To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The purpose of redemption
I. Let us consider who are meant by the Church. Paul sometimes uses this appellation to denote a single society of Christians; but he more commonly uses the term to denote the whole number of the elect, or all who shall finally be sanctified and saved. This portion of mankind he considers as composing the Church universal, which is a spiritual body, of which Christ is the spiritual Head. In this comprehensive sense the apostle uses the term Church in the text. He means to signify by it the whole Church of the firstborn in heaven, or all who shall be set up as monuments to display the riches of Divine grace to the whole intelligent creation.
II. When the Deity formed His purpose of redeeming the Church from among men. The text tells us it was in eternity: “According to the eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” All the elect are said to have been “chasen in Christ before the foundation of the world.” Christ is called “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” And St. John tells us, he “saw an angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth.” These are plain declarations that the gospel scheme of salvation was formed in eternity; which perfectly accords with every just idea of the Divine character. God was self existent, independent, and absolutely perfect from eternity. He was infinitely able to form His whole plan of operation before He began to operate; and no good reason could possibly exist for His neglecting, a single moment, to fix all future events.
III. Why God was graciously pleased to devise and adopt, from eternity, the great scheme of man’s redemption. To this inquiry the apostle gives a general answer in the text. He says, it was “to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known, by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God.” Moved by infinite benevolence, the Deity determined to make Himself known through the medium of His works; and, among all possible works, He saw the work of redemption to be the best adapted to answer this glorious and important purpose. He knew that His creatures could not see the natural and moral excellency of His nature, unless He actually displayed Himself in His works.
1. God chose the work of redemption, because it was the only one in which He could display all His perfections before the minds of His intelligent creatures.
2. Another reason why God devised and adopted the work of redemption, was, because there was no other way by which He could so clearly and fully manifest any of His perfections. We have just observed that there was no other way by which He could discover all His perfections; but we now farther observe, that there was no other by which He could display any of His perfections, in their highest beauty and glory.
3. There was another important reason why God determined to make: Himself known by the work of redemption. He saw it was necessary, not only to display all His perfections, and to display them all in the clearest manner, but also, to prepare the minds of all moral beings to view them with the greatest attention and sensibility. He meant not only to give them an opportunity to see Himself, but to awaken their attention, and fix it upon His great and amiable character. And nothing could be better adapted to this end than to place them in a situation which would render all the displays of His glory highly interesting to themselves. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
God’s purpose in the ultimate revelation of His grace
I. To create a society in which His wisdom should be illustrated and reelected.
1. By the manner in which the Church was called into existence. The self-exclusion of the Jew bringing about a universal comprehension of all who believe. The production and discovery of a motive power to which “all sorts and conditions of men” would respond, viz., the gospel. The foolishness of preaching contrasted with the mighty results achieved (comp. the whole passage-- 1 Corinthians 1:18-25). “By the triumph of the Divine love over the divisions, the sorrows, and the sins of mankind.”
2. By the relation of the Church to preceding ages.
II. Through the Church to display His wisdom to the spiritual universe. It is a manifestation to the highest intelligences--the angels. They are represented as having a special interest in the spiritual history of mankind. That which from its complexity and the vastness of the space and time in which it realized itself might be for the most part inscrutable to men, these great beings, with clearer insight and vaster spiritual range, would be able to trace and appreciate. Their greater moral refinement would also fit them the better for this review. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
Angelic studies
The sublime plan of the gospel of the grace of God, which is so entirely beyond the compass of our natural faculties that we could never by searching have found it out, appears to have been equally beyond the grasp of angelic intelligence--a mystery that excited their wistful inquiry--until by the Church (that is to say, by the Divine counsel and conduct in forming and perfecting the Church) there is made known unto them the manifold wisdom of God, as they have never learned it before. They are appointed to exercise some sort of power over various parts of God’s creation, hence they are called “principalities and powers.” They are never represented as indifferent spectators of anything which our mortal race can do or suffer, but their sympathy with men is constant. Do they not watch over the saints? Is it not written, that they “encamp round about them that fear the Lord”?
