II. The respect paid to them by every true Chris- tian— The Christian is fitly represented as one " who has pleasure in these works" —
[The generality of mankind have, alas ! no pleasure in these works, but rather put away the remembrance of them with ab- horrence But not so the Christian : he regards them with
far different sensations. He indeed is not insensible to pleasures of other kinds, provided they be such as may be enjoyed with a good conscience towards God. He may, as a scholar and jjhilo- sopher, feel delight in intellectual pursuits ; and he may, as a member of societv, find pleasure in the intercourse of friendship, or the enjoyment of domestic comforts. But, though he lose not his taste for such pleasures, his delight in them is altogether subordinated to higher and more spiritual enjoyments. Whatever he once accounted gain, is now esteemed by him comparatively
as dross and dung^ The wonders of Redeeming Love are
on earth, as they will be in heaven, his constant solace, and his song.]
By him they " are sought out" with care and dili- gence— ■
[With a view to a more enlarged knowledge of these work's, he reads the holy Scriptures, searcliing into them as for hid trea- sures He attends carefully on the ministry of the word,
that he may both obtain a further insight into tiie Gosj;el, and
have a richer experience of it in his soul By comtdtxvt
meditation also, and by fervent prayer, he dives deeper and deeper into the great mysteries of godliness ; musing, as it were, day and night, and crying mightily to God, " Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law !" Never does he imagine that he has yet attained. The more enlarged his views become, the more he sees, that he knows nothing yet as he ought to know : and he looks forward with proportionable earnestness to the eternal world, where the veil shall be taken from before his eyes, and he " will see as he is seen," and " know even as he is known."]
Address —
1. Seek yet more and more this most desirable of all knowledge —
[See with what .persevering diligence the philosopher prose- cutes the attainment of science And will not ve, for the
acquiring of knowledge wherein eternal life consists, and " which the angels themselves desire to look into ?" ]
2. Endea-
t' Phil. iii. 7, 8.
VOL. IV. li a