be natural to us, considering us abstractedly, as men. It is true, indeed, that there began to be a system of revelation and communication from the first, to sinless and innocent man. But the things which are revealed to us contain much, certainly, which was not adapted to man in his first state. This revelation could not belong to man, then, as he was created. And though we are sinners, and this revelation is made to us as sinners, still, the fact of our sinfulness could give us no claim to such a revelation; no claim to a revealed God — to a revealed Saviour — to a revealed heaven — to a revealed immortality. No; we can support no claim, either natural or meritorious. How, then, are these things ours? Simply because of the sovereign will of God. But, beside this, we have other collateral grounds of claim. In proof that the things that are revealed belong unto us, I would appeal —

1. To their astonishing adaptation to our circumstances.

2. To the legitimated means of their transmission. God has not left the truths of revelation to themselves, to make their own way, and subdue the world to obedience.

3. To the wonderful preservation of these things. How wonderfully God has taken care to preserve His truth pure and unadulterated, notwithstanding the prevalence of error, the tyranny of passion, and the cruelty of persecution.

4. To the influence of these things upon the nature of Man. Think on what would have been the state of the world if these things had not been revealed.

(J. Anderson.)

1. Many are the designations given of Holy Scripture. Those designations are all of them expressive and beautiful. When studied, they each present to us some new aspect of God's Word. But the designation in this passage is exceedingly striking and plain. It is, "Those things which are revealed." By being "revealed," then, or by revelation, is meant opening up, uncurtaining, disclosing; bringing to view what was not seen or known, or only partially or imperfectly seen and known. This is done by the Spirit of God. Man's intellect did not discover these things; man's diligence and science did not find them out; man's wit and skill did not arrive at them. They are not the results of logic, or of philosophy, or of genius; but they are the disclosures of God's own Spirit. So that "all Scripture," all revelation, "is given by inspiration of God."

2. These "things that are revealed," how manifold, how marvellous, how gracious, how glorious they are! "Eye" had "not seen them," "ear" had "not heard them"; it had "not entered into the heart of man to conceive them." Without this revelation, how dark, how desolate, how desperate were the lot of fallen man! Take the sun from the sky, what would become of the world? Take the Bible from the Church, what would become of the Church?

3. Amongst the "things that are revealed" are the things of God, and amongst the "things that are revealed" are the things of man; amongst the "things that are revealed" is the past in this world, and amongst the "things that are revealed " are the things to come, not only of this world but in the world of eternity.

4. And, therefore, we are bound to sum up and say, the "things that are revealed," how glorious they are! how inconceivable, and yet how clear! how incomprehensible, and yet how simple! how inscrutable, and yet how level to us all! How wonderful in their adaptation to our wants! how gracious in their condescension to our infirmities! "Those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." Our little ones have a claim. "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

(H. Stowell, M. A.)

1. Firstly, we too much neglect physical vigour. It depends on health; and if we injure the health of the children of the nation, we blight their whole lives. Our system is certainly too rigid and too mechanical. It tends to keep back the gifted and the eager, and to oppress the weak and the dull. It expects the same polish from the slate as from the agate. It makes but scant allowance for differences of ability and circumstance.

2. Then, secondly, how woefully do we fail to train the sense of beauty which God has given us, and which He, for His part, has endeavoured amply to satisfy! Our schoolrooms, instead of being, as they almost everywhere are, dingy, dirty, stuffy, and generally repellent, ought to be the airiest, happiest places in each parish; fresh and clean, and with flowers in them, and with beautiful pictures and simple works of art, and most of all in cities like this, where our children live, for the most part, in a wilderness of squalor and ugliness.

3. Then, thirdly, as to the cultivation of special gifts. A gift is a very rare and sacred thing, and it would be well if we could have the gifts of our children watched for and trained. Far too much have we, as a nation, confused the notion of education with the infructuous cramming of so much reproducible knowledge. "What is the education of the majority of the world?" asked Edmund Burke. "Reading a parcel of books? No! Restraint and discipline, examples of virtue and of justice — these are what form the education of the world."

