have rarely exhibited, before they will be prepared to exert any prominent, and ultimately beneficial influence, in direct aid of the gracious designs of the Redeemer. Never have the reality and frequency of his victories been more apparent than when his armies, guided and shielded by his own invincible arm, resisted all the authorities of the Roman empire. And, however we might tremble for the government that should now dare to unsheath its sword against the gospel, we could have no doubt of the ultimate success of the gospel, were it proscribed in the constitution and laws of every nation on earth.

Nor does Christianity obtain its triumphs by philosophy and eloquence. These arts, however important, can accomplish little in reforming the morals; much less in purifying the affections of men, and moulding them into conformity with the spirit of Christ. Sinners never have been, and never will be, subdued to penitence, humility, faith, and obedience, by any finespun theories of virtue, however embellished with learning and rhetoric, or by any considerations drawn from present utility, self-esteem, and earthly glory. The reasoning, the declamation, and the persuasion derived from such sources, can have no better influence than to confirm that innate pride in man, which is the grand obstacle to his obedience, while they fix his mind on pursuits, whose highest reward is the approbation of fellow

worms.

The simple doctrines of the cross, united with faith and prayer in the church, are the instruments by which, in spite of all the sneers of infidelity, the great enemy of souls is to be vanquished, and his empire subverted. These are the weapons which ever have been employed in achieving the redemption of sinners. By means of these, the apostles and primitive ministers of Jesus, going forth in the strength of the Holy Spirit, carried their conquests into the very heart of Satan's kingdom, demolishing the strongest bulwarks of prejudice, ignorance, pride, superstition, and idolatry; and bringing into captivity to Christ thousands of thousands who had sustained, unmoved, the combined assaults of the genius, and literature, and taste, and philosophy, of the world. By means of these, far more than by an exposure of the fraud, impurity, and cruelty of the man of sin, the reformers undermined his ill-gotten authority, drew forth millions of his slaves to breathe the fresh air of liberty, and imparted to Christian empires an elevation of views, and energy of principle, which will not cease to be remembered and appreciated, till time shall be no more. These despised doctrines have lost none of their efficacy. On them the devoted missionary depends, as the only means which God will bless, to rescue the wretched heathen from the bondage of pollution and shame; and on these he does not depend in vain. The Greenlander, the poor Indian of the western forest, the inhabitants of the isles, and the sable sons of Africa, lift up their voices together, and sing of the wonders accomplished in the name of Jesus, by these calumniated doctrines. In these, as in the cloud of glory, the Angel of the covenant moves on with his church, to enlighten and guide all her journeyings; and from these, as from the same cloud, he pours dismay and terror on her enemies. In every genuine revival of religion, these are the arms with which he smites and conquers; and by these, he will continue to conquer, till earth shall own him Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

6. Of the salvation of the gospel itself, humility is a prominent characteristic.

None can share in the benefits of Christ's redemption, till, condemn

ing themselves, and renouncing self-righteousness, they are prepared to ascribe the whole praise of their salvation to distinguishing grace; to serve God from pure love and gratitude; and to own for ever, that, in point of personal desert, they can demand nothing better than the full infliction of the punishment denounced against transgressors. Such have been the sentiments and confessions of pious men in every age. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us; but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake." It has been their delight to solicit favour as a sovereign gift, to sink into their own nothingness, and to exalt, in their affections and songs, the worthy name of Him who is above all blessing and praise. So it is on earth; and so, more eminently and perfectly, it is in heaven. Not an ambitious thought, not one proud or contemptuous emotion, can find entrance there. Heaven indeed has its thrones and its crowns; but they are thrones which none can occupy, crowns which none can wear, save those who willingly refuse all praise to themselves, that it may be given to Jesus, and whose private interests are forgotten, absorbed in the high concerns of his holy kingdom. "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing and honour, and glory and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."

:

Thus, in the great salvation of the gospel, the loftiness of man is bowed down, and the haughtiness of men is made low, and the Lord alone is exalted: "that no flesh should glory in his presence."

