and aggravate their misfortunes. In their former captivities they had the comfort of being conveyed to the fame place; they dwelt together in the land of Goshen, they were carried together to Babylon: but now they are difperied all over the face of the earth. What nation hath fuffered fo much, and yet endured fo long? what nation hath fubfiited as a distinct people in their own country, fo long as thefe have done in their difperfion into all countries and what a #tanding miracle is this exhibited to the view and obfervation of the whole world? Here are inftances of prophecies, of prophecies delivered above three thousand years ago, and yet as we fee fulfilling in the world at this very time: and what itronger proofs can we defire of the divine legation of Mofes? How thefe inftances may affect others, I know not; but for myself I must acknowledge, they not only convince, but amaze and aftonith me beyond expreflion. They are truly, as Mofes foretold they would be, " a fign and a wonder for ever," ver. 45, 46. « Moreover all thefe curfes fhall come upon thee, and thall parfue thee and overtake thee, till thou be deftroyed, because thou hearkenedit not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments, and his ftatutes which he commanded thee: and they fhall be upon thee for a fign and for a wonder, and upon thy feed for ever." Bifop Newton. $176. The Excellence of Scripture. The incomparable excellency which is in the facred Scriptures, will fully appear, if we confider the matters contained in them under this threefold capacity. 1. As matters of divine revelation. 2. As a rule of life. 3. As containing that covenant of grace which relates to man's eternal happiness. 1. Confider the Scripture generally, as containing in it matters of divine revelation, and therein the excellency of the Scripture appears in two things. 1. The matters which are revealed. 2. The manner in which they are revealed. 1. The matters which are revealed in Scripture, may be confidered thefe three ways. 1. As they are matters of the greatest weight and moment. 2. As matters of the greateft depth and myfterioufnefs. 3. As matters of the most univerfal fatisfaction to the minds of men. 1. They are matters of the greateft moment and importance for men to know. The wifdom of men is most known by the weight of the things they speak; and therefore that wherein the wifiom of God is difcovered, cannot contain any thing that is mean and trivial; they must be matters of the highest importance, which the Supreme Ruler of the world vouchsafes to fpeak to men concerning and fuch we fhall find the matters which God hath revealed in his word to be, which either concern the rectifying our apprehenfions of his nature, or making known to men their ftate and condition, or difcovering the way whereby to avoid eternal mifery. Now which is there of these three, which, fuppofing God to discover his mind to the world, it doth not highly become him to fpeak to men of? 1. What is there which doth more highly concern men to know, than God himself? or what more glorious and excellent object could he difcover than himself to the world? There is nothing certainly which thould more commend the Scriptures to us, than that thereby we may grow more acquainted with God; that we may know more of his nature, and all his perfections, and many of the great reafons of his actings in the world. We may by them underftand with fafety what the eternal purpofes of God were as to the way of man's recovery by the death of his Son; we may there fee and underland the great wisdom of God; not only in the contrivance of the world, and ordering of it, but in the gradual revelations of himfelf to his people, by what steps he trained up his church till the fulness of time was come; what his aim was in laying such a load of ceremonies on his people of the Jews; by what fteps and degrees he made way for the full revelation of his will to the world by speaking in these last days by his Son, after he had fpoke at fundry times and divers manners by the prophets, &c. unto the fathers. In the Scriptures we read the most rich and admirable difcoveries of divine goodness, and all the ways and methods he ufeth in alluring finners to himself; with what majesty he commands, with what condefcenfion he intreats, with what importunity he woos men's fouls to be reconciled to him; with what favour he embraceth, with what tenderness he chaflifeth, with what bowels he pitieth those who have chofen him to be their God! With what power he fupporteth, with what wifdom he directeth, with what cordials he refresheth the fouls of of fuch who are dejected under the sense of his difpleasure, and yet their love is fincere towards him! With what profound humility, what holy boldnefs, what becoming diitance, and yet what reftlefs importunity do we therein find the fouls of God's people addreffing themfelves to him in prayer! With what chearfulness do they ferve him, with what confidence do they trust him, with what refolution do they adhere to him in all freights and difficulties, with what patience do they fubmit to his will in their greatest extremities! How fearful are they of fining against God, how careful to pleafe him, how regard lefs of fuffering, when they mut choose either that or finning, how little apprehenfive of men's difpleafure, while they enjoy the favour of God! Now all these things which are fo fully and pathetically expreffed in Scripture, do bundantly fet forth to us the exuberancy and pleonasm of God's grace and goodnefs towards his people, which makes them delight fo much in him, and be so fenfible of his difpleasure. But above all other dicoveries of God's goodnefs, his fending Son into the world to die for finners, is at which the Scripture fets forth with the greatest life and eloquence. By eloquence, I mean not an artificial compofure of words, but the gravity, weight, and perfuafiveness of