4. And, fourthly, we have, as a nation, I am convinced, great need to pay attention to the subject of technical training. This is a most serious national question, for, amid the universal competition of nations, the empire of British commerce is being seriously threatened. They who watch over the future interests of England, and not merely its present comforts, point to facts like these. The web of lace curtains is made in England, but before they can be sold they have to be sent to France and Belgium to have a pattern put on them, because we have not the requisite machinery. The steamers built on the Clyde for the Germans, as soon as they can float, are manned by German crews and sent over to that country to have their interiors completed, because that can be done better and more cheaply in Germany than in England. We have too much book work, depend upon it, and too little exercise for the powers and faculties of the body; and I feel sure that even the book work would be the better if our system were more human and more humane, if there were less grinding routine and more activity of soul. Our present wooden system tends at once to quench the glow and enthusiasm of many teachers, and the brightness and animation of many a child. Here, then, you have the fact which constitutes the central use and inestimable blessing of such schools as these you are asked to support, and to support with generous liberality, today — they are religious schools, or they are nothing. In these schools at least we have a moral education that endeavours to form the judgment and the character, which are too often neglected by official pedagogy. Here, at least, we do try to get the saving facts and saving doctrines of Christianity apprehended and appropriated by our school children. "The aim of teaching," says a great schoolmaster, "is to train generally all who are born men to all that is human." Let us do our best, and leave the rest to God. On the tombstone of one Frobel, the great loving German teacher, are carved the words: "Come let us live for the children." I would say the same to you. If we neglect them, depend upon it, the devil will not. Let us teach our children, on the other hand, that the end of all education is to learn that all happiness depends, not on external good, but on inward blessings, because the kingdom of God is within them, let them be educated in such a way as to know that education is not to have and to rest, but to grow and to become, forgetting all the evil behind and reaching forward to all the good that is before; that the true end of life is not selfishness but beneficence, looking not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others; that life, true life, is to be found in Christ and Christ alone, and consisteth not in the multitude of things we possess.

(Dean Farrar.)

I. BECAUSE IT IS LEVEL TO OUR UNDERSTANDINGS. All that is needful for us to know of "the common salvation" is so plain in itself, and so plainly declared, that he who runs may read. On this point we may safely appeal to general experience. If the Bible be, generally speaking, a hard book, how is it that it has made its way into every house where a reader is to be found? How does it happen that the most fond and delighted readers of it are those whose understandings have had the least assistance from education? Such persons prefer the Bible even to other devotional books in which the same things are professed to be set forth; partly, perhaps, from habit, but in a great measure because, with. respect to the most interesting religious truths, they cannot be more plainly set forth than is there done already; they are rather obscured than otherwise by a multitude of words and subtle reasonings and human illustrations. And what is the nature of those truths? For, if they were not in themselves easy to be understood, no plainness of speech could make them so. But now, what are they? "God is, and is a rewarder," etc. "All flesh have corrupted their way." "Jesus Christ came," etc. "Repent, and believe the Gospel."

II. BECAUSE IT CONCERNS US. The Bible is about us, and our affairs. Open it where you will, you are the person spoken to; and you, or some other of like passions with you, are the person spoken of. Of God Himself, only so much is revealed as relates to His dealings with man; and how small a part is that of what might be known of the Author of the universe! Of the angels, their natures, orders, powers, and past history, we know next to nothing; only a few individuals of them are introduced to us, as ascending and descending between God and man; and we are told of them in general, that they are "all ministering spirits," etc. Nay, even of Jesus Christ Himself, whatever is revealed strictly concerns us and the scheme of our redemption. Of man, his origin, nature, history, condition, duties, destiny, every page of the Bible tells us something; and the whole together gives us such a full and luminous account as leaves nothing to be desired. With reference to its author, we call the Bible God's Book, but in respect to use and advantage it is our book, and none but ours. Suppose it to be put into the hands of a quite different order of creatures, inhabiting some other world: of what service would it be to them? Would they, who perhaps had never sinned, feel any interest beyond that of mere curiosity in the fall of man, or in the succession of the Divine dispensations for his recovery? To them it would be as a letter missent. But when we open this letter we see at once that it "belongs to us"; and we put it by, only to refer to it again and again, and prepare ourselves, "that we may do," etc.

