paid to the words of Moses, and what emphasis he has laid upon them. Moses had transiently observed, " The word is in thy mouth and in thy heart ; " but the Apostle amplifies the idea, and shews repeatedly that the confessing of Christ with the mouth is quite as necessary as the believing on him with the heart: by the latter indeed we obtain " righteousness; " but by the former we obtain complete " salvation™." In that age, to confess Christ before men was to subject oneself to persecutions and death in their most cruel forms : but our Lord would not acknowledge any one as his disciple, who should neglect to do it : he warned his disciples that such cowardice would infal- libly exclude them from the kingdom of heaven. How neces- sary then and indispensable must a confession of Christ in this age be, when we have nothing to fear but the loss of some temporal interest, and the being stigmatized with some igno- minious name ! Truly, if we are ashamed to confess him, we may well be banished from his presence as the weakest and most contemptible of the human race n. Let this then be con- sidered by all who would secure the salvation of their souls ; they must openly confess their attachment to Christ, and must " follow him without the camp, bearing his reproach." A public acknowledging of him indeed will not supersede the necessity of internal piety ; nor will the piety of the heart supersede the necessity of honouring Christ by an open profession of our faith : both are necessary in their place ; and both must be combined by those who would derive any benefit from either.]
Learn then from hence,
1. To value aright the privileges you enjoy —
[The Jews were far exalted above the heathen ; but we are no less exalted above them : for we have the substance, of which they had only the shadow. But even among Christians also there is a great difference ; some having the Gospel more fully and clearly opened to them than others. We pray God that the light which you enjoy may be improved by you; else it will leave you in a more deplorable state than Sodom and Gomorrha.]
2. To guard against entertaining discouraging thoughts about the salvation of your souls —
[Moses tells you that you have no occasion for such thoughts ; and St. Paul guards you against the admission of them into your minds : " Say not in thine heart" who shall do such and such things for me ? It is very common for persons to think their salvation on one account or other unattainable. But "what could God have done for us that he has not done?" or what provision do we need which he has not laid up in store
m Rom. x. 9, 10. n Markviii. 38.