makes his people free; or will you clank your chains around you like maddened captives, and make yourselves more the children of corrup tion than ever? My hearers, in the name of God, who is greater than angels and fiends, I demand your decision, and I demand your decision for Christ! By His agony and bloody sweat; by his cross and passion; by his precious death and burial; by his glorious resurrection and ascension; by his reign at the right hand of the Father, and by his coming as the Judge of quick and dead, I demand of every one that this night he will enrol his name as a Christian! Refuse it if you dare, and answer for it before the tribunal of God! For myself, I take the vow once more, and I trust I shall be followed, even by thousands, who are in the presence of God, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." "I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." "Whether I live, I will live unto the Lord; or whether I die, I will die unto the Lord; whether I live, therefore, or die, I am the Lord's. For, to this end, Christ both died and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living."

Come, ye sons and daughters of men, let us thus sustain the Christian's character, then shall we enjoy the Christian's privileges; and, as we possess the Christian's privileges, we shall rise to the Christian's heaven! Shall we meet there? The day will declare it! Sinners, your blood be upon your own heads! AMEN.

SERMON IV.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST CRUCIFIED.

BY REV. F. J. JOBSON.

"I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

1 CORINTHIANS, ii. 2.

MAN, by his intellectual constitution, is capable of acquiring and possessing knowledge; and in this he stands distinguished from all other beings in the visible universe. The earth on which you tread, covered as it is with beauty and bloom, knows not of its own existence; it is totally unconscious of itself. The sun, that shines so gloriously, knows not of his own splendor; he is totally unconscious of the light and life he throws on all around. The air, that sustains all animal and

vegetable life, knows not of its sustaining and refreshing qualities. Birds, that wing their adventurous way through the air; beasts, that stalk upon the surface of the earth; fishes, that pass down to depths unfathomed-are totally incapable of contemplating the scenes by which they are surrounded. But MAN, the last and brightest fruit of eternal wisdom-MAN, the last production of Jehovah in his six days' labor, can contemplate the glorious scenes by which he is surrounded. The brute creation seem to think of nothing but what is urged upon them by present inclinations; the past is a blank to them, the future all in darkness. But man can review the past, contemplate the present, and look onward to the future. Nay, you know not where to put a limit to the powers of the mind of man. You may stride over the surface of this earth, and speak with certainty of its dimensions; you may measure the distance of the most far-out planet, and, after you have ascertained its distance, you may mark out its surface, and place a boundary line beyond it; but where will you put a limit to the powers of the mind of man? It is ever moving onwards. It goes on link by link in the chain of understanding; and you know not where to find an end of that chain, but at the footsteps of the Eternal Throne.

But not only is there a power in the mind of man to acquire and retain knowledge, but there is a love for knowledge, implanted by the Divine hand within his breast for important purposes. The mind of man has as great a dislike to ignorance as the eye has to darkness, or the limbs to confinement. It loves to look out on the broad light of truth; it loves to range in the freedom of its faculties.

But various are the opinions of men, as to what constitutes the most valuable kind of knowledge. One man says, that the knowledge of languages is the most valuable of all knowledge, and he sets himself down to study the speech of various nations; and thus he seeks reputation among men. Another man says, that the expression of sentiment in poetic numbers is the most exalted employment of the mind; and he, as a poet, seeks reputation among his fellow beings. Another man says, that to understand well the connection between cause and effect, or to be a natural philosopher, and be able to place every created object in its proper situation - from the gigantic elephant that stalks the surface of the earth, down to the smallest insect that dances in the sun-beam—is to be a wise man ; and, as a natural philosopher, he seeks reputation among his fellow-creatures. Another, perhaps, takes off the crust of the earth, on which you tread, and looks down into it to see how it is built and composed; and, as a geologist, he seeks reputation among men. Another, makes the earth, on which you walk, an observatory, and gazes at the stars; and by his progress in what is called the celestial sci

ence, he seeks reputation in the world. My friends, such knowledge may be valuable, but it is not the most valuable; such knowledge may be important, but it is not the most important. Man is a guilty sinner; and in this world his time should be occupied in seeking reconciliation with his God. By Christ crucified a way is opened, whereby guilty man may be reconciled to God. Then, I say, that man is the wise man, who goes to the cross of Christ to study there the great science of human redemption. Let a man be what he may-astronomer, geologist, poet, natural philosopher, or whatever else, he must yield the palm to the Christian student, who goes to the cross of Christ to study there the great science of human salvation. Do you wonder, then, to hear the apostle Paul - the noble, talented, learned Paul- avow a determination so great, as that which is expressed in the words of the text? Do you wonder to hear him say, amidst the philosophers and sages of Greece, "I am determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified." Noble Paul! valiant Paul! He had a right to say so; he knew that Christ crucified was everything to him as a guilty sinner. You cannot be surprised to hear him say, "I am determined not to know any thing save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

