effect upon the heart. There are many other powerful means employed by Divine Providence; but you observe, the chief of them all is in drawing us to revealed truth. Of themselves, they are next to nothing, they cannot enlighten the soul, they cannot teach us the truth or our duty, they cannot show to us the way of salvation, or reveal to us the mind of God; but the whole service which they do, as blessed by God, is to arrest the attention of the thoughtless, and to bring them to study the word of God. But the word of God is essential to this process; it is the appointed means which God ever uses to convert the soul of a sinner. The apostle, therefore, in the 10th chapter of Romans, speaking of the fact that it was the will of God that his servants should preach to the Gentiles, says, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher? So, then, faith cometh by hearing, and by hearing the word of God." Is there any other instrument to enlighten and to comfort the soul? All the use of sermons depends upon their being a faithful exposition of the word of God. If there is any thing of a valuable and religious character, the value consists in it being a faithful exposition of the word of God. But still it is this word presented to the mind in some form or other, either orally by the appointed teachers, by books or tracts, or by direct reading of the book itself. It is the word of God which is the essential instrument for the conversion of a sinner: and when the individual is not brought to an examination of that truth, he fails of attaining the knowledge which is essential to his future welfare.

Often the use of this book is, after a person is brought to God, to restrain him constantly from those things which are evil. This was the use the Psalmist made of it, according to his own statement: " Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I should not sin against thee." That word of God revealing distinctly the enmity-the irreconcilable hatred which God bears to sin-that hatred marked in such an appalling manner, declaring to us, at the same time, the blessedness of God's people, the happiness of a

godly life, and showing us the sacrifice which our Saviour has made, that he might withdraw us from iniquity, and destroy the works of the devil, conveys the most powerful motives to the Christian's mind, to withdraw him from all evil; so that when the word of God is put in his heart, he finds it reaches his affections as well as instructs his understanding, that it operates as the continual check to evil of all kinds, and in all degrees, and leads him to serve and to obey God.

Again, it is the only appointed means by which a Christian shall have his whole progress in holiness secured. It is not enough to say of it, that it has a negative power. It is not meant merely to withdraw us from evil, and to check our evil propensities, but it is just as much calculated to promote in us every holy feeling, and to form every righteous talent. St. Paul, in his 2nd Epistle to Timothy, thus speaks of it :-" All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;" to lead a Christian's mind to perceive all that he ought to be, and to set before him all those great truths which form the grand motives to holy obedience; "that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." There are in that book examples which none of us have adequately imitated, truths which none of us have thoroughly explored; there are in it exhortations which ought to dwell far more in our minds; there are heights of knowledge yet to be attained; and all this is calculated to advance a soul in holiness, and to prepare us for that world of purity to which the children of God shall be, ere long, introduced.

Again, the use of this book is to comfort those that are in sorrow. Nowhere else can we find such powerful consolations for the afflicted Christian. To others it can bring no hope, because it threatens with the loss of all their happiness; it pours light into the enormity of their misconduct; it shows that, apart from God, it is impossible for a sinner to be otherwise than wretched, and therefore it does not, it cannot, bring consolation to one wandering from God. But to those who by grace have been brought to love and to serve him, it presents powerful

motives for consolation and for peace. The apostle Paul has declared this to us when he says, of all the histories of the Old Testament, and therefore assuredly, of all the language of the New, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.' It is calculated to bring patience and comfort to the soul; to make a person endure with moderation and tranquillity all that God appoints, assured as he may be by all the examples of the Divine care in the Old Testament, and by all the promises of his protection in both, that God will never suffer him to be afflicted one moment beyond what is needful, and that all such afflictions shall work out for him substantial good. The Psalmist, although the revelation made to him was then so imperfect, still could find a partial source of joy in his meditation on God's word; and he uses, as many of you will remember, in the 119th Psalm, this remarkable expression,-" Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." That is, when he thought of all that God had revealed of himself and promised to his people, it made his heart break forth into a song of praise, and he could, amidst all the vicissitudes of a very eventful life, still stay himself on the gracious promises God had given.