III. BECAUSE WE DO, IN FACT, POSSESS IT. Was it not "written for our learning"? delivered to us at the first, and handed down by a providential arrangement, for our benefit? Let this suffice. Where there is no other claimant, possession alone is a valid title. This is an acknowledged maxim in regard to other kinds of property; and so it would be in regard to this, were it not for one consideration, namely, that we do not see men using and enjoying this part of their possessions as they do the rest. What should we think if we saw the supposed owner of a large landed property carefully abstaining from the usufruct of it? either letting it remain unproductive, or storing up the produce of it from year to year, or by any other means taking good care that he himself shall derive no benefit from its. Should we not say at once, "The estate is not legally vested in that person. There is some flaw in his title, and he fears to apply the proceeds to his own use, lest the real owner should presently appear and call him to account"? Now, apply this to the case before us. "Those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." That is the use of this property — to "do all the words," etc. It is the absence of that, and nothing else, that casts a suspicion upon our real title to the property. If men were always seen doing those things which are contained in the Bible — obeying its precepts, copying its examples, believing its truths, appropriating its promises; in short, living and feeding upon the oracles of God, instead of remaining all their lives "hearers only, deceiving their own selves," — there would, there could be, no question as to their right of possession.

(Frederick Field, LL. D.).

     5593   trial

God Willing that all Men Should be Saved.
"Who will have all Men to be saved,--." In verse first, the apostle directs "prayers and thanksgivings to be made for all men;"--which he declares to "be good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved." Had salvation been provided for only a part of the human race, prayer and thanksgivings could have been, consistently made only for a part. Those for whom no provision was made, would be in like state with persons who have committed the sin unto death, for …
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

The Parable of the Householder. A Sermon, by Bishop Latimer.
MATTHEW XX.--The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that was an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. This parable is written by the evangelist Matthew in the twentieth chapter, and is very dark and hard to be understood; yea, there is no harder piece of scripture written by any evangelist. Therefore it may well be called hard meat; not meat for mowers nor ignorant people, who are not exercised in the word of God. And yet there is no other diversity …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

Promises and Threatenings
'And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do. 2. That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 3. And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before Me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put My name there for ever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Unity of the Divine Essence, and the Trinity of Persons.
Deut. vi. 4.--"Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord."--1 John v. 7. "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one." "Great is the mystery of godliness," 1 Tim. iii. 16. Religion and true godliness is a bundle of excellent mysteries--of things hid from the world, yea, from the wise men of the world, (1 Cor. ii. 6.) and not only so, but secrets in their own nature, the distinct knowledge whereof is not given to saints in this estate …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"He is the Rock, his Work is Perfect. For all his Ways are Judgment. A God of Truth, and Without Iniquity, Just and Right is He.
Deut. xxxii. 4, 5.--"He is the rock, his work is perfect. For all his ways are judgment. A God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children. They are a perverse and crooked generation." "All his ways are judgment," both the ways of his commandments and the ways of his providence, both his word which he hath given as a lantern to men's paths, and his works among men. And this were the blessedness of men, to be found …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Forasmuch as Each Man is a Part of the Human Race...
1. Forasmuch as each man is a part of the human race, and human nature is something social, and hath for a great and natural good, the power also of friendship; on this account God willed to create all men out of one, in order that they might be held in their society not only by likeness of kind, but also by bond of kindred. Therefore the first natural bond of human society is man and wife. Nor did God create these each by himself, and join them together as alien by birth: but He created the one …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Marriage

Conflict.
"Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against themselves, that ye …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Manner of Covenanting.
Previous to an examination of the manner of engaging in the exercise of Covenanting, the consideration of God's procedure towards his people while performing the service seems to claim regard. Of the manner in which the great Supreme as God acts, as well as of Himself, our knowledge is limited. Yet though even of the effects on creatures of His doings we know little, we have reason to rejoice that, in His word He has informed us, and in His providence illustrated by that word, he has given us to …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

