possibly appear with some conviction to such as shall please to attend to the next division.

SECTION II.

THE GUILT AND FOLLY OF RESTING SATISFIED WITH BARE NOTIONS OF THE WORD OF CHRIST.

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We have seen the entertainment due to the Scriptures as the word of Christ. I shall now offer some practical considerations against taking up with bare notions of the word, and thus enforce the exhortation, to let it dwell in us. And here I would remark,

I. It is a mean, unworthy thing, to take up with bare notions of the word of Christ. It is unworthy of a man, and much more of one that bears the name of a Christian.

The discoveries that are made in the word of Christ are of the most excellent kind, to endear him to us, to establish his authority over us, to display the glory of God before us, to guide our actings towards him, and towards all men, to mend our hearts and lives, and to make us truly happy here and for ever. And shall we satisfy ourselves with bare notions of such a word as this, without possessing it unto these rich advan tages? Shall we content ourselves to use this beneficial word only for speculation and amusement, without any practical acquaintance with its power and goodness to order and influence our hearts and ways, that they may be directed and assisted in pursuing of the glory of God, the good of others, and our own salvation? Shall we prefer the pleasures of sin, and the flattering allurements of a vain, empty, and deceiving world, before the elevating pleasures, and solid advantages, the word of Christ presents to our view? O, what a reproach is this upon our understandings, and upon our taste! What a disgrace to immortal souls! How doth it sink their dignity, and make them viler than the beasts that perish, who have no such noble sentiments to restrain their sensitive appetites, or to lead them to sublimer pleasures! We may think we hear God saying to us in this case, "Remember this, and shew yourselves men: Bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors!"

The revelation Christ has made of himself, and of the will of God by him, in his word, is a glorious condescending effect of his wisdom and grace to sinful creatures, and is enjoined

upon us by his divine authority. And, what an unworthy reproach doth it cast upon him? What a reflection is it on his infinite wisdom? What an affront to his authority? And, what an ungrateful contempt of the riches of his grace, for any of us to slight it, and lay it aside, as not worth regarding? Here again it may be said to such," They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise?"

His word is the means which he has appointed to work by, to enlighten, renew, sanctify, comfort, and save lost and perishing sinners. And, shall any of us have notions of this word, and refuse to be guided, reformed, comforted, and saved by it? What is this, but to lose all sense of real worth, and of things that are truly excellent, and to abandon ourselves to all that is vile and miserable, and to take pleasure in it? The proper tendency of the gospel is to exalt and improve human nature; to make us the "excellent of the earth;" to restore us to such divine beauties, as resemble God and angels; and to the truest greatness and honour, both in the temper of our minds, and in the noble relations it would advance us to. And shall we be so mean, so base spirited, as to hear what it says of these, and have no ambition for them, no emotions of soul after them? O, whither is human nature sunk! What is become of our notions of honour! And, what means the Christian name, that we assume, if we can be so low and sordid in our temper, as to look with a careless eye on all this!

If, therefore, you would not act so much beneath the dignity of the superior rank God has given you in the creation; so much below the Christian character, by which you would be known; so unworthy of the authority, wisdom, and grace of Christ; so reproachfully to all the rational principles of your own beings; so utterly unbecoming the glorious tendency of the gospel, and with such a mean neglect of all that is really good, and great, and excellent, " let the word of Christ dwell in you."

II. To take up with bare notions of it, is a self-condemning thing.

If we have notions of this word, of the plentiful and engaging discoveries God has made of his grace to us, and of our solemn reasonable obligations to him, and do not let it dwell in us, that we may entertain it, give up ourselves to its light and power, and act according to it, our own consciences

must, and one time or other will, severely reproach and condemn us for it. They will condemn us for hating our light, and acting contrary to it. They will condemn us for refusing that subjection to God, which we know we ought to pay him, and cannot but own it is just and equal that we should pay him. They will condemn us for rejecting, or slighting the grace, we see he freely offers and proposes through Christ to us. They will condemn us for not being, or doing, what we know it is our greatest duty and interest to be and do, and what we have the most promising grounds of hope, that by his grace we might be and do, according to his word. And, they will condemn us for the unnatural violence we offered to God and ourselves, to the tender and authoritative calls of his grace, to the strivings of his Spirit, and to the strong dictates of our own enlightened minds, only that we might indulge our basely beloved sins, and persist in our senseless rebellions against him.

