der that the doctrine should be attacked, and maliciously attacked; but that men, who pretend to bow to the authority of this book, should deny it is indeed inconsistent; and we do not believe the atheist is a more inconsistent man, than men who pretend to revere the authority of the Bible, and deny the Divinity of Christ.

We will just look at this point; for you know that the Divinity of Jesus Christ is every thing to you and to me. I will just refer you to two or three arguments founded on the word of God.

I will first refer you to an interesting conversation, that took place between Jesus Christ and the Jews, in the days of his flesh. They said, "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am" - thus claiming for himself that name, which signifies underived or unborrowed existence that name, by which Jehovah revealed himself when he sent Moses forth with a message to the children of Israel, for he said, "I AM hath sent thee unto them;" this name Christ claimed himself. I next refer you to the prayer of Christ that prayer, which he offered unto the Father before he ascended up on high; "Father," says he, "glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Now what mortal is there that dare stand up and pray in this way? What man is there in this assembly-good man or good woman, as he or she may be that dare stand up, and say, "Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was?"

Not only are the names of God ascribed to Christ, but the work of God, you will find in this book, is ascribed to Christ. Perhaps you will remember the fine annunciation with which the apostle John opens his gospel. He says, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God; the same was in the beginning with God; all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." So that whatever the Divine Father and the Divine Spirit have been engaged in, the Divine Son has also been engaged in. The Divine Father and the Divine Spirit were employed in bringing into existence this world of ours, and all the glorious worlds that roll around us throughout all space; but whatever the Divine Father and the Divine Spirit have been employed in, the Divine Son has also been employed in. The Divine Father and the Divine Spirit have been engaged, throughout eternity, in bringing into existence beings of intelligence and beings of responsibility; but whatever the Divine Father and the Divine Spirit have been engaged in, the Divine Son has been engaged in also. "By him were all things created, that are in

heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; and he was before all things, and by him all things consist."

And you

Now

You remember, too, that when Christ was upon the earth, He received worship. In that hour when the doubts of Thomas were dispersed, he addressed the Savior-"My Lord," said he, "and my God;" and Christ did not reprove him for that conduct. will find, that many times the Savior took worship to himself. the loftiest created intelligence is not allowed to take worship. You remember that, when John would have fallen down to worship before the feet of an angel, he said, " See thou do it not, for I am thy fellowservant; worship God." But Christ received worship, why? He was God, and he knew that it was his right.

If you search the Old Testament Scriptures, you will find proofs of the Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Isaiah calls him, "The mighty God, the everlasting Father;" or, as it might be read, "the Father of eternity." Jeremiah calls him "the Lord" (or, as it might be read, "Jehovah ")" our righteousness."

You remember, too, the attitude in which Christ stood, and the tone of voice with which he spoke, when he performed miracles. When Christ performed miracles, he did not act as Moses or Elijah did when they performed miracles, who prayed that God would help them and be with them, before they wrought the miracle. No; he spoke with the voice of one having authority; he spoke, and the winds ceased, and the waves were still, hushed as a child in its cradle by its mother; it was the God of nature that spoke, and therefore all was quiet. But there is one part of our Lord's conduct, which, to my mind, proves more than volumes in regard to his Divinity; and that is his conduct to his disciples, when he gave them their commission before he ascended up on high. "He breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Now I ask, what man could breathe the Holy Ghost, the essence of God? what human being could breathe the Holy Ghost?

Here, then, the foundation is good, Christ is God: and if he be God, then I can rest upon him, because I know he made atonement for the sins of the world. But if you take away the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing left for me to rest upon. Why, suppose I were to take the best man in all this book, and set him before you, and dress him up in all his virtues, and say, "By this man is preached unto you salvation;" which of you could rest your salvation upon him? No; Milton, in his beautiful book, over which we hang with delight, hour after hour, represents God as looking round

among the angels of heaven, and asking which of them would go and deliver man. That may do for Milton, it may do for poetry; but it will not do for our soul's foundation. The brightest archangel that burns before the eternal throne, would not have done to make atonement for the sins of man. Infinite justice must be satisfied; an infinite nature must effect that work; in the whole round of beings, there is but one that is infinite; and unless Christ had undertaken our cause, you and I must have been lost for ever. But, blessed be his name! He undertook our cause; he came down into this world, and suffered, and bled for you and for me. With the might of his Divinity, he entered our humanity; and, by the one offering of himself, he made a full, perfect, and sufficient atonement for the sins of the world. Human nature was necessary, in order to make that atoning sacrifice; and I know it is a mystery, how God and man could be united in one nature; but why should I reject a truth that is revealed, because it is a mystery? I cannot comprehend myself; I know that I can turn to the right, or turn to the left, or stretch out my arm, by the mere exertion of my will but I cannot understand it. And if I cannot understand myself, why should I reject this doctrine because I cannot comprehend it. My friends, there are heights in religion, as there are mountains in nature, which the foot of man never trod; and if the eagle, in his magnificent flight, shall bring down from those mountains the leaves of a tree which I have never seen, shall I doubt the existence of the tree, merely because I have not ascended to the spot where it grows? And since I cannot comprehend how God and man can be united in one nature, I will throw myself before the feet of Christ, and I will worship him, and cry to every sinner that shall come within the sound of my voice, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." Christ has undertaken your cause and my cause. He suffered in our stead.

