stowed on a preacher, was given by Louis XIV. to the eloquent Bishop of Clermount, Father Massillon. After hearing him preach at Versailles, he said to him, " Father, I have heard many great orators in this chapel; I have been highly pleased with them; but for you, whenever I hear you, I go away displeased with myself; for I see more of my own character."

Thirdly, Christ was a sentimental preacher. His sermons were replete with sentiment. He fed his hearers with knowledge and understanding. He delivered plain, heavy, interesting truths, which not only enlighten the mind, but find the nearest. passage to the heart. Though there was a rich variety in his preaching, yet he chiefly insisted on those peculiar doctrines of the gospel which are the most disagreeable to corrupt nature; and which, perhaps, for that reason alone, have often been called obscure and deep points of mere speculation.

That Christ was a sentimental preacher, we need no other evidence than his public discourses. He plainly taught the doctrine of the sacred Trinity, which supports the scheme of redemption, and lies interwoven with the capital doctrines of the gospel. He said that he and his Father were one; that he was in the Father, and the Father in him; and that the Holy Ghost proceeded from both. He insisted, however, principally on his own divinity, which was so essential to his character as the Saviour of sinners. He said, "Before Abraham was, I am." He said, "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven." And he called God his Father, in such a sense as plainly implied, and was understood to mean, that he was equal to God in every divine perfection. He inculcated the doctrine of personal election to eternal life, as a truth of great practical imporHe spoke of the elect, as those for whom his Father had given him; as those for whom, in a particular sense, he laid down his life; and as those whom no impostor could seduce, and whom God himself would avenge. Indeed it was a familiar expression with him, " Many are called, but few are chosen." Divine sovereignty was another delightful theme of his preaching. He delivered a sermon upon this subject, in the congregation of Nazareth, which, with its remarkable effects, we find recorded in the fourth chapter of Luke. And this doctrine was so agreeable to his own heart, that, upon seeing a bright and glorious display of it, he broke out into a rapture of praise, and said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight."

tance.

He urged the absolute necessity of disinterested love upon

all his followers, as the essence of true religion, and as that alone which discriminates the characters of the children of God. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same ? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

That mankind by nature are totally destitute of this disinterested love, and wholly governed by the opposite spirit of selfishness, he abundantly taught in the course of his preaching. "I know you," said he to sinners, "that ye have not the love of God in you." And he scrupled not to call them vipers and serpents, and even the children of the devil. And he carried the doctrine of total depravity into its natural and necessary consequences, and condemned sinners for all the affections of their hearts, and all the actions of their lives.

Accordingly, upon this ground, he asserted the absolute necessity of regeneration, or the renovation of the heart by the Spirit of God. He expressly said to Nicodemus, " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And when Nicodemus appeared to misapprehend his meaning, he rejoined, "Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." And in full consistency with this, he commanded sinners to repent and believe the gospel immediately. Accordingly we read, "After that John was put in prison, Jesus came from Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel."

He assured all his faithful followers that they should finally persevere to eternal life. "Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation." Again, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My

Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."

I might proceed to mention the doctrines of a general, and of a particular providence; and the duties of self-denial, unconditional submission, and universal obedience to the divine commands; all which Christ plainly taught from time to time in his public discourses. But I shall only add that he absolutely asserted, in the plainest terms, the endless punishment of those who die in impenitence and unbelief. In this respect, he brought life and immortality to light, and discovered more of the invisible scenes of the invisible world, than had been ever discovered before by any of the teachers sent from God. Thus the words which Christ spoke, the doctrines which he delivered, they were life, and they were death, and the same that shall judge the world at the last day; and therefore he eminently deserves the character of a sentimental preacher. This naturally leads me to observe,

In the last place, that Christ was a moving preacher. He is the most moving preacher, and possesses the power of persuasion to the highest degree, who is best able to convey his own views and feelings to the minds of his hearers. No speaker can effect, nor even desire to effect, more than this. Were a criminal to plead for his own life, he could desire to do no more than convey his own views and feelings to the mind of his judge. This Christ was able to do; and by doing this, he was able to move the minds of his hearers with whatsoever affections or passions he wished to excite. He had clear views and warm feelings. He was perfectly acquainted with God, with ' heaven, with hell, with the nature and worth of the human soul, and with all its relations and connections both in time and eternity. All his affections were pure and clear as the crystal stream. His heart was a flame of love. His soul was all sensibility. His life was immaculate innocence. And more of heaven sat on his countenance, and sparkled in his eye, than ever shone in the face of Moses, or the face of Stephen. With such views, such feelings, such heavenly appearance, could he possibly fail of speaking with astonishing solemnity and pathos? We never heard him preach, and we never shall; but we may conceive of his rising up in a large assembly of poor, guilty, perishing sinners, and, like a mighty stream, bearing down all before him, while he clearly, solemnly and affectionately laid open his own views and feelings respecting their guilt and danger, their happiness and misery to all eternity. What could equal the language of his vengeance to secure, hardened sinners ? "Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers." "Ye serpents!

ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" But what could be more soft and melting than the language of his love? "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

"Him that com

eth to me, I will in. no wise cast out." "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." In reference to these words, the officers said- and who would not have said the same?—"Never man spake like this man." Such a plain, searching, sentimental, moving preacher was Christ, who is the standard of perfection, and the pattern of preaching to all who assume the ministerial character.

But if this be true, how can those answer it to Christ, who profess to be his ministers and to preach his gospel, and yet pay no regard to his example in their preaching? Have not such persons crept into the ministry, from age to age? Did not some preachers begin to make shipwreck of the faith, while the apostles were alive? Did they not wax worse and worse soon after their death? Did not some deny even the Lord that bought them, and maintain that he was a mere creature, a mere man, a mere phantom? Did not the body of the clergy, in the dark ages of Christianity, mix and corrupt the plainest truths of divine revelation with the vain philosophy which they borrowed from the school of Alexandria, or the academy of Plato, till scarce a single article of the gospel was left pure and unadulterated?

But, to come more home, Do the sermons of some at this day contain one sentiment delivered by Christ in his sermon on the mount, or in any other of his public discourses? Might we not hear them preach from year to year, without perceiving the least resemblance between their sermons and his, either in matter or spirit? Nay, do not some plainly preach against the sentiments which Christ delivered? Do they not preach against the revealed mode of the divine existence; against the divinity of Christ, and of the Holy Ghost; against the doctrine of election and divine sovereignty; against disinterested love and total depravity; and against regeneration, saints' perseverance, and the interminable punishment of those who die in their sins? Do not such ministers preach against Christ, and the souls of men? And are they not workers together with the god of this world, in blinding the minds of them that believe not?

How then can they answer this to Christ at the day of judgment, when the truths which he preached, and which they denied, shall shine forth in all their lustre and awful importance? How will they feel, when the immortal souls whom they have been the means of destroying for ever, shall bitterly upbraid and

reproach them for their infidelity, unfaithfulness and cruelty? What excuse can they make? Can they plead ignorance? Did they not live with the gospel in their hands, and the example of Christ before their eyes? Was it not the proper business of their lives to search the scriptures, to study the mind and will of Christ, to imbibe his spirit, and imitate his example both in living and in preaching? How therefore could they be ignorant, unless it were owing to stupidity, indolence, selfishness and blindness of heart? And will they not be obliged to confess, with shame and confusion of face, that they did seek their own things rather than the things of Christ; and did endeavor more to please men than to be the servants of Christ?

We may be very certain how Christ will treat corrupt and unfaithful ministers at the last day, from the manner of his treating such persons here on earth. He treated them with more severity than any other order of men. His love to God and precious souls seemed to inflame his indignation against corrupt preachers. He stigmatized them as blind leaders of the blind; as those who took away the key of knowledge; as those who shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, neither going in themselves, nor suffering them that were entering to go in; as wolves in sheep's clothing; and as thieves and robbers, who come on purpose to steal, and kill, and destroy his flock. Against such he denounces the severest anathemas. Wo unto you lawyers! wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees! Hence, of all men in the world, corrupt and unfaithful ministers may justly expect to meet with the heaviest frowns from the face of Christ, their injured and incensed Lord and Master, at the day of judgment.

Again: How can those people answer it to Christ, who will not receive his faithful ministers who follow his example and preach the same truths which he preached? The experience of ages shows that mankind have generally refused to give a proper reception to the ambassadors of Christ. Men naturally hate the light, and will not come to it, lest their deeds should be reproved. Therefore they feel an aversion to those preachers who exhibit the light, and inculcate the soul humbling truths of the gospel. This perhaps, they never so fully,manifested as by their treatment of Christ while he tabernacled in flesh, and preached the truth with superior power and pungency. We hear of no opposition to Christ till after he commenced a preacher; but then they employed every opprobrious epithet to asperse his character. They said he was mad, and had a devil. They said he was a friend of publicans and sinners. They said he was a disturber of the peace, and a blasphemer of God. But all this hatred and obloquy arose from no other