I. The subject of our meditation resolves itself into a question, how exclusively through the Church do angels come to see the manifold wisdom of God? Some other matters in connection with this we shall have to speak of afterwards.
1. Who can doubt that the angels had seen much of the wisdom of God in creation? With faculties keener and more elevated than ours, faculties that have never been blunted by sin, they can perceive the various contrivances of God’s skill both in the animate and the inanimate world. What a scale of survey must a seraph have! How readily can we imagine an eye that takes in at once the landscape of the world! He need not confine himself to one single spot in God’s universe, but with rapid wings he can steer far and wide over the infinity of space. Yet with all that facility of observation, it seems that the angels have some parts of the wisdom of God to learn, and some lessons of heavenly science to study which creation cannot unfold to their view, to be ascertained and certified by them only through the transcendent work of redemption which the Lord has carried on in His Church.
2. The wisdom of God is clearly seen by angels in this, that though God was dishonoured in this world by sin, that sin has redounded to His greater honour. Satan, when he led men astray and tempted men to rebel, thought he had marred the glory of God, but he never did more palpably outwit himself. The serpent was exceeding wise, but God was wiser far. Satan’s craft was dexterous, but God’s wisdom was infinite in its prescience. Wisdom has outmatched craft. Is it not glorious to think that this world where God was dishonoured most, is the world where He shall be most revered? There is no such display of the attributes and perfections of Godhead in the whole universe beside as there is here.
3. This wisdom of God is to be seen in the way that our redemption was wrought. The doctrine of substitution is a marvel which, if God had never revealed, none of us could by any possibility have discovered. How could God be gracious and yet be just? How could He keep His law and yet at the same time show His mercy towards us? Angels could not have conjectured this, but when it was made known to them, how could they refrain to chant fresh songs to the praise of Him who could undertake so loving a responsibility?
4. The wisdom of God is seen through the Church in the Holy Spirit’s work as well as in the work of Christ. It is “manifold wisdom.” You know the children’s toy, the kaleidoscope. Every time you turn it there is some fresh form of beauty. You seldom see the same form twice. So it is with nature, each time and season has its special beauty. There is always variety in its scenery; diversities of form and colour are strewn throughout the world. You never saw two hills moulded to the same pattern, or two rivers that wound after the same fashion from their source down to the sea; nature is full of variety. So is the work of the Holy Spirit. In calling sinners to Christ, there is singleness of purpose but no uniformity of means. God’s wisdom is displayed equally in bringing you in that way, and in bringing me in another way. I believe there will be found evidence at the last of the wisdom of God in the very date, the very place, the very means in and by which every soul is brought to believe in Jesus; and angels will, no doubt, be able to perceive in every conversion some singular marks of beautiful originality proceeding from the inexhaustible Artist of Grace, the Holy Spirit.
5. That same wisdom will be seen in the biography of every convert--how the Lord afflicts, or how He comforts; how He upholds us, how He keeps back that which cannot yet be endured, how He gently leads us, how He makes us to lie down. We find fault sometimes with the way of Providence, because we do not understand it; when we shall get a clearer sight of it we shall see that every mark and line was dictated by His love, and ordered by His infinite counsel.
6. As each Christian shall be conformed to the likeness of Christ, angels will see in the products of grace fresh displays of the manifold wisdom of God. I could suppose that the death of a martyr must be such a spectacle as those holy watchers regard with extraordinary interest. Would they not have gathered around such a woman as Blandina, for instance, who was made to sit in a red-hot chair, after having been tossed upon the horns of a wild bull, yet constant to the last she maintained her faith in Christ while passing through the torture.
II. But ask you now, do angels gain anything by the Church of god? I think they do.
1. Certainly they acquire increased knowledge. With us knowledge is sometimes sorrow. Knowledge increases the joy of the angels, and I will tell you why, because it makes them take a greater delight in God when they see how wise and gracious He is. If it is possible for the angels to be happier than natural innocence and honourable service can render them, they must be happier through knowing and seeing more of God, as His attributes are reflected, and His perfections mirrored forth, in the Church.
