among the numerous altars in the famous university of Athens, there was but one erected to any thing like divinity, and that was to an unknown God. St. Paul made an excellent use of this inscription, taking occasion from it to preach Christianity to the Athenians, and assuring them that this God, confessedly unknown, was Jesus Christ: and if a faith in him, that purifies the heart, and that works in an holy life, be the basis of saving knowledge, then neither Greeks nor Romans had any of it for in none of their authors do we find the least mention made of the nature, virtue, and efficacy of the purifying faith in Jesus Christ.

And this matter of fact is confirmed by every day's experience. Are we not forced to teach children the first rudiments of letters, and as their minds open, the first rudiments of saving knowledge? Is not a Christian education every where acknowledged to be necessary, as well to restrain and subdue the headstrong passions of corrupt nature, as to instil the wholesome truths of Christian faith and obedience? And are there not in every country, schools and universities founded for these laudable purposes? And when we leave these places of education, does not every good steward of the mysteries of God still find the necessity of continual study and application to the written word, that he may be able out of his treasure to bring forth things new and old for his own and his people's instruction in righteousness; and these circumstances may convince us, that we are naturally blind and ignorant in the saving truths of the gospel. We know only as much as we are taught. Without the light of revelation, the inhabitants of England would be no wiser in the things of God, than the inhabitants of the deserts of Africathe same spiritual darkness would cover both lands, the same gross darkness the people. And whether they be polite or savage it makes no difference, until the sun of righteousness arise to dispel their heavy night of ignorance: for what the sun is to the natural world, such is Jesus Christ, the sun of righteousness, to the spiritual

world. The scripture hath set him forth as the only light of the spirits of men, from whom all saving knowledge must flow: for he was made unto us wisdom, says the apostle. In his divine nature wisdom, perfect and infinite wisdom is essentially inherent. He is the all-wise God, in whom are stored all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, which he was pleased, as our Saviour, to open for our use and to communicate. The word of God most high is the fountain of wisdom, from whom by the covenant of grace it was to flow; and ever since the fall it has been flowing in the richest streams. And from him every sinner must be enlightened before he can enter into the light of life: for he said of himself, "I am the light of the world;" and he must fulfil his word by enlightening every dark benighted soul, until the number of the elect, the children of light shall be perfected, and then he will shine for ever in the fulness of glory in the heavenly Jerusalem: for the glory of God shall lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations of them that are saved shall walk in his light for ever and ever. Thus the light has been and always will be the glorious title of the incarnate God. He took this name to denote his gracious office of enlightening our blind and dark understandings. Under this character the prophet Isaiah speaks of him (ix. 2.) " The people that walked "in darkness have seen a great light, they that dwell "in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath "the light shined." These words are applied to Christ by an infallible interpreter. St. Matthew makes them relate to Christ's being a light to lighten the Gentiles. And again in the same prophet the Lord saith (xlix. 6.) "It is too little a thing that thou shouldst be my "servant to raise up only the tribes of Jacob, and to "restore the preserved of Israel, I will also give thee "for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my "salvation to the ends of the earth." Paul and Barnabas (Acts xiii. 47.) apply these words to Christ: he was the true light, the day-spring from on high that visited.

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the Gentiles, to give them the knowledge of salvation, for if the eyes of them who sit in darkness and the shadow of death be ever opened, if they see that they have lost the way to heaven, if they desire to walk in it, and are enabled to go on steadfastly unto the end, all this is the work of the divine light, in whom whosoever believeth shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

From these scriptures it is evident, that every man who cometh into the world is by nature dark and blind in the things of God. Sin blinded his eyes, and left him without the least spiritual discernment. The intellectual faculty indeed is not totally destroyed. The organ of sight is not annihilated. It remains, but not enlightened. It is in the same state our eyes would be, if the sun, moon, and stars were to withhold their shining, and not one ray of light was left in the creation. If men could live in this gross darkness, the organ of sight would not be destroyed, but it would be quite useless. All things would be invisible, because whatsoever doth make manifest is light. And this is the state of the soul: for the eye of the soul can no more see without its proper light, than the eye of the body can see without its proper light. And what the sun is to the body, that is Christ to the soul. He is the light of the world, not of this outward world, which is abundantly supplied from the fountain of created light, but he is the light of the spiritual world, which lay in darkness and the shadow of death, until he arose with healing under his wings, and brought with him from heaven the reviving light of life.

