possible that a man may put on the sacred garb for the sake of the emoluments annexed to the office, and without those qualifications, either of grace or knowledge, which are indispensably necessary for a faithful and profitable discharge thereof, the wisdom of our church will appear, in directing that large portions of the word of God be read at every season of public worship. Hereby she has made all the provision she could against an evil which is in itself unavoidable. However heterodox the sentiments of the sermon his parishioners to come to his house for instruction. He distributed them also into small companies, that he might teach them with more convenience and familiarity, and met them in rotation by appointment. A general reformation, soon began to take place. This made him still more indefatigable; but all this while he was ignorant of the gospelway of salvation, in the exhibition of which he was afterwards so zealous. As a proof of this it will be sufficient to mention, that he had imbibed the damnable errors of the Socinians, and had actually written a letter of thanks to a well-known writer of that class for his blasphemous publications. But, before he could send it, the scales of ignorance began to fall from his eyes, while he was reading the words of the Apostle," that I should preach the unsearch"able riches of Christ." He began to consider that he was totally unacquainted with these unsearchable riches of Christ, and to ask himself, what have I been doing all my life? Thus the Lord, by the instrumentality of his own word, wrought powerfully on his heart, and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, irradiated his soul. And from that day forward, like Saul of Tarsus, when the Lord had met with him on his way to Damascus, he preached Jesus. His biographer adds, that such was his uncommon and unaffected simplicity, that the very next Lord's day he told his people from the pulpit, that he had been misleading them during the whole course of his ministry, by building them up in a righteousness of their own, but that the Lord had now shewn him that both he and they stood in need of a Saviour; that he felt himself a poor sinuer, and should in future lead them to Jesus, as the only ground of hope for their guilty, ruined souls. may be, the people have an opportunity of hearing the uncorrupted word of God, whereby they may be enabled to judge what is true and what is false. It is melancholy to admit the possibility, that any thing but the truth, and the whole truth of the doctrine of God our Saviour, should be delivered by those who have subscribed their hands thereto; but if the fact cannot be denied, it is a consolatory reflection, that the people, in such a case, necessarily hear the word of truth. Before we conclude the present essay, it will be proper to inculcate on those who may read it, the benefit of an intimate and extensive acquaintance with the oracles of God. " Let "the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all "wisdom." You cannot be wise to salvation without it. Perhaps you object, that your dislike to hearing or reading the Scriptures arises from the effect which they produce on your mind. They make you unhappy, and therefore you treat them with neglect. Surely, if this be the case, it becomes you to inquire whether the uneasiness which a perusal of God's word occasions be not needful to your salvation, as corporeal uneasiness is oftentimes needful for the recovery of health. Perhaps you are asleep in a fatal security and unconcern about futurity. The word of God disturbs your carnal repose, and therefore you put it from you, saying with the sluggard, yet a little sleep, a little slum"ber, a little folding of the arms to sleep.' Is it not better to suffer present pain than everJasting torment? There is not a word in the Bible that leads any persons to despair, but 66 * Prov. vi. 10. those who obstinately determine to "neglect "the great salvation" which it proposes. But you say, the duties which it enforces I find myself incapable of performing. This is certainly true, but then it directs you to the blood of Christ for the pardon of every defect, and to the grace of Christ for ability to walk in every path of duty so as to please God. Perhaps, in consequence of the inveterate corruption of your hearts, you are deliberately resolved not to quit your sins and live to God, and therefore conclude that it will be safer to remain in ignorance than to make yourselves acquainted with the truth and afterwards slight it. If your ignorance be wilful, it will not in the least extenuate your guilt, nor screen you from the indignation of insulted Deity; and that it is wilful, is apparent from the mode of reasoning which you adopt. There are some persons who would fain persuade themselves that it is quite sufficient if the clergy be acquainted with the doctrines of Scripture. But why do the clergy employ themselves in study, but for them? Are you not convinced that you must eat and drink for yourselves, or die? And is not the Scripture the bread of life? Are not the truths thereof as essential to the life of your souls, as natural food is to the support of your bodies?-But being unwilling to yield to the force of conviction, you are still ready to ask, whether a small share of scriptural knowledge be not sufficient for common Christians? It is not, perhaps, easy to determine what degree of information is necessary to salvation; but it is an easy matter to prove that the man who has no solicitude after a deeper and more extensive acquaintance with Divine things, is wholly destitute of a saving acquaintance with the first principles of the gospel; for the path" of the just is as the "shining light, which shineth more and more "unto the perfect day." Are your memories treacherous and like a leaky vessel? If you really lament this infirmity, you will see the greater need of constant reading and prayer; as a man, whose food passes too quickly off his stomach, will be constantly reminded of the necessity of a more frequent supply. There is reason, however, to fear, that many persons who complain of the defects of their memory, are making an excuse for wilful ignorance, and that in fact their minds are so stuffed with the vanities of the world that no room is left for the admission of Divine truth. Were it not so, the truth, though the memory be irretentive, would have a sanctifying influence on the soul, as water passing through a vessel may cleanse it, though it does not remain therein. Many persons complain of the difficulty of comprehending the Divine record. Surely there is enough therein that is level to the meanest understanding. And perhaps much of the difficulty arises from the opposition made by the corruption of the heart to its holy tenets. Did we read in a dependence on Divine teaching, and at the same time with a holy determination of reducing what we read to practice; did we, in reading of the evil of sin, labour, through grace, to get our hearts deeply impressed therewith; or, when the subject is the love of Christ, did we ardently long to taste it; or, when duties are proposed, strive to fulfil them; the difficulties objected to would be removed, and every |
