gular, that men should disobey the truth, that he can only ascribe it to sorcery or fascination. You observe also that he grounds this opinion on the fact, that christianity had been so propounded to these men, that Christ himself might be said to have been crucified among them. We shall invert the order of the text, believing that it may be thus most practically considered. In the first place, it will be our endeavor to show you, that there is nothing exaggerated in our declaring of yourselves, that "before your eyes Christ Jesus hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you." In the second place, we shall make this fact a basis on which to ground a question to those who are yet neglectful of the soul, "Who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth?" Now we are bold to claim at once a high character for the ministrations of the Gospel, and shall not attempt to construct a labored proof of their power. We do not substantiate our claim by any reference to the wisdom or energy of the men by whom these ministrations may be conducted; for Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God alone can give the increasc. It is altogether as a divinely instituted ordinance that we uphold the might of preaching, and contend that it may have such power of annihilating time, and reducing the past to present being, as to set Christ evidently before your eyes, crucified among you. We are assured, in regard of the public ministra tions of the word, that they are the instituted method by which the events of one age are to be kept fresh through every other. And, on this account, we can have no hesitation in using language with regard to these our weekly assemblings, which would be wholly unwarranted, if we ascribed the worth of preaching, in any degree, to the preacher. When the services of God's house are considered as an instrumentality through which God's Spirit operates, we may safely attribute to those services extraordinary energy. We say therefore of preaching, that it must be separated as far as possible from the preacher; for it is only when thus separated, that we can apply to it St. Paul's assertion in our text. I might now bring before you a summary of the history of Christ. I might evoke from the past the miracles of Jesus, and bid you look on, as the sick are healed, and the dead raised. I might lead you from scene to scene of his last great struggle with the powers of darkness, and summon you to behold him in the garden, and at the judgment-seat, on the cross and in the grave. And then, as though we were actually standing, as stood the Israelites, when the fiery serpents were abroad, round the cross which sustained that to which we must look for deliverance, might I entreat you, by the hopes and fears which centre in eternity, to gaze on the Lamb of God as the alone propitiation for sin. This I might do; and this has been often done from this place. And shall we hesitate to affirm, that, whensoever this is done, Jesus Christ is set forth, crucified among you?" It is not that we can pretend to throw surpassing vividness into our representations. It is not that we can claim such power of delineation as shall renovate the past, and cause it to re-appear as a present occurrence. It is not, that, by any figure of speech, or any hold on your imaginations, we can summon back what has long ago departed, and fix it in the midst of you visibly and palpably. It is only, that as intercession has been appointed to perpetuate the crucifixion of Christ-so that, as our Advocate with the Father, he has continually that sacrifice to present, which he offered once for all upon Calvary—so has preaching been appointed to preserve the memory of that death which achieved our redemption, and keep the mighty deed from growing old. The virtue therefore which we ascribe to our public discourses, is derived exclusively from their constituting an ordained instrumentality; and our confidence that the virtue will not be found wanting, flows only from a conviction that an instrumentality, once ordained, will be duly honored, by God. We believe assuredly that there is at work, in this very place, and at this very moment, an agency independent of all human, but which is accustomed to make itself felt through finite and weak instruments. As the words flow from the lips of him who addresses you, flow apparently in the unaided strength of mere earthly speech, they may be endowed by this agency with an energy which is wholly from above, and thus prevail to the setting christianity before you, with as clear evidence as was granted to those who saw Jesus in the flesh. So that, if there were nothing entrusted to us but the preaching of the word, if we had no sacraments to administer, we should feel, that, without presumption, we might declare of our hearers what St. Paul declared of the christians at Galatia. Yea, so deep is our persuasion of our living under the dispensation of the Spirit, and of preaching being the chief engine which this Spirit employs in transmitting a knowledge of redemption, that, after every endeavor, however feeble and inadequate to bring under men's view "the mystery of godliness," we feel that practically as much is done for them as though they had been spectators of Christ's expiatory sufferings; and therefore could we boldly wind up every such endeavor, by addressing our auditors as individuals, "before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among them." But you are