[He knows that nothing short of a discovery of Christ will ever save the soul. If we speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if we have faith that can remove mountains, if we give all our goods to feed the poor, and our body to be burned, and have not that view of Christ which fills our souls with love to God and man, it profiteth us nothing ^ Not even a knowledge of Christ himself will be of any effectual service, if we do not see the Divine perfections united in him and glorified in the redemption which he has wrought out for us. Hence, in every dispensation, whether of providence or of grace, he aims at leading sinners to the perfect knowledge of his Son : nor can he ever look upon them with pleasure and complacency till this be accomplished.]
This subject will clearly shew us,
1. The value of our souls —
[Shall two such great powers interest themselves so much about us, and we imagine that our souls are of little worth ? Surely that which incessantly occupies their attention must well deserve our incessant care ]
2. Our state before God —
[Let us not ask ourselves merely whether we be moral or immoral, but whether the scales have ever fallen from our eyes, and the glory of Christ been ever revealed to our souls ? We must be made sensible that Satan once blinded us ; that through his influence we were in unbelief; that nothing but a light from heaven could dispel this darkness ; and that such a revelation of Christ to the soul is the only possible source of life and salvation. Let us inquire whether we have ever felt that conviction, and whether, under the influence of it, we have sought and obtained that divine illumination ? This is the criterion by which we must judge ourselves, and by which our state will be determined to all eternity.]
3. The constant duty of our lives —
[Though we are not to neglect our earthly calling, we must seek above all to " grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ:" even after we have been enlightened, we need be careful lest Satan blind us again and again '^. We should seek continually the illumination of God's Spirit, and, by increasing views of Christ's glory, to be changed into his image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord"^.]
^ 1 Cor. xiii. 1—3.
c The falls of David, Solomon, and others, should put us on GUI' guard.
^ Tf this were the subject of a Visitation or Ordination Sermon, it would be proper to shew in this place the duty of ministers to '* preach Christ," and to " know nothing but Christ," in all their ministrations ; since nothing but that will save the souls of those to wliom they minister.