SERMON VIII. GALAT. vi. 14. God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. WHAT is this title of glory, My Brethren, which the Apostle intimates that he prefers to every thing that the universe can offer of dignity, of success, of power? before which all the distinctions of greatness fade away, and which alone appears to him worthy of engaging his thoughts and his affections? Can it be a cross? the instrument, that is to say, of a punishment the most cruel and the most infamous? And what is the spectacle which that cross presents to him?-He there beholds a wretch disgraced by the vilest outrages, ranked with malefactors, -a man no longer worthy of the name of a man, who, in the midst of tortures and ignominies, terminates a life of obscurity and contempt. At this sight, the sense shudders, the imagination is terrified, reason is confounded; the Jew is offended, the Greek perceives only a "foolishness" deserving of scorn and derision. But how do these alarms of nature and this blindness of reason disappear, as soon as the torch of faith is brought to light up that gloomy picture! How does the mighty mystery of religion, which we then discover, disperse that spectacle of shame; and leave, to the eye of the believer, only such adorable objects as cause him to burst forth in cries of joy and triumph! Yes, Christian,-child of light! in the CROSS, in the reproaches of Christ, thou hast presented to thee the sole title to true glory. For in what art thou allowed to glory?—In the excellency of thy nature, in thy privileges, in the Master whom thou hast to serve. Approach, then, with humility, the scene of the Lord's sufferings, and in the mystery of the cross behold thine own exaltation, and the triumph of the Son of God. Such, My Brethren, is the subject with which I this day propose to occupy your thoughts: my aim will be, to lead you to place your glory in THE CROSS OF CHRIST, by showing you how the mystery of the cross discloses the excellence of our nature, and the source of our highest privileges, and sets before us the triumph of our Lord. Almighty God, adorable Saviour! that didst expire upon the cross for us, soften our hearts by the influence of thy grace; and so fortify our souls, that I may be the means of bringing these my brethren fully to perceive and to feel the glory that accrues to us from thine inesti mable sacrifice. May they, whilst engaged in this contemplation, be kindled with that ardent love and that unalterable affection for thy service, with those divine sentiments of devotion and of zeal, which caused thine Apostle Paul to despise the world and the glory of it P and to express his holy transports in these sublime words: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1. The study of the human heart, My Brethren, is a painful study: the further we advance in this melancholy science, the more afflictive are the discoveries we make. The knowledge of mankind consists only in an acquaintance, more or less profound, with the secret of our misery; and the longer we dwell upon the subject, we are but so much the more disposed to say with the royal Prophet, that man is only corruption and vanity. In vain does pride revolt against the truth that thus humiliates it; our reason, our heart, and our conscience unite in its support; and on this point the force of self-love is constrained to give way to the combined strength of reflection and experience. . Let us, for the purpose of more deeply impressing you with this sad but salutary truth, imagine a man of perfect sincerity one neither besotted by the illusions of pride, nor enlightened by the divine revelations of the Gospel-to examine his heart and to retrace his past life; and, after this scrutiny, to pronounce an impartial opinion respecting the degree of excellence belonging to his nature: what is the language that he would hold with himself? Methinks I hear him discourse after this manner : "The further I proceed in the study of myself, the less capable I feel of coming to any certain conclusions; I know not to what end I have been called into life; I am ignorant of what the future is preparing for me. In the midst, however, of all this obscurity, I have light enough to discover that I am a wretched creature, whose existence is but a succession of miseries. look upon my body, I see it beset with a multitude of continually recurring wants, to satisfy which, requires painful and unceasing exertions; exposed to suffering, to accident, to disease, to the injuries of time, which must in the end cause its dissolution. If I regard my If I |