CHAPTER III.

THE USE WE SHOULD MAKE OF THE VARIOUS CONTENTS OF SCRIPTURE IN PARTICULAR.

I HAVE given you six general rules, about the use we should make of the Scriptures, though they were mostly written on special occasions, or with an immediate relation to some particular persons or societies. We are now to consider it in a

more particular manner.

In order to this, it may be proper to range the contents of the Scripture into some principal heads, and suggest a few brief hints of the use we may make of them severally. Let us therefore begin with,

I. Its Histories and Examples.

A very good use may be made of the historical parts of Scripture to lead our observation, affect our hearts, and influence our lives. In the sacred history we may see much of God and of ourselves; strong lineaments of his infinite majesty and perfections, and of the weakness and degeneracy of human nature. We may observe his eternal power and Godhead in the history of the creation, and many beautiful turns in his dealings with his people, and others, through several ages, in the history of providence.

The history of the fall, of the wickedness and punishment of the old world, of the early corruptions and confusions after the flood; of Sodom's sin and conflagration; of Joseph's brethren; of the unbelief, murmurings, and idolatry of Israel in the wilderness; and of their multiplied grievous revolts in the land of Canaan, together with God's manifold judgments upon them, till at length he sent them into captivity-sets before us the monstrous deformity of human nature, the great evil of sin, what fearful work it makes in the world, and how the indigna

tion of God flames out against it. And this should fill us with the utmost abhorrence of all sin, should awaken solemn thoughts of a future judgment, should make us humble, watchful, and depending, and afraid to provoke the Lord, and should raise our esteem of an atoning sacrifice, and of recovering grace.

The history of God's preserving Noah and his family in the ark, of his peculiar kindness to Abraham, and remarkable care of him in a strange land; of his preserving and exalting Joseph in Egypt, and providing by his means for the whole house of Jacob; of their wonderful increase under all their oppressions in Egypt; of their stupendous deliverance from their pursuing enemies through the Red Sea; of their safe conduct, by a long train of miracles, through the wilderness to the promised land; of their settlement and multiplied preservations there; and of their restoration to it again, after they had been banished from it for their sins. These things enlarge our views of God's universal dominion for the good of his church, and of his sovereignty in the exercise of it. They show us how his kingdom rules over all, how he raises up one and casts down another; has all hearts in his hands, and serves his own purposes by over-ruling the passions, artifices, deceits, and all the corruptions of men, without putting any force upon their natural freedom, or staining the purity of his own holiness. Who can read those histories and not observe how he "disappoints the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise;" and how he makes "the wrath of man to praise him, and restrains the remainder of it?" They show us how he humbled and proved his people, tried their faith and patience, love and obedience, led them in a right way, and did them good in their latter end; and how steadily the whole series of his government wrought, through a cloud of unlikely means, to usher in the great and glorious things of the gospel. They demonstrate to us, that nothing is too hard for the Lord to do; that he takes care of his people, and has a favour for his heritage, notwithstanding all their unworthiness; and that he is rich in mercy, slow to anger, and ever mindful of his covenant. And they should deeply affect our hearts with thoughts of the vast views of abounding mercy, which he has been all along carrying on for these latter ages; should spirit up our admiration, love and praise, and encourage us to cleave to him with full purpose of heart, and to put our trust in him for all that we need for this world and a better. "These works of the Lord are great, sought out of all those that have pleasure therein."

All the histories the Scripture gives us of men's different behaviour, whether good or evil, toward God and one another, show us how naturally propense we are to act sinfully, and how careful we should be, and what need we have of supernatural grace to enable us to behave dutifully in our several stations. And all its histories of the mercies and judgments God has showered down from on high, in numerous instances, are a lecture upon the great maxims of his government; they show us the ordinary way of his dealings with the sons of men, especially with his own people, and may awaken our expectations of the like in like circumstances. The man that duly observes these things must say, "Verily there is a reward for the righteous: Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth." Hence, Asaph's sinking faith and hope were upheld in a time of great distress, by a review of what God had formerly done for his people in like difficulties, saying, “ I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High; I will remember the works of the Lord: Surely I will remember thy wonders of old." And all those things were recorded for future ages; they were "written for the generations to come, that a people that should be created might praise the Lord."

The history of our blessed Lord, in his incarnation, life, doctrine, miracles, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, opens before us the glory of the gospel, and gives us a train of evidence for the confirmation of it. It shows us who and what he is, God-man, and the Saviour of lost sinners, who taught them by his word and Spirit, gave himself a ransom for them, and set up his spiritual throne and kingdom amongst them. It brings us to an acquaintance with Christ, and with the glory of God in him, which is what he most of all delights to display, which it most of all concerns us to know, and which outshines, in amiable lustre, all other manifestations of God to the creature. It teacheth us what a great, condescending, and gracious Saviour he is; how he finished the work his Father gave him to do, was accepted in it, triumphed over all the difficulties that lay in his way, is all-sufficient, and every way suitable for our help, faithful, compassionate, and willing to save all sorts of sinners that come to him, and to the Father by him. And it encourages and obliges us to believe and trust in him for everlasting life, to pay the highest honour, worship, and obedience to him, as God; to be thankful for him, and to him, as Mediator; to admire and love him with the most pure exalted affections, to make all our applications

to God, and to form all our expectations from God, only through him. Hence we are assured toward the conclusion of this most excellent history, that "these things are written, that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, we might have life through his name."

The history of the apostles, of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost conferred upon them; of their doctrines, labours, integrity, self-denial, sufferings, miracles, and success, is a farther confirmation of the truth of the gospel. It gives us unanswerable evidence that Christ's promises and predictions were made good concerning himself, the mission of his Spirit, the great things his disciples should do, the enlargement of his own, and the destruction of Satan's kingdom, with many other particulars of great moment. And it shows us that God interests himself in Christ's cause, takes care of his servants, assists and owns them in his work, and makes his gospel his power unto salvation, to every one that believes. The apostles were Christ's "witnesses, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." And his design in making them witnesses to him was, that others might believe on him through their word, under the influence of his intercession for them.

The history of the different states of the church, as to its constitution, laws, privileges, worship, and discipline, before the law, under the law, and since the law, is a glaring evidence that God alone has all along been King in his church; that it entirely depends in all its concerns on him; that all its laws and ordinances derive from his authority, tie us down to a punctual observation of the pattern he shows us, and can be repealed, added to, improved, or any way altered, by none but him. It shows us how far, and in what particulars, any of his institutions are now binding to the church, and what is the nature of that dispensation under which we live. It displays the condescensions of God to the wants and weaknesses of his people, and his manifold wisdom in suiting the methods of his communion with them to their tempers and capacities, and in gradually introducing the glories of their last and best settlement with the greatest advantage.

The history of the low, weak, dark, and bondage state of the church under the law, serves as a shade to set off with the greater life and beauty, its spirituality, purity, light and grace, and its liberty, love, holy boldness, and complicated glories under the gospel. It teaches us to discern the things that differ, helps to raise our cheerful gratitude, that our lot is fallen

under that administration of Christ's kingdom, which exceeds in glory, and consists of things that cannot be shaken, but will remain to the consummation of all things; and should fill us with a blushing shame, that under all our advantages we should fall short in many things, of that fervent temper of heart towards God, of that zeal for his glory, and of that delight in his word and ordinances, which some, even under that defective dispensation, were eminent for.

And the history of the improved state of the church under the gospel, of its unaffected simplicity, growth, and spread; of its temper, privileges, and immunities; and of all its other advantages, as far as they are represented in the New Testament, serves to distinguish it from the kingdoms and civil societies of this world, and from such churches as owe their birth and establishment, faith, worship and order, to the political contrivances, the ambition, covetousness, and authority of men; to give us just sentiments of the boundaries, matter, form, and officers, of particular churches; of the sacred authority by which, and ends for which, they were instituted; of the spiritual powers and privileges lodged in them, and obligations laid on them; of the blessing and presence of Christ that may be expected with them; of the evangelical means by which alone they are to be propagated and increased, kept pure and edified; and of the love and communion, forbearance and peace, that should be cultivated among them; to invite those that are fit for their communion, to enrol themselves in such of them as are constituted most according to the truly primitive pattern; and to confirm and strengthen those in Christ's ways, that are already joined to them.

The records of prayer, and answers to prayer, are likewise full of useful instruction to us. The prayers God's people have been wont to make to him at stated seasons, and on all emergencies, are so many intimations to us of our continual dependence on him, and of the need we have of his grace to work all our works in us and for us, to supply our wants, to defend us from evil, to direct our way, to influence our minds and hearts, and to perform all things for us. They assure us that this is a becoming, useful, binding, and generally received part of worship, and instruct us to order our addresses in such a manner, as is suitable to our circumstances, and to the gospel state. the records we have of God's being a God hearing prayer, and answering earnest, humble, and believing applications to him, in numberless instances, are a comfortable evidence to us, that ́it is not in vain to pray unto him, with faith, in the name of

And