Gospel. What led him in triumph to the stake, and raised from his quivering lips, in the moment of exchanging worlds, the shout of victory? My hearers, it was the Gospel of Jesus. It is foolish-it is stupid, to account for these things on any other principle. And is there nothing in such a Gospel which you will need, to hold you up in the afflictions of life, and go with you to the solemnities of a dying hour ? Will you continue to put away from you the overtures of that Saviour who has bled upon the cross for your sins, and offered you a hope in his blood, without money and without price? I point you to the world, with all its allurements, and follies, and pleasures; I lead you to the enticements of wealth-the splendors of fashion-the revelries of mirth; but look one moment to the bar of God; cast one glance forward to the judgment-seat, and then listen to the solemn question which the venerable Peter has left for each of us to answer: "Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness." Amen.

SERMON XXIV.

"And Paul said, 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."

Acts, xxvi., 29.

SUCH was the language of a man loaded with chains, covered with reproach, and on trial for his life before a Roman court of justice. After concluding a most able and eloquent defence, one of the judges, subdued by the power of argument, exclaimed to him, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." The answer of the apostle you have just heard. It is replete with the greatness and philanthropy of his mind. If sublimity be ever found in morals, it surely is when we see an individual emaciated by long imprisonment, and bending under the weight of his fetters; when we hear him, unmoved by the appalling prepa. rations around him, reply to the hesitating "almost" of his judge-"I wish, indeed, you were a Christian. Would to God that all of you were such as I am, except these bonds -that you enjoyed the hopes and consolations of Christianity, without any of the sufferings to which, by my attachment to it, I am myself subjected." Where, my hearers, was a sentiment ever uttered which breathed a feeling of purer or of loftier magnanimity ?

Before inquiring, as we soon shall, what it is to be such as St. Paul was, or, in other words, what was really the character of the man, it is proper to glance at some of the leading events of his life. He was born, as he tells us himself, in Tarsus, a sea-port of the Mediterranean. His parents were rich, respectable, and, in the Jewish way, strictly religious. After acquiring a knowledge of Latin and Greek literature in his native place, he was sent to Jerusalem, where he entered a school of great celebrity, to complete his education by prosecuting the study of the law. His proficiency here was so great, although under the disadvantage of feeble health, that he was elected, even while a student, to a seat in the Sanhedrim. From this period, actuated, no doubt, by the most sincere motives, he drew the sword against Christianity, and seemed to think it his public duty to throw away the scabbard. All the ingenuity of his mind, all the zeal of his feelings, and all the energy of his character, were rallied to a single point-the extermi. nation of the Christians. He hunted them like a famished tiger; he forced them from their concealment, and drove them to prison. He burst open their dwellings in the dead of night; he stretched them on the instruments of torture; he presided in triumph and exultation over the distressing ceremonies of their martyrdom. It was while engaged in one of these projects of blood that he suddenly halted in his course, and, to the astonishment of all who knew him, became a Christian.

The account which he gives us of his conversion-that it resulted from being struck down by a sudden light from Heaven, while travelling is certainly a strange one, and not to be credited, except by admitting the fact to have been miraculous. But, on the other hand, what motive could St. Paul have had for getting up such a story, if it were not true? We cannot suppose it a piece of imposture, for that would be making him act against his interest, against his principles, and against all the feelings of human nature. Nor can we suppose him to have been deceived in the affair. Who was there to deceive him? His associates would not have done it, because they wished to retain him among themselves; and the Christian party could not have done it, because it was a long time afterwards before they would even believe his story; and besides, how could his change originate from those with whom he had had no previous intercourse, and who, had they known him never so well, had no possible means of producing such a deception. But, waiving this point, one thing is certain-that, from the period of his journey to Damascus, St. Paul was a totally different man. He entered heart and hand on the work of helping forward that religion which, till then, he had been so eager to crush. He renounced all his former expectations, and became one of the most active and humble followers of Christ.

From the twenty-fourth year of his age he maintained a steady, unbroken, and vigorous attachment to the service of his crucified Master. His system of life was completely changed. Weeks, months, and years, he devoted unre. servedly to the employment of extending the empire of Christianity. He travelled from one end of the world to the other; opposition did not intimidate-obstacles did not retard him. But one object appeared to engross all his thoughts-the kingdom of Christ. To promote this, every earthly consideration under his control was made subservient. Wealth, honor, office, the patronage of friends, health, and, finally, life itself. He was beheaded by Nero, on the charge of having converted one of his debauched favorites to Christianity.

Now, what I wish is, after this imperfect sketch of the apostle's life, to call your attention to his character. And, in the first place, he was a man of talents and education. It is impossible to read his writings with candor, or even with care, without discovering a correct, profound, and comprehensive mind. It is true, he was under the guidance of inspiration, but while this shielded him from error, it left him, as it left every other inspired person, with his own pe. culiarities of style and of thought.

Hence we find St. Paul's course of reasoning different from that of any other New Testament writer. He is more nervous, more forcible; reasoning seems to have been more his object. There is something in all his epistles which show us what his education had been; a purity of language, and a correctness of conception which the slight. est glance may discover to have been entirely his own. In many parts, too, he is highly eloquent, particularly where he was called to defend himself in public. Nothing but his talents could have produced the effects which followed his addresses, for he was a man of very ordinary appearance, and had a hesitancy of speech, besides which he always began with the popular prejudice against him. "Much learn. ing," said one of his judges, "doth make thee mad." Much learning the apostle did indeed possess; but it was a very different man who had the madness. Another trait in St. Paul's character is, that he was a gentleman. I do not mean that he could swear a genteel oath, or that he could say a great many things which he did not feel, or that he kept a set of weapons for certain honorable occasions. I mean, that his deportment to all classes of society was becoming and dignified, that he treated his superiors with respect, and his inferiors with kindness, and his equals with sincerity, frankness, and friendship, and this it is to be a gentleman. Through his whole life, after his conversion, we cannot find a single act which the rules of genuine politeness would condemn, except that once he addressed the high priest without giving him his titles. but he tells us he did not know the high priest, as he was not in his robes; and immediately on being informed, gave him his customary titles. It is often interesting to see how the apostle, in his