to circumstances, and practically indicate the limits, within which each divine precept must be restrained. We ought not hastily to class any individual with the desperate characters here indicated. But there can be no question as to the impropriety of publishing the diaries of deceased Christians, and thus laying bare all the mysteries of a "life hid in Christ" to the scoffs and jests of a scornful and unbelieving world. Niebuhr well said, even of ordinary men, “there are garments of the soul which you should no more strip off than those of the body; and biography which veils nothing is neither right nor wholesome." A morbid sensibility may be aggravated by such records; and the dicta of uninspired men may be substituted for the noble testimonies of God, or assumed to be authoritative expositions of their lessons; but the Bible reader needs them not, and the irreligious may be confirmed by them in their enmity to the Gospel. Generally, indeed, the importance of "rightly dividing the word of truth"* cannot be estimated too highly. It has been well said, that the teacher must consider the capacity of his hearers, as one who pours water into a jar with a narrow mouth; not seeking self-display, but adapting himself to each,f-that he may be enabled to give him "his portion of meat in due season." The Lord only gradually unfolded the truth to His immediate * 2 Tim. ii. 15. † Philo Quæst. in Gen. 1. 4, § 104; Quod Deus Immut. § 42. disciples, as "they were able to bear it;"* for what is most nourishing and comforting to one may be poison to another; and the strong meat, or solid food, which experienced Christians receive with equal profit and delight, would be worse than useless to others. The apostle Paul had only fed the Corinthians with milk; and he declares that they were still unable to bear, or to digest anything more solid. It is, indeed, deeply instructive to observe how admirably all his various epistles are adapted to the peculiar circumstances of those to whom he addressed himself. It is not, therefore, the skilful division and sub-division of the subject of our discourses, which is the true object of ministerial labour: but the earnest and accurate application of that subject in its various particulars to various stages of Christian experience, or to various classes of ordinary hearers. *Mark iv. 33; John xvi. 12; 25. † 1 Cor. iii. 2. Cf. Heb. v. 11–14. Observe especially the kindred epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. The Holy Spirit so often mentioned in the first scarcely appears in the second. The one body needed to be stirred up by the recollection of their exalted privileges to a consistent and spiritual life; the other required to be more firmly established in a correct view of the personal dignity and all-sufficiency of Christ. CHAPTER VI. The privilege of importunate and constant Prayer. W HETHER we regard the moral characteristics of the people of God, or the persecutions to which they are exposed, or their exalted position and consequent responsibility, as the salt of the earth and the light of the world, or the extent of that righteousness, which (as such) they are required to exhibit, that they may glorify their Heavenly Father, or the duty of simple affiance in divine Providence under all circumstances, we shall be ready to exclaim with the apostle, "who is sufficient for these things?" It is not in us to attain to such perfection. All the energies of new creatures will fail, unless daily upheld by the outstretched arm of Jehovah, directed by His Spirit, and crowned by His continual blessing. "A throne of grace" is, therefore, again set before us, that we may approach it with confidence, and thus * 2 Cor. ii. 16. The Latin Homilist supposes the words of the Lord to have reference to the difficulty of compliance with the foregoing precepts. Op. Chrysost. T. vii. p. 835. "obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need."* In the former part of the discourse, the obligation and religious duty were explained and enforced; we are here led to consider the exalted privilege and comfort of prayer. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. "Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" (v. 7-11.) How refreshing are these words of gracious promise, unlimited as the love and power of Him that spake. He is gratified by our petitions, and waits to answer them, as "the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort." A sense of poverty and misery constrains every awakened sinner to pray,† to ask for mercy, to seek relief, and to knock with the gathering importunity of vehement desire, as it were, at the gates of heaven itself, for admission into its courts. But, in his ignorance and confusion, he is soon discouraged; and therefore *Heb. iv. 16. † Acts ix. 11. promises, like those before us, are accumulated in the Scriptures for his support. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."* Rutherford quaintly says, "the seeker and the sigher is at last a singer and enjoyer; nay, I have seen a dumb man get alms from Christ." One grand source of our hesitation is an ignorant misapprehension of the divine character. We are too apt to look upon God, from the far country into which we have wandered, as an austere or harsh Being, and therefore to regard His service as irksome, His will as unreasonable, or impracticable, and His dispensations as unkind; and under these false impressions to flee further and further from His presence, or even in our hearts to banish Him from His own world, and then to esteem it more lovely, more beautiful, and more marvellous. It is the gracious design of the Gospel to undeceive us, and clearly to reveal Him, whom we have hitherto ignorantly worshipped, or thus more ignorantly and blindly neglected. Christ came to make known the will of His Heavenly Father, and to declare His boundless compassion. His invitations are full and free. As the antetype of the serpent of brass, "the just God and a Saviour," He exhorts "all the ends of the earth to look unto Him and be saved." He has “taken away the sin of the world." The church of sinners, already rescued, in the actual enjoyment of redemption, *Rom. x. 13; Acts ii. 21, from Joel ii. 32. |