of a more exalted state still; and we do not use them as we ought, unless our desires are in warm pursuit of all that they give us hope of. And therefore, though we should patiently wait for it in God's way and time, yet the language of our hearts should be, "I would not live here always;" but, if God's time were come, and my work on earth were done, would much rather " desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better."

1

PART SECOND.

THE SCRIPTURES viewed as the word of chrIST; THE REGARD DUE TO IT; WITH DIRECTIONS FOR UNDERSTANDING AND IMPROVING IT.

CHAPTER I

THE SCRIPTURES VIEWED AS THE WORD OF CHRIST.

THE apostle Paul, in his epistle "to the saints and faithful brethren at Colosse," chap. iii. 16, gives them the following exhortation: "LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY, IN ALL WISDOM." These words are well fitted to lead our meditations on this important topic. They direct our attention to a peculiar character of Scripture-it is "the word of Christ.' They show the entertainment we ought to give it it should "dwell in us;" and they point out the manner in which it should be thus entertained." Let it dwell in you," says Paul, “ richly, in all wisdom.”

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We have a peculiar character given to the Scriptures—they are "the word of Christ."

By the "word of Christ" we may understand, more particularly, that part of Scripture that makes up the gospel of salvation, "which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord Christ, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him:" or, more generally, the whole revelation of the will of God in all the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament. It is in this most extensive view that our apostle seems to take it, by his speaking, in the remainder of the verse, of " teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs," which look with a very strong aspect toward

the Old Testament writings, some of which are set forth under those several titles; and in this view I propose to consider it.

Though the Scriptures consist of many discourses, sentences, and words; yet, as collectively taken, they are one divine charter, one rule of faith, or one system of supernatural revelation: in distinction from all doctrines of men, they may be called in the singular number, "the word of Christ." This figure of speech, in like cases, is not unusual in other writers, or among ourselves. Thus, we say, a man has given his word for a thing, which, perhaps, by many promises, he has engaged himself to do. And we speak of the law of Great Britain, meaning the whole body of its laws, in distinction from those of other nations. Accordingly the sacred writings very frequently use the like form of speaking concerning themselves, under the titles of the "word of God," and in the verse just quoted, "the word of Christ."

My further aim in explaining this character of the Scripture, is to show, How, or in what respects, it may be called the word of Christ? And this may be considered as he is the author; as he is the great subject of it; and as he works, and and carries on his interest by it.

SECTION I.

CHRIST THE AUTHOR OF THE SCRIPTURES.

CHRIST is the author of the Scripture. It was written by the inspiration of his Spirit, and bears the stamp of his authority.

It was Christ who is called the " Lord" [Heb. Jehovah], and "the angel of the Lord," that appeared to Moses in the bush, and gave him his commission, and said, "I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." And the apostle Peter refers what the prophets of the Old Testament said to the Spirit of Christ, as revealing it to them, and testifying of it in and by them, they, in the meanwhile," searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." What the Spirit did in that affair, he did as the Spirit of Christ. Christ therein acted by him as his own Spirit, essentially united with him, and inseparable from him; and consequently it was Christ's own act, or that which himself did by his Spirit.

Hence this apostle, speaking of the Spirit's striving with a disobedient generation in the days of Noah, who were afterwards destroyed by the deluge, and are now shut up in the prison of eternal darkness, calls it Christ's preaching to them by the Spirit: " By which he went and preached to the spirits in prison." And we are assured, with respect to the Scriptures of the Old Testament, that "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." And agreeably to this, those Scriptures are cited as the sayings of the Holy Ghost; and what he signified by them is taken notice of in the explication of the New Testament.-See, among other places, Acts xxviii. 25; Heb. iii. 7, and ix. 8.

And as Christ was the author of the Old Testament, so he was of the New. He began to make known its contents by his own acts and preaching, and afterwards by an inspiration, or infallible guidance of the apostles, by whom he came and preached peace to the Gentiles, as well as Jews, or "to them which were afar off, and to them that were nigh." Christ gave them their commission to "teach all nations." He limited their commission to his own instructions, so that they were to teach only "whatsoever he commanded" them. And he promised to be with them in their discharge of that trust: Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." Surely this promise must relate as much to what they should teach by writing, as by preaching. And what we have in the Scriptures contains all that we certainly know of what they preached.

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Their writings were to supply the want of their preaching; for they wrote the things they preached, that "after their decease" the churches might have them always in remembrance." And therefore all that is said of their preaching, that it was the gospel, the word, the commandment, and the testimony of the Lord, and that they received it from his Spirit, must be equally true of their writings; especially considering that those writings were designed to be of more lasting use, as the unchangeable rule of all divine faith and obedience, which can have nothing less for their foundation than the testimony and commands of the Divine Being himself.

And if Christ promised that, when they should be brought before kings and rulers, he would give them a mouth and wisdom, and that it should be "given them in that same hour what they should speak," so that it was not they that should. speak by their own wisdom, but it was the Spirit of their Father that should speak in them; how can we suppose that

they had less assistance, when they were employed in the most important work of settling the rule of the Christian faith which they preached, for all succeeding generations?

And though sometimes the behaviour of the apostles before rulers might look as if they were not under an influence answerable to these promises as particularly, when the apostle Paul seemed not to treat Ananias, the high priest, with the decency due to his public character, saying to him, " God shall smite thee, thou whited wall," and to excuse it afterwards by an acknowledgment of his mistake concerning that character, saying, "I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest"-yet it doth not appear to me that there was any thing in that management inconsistent with the influence promised for such an occasion. For it cannot be imagined that they were promises of an unlimited inspiration, as to all particulars whatsoever; but they are evidently to be understood as promises of only such degrees of it, as should suggest to them all that the Spirit, by which they spoke, might see needful for them to be reminded of, or acquainted with at such seasons. And supposing the apostle was mistaken as to Ananias's being the high priest, God might, for reasons best known to himself, suggest nothing to him about the character of the person he spoke to; but only influence him to speak what was very proper, and what might be allowed to be so, with regard to the unrighteous procedure which he then reflected upon, according to the apprehensions he had of the person that ordered it, and afterwards to make the acknowledgment that became him, as soon as he was informed that that person was the high priest.

But some of the most accurate critics have observed, that there may be two other senses of the apostle's answer; our admitting of either of which, I humbly think, takes off the whole difficulty of this case. One is, that he did not know, or own Ananias for the high priest, because he had not a legal title to the priesthood; either according to Christian principles, Christ the only great High Priest being now come; or, according to Judaic principles, Ananias having obtained that dignity only by bribery, and therefore even in the judgment of their own rabbies he ought not to be honoured as a ruler. But had he been legally and truly what he pretended to, the apostle acknowledged he should have treated him with more regard; assigning this reason for it, "For it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." The other sense is, that he did not just then advert to, or reflect in his mind upon