or scriptural ; but in a conformity of heart and life to the will of God. We must not, however, mistake, as though our works were the foundation whereon we are to build {tlial would indeed be a foundation of sand) : Christ is the only foundation of a sinner's hope''; the only rock on which we must build: but then we must shew that we do build on him, by the super- structure which we raise upon him : and if the superstructure be not such as to prove that we are founded on him, our hopes of standing in the day of judgment are vain and delusive.]
2. The excellence of practical religion —
[A house, whose foundation is deep, and fixed upon a rock, will stand, whatever storms or tempests may beat upon it. And thus it is with the practical and consistent Christian. His principles will bear him up in the day of adversity : he may defy all the hosts both of men and devils ; for none shall ever separate him from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord'. And when the most specious structures shall fall, to the confusion and ruin of those who erected them, the wise builder shall dwell secure amidst the desolating judgments and the wreck of worlds.]
i 1 Cor. iii. 13. '^ 1 Cor. iii. 11. • Rom, viii. 38, 39.
1335.] THE EFFECT OF OUR LORD's PREACHING. 283
THE EFFECT OF OUR LORd's PREACHING.
Matt. vii. 28, 29. And it came to pass, ivhen Jesus had ended these sayings, the jJeople were astonished at his doctrine : for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes.
IT has been thought by many, that this which is called the Sermon on the Mount, was not delivered at one time, but is only a collection of sayings which at different times were used by our Lord. But, as our Lord went through all the cities, towns, and villages of Judaea, instructing the people, it is reason- able to suppose, that he should frequently deliver the same truths in nearly the same expressions, because the same instructions were necessary for all. The repetition of them therefore, at different times, and at distant places, is no reason at all why they should not now have been delivered all at once, when so great a multitude was attending his ministry, and he had gone up upon a mountain for the purpose of addressing them to more advantage. Moreover, the words before us clearly shew, that this was one con- tinued sermon ; or rather, that these were the chief topics contained in it, together with the principal illustrations of them.
Having successively considered all the different parts of this sermon, we now come to notice, L The peculiar character of our Lord's preaching —
We shall not enter upon the subject of his ministry at large, but confine our attention to the discourse before us ; which, both in the matter and in the manner, appears to have been well calculated to make a deep impression on his audience.
The things with which they appear to have been particularly affected, were,
\. His wisdom —
[Tliere was an astonishing depth in all that he spoke. His knoivledge of the divine laiv was such, as infinitely sur- passed all that even their most eminent prophets had ever manifested. David had acknowledged his inability to explore