2. Angels will be enriched by the society of the saints in heaven. Commerce always enriches, and commerce between angelic and human natures will be enriching to them both.
3. Again, to my imagining (can it he illusive?) angels are gainers by the Church because they get nearer to the throne of God than they were before. Another order of beings, our own to wit, is advanced. Surely when one creature gets near to God, all unfallen creatures are promoted.
4. Do you not think, too, that perhaps they can see God better in Christ than even they did before? Is it not possible that even they who erst did veil their faces with their wings in the presence of the Almighty, because the brightness of glory was excessive, may now stand with unveiled faces and worship God in Christ? I think it is so. They never saw much of God before until they saw God veiled in human flesh. There was too dazzling a splendour for them till the interposing medium of the manhood of Christ came in between them and the absolute Deity. It may be so.
III. What is all this to us?
1. Ought it not to make us prize the gospel? If the angels think so much of it, oh! what should we think?
2. How, too, should we study it, if it be the research of angelic intellects! Is the Church their schoolbook whence they learn lessons of the Divine wisdom, because no science is equal to that of the wisdom of God in Christ revealed in His Church? O do apply every faculty you have to acquire increasing knowledge of that which angels love to study.
3. And now take courage, ye feeble-minded ones, and never fear again the sneer of the man who calls the gospel folly. Account him to be the victim of folly who despises this manifold wisdom. Shall I set the judgment of a poor puny mortal against the judgment of an angel? I suppose that even Newton, and Kepler, and Locke, and those mighty master spirits, would be mere infants compared with seraphs. Ah! ye sceptics, sciolists, and scoffers, we can well afford to let you rail; but you can ill afford to rail when angels are awed into wonder, and so would you be if there were anything angelic about your temper, or anything of right wisdom in your attainments.
4. Last of all; if this be so, how we ought to love Christ who have a saving interest in it, and how they ought to tremble who have it not! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The teaching of angels by the Church
Our text is one of the most remarkable of those intimations which lead to the belief, that this earth, in place of being detached from other portions of creation, is a scene for the development of God’s attributes, and centres on itself the eager regards of the superior orders of spiritual agency. We leave it to the philosopher to use this earth as the home of material for scientific pursuit; we leave it to the poet to admire it as covered with varieties of glorious scenery; here the earth is represented as the school of angels; principalities and powers are described as clustering over its assemblies, that they may learn the wisdom of the Almighty.
I. The indirect testimony which is given by the text to the superiority of the wisdom manifested in the work of redemption, as compared with the work of creation; for we may well suppose that the material fabric of the universe is subjected to the ken and the scrutiny of angels, in all the grandeur of its magnificent and in all the delicacy of its minuter portions. We may believe that when at the word of the Creator the army of worlds came forth from nothingness, angels looked admiringly on, as globe after globe took place amongst the ranks of the starry host; and ever since we may suppose they have been free to pass through the spreadings of space, to search into all that our Maker has fashioned, measuring the grandeur of His productions, and prying into the nicest contrivances of His creative skill. Yet we may conclude from the text, that all God’s wisdom in the works of creation is, as it were, cast aside by the angelic company, and they come and sit with the docility of children at the feet of the Church, and derive their lessons from the mighty interposition of which she is the subject. Does it not, then, follow in the way of consequence, that redemption must far surpass creation in the lessons which it teaches of the wisdom of God; that in the interference of the Redeemer for the salvation of our fallen race there is the greatest manifestation of that attribute whose name is sometimes used for that of the Eternal Son Himself? A redeemed sinner must be the wonder of wonders--if indeed angels return from traversing the circuits of the universe, and congregate upon this lowly globe, and find in the transactions of which it is the scene that preeminent teaching which they have elsewhere sought in vain; and that such is the case must be concluded from the statement of our text--“That now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.”