Upon the authority of God's word these truths are established. The evidence for them is clear and full. If our bodily eyes cannot see without light, it is equally certain, that our spiritual eyes cannot see without Christ: because both are spoken of in the same language, and under the same expressions. And as he is the Lord God omnipotent, he is certainly able to en lighten the darkest soul; and as he is God incarnate,

he is engaged to do it. He will use his almighty power, and if he give the word, "Let there be light, there will be light. Upon the strength of this evidence we must believe, that it is the name, and the office, and the glory of Jesus Christ, to be the light of the faithful through this dark wilderness of sin and sorrow.

Convinced of this, there is an important enquiry to be made, without which our conviction will be of no use, and that is, Have we reduced it to practice? Since Christ is the foundation of all saving truth, have we been led to seek it from him, and him only? In our studies of divine learning do we always read the scripture with humility and prayer, desiring in the royal Psalmist's words, which are devout and short, and which contain an excellent prayer always to be used before we open a bible, "Lord open thou mine eyes, "that I may see wondrous things in thy law." And in our studies of human learning have we taken Christ for a light to guide us and bless us, that we might attain more understanding than the aged. Rather have we not robbed the eternal light of his name, and office, and glory, by seeking saving truth from the light of nature? If God be true, and the scriptures which I have read by his word-nature is dark and blind. To talk of the light of fallen nature, and all nature is fallen, is more absurd than to talk of the darkness of light. There cannot be a more wicked contradiction to God and his word, to experience and matter of fact, than for men professing Christianity to talk about the light of sinful, dark, and blind nature: neither can there be a greater insult offered to the incarnate God, than to seek that light which he was made incarnate on purpose to give, from metaphysics, or any science, that pretends to manifest spiritual objects without revelation: neither can there be a greater crime, than to think of seeing and reasoning à priori, because this is God's incommunicable attribute, of which he is so jealous, that for pretending to it we were all cast out of paradise. In honour then to the God whom we wor

ship, and out of love to our own souls, let us talk no more of the light of fallen nature; let us degrade the unnatural science of metaphysics, and forget all abstracted reasonings; they can give us no light in the things of God, but what is borrowed, and it is fainter than the faintest stars: and were they brighter than they are, yet when the sun arises, his superior lustre hides their pale and glimmering rays. God be praised, the sun of righteousness has arisen among us in perfect beauty, and false science is hiding her head. He shines with his noon-day glory upon this highlyfavoured church. Long may he shine unrivalled by any fancied light of fallen nature. And may his brightest beams enlighten this university, that every member of it, guided by his word and Spirit, may receive the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

If it should be enquired, in what manner Christ enlightens the spirits of men, whether it be in some certain regular way, or he has left no sure direction in this case: The answer is, God has established the means of grace for this very purpose, of which his word is the principal; "For the commandment is a lamp, and the "law is light:" And when his good Spirit accompanies the hearing or reading of the word, then it is indeed a lantern unto our feet, and a light unto our paths. Then the word discovers to us the wretched darkness of our natural state, strips reason of all its high and divine titles, and thereby humbles us before God, and brings us low before his footstool, waiting upon him in all the means of grace, and particularly in prayer, that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ may shine into our dark and sinful hearts. To expect this light without the use of the instituted means is enthusiasm; and to expect to keep this light, after you once have it, without continuing in the use of these means, is the very madness of enthusiasm. In them God has promised to be found of those that seek him. Out of them you have no promise; and you may as reasonably hope