My brethren, do we not find in this subject convincing proof of the divine origin of the Gospel? Men are proud; and they cannot easily conceive of happiness which begins in the prostration of their pride, and rises and expands in the same proportion as they are little and worthless in their own esteem. Hence the religion they would frame, would, without doubt, propose rewards, gratifying to an ambitious, covetous, or sensual heart; and such, we know, has been the actual character of every religion on earth, save that which is taught in the Scriptures. Is it credible, that this religion, which wages war with all man's corruptions, sinks him as a guilty pensioner at the footstool of mercy, and exalts by purifying his nature, had a merely human origin? What mind of man formed so sublime a conception? Surely not one that was depraved; and an upright and pure mind must have abhorred the thought of imposing upon us, as a revelation from God, the offspring of its own fancy. Look through the world-I do not for a parallel, but for any thing that approaches to the simplicity, and harmony, and grandeur of design, which pervade the records of the Christian's faith, and signalize the whole history of his religion. And as to the humility of the gospel, opposed as it is to all man's sinful prejudices and hopes, it is plainly the virtue which most of all becomes him; the disposi tion that suits his helplessness, his guilt, and his misery; that cures his irritability, silences his murmurs, reconciles him to all the duties of benevolence, and prepares him to seek and enjoy his supreme felicity in the govern ment and guidance of his heavenly Father. Aside, then, from miracles,

say

prophecy, and the concurrent records of nature and time, we behold, in the tendency of the gospel, and its mighty influence on the character and happiness of believers, the infallible marks of its divinity.

We learn moreover from this subject, the principal reason of the opposition of proud men to the gospel. It has ever been most hated and resisted by those, whose estimation of their own capacity, acquisitions, and virtues, has been the highest. To the self-righteous Jew, it was a stumbling-block; and to the philosophic Greek, it was foolishness. To men of the same character it is still an offence; and among them we find the leaders in error, the angry disputants of the age, the scoffers at all serious religion, and the cool, contemptuous, and rational despisers of Christianity in all its forms. Nor is this wonderful. How could it be otherwise, than that such men should manifest hostility to a religion, which pronounces them incapable of the attainment of happiness, without divine teaching; condemns them as sinners, deserving of eternal wrath; and places them, as dependent beings, on a level with the most ignorant and vile of the human race? To be stripped of all their factitious distinctions-to be treated according to the feelings of their hearts, and their conduct towards the divine Saviour,-no wonder, that, at such a thought, the children of pride feel resentment burning within them. All this, however, proves nothing against the gospel. It only proves the inveteracy of man's moral. disease; the completeness of his ruin; the necessity of an influence more than human to purify and save him.

Finally Let the ministers of Christ, parents, and all others, who would be instrumental in saving sinners, use, for this purpose, the means which God has appointed and approves. Let your manner bear the impress of a heart, glowing with kindness and affectionate zeal. Let your doctrine drop as the rain, and your speech distil as the dew. Entreat with tears. This is well. But then the matter-let that be the unadulterated gospel, with all its dreaded, hated, humbling peculiarities, explained, proved, pressed with energy, on the conscience and the heart. Nothing else will be of any avail. You cannot flatter down the enmity of a carnal world to holiness and to God. The proud hearts of sinners must be broken, before they will receive with thankfulness the tidings of mercy through a Redeemer; and nothing will break their hearts, but the distinguishing truths of the gospel, clearly understood, and powerfully applied by the Holy Ghost. Seeming conversions, produced by any other means, will disappoint your hopes. They may be combined with strong feeling, but they will be superficial, or transient. They may blaze like a meteor lit up at midnight-to be followed by a thicker darkness. May not the apostacies, so often succeeding revivals of religion, and dishonouring these blessed seasons "of refreshing from the presence of the Lord," be traced, in many instances, to a partial, distorted, or ambiguous exhibition of those doctrines of the cross, which exalt God, and humble the pride of man? Let these then be the great theme of Christian teachers, and of the church, when they would present their mightiest force against the empire of sin, rooted as it is in the prejudices, passions, earthly interests, and multiplied corruptions of mankind. Have nothing to do with a tame, time-serving, compromising Christianity. Wield the sword of the Spirit, naked and burnished in all the dazzling brightness of its terrors, as well as of its mercy; call upon the earth to behold; invoke the heavens to your aid; press onward in the strength of God; till the impassioned inquiry, "Men and brethren, what must we do?"-mingled with the shouts of the ransomed, shall break forth from every land, and hamlet, and habitation of man.

BY JOHN WOODBRIDGE, D.D.

GOD'S RESPECT TO THE LOWLY.

PSALM CXXXVIII. 6.—Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly.