II. That the Church on earth instructs the angels in heaven with regard to “the manifold wisdom of God.” In order to this we should observe, that God’s purpose may be as much attained from the spirits which surround His throne, as from ourselves who sojourn in a distant corner of His empire. When Daniel had applied himself by fasting and prayer to understand the mystery of the restoration of his people, the angel Gabriel was commissioned to clear up to him the mystery. Then it is evident the angel was divinely instructed for this special occasion; that of himself he could have known little more than Daniel of God’s counsels respecting Jerusalem. And in like manner it may fairly be questioned, whether angels were more conversant than men with God’s plan of mercy towards this fallen creation; whether they were not left, like the Jews themselves, to read out from types and figures the scheme of human salvation. Our text seems to require us to suppose cherubim and seraphim bending over the earth, as under the Jewish law their golden emblems bent over the ark, and searching with intense earnestness into the display of the Divine wisdom there presented. The ark of the covenant was an abiding symbol of God’s gracious presence with His people, and typified those peculiar benefits which belonged to the covenants of peace mediated by Christ on behalf of the spiritual Israel. The covering of this ark, you will remember, was of massive gold, denominated the mercy seat. At each end of this mercy seat was a golden cherubim, placed in such an attitude that it seemed to bend over the ark, as if eagerly desirous to pry into its mysteries; and as if to assure us we are not wrong in thus interpreting the emblem, St. Peter expressly says of the things of redemption, that they are the things which the angels desire to look into, The Greek is still more emphatic than the English--“Things which the angels desire to bend over”; thus making the reference to the cherubim on the mercy seat both undeniable and explicit. But if angels are represented as bending over the ark if they are spoken of as desiring to look, rather than as actually looking, sure]y you may suppose, that previously to the Incarnation the mysteries of redemption were no more discovered to them than to men, but that they, as well as the Jews, were required to decipher a vast assemblage of types, and to gather from Divine intimations the splendid appointments of mercy. If there be justice in this supposition, then our text opens before you with beautiful clearness; for angels must have estimated far better than men the difficulties to be overcome, ere this earth could be restored to the favour of the Lord. They knew from near inspection the uncompromising character of every attribute of God, and perceiving that mercy was yet to be extended to the children of Adam, the problem which must have engaged their attention, whilst they clustered together in shining groups, would naturally be how God could punish the guilt, and yet pardon the guilty. Now if you combine the statements advanced--the first, that up to the period of the Incarnation angels, like men, had only partial glimpses of the scheme of redemption; the second, that God’s wisdom is extraordinarily manifested in human salvation: what conclusion can you reach, but that which is announced in our text? We think that no sooner had the High Priest in the Christian Church entered on His earthly sojourning, than the mystery which had for ages been hid in the eternal mind, of which only dim and shadowy notices had been vouchsafed to any finite intelligence--this mystery, we say, broke suddenly forth; a wave of delighted anthem went out from the thousand times ten thousand squadrons; with one accord the countless multitude of spirits swept their harp strings, and so loud was the minstrelsy and so wide the waving of the chorus, that the shepherds on Bethlehem’s plains caught the echo of the one, and the magi in the distant East caught the reverberation of the other. The very syllables of the chant which the shepherds heard proved that it was God’s wisdom at which the angels became suddenly enraptured. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men,” these were the very things which it was difficult to combine. This was the problem on which angelic wisdom had been vainly expended. Glory in heaven and peace on earth--these had appeared always utterly irreconcilable; and now that it was made evident that they could be reconciled, now that God had developed His purpose, and it was found that through this purpose “Mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace embraced each other”--oh! it must have been the display of wisdom which preeminently shone forth. It was not the love, for they knew long ago that infinite love had moved God to the planning redemption; it was not the justice, for in their debates they had always calculated on a justice which could never pass by iniquity; it was not the holiness, for it would have been to undeify Deity to suppose Him capable of admitting the unclean into communion with Himself; but it was the wisdom that amazed them--“the manifold wisdom”--“manifold,” for it had reconciled every opposing interest; it had provided for every possible emergency; it had left no point neglected, whether in the attributes of the Creator or the necessities of the creature. This wisdom manifested in the Church, whose foundation was just laid upon earth, we believe to have filled with ecstasy the angelic company--yea, to have made such a new epoch in the heavenly annals, that an apostle might be warranted in declaring the gospel to have been published for this very intent--“That now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.” But enough on the general scheme of redemption: let us turn to its particular and individual application, and see whether we cannot equally find the teaching of angels by the Church. If you consult the context you will find, that our text had a primary reference to the calling of the Gentiles, and their admission into privileges which had hitherto been confined to the Jews; and if you contrast the legal and Christian dispensations, you will find a great manifestation of wisdom in that process of extension which made the Gentiles fellow heirs with the Israelites. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The reciprocal duties of Church members
The passage naturally leads us to consider, first, the end for which Churches are formed; and, secondly, the means by which that end may be best accomplished. In looking at the end for which Churches are formed, we shall find in this passage very full information.
