55. Would they believe more than others? then they should know more than others

He is a rich man who lives upon his wealth, and he is a righteous man who lives by faith. Christians are far from wrapping up the talent of faithfulness in the napkin of idleness.

Unbelief not only blinds the eyes to the purity of the law, but deafens the ears to the music of the gospel, and deadens the affections to the glories of heaven. Every appeal to an unbeliever is like a spark of fire falling into the water, which is no sooner in than it is out.

6. Would you believe more than others? then you should know more than others.

Wisdom makes the face to shine. I may say of Divine Wisdom, as was said of a Grecian lady, That no man ever saw her but what loved her. That Christian is most excellent, who is the most intelligent.

What the papists cry up as the mother of devotion, that we cry down as the father of superstition.

Satan binds all his captives down in the dark dungeon of ignorance: like falconers, he blind-folds his birds, that he may carry them to hell more securely. The father of light takes no pleasure in the children of darkness. He is not accustomed to carry souls to heaven, as mariners do their passengers to their port, who shut them under the hatches, so that they cannot see whither they go.

It is no wonder that Christ should be so much undesired, when he is so much undiscerned. An understanding without understanding, is but the soul of a beast imprisoned in the body of a man. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

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The will of God must be known on earth as it is in heaven, before it can be done on earth as it is in heaven. Utter darkness is the recompense of inward darkness.

None will ever be coloured by walking in the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Where there is a veil upon the eye of knowledge, there will be a chain upon the hand of diligence. An ignorant man neither cares what he does, nor knows whither he is going. When such an one is taken off the earth, he cannot be taken into heaven.

Wheresoever there is a trade carried on for heaven, the Spirit of God must first open the shop windows. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work. There is no doing the work of the day, but by the light of the day. Darkness is the devil's element, and the sinner's punishment. My people perish for lack of knowledge. When the candle of the soul is extinguished, it must needs sit in darkness.

Taking vengeance on them that know not God. The infidel's want of judgment is a sin against which Christ will come to judgment. Ah, how do blind men take that for devotion, which is only superstition; and that for a Bethel, which is no better than a Babel! To preserve the understanding as a Goshen from the darkness of Egypt, is the way to avoid the plagues of Egypt.

I send thee to open blind eyes; to turn them from darkness to light. Spiritual acts require spiritual eyes; and the clearer we see them, the better we perform them. He who desires to see the face of holiness in its native lustre, must not set his carnal judgment to draw the picture.

7. Would you know more than others?