and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings; being made conformable unto his death."

It is not one of these, but all of them combined, which form the doctrine of the cross. Take either of them away, and as when the key stone of an arch is removed, all the rest sink together to the dust, a mass of splendid ruins, a heap of crumbling fragments. Without the atonement, the fact of the crucifixion appears to me, a dark, unintelligible, inexplicable spot upon the page of revelation, connecting nothing, supporting nothing, explaining nothing: the atonement, without the divinity of Christ, wants both the impress and the value to secure for it confidence in one party, or acceptance with the other: both the atonement and the divinity, without the justification of the soul by faith, leave the system without any link which can connect it with the experience of the sinner, while all these together would be of no avail to salvation, unless they secured our sanctification.

Secondly. I shall now illustrate those principles, in which the power of its attraction consists.

1. By the interesting nature of its stupendous fact, it arrests and fixes the attention.

It is perfectly obvious that the human mind, especially in its ruder states, where there is such a preponderance of imagination over reason, is much more easily and powerfully wrought upon by a narration of facts, than a statement of principles. Now, it is an important consideration, which we recommend alike to the friends and the enemies of Missions -to the former to guide their operations, and to the latter to answer their objections-that the whole fabric of Christianity, both as to doctrines and duties, is founded upon a fact; and that fact, even drawn out into the details of a narrative, more touching and tender than can be found in the annals of history or the productions of romance. The life and the death of the "man of sorrows," to all the sobriety and power of truth, unite the fascination of fiction. The veiled splendour of his deity, occasionally bursting through its thin disguise, and irradiating the gloom of his deep poverty;―the extremity of his sufferings, and the heart

affecting meekness with which he bore them;-the perfection of his virtues, together with the unrelenting cruelty of his enemies; the mysterious combination of glory and meanness; the garden of Gethsemane-the scenes of Pilate's hall-and the mount of Calvary, give a magic power to the very story of the cross: but when we ascend to the grand fact, that this was the incarnation and crucifixion of the Son of God, for a world of sinners, we arrive at the very acmé of all that is marvellous, and interesting, and sublime. History in its most extraordinary narrations-and imagination in its loftiest flights, are both left infinitely behind. When with devout contemplation we have been engaged in surveying this stupendous fact, we feel, in turning away to other objects, just as the man does, who has been gazing upon the unclouded sun, so dazzled with excess of light, as to perceive neither magnitude nor splendour any where else. We no longer wonder at the researches of the prophets, nor feel any surprise that the angels should quit every fountain of celestial knowledge to look upon the cross.

Conceive then, my hearers, the effect of this wonder of wonders upon the minds of the poor pagans, who, after having been conversant all their lives with nothing but the despicable puerilities of a babarous state, hear for the first time of the death of the Son of God. " "Tis this," said our Missionary, Ebner, speaking of the wild Bushmen, " 'tis this that excites their admiration, melts them into tears, and breaks their hearts." If, then, you would arrest the savage of the desert; if you would detain him from the chase; if you would rivet him to the spot, and hold him in the power of a spell that is altogether new to him, do not begin with cold abstractions, of moral duties, or theological truths; but tell him of Christ crucified, and you shall see his once vacant countenance enlivened by the feelings of a new and deep interest, and the tear drop glistening in the eye unused to weep; and shall witness the evil spirit departing out of the man, as he drops one by one from his hand, the murderous weapons with which he lately would have sought your life.

2. As an exhibition of unparalleled love it melts and captivates the heart.

The cross has been beautifully denominated the noon-tide of everlasting love, the meridian splendour of eternal mercy. The sacred writers never seem to labour so much for expression as when setting forth this mystery. Herein, said St. John, is love; as if, till God gave his Son, men had never seen any thing that deserved the name of love. The same apostle calls it the manifestation of love, as if nothing more now remained to be known of love in any age or any world; while St. Paul speaks of it as the commendation of love, as if nothing more could now ever be said upon the subject. Jesus Christ, in describing this act of divine mercy, uses this remarkable emphasis, "God so loved the world;" importing that this is a demonstration of love, which will send the power of conviction, and the raptures of surprise, to the remotest world that Omnipotence has formed. In short, all we can say of it is, that it is ineffable; all we know of it, that it passeth knowledge.