I. They were formed “to the intent” that “all men might see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.” The intention, therefore, for which Churches were formed, beyond the salvation of the members of those Churches, was, you perceive, two-fold. It had reference, in the first place to men, in the second to angels. The two objects which Christ had in view were, the instruction of the world, and the instruction of angels.
II. Let us, then, consider how these things were to be accomplished.
1. In order to “show the manifold wisdom of God” in the fellowship of the Church, first to men and then to angels, or we may say at once both to men and to angels, it is necessary that the Church should be instructed. If the Churches of Christ are without instruction, we cannot expect that either men or angels will learn anything of the wisdom of God from them. The darker the Churches are, the more impressive will be the indications of Divine wisdom working in them, and Divine wisdom formed in them. If the angels, who see God and are like Him--if the angels who understood the glory of His character and the splendour of His works--on turning from it to look into the Churches of Christ, find in them a vagueness of vision which would seem to indicate that the light has scarcely ever shone upon them, can they learn anything from such a spectacle? Ignorant Churches are a reproach in the earth, and ignorant Churches are a reproach among the angels in heaven. Angels know the light contained in the oracles of truth; they know its wide diffusion--they see Churches formed upon a pretended acceptance of that truth; and they do not behold the light which those Churches profess to have received.
2. But not only must there be mutual instruction, there must also be mutual charity. In carrying out the end for which God formed Churches, the members ought mutually to cultivate the spirit Of Christian charity.
3. But, in the next place, among the reciprocal duties of Church members for the purpose of carrying out the end for which Churches were formed, we must place that of mutual encouragement to appear together in every good work. Another thing which we think belongs to the mutual and reciprocal duties of Church members is a constant and ready acknowledgment of one another. Now bear in mind these duties as the reciprocal duties of Church members, so far as the exhibition of their case to the world and to angels is concerned.
4. Let us now look at the duty that devolves upon Church members to support and maintain one another’s characters. If all were to act as they ought to do in this matter, Churches would stand out in strength; they would appear like so many families, the spirit of Christian love would bind them together and produce the outward aspect of inward unity, and both angels and men would learn the nature of Christian feeling, and see the manifold wisdom of God in the Church. But what is there, it may be asked, to oppose the exercise of these duties. We answer, generally, the depravity of the human mind. Were we to go into details we should occupy more time than we can appropriate to the subject. All we shall say is, that there is pride in the mind of man, and that the unity of the Church is injured by the indulgence of that pride; there is jealousy in the mind of man, and the unity of the Church is injured by the indulgence of that jealousy; there is selfishness in the mind of man, and the unity of the Church is injured by the indulgence of that selfishness; there is worldliness in the mind of man, and the Church is kept back by that worldliness: a variety of features of mind and character will occur to yourselves, all of which operate against the right discharge of the reciprocal duties of Church members. (J. Burnet.)
The noblest exhibition
What an idea does this give us of the importance of the Church! Brethren, never let us despise any more the meanest member of it, since there is more to be beheld in the Church than in creation in its utmost breadth.
I. The grand object of attention in the Church to the principalities and powers, is the scheme and plan of saving the Church. It is this that they so much admire and wonder at. They understand how God so hated sin that He laid vengeance on His only begotten, and yet, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.” As in the crowns of Oriental princes the most precious jewels shone in clusters, so as in one wonderful corona all the infinite attributes of God shine out at once in all their combined glory around Thy cross, O Jesu, earth’s wonder and heaven’s prodigy! But, further, when the angels see that by this great plan all the ruin that sin brought upon mankind is removed, they again wonder at the wisdom of God.