to add to this, that not only is there the preaching of the Gospel in our churches; there is also the administration of sacraments. We will confine ourselves to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, as furnishing the more forcible illustration. It is said by St. Paul, in reference to this sacrament, As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come". -an explicit assertion that there is in the Lord's supper, such a manifestation of the crucifixion of Jesus, as will serve to set forth that event until his second appearing. And we scarcely need tell you, that, inasmuch as the bread and the wine represent the body and blood of the Savior, the administration of this sacrament is so commemorative of Christ's having been offered as a sacrifice, that we seem to have before us the awful and mysterious transaction, as though again were the cross reared, and the words "It is finished" pronounced in our hearing. We have here the representation by significative action, just as, in the case of preaching, by authoritative announcement. For no man can partake of this sacrament, with his spiritual sensibilities in free exercise, and not seem to himself to be traversing the garden and the mount, consecrated by a Mediator's agony, whilst they witness the fearful struggles through which was effected our reconciliation to God. And if we attach weight to the opinion of the church in her best days, we must hold that there is actually a sacrifice in the Eucharist, though of course not such as the papists pretend. Christ is offered in this sacrament, but only commemoratively. Yet the commemoration is not a bare remembering, or putting ourselves in mind; it is strictly a commemoration made to God the Father. As Christ, by presenting his death and satisfaction to his Father, continually intercedes for us in heaven, so the church on earth, when celebrating the Eucharist, approaches the throne of grace by representing Christ unto his Father in the holy mysteries of his death and passion.* From the beginning it has been always the same awfully solemn rite, which might have attested and taught christianity, had every written record perished from the earth. All along it has been the Gospel preached by action, a phenomenon of which you could give no account, except by admitting the chief facts of the New Testament history, and which might, in a great degree, have preserved a knowledge of those facts, had they never been registered by Evangelists. It is like a pillar erected in the waste of centuries, indelibly inscribed with memorials of our faith; or rather, it is as the cross itseif, presenting to all ages the immolation of that victim who "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." And so long as this sacrament is administered in our churches, men shall never be able to plead that there are presented to them none but weak and ineffective exhibitions of Christ. If the crucifixion be not vivid, as delineated from the pulpit, it must be vivid as delineated from the altar. And it is nothing that hundreds absent themselves from the great celebration, and thus never witness the representation of the crucifixion. They are invited to that celebration, they are perfectly aware of its nature, and their remaining away can * See Mede on Malachi, 1: 11. for you declare of the means, that they are not adapted to the end which is proposed. And we wish to maintain, that, situated as fallen men are, the Gospel of the crucifixion adapts itself so accu do nothing towards lessening its solemnities, and stripping it of energy as an exhibition of Christ's death. And whilst men are members of a church in whose ordinances the Lord's death is continually shown forth, we can be bold to ad-rately to their wants, and addresses itdress them, whether they neglect or self so powerfully to their feelings, that whether they partake of those ordi- their rejection of it is a mystery, in the nances, in the very terms in which St. explaining of which we are forced to Paul addressed the Galatians of old. have recourse to the witch's fascinaYes, whatever our infirmities and defi- tions. We reckon that the great truth ciencies as preachers of the everlast- of christianity, "God so loved the ing Gospel, we take high ground as in- world that he gave his only begotten trusted with dispensing the sacrament Son" for its rescue, is so fitted for of the Eucharist and whilst we have overcoming the obstinacy, and melting to deliver the bread of which Christ the hearts of humankind, that it must said, "Take, eat, this is my body," and be matter of amazement to higher orthe cup of which he declared, "this is ders of intelligence, that it should be my blood of the New Testament," we heard with indifference, or rejected may look an assembly confidently in with scorn. Angels, pondering a fact the face, and affirm that there are prof- which appears to them more surprising fered them such exhibitions of the sa- than the humiliation and death of the crifice of the Mediator, that Jesus everlasting Word-the fact that reChrist is evidently set forth before deemed creatures reject their Redeemtheir eyes, crucified among them. er-may propose amongst themselves the very question of our text, "who hath bewitched them that they should not obey the truth?" We shall not include in our investigations into the fairness of this ques But we have now, in the second place, to assume that the facts of the Gospel are thus brought vividly before you, and to infer