in the height of her intellectual power, had thirty thousand gods, and they were conflicting in their temples day after day, where Paul was, as to what was the right object of worship; but Paul knew that Christ the Savior was the right object of worship, and on account of the certainty of this knowledge, he had a right to determine, and he did "determine not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." And there is a great deal of uncertainty in our day in all sciences. Take the knowledge of anatomy, for instance; a man may tell me how my body is composed, my bones, and flesh, and blood, but he cannot tell me how will acts upon motion- how it is that I can, when I like, move my foot, or move my hand. Take astronomy; a man may tell me how far a planet is off, but he cannot tell me whether it is inhabited. Take chemistry; why, you may torture nature with your fires, but she will not divulge her secrets. No; it is still as then, that there is a great deal of ignorance. Athens was in ignorance; she had erected an altar to "the unknown God," and it was only Paul that could stand up and say, "Him declare I unto you." Paul had tried for himself, he knew for himself, and therefore he had a right to exclaim, "I am determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

I would stay a moment here, and I would have you try, each and all for yourselves, the certainty of this knowledge. You may talk about evidence of other sorts; you may talk about historical evidence, and you may talk about internal evidence; but it is only experimental evidence that can satisfy the mind. Now I will suppose a familiar illustration, to make this clear to you all. Supposing that one of you sent your servant to a shop for something; say for a bottle of ink; well, the girl comes back, and you ask her what she has got; "Why!" she says, "I asked the shopman for ink, and he has given me ink, here it is, here is the bottle" that is historical evidence, the testimony of others to a fact; but you are not quite satisfied; you open the bottle, and you look at the ink, and find it is black, and it smells like inkthat is internal evidence; but still you are not satisfied; you take your pen and dip it into the bottle, and you write, and you know it is ink, because you have written with it. Now suppose a neighbor should come in, and should say, "The shopman has deceived you, or your servant has deceived you- it is not ink." What would you do? Would you send for the servant, and question her about what the shopman said to her? No, you would say, It is ink; I know it is because I have tried it. And so a man may talk about the evidence arising from Jesus Christ being a good man, and such a character as this world never saw besides; but Paul had rested upon the Savior; he

knew for himself that he was a Savior, and, therefore, amidst the philosophers of Greece and Rome he cried, "I determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

that

3. If you ask me for another reason, then I say, that the knowledge of Christ crucified is suited to you as guilty sinners. Much of the interest of any thing, you know, depends upon its suitability. Take an illustration or two. Go to the man, who is living this day in the midst of his family, in all the comforts of his home, and say to him, You may enjoy the blessings of home; why, the man sees that there is nothing in that communication-nothing in that knowledge is at all suited to him, for he was already enjoying the comforts of his house; but go to the soldier, who is wearied by a long and arduous campaign, whose ears have been deafened many a time by the cannon roar, who is sighing for the quiet shadow of the village trees, under whose broad foliage he reclined and sung in days of youthful innocence — tell him that peace is proclaimed, the warfare accomplished, he may go home-why, he smiles, he dances for joy, he thanks youbecause there is something in your information suited to his taste. Go to the man who is walking through your streets, and say to him, You may enjoy the comforts of freedom-the man returns you no thanks; there is nothing in that information suited to him; but go to the captive, whose clothes are wet with the damp of the dungeon, and his cheek marked by the flow of his tears, and see how his eyes sparkle with delight, when you tell him that the dungeon door is open, and he may go free. And so it is with the sinner. If I come to you and tell you of a Savior, and you are shut up in carnal security, fancying yourselves good enough, and going to heaven, there is nothing in the information suited to you; and if you are trembling because of your sins, then I bring you good news. I tell you this morning, Christ was crucified for you and for me; and therefore you ought to say and avow, with the apostle, "I am determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

4. There is another reason-it is extensive knowledge. He, who knows Christ, knows almost every thing else besides. This knowledge has not only light in itself, but it throws light on all other things. He, that knows Christ, knows the evil nature of sin in a better way than any other man does. Where will you go, to show me the evil nature of sin? Why, perhaps, some of you would show me a poor drunkard, that is to be found (and sorry am I to see that there are so many in this large town) reeling through the streets, perhaps on the Sabbath-day, with swollen eyes, an aching head, and (I fear) a troubled heart; you would say, Look at that man, his home has become a dungeon of

discontent, his wife sighs whenever she sees him, his children wear patched and tattered clothes, and soon the devil will take him, we fear - look at that man, and see the evil of sin! I look at that man, but I do not stop there. Where would others of you take me? you would take me to the murderer's cell, and say to me that he is going to expiate his offence against his country's laws, and you would tell me to look at him in his extremity, and see the evil of sin; I look at that man, but I do not stop there. Where would you go? Where would you go? Perhaps you would take me to the mouth of hell; you would blow aside its liquid flames, and bid me listen to the groanings and howlings of the damned in the pit of despair, and you would say, There see the evil nature of sin; I would go with you, but I do not stay there. I go to Calvary; I gaze upon my Savior; I remember, that that is God and man united, and hung upon the cross; and I say, how great must be sin's evil nature, since none but God incarnate could make atonement for the sins of mankind.