I have not time this morning to dwell upon the sufferings of the Savior. And if I had, I would not dwell upon his corporeal sufferings; I would not speak of those things which are being dwelt upon for hours, and set forth as if they were the most important; I would not speak of the insults in the judgment hall; I would not speak of him hurried through the streets, and of the people proclaiming all the way that they had found out the cheat and the hypocrite, and that his own confession convicted him of blasphemy, and condemned him to die; I would not speak of their plaiting a crown of thorns, and putting it round his head, and with their fists striking the sharp edges into his temples; I would not tell how with their whips they smote his back, till it became one bloody wound; I would not speak of his

being nailed to the cross, his body pulled to its full length and breadth, and pierced by the nails that fastened it; I would not speak of the multitude that wagged their heads in scorn, and said, "He saved others, himself he cannot save." No, if 'I had time to dwell, I would dwell upon the weight of Divine wrath, that descended upon him and crushed him, in the hour of the world's atonement. I would go to that. Why? Because my Savior went to it. He often spoke of that hour; and there seemed to be something brooding upon his mind, in reference to that awful hour, throughout his life. He spoke of it to his disciples often. He spoke of it on the mount of transfiguration; there it is said," He spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." Oh! what an hour was that! At that awful hour, the whole universe bent an eager aspect towards him, angels gazed upon him with breathless silence, devils leagued their forces to uphold their empire. That was the most interesting hour the world ever knew. If Christ had then quitted our cause, you and I had perished for ever; but, adored be our Savior! He did not quit our cause. No, he longed for the garments dyed in blood; he said, "How am I straitened, till that baptism be accomplished;" he trod with unwavering step that path of difficulty; he buffeted with that hour, and at the close of it he shouted, with a voice that shook hell to its centre, reverberated through the universe, and filled all heaven with gladness, "It is finished." Oh! go, my fellow-sinner, go to the cross. Stand by the cross. Here is the ransom-price for thy soul. Here is atonement made for thy sins. Go to the cross, and cry, with the apostle, "I am determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

Oh! what is there so noble, so sublime, so majestic, as the crucifixion of our Lord? Oh! be Christians, be Christians. Men may talk about deeds of human enterprise and human chivalry; they may speak of the senate-house, where the passing of an act of Parliament has decided the interests of millions in a single moment; they may tell of the battle-field, where hundreds have stood for hours up to the ancles in human blood; they may speak of the accession of a temporal prince, or a temporal princess, where thousands have been fixed in immovable gaze at the pomp of majesty. But we will go to the cross; we will stand by the cross; we will gaze upon the Savior; and we will cry, "I determine not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Oh! I wish this morning I might be the humble instrument, in God's hand, of giving you, or getting you, more love to Christ. Oh! go to the cross; love your Savior, adore your Savior, admire your

Savior. I tell you, it will afford the richest enjoyment. You will sing with the poet

"Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,

Which before the cross I spend;
Life, and health, and peace possessing,
From the sinner's dying Friend.
Here I'll sit for ever viewing

Mercy's streams in streams of blood!
Precious drops, my soul bedewing,

Plead and claim my peace with God."

Oh go to the cross, then; and say, with the apostle Paul, "I am determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

II. But we promised to bring forward, in the second place, SOME REASONS to justify a determination so great, as that which is avowed in the words of my text. The apostle said, "he was determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

I have already informed you of the occasion of these words, and spoken to you of Paul going amidst the philosophers and sages of Greece, and telling them the simple tale of Christ crucified, and how they despised him. But Paul was far above being turned from his work by them. And why?

1. He knew that it did not want the power of human eloquence to set forth this truth. No; what would you say to me, if I were to light a taper at mid-day to show you the meridian sun? what would you say to me, if I were to take you to a small pool, and say, Look there, you see what the ocean is? what would you say to me, if I were to take you out to some of the richest scenery that this world would afford, and, after I had shown it you, give you a piece of colored glass, and say, Look at that scene, through this piece of colored glass? Why, you would say, let the sun shine in its own glory, let the ocean flow in its own expanse, let nature be shown in her own robes. And let the gospel be seen in its own power. Paul knew that it did not need any power of human eloquence to set it forth. No; it was "the wisdom of God," and it needed the power of God, and nothing else, to set it forth. And, therefore, he said, "I am determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

2. There is another reason for bringing this forward — another reason to justify St. Paul, and to lead you to the foot of the cross; and it is this the knowledge of Christ crucified is certain knowledge; and in this it is distinguished from all other kinds of knowledge. This declaration would have applied in the days of the apostle; for you remember the mythology of the ancients; you remember that Greece,