from it that disobedience to the truth can only be ascribed to fascination or witchcraft. The question the case of the open infidel, who tion, "Who hath bewitched you ?" in- professedly disbelieves the whole of dicates the persuasion of the apostle, christianity. We omit this case, not that the Gospel of the crucifixion was because we think that it is not to be eminently adapted to make way upon accounted for as the result of some earth. And this is a point which per- species of fascination, but only because haps scarcely receives its due share of it is not one of those directly intended attention. We know so well that there by St. Paul. As to the fascination_or is practically a kind of antipathy be- witchcraft, it scarce admits debate. For tween the doctrines of christianity and we can never allow, that, where reason the human heart, that, whilst we ad- has fair play, and the intellect is permit the necessity of a supernatural in- mitted to sit in calm judgment on the fluence to procure them reception, we proofs to which christianity appeals, never think of referring to sorcery to there will be aught else but a verdict explain their rejection. It seems so in favor of the divine origin of our renatural to us to disobey the truth, how-ligion. So mighty are the evidences on ever clearly and forcibly propounded, that, when disobedience is to be accounted for, there appears no need for the calling in witchcraft. Yet there is, we believe, a mistake in this, and one calculated to bring discredit on the Gospel. If you represent it as a thing quite to be expected, that men would disobey the Gospel-just as though the Gospel were so constructed as to be necessarily repulsive -you invest it with a character at variance with the wisdom of its Author; which the faith rests, that, where there is candor in the inquirer, belief must be the issue of the inquiry. And wheresoever there is a different result, we can be certain that there has been some fatal bias on the reasoning faculties; and that, whether it have been the sorcery of his own passions, or of "the prince of the power of the air," the man has been as verily spell-bound throughout his investigations, as though with Saul he had gone down to the cave of the enchantress, and yielded himself to her unhallowed dominion. | have the flesh which can quiver, and But we pass by this case, and come at the hearts which can quake; and we once to the considering, whether the call it unnatural, that there should be Gospel of Christ be not admirably cal- no trembling, and no misgiving, when culated for making way to the con- the wrath of the Almighty is being science and the heart, so that the mar- opened before them, and directed avel is not that it should here and there gainst them. win a convert, but rather that it does not meet with universal success. Let it, first, be observed with how surpassing an energy this Gospel appeals to the fears of mankind. We say, to the fears-for it were indeed to take a contracted view of christianity, to survey it as proffering mercy, and to overlook its demonstrations of wrath. If Jesus Christ have been "evidently set forth, crucified among you," there has been exhibited to you so stern a manifestation of God's hatred of sin, that, if you can still live in violation of his laws, some fascinating power must have made you reckless of consequences. There is this marvellous combination in the Gospel scheme, that we cannot preach of pardon without preaching of judgment. Every homily as to how sinners may be forgiven, is equally a homily as to the fearfulness of their doom, if they continue impenitent. We speak to men of Christ as bearing their "sins in his own body on the tree," and the speech seems to breathe nothing but unmeasured loving-kindness. Yet who, on hearing it, can repress the thoughts, what must sin be, if no finite being could make atonement; what must its curse be, if Deity alone could exhaust it? And yet, with the great mass of men, this appeal to their fears is wholly ineffectual. Is it that the appeal is not sufficiently energetic is it that it is not framed into such shape as to be adapted to beings with the passions and feelings of men Is it that there is nothing in our nature, which responds to a warning and summons thus constructed and conveyed? We cannot admit the explanation. The crucifixion is a proclamation, than which there cannot be imagined a clearer and more thrilling, that an eternity of inconceivable wretchedness will be awarded to all who continue in sin. And yet men do continue in sin. The proclamation is practically as powerless as though it were the threat of an infant or an idiot. And we are bold to say of this, that it is unnatural. Men And if unnatural, what account can we give of their disobeying the truth? Oh, there have been brought to bear on them the arts of fascination and sorcery. I know not, in each particular case, what hath woven the spell, and breathed the incantation. But there must have been some species of moral witchcraft, by which they have been steeled against impressions which would otherwise have been necessarily produced. Has the magician been with them, who presides over the gold and silver, and persuaded them that wealth is so precious that it should be amassed at all risks? Has the enchantress who mingles the wine-cup, and wreathes the dance, been with them, beguiling them with the music of her blandishments, and assuring them that the pleasures. of the world are worth every