Mercury, the idol god of eloquence. We cannot forget his numerous defences, and the honest arts which he employed to interest men in his cause. We cannot forget that Felix, on his tribunal, trembled before his venerable prisoner, when he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. Nor yet can we forget that compliment which the energy of the speaker extorted from his royal hearer; "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian;"* or that noble answer, "I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.” But let us not multiply words. The epistle which lies open before me furnishes abundant proof that Paul was an orator of the very first class. What could he mean then by telling this people that he came not to them with the excellency of speech? He meant, that he despised, and purposely avoided that artificial pomp and turgidity of address which constituted the fashionable eloquence of the times. He meant, that he would make no oblique attempts to work upon the prejudices of his hearers, and to enlist their passions, apart from the sober dictates of their understandings. He meant, that he would not disparage the christian cause; the noblest cause on which the sun of heaven ever shone; by pursuing such measures as are generally made to sustain and promote the worst of causes. In those days, and in those regions of mental and moral prostitution, eloquence had very little either of force or dignity. It was not the language of nature, of feeling, or of integrity. It was the laboured produce of mercenary artists; and more frequently employed to advance the interests of vice, than those of truth and goodness. The apostle himself has well described it; "the enticing words of man's wisdom." Justly did he spurn such excellency of speech." The christian cause would have been injured, not promoted by it. That cause has, in itself, weight more than sufficient to command both assent and respect; and

Acts, xxvi. 28. 29.

where it fails to receive either, such failure proceeds from an evil which human art cannot remedy, which man's rhetorick cannot probe, “an evil heart of unbelief." Instead of resorting to such helps, the apostle determined to repair to "Jesus Christ, and him crucified." He resolved to elevate the cross, and present a Saviour bleeding on it. This is the true eloquence of the sacred chair; the eloquence of feeling; the eloquence of sense; the eloquence to which every heart is accessible in the day of God's powerful working.

But he meant, further, that whatever good effects might result from his ministry, he did not make them a subject of glorying to himself; as if the excellency of his speech had produced them; or as if the enticing words of his own wisdom had convinced the minds and changed the hearts of the people. "I have planted," said he, "but God gave the increase." He rendered praise where praise was due, to the great name of the wonder-working God. He referred his success to the demonstration of the Spirit, and the resistless power of Heaven accompanying the instituted means of success; the exposition of the doctrine of "Jesus Christ and him crusified."

FOURTH.-St. Paul determined not to consult with flesh and blood; not to shrink from personal danger; not to indulge in ease and indolence when duty should summon him to activity, and to toil. For evidence of this, we need not look beyond his two epistles to the Corinthian believers. "Even unto this present hour," says he, for himself and his brethren in the primitive ministry, "we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffetted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day."* All this for the name of Jesus Christ, and him crucified! What diligence and activity did he display in the sacred cause!

* 1 Cor. iv. 11. 12. 13.

1

Though I be free from all men," says he, "yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law: to them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law: to the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some, And this I do for the gospel's sake."* "Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. O, ye Corinthians! our mouth is opened unto you; our heart is enlarged.”|--"Are they ministers of Christ?" exclaims the apostle, alluding to certain perverse and schismatical ecclesiasticks; "are they ministers of Christ? I am more: In labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews, five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the

1 Cor. ix. 19.-23. 2. Cor, vi. 3.-11.

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. Besides these things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches." "Who is weak and I am not weak? who is offended and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern my infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forevermore, knoweth that I lie not.”* “And I will very gladly spend, and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved."†

Thus, my brethren, we have the sufferings, the diligence, and the zeal of Paul, narrated in the words of Paul. If we mistrust him in his own cause, let the author of the "Acts of the Apostles" be heard for him. We have only to open those sacred memoirs, to obtain a thorough conviction that Paul has not exaggerated in the story of his wrongs, his distresses, his dangers, his zeal, his faith, and his philanthropy. If it be asked, why he did, and why he suffered, all these things? the text gives his own answer; "I determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

From what has been said, we may obviously collect the duty of the christian pastor. I am sensible that there is no small difference between the time when St. Paul wrote his epistles, and that, in which we live; between the apostolical character and functions, and the character and functions of the ordinary pastor; between the situation and circumstances of the people to whom the apostles ministered, and those of christian congregations in our day. The difference, however, may be magnified to an unwarrantable degree. Men, in all ages, have the same passions, and similar prejudices.

That evil heart of unbelief which opposed the gospel in its early period, still continues to wage the same war. Pride, avarice, ambition, luxury, sensuality, still maintain their empire over the unrenewed heart. A vain philosophy

* 2. Cor. xi. 23.—31. † 2. Cor. xii. 15.

has not ceased to be conspicuous through every successive period of the history of civilized man. Nor is it now a less inveterate or less rancorous foe to the christian cause than

in past ages.

The church too, is corrupted by false teachers. Jesus is betrayed by those who profess to glory in his name. Some would deprive him of his Deity. Others assail the tremendous mystery of his atonement. Some deny, and many weaken, the necessity of divine influences to regenerate the corrupt nature of man. And not a few appear to build their hopes of final acceptance on their personal virtues and holy dispositions, in disparagement of "Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

But besides this laxity of religious principle, there are many things practised, inconsistent with gospel purity.

Against all these errors of doctrine and of deportment, it is incumbent on the Christian pastor to arm himself with the weapons of spiritual warfare. Surrounded by infidel sophistry and counterfeit Christianity, it is his part to know nothing, "save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Let him preach the word. Let him reprove for sin. Let him exhort to holiness. Let him exert himself to preserve the peace, unity, and purity of the church, whatever persecution or opposition he may experience on that account. Let him be faithful and assiduous in the exercise of every personal and pastoral duty, and endeavour, by his conversation, to adorn the profession of the gospel. If the head of the church shall vouchsafe to honour his ministry by the seal of success, let him not fail to acknowledge the demonstration of the spirit and power from on high. In a word, let him, though at an humble distance, walk in the footsteps of that great apostle who "determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

But the obligations of the ministry imply correlative duties on the part of Christian people. If that mind be in them, without which no man can be a true disciple of the