Deut. xi. 18 — 21. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thine house, and upon thy gates : that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord siuare unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
TO have the holy oracles in our hands is one of the greatest advantages that we enjoy above the heathen a: a due improvement of them therefore will be expected of us. The Jews, who were in like manner distin- guished above all other nations upon earth, were required to shew the most affectionate, obediential regard to the writings of Moses. But the injunctions given to them with respect to the revelation they possessed, are still more obligatory on us, who have the sacred canon completed, and, by the superior light of the New Testament, are enabled to enter more fully into its mysterious import.
The words which we have just read, point out to us, I. Our duty with respect to the word of God —
A revelation from heaven cannot but demand our most serious attention —
1. We should treasure it up in our hearts —
[It is not sufficient to study the Scriptures merely as we read other books ; we must search into them for hid treasures b, and lay up "in our hearts," yea, in our inmost " souls," the glorious truths which they unfold to our view ; and be careful never to let them slip c. They should be our delight, and our meditation all the dayd.]
2. We should make it a frequent subject of our
conversation —
[It is to be regretted that there is no other subject so universally proscribed and banished, as that of religion. But, if we loved God as we ought, we could not but love to speak of his word, that word which is our light in this dark world, and the one foundation of all our hopes. When Moses and Elias came from heaven to converse with our Lord, the pro- phecies relating to the sufferings and glory of Christ were their one topic of discourse6. Thus at all times and places should our conversation be seasoned with saltf, and tend to the use of edifyingg. If it were thus with us, God would listen to us with approbation11, and Jesus would often come and unite himself to our company1.]
3. We should bring it on all occasions to our re- membrance—
a Rom. hi. 2. b Prov. ii. 1 — 4. c Heb. ii, 1.
d Ps. cxix. 92, 97. e Lukeix. 30,31. f Col. iv. G.
s Eph. iv. 29. h Mai. hi. 1G, 17. ! Lukexxiv. 14, 15.