He who knows Christ crucified, knows the goodness of God in its richest form. Where will you go, to show me the most striking pictures of the goodness of God? Some of you, fathers, would take me, perhaps, to your habitations, and point me to your children smiling around you in health and happiness, and say, See there a proof of the goodness of God! I go with you to your habitations, but I do not stop there. Where would you go for a proof of the goodness of God? Perhaps some of you would take me to the corn-fields, and show me the gold ears waving in the breeze, and, as you pointed to them, say, See, there is food for man and food for beast, there is a proof of the goodness of God. I go with you to the corn-fields, but I do not stop there. Perhaps some of you would take me to some vale that was by, and show me a nest having in it a few little unfledged birds, with nothing above it but the broad sky, and the open air about it, and they are poor, weak, and helpless creatures, and must be starved to death unless they have food in a few hours, and you would remind me of God having sent forth his messengers to collect it for them, and you would say, See, there is a proof of the goodness of God. I go with you to that vale and that nest, but I do not stop there. I go to Calvary, and I see there the greatest picture of God's love to man, for I see Jesus hanging upon the cross. I see there the best proof of God's love to man as a guilty sinner, and, with a sight of the cross, I cry, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

He who knows Christ crucified, knows history in its best form, much better than the mere historian, who is to be found with his midnight

lamp over musty volumes of ancient times. He looks at the call of Abraham, and the passage of the Israelites through the wilderness, and he shows how God was preparing the way for the establishment of Christianity in the world. He knows not only the history of the past, but he can tell the history of the future. Why, philosophy walks your churchyards, and asks, "If a man die, shall he live again?" but there is no answer to the question. Reason has sent out her sons, in all ages and in all directions, to look for the rays of immortality, that are said to be darting across the path of man's existence; but they return disheartened and unsuccessful. It is true, that there were some few, of giant intellect, that expressed their hopes of another state of existence, but what they spoke of at one time, they doubted at another. Socrates and Plato at one time spoke as from the brightness of heaven, and at another as from the darkness of the tomb. It was all uncertainty; there is a veil, and the hand of philosophy can never draw it aside. But the gospel has caused the light to shine upon that veil, and it has become transparent, and you may see, on the other side of that veil, the form of departed friends; you may see Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, you may see Dives in hell, lifting up his eyes, being in torments, and hear him cry, "I am tormented in this flame." 0 yes, while man knows nothing of the future, and sees the earth heaved above its proper level, and knows that the bodies of the dead are there confined, yet cannot answer the question, "If a man die, shall he live again?" the Christian can. He knows that Christ "shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body;" and if you ask, How can it be done? we take up the words of the apostle, and say, "According to the mighty working, whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."

On account of its extent, then, take up the words of the text and say, "I am determined not to know any thing save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

5. If I had time, I would go on to show that it is sanctified knowledge—it is purifying. It is not a knowledge that regards the outer man, and says that if he will attend to this and that, to which he is averse, and avoid this and that to which he is prone, he shall become a well-behaved and orderly man in society. Alas! for such knowledge. It is never said in my Bible, that a man has a head" of unbelief in departing from the living God; " but it is written in my Bible, that man has an "evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." This knowledge (I mean, experimental knowledge) passes through every vein where sin has passed; it neutralizes the stream as

it passes; it goes down to the fountain, and it purifies the fountain. It requires a man to "come out from the world, and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing."

Oh! then, look at the characteristics of this knowledge-the knowledge of Christ crucified-and say if you will not go to the cross this morning and cry with the apostle, "I am determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ and him crucified." Oh! again I say, I wish you would love your Savior. If you came to me, and told me you were a Christian, I would ask you how much you loved your Savior; and, in proportion as you loved your Savior, I know the Word of God would stand with me, when I declared that in that proportion you were a Christian. I love to read the prophecies of this book; the prophets seem to have gone over the surface of creation, and sought the most lovely images to set forth the Savior; they call him a "Sun," and they call him a "Shield," and a "Star," and a "Tree;" oh! but

"Nor earth, nor seas, nor sun, nor stars,

Nor heav'n his full resemblance bears;
His beauties you can never trace,

Till you behold him face to face."

Oh! love your Savior. Remember he loved you.

Remember he

was not fastened to the cross by spikes or nails; if Christ my Sa vior had never been fastened to the cross by any thing but spikes or nails, he would never have been fastened to it at all. It was his love that led him there; it was his love that bound him there. you are ready to cry this morning, let nature speak with her ten thousand tongues :

"Oh! for this love let rocks and hills

Their lasting silence break,

And all harmonious human tongues
The Savior's praises speak."

Oh,

I wish I had this morning one moment of poetic inspiration to give vent to the zeal, with which my bosom burns. I wish I had this morning a voice of thunder, that it might be borne across the breezes of the mighty ocean; I would cry to every sinner in this world to come forth, and avow the determination of St. Paul, and say, "I am determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." This shall be the theme of my discourse as long as God will give me breath, while I stand in the midst of sinners. Woe be to the minister, who weaves garlands of flowers to please his people; the Lord help us to preach Christ; the Lord help us to cry to this wicked, this apostate town, "I am determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified."

O, thou guilty sinner, I cannot leave thee. I again tell thee, the