Page:Excellency of the knowledge of Christ crucified.pdf/23

( 23 ) leave that laſt of all, which he has put firſt of all: at leaſt, whatever place they align it in their prayers, it ſhould have great room in their hearts, and never be mentioned but with vency of ſoul.

3. a ſhameful thing is it that ſo many of the daily hearers of the goſpel ſhould be groſsly ignorant of Chriſt? Ah my brethren, great numbers among us "are deſtroyed for lack of knowledge!" and the caſe is not that they cannot get it, but that they are not for it. Their ignorance is not ſimple and involuntary, but willful and affected. The light is come unto them, but like bats and owls, they hate it, and "chuſe darkneſs rather becauſe their deeds are evil." They ſay unto God, "Depart from us; for we deſire not the knowledge at thy ways." (Job xxi. 14.) Well, remember, the day is faſt approaching, "When he will come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on all them that know not God, and obey not the goſpel."

4. beſt among us, whether miniſters or private Chriſtians, have reaſon to lament and be aſhamed that we have made ſo little progreſs in the knowledge of Chriſt crucified. Alas! "we are yet but as babes in Chriſt, and ſuch as have need of milk and not of ſtrong meat, being unſkillful in the word of righteouſneſs." (Heb. v. 13. 14.) Let us then ſhake of ſloth and indolence;—let us ſequeſtrate ourſelves from the buſtle and noiſe to a vain vexatious world, and betake ourſelves more cloſely to the ſtudy and contemplation of the moſt glorious object; in other words, Chriſt and him crucified. Angels are our condiſciples and fellow ſtudents in this myſtery, though their concern therein be not equal with ours. It was our nature that he aſſumed, and not the nature of angels;—it was for us he laid down his precious life, and not for them;—we have the honour to be members of his myſtical body, not they!—unto us is the goſpel preached, not unto them. But they love to hear Chriſt preached, and therefore they attend our worſhipping aſſembles, and learn the manifold wiſdom of God from the church. So much the Apoſtle intimates, when he ſays, "To this intent, that now unto principalities and powers, in heavenly places, might be made known by the church, the manifold wiſdom of God." (Eph. iii 10.). Let theſe conſiderations excite us unto a more earneſt and diligent ſtudy of Jeſus Chriſt, whom to know is life eternal."