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The persons, to whom St. Paul first avowed his determination, were persons that were given to the study of science, as it was taught by their philosophers, who were well skilled in all the tricks of human oratory. Paul went among them, and he declared simply and plainly the death of Christ, and the way of salvation for guilty man by the death of Christ; and they frowned upon Paul; they looked upon it as bad taste in Paul, to go among the philosophers of Greece, and speak of the death of Christ as the way of deliverance for guilty beings. But Paul challenged them to point to effects produced by their preaching, so great as those which had been produced by the simple story of the cross. Where," says he, " is the wise? where is the scribe ? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom. of this world?" And then he goes on to show how the effects, which had been produced among the Corinthians, had been caused that it was not done by any tricks of human oratory, or by the gaudy addresses of an eloquent man. No; he reminds them of the plain and simple way in which he went amongst them, and proclaimed the cross of Jesus Christ; he says, " And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God; for I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

First, then, we shall notice the grand subject, which so exclusively

engaged the apostle's attention - Jesus Christ, the Savior of man; in the second place, we shall bring forward reasons to justify a determination so great, as that which the apostle avows in my text, so that he would "know nothing among them, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

I. First, then, we are to notice THE GRAND SUBJECT, which so exclusively engaged the apostle's attention.

It was as much as if he had said, "I am determined to think of nothing for myself, I am determined to teach nothing to you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified; this shall be the point, the centre, to which all the lines of my ministry shall be drawn - Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

I suppose, my friends, it is not necessary for me to take up the time this morning, in explaining to you the meaning of these words. You are all aware, that the word Jesus signifies a Savior. The first who bore that name, was the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim - the successor of Moses; for Joshua, by proper interpretation, is the same name as Jesus, and that name was given unto Joshua as a proof that God would fulfil his promise unto his people; that he would raise up a leader, who should direct them through the wilderness, and bring them safely into a land "flowing with milk and with honey." And you know, that the name given to the Savior- - that of Jesus not given to him merely as a proper name, a name by which he might be distinguished among the sons of men- not given to him, as the name of John was given at his circumcision. No; for when the angel appeared unto Joseph, and gave the name of Jesus, he gave along with it the etymology or meaning of the name; he said, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." The word Jesus, then, signifies a Savior.

was

We now come to that title which is generally annexed to that of Jesus that of Christ, which signifies the anointed. Under the old dispensation, kings and priests were anointed-set apart for their office. You remember, that David was anointed to be king by Samuel, and Aaron and his sons were anointed to the priesthood. Oil was poured upon their heads. Nor was this a mere formal or unmeaning ceremony; but, connected with it, was the bestowment of fit qualifications for their office. Until David had been anointed by Samuel, he was a raw shepherd, quite unfit to reign over Israel; but when Samuel had anointed him, the Spirit of God came upon him, and prepared him for the office. Now Christ was anointed. I do not mean that it was mere oila mere drug pressed out of vegetable matter that was poured

upon him. No; it was the unction of the Holy One. You remember, that at his baptism the Holy Ghost descended upon him, and a voice from heaven was heard, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" and then he went into the temple, and he cried, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."

But, my friends, it is not upon the name of Jesus that we rest our hopes for salvation, nor is it upon the anointing of the Savior that we rest our hopes for salvation; no, it was not the anointing of Christ nor the name of Christ upon which the apostle Paul determined to dwellbut Jesus Christ crucified. And that is every thing to you and to me, as guilty sinners. That is the foundation of all your hopes; that is the ground of all your expectations; that is the key-stone of the whole arch of Christianity. If you take that away, there is nothing for us to hope for, nothing left on which we can ground our expectations of eternal salvation. Jesus Christ crucified is every thing to you and to

me.

Let us attend to this mighty subject this subject, which, on account of its magnificence, has been justly called "the wisdom of God" -this subject, which, on account of its grandeur, excites the admiration of the loftiest intelligences. You never find, in this book, that angels are walking the surface of this earth to inquire into the connection between cause and effect in its transactions; but you do find them Christian students- the angels are represented by Peter as desiring to fathom the mysteries of redemption. This is the subject which will engage our attention throughout all eternity, if you and I shall get to heaven, and furnish us with songs long as eternity shall endure.

Let us, then, look at Jesus Christ crucified-Jesus Christ your Savior Jesus Christ my Savior-Jesus Christ crucified for the sins of the whole world-not Jesus Christ, a good man going up and down this world, performing his heavenly Master's will not Jesus Christ, a great prophet commissioned by God to convey some important information to the inhabitants of this world. No; to view him as a good man, his greatest enemies are willing to view him as a great prophet, his greatest enemies are willing. My friends, there is a system in our day, which seeks to pluck the crown of underived glory from the head of the Savior, to wrest the sceptre from his hand, to take the robe of royalty from his shoulders, and to reduce him to the level of a man. There are some who bow to Christ as a good man and a great prophet, but who scorn to look upon him as the co-equal Son of God. No won