New Park Street Pulpit · Sermon No. 335
Delivered on Sabbath Morning,september 16, 1860, by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, at Exeter Hall, Strand
Matthew 6:22,23.
THIS sentence has in it the nature of a Proverb. It is well worthy of frequent quotation, as it is applicable to such various circumstances. It is one of the most pithy, terse utterances of our Savior. So full of meaning is, it that it would be utterly impossible for us to draw out all its analogies. It is capable of adaptation to so many different things that the ablest commentators despair of being able to give you the whole of its fullness. But mark—very much of the meaning is to be discovered by the use—as the varieties of our personal experience furnish varieties of practical reflection. For example, we may interpret the passage of conscience as the eye of the soul—conscience must be clear and simple. If the conscience, which is the candle of the Lord, and which searches the secret parts of the belly, is not light but darkness, how great must be the darkness! If a man has not enough conscience to know darkness from light, and light from darkness, then he puts bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; if that only power, on which seems to tremble some rays of the ancient light of manhood, is darkened—if the lighthouse is quenched, if the windows are sealed up—how great, indeed, must be the darkness of man! We cannot wonder, when once a man has a depraved, and seared conscience, that he willingly runs into iniquity, commits sin with both hands, and goes from step to step till he obtains the highest seat in the scale of sin!
The symbol of the eye here may also refer to the understanding, taken in a yet broader sense than as the conscience; for, I suppose, that conscience is, after all, but the understanding exercised about moral truth. If the understanding of man is dark, how dark must be man’s soul! If that which judges, and weighs, and tests—if that which is to us the teacher, the recorder of the town of Mansoul—if that is amiss, if the recorder make wrong entries, if the understanding has bad scales and uses different weights, how gross, indeed, must be the ignorance of man! What? Seal up the windows of the house? Surely the thickness of the walls will not so much keep away the light as the sealing up of the windows! Let but the understanding be enlightened, and the rays will diffuse themselves and illuminate every faculty of the whole man—but, ah, if it is darkened, man is in darkness as respects all his powers!
Yet again, the term, “eye,” may also refer to the heart; for, in some sense, the heart is the eye of the soul. The affections turn the man in a certain direction, and where the affections go, the eye is turned. There is such a connection between the heart and the eye of man, that well might this text have such a reference. If the affections are pure, the man will be pure; but if the affections themselves are perverted, debased, degraded, we need not marvel that the man’s whole life should be degraded, debased and filthy, too. You see the aptness of the proverb by the numerous moral truths it may serve to illustrate; but time will only allow me to take it in more than one or two aspects and may God bless what I shall have to say to all our hearts.
I shall regard our text as having to do, first, with the eye of our faith And, secondly, with the eye of our obedience.
I. First, with THE EYE OF OUR FAITH. Faith to the spiritual man is his eye. It is with that he looks to Christ— looks unto Him whom he has pierced and weeps for his sin. It is by faith that he walks; not by natural sight, but by the sight which is yielded to him by his spiritual eye—his faith. It is by this faith that he sees things not as yet visible to the eye of sense—realizes the unseen and beholds the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things which the natural eye cannot discern. Faith is to the Christian an eye both quick and sharp, an eye which discovers sin, an eye which discerns the Master’s will, an eye which looks forward, and down a lengthy racecourse to the reward which awaits all those who so run as to receive the prize, looking unto Christ Jesus. Faith peers across the stream of death, and longs for the rest which remains for the people of God. Faith has, indeed, so sharp a vision, that it sees the glories which God has prepared for them who love Him. Faith beholds the face of the crowned Redeemer in bliss, and meekly bows before Him in adoration. Faith, then, is the eye of the Believer’s soul. Any disease, therefore, in our faith will bring disease into the entire man! If our faith is weak, then the light in our entire spirit will be very hazy. He who staggers at the promise, through unbelief, will stagger in other places besides his faith; he will stagger on his knees; his hands will become weak, and his heart will often palpitate. He who can see well with the eye of faith, can do all things. If our faith is the measure of our strength, he that is strong in faith is strong to do mighty exploits. By his God shall he break through a troop; in the name of his God, shall he leap over a wall. But he who is afraid of the promise, staggering at its greatness, instead of adoring the greatness of the Giver—he who looks at the blessing, and trembles because of his unworthiness, forgetful of the graciousness of Him who gives gifts to the undeserving—he must be a weak and sorrowful man! Little-Faith is safe, but he is seldom happy. It is very rarely that Ready-to-Halt can dance upon his crutches. Miss Much-Afraid is usually of a sorrowful countenance. But Great-Heart is a man whose face is anointed with fresh oil, and faithful is he who can look into the midst of the fires and fear not their fury! Hopeful is one that can pass through the river Jordan, itself, and cry, “Fear not, I feel the bottom and it is good.”