II. The wisdom of God is made known to angels and principalities in the various dispensations through which the Church has passed. Oh! brethren, the angels, when they compare the past with the present, and again, the present with the past, the choosing of the Jewish olive, and the leaving out of the rest of the trees, and anon, the grafting in of the Gentiles from the wild olive, and the casting out of the natural branches, how much they must have admired the singular variety of God’s dispensations, when they know, as certainly they do, that His grace remains the same! In climbing or in descending a lofty mountain, one is struck with the sudden change of views. You looked on the right just now, and you saw a populous city in the plain; but you turn a corner, and looking through a break in the forest you see a broad lake; and in a moment or two your road winds again, and you will see a narrow valley and another range of mountains beyond. Every time you turn, there is a new scene presented to you. So it would seem to the angelic spirits.
III. They mainly see the wisdom of God in His Church, in the Church’s covenant head and representative. Oh! when first they heard that the Lord of life and glory was to be made flesh and to dwell among us, how they must have admired the plan of heaven’s going down to earth that earth might come up to heaven!
IV. The manifold wisdom of God is made known to principalities and powers in the conversion of every child of God. That ingenious toy called the kaleidoscope at every turn presents some new form of beauty, so the different converts who are brought to Christ by the preaching of the Word are every one unlike the other; there is something to distinguish each case; hence by them to the very letter our text is proved, the manifold wisdom, the much varied wisdom of God is displayed. I have sometimes understood the word “manifold,” as comparing grace to a precious treasure that is wrapped up in many folds, first this, then the next, then the next must be unfolded, and as you unwrap fold after fold, you find something precious each time; but it will be long ere you and I shall have unwrapped the last fold and shall have found the wisdom of God in its pure glittering lustre, lying stored within as the angels behold it in the Church of the living God.
V. The principalities and powers to this day find great opportunities for studying the wisdom of God in the trials and experience of believers, in the wisdom which subjects them to trial, in the grace which sustains them in it, in the power which brings them out of it, in the wisdom which overrules the trial for their good, in the grace which makes the trial fit the back or strengthens the back for the burden.
VI. And lastly, beyond all controversy, when the last of God’s people shall be brought in, and the bright angels shall begin to wander through the heavenly plains and converse with all the redeemed spirits, they will then see “the manifold wisdom of God.” Two questions in conclusion: First, to the children of God. Do you think you and I have sufficiently considered that we are always looked upon by angels, and that they desire to learn by us the wisdom of God? And, lastly, what, think some of you, would angels say of your walk and conversation? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Angels--scholars of the kingdom of Christ
Angels are students here, earnestly bent on learning, if possible, the notes of the ultimate chorus, not simply of heaven and earth, but of all things and God. They are more than willing to enter into the human school of Divine mysteries. Even under the old typical dispensation, the cherubim were represented with heads inclined downward,--suggesting that it was already known in the Heavenly Court, that God is preparing His chief work below. He is not redeeming men for their sakes only, but for His own sake, and for heaven’s sake also. To all principalities and powers, the peculiar dominion of Jesus Christ, is to be the mirror of mirrors for reflecting the manifoldness of the Divine Nature. Paul says: The mystery which from the beginning hath been hid in God, is revealed unto men “to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenlies might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.” Hitherto they have known but little of the richly various (πολυποίκιλος) wisdom of God. The Son of Man draws together the elders of heaven and the children of time. His work, as the Restitutor of all things (because of its centrality and universal bearings), mightily attracts all spirits, not only the unfallen, but the fallen. From the death and ascension of Christ, the universe has been dated anew. From that great crisis of spiritual wrath, from that great triumph of eternal love, all things in heaven, and all things in earth, and all things in hell, are advancing towards a new issue. The ascension of Christ has made heaven higher and greater than it was before. The new height, as a new centre, is making a new circumference. Heaven is intensely interested in this new opening of God’s wonders, and diligently cooperating with Christ in His work. (J. Pulsford.)
