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have favoured us with copies of their Sermons, or who have permitted us to take notes of them, we return our thanks. We are sure that the publication of them will neither detract from their honour, nor lessen the efficiency of their ministerial duties. May every pastor of our Established Church be wise to win souls while here below, and hereafter shine as the stars, for ever and ever! And may this little publication be made instrumental in the accomplishment of that prayer in our Ritual in which it is supplicated "that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations !"

Sept. 1837.

THE

CHURCH OF ENGLAND PREACHER.

Patronized by the Clergy and others.

The Important Influence which the Possession of the Scriptures ought to have upon our own Character and Conduct.

A SERMON,

PREACHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY, At St. John's Chapel, Bedford Row,

ON SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 9, 1837,

BY THE

HON. AND REV. B. W. NOEL, A.M.

TEXT.-"What advantage, then, hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way; chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God."-Romans, 3d chapter and the 2d and 3d verses.

THE Jews of St. Paul's day, boasting very much of their national distinctions and privileges, were disposed to undervalue those religious and moral qualifications, which are known in the sight of God as of any value. To meet these feelings on their part, St. Paul, in the chapter preceding that from which our text is taken, declares, that unless their profession of attachment to the Mosaic law led them to an obedience to the will of God, it would be of no service to them; whereas, on the other hand, their being shut out and becoming aliens to that community, would not hinder any one from being the child of God, if he was converted by divine grace. "For circumcision verily profiteth," he says, "if thou keep the law; but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision; therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?" Thus laying down this great truth, that outward distinctions were of no avail towards a person's acceptance before God; but, on the other hand, [No. 1.]

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whatever outward distinctions were wanting, that change of heart which leads to an affectionate obedience marks any one to be his child. "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God."

But this doctrine, so novel to the Jews, who imagined that others could not be accepted, because not belonging to their nation, and that they must be the children of God, by the very fact that they did belong to it, would lead them to ask if the Gentile, when thus converted by grace, is a child of God; and the Jew, if not obeying the law, is not his child? "What advantage, then, hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision?" What is the use of that professed attachment to the Mosaic law, in which they were so early trained? The apostle adds, "Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." Although, without conversion of heart, no religious privileges are of any use, although, without a person is brought to obey God, no religious knowledge is of any service to him, yet still, as affording facilities for instruction and impressions, the different religious privileges which a person may enjoy by his position in life, may be of the greatest moment to him. Although the Jew, without conversion, could not be accepted of God; although the Gentile, with conversion, would be accepted, still the Jew had his advantage over the Gentile with respect to that knowledge which is the appointed mean of conversion. Therefore the apostle says, the Jew hath much advantage every way, viewed in considering the means of instruction and improvement which his position afforded. " Much every way, but chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." So he turns to sacred Scripture.

This subject, then, leads us to observe, that of all the means of improvement which were vouchsafed to the nation, beyond those St. Paul referred to, this is the most important-the possession of a revelation of the will of God. In that light let us examine that state; let us observe the important influence which the possession of the

Scriptures ought to have upon our own character and conduct; let us observe the place which it occupies among the different means of improvement which we possess. "What advantage, then, hath the Jew; or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." In examining this truth further, let us notice,

In the first place the title,-the terms by which the Scriptures are brought before our view, the terms employed to designate the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

In the second place, notice the influence which the Scriptures may have in securing those blessings which they reveal. When we think of the book of God, its value does not appear to us to consist in its antiquity, as the most ancient history in the world, nor in any other external circumstances attaching to it; it does not appear venerable because it has received the respectful attention of various ages and of many nations; it does not seem to command our respect because of any superiority in style or strength of reasoning to other books; but this is its recommendation to our notice and regard, that it is the word of God, "chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." By sending his prophets to the people who sometimes spake in his name, who spake in the very person of the Almighty, and always spake under his inspiration, that body of truth which they brought to the Jewish nation was a revelation from God; it was emphatically' His word, and is so constantly designated both in the Old Testament and in the New. It is this which constitutes its peculiar excellency, that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God." And whatever other advantages it may possess over other books, they seem, in comparison to this, utterly insignificant. Would ever a prisoner reprieved from his sentence by his sovereign examine the style of that reprieve? Would he not be so occupied by the greatness of the blessing that he would have no heart to enquire into its style and manner? Would any man who should receive the title-deeds to an estate ever think of examining the elegance of the style in which those titledeeds were composed? So Scripture brings to us blessings so vast, that one has no heart to examine its style, its

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