not. Alas! this would prove that you cannot because you pray, do not really believe. The blessing is insured only to those who ask in faith. You must therefore seek the Lord diligently; with a believing, unwearied perseverance, that will meet and overcome all discouragements; from the knowledge, or persuasion you have, that he is faithful, who has promised. Thus the Lord Jesus delivered a parable to teach us, "that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." All nations are now directed to "seek the Lord, if haply they may feel after him, and find him."* We therefore call upon all, even the most ignorant and wicked, to seek the Lord;-to imitate at least the practice of men in the dark, when they feel after some object to guide, or support them, and are restless till they find it. I commend you to God, of whom it is declared for our encouragement, that he "hears prayer, and that to him all flesh shall come."+ May he teach you to pray with the spirit and the understanding; that one may be. heard to say, "Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me:" and. another, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee:"§ and a third, "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us. exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. I" To commend you to God implies, on your part, obedience. That is, you are to depart from evil, obey his will, and keep his commands. This is your highest interest, and should be your first con * Acts, xvii. 27. Ps. lxv. 2. Ps. Ixvi. 20. § Job, xlii. 5. Ps. xxxiv. 3, It cern upon earth. "Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole of man."* comprehends his wisdom, and honour, and riches, and happiness, all that is worth living for. It includes grace and glory. Without this, faith is a vain conceit, knowledge the darkness of devils, prayer hypocrisy, and life a "treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds."'+ Do you flatter yourselves, that you believe, while you dislike the precepts of Christ, and reject them as a rule of life?"Know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead." Do you lay any stress on your attendance here and at the Lord's Table,on your hearing and reading, your profession and your prayers, though you are sensual and worldly, and live in known sin? Or is knowledge every thing with you, while obedience to the divine commands is overlooked, or coldly and reluctantly acknowledged to be a duty? The whole scripture is calculated to undeceive you. Hear the reproof of the All-seeing Judge. "When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hands to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to me. Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes: cease to do evil; learn to do well." Hear also the declaration of the compassionate Jesus, who lived and died to save us from our delusions. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father, who is in heaven,”¶ * Eccle. xii. 13. Rom. ii. 5. ‡ James, ii. 20. § Isa i. 12. ¶ Mat. 7. 21. I proceed now to the second general division of the subject. The Apostle first commended them to God, and secondly to the word of his grace. For he might consider the latter as more than sufficient to make up for the want of his personal instructions. Should the first of these objects appear too remote; and insurmountable difficulties seem to arise between you and the Great, the Holy, the Incomprehensible God; behold, here is another object, which you may see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and handle with your hands, and which is sufficient to remove all difficulties, and to bring you into the presence of God, and to the everlasting enjoyment of his favour. I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them who are sanctified. I beg your particular attention to the character here given of the word of God. It is the word of his grace. That God should speak at all to rebels in terms of kindness, and in the very face of their provocations, can only be by an act of grace. And they, who are enabled to understand and believe the scriptures, and thereby obtain reconciliation with God, and the certain hope of an endless and glorious life, feel a gratitude for these lively oracles which no tongue can fully express. To such they appear "more to be desired than gold, yea than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb."* And doubtless they are called the word of grace with reference to Christ, the great subject of them, whose gracious salvation they were expressly designed to make known to lost and helpless sinners of mankind, *Ps. xix. 10. i You are here taught the worth of the word from the consideration of what it can do for you. It is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them, who are sanctified. It will preserve you, if you can follow it, from being "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive."* It is able to furnish you for every duty and every conflict, that you may be faithful and victorious; and to promote your spiritual edification, that "you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God."+ It is able also to give you an inheritance, or to direct you, that you may be a partaker in Christ of the riches of his grace, and obtain a title to "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." If indeed you believe in him, then "the Spirit itself will bear witness with your spirit, that you are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that you suffer with him, that you may be also glorified together."§ It will then be evident, that you belong to the church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, and who are chosen, and called, and sanctified. If any of you are still disposed to ask, but how shall the word do all this for us? I answer, because it really is the word of God, who makes it the channel of his grace and power, so that it never fails to accomplish the purpose for which he sends it. We can say of this book what must not be said of any other, that "it is given by inspiration of God:" and hence it justly lays claim to peculiar honour, and * Eph. iv. 14. + Col. iv. 12. 1 Pet. i. 4. Rom. viii. 16. an exclusive authority. The following passages may satisfy you on this head. "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it.* Lord are pure words, as silver earth, purified seven times. The words of the tried in a furnace of He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ? If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."§ Let us also hear the Great Prophet of his church, when in the exercise of his personal ministry. "The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and are life. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." And all this is farther con firmed by the testimony of the Apostles, who declare that "the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword; that the holy scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus; and that the engrafted word received with meekness is able to save your souls.”** Learn then to distinguish properly between the word of God and the word of man; and to hold just ideas of the vast difference there is between them. The weapons framed against wickedness by mere human skill are derided by the enemy as straw and stubble; but those fetched from the sacred volume are mighty through God to the pulling down of the strong holds of satan; for they enter the soul with demonstration of the Spirit and power.++ The word of men,-their most * Deut. iv. 2. † Ps. xii. 6. ‡ Jer. xxiii. 29. § Isa. viii. 20. || John, vi, 63. ¶ John, xviii. 37. ** Heb. iv. 12. 2 Tim. iii. 15. James, i. 21. ++ 1 Cor. ii. 4. |