intercourse with individuals especially the magistratescould have told them the truth so plainly, and pressed it so directly on their consciences, without being, in some sense, disrespectful. But not an instance can be named, what. ever be his plainness, or his pungency, in which he deviates from the strictest laws of decorum. One of his own precepts to all the followers of Christ, is to be courteous; and certainly, if any other authority were needed, they may plead the uniform tenor of his example.

Again: St. Paul's character was distinguished by an uncommon share of energy and vigor. I mean here the very thing which some others would probably call enthusiasm. The fact is, there are certain qualities of mind which go by one name in religion; and, in any other pursuit, the same qualities go by a very different name. Aman, in getting rich, may endure labor, exposure, fatigue, and cross the ocean on a plank, if possible, and this is enterprise; or he may be thorough in all his business, and prompt and decided in his opinions, and move forward in his own path, regardless of opposition, and this is energy. But the moment he begins to do any thing in earnest in religion-the moment he seems to regard the salvation of the soul as a matter of pressing importance-the moment he takes his ground as a Christian, and refuses to move from it, then it is enthusiasm. Let me ask, if St. Paul had done for the Roman empire what he did for Christianity, would not his name have lived to this day in columns of marble ? Or even if, for any object of personal ambition, he had de veloped his astonishing powers of action, should we not have put him down on the list of unparallelled efficiency and vigor? What, then, is the secret charnı which blots from the reputation of the Christian those virtues which adorn the reputation of the man? Take the map,-trace the route of his travels-count the churches he formed, and the converts he made-compute the arithmetic of what this one debilitated and unpatronised individual accomplished, and then say, whatever you may think of the nature of his undertaking, if he did not bring to bear upon it some of the most resistless energy that ever was evinced in human exertion.

But the principal characteristic of St. Paul, and one contemplated more than any other by the text, is, that he was a serious, thorough Christian. Before his conversion, he appears to have been a moderate man of the world, unexceptionably moral, and punctual in all the external duties of religion, but ignorant of himself and of his God. His talents rendered him self-confident-his connexions in life made him proud-and his integrity and honorable feelings gave him an unsuspicious reliance on his own good works. But afterwards, how changed! What were his sentiments? "I am the chief of sinners," "the least of all saints,"-" I am polluted and vile," "O, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death!" What were his feelings? "To me to live is Christ,"-" What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for him; yea, doubtless, and I count all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord." What was his life? It was a life of prayer, and of piety: it was a constant scene of communion with his Saviour. In his closet, and on his knees, he wrestled with the Angel of the Covenant: he poured out his heart unto God, and unbosomed before Him all his sorrows, and confessed and deplored his sins. In the world he breathed the spirit which he caught from retirement. It animated all his intercourse with mankind. It prompted that activity of Christian benevolence for which thousands are rejoicing now in Heaven, and thousands are grateful on earth. And is this the celebrated Saul of Tarsus-the high-minded Pharisee-the

student of Gamaliel-the member of the Sanhedrim,-that has learned to take and to keep his place in the dust and at the feet of Christ ?

Ah, my brethren, if we would ever possess the spirit which he possessed, or the Heaven he now inhabits, we, too, must learn to sit down in the dust at the feet of the Saviour. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, and the fashion of this world passeth away. We may bring to the Cross of Calvary the talents and the accomplishments which grace us in the intercourse of life, but we must surrender our whole hearts to the direction of Christ, if we would have him call us his. We must be Christians in earnest, or we are no Christians at all. Divested of every relic of self-righteousness, and abandoning all our sins, without reserve, we must come to the same common fountain, where, and where alone, we can wash, and be clean. We must live by faith, and by devout and earnest prayer. We must escape from our captivity to the opinions of the world, from our love of its pleasures, and our fear of its ridicule and its frowns, and commence a course of serious, personal, and experimental religion. In this way, and only in this way, shall we put ourselves on the road to Heaven. The spirit which humbled St. Paul must humble us; and the spirit which warmed his heart must warm ours; and the same mercy which saved him which whispers peace to the sobs of a sincere and lasting repentance, the same mercy must save us, if indeed we are saved at all. "Would to God," said the apostle, "that you were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds."

Why is it, my hearers, for the fact is undoubted, that primitive Christians were so much more eminent for piety than those of modern times? We find in the text, and throughout the Bible, that then a profession of Christianity was frequently attended with chains, imprisonment, and death. Yet, cer

tain it is, that the duty was discharged more promptly, and followed up by more holiness of life, than has ever been known since. To us the name of Christian brings no dan. ger-no disgrace. To the exposures, the scourgings, the confinements, the martyrdom, which St. Paul suffered, we are not exposed. In one respect, at least, his wish to the Roman judges is fulfilled to ourselves: we are not "loaded with his bonds." But, except his bonds, leave them out of the question, and permit me to ask, if you have no anxiety to be almost and altogether such as he was?to share the consolations which cheered and animated him-to have a good hope, through grace, of salvation -to expend your lives in the service of Jesus Christ-and, finally, to lie down in the dust with the assurance of a blessed immortality beyond it? Where is the man who would not willingly lay off, I care not what character he may now sustain, for the honor of being as active, as warmhearted, and as useful a Christian, as was St. Paul? Especially where is he, who, in the agonies of a dying hour, would not like to breathe the triumphant language of the apostle, "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me in that day."

SERMON XXV.

"Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more." Romans, vi., 9.

You are probably aware, my hearers, that this particular Sabbath of the year is kept by many as the anniversary of our Saviour's resurrection. From what quarter, the obligation, or even the expediency, of this festival is derived, some of us, perhaps, may think it hard to discover-certain, however, we are, that the event which is meant to be commemorated, is one of the very last importance, both as an evidence and as a doctrine of our religion. To-day then, chiefly because the celebration of other churches calls the subject to mind, we shall examine the matter of fact laid down by the apostle in our text, "That Jesus Christ was actually raised from the dead."

Before we commence the discussion, it may be proper to understand what use we are to make of the New Testament as we go along. To appeal to it for testimony, would be to beg the question-to throw it entirely away from us, would be unfair, for every candid man will admit that it claims our credit as much as any other history, when speaking merely of plain events which occurred at the time it was written. Let us, therefore, place the New Testament on a footing with Josephus, or Plutarch, or Pliny. In discussing the question of a miracle, it shall not be admitted; but there certainly is no reason to doubt indeed, I know not that it ever has been doubted, that such a personage as Christ once lived, and that he was executed; and that the men, called apostles, wrote his biography; and that they recorded many events which did really happen, and were