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upon us the AUTHORITY of divine truth. several expressions to which we have advertedlaw, testimony, statutes, commandments, fear, judgments,-all tend to enforce on us a most reverential sense of the importance and weight of Holy Scripture. It is not a vain thing. Religion is not a matter left to our choice. The Sacred Writings are not to be perverted or rejected at our pleasure. They come with a divine commission, and speak to us in the name of God.

But properties of themselves are of little moment, unless they appear in correspondent effects.

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Let us proceed then to consider,

II. THE

SURPRISING EFFECTS WHICH THE

WORD OF GOD PRODUCES.

It produces conversion, wisdom, joy, illu

mination, and fear.

IT CONVERTS THE SOUL.

"The word of

God," says a Prelate of our Church, "is perfectly adapted to convert, restore, and bring back the soul from error to truth, from sin to righteousness, from sickness to health, from. death to life, as it convinces of sin, holds forth the Saviour, is a means of grace and a rule of conduct." The first thing which man needs as a fallen creature, is an entire conversion of the soul. This the Sacred Scripture, by the power

of the Holy Spirit, is able to effect. It begins, where our necessities begin, with the heart, and brings it back directly to God. It proclaims the holy law which condemns every trans-. gression. It displays the depravity of our nature. It exhibits the astonishing scheme of redemption in the death of the incarnate Saviour; and then invites us to repent and be converted, that our sins may be blotted out. Thus men are actually turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. They are pricked to the heart under the sense of their guilt and danger, and cry out in anguish, What shall we do? They then hear the invitations of mercy in the Gospel; obey these invitations; and believe on the name of Jesus Christ. They confess and forsake their sins, that they may find mercy. Thus, by the grace of God attending the Holy Scriptures, a radical change is effected, in the thoughts, desires, affections, pursuits, and conduct of men, who were before wicked and worldly; and they begin to hate sin, to believe in Christ, to love God, to love their neighbour, and to live a life of holiness, spirituality, prayer, humility, and good works. :

But the Bible not only thus acts upon the heart of man generally, but it acts thus in the case of the most simple and ignorant. It is said to MAKE WISE THE SIMPLE. The ignorant and unlearned, who are most exposed to delu

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 man. 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.

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

the

informed and most learned; that to the poor 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

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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 different 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

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