Now, my brethren, there is a mighty power in love. He that knows all the mechanism of the human mind, has told us, that "the cords of love are the bands of a man." That heart, which wraps itself up in the covering of a stubborn and reckless despair against the attacks of severity, like the flower which closes its petals at the approach of the angry blast, will put forth all the better parts of its nature to the smiles of love, like the tendrils of the sea anemone, when it feels the first wave of the returning tide upon its native rock.

Think then of the attraction of the cross, when the love which it exhibits is seen and felt by that mind which is under the influence of the Spirit of God. What was it, my hearers, that melted your hard and frozen hearts into penitence, and gratitude, and love? What was it that drew you away from your sins? What was it that brought you as willing captives to the feet of Jesus? It was the love of a beseeching God, as it stood upon the summit of Calvary, and with open arms bid you welcome to the heart of Deity. Every thing else united to repel you; the terrors of justice petrified you with horror, and despair was binding you more closely than ever to your sins, till divine mercy appeared and told you there was hope for the guilty. And shall not the

same attraction be felt, do you think, in pagan realms? Shall this heavenly magnet lose its power there? O, no: many circumstances unite to increase its influence amongst those miserable tribes. Does it heighten the love of God to consider the meanness of its objects? What then must be the views of it, which is entertained by the poor Hottentots, who have been taught by their Dutch oppressors to consider themselves as little above the level of the baboons and monkies of the woods! And which the wretched Chandalahs of the East will entertain, who are considered unworthy to look upon the face of a Brahmin, when they are informed that God so loved them, as to give his Son to die upon the cross for them! Does the guilt of its objects heighten the love of God, and render it more and more astonishing? How will it appear to the South Sea Islander, who so lately rioted in the brute violence of the passions, gorged his cannibal appetite with the flesh of the man he had murdered, and offered human blood in sacrifice to demons, when he is informed that God so loved him, as to give his Son to die upon the cross for him!

And there is another circumstance, which must add to the attraction of the cross in heathen countries. One of the prevailing features of all idolatry is cruelty; and for this plain reason: When man lost the knowledge of God, he cast his deities in the mould of his own imagination, and animated them with the dispositions of his own heart. The prototypes of all the idols in the Pantheon were found in the human bosom; and because mercy had no altar in the latter, she therefore had no statue in the former.

Go, Christian Missionary, to the dark places of the earth, which are full of the habitations of cruelty, and to those who have never associated any other idea with deity, than inexorable cruelty, and never contemplated their gods but with uncontrolable terror, proclaim that God is LOVE; and by all the soft allurements of heavenly grace, draw them away from the hideous frowning objects of their homage, to the Father of mercies.

3. As a system of mediation, it allays the fears of a guilty conscience, and draws the soul into confidence towards God.

History informs us, that the greater part of the religion of all idolatrous nations, both ancient and modern, has consisted of rites of deprecation and expiation, a plain proof, in my opinion, that no nation ever considered penitence and obedience to be sufficient to satisfy the demands of an offended deity. So far as the testimony of history and experience goes, the idea of retributive justice, as an attribute of the Divine Being, seems far more easily deducible by a sinner from the light of nature, than that of mercy. What, I ask, is the meaning of all those bloody sacrifices, and rites, and penances, which have multiplied without number in the ritual of idolatry? It is the effort of a guilty, but yet blinded conscience, groping in the hour of its extremity, after some atonement on which to roll the burden of its sins; and seeking some satisfaction to the justice it has offended, by which its fears may be allayed, and on the ground of which it may have confidence towards God. No sooner does a Missionary set his foot on any part of the heathen world, than innumerable objects seem to ask him, with deep and lengthened emphasis, "How shall man be just with God?" Here then is the attraction of the cross: it removes every obstacle out of the way of the sinner's approach to God; it puts an authorized and perfect satisfaction to justice in his hand, with which he may venture to the very foot of the eternal throne, and gives him that boldness which arises from a perception that God has not more effectually provided for the sinner's salvation, than he has for the glory of his own attributes, government, and laws; in short, that he is both "just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus."

4. By admitting an individual appropriation of its benefits, it appeals to all the feelings of self-regard and personal interest.

It is the glory of the Gospel, that while it makes an ample provision for the world, and invites the whole family of man to the feast, it lays all its blessings at the feet of every individual to whom it comes, and tells him that they are all for him, if he will accept them. It does not appraise the value of the human race by a method of calculation founded only on the mass of mankind, but represents every individual as an