What the apostle says of the self-condemning part the heathens acted against the light of nature, may, with much stronger force and emphasis, be said of those, that have notions of the word of Christ, and disregard it: "They knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." And accordingly, when in the next chapter he speaks of those that had the light of God's word, he expostulates with them in a pungent strain upon this principle of self-condemnation. "Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law-which hast the form of knowledge, and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God ?"

And what a foolish and distressing thing will it be found at last, for sinners to act such a self-condemning part! With what confusion, agony, and horror, will they be forced to subscribe to the justice of the final sentence, when it passes upon them! With what keenness will every reflection on this course of self-condemning behaviour, point every arrow of divine vengeance, drive it into their consciences, inflame every

wound, and aggravate every part of their insupportable sorrows! How will those consciences rend and tear, lash and sting, and reproach them for it, when there will be no remedy! This will be as the "worm that never dies," but is ever gnawing the tenderest vitals of the immortal soul.

If, therefore, you would act a righteous part toward yourselves, toward the sober demands of your own minds, as well as toward God and Christ, according to his word-if you would not lie under the terrible scourge of an accusing conscience, while you live, nor feel its aking throbs and anguish when you come to die, and for ever afterwards if you would act according to light and evidence, according to what your own consciences (did you but give them leave to reflect) must tell you is every way best, and fittest for you; "let the word of Christ dwell in you."

III. To take up with bare notions of it, is to pervert its gracious design, and render it useless to you.

The grand design of this revelation is not to stock the head with a set of fine notions, but to convey its light into the heart, that it may become impressive and transforming there. The understanding, or mind, is the leading faculty of our souls, by which all the rest are, or ought to be, moved and regulated; and the light God sheds by his word in our minds, is not set up there for mere speculation, but for practical influence, to make us better as well as wiser, and to engage us unto action, correspondent to the sentiments conveyed to us by his word: and unless the word of Christ has this effect upon us, its main design is defeated as to us, and all our furniture for wisdom makes us only so much the more capable of becoming the most egregious fools. Hence, says the apostle James, "If any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was;" and so he had as good never have seen himself at all.

The word of Christ contains "the great mystery of godliness." It is "the truth," and the "doctrine, which is according to godliness." It is appointed to restore godliness to a degenerate world; and the great things it promiseth are such as "pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." It shows us the way of returning to God, that by faith in the Lord Jesus we may approach him with acceptance, and find favour in his sight; and

that we may treat him with all sacred regards as the only Lord of our faith and obedience, as our chief good and highest end, till we arrive at a full enjoyment of him. It is sent to us as the "word of salvation," and is "made known amongst us for the obedience of faith." It proposes Christ as "a Saviour from sin," as well as from "the wrath to come," that we may seek all salvation, "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in him;" and that we may receive him by faith, and trust in him, as our only foundation of pardon, acceptance, peace, holiness, and hope of eternal life; and that "as we receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so we may walk in him; rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as we have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." All the declarations of the grace of God in Christ to us; all the connections which the Scripture makes between grace and duty, and between faith, holiness, and happiness; all its prescriptions of duty, all its invitations, exhortations, examples, expostulations, and commands; in a word, the whole frame and tenor of it show, that heart-work, heart-impressions, and a heart-change from sin and self, to God and Christ, and holiness, that we might glorify him here, and be for ever happy with him hereafter, are its great design in its publication to us.

But if we take up with notions of it, and it do not dwell in us -if it has not entrance into our hearts, and is not received with faith, love, and meekness-if we do not fall under its power and influence, are not familiarly conversant with it, and it do not abide with us; all this gracious design of the word of Christ is subverted as to us, and we "receive this grace of God in vain." And O, how sad and melancholy a reflection must it be, to think that such a precious word of Christ, such a glorious discovery, so full of light and grace, should be lost upon us, that we should miss of the great salvation it proposes to us, and that we should have no more real advantage by it at last, than if we had never known any thing of it! But, if it dwell in us, all the benefit designed by it will be It will fill us with light and grace, peace and joy, holiness and happiness; it will quicken, strengthen, and support us, while we live, and when we come to die; it will make us wiser and better, more excellent, useful, and comfortable creatures here, and for ever glorious and blessed hereafter. If, therefore, you would not fall short of the merciful and glorious design of the gospel, but desire to be partakers of all its benefits, let the word of Christ dwell in you."

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