the matter contained in them. And what can tend more to melt our frozen hearts into a current of thankful obedience to God, than the vigorous refection of the beams of God's love through Jefus Chrift upon us? Was there ever fo great an expreffion of love heard of! nay, was it poffible to be imagined, that that God who perfectly hates fin, fhould himself offer the pardon of it, and fend his Son into the world to fecure it to the faner, who doth fo heartily repent of his fins, as to deny felf, and take up his crots and follow Chrift! Well might the Apostle fay, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jefus Chrift came into the world to fave fingers" How dry and plefe are all the voluminous difcourfes of paikfophers, compared with this fentence! How jejune and wafatisfactory are all the difcoveries they had of God and his good zels, in comparison of what we have by the Gofpel of Christ! Well might Faxl then fag, That be determined to know nothing but Chrit and him crucifed." Caff crucified is the library which arium a fouls will be fudying in to alleternity. This is the only library which to commend is the true arpio us, that which cures the foul of all its maladies and diftempers; other knowledge makes men's minds giddy and flatulent, this fettles and compofes them; other knowledge is apt to fwell men into high conceits and opinions of themselves, this brings them to the trueft view of themfelves, and thereby to humility and fobriety; other knowledge leaves men's hearts as it found them, this alters them and makes them better. So tranfcendant an excellency is there in the knowledge of Christ crucified above the fublimeft fpeculations in the world. If And is not this an ineftimable benefit we enjoy by the Scripture, that therein we can read and converfe with all these expreffions of God's love and goodness, and that in his own language? Shall we admire and praife what we meet with in Heathen philofophers, which is generous and hand fome; and fhall we not adore the infinite fulness of the Scriptures, which ran over with continued expreffions of that and a higher nature? What folly is it to magnify thofe lean kine, the notions of philofophers, and to contemn the fat, the plenty and fulness of the Scriptures? there be not far more valuable and excellent difcoveries of the divine nature and perfections, if there be not far more excellent directions and rules of practice in the Sacred Scriptures, than in the sublimest of all the philofophers, then let us leave our fuli ears, and feed upon the thin. But certainly no feber and rational spirit, that pats any value upon the knowledge of God, but on the fame account that he doth prize the difcourfes of any philofophers concerning God, he cannot but fet a value of a far higher nature on the Word of God. And as the goodness of God is thus difcovered in Scripture, fo is his juftice and holiness: we have therein recorded the most remarkable judgments of God upon contumacious finners, the feveret denunciations of a judgment to come against all that live in fin, the exa&ef precepts of holinefs in the world; and what can be defwed more to difcover the holiness of God, than we find in Scripture concerning him? If therefore acquaintance with the nature, perfection, defigns of fo excellent a being as God is, be a thing desirable to human nature, we have the greateft caufe to admire the excellency and adore the fulness of the Scriptures, which gives fa large, national, and compleat account of the being and attributes of God. And which tends yet more to commend the Scriptures to us, thofe things which the Scripture doth most fully difcover concerning God, do not at all contradict thofe primeand common notions which are in our natures concerning him, but do exceedingly advance and improve them, and tend the most to regulate our conceptions and apprehenfions of God, that we may not mifcarry therein, as otherwife men are apt to do. For it being natural to men fo far to love themselves, as to fet the greateft value upon thofe excellencies which they think themselves moft mafters of: thence men come to be exceedingly mistaken in their apprehenfions of a deity, fome attributing one thing as a perfection, another a different thing, according to their humours and inclinations. Thus imperious felf-willed men are apt to cry up God's abfolute power and dominion as his greatest perfection; eafy and foft-fpirited men his patience and goodness; fevere and rigid men his juftice and feverity: every one according to his humour and temper, making his god of his own complexion: and not only fo, but in things remote enough from being perfections at all, yet because they are fuch things as they prize and value, they fuppofe of neceffity they must be in God, as is evident in the Epicureans aragagia, by which they exclude providence, as hath already been obferved. And withal confidering how very difficult it is for one who really believes that God is of a pure, juft, and holy nature, and that he hath grievoufly offended him by his fins, to believe that this God will pardon him upon true repentance: it is thence neceffary that God fhould make known himself to the world, to prevent our misconceptions of his nature, and to affure a fufpicious, becaufe guilty creature, how ready he is to pardon iniquity, tranfgreffion and fin, to fuch as unfeignedly repent of their follies, and return unto himself. Though the light of nature may dictate much to us of the benignity and goodness of the divine nature, yet it is hard to conceive that that should difcover further than God's general goodness to fuch as pleafe him: but no foundation can be gathered thence of his readiness to pardon offenders, which being an act of grace, muft alone be discovered by his will. I cannot think the fun, moon, and stars are fuch itinerant preachers, as to unfold unto us the whole counfel and will of God in reference to man's