simplicity in this acknowledgment, which forbids the imputation of arrogance or vanity. The history of his life, his labors and privations and sufferings, is sufficient testimony that the privilege of which he speaks is not one which the avaricious or the indolent or the ambitious would covet. Neither worldly honor, nor ease, nor emolument, could have been the portion of the man, who was "in deaths oft, who five times received forty stripes save one, thrice was beaten with rods, once was stoned, thrice suffered shipwreck, a day and a night was in the deep, was in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by his own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." It is surely absurd that such a man should glory in any thing but the cross of Christ. There must be some intrinsic excellence in preaching these unsearchable riches. Paul must have found his pleasure and privilege, only where succeeding preachers may expect chiefly to find theirs, in the nature of his work, in the character of the gospel, in the object it aims to accomplish, in the certainty of ultimate success, in the immediate good which he may personally promote, and in the final reward. In short, his heart must have glowed with admiration and gratitude, as he wrote the words of the text, in perception of the just importance of preaching the gospel : - - -a subject to which we may, not inappropriately, this moruing, direct our attention. I. It may be perceived, in the first place, in the character of the gospel itself. There are no subjects so universally and deeply interesting, or sublime, as those which relate to the soul, to God, and to a future state. However men may affect indifference towards them, there is no man who does not sometimes think of them; and none can soberly think of them, and feel that they are of trivial importance. Even the most skeptical will often reason with profound interest on the nature, the cause, and the purpose of his being, on the nature of that which thinks and feels within, and on its probable destiny, when all which now constitutes his visible existence shall be as the dust that he treads beneath his feet. These, and their kindred subjects, have ever attracted the attention, not only of the vulgar, the ignorant and the superstitious, but of the learned, the wise and the great. They have been favorite topics of philosophical inquiry. They have entered largely into all the systems of philosophy which have been framed by the various ingenuity of man. They have tasked and overpowered the intellect of the strongest and most acute. But the simplest, the most consistent, and the most satisfactory representation of them is to be found in the instructions of Christ. The wisest and most painstaking philosophers have been surpassed, on these subjects, by the unlettered prophet of Galilee. His doctrine has taken a stronger hold on the minds and hearts of men, and exerted a more extensive sway over the human understanding, than any theory the world has seen. With all its imputed difficulties and apparent mysteries, it is yet the most satisfying to the anxious inquirer, and the most sublime, as a mere subject of intellectual contemplation. It comes to us with the beauty, the symmetry and the grandeur of heaven. It comes to us, too, as a messenger of kindness. In its distinguishing characteristics, it is a system of benevolence. It comes to man with the annunciation, "Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy ;" and it leaves him, when it leaves at last, as the influences of the resisted Spirit are withdrawn, only with the pitying lamentation, "O that thou hadst known, in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace! How often would I have gathered thee, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings!" They who have turned from it, often look back as towards a friend whom they have renounced. With all the objections which they have gathered in their minds and hearts against it, they will sometimes cast a lingering look backward, as if, after all, there were true comfort there. The gospel does not, indeed recognise some most appalling truths. For it comes to seek and to save that which was lost. It represents man as a sinner against his Maker, fallen and debased, and exposed to a punishment coextensive with his wickedness, and without any limit. But these truths do not constitute its peculiarity. They are common to it, in some form and degree, with all systems of religion, and all systems of philosophy. Every where the world bears palpable marks of wickedness and degradation. Every man is, to some extent, conscious of sin, and as conscious of meriting the reward of sin. It is for this, that the world smokes with sacrifices, and groans with penances. It is for this, that the ignorant heathen do such violence to their own nature, and writhe under self-inflicted torture before their gods. It is for this, that the learned heathen reason so absurdly of the transmigration of souls, and a state of purgatory. The doctrine of a hell, or place of punishment for the spirits of the wicked dead, has ever been associated, among pagans, with the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. The gospel has thrown the clear light of heaven on the depravity and wretchedness of men, and exhibited the truth respecting them in its real character. This constitutes indeed the necessity of the gospel, but does not make an essential part of it. It is the disease which Jesus of Nazareth clearly described, when he came to apply the remedy. The preacher of the gospel must imitate his example, and distinctly and faithfully, and often exhibit the guilt, and the dangerous, miserable condition of fallen man; but the apostle would never have exulted in his work, if here it must stop. It were cruel to tell men of their wretchedness, if we must leave them without a helper. It were basely cruel to be ever reminding them of the deadly disease of their souls, if we could not remind them, also, of the "balm that is in Gilead, and of the Physician there." The distinguishing character of the gospel is found in its doctrine of the forgiveness of sin. In this are treasured its unsearchable riches. It is one of the fearful evils of sin, that it enslaves the sinner, both by diminishing his power to resist temptation and by disinclining him to repent; because the very thought of holiness, to which he should return, does but make him more uncomfortably sensible of his guilt. Nor can he well command his heart to turn back in penitence and love to that Being, whom his troubled and self-reproving conscience teaches to regard as inexorably just, and pledged to inflict upon him the merited punishment. It is the gospel only that meets his case. Without weakening the sanctions of virtue, or impairing the just government of God, or representing him as tamely indulgent towards iniquity, it takes from him all that is insuperably repulsive to the sinner, and exhibits him in the benignancy of a father, seeking (by a self-sacrifice) to win back the prodigal son, and embrace him again as his own. It offers encouragement to repentance, by a free and full forgiveness of all that is past, and clothes the Divine Being in the most lovely and attractive mercy, to soften the sinner's heart, and bind him in penitence and faith to his God. It comes to the consciencestricken and sorrowing one, and wipes away his tears, telling him of hope. It comes to the hardened and desperate sinner, and assures him that there is a better way for him. It comes to the proud man, and tells him of a generosity and prof |