Ver. 1. _Faithful Reproof._--1. The minister when he is called to insist upon the clearing up of truth, whether positively by showing what is revealed in Scripture or controversially by refuting errors, should mix his discourse with exhortation and reproof, to excite and quicken the affections of his hearers. 2. False teachers, who by fair words deceive the simple, are spiritual sorcerers, and error is spiritual witchcraft. As sorcerers by deluding the senses make people apprehend that they see what they see not, so false teachers, by casting a mist of seeming reason before the understanding, delude it, and make the deluded person to believe that to be truth which is not. 3. Though Christ and His sufferings are to be vividly represented and pictured by the plain and powerful preaching of the Gospel, yet it does not follow they are to be artificially painted with colours on stone or timber for religious use. The graven image is a teacher of lies (Hab. ii. 18).--_Fergusson._ _The Folly of Disobedience._ +I. We are wise in matters of the world, but in matters concerning the kingdom of heaven the most of us are fools,+ besotted and bewitched with worldly cares and pleasures, without sense in matters of religion; like a piece of wax without form, fit to take the form and print of any religion. +II. The truth here mentioned is the heavenly doctrine of the Gospel,+ so called because it is absolute truth without error, and because it is a most worthy truth--the truth according to godliness. +III. The office of the minister is to set forth Christ crucified.+--1. The ministry of the Word must be plain, perspicuous, and evident, as if the doctrine were pictured and painted out before the eyes of men. 2. It must be powerful and lively in operation, and as it were crucifying Christ within us and causing us to feel the virtue of His passion. The Word preached must pierce into the heart like a two-edged sword. 3. The effectual and powerful preaching of the Word stands in three things: (1) True and proper interpretation of the Scripture. (2) Savoury and wholesome doctrine gathered out of the Scriptures truly expounded. (3) The application of the said doctrine, either to the information of the judgment or the reformation of the life. +IV. The duty of all believers is to behold Christ crucified.+--And we must behold Him by the eye of faith, which makes us both see Him and feel Him, as it were, crucified in us. 1. By beholding Christ crucified we see our misery and wickedness. 2. This sight brings us true and lively comfort. 3. This sight of Christ makes a wonderful change in us. The chameleon takes the colours of the things it sees and that are near to it; and the believing heart takes to it the disposition and mind that was in Christ--_Perkins._