"Now the End of the Commandment," &C.
1 Tim. i. 5.--"Now the end of the commandment," &c. We come now, as was proposed, to observe, Thirdly,(474) That faith unfeigned is the only thing which gives the answer of a good conscience towards God. Conscience, in general, is nothing else but a practical knowledge of the rule a man should walk by, and of himself in reference to that rule. It is the laying down a man's state, and condition, and actions beside the rule of God's word, or the principles of nature's light. It is the chief piece …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago
Eighteen and a half centuries ago, and the land which now lies desolate--its bare, grey hills looking into ill-tilled or neglected valleys, its timber cut down, its olive- and vine-clad terraces crumbled into dust, its villages stricken with poverty and squalor, its thoroughfares insecure and deserted, its native population well-nigh gone, and with them its industry, wealth, and strength--presented a scene of beauty, richness, and busy life almost unsurpassed in the then known world. The Rabbis never …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Holy Spirit as a Teacher.
Our Lord Jesus in His last conversation with His disciples before His crucifixion said, "But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John xiv. 26). Here we have a twofold work of the Holy Spirit, teaching and bringing to remembrance the things which Christ had already taught. We will take them in the reverse order. I. The Holy Spirit brings to remembrance …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

"But Whereunto Shall I Liken this Generation?"
Matth. xi. 16.--"But whereunto shall I liken this generation?" When our Lord Jesus, who had the tongue of the learned, and spoke as never man spake, did now and then find a difficulty to express the matter herein contained. "What shall we do?" The matter indeed is of great importance, a soul matter, and therefore of great moment, a mystery, and therefore not easily expressed. No doubt he knows how to paint out this to the life, that we might rather behold it with our eyes, than hear it with our …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Covenanting Performed in Former Ages with Approbation from Above.
That the Lord gave special token of his approbation of the exercise of Covenanting, it belongs to this place to show. His approval of the duty was seen when he unfolded the promises of the Everlasting Covenant to his people, while they endeavoured to perform it; and his approval thereof is continually seen in his fulfilment to them of these promises. The special manifestations of his regard, made to them while attending to the service before him, belonged to one or other, or both, of those exhibitions …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Peace
Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. I Pet 1:1. Having spoken of the first fruit of sanctification, assurance, I proceed to the second, viz., Peace, Peace be multiplied:' What are the several species or kinds of Peace? Peace, in Scripture, is compared to a river which parts itself into two silver streams. Isa 66:12. I. There is an external peace, and that is, (1.) (Economical, or peace in a family. (2.) Political, or peace in the state. Peace is the nurse of plenty. He maketh peace in thy borders, …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Discourse on Spiritual Food and True Discipleship. Peter's Confession.
(at the Synagogue in Capernaum.) ^D John VI. 22-71. ^d 22 On the morrow [the morrow after Jesus fed the five thousand] the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea [on the east side, opposite Capernaum] saw that there was no other boat there, save one, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples went away alone 23 (howbeit there came boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they ate the bread after that the Lord had given thanks): 24 when the multitude …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Covenanting Confers Obligation.
As it has been shown that all duty, and that alone, ought to be vowed to God in covenant, it is manifest that what is lawfully engaged to in swearing by the name of God is enjoined in the moral law, and, because of the authority of that law, ought to be performed as a duty. But it is now to be proved that what is promised to God by vow or oath, ought to be performed also because of the act of Covenanting. The performance of that exercise is commanded, and the same law which enjoins that the duties …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

"The Carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. So Then they that Are
Rom. viii. s 7, 8.--"The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." It is not the least of man's evils, that he knows not how evil he is, therefore the Searcher of the heart of man gives the most perfect account of it, Jer. xvii. 12. "The heart is deceitful above all things," as well as "desperately wicked," two things superlative and excessive in it, bordering upon an infiniteness, such …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Thou Shall Keep Him in Perfect Peace, Whose Mind is Stayed on Thee, Because He Trusteth in Thee. "
Isaiah xxvi. 3.--"Thou shall keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." All men love to have privileges above others. Every one is upon the design and search after some well-being, since Adam lost that which was true happiness. We all agree upon the general notion of it, but presently men divide in the following of particulars. Here all men are united in seeking after some good; something to satisfy their souls, and satiate their desires. Nay, but they …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament