Use 1. Of reproof —
1. To those who study to know all things else but Jesus Christ. There is no sap or savour to them in this knowledge. They would know the course of nature by philosophy, the affairs of the world by history. We condemn not this knowledge simply, but if it be with the neglect of the knowledge of Christ, alas ! it is folly rather than wisdom. To know the creature without the creator, the history of providence but not the way of redemption, the courses of the heavens and not to know how to live and dwell in heaven, is not to seek a salve for the great malady we contracted by the fall ; for ignorance in eternal things is the first part of the harm we caught by the fall. This is to heal a cut finger and neglect a deadly wound. No secular wisdom can deliver us from the wrath of God, nor make us everlastingly happy. The angels, who are the spectators, desire to pry into these things ; but we, that are the parties interested, should be much more concerned to know our misery and our remedy, our disease and our cure. If God hath laid out the riches of his grace and wisdom to do us good,, surely it deserveth our best thoughts.
2. To reprove those that content themselves with a form of knowledge : Eom. ii. 20, ' Thou hast the form of knowledge, and of the truth in the law/ No; it must be a practical and experimental knowledge: ' That we may know him, and the power of his resurrection.' Most of Christianity is not only to be believed, but felt. It is set forth not only by sight, but taste : 1 Peter ii. 3, ' If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious ; ' Phil. i. 9, ' And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment,' ala8/]aec. in all sense. Otherwise you know Christ, and are never the better for him ; like the nobleman at Samaria, that saw the plenty, but could not taste of it. They hear of a mighty Christ, but feel nothing. Experi- ence is the best seal and confirmation : John xvii. 17, ' Sanctify them.
26 SERMONS UPON PHILIPPIANS III. [SeR. III.
by the truth ; thy word is truth ; ' and chap. i. 32, ' John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.' The testimony of Christ confirmed in us : 1 John v. 10, ' He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.' This is knowing ' the grace of God in truth,' as it is Col. i. 6, when we have tasted of the sweetness of the promise, pardon of sin, peace with God, and hopes of glory. Optima demonstratio est a sensibus, the best proof is from the senses. Others know it by hearsay, conceits, and imagination. Again, practical knowledge is for use and practice, not for idle speculation. The apostle speaketh of some that are ' barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ,' 2 Peter i. 8. Their Christi- anity serveth them to talk well, and stuffeth their minds with high notions, but they are not thereby made ready to obedience, and prone and forward to please God : 1 Chron. xxviii. 9, ' And thou Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind, all the days of thy life.'
Use 2. Let this be our main study, to know Christ, and to know him as we ought to know him, by the light of the Spirit, in a way of faith, love, and obedience. How hard do many carnal persons study to know the mysteries of nature ! and should not we use the means of praying, reading, hearing, that we may know Christ, begging for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation ? Here consider —
1. The necessity. You must know Christ before you can believe in him : 2 Tim. i. 12, ' I know whom I have believed.' You must know him before you can love liim : John iv. 10, ' If thou knewest the gift of God.' We must know him before we can obey him : Prov. xix. 2, ' Also that the soul be without knowledge is not good ; ' John xiv. 21, ' He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.'
2. It is pleasant : Ps. xix. 8, ' The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart ; the commandments of the Lord are pure, enlighten- ing the eyes.' Light is pleasant to the eye, so it is to the eye of the mind : Prov. xxiv. 13, 14, ' My son, eat thou honey, because it is sweet, and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste ; so shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul when thou hast found it.' Every faculty hath its oblectation ; as the will, in adhering to God ; conscience, in feeling God's love ; so the understanding in the view of truth. Oh, what is the knowledge of Christ, so suitable to our necessities, so ready to relieve them, to have a taste that the Lord is gracious !