obligation of good conduct is not here left to rest upon reafonings which are level to the capacities of few, and which hardly touch the hearts of those who are able to perceive them; but it is refolved into the will of our Creator. The most venerable authority is opposed to the impetuofity of paffion; the most interesting objects to

the gains of iniquity; the most exalted affections to the pleasures of fin;-the understanding, the confcience, and the heart are addreffed at once; and every other mode of instruction appears to be feeble, when compared with the energy of the

word of God.

BUT we derive little benefit from the bare knowledge of that rule of life which the Scriptures contain: That they may be profitable to us "for correction and inftruction in righteousness," we must fearch them. A wife father does not attempt to pour at once into the mind of his fon all the inftruction which is needed. through the journey of life; but he often repeats to him the many cautions which

paternal care fuggefts to the heedleffness of youth; he prefents to him objects that minister to his improvement; he furnishes him with frequent opportunities of obfervation and reflection; and even when he does not appear to teach, he leads him to grow wife by the exercise of his own powers. Under this familiar image, you may perceive the profitablenefs of fearching the Scriptures. This book, like the book of nature, is full of inftruction; and the method of teaching is fo perfectly adapted to the minds of thofe to whom it is addressed, that every one who is attentive may learn from it "wisdom, and justice, and equity." In one place, the general principles of a good life are stated concifely; in another, they are spread out in the detail of the duties of different relations. Here, the perfection after which we ought to aspire, is held forth without limitation; there, the commandment is accommodated with grace to the infirmities of our nature. God fpeaks to us in this book with authority, with gentlenefs, in precept, in

promife, in threatening, in fimilitude, in allegory. His commandments meet us in fo many forms that we are always put in remembrance; and, if we only retain his words, we fhall find his hand, wherefoever we are, leading us in the right path. His precepts come to be engraven upon our hearts by "enfamples which are written for our admonition." There are many hiftories in Scripture, which prefent to us the protection and bleffing that attend the righteous, "the curfe that is in the house of the wicked." The virtues of good men are displayed in the midst of perils and temptations, to incite us to be followers of them; their failings are recorded, to teach us humility and circumfpection. We fee in the life of Jefus, a character free from fhade of human weakness, yet foftened by every tender feeling; a man like ourselves, who was more feverely tried, and more firm than any hero, yet more amiable than the fairest of the fons of men. The fimplicity with which this character is delineated, wins the heart; and Jefus commands us to fearch the Scrip

every

tures, that we may fee him going before us in all that he enjoins, and that the cords thus bind his yoke upon thofe

of love may

who confider his virtues.

SUCH is the variety of inftruction by which the fcriptures explain and enforce our duty, and reconcile our hearts to the practice of it: And this is the perfect teaching with which the Society in Scotland for propagating Christian knowledge has furnished those, whom particular disadvantages had retained longer than the inhabitants of other parts of the island in the rudeness of our ancestors, and whose local traditions and cuftoms, while they cherished some virtues, were unfavourable to that uniformity of good conduct which is the perfection of the human character. By putting the words of this book into their mouth, and alluring them to meditate in the law of God day and night, you have afforded the most effectual and certain aid to the dictates of prudence, of confcience, and of kind affection. You have given a guard to their integrity, a bridle to their paffions, and an

incentive to their languor. If they make "the teftimonies of the Lord their counfellers," they will feel an alacrity in welldoing, which does not arise from any inferior confideration; and they will say with David, "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I may not offend against thee. It is a light unto my feet, and a lamp unto my path. I have chofen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me."

II. HAVING thus ftated the advantages which may be derived from fearching the fcriptures, I now proceed to fuggeft fome directions for fearching them in fuch a manner as to reap thofe advantages.

THE word which our Lord has chofen, marks with precifion, the outward act which is required of Chriftians. To fearch the Scriptures is not to read them haftily, without attention, upon fome rare occafion; it is to read them frequently, stated