I. Note, first, the Master's words when He thanks God that He "has hid these things from the wise and prudent." A man may have understanding and wisdom enough on certain of life's matters without having them on all. Everything must be known after its kind, and under its condition as knowledge. God is not to be inductively put together; we cannot by searching find Him out. The ultimate truth of everything is unseen, and accepted on the evidence of faith. If the world by wisdom found not God, much less can it find, or even appreciate, those things which the Master affirmed to be hid from the wise and understanding. The Gospel of God in His Anointed reconciling the world to Himself, while it is nearer in revelation for in it God is made manifest than is the thought of the existence of God, is the remoter of the two to speculation and reason. The formalist in thought will reject either it or its form. The Sadducee will be accompanied by the Pharisee in rejecting its claim.
II. He hath revealed these things unto babes. Ignorance was not the feature which the Master seized upon when He used this word "babes." A man who knows little may have this knowledge imparted to him; these things were revealed to Galilean fishermen, and are still being unveiled to the wondering eyes of the childlike. And they may be all made known to the man who knows much. A man may have the keen scrutiny of Faraday, and like that great and unsophisticated man, pray to God as his Father, and love Christ as his Revealer; or, as Pascal, be the abstruse reasoner, and the acute mathematician, and still hold his best thoughts in devout consecration to God. The thing is to conserve spiritual impressibility; if this be done, we may know much of the world and much of Him whose ways are past our finding out.
III. No other condition of receiving spiritual truth than that of being babes is universally possible. It is in our obedience that we realize our adoption, and become free to cry, "Abba, Father." Time is meaningless without these hidden and revealed things, and eternity is very cold and very dark to look to. But with these every day has in it some lasting thing, and by these the unseen is made substantial and real.
J. O. Davies, Sunrise on the Soul,p. 191.
The Educating Power of Strong Impressions.
I. The character of the child is wanted as the provisionary state, favourable for getting from the superior mind all that it can give. It does this all the better for its own passiveness and childlike properties; it takes in all the more intensely a living fund of thought from a master, which ultimately turns to the disciple's own strength and his advantage as a man of power. What he needs for this is an extraordinary capacity of impress; but an extraordinary capacity of impress from a superior makes a child, for the time, in tone and character.
II. This was the case with the Apostles. They first appear as children in Scripture, being acted upon, receiving an impress, drawing into their hearts a type and pattern. And they have what is a characteristic of children, namely, an extraordinary happiness. They are wholly relieved from the care and responsibility of the sublime mission; that burden is taken off them. He bears it all who is able to bear the whole of it. This very happiness, this freedom and absence of strain upon them, enabled them all the more to take in the fresh ideas which were flowing in from our Lord's discourse and example. All the powers of the fresh opening of life were devoted to the new springtide of truth.
III. Thus they came out men of formed and strong character, when the Apostles were all at once, by the departure of our Lord, thrown back upon themselves, and upon the supernatural guidance of the invisible Spirit; when, upon our Lord's ascension, they were obliged to meet all the difficulties and face the dangers of the Gospel cause. The Apostles became men, able to see their way amidst obstacles, to guide the movement, to encourage the weak, and to give strength to the growing cause. This was the maturity of manhood, but it was the fruit of a previous childhood which had used to its utmost extent the power which childhood has of following a type, submitting to a superior influence, and receiving, in fact, education.
J. B. Mozley, Sermons Parochial and Occasional,p. 330.
I. The small success and efficacy of the preached Gospel upon multitudes who hear it is a subject of wonder and grief to the ministers and people of God. It was so to our Lord Jesus, considered as a Preacher and Messenger; and they, so far as they have received His Spirit, judge and act as He did. Those who have indeed tasted that the Lord is gracious have had such a powerful experience in their souls of the necessity and value of the Gospel that in their first warmth, and till painful experience has convinced them of the contrary, they can hardly think it possible that sinners should stand out against its evidence.
II. The best relief against those discouragements we meet with from men is to raise our thoughts to God and heaven. For this the Lord Jesus is our precedent here. He said, "I thank Thee, O Father." The word signifies to confess, to promise, to consent, and to praise. As if it had been said, "I glorify Thy wisdom in this respect. I acknowledge and declare it is Thy will, and I express My own consent and approbation." It is needful for our comfort to be well established in the truth suggested in the text, that the Lord hath provided for the accomplishment of our purposes, and that His counsels shall surely stand. From this doctrine we may infer: (1) That where the faithful labours and endeavours of ministers and others to promote the knowledge of grace and the practice of holiness fail of success, yet they shall be accepted. (2) Faithful endeavours in the service of the Gospel shall not wholly fail. (3) The Divine sovereignty is the best thought we can retreat to for composing and strengthening our minds under the difficulties, discouragements, and disappointments which attend the publication of the Gospel. If God appoints and overrules all according to the purpose of His own will, we have sufficient security both for the present and future. (1) For the present, we may firmly expect what Scripture and reason concur to assure us, that the Judge of all the earth will do right. (2) For the future, He has appointed a day when He will make it appear that He has doneright. What we shall then see it is now our duty and our comfort assuredly to believe.
J. Newton, Church of England Pulpit,July 29th, 1876.