sion, and for whom the writings of philosophers and moralists are little adapted, by receiving humbly the word of God, become wise unto salvation. They learn their sinfulness; they learn to repent; they learn the way of salvation in Christ Jesus; they discover the source of strength and grace; they learn to lead a holy life. Such learning is real wisdom. It regards the highest interests and the highest duties of It chooses the noblest end, and pursues it by the best means. However confined the mind or limited the acquirements of the true penitent, the entrance of God's word giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple,-to those whom human reason would bewilder in error and uncertainty. Pride is not the way to knowledge: he who loves the Bible understands it: faith is the most sure science of man.

man.

I am far from intending to insinuate that the aid of human learning, and of a sound and wellordered criticism, is not important to every Christian who has the opportunity of making such acquisitions. Much less would I be understood to say that this aid is not essential to the right understanding of many difficult passages of Scripture, and to the right explication of it by the ministers of the church of God. But I mean distinctly to assert, that, as to the broad and commanding lessons and topics of Scripture, the most unlettered and simple may

become wise unto salvation, as well as the best

informed and most learned; that to the poor the Gospel is preached; nay, that it frequently pleases God to hide these things from the wise and prudent, and to reveal them unto babes.

After conversion, naturally follows joy. The statutes of the Lord, it is said, are right, REJOICING THE HEART. For he who knows a Saviour has a claim to joy. He may well rejoice in the mercy which has been displayed to him. He may well rejoice in the gift of righteousness, in the peace of forgiveness, in the blessedness of reconciliation. There is a joy in all the commands and promises and ways of his Saviour; a joy of dependence, of expectation, and of obedience. If a man is not really converted by the Holy Scriptures, he will live, as it were, on the mere surface of the Gospel, and of course will find no scriptural joy. But the penitent discovers in the Scriptures a constant theme of delight; and in this he indulges in proportion to his real attainments in true religion.

For the sincere student of the Bible will advance in knowledge, as well as joy. The commandment of the Lord, it is added, is pure, ENLIGHTENING THE EYES. It not only makes the simple practically wise, but it furnishes him with an understanding of spiritual things. When the heart has been set right as to the main points of salvation, the judgment still requires

to be directed and illuminated on many of the momentous questions, which have been at first only generally apprehended. Wisdom directs us to pursue the highest end of man, everlasting salvation. Knowledge makes us acquainted with the various facts and instructions by which the practical judgment may be directed. Wisdom regards the state of the heart, illumination that of the understanding. The Bible is the means of giving both. The Christian, as he goes on to study it, is filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. The eyes of his understanding are enlightened more and more to know the hope of his calling. The Bible is the remedy of his remaining errors and mistakes. It resembles, as I have already said, the light in its purity and brightness. It unfolds to the mind the works and dispensations of God, the state of man, the nature of sin, the glory of Christ, the doctrine of justification by faith only; the temptations of Satan, the corruption of the heart, the supports of prayer, the harmony and dependence of dif ferent truths on each other, the right use of encouragements, warnings, promises, consolations, terrors, with all the details of moral principles and duties. Thus the word of God dispels darkness from the mind, and sheds over it a spiritual and heavenly light. It is a light unto our feet, and a lamp unto our path, in all the ramifications of practical duty and all the

intricacies of conflicting opinions. Through its precepts we get understanding, and therefore hate every false way.

There remains one other effect of the Holy Scriptures, which includes all the preceding, and is necessary to the due apprehension of themTHE FEAR OF THE LORD. This expression appears to be used in this place, by a figure common in Holy Writ, for the doctrine or commandment which produces the fear of the Lord; and it seems to sum up all the previous commendations of the Scriptures; so that the Bible itself is nothing else, if I may use so strong a figure, but the Fear of the Lord. This fear is indeed the beginning of wisdom, the fruit and evidence of conversion, the guardian of joy, the guide to knowledge. All religion may be comprehended under it. A holy, filial, reverential fear of God, which acknowledges the divine majesty, bows to the divine will, receives the revelation of mercy in a Saviour, trembles at the approach of temptation, employs diligently all the means of grace, dreads provoking God, examines itself, walks circumspectly, and works out its own salvation with a holy solicitude such a fear is the very life of all religion; nay, it is religion itself, It well consists with all the joys and privileges of the Gospel; and indeed is at once the best preservative of those blessings, and the best evidence that they are scriptural: whilst without it

our faith is dead, our hope delusive, our knowledge vain, our profession hypocritical. This blessed principle the Bible can produce, and the Bible only. Human laws may infuse a terror which may restrain the hands, but not an ingenuous fear which sways the heart. The Bible subjects the inner man, makes him love his dependence, acquiesce in the will of the glorious God, adore his majesty, and see his infinite right to the obedience of his creatures.

Such are some of the surprising effects of the word of God, which should impress us with a sense of its EFFICACY, as the considerations suggested under the first head filled us with a conviction of its authority. It is indeed the incorruptible seed of everlasting life. It is the sword of the Spirit. It is that by which the grace of God first begets us again to a heavenly life, and then sanctifies us wholly, body, soul, and spirit. It contains all the truth which the ministers of God's word expound in their instructions, and which the Holy Ghost teaches in his divine operations on the heart. It is not only the law of truth, but the instrument of salvation.

It is observable, that in the Psalmist's commendations of the works of creation in the verses which precede the text, no mention is made of any effects produced by them. The heavens pour out a discourse with an overflow