" was unto him the joy and rejoicing of his heart." Under the Gospel dispensation, ministers are sent, not so much to thunder out anathemas against the rebel- lious world, as to proclaim to them " glad tidings of great joy." And the scope of the inspired writings, as now collected into one volume, is to encourage the desponding, and to give rest to the heavy-laden. Well therefore may all, whether ministers or people, when they take the sacred volume into their hands, say, " Thy word was found, and I did eat it ; and it was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart."
In order to elucidate these words, we shall shew,
I. How the word of God should be received —
In the days of Josiah the word of God had been lost : and, when it was found, it was received with avidity, as a gift from heaven0. We do not however conceive that any similar event is referred to in the passage before us. The true light will be cast on our text, if we consult a parallel passage in the Prophet Ezekiel, where it was said to him, " Son of man, eat that thou jindest ; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel:" and then he ate it, and it was in his "mouth as honey for sweetness d." In both the passages the word is compared to food, which is to be eaten and digested as the proper nutriment of the soul. This image is just ; since, like common food, the word,
1. Is necessary for all —
[Who can live without it ? Who can have any just know- ledge of God without it, or have any conception how sinful man can obtain mercy at the hands of his offended God ? The greatest philosophers of Greece and Rome were entirely in the dark on all subjects connected with the soul ; nor could unen- lighted reason ever have explored those mysteries which the inspired volume alone has revealed to man. Even at this present day, notwithstanding the light of revelation, the great and learned amongst ourselves are still ignorant of divine truth, if they have not been taught of God by the effectual application of his word to their souls. It is by the word that the knowledge of salvation is still communicated to every one
c 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14 — 18. d Ezek. iii. 1—3.