acceptance with God upon repentance. It is not every ftar in the firmament can do that which the ftar once did to the wife men, lead them unto Chrift. The fun in the heavens is no Parelius to the fun of righteoufnefs. The best astronomer will never find the day-star from on high in the reft of his number. What St. Austin faid of Tully's works, is true of the whole volume of the creation. There are admirable things to be found in them: but the name of Chrift is not legible there. The work of redemption is not engraven on the works of providence; if it had, a particular divine revelation had been unneceffary, and the apostles were fent on a needlefs errand, which the world had underfood without their preaching, viz. "That God was in Chrift reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing to men their trefpaffes, and hath committed to them the miniftry of reconciliation." the word of reconciliation committed to them, if it were common to them with the whole frame of the world? and the apoffle's quære elsewhere might have been cafily anfwered, How can men hear without a preacher? for then they might have known the way of falvation, without any fpecial meffengers fent to deliver it to them. I grant that God's long-fuffering and patience is intended to lead men to repen tance, and that fome general collections might be made from providence of the placability of God's nature, and that God never left himfelf without a witness of his goodness in the world, being kind to the unthankful, and doing good, in giving rain and fruitful feafons. But though thefe things might fufficiently difcover to fuch who were apprehenfive of the guilt of fin that God did not act according to his greateft feverity, and thereby did give men encouragement to hearken out and enquire after the true way of being reconciled to God; yet all this amounts not to a firm foundation for faith as to the remiffion of fin, which doth fuppofe God himfelf pub lifhing an act of grace and indemnity to the world, wherein he affures the pardon of fin to fuch as truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gofpel. Now is not this an ineftimable advantage we enjoy by the Scriptures, that therein we understand what God himself hath discovered of his own nature and perfections, and of his readiness to pardon fin upon thofe gracious terms of faith and repentance, and that which neceffarily follows from thefe two, hearty and fincere obedience ? 2. The Scriptures give the most faithful reprefentation of the ftate and condition of the foul of man. The world was almost loft in difputes concerning the nature, condition, and immortality of the foul before divine revelation was made known to mankind by the gofpel of Chrift; but life and immortality was brought to light by the gospel," and the future ftate of the foul of man, not discovered in an uncertain Platonical way, but with the greatest light and evidence from that God who hath the fupreme difpofal of fouls, and therefore best knows and understands then. The Scriptures plainly and fully reveal a judgment to come, in which God hal judge the fecrets of all hearts, when every one mult give an account of himself to God, and God will call men to give an account of their stewardship here, of all the receipts they have had from him, and the expences they have been at, and the improvements they have made of the talents e put into their hands. So that the gofre of Christ is the fullest inftrument of the covery of the certainty of the future ftate he foul, and the conditions which abide on its being diflodged from the body. Ba this is not all which the Scripture difters as to the ftate of the foul; for it Lot only a profpective-glafs, reaching to future ftate, but it is the most faithful ng-glafs, to difcover all the spots and -formities of the foul: and not only fhews Viere they are, but whence they came, at their nature is, and whither they d. The true original of all that difer and difcompofure which is in the foul man, is only fully and fatisfactorily ven us in the Word of God. The ature and working of this corrupca in man, had never been fo clearly anfested, had not the law and will of od been difcovered to the world; It is the glafs whereby we fee e fecret workings of thofe bees in our ts, the corruptions of our natures; that forth the folly of our imaginations, 4 unruliness of our paffions, the diftemcf our wills, and the abundant deceit is of our hearts. And it is hard for e mot Elephantine finner (one of the et magnitude) fo to trouble thefe ters, as not therein to discover the eatness of his own deformities. But twhich tends most to awaken the wy, fenfelefs fpirits of men, the Scripre doth most fully defcribe the tendency corruption," that the wages of fin is ," and the iffue of continuance in fin will be the everlafting mifery of the foul, in a perpetual feparation from the prefence of Ged, and undergoing the lashes and feverities of confcience to all eternity. What a great difcovery is this of the faithfulness of God to the world, that he fuffers not men to undo themselves without letting them know of it before hand, that they might avoid it! God feeks not to entrap mens fouls, nor doth he rejoice in the mifery and ruin of his creatures, but fully declares to them what the confequence and iffue of their finful practices will be, affures them of a judgment to come, declares his own future feverity against contumacious finners, that they might not think themselves furprised, and that if they had known there had been fo great danger in fin, they would never have been fuch fools as for the fake of it to run into eternal mifery. Now God to prevent this, with the greatest plainnefs and faithfulness, hath fhewed men the nature and danger of all their fins, and afks them before hand what they will do in the end thereof; whether they are able to bear his wrath, and wrestle with everlafling burnings? if not, he bids them bethink themfelves of what they have done already, and repent and amend their lives, left iniquity prove their ruin, and deftruction overtake them, and that without remedy. Now if men have cause to prize and value a faithful monitor, one that tenders their good, and would prevent their ruin, we have caufe exceedingly to prize and value the Scriptures, which give us the trueft reprefentation of the state and condition of our fouls. 