Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/43

 day of the siege, every horse of the people is said to be struck with blindness. This shews us that the horse is mentioned in reference to some power or principle in man, connected with something of religion and life. This is evidently apparent from all the Scriptures where the horse is named. There is a faculty in man which is compared to, and described by, the strength, vigour, sagacity, and persevering labour of the horse; this faculty is the INTELLECT or UNDERSTANDING. Without this "horse of the people" we could have no knowledge of God, heaven, or eternal life. When the human understanding, from a love of evil, opposes the progress of truth in the mind, the mental eye becomes closed to the light of heaven; ignorance dwells where wisdom should inhabit, and darkness, with its gloom, usurps the place of light and beauty. This is the condition of those who are the besiegers of Judah and Jerusalem. Falsehood grounded in evil, blinds the intellect, and closes the understanding against light and truth: this is called "smiting the horse of the people with blindness." The smiting appears to come from the Lord, but in reality it is the legitimate effect of man's own wickedness. Truth, as it comes from God, to enlighten and bless, rebukes the proud unruly understanding of man, and shews that while folly is his wisdom, evil must be his good. Hence David says, "At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob! both the chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep." (Psalm lxxvi. 6.) The chariot is here put to denote the false doctrine of the wicked; while the horse is the perverted intellect, leading astray from all heavenly knowledge. These are said to be cast into a deep sleep, instructing us that a careless unthinking state