say ?" ' It is a disgrace to thee to be pleased with the acclamations of weak, silly children ; or of an ignorant and infatuated mob''.' Yes, these, who should have been the foremost to encourage early piety, were the very first to repress it. But our Lord repelled their objection by an unanswerable appeal to Scrip- ture : " Have ye never read. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise'^?"
Now, from these words I shall take occasion to shew,
I. That the Scriptures are the standard by which every thing must be tried —
[By them must all our sentiments be formed, and all our conduct regulated. The Apostles continually, in support of their doctrines, refer to them. It is a frequent expression of St. Paul, " But what saith the Scripture ? " And to that must our appeal also be made, on every occasion. Then, if our views or actions be blamed, we have at least a rule whereby they may be judged : and if they be in accordance with that rule, we need feel no concern, even though they be condemned by the whole world. There are in the Christian system, and in the Christian life too, many things which, by an ungodly world, are accounted foolishness ; and we must expect that those things will be disapproved in us. But, when blamed on account of those things, we should mildly reply, ' Have ye never read such or such declarations in Holy Writ ? You think my views of man's fall are too gloomy : but have ye never read, "The carnal mind is enmity with God?" You think that I carry my religious zeal too far : but have you never read, " The love of Christ constraineth us to live to Him who died for us, and rose again ? " ' Thus always bring both yourselves and others to the Scriptures, as the only test of truth : for so hath God directed us : " To the word and to the testimony : if men speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them^"]
In this way you will be able to shew,
•^ The word iraiSag may probably mean servants and followers, rather than mere children.
^ The words used by David are, " Thou hast ordained strength." See Ps. viii. 2. But our Lord quoted, as the Apostles after him fre- quently did, from the Septuagint Translation, and not from the Hebrew. The meaning, however, is the same in both : God mani- fests his strength, and glorifies his name, in using weak instruments to effect his purposes.
e Isai. viii. 20.