Then, not to enlarge too much on the subject, you see it is the appointed means for the conversion of a sinner and for the establishment of a saint. It is meant to restrain from every evil propensity, and to nourish in us every holy disposition. It is the appointed way by which we obtain light, life, holiness, self-control, and obedience to the will of God, and affords in all the emergencies of life an adequate and abundant consolation. Surely, therefore, when we think of the value of this blessed book, it is right that it should be placed by the apostle as the chief of all the means of grace. We should do well to listen to that apostolic exhortation,-"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." "It should dwell in us," therefore, we should make ourselves familiar with its truths, and to make those truths rest in our minds we should frequently ponder them and apply them to our own case; we should derive from every promise that support it was

meant to convey; we should in every truth possess that enlargement and elevation of thought it is calculated to bestow, and then "the word of God should dwell in us richly." It is not some of its truths and promises with which we should make ourselves acquainted, but we should wonder and delight ourselves among them all. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." If that divine command were but adequately obeyed, how happy, how holy, how steadfast the lives of Christians would be! Let us determine, my brethren, " that the word of Christ shall dwell in us richly." Let us read it. It is not enough to say that we should read it every day, but when we have thus read it at the hours of stated devotion, let us read it with a view that it may guide us through every day; that it may furnish us with the principle of holy obedience : that it may sustain us in every vexation, govern our temper and disposition in our whole intercourse with our fellow-creatures, strengthen us against temptation, and animate us in every duty. Let us strive to become more and more acquainted with all the great truths it reveals, continually removing some error we have contracted; and then, looking to God the Spirit to become our teacher, or seeking him to sanctify us by his own truth, may we expect to have this word of God answer all those great ends which it fulfils in the cause of God's faithful people.

But this is not, obviously, our whole duty. I will admit it is our first. The word of Christ ought to dwell in us richly, and if it did dwell in us richly it would prove "profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God might be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works."

But when we have so found the value of the word of God, was it meant that we should impart it to none but ourselves? Are we to be enriched with the bounties of God only to look with complacency on the miserable destitution of others?

It is obviously a second duty which the consideration of the value of the word of God imposes upon every believer, to hold forth that word of life. It was this eulogy the Apostle passed on the Philippian Christians, that they, by the excellence of their example among the heathen around them,

held forth the word of life; they exhibited that word to others; they made it apparent what the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel were; they attracted others to learn the doctrines of the Gospel, and thus held forth the word of life. Surely it is in this way, principally, that the children of God ought to endeavour to attract careless persons to the knowledge of the truth. And this is the essential means by which the world must, I believe, be attracted to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. And it is only just in proportion as personal and family religion flourishes among those who profess to believe in Christ, that careless and ungodly persons will be won to a serious and prayerful study of the revelation God has given for themselves, that they also may be converted and saved.

But, besides this, it is incumbent on a believer to hold forth the word of God in a much more extended sense, far beyond the limits of his own personal example. If it was the eulogy of one of the primitive churches, that they held forth the word of life among the heathen of their neighbourhood, should it not be a duty on us to hold forth that word among the heathen of the world? And let us not forget, brethren, that the task were easy, did Christians rise to the full view of their privileges and duty. Surely it is strange. I am persuaded that in a later generation it will be thought unaccountable that 1800 years should have passed away since the Canon of Scripture was completed, since the word of God in all its power and beauty was put into the hands of Christians, revealing, as it does, the only Saviour from eternal wrath, and that word be utterly unknown to a vast majority of the inhabitants of the world.

Not till this our day have the first translations of the sacred book into the vernacular tongues of hundreds of tribes of the earth been made. Hitherto Christians have slumbered in inactivity, as though they disbelieved that very book they professed to receive as the charter of their salvation, the only record of their Maker's will.

When the Almighty God had spoken and revealed from heaven all the truth requisite for man to know, taught his people the way of that truth, and they, hoping to die in