want the Spirit of Christ: you still want that newness of heart, that indescribable peculiarity of thinking, speaking, and acting, which the great mass of the professedly Christian world hates, but without which you are dead before God. Oh! be reconciled to God; give Him your hearts, I beseech you; or the hand that is ready to snap the little thread of your remaining existence, will plunge your unprepared souls into everlasting and most exquisite

woe.

Let me beseech you also, who know the delightfulness of being reconciled to God, to be reconciled to Him day by day. Let me only remind you, that you are sinners; and refer you to that fountain which always stands full, and fresh, and free; in which you may be cleansed again and again.

160

SERMON IX.

THE OMNISCIENCE OF CHRIST.

HEB IV. 13.

“All things are naked, and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

It is a remark of a most pious and holy Prelate of former days" that the word of God is so like Himself, and carries so plainly the image and impression of His power and wisdom, that where they are spoken of together, it is sometimes doubtful whether the expressions are to be referred to Himself, or to His word: but there is no hazard in referring them either way; seeing there is truth in both, and pertinency too."* In the passage of scripture which

* Archbishop Leighton.

I have just submitted to you, and the immediately preceding context, we have a very remarkable instance of the truth of this observation. The word of God is so spoken of in the twelfth verse, as to leave it a matter of uncertainty whether the incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, or the written word, the Holy Scriptures, is the subject on which the apostle speaks: though the succeeding verse seems to make it evident that the reference is to that Word, of which it is said: "In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was not any thing made, that was made." There is certainly in the contemplation of the Lord Jesus, a wonderfully transforming power: "We know," says the beloved apostle, "that we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” And St. Paul speaks of the same effect being produced by the study of the gospel; "We all with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." If I may, therefore, be allowed to hazard an opi

nion upon the point, it would be, that the apostle has reference to the Lord Jesus Himself, of whom it is said by the Spirit of prophecy, that He is "made like a sharp sword, and a polished shaft ;" and who, under the full revelation of the whole counsel of God, is said to "know what is in men:" to "have eyes like a flame of fire:" "to know all things:" and to "search the hearts and the reins." And one motive with the author of the epistle for thus speaking of the Saviour, was, as I apprehend, to urge those to whom he wrote, to diligence and perseverance in "labouring to enter into the rest that remaineth to the people of God." "Let us labour to enter into that rest; for the Word of God is quick and powerful." "I am He," saith the same Word, "that searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give unto every one of you ac cording to your works." Do we, my dear brethren, and friends, profess to be labour. ing to enter into the rest of the paradise of God? Are we sincere in that profession? Does He, to whom "all things are naked and open," know that we are sincere? It becomes us well to examine ourselves upon

this question: for if we be indeed aspiring after the enjoyment of those pleasures, which are at His right hand for evermore, we are deeply sensible, that our condition and our experience are not those of people who are "at ease" in the visible church; but of those who are engaged in an incessant warfare; who are occupied in a continual struggle; who are pressing toward the mark, for the prize of a high calling, under an assurance that to him that overcometh, and to him only, shall be given to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

I. We may observe, in the first place, that our text declares a serious and solemn truth that Jesus, the Word of God, is perfectly acquainted with all things. If by Him all things were made, both which are in heaven and in earth, it cannot but be reasonably expected, that to Him should be fully known every thing that concerneth them. As "God over all, blessed for ever," there is not a place, which is not subject to his uncontrollable dominion: there is not an event, which does not hang upon His sovereign decision, and wait the determination