3. The Scripture difcovers to us the only way of pleafing God and enjoying his favour. That clearly reveals the way (which man might have fought for to all eternity without particular revelation) whereby fins may be pardoned, and whatever we do may be acceptable unto God. It fhews us that the ground of our acceptance with God, is through Christ, whom he hath made "a propitiation for the fins of the world," and who alone is the true and living way, whereby we may draw near to God with a true heart, in full affurance of faith, having our hearts fprinkled from an evil confcience."Through Chrift we understand the terms on which God will fhew favour and grace to the world, and by him we have ground of a approa accefs with freedom and boldness unto God. On his account we may hope not only for grace to fubdue onr fins, refift temptations, conquer the devil and the world; world; but having "fought this good fight, and finished our courfe, by patient continu nce in well doing, we may july look for glory, honour, and immortality," and that crown of righteoufnefs which is laid up for the ie who wait in faith," holinef, and humility for the appearance of Chi from heaven. Now what things can there be of greater monient and importance for men to know, or God to reve, than the nature of God and our felves, the ftate and condition of our fouls, the only way to avoid eternal mifery and enjoy ever'afting blifs! The Scriptures cifcover not only matters of importance, but of the greatest depth and mysterioufnefs. There are many wonderful things in the law of God, things we may admire, but are never able to comprehend. Such are the eternal purpofes and decrees of God, the doctrine of the Trinity, the incarnation of the Son of God, and the manner of the operation of the Spirit of God upon the fouls of men, which are all things of great weight and moment for us to understand and believe that they are, and yet may be unfearchable to our reafon, as to the particular manner of them. The Scripture comprehends matters of the most univerfal fatisfaction to the minds of men; though many things do much exceed our apprehenfions, yet others are most fuitable to the dictates of our nature, As Origen bid Celfus fee, il μà xà ñs wisews ἡμων ταις κοιναῖς ἐννοιαίς αρχιθεν συνα χορεύονια, μετατίθησι της ευγνωμονως ἀκύοντας Teyou, whether it was not the agreeableness of the principles of faith with the common notions of human nature, which prevailed most upon all candid and ingenuous auditors of them. And therefore, as Socrates faid of Heraclitus's books, What he understood was excellent, and therefore he fuppofed that which he did not underftand was fo too: fo ought we to fay of the Scriptures: if thofe things which are within our capacity be fo fuitable to our natures and reafons, thofe cannot contradict our reafon which yet are above them, There are many things which the minds of men were fufficiently affured that they were, yet were to feek for fatisfaction concerning them, which they could never have had without divine revelation. As the nature of true happinefs, wherein it lay, and how to be obtained, which the philo. fophers were fo puzzled with, the Scriptures give us full fatisfaction concerning it. True contentment under the troubles of life, which the Scripture only acquaints us with the true grounds of; and all the prescriptions of Heathen moralifts fall as much fhort of, as the directions of an empiric do of a wife aud fkilful phyfician. Avoiding the fears of death, which can alone be through a grounded expectation of a future ftate of happiness which death leads men to, which cannot be had but through the right understanding of the Word of God. Thus we fee the excellency of the matters themselves contained in this revelation of the mind of God to the world. As the matters themselves are of an excellent nature, fo is the manner where in they are revealed in the Scriptures; and that, 1. In a clear and perfpicuous manner; not but there may be ftill fome paffages which are hard to be underflood, as being either prophetical, or confifting of ambi guous phrafes, or containing matters above our comprehenfion; but all thofe things which concern the terms of man's falvation, are delivered with the greatest evidence and perfpicuity. Who cannot understand what these things mean, "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"-that "without faith it is impoffible to please God"-that "without holiness none shall fee the Lord" that "unless we be born again we can never enter into the kingdom of heaven:" there and fuch like things are fo plain and clear, that it is nothing but mens fhutting their eyes against the light can keep them from understanding them; God intende thefe things as directions to men; and he not able to speak intelligibly when he pleafes? He that made the tongue, ha! he not speak fo as to be understood with. out an infallible interpreter? efpeciali when it is his defign to make known to men the terms of their eternal happiness? Will God judge men at the great day for not believing thofe things which they could not understand? Strange, that ever men fhould judge the Scriptures obfcure in matters neceflary, when the Scripture accounts it fo great a judgment for men no to understand them." If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are loft; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, le the light of the glorious gofpel of Chrif fhould fhine unto them." Sure Lot's door |