ON a survey of the works of God, as the products of his power and skill, the thought which first impresses us, is that of his unsearchable greatness. All parts of the creation proclaim his glories. The emotions of sublimity, inspired by the wide-spreading forest, the cataract, the mountain rearing its summit to the sky, the blue expanse over our heads, and the mighty wastes and billows of the ocean, can hardly fail to be associated with overwhelming conceptions of his omnipotence and grandeur These sentiments are heightened in proportion to the extent of our field of vision ; and to the most uninstructed mind, a cloudless evening sky presents a scene of wonder, to which all the magnificence of earth is poor. When we contemplate the heavens, by the light of science, as the stupendous array of worlds, and suns, and systems, all moving on, in wondrous harmony, to subserve the will of their Maker,-when, having mused on all that the eye, or the telescope can discover, we still imagine ourselves to be standing at the vestibule of the universe, and conceive of other firmaments, stretching into immensity-to us, insects of an hour, confined to this little planet, the creation itself seems infinite;-how great then is He, who spoke and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast? His resources are neither exhausted, nor diminished; and in a moment he could create a new empire, compared with which, all that now exists should seem as a drop in the bucket, or as dust in the balance. With these views vividly before us, all our conscious importance in the scale of being is lost; man dwindles into a speck, a nothing: and the inquiry will naturally arise, What can be his assurance of the continued care, protection and kindness of his Almighty Creator? By deeper thought, by a more attentive study of his works and word, we learn the consoling truth, that his observation is as minute, as his knowledge is boundless, and his love as tender, as his greatness is incomprehensible. He is the Guardian, the Parent, of the meanest, no less than of the most illustrious of his creatures. The hand, which sustains and moves worlds, supports all, adorns all, blesses all; it paints the tulip and the rose, feeds the ravens, and imparts to the insect that glitters in the sun-beams, its vivacity and gladness. The Mighty God looks from his habitation upon the children of men; "he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust ;" but he is peculiarly the Friend, the Protector, the Father of all such, as reverence his name, submit to his authority, and trust in his mercy. "Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly."

To illustrate, in a number of particulars, the affecting truth taught in this passage, will be my object in the present discourse.

1. God hath respect to the character of the lowly.

He knows indeed all that vileness, over which they mourn; and, as a God of purity, he must hate sin, in whomsoever it is found. But he witnesses also their ingenuous relentings, their earnest application to him for mercy through the atonement; he sees them retracing their steps, bowing at his throne, and sinking into their proper place, as his creatures, and as sinners. These expressions of a filial spirit he loves; his fatherly heart yearns over the returning prodigals; his paternal arms are extended to embrace them. He views in them his own image restored; he beholds them taking part with himself against a revolted world, and joined in the temper of their hearts to his beloved Son; and he bids them welcome to all the provisions, endearments and joys of his happy family. "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned ; for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented ; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.--Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." 66 But the proud he knoweth afar off" He sustains them, confers upon them his benefits, requires their obedience and holds them accountable at his bar; but he abhors them still as rebels, whose aims and pursuits break in upon the order of the universe, and tend to dissolve that beautiful harmony, which connects in one grand system of benevolence all the parts of his moral kingdom. He must frown upon men, who, instead of aiming at his glory, that supreme point of attraction in the holy creation, would exalt themselves, by trampling down his authority, and spurning from them the offered grace of the gospel.

2. The Lord hath respect to the prayers of the lowly.

When we contemplate God in his majesty, the immensity of his essence, the infinitude of his knowledge, the boundlessness of his power, dwelling in light inaccessible, the universal Creator, the Director of moving worlds, the Life of heaven, before whom bow myriads of angels, celebrating his praises in everlasting songs,-dare we indulge the thought, that prayers, offered to HIM by sinful children of the dust, can be heard and accepted? These suggestions of unbelief, plausible and imposing as they are, spring from our ignorance of God, our low and unworthy conceptions of his tender mercy. Invested in all the glory of his own perfections, he is also the Refuge, the Hope, of his people. Nor are the wise and the great of this world the only men, invited to the exalted privilege of communion with Him who rules over all. Passing by the proud, he receives from the lowly in heart the worship in which he delights. Be they tenants of the cottage or the prison, be they wanderers in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth; it is all one; their sighs of penitence, their confessions, and fervent applications for mercy, are music in his ear. Do they cry to him for knowledge, and lift up their voice for understanding? He regards their cry. Jehovah is their Instructer. His Spirit dissipates from their minds the mists of prejudice, purifies their moral taste, reveals ‘o them, through the medium of sanctified affections, the glory of his word, inspires them with a reverence of his authority, and thus prepares them