435 SERMON XVIII. THE GOSPEL REVEALED TO BABES. Luke x. 21. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said," I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." To despise the ignorant and oppress the weak, has ever been the plan of worldly wisdom. Little minds are always jealous. They consider what is gained by another as lost to themselves; and they dread most of all the extension of knowledge to the great body of the people, because knowledge not only constitutes a superiority in itself, but is the great instrument by which every other distinction must be obtained and secured. Hence it was the aim of those orders in society, who had raised themselves to the dignities and privileges of the state, to retain their monopoly by encouraging superstition, and by perpetuating that ignorance, which is its only sure support. It was our Lord's aim, on the contrary, to destroy superstition with all its slavery and debasement. The only way in which this could be effected, was by furnishing the great body of the people with plain and practical doctrines for the regulation of their faith and manners; by giving them such general views of God, and of that moral government, which he exercises over his creature man, as might inspire them with confidence and cheerfulness, and thus dispel those groundless terrors, upon which the empire of superstition is founded. Those who called themselves wise men among the Jews and Heathens, would have regarded it as a profanation of wisdom to have shared it with the people. Their maxim was, to hate the vulgar and keep them at a distance. And it cannot be denied, that among modern philosophers, as well as mo dern dern politicians, the same maxim has been too commonly adopted, and too generally carried into practice. How different from the maxims of him, who gave it as one distinctive evidence of his divine mission, that he preached glad tidings to the poor, and who offered to his Father the thanksgiving of the text, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." It is scarcely necessary to observe, that in Scripture language, an effect is often ascribed to the immediate agency of God, which arises, in reality, from the operation of moral causes, producing their natural influence upon the heart and conduct. The doctrine of the Gospel was not hidden from the wise and prudent by any immediate act of Divine power, which might render it impossible for them to know and to believe it. To suppose this, would be at once absurd and impious. It was hidden, because it was opposite, both in form and in substance; both in the matter, and in the the method of communication, to that narrow system, to that pride of superior wisdom; to those arts of a subtle and unsatisfactory philosophy, which they regarded as their distinction and glory. It struck at the root of their self-sufficiency, and therefore they spurned it from them with disdain. It required submission to the authority of a Divine revelation, which, instead of encouraging the claims of pride, and exalting one description of men at the expense of another, regarded them all as equal in the sight of God, and enjoined humility as the first of virtues. To the Scribes and doctors of the law among the Jews; to the sages, and legislators, and warriors among the Greeks and Romans, who regarded the great body of mankind, as instruments to be employed, not as rational beings to be improved and made happy,-to these the selfdenying doctrines of Jesus could not be palatable. They shocked their rooted prejudices; they were calculated to check what they accounted the most honourable ambition; and instead of the achievements of valour, and the glory of military triumphs, their tendency was |