penalty they incur? Has the wizard, who, by the circlings of his wand, can cause the glories of empire to pass before men's view, as they passed, in mysterious but magnificent phantoms, before that of Christ in his hour of temptation, been with them, cajoling them. with dreams of honor and distinction, till he have made them reckless of everlasting infamy? We say again, we know not what the enchantment may have been. We know not the draught by whose fumes men have been stupified, nor the voice by whose tones they have been infatuated. But we know so thoroughly that the Gospel, published in their hearing, is exactly adapted for the acting on their fears, for the filling them with dread, and moving them to energy, that, when we behold them indifferent to the high things of futurity, and yet remember that Christ Jesus hath been evidently set forth, crucified among them," we can but resolve the phenomenon into some species or another of magical delusion; we can but ply them with the question, "who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth?" But it is saying little, to say that the Gospel addresses itself to the fears of mankind; it is equally adapted for act- | trance into their household, we could ing on feelings of a gentler and more carry them to a bed on which lay one generous description. The effect of racked by the terrible malady; and the fall was not to banish from man's tell them that this individual had vobreast"whatsoever things are lovely luntarily taken the fearful infection, and of good report;" but rather-and and was going down in agony to the this is far more melancholy, as proving grave, because complying, of his own alienation from God-that, whilst there choice, with a mysterious decree which can yet be the play of fine and noble assured him, that, if he would thus sufemotions between man and man, there fer, the disease should have no power is nothing of the kind from man to- over their families-is it credible that wards his Maker. they would look on the dying man with indifference; or that, as they hearkened to his last requests, they would feel other than a resolve to undertake, as the most sacred of duties, the fulfilling the injunctions of one who, by so costly a sacrifice, warded off the evil with which they were threatened? And yet, what would this be, compared with our leading them to the scene of crucifixion, and showing them the Redeemer dying in their stead? You cannot say, that, if the sufferer on his death-bed would be a spectacle to excite emotions of gratitude, and resolutions of obedience, the spectacle of Christ on the cross might be expected to be surveyed with carelessness and coldness. Yet such is undeniably the fact. The result which would naturally be produ ced is not produced. Men would naturally feel gratitude, but they do not feel gratitude. They would naturally be softened into love and submission, and they manifest only insensibility and hard-heartedness. Those sympathies, which are readily called into exercise by the kindness and disinterestedness of a fellow-creature, seem incapable of responding to the love and compassion of our benevolent Creator. That statue, so famed in antiquity, which breathed melody only when gilded by the sunbeams, was just the opposite to man in his exile and alienation. No lesser rays, whether from the moon or stars, could wake the music that was sepulchred in a stone. The sun must come forth, as a giant to run his race," and then the statue responded to his shinings, and hymned his praises. But not so with man. The lesser rays can wake some melody. The claims of country, or of kindred, can excite him to correspondent duties. But the sun shineth upon him in vain. The claims of God call forth no devotedness: and the stone which can discourse musically in answer to the glimmerings of philosophy, and the glow of friendship, is silent as the grave to the revelation of God and his Christ. And what are we to say to this? Here are beings who are capable of We declare of the Gospel, that it certain feelings, and who show nothing addresses itself directly to those feel of those feelings when there is most ings, which, for the most part, are in- to excite them; beings who can disstantly wakened by kindness and be- play love to every friend but their neficence. Take away the divinity best, and gratitude to every benefacfrom this Gospel, reduce it into a re- tor but their greatest. Oh, we saycord of what one man hath done for and it is the unnaturalness of the exothers, and it relates a generous inter- hibition which forces us to say-that position, whose objects, if they evinc- enchantment has been at work, stealed no gratitude, would be denounced ing away the senses, and deadening as disgracing humanity. If it be true the feelings. In all other cases the that we naturally entertain sentiments heart has free play; but in this it is of the warmest affection towards those trammelled, as by some magical cords, who have done, or suffered, some great and cannot beat generously. Satan, the thing on our behalf, it would seem great deceiver, who seduced the first of quite to be expected that such senti-humankind, has been busy with one sort ments would be called into most vigorous exercise by the Mediator's work. If in a day when pestilence was abroad on the earth, and men dreaded its en or another of illusion, and has so bound men with his spells that they are morally entranced. We know not, as we said in the former case, what may |