danger, is set before us in living characters. We are enabled in the Scriptures to discern the track of the godly, and to see where all that have suffered shipwreck, have perished : so that, notwithstanding we are passing through an ocean filled with hidden rocks and shoals, yet, if we only attend to the buoys which God has placed in our sight, we cannot but navigate it in perfect safety, and reach in due season our destined port.]
2. They lead us to much good —
[We speak not of the recompence, which those who love the Scriptures will meet with in another world. There is a reward in keeping the commandments, as well as for it ; and it is of that i:)resent recompence that we are called to speak. In receiving the doctrines, what peace do we obtain with God, and in our own consciences! In resting on the promises, what ineffable joy flows into our souls ! In obeying the precepts, what heavenly dispositions do we exercise, and what confor- mity to God do we obtain ! And lastly, in following the bright examples that are set before us, how is our ambition stimulated, and how are our steps advanced! Unanswerable in every view is that appeal of God to man, " Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly^?"]
Address,
1. Those who neglect the Scriptures —
[How vitiated is your taste, that you can prefer a novel or a newspaper to the inspired volume ! That you can be anxious about the things of time and sense, and be indifferent to that, which is more valuable than f/oM, more sweet than honey ! Ah, think what durable riches, what heavenly delights, you lose ! Did you but know what reason you have for shame and regret, you would go and search the Scriptures till you had learned their value by your own experience, and had found them to be the power of God to the salvation of your souls.]
2. Those who are like-minded with the Psalmist —
[Wliat do you owe to God, who has given you a spiritual taste, a spiritual discernment! By this, as much as by any thing, you may know your state towards God : you may mark, as by a scale, your progress or decline. With your advance- ment in the divine life, the Scriptures will rise in your estima- tion : with your declension, your relish for them will abate. O then " let them be your meditation all the day ; let them be your delight and your counsellors." Thus will your spirit and temper be cast into their mould, and you will be gradually fitted for that place, where all that is now held forth to your faith, shall be for ever realized.]
f Mic. ii. 7.