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SERMON XX.

1 COR. ii. 2.

I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

IN a former discourse from this text, I endeavoured to exhibit the knowledge of Christ crucified as the great relief to the guilty consciences of penitent sinners, and as the most instructive lesson of true charity and patience. I observed at the same time, that, in discoursing from the pulpit on a very fruitful subject, it was most profitable not to take an over-extensive view of it at one time.

Agreeably, therefore, to my own advice, I propose to shew you this morning, how the knowledge of a crucified Saviour is beyond all doubt the most powerful inducement to the practice of heavenly mindedness. The subject before us, considered in this single point of view, is fruitful in a

most extraordinary degree; and as I proceed in the treatment of it, it will be very useful to keep in mind the declaration of the same Apostle who determined to know nothing save Christ crucified, when he says, that "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." The connection between the two passages is clear and distinct: they that, like St. Paul, determine to know nothing save Christ Jesus and him crucified, crucify the lusts and affections of the flesh;-in other words, the natural depravity of their minds is subdued; the carnal principle, like a crucified malefactor, languishes and decays; till by degrees gracious or renewed habits are formed in them, which at length obtain the full possession of the perfect man in Christ Jesus.

For the attainment of this great object, let us, in the first place, meditate on the pattern of our Lord's heavenly-mindedness; how it shone throughout every part of his character, and especially in the last scene of his sufferings: and afterwards we may endeavour to apply our meditations to the salutary instruction, both of those who are his true disciples already, and of those who as yet

need to become so by repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

When I exhort you, then, to look at Him who endured the cross for the joy set before him, be it your prayer and mine, that, while we are lost in wonder and astonishment, the quickening light and influence of the blessed Spirit of God may enable us to see the glory of the Godhead shining forth upon the suffering Redeemer, in all his heavenly dispositions, and the true marks of his Divine character. Certainly, if the character of Jesus in other respects be truly divine, and proves that it is so by its own intrinsic brightness and purity, in this point of his heavenly-mindedness it particularly shews itself to be so, with an amazing strength of evidence. You may observe it, in a very striking manner, by comparing the character and spirit of the Christian Lawgiver with those of all other statesmen and legislators. I forbear to compare him with Moses and the rest of the OldTestament prophets-for they were but his servants and forerunners: their highest glory was to testify of him; and their own souls were saved by grace and sanctified by his Spirit;-but is it

his

possible, for any man who deliberately weighs the different spirit of Christ from that of Mahomet, of Pythagoras, of Socrates, of Confucius, or of any legislator, statesman, or philosopher whomsoever you would select, that borrows not his light from the Bible-is it possible, I say, that any man, of dispassionate judgment and a distinguishing intellect, can suppose there exists in the two cases any ground for a comparison of character? Many indeed, I fear, there are in our days, of an infidel stamp, who would allow Christ to be but little better than several other teachers of religion; and would maintain, that the substantial part of his religion was no other than what had ever been taught, since the beginning of the creation, by the wisest and best of men.

Just in this place, my brethren, is the proper and peculiar province of our reason and its exercise: use therefore your best faculties on this important point-but always with prayer, that the good Spirit of God may dispel obstinate prejudices and illuminate your darkened understandings-and you will not, you cannot, fail to be convinced, that "as the heavens are higher than the earth, so God's ways are higher than man's ways."

St. John the Baptist truly said, "He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth; whereas he that cometh from heaven is above all." Moreover, as our blessed Lord actually said to the Jews, so might he say to every worldly instructor, ancient or modern, considered as guides in religion, "Ye are from beneath, I am from above: ye are of this world, I am not of this world." For nothing can be more evident, than that all the instructions, and the whole spirit, of all those teachers who derive not their authority from the Scriptures, are tinctured with worldly sentiments. If they have not all coveted the riches, they have coveted the honours and the glory of the world themselves, and have also taught their disciples to covet the same things in fact, they hold them out as their great reward: whereas our blessed Redeemer unfolds to his disciples life and immortality, and the joys of eternity. He even refreshes his own troubled mind with the thought of drinking new wine with his disciples in his Father's kingdom. He endures the cross with patience, for the joy set before him; and he explicitly tells Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world, and that it was not to be supported by arms and worldly policy: nor,