sacred oracles entire ! In these is recorded every thing that Christ has declared ; and by these we may be made wise unto salvation h. Let us then search them with diligence, and trea- sure them up in our hearts ; nor let a day pass without our digging into those invaluable mines1.]
3. How inexcusable are they who are ignorant of
God!
[It is to our shame that many of us are still ignorant oi Godk : we have not that knowledge of him that produces cor- respondent affections towards him. But what excuse can we offer in extenuation of our guilt ? Has not Christ declared the Father in order that we might know him ? And is he not willing also to reveal him in us by his powerful energy on our souls ? Some, doubtless, are more guilty than others in pro- portion as they have possessed means of instruction ; but all will find the consequences of their ignorance most tremendous1. Let all begin then to inquire after God with their whole hearts, nor rest till they have attained that knowledge of him which is life eternal111.]
h 2 Tim. iii. 15. i Prov. ii. 4. k 1 Cor. xv. 34.
1 2 Thess. 1.8. m John xvii. 3.
John i. 29. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world.
IN the general estimation of the world, they are reputed great who bear sway over their fellow-crea- tures, and are surrounded with pomp and splendour. But, with God, men are accounted great according as they possess a knowledge of his ways, and advance the ends of his government. Hence we are told by our Lord himself that John the Baptist, a plain rustic man, clothed with coarse raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle, and subsisting on the spontaneous produce of the wilderness, was the greatest of all men that had ever been born. And what was it that so exalted him, not only above all the monarchs of the mightiest empires, but above Abraham, or Moses, or David, or any other of the prophets? It was this: