They are in all respects true and just and excellent. There is nothing harsh, nothing defiling, nothing erroneous, nothing arbitrary in them. They have not only authority, but goodness on their side. We may not, in all points, be able to perceive the reasons of the divine declarations. It would be surprising if we could. But shall we not believe that the Judge of all the earth doth right? Shall we not adore what we cannot comprehend? Shall we not esteem all God's precepts concerning all things to be right? Though obscurity rest on some part of the words and judgments of the Almighty, yet shall we not acknowledge, that they are in themselves undoubtedly true and righteous altogether; conceived in eternal wisdom, founded on eternal truth, strictly harmonising with the unchangeable principles of good and evil, precisely and in every respect that which they ought to be? And as to the leading features of the moral government of God, as to the stupendous mercies of redemption, and the offers and terms of salvation, there is no enlightened mind but must at once discover their rectitude and excellency. They are clean from all dross or alloy; they are free from all error; they are completely true and righteous.

It is a further property of the word of God, that, AS A COMMANDMENT, IT IS PURE. The Bible is a clear and perspicuous rule of duty. Like the light of the sun, (to which the word rendered pure may allude,) it is lucid and brilliant, without any mixture of darkness. The perspicuity of Holy Writ is as remarkable as its other qualities. It manifests itself without difficulty. Its pure doctrine has no need of elaborate proofs, reasonings, or study. It enters, through the power of the Spirit, into the mind, and discovers itself by its own brightness. It seizes the conscience, and silences the vain cavils of passion. Other books are debased by obscure and

confused sentiments and positions; this is pure and luminous, in all essential points, as heaven itself. Nor is this all. It is next spoken of as ETERNAL. The laws of men are mutable. Even the ceremonial law, though divinely revealed, yet being designed only for a time, was abolished when Christ appeared. But the word of God, in all its main and essential characters, as leading to the habitual fear of his name, endureth for ever. The obligations of revealed truth are perpetual. They vary not with times and circumstances. The blessings of it, the

rewards, the effects are unchangeable. The moral precepts of God are immutable. The life proposed by the Gospel, and the redemption which it reveals, are eternal. Heaven in which it terminates will know no end. He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

These, then, are the properties of the Sacred Scriptures; and they all combine to impress upon us the AUTHORITY of divine truth. The several expressions to which we have adverted-law, testimony, statutes, commandments, fear, judgments,-all tend to enforce on us a most reverential sense of the importance and weight of Holy Scripture. It is not a vain thing. Religion is not a matter left to our choice. The Sacred Writings are not to be perverted or rejected at our pleasure. They come with a divine commission, and speak to us in the name of God.

But properties of themselves are of little moment, unless they appear in correspondent effects.

Let us proceed then to consider,

II. THE SURPRISING EFFECTS WHICH THE WORD OF GOD PROduces.

It produces conversion, wisdom, joy, illumination, and fear.

IT CONVERTS THE SOUL. "The word of God,"

ΤΟ

THE INHABITANTS

OF THE

PARISH OF ST. ANDREW, HOLBORN,

AND OTHERS, WHO USUALLY FORM

THE CONGREGATION

AT

St. John's Chapel, Bedford Row,

THESE SERMONS,

ORIGINALLY ADDRESSED TO THEM,

AND NOW PUBLISHED

WITH THE DESIGN OF SUPPLYING IN SOME DEGREE THE

DEFICIENCY OF PERSONAL INTERCOURSE,

ARE,

WITH FERVENT PRAYER FOR THE DIVINE BLESSING,

MOST AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED,

BY THE AUTHOR.