in the text is like that of David, " Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way1.]
Advices —
1. Attend diligently to every word of God which
ye read or hear —
[The knowledge, which the Jews had by means of the Scriptures, rendered their guilt in rejecting Christ incomparably more heinous than that of the Roman soldiers ; and we who enjoy the still clearer light of the New Testament, must con- tract ten-fold guilt if we reject him. How shall we be able to endure that appeal which will be made to us in the day of judgment, ' Were not such and such things written respecting me ? were not my invitations, promises, and expostulations set before you? were you not forewarned of the evils which a
rejection of me would bring upon you V Give earnest
heed then to the word ye hear, lest, instead of proving a savour of life unto life, it become a savour of death unto death™.]
2. Examine carefully what regard ye are paying to
Christ—
[All do not make him the head of the corner : many reject him still. If we be not with him, we are against him11. All that disobey him, as truly stumble at him, as if they were his avowed enemies0. Inquire then whether ye make him the foundation whereon ye build, and the corner-stone that unites you in love to every part of God's spiritual temple. By this must ye know that ye are his true disciples.]
3. Be thankful if you have attained even the smallest
knowledge of Christ —
[There is no hope whatever for those who, in a Christian land, die ignorant of ChristP. But they who know him, have nothing to fear. To them is promised eternal life q. When the whole assembly of the ungodly shall be banished from his pre- sence, they shall stand with great boldness1". When the wicked will be crying to the rocks and mountains to fall upon them, the followers of the Lamb will be triumphing in their God. This promise is sure to all the seed s. Let Jesus then be more pre- cious to all our souls ; let us willingly consent to his being the head of the corner; let us, as lively stones, ever seek to be built up upon him * ; and, though we should be despised and rejected like him, let us never be ashamed of owning him as all our salvation and all our desire.]
1 Ps. ii. 12. «» 2 Cor. ii. 16. n Matt. xii. 30.
0 1 Pet. ii. 8. P 2 Thess. i. 8. <• John xvii. 3.
r 2 Thess. i. 9, 10. s Rom. ix. 33. * 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5.