SERMON XVI.

THE WORD OF GOD.

MATTHEW iv. 4.

It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

NOTHING can give a better idea of the power and sublimity of the word of the gospel, than the images employed by Jesus Christ to foretell its effects. At one time it is a sacred sword, which is to divide father from child, husband from wife, brother from sister, and man from himself; to bend all minds under the yoke of faith, to subjugate the Cesars, to triumph over sages and the learned, and to exalt the standard of the cross upon the wrecks of idols and of empires; and through this we are shown its might, which the whole world hath been unable to resist.

At one time it is a divine fire, spread in an instant throughout the earth, which dissolves mountains, depopVol. I.

58

ulates cities, peoples the forest, reduces to ashes profane temples, inflames the minds of men, and makes them fly, like madmen, to death, in the sight of whole nations; and under these symbolical traits are figured to us the promptitude of its operations, and the rapidity of its victories.

Again, it is a mysterious leaven, which joins and reunites the whole mass, binds all its parts together, and impresses upon them one general stamp of efficacy and virtue; overthrows the distinctions of Jew and Gentile, of Greek and Barbarian, and gives to all the same name and the same being: and thus may you comprehend how great must be its sanctity and inward might, seeing it hath purified the whole universe, and of all nations made but one people.

At another time it is as a seed, which at first appears lost in the earth, but afterwards springs up, and multiplies an hundred fold. And thus may you see, that the fecundity arises not from the husbandman who sows, but from the invisible Author who giveth the increase.

But in the text, Jesus Christ compares it to bread, which serves as the food of man; and he thereby means to inform us, that the word of the gospel is a powerful and solid nourishment, often pernicious to such as receive it into a diseased and corrupted heart, and useful only to souls who, with an holy appetite, nourish themselves with it, and bring to this place a heart prepared to listen to it.

To confine myself then to this idea, I shall say nothing of the wonders which this word, announced by twelve poor and humble men, formerly wrought throughout the universe. I shall pass over in silence the sanctity of its doctrine, the sublimity of its counsels, the

wisdom of its maxims; and limiting myself to the instruction, and to that which may render the word of the gospel which we announce beneficial to you, I shall inform you, in the first place, what are the dispositions which ought to accompany you to this holy place for the purpose of hearing it; and, secondly, in what disposition you ought afterwards to listen to it: two duties which are not only neglected, but even unknown to the greatest part of the believers, who run in crowds to the Christian pulpit, and which are the usual cause of our ministry being attended with so little fruit.

PART I. It is not the substance of external works, says St. Augustin, which distinguishes the just from carnal Christians: it is the invisible spirit which animates them. Pious actions are frequently common to the good and to the wicked; it is the disposition of the heart which discriminates them. All run, says the Apostle, but all reach not the goal, for it is not the same spirit which impels them.

Now, to apply this maxim to my subject; of all the duties of Christian piety, there is undoubtedly none of which the external part is more equally fulfilled by the worldly, and by the pious, than that of coming to hear the word of the gospel. All run in crowds, like the Israelites formerly to the foot of the holy mountain, to hear the words of the law. Our churches are hardly sufficient to contain the multitude of believers: profane assemblies separate, in order to swell the audience of the holy assembly at the hours of instruction; and an age which has seen the zeal of Christians so relaxed on every other duty of religion, has not, it would seem, witnessed its failure in this point. Nevertheless, of all the ministries confided to the church for the consummation

of the chosen, there is scarcely any so unprofitable as that of the word; and the most efficacious means which the church hath, in every age, employed for the conversion of men, is become, at present, its feeblest resource. You, my brethren, are yourselves a melancholy proof of this truth. Never was instruction more frequent than in our days, and never was conversion so rare.

It is of importance, therefore, to explain the causes of so common and so deplorable an abuse: now, the first undoubtedly arises from the want of those dispositions which ought to accompany you to this holy place, in order to listen to the word of salvation. And surely, if St. Paul formerly commanded all believers to purify themselves before coming to eat of the bread of life; if he declared to them, that to confound it with ordinary food was to render themselves guilty of the body of the Lord; we have no less reason to tell you, that you ought to prove yourselves, and to prepare your soul, before you come to participate in that spiritual food which we break for the people; and that to confound it with the word of men, in your manner of listening to it, is to render yourselves guilty even of the word of Jesus Christ.

The first disposition required of you by the sanctity of this word, when you come to hear it, is a sincere desire that it may be useful to you. Before coming to our temples, you ought privately, in your own house, to address yourself to the Father of Light, to entreat Him to bestow upon you that ear of the heart which alone makes His voice heard; to give to His word that efficacy, that inward unction, and those attractions so powerful and so successful in the conversion of sinners; to overcome that insensibility which you have manifested to all the truths hitherto heard; to fix those momentary feelings which

you have so often experienced while listening to us, but which have never been productive of any consequences towards your salvation; to give us that zeal, that wisdom, that dignity, that fullness of His Spirit, those piercing lights, that divine vehemence which carries convic tion to the heart, and which never speaks in vain; to create in our hearts the relish of those truths which He putteth in our mouths; to render us insensible to your praise, or to your censure, in order that we may be more useful to your wants, that the ardent desire to accomplish your salvation, may fully compensate for the want of the talents denied to us by nature, and that we may honour our ministry, not by seeking to please, but to save you.

And, surely, if the Israelites, before approaching Mount Sinai to hear the words of the law which the angel was to announce to them, were obliged, by the order of the Lord, to purify themselves, to wash their garments, and even to abstain from the holy duties of marriage, in order to prepare themselves for that grand operation, and to carry nothing to the foot of the mountain unworthy of the sanctity of the law they went to hear; is it not, says a holy father, much more reasonable, when you come to hear the words of a more holy law, to bring there at least those marks of faith, of piety, and of external respect, which evince in you a sincere desire of conforming to those maxims which we preach to you? What, my brethren! are the precepts of Jesus Christ, the words of eternal life, to be listened to with less precaution than the ordinances of a figurative law? Is it because they are no longer announced to you by an angel from heaven? But are not we, equally as he, the instruments of God to promulgate His word, and like Him,