Cor to Phil - Enter His Rest

itself requires. To this the prophet himself refers; and it is evident, from the following verse, that theapostle also refers to the same thing. Such a scheme of salvation, in which God's glory and man'sfelicity should be equally secured, had never been seen, never heard of, nor could any mind but thatof God have conceived the idea of so vast a project; nor could any power but his own have broughtit to effect.Verse 10. But God hath revealed them unto us] A manifest proof that the apostle speaks hereof the glories of the Gospel, and not of the glories of the future world.For the Spirit searcheth all things] This is the Spirit of God, which spoke by the prophets, andhas now given to the apostles the fulness of that heavenly truth, of which He gave to the former onlythe outlines.Yea, the deep things of God.] It is only the Spirit of God which can reveal the counsels of God:these are the purposes which have existed in His infinite wisdom and goodness from eternity; andparticularly what refers to creation, providence, redemption, and eternal glory, as far as men andangels are concerned in these purposes. The apostles were so fully convinced that the scheme ofredemption proclaimed by the Gospel was Divine, that they boldly asserted that these thingsinfinitely surpassed the wisdom and comprehension of man. God was now in a certain way becomemanifest; many attributes of his, which to the heathen world would have for ever lain in obscurity,(for the world by wisdom knew not God,) were now not only brought to light as existing in him, butillustrated by the gracious displays which He had made of himself. It was the Spirit of God alone thatcould reveal these things; and it was the energy of that Spirit alone that could bring them all intoeffect-stamp and seal them as attributes and works of God for ever. The apostles were as trulyconscious of their own inspiration as they were that they had consciousness at all; and what theyspoke, they spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.Verse 11. For what man knoweth the things of a man] The word CPSTYRYP in the first clauseis omitted by the Codex Alexandrinus, and one other; and by Athanasius, Cyril, and Vigil of Tapsus.Bishop Pearce contends strongly against the authenticity of the word, and reads the passage thus:"For what is there that knoweth the things of a man, except the spirit of a man that is in him?" "Ileave out," says the learned bishop, "CPSTYRYP, with the Alexandrian MS., and read VKLýICTýQKFGPVC VQWýCPSTYRQW; because I conceive that the common reading is wide of St. Paul's meaning; for tosay, What man except the spirit of a man, is (I think) to speak improperly, and to suppose that thespirit of a man is a man; but it is very proper to say, What except the spirit of a man: VKL is feminineas well as masculine, and therefore may be supplied with QWUKC, or some such word, as well as withCPSTYRQL." Though the authority for omitting this word is comparatively slender, yet it must beowned that its omission renders the text much more intelligible. But even one MS. may preservethe true reading.The spirit of a man knows the things of a man: that is, a man is conscious of all the schemes,plans, and purposes, that pass in his own mind; and no man can know these things but himself. So,the Spirit of God, He whom we call the Third Person of the glorious TRINITY, knows all thecounsels and determinations of the Supreme Being. As the Spirit is here represented to live in Godas the soul lives in the body of a man, and as this Spirit knows all the things of God, and had