have divined, and which no impostor would have ventured to predict. And who would ever have imagined, that one so ignominiously treated in his death, should yet " have his grave with the rich?" The very price which was to be paid for his blood, together with the subsequent application of it in the purchase of a potter's field, and the untimely death of the person that betrayed him, these, and a great variety of other circumstances equally minute, prove beyond a doubt that Jesus was the person testified of, and that the testimony borne of him was divine.
Had the different witnesses been contemporaneous, it might have been supposed possible that these infinitely diversified circumstances should have been devised and executed by means of a well-concerted conspiracy. But the witnesses lived in ages and places far distant from each other, even many hundreds of years apart : yet did all the prophets so harmonize with each other in all their various predictions, that no room is left for doubt but that they were wholly unconnected with each other, and altogether under the direction and influence of the Spirit of God. Thus whether we consider the testimony itself, or the witnesses by whom it was delivered, we can have no doubt but that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.]
Such then being the excellency of the Scriptures, let us contemplate,
II. Our duty in relation to them —
This is clear and manifest :
1. We must " search the Scriptures" for our- selves—
[Possessing such Divine records, we should apply our- selves diligently to the study of them. We should search them with simplicity of mind, desiring to learn from them the will and mind of God, and determining through grace to comply with them in every respect, receiving implicitly whatsoever they declare, and obeying without reserve whatsoever they command. We must not bring to them any of our own pre- judices whereby to judge of them, or any thing of our own passions wherewith to limit them. We must bring to them the simplicity of a little child, submitting our own wisdom to the wisdom of our God, and our own will to the will of God. In fact, we must desire to know God's will in order that we may do it. Like Samuel we must lend to every word of God a willing and obedient ear, saying, " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." We have a most instructive example in the conduct of the blind man whom Jesus healed. Jesus asked him, " Believest thou in the Son of God ?" The man
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immediately replied, " Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him ? " The whole bias of his soul was towards his God ; and his desire of instruction was for the sole purpose of glorifying God by the strictest possible conformity to his holy will. And if we resemble him in these respects, we are assured, that we shall be enabled to " know of every doctrine whether it be of Goda."
Of course, we must prosecute our search with all diligence. The very word, " Search," imports, that we should sift every word, as miners sift the earth in the pursuit of precious jewels ; and must exercise all our faculties about it, as dogs do in the pursuit of their preyb. A slight and cursory perusal of the Scriptures will be of little use ; nor will a formal habit of reading, as some do, the psalms and lessons for the day, answer the ends for which we are to read the Scriptures. There must be in us a habit of weighing every sentiment, and of imploring God to convey to our minds its true import. Diligence of itself will not avail for the full understanding of the Scriptures. We must have the eyes of our understanding opened by the Spirit of God ; and his aid will only be given to us in answer to fervent prayer. We must, in fact, never approach the Scriptures without that petition of holy David, " Open thou mine eyes, O Lord, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Hence these two, diligence and prayer, are united by Solomon as equally necessary for the attainment of divine knowledge : "If thou apply thine heart to understanding, yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding ; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom : out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding0."