THE

PREACHING OF THE CROSS.

"The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."

1 COR. i. 18.

THAT God is no respecter of persons, the revelation which He has graciously vouchsafed for the purpose of declaring His real character to man, emphatically announces. But this same revelation, with emphasis as deep and solemn, informs us, that there is in the sight of God, a difference and distinction between the several inhabitants of this our world— a difference founded, not on the stations which men do respec

tively occupy not on the amount or deficiency of mental intelligence which they display

not on the degree of usefulness, or the want thereof, which their histories unfold-not on the amiability or perverseness of character which they exhibit, but, on the estimate formed in the view of their minds concerning the character of the Gospel. It seems to be im

possible that the sacred volume can be perused with the smallest portion of attentiveness, and this distinction not force itself upon the reader's view — and it is just because it is utterly discarded, or misunderstood, or because it is blamefully overlooked, that the writings and the preaching of many who use an evangelical phraseology, display so much obscurity, and confusion, and error; and it is just because this important distinction is kept prominently in view, (subordinate always to the special tidings of good will from heaven to fallen man, which they publish) that they who have written upon the subject, and they who preach the simple, unadulterated Gospel of the grace of God, are made eminently useful in their generation. Connected with the estimation in which the Gospel is held, the Scriptures affirm the condition of our race to be; declaring that they who do esteem it to be "foolishness," are ranked among them that perish;" and that they who do regard it as the wisdom, and have experienced it to be "the power of God," are classed among those who are saved.

That the preaching of genuine truth meets this reception, is obvious to all who take the trouble to

remark the effect invariably produced upon the minds of those among whom it is either statedly or occasionally ministered; and to the anxious servant of the Lord Christ, who scatters the seed of life with unsparing hand, it occasions deep solicitude, although it does not excite his wonder. You may have observed, upon the same day, in the same congregation, the same sermon exciting feelings of the most contradictory character. You may have known some to have been wound up to the highest pitch of torture, while their minister has been unfolding the gracious plan of sovereign love-to have loathed the precious and wholesome food of the soul-to have manifested their enmity against God and his word-against Christ and his Gospel-against the preacher and his discourse; and to have proclaimed, unequivocally, the darkness of their carnal minds, by exclaiming, as they withdrew, against the folly and imprudence of declaring, what was uttered under the teaching of the Spirit of Christ; what the man of God dared not, even had he been willing, to hold back. These are not the few, or the most illiterate; on the contrary, they are always the many, and generally the wise in this world's lore, the prudent in their own conceits. You may have remarked, also, that there have been some, and these the very, very few, to whom the same discourse has been the channel of the greatest comfort, who have enjoyed the privilege (and esteemed it such) of listening to the message of redeeming grace

who have been fed by it, as with hidden manna

-have been edified, as with divine wisdom--and have felt the truth in their souls, to be spirit, and life, and power; and the children of God, who have observed all this, have doubtless been reminded of that pillar of a cloud, which was light to Israel, while it was darkness to the enemies of Israel and of God. (Exod. xiv. 20.)

That these things are so, is unquestionable; and that those different sentiments respecting the Gospel, and those different effects produced by it, mark the state in the sight of God, of each severally who entertains them, and upon whom it thus tells, this passage which I have read from the epistle to the church at Corinth, among the numberless portions of the divine word, to the same purpose, satisfactorily establishes.

We are not to imagine, that the spirit which occasions the rejection of the Gospel, is peculiar to the times wherein we live, or to the place wherein it is now ministered. The same spirit prevailed in every age since the foundation of the world, by whomsoever and wherever the truth has been preached. To pass over the repeated instances which occur of Gospel preaching, and of Gospel rejection, from the time of righteous Abel, to the days of Isaiah the son of Amoz-we find that prophet announcing to his countrymen the comfortable tidings of " iniquity pardoned,” (Isai. xl. 1, 2) and yet constrained to take up the lamentation, which has been adopted by all who, since his day, have been occupied in proclaiming divine mercy to the guilty-"Who hath

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believed our report?" (Isai. liii. 1.) When Paul, too, in the plenitude of his commission as Christ's Ambassador, delivered the message of peace, with which he was entrusted-(although God did not leave himself without witness, wherever the word came--yet) the multitude of his auditors, in every place, considered him as an enthusiast, (Acts xxvi. 24) a troubler of the public peace, (Acts xvii. 8) "a pestilent fellow," a "mover of sedition," a "ringleader of an offensive sect" (Acts xxiv. 5) a babbler," (Acts xvii. 18) and one who "turned the world upside down." (Acts xvii. 6.) Notwithstanding, the messengers of God were not moved from their purpose by any of these things; but whatever estimate was formed either of themselves, or of the truth with which they were charged, they perseveringly testified the same thing, although it was" to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness." (1 Cor. i. 23.) And the reason of this is obvious; for they were persuaded that the Gospel is the only effectual remedy for the deplorable condition of such as are perishing-the only means whereby light is introduced into the mind; and that it is itself, in the hand of the Spirit, the demonstrator of its own wisdom, and suitableness, and glory.

Now, as I am persuaded that there are not a few in this our day, in whose estimation the pure Gospel is as much foolishness as it was in the apostolic age, when it had to contend with early prejudices, and longestablished customs; and being also firmly persuaded