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wherewith the priests should bless the people. "On this wise," saith he, "ye shall bless the children of Israel; The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Where Jehovah, the Lord, is thrice repeated, and in the original hath in each place a several accent, to denote, as the Jews themselves acknowledge, some great mystery; which can be no other but the most blessed Trinity, all the three Persons whereof are here called, every one, the Lord, Jehovah. The Father is placed first; but the blessings bestowed severally by each Person are the same which are ascribed to them in my text. And when the priest pronounced this blessing to the people (as we still do in the visitation of the sick), God promised that he himself would accordingly bless them. And if you faithfully and devoutly receive it as you ought, I do not question but he will do so now, upon my pronouncing in his name the same blessing, according to this apostolical form in my text, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen."

4 Numb. vi. 24-26.

SERMON V.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST PREFERABLE TO ALL OTHER.

1 COR. ii. 2.

"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

Ir having pleased our great Creator to endue us with such principles of reason and understanding, whereby we are capable of knowing himself, his will, his works, and all things necessary to our serving and enjoying him, and likewise to fill us at first with such knowledge, as much as we could hold; although by the fall of our first parents our brains are shattered, and all our faculties so disordered and out of tune, that now we actually know but very little, if any thing at all, as we ought; yet, our capacities still remaining, we cannot but long to have them filled again. And hence it is, that all men naturally desire knowledge; and how much soever a man knows, he still desires to know more. And seeing no one man can possibly attain the knowledge of all things that are to be known, men seem to offer at making up that defect, by undertaking them severally; some to find out one thing, and some another, according to their several tempers, inclinations, and circumstances; and then to communicate their inventions, for the increase of each other's knowledge. As

some are only for observing the phenomena, or outward appearance; others are for prying into the secrets of nature, and the first principles by which every thing in its place acteth under God: some are for taking the dimensions of the earth, and particular places in it; others are for calculating the motions of the heavens, and those immense bodies that move or seem to move there. This man keeps close to his plain mathematical demonstrations; another soars aloft among high metaphysical notions and subtle speculations. One man is for searching into the mysteries of several arts, that have been invented and practised in the world; a second is for understanding the languages that are spoken in several nations; a third is for learning how to put words and sentences so neatly or so cunningly together, as to make them the more pleasing to the ears, or more forcible upon the minds, of those who hear them. Thus I might instance in every thing that mankind is capable of knowing; for, whatsoever it is, some or other are always employing their thoughts about it. And if a man finds out any thing which he did not know before, or if he doth but think he doth so, it is a mighty pleasure and satisfaction to his mind, because it tends towards the filling up that vacuum which was there, by reason of his not knowing so much as he was capable of.

But there is one sort of knowledge which few people endeavour after, although it would do them more good, and therefore ought to be preferred before all the languages, arts, and sciences in the world besides, howsoever useful they may be in their respective places. What that is, I shall not undertake to determine, but leave that to one, whom we cannot but acknowledge to have known more than any one, or all of us here present put together; to one who had learned so much, that Festus thought "much learning had made him mad'." I mean St. Paul, who, by the inspiration and command of God himself, here tells the Corinthians, that he "determined not to know any thing among them, save

1 Acts xxvi. 24.

Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Whereby he hath certified all men that, in his divinely-inspired judgment, this kind of knowledge so far exceeds all other, that none else deserves to be named with it.

The occasion of the words was this: St. Paul having been some time before at Corinth, and there planted the Gospel among the inhabitants of that city, in the verse before my text he tells them what arts he had used, or rather what he had not used, in the doing it. "And I," saith he, "brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God." He had used neither rhetoric nor logic, neither elegancy of speech nor subtlety of argument, to persuade them to embrace the faith of Christ, but had only in plain terms declared to them the testimony which God had given of him. And having told them this, he acquaints them in my text with the reason why he took this course; "For," saith he, "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." This is the reason why he dealt so plainly with them, because he did not think it necessary, or intend, either to know himself, or to make known any thing else to them. The words may be understood both ways; but they both meet at last in this, that the knowledge of "Jesus Christ, and him crucified," is of itself sufficient to direct a man in the way to eternal life, and, therefore, is preferable to all other knowledge; there being no other knowledge whatsoever that can do it without this; but this will do it without any other: not that the knowledge of other things is altogether useless; but that this only is necessary both for ministers to teach, and Christians, as such, to learn; as comprising under it all things that can any way conduce to their being holy here, and happy for ever.

Wherefore ye have no cause to complain when we preach this plain doctrine to you; it is our duty to do it, and it is for your interest that we should: we have here the example of the great apostle for it, and may truly say with him, "Necessity is laid upon us; yea, woe

H

is unto us, if we preach not the Gospel "," if we preach not Jesus Christ, the end of the law, and the sum and substance of the Gospel: if we do not this, we act not according to the commission that he hath given us, nor do the work he sent us about, and so lose our labour; and, after all our preaching unto others, shall be cast away ourselves. And I am sure you will have no cause to thank us for any other doctrine than this, or what tends some way or other towards it; for whatsoever it be, though it be ever so finely dressed up, and set off to please your ears and fancies, it can never convert or save your souls; and so you will be neither the wiser nor better for it; for you have but one Saviour in the world, and that is Jesus Christ; if he do not save you, no body else can. Aristotle can never save you with all his philosophy, nor Tully with all his rhetoric, nor Plato neither with his fine notions borrowed from Moses; no, nor Moses himself: he must conduct you in the right way through the wilderness; but it is Joshua, or, as the Greeks call him, Jesus, only that can bring you into the land of Canaan; the law must direct our steps, but it is the Gospel only can save our souls: the Gospel, as it reveals Jesus Christ our only Saviour and Redeemer to us; and therefore reveals him to us, that we may know him: and by consequence, as ye cannot wonder that St. Paul did it, so ye cannot blame us, if we, after him, determine "not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." But that I may set this in as clear a light as I can before you, I shall shew,

First, What we ought to know concerning him; Secondly, That this so far exceeds all other knowledge, that we may reasonably determine, with the apostle, not to know any thing else.

To find out the first, we need not go from my text, where whatsoever is necessary to be known concerning our Saviour is reduced to two heads,-what he is, and what he hath suffered; or, as the apostle expresseth it,

2 1 Cor. ix. 16.

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