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v. 45. "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures." The influence of the Spirit here bestowed was doubtless an extraordinary one, qualifying them to be unerring interpreters of the scriptures already written, and writers of those yet unwritten. But this fact involves a wider truth. There was no peculiar blindness in their case requiring any peculiar "opening of the understanding." There is a darkening of the understanding that is common to all, for by nature man is not only guilty but blind. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. ii. 14. Hence in the great work of regeneration, there is more than a mere increase of light; there is an opening of the blind eyes to see the light, before that light can be of use. Hence David prayed, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Ps. cxix. 18. Isaiah predicted the Messiah as one who was "to open the blind eyes," ch. xlii. 7, and in the actual work of the gospel," the Lord opened the heart of Lydia." Acts xvi. 14.

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It is this blindness that leads men to prefer sin to holiness. If the eyes were open, they would as soon prefer a cancer or a leprosy for the body, as prefer sin for the soul. And it is this blindness that leads men to neglect the gospel with its grandeur

and beauty, neglect the Bible with its unparalleled attractions, and neglect God the loveliest, most glorious, and purest, as he is the holiest and greatest of all objects of thought or affection. Hence, however cogently truth may be presented to the understanding, its real beauty and power can never be seen until the Spirit of God opens the blind eyes, and enables them to see. Then as the light dawns, a new world is unveiled, a world all bathed in sunlight from heaven, and all things become new. The Bible is seen to be a new book, and its pages glow with a splendor that was never seen before. The whole past, present, and future of life are seen in another light, and in that new light, the soul begins its pilgrimage to that better country, the road to which begins at the cross, and ends in that city that hath, foundations, whose builder and maker is God. To enable us to see this blessed path, our cry must be that of the blind Bartimeus, "Lord, that I may receive my sight."

IV. The salvation of the gospel is for all, however remote their habitation, or great their sin.

"Among all nations beginning at Jerusalem," presents the limitations placed by Jesus himself to his gospel. Among these "all nations," then far distant, were our fathers, then in heathenism, if not barbarism; and it is by this universal warrant that the gospel was brought to them, and thus handed down to us. Had the apostles felt about

the heathen of their day, as many feel about the heathen of this day, the gospel could never have reached us, and we must have been yet in our sins. It was missionary labour that brought the gospel to us, and it must be by the same kind of work that it is to be carried to others. Hence the enjoyment of the gospel by us carries with it the express condition that we should transmit it to others, even to all nations; and until all nations have received it, cessation of missionary labour is disobedience to Christ.

But if the command to carry the gospel to "all nations" implies that no one is debarred from its blessings by remoteness of habitation, the command to begin at Jerusalem indicates the same free offer, however great the sin. There is something very touching in this injunction to begin at Jerusalem. We would have thought beforehand that if there were any place that must be excluded, it would be Jerusalem. It was over Jerusalem he had uttered those words of doom, "But now they are hid from thine eyes." It was of Jerusalem that he had exclaimed, "Thou that killest the prophets and stonest them who are sent to thee." It was along the streets of Jerusalem that the wild and bloody cry for blood, rang with such fiendish ferocity, "Crucify him, crucify him!" It was the soil of Jerusalem that was wet with the tears and sweat of Gethsemane, and the blood and water of Calvary.

Hence if there were any spot on earth that might expect the sternest exclusion from the blessings of the gospel, that spot was Jerusalem. But the wonderful fact is, that it was to this very spot, all stained with guilt, that the first offer was to be made. And why? Because their guilt was not so deeply dyed? Oh, no, but just because its dye was so deep and indelible; for if Jerusalem, all red with the blood of prophets and martyrs, and last of all, the priceless blood of the well-beloved Sonif Jerusalem could be forgiven, none need despair. If Jerusalem can be saved, none need be lost. This is the sublime and tender assurance of this injunction. If a soul feels its sins to be too heavy and dark, it only needs that we point to the fact that the offer of mercy was to begin at Jerusalem, to show that no sin, however deeply dyed, can exclude from pardon, if the sinner will come with a penitent heart to Christ.

Bunyan in his quaint tract on these words, entitled, "The Jerusalem sinner saved, or good news for the vilest of men," gives in his dramatic vein, a lively picture of the fulfilment of this part of the commission. He represents Peter declaring to the people of Jerusalem the message,

Repent and be baptized, every one of you," and the people urging their objections. "Obj. But I was one of them that plotted to take away his life may I be saved by him? Peter. Every one

of you. Obj. But I was one of them that bare false witness against him: is there grace for me? Peter. For every one fo you. Obj. But I was one of them that cried out, Crucify, crucify him, and that desired that Barabbas the murderer might live rather than him: what will become of me, think you? Peter. I am to preach repentance and remission of sins to every one of you. Obj. But I was one of them that did spit in his face when he stood before his accusers; I also was one that mocked him, when in anguish he hanged bleeding on the tree is there room for me? Peter. For every one of you. Obj. But I was one of them that in his extremity said, Give him gall and vinegar to drink: why may I not expect the same, when anguish and guilt is upon me? Peter. Repent of these your wickednesses, and here is remission of sins for every one of you."

And yet deep as was the guilt of these Jerusa lem sinners, the very atrocity of their guilt when pardon is offered, makes the guilt of impenitence and rejection of the gospel now to be yet more atrocious. If it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the great day, than for Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, it will be more tolerable for the Jerusalem sinner than for many in our day. For he may well say to the soul that rejects Christ now, "I never knew that the crucified Jesus was the Saviour of sinners, I rejected him

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