Twilight ages changed to sunlight
I have seen, in the early hours of the morning twilight, the Alps appear under a sky still dark, their summits livid and frozen. The lake which bathed their feet stretched out a grey, motionless surface, and the pale rays of a setting moon seemed but to light up the dread kingdom of death. Some hours have passed away, when suddenly these same peaks become resplendent with life; the glittering snow on the background of dazzling azure, the glaciers erect towards the east their bright ridges, the foaming torrents cutting with their cataracts the green mountain brows, and the dark forest trembles in the morning wind, The lake, quivering in its turn, faithfully retraces in its blue mirror the incomparable picture. Nature had not changed, but the sun had arisen. (E. Bersier, D. D.)
Example of God’s manifold wisdom and power
And God said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.” There is a meaning in these sublime words which is seldom noticed. Innumerable millions of animalculae are found in water, which are never noticed by the unaided sight from their minuteness. Eminent naturalists have discovered not less than 30,000 in a single drop! How inconceivably small must each be; and yet each a perfect animal, furnished with the whole apparatus of bones, muscles, nerves, heart, arteries, veins, lungs, viscera in general, etc. What a proof is this of the manifold wisdom of God! But the fruitfulness of fishes is another point intended in the text; no creatures are so prolific as these. A tench lays 1,000 eggs, a carp 20,000, and Lewenhock counted in a middle-sized cod, 9,384,000! Thus, according to the good purpose of God, “the waters bring forth abundantly.” And what a merciful provision is this for the necessities of man! Many hundreds of thousands of the earth’s inhabitants live for a great part of the year on fish only. Fish afford, not only a wholesome, but a very nutritive diet: they are liable to few diseases, and generally come in vast quantities to our shores, when in their greatest perfection. In this also we may see that the kind providence of God goes hand in hand with His creative energy; while He manifests His wisdom and His power, He makes provision for the sustenance of man through all his generations. (Clarke.)
God manifests Himself
Alexander of Russia used often to ride in a plain carriage, incognito. A man on the road asked if he might ride with him. He got into the carriage, and after a while was inquisitive as to the name of the man with whom he was riding. He said, “Are you a lieutenant?” “No,” said the king. “Are you a major?” “No,” said the king. “Are you a general?” “No,” said the king; “but I am something higher than that.” The man said, “Then you must be the emperor,” and was overwhelmed with his company. In this world God appears to us in strange ways. He takes us up in the chariot of His providence to ride with Him, and we know Him not. At death the disguise will be gone, and for the first time it will be known to us that we have been riding with the King. (Dr. Talmage.)
The pursuit of wisdom
“How shall we describe you to others?” asked a disciple of Confucius. He answered, “Say that I am one who, in his thirst for knowledge, forbears to eat, who forgets sorrow in the joy of attainment, and who hardly has time to notice the advance of old age.” At another time he said, “My only merit is to study wisdom without satiety, and to teach others without weariness.” “These things trouble me, not to live virtuously enough, not to discuss questions thoroughly enough, not to conform practice to doctrine sufficiently, not to reform the bad entirely.” (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)
Manifold wisdom
A blind tortoise lived in a well. Another tortoise, a native of the ocean, in its inland travels happened to tumble into this well. The blind one asked of his new comrade whence he came. “From the sea.” Hearing of the sea, he of the well swam round a little circle, and asked, “Is the water of the ocean as large as this?” “Larger,” replied he of the sea. The well tortoise then swam round two thirds of the well, and asked it the sea was as big as that. “Much larger than that,” said the sea tortoise. “Well, then,” asked the blind tortoise, “is the sea as large as this whole well?” “Larger,” said the sea tortoise. “If that is so,” said the other, “how big, then, is the sea?” The sea tortoise replied, “You having never seen any other water than that of your well, your capability of understanding is small. As to the ocean, though you spent many years in it, you would never be able to explore the half of it, nor to reach the limit, and it is utterly impossible to compare it with this well of yours. The tortoise replied, “It is impossible that there can be a larger water than this well; you are simply praising up your native place in vain words.” (J. Gilmour, M. A.)