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all saints." However high religion may rise in the superstructure, it always lays the foundation very low, in the deepest self-abasement. And those of you who have passed through the process, well know that the day of conviction is a day of self-annihilation; the proud looks are humbled, and the lofty looks are laid low, and the Lord alone is exalted in that day. I believe, that if there be one word that will comprehend more than another the substance of genuine religion, it will be found to be "humility." For which reason, we presume, our great reformer, Luther, when he was asked, "What is the first step in religion?" replied, "Humility:" "What is the second?" he replied, "Humility:" "What is the third?" he replied, Humility." And does not the language of the Apostle Peter correspond with this, when he says, "Be ye clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." As those boughs that have the most fruit bend the lowest, so the most eminent servants of God in all ages have entertained the meanest opinion of themselves. Abraham said, "I am but dust and ashes:" Jacob-" I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies :" Job-" Behold I am vile, what shall I answer thee?" Isaiah-"Woe is me, for I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips" Peter-" Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord:" John, the forerunner of the Saviour-" Whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose."

We have now to do with Paul; and you observe that, notwithstanding the proficiency he had made in the divine life, he does not deem himself sinless. "When I would do good," says he, "evil is present with me; and how to perform that which is good I find not." "I have not attained; I am not already perfect." Distinguished and honoured as he had been, he does not behave himself unseemly; he does not think more highly of himself than he ought to think; he is not puffed up: "I am less," says he, "than the least of all saints." Bad grammar, but good divinity. The fact is, that his feelings were often too powerful for expression; his meaning is too big for common utterance: and in order to impress an appropriate impression, therefore, he would make use of old words, odd words, quaint words, cramped words; and would sometimes coin new ones; all unlike those who were afraid to express striking and memorable things on the behalf of the common people, who heard our Saviour gladly, lest they should be considered coarse and vulgar.

A few words, however, will be here necessary, by way of elucidation, or rather qualification.

I hope, in the first place, you will not consider this character of Paul as the offspring of falsehood and affectation. Christians have often been ridiculed for depreciating themselves. There is, God knows, a great deal of despicable cant among many professors of religion: they indulge in very debasing language concerning themselves, not one word of which do they believe; as appears from their tempers and their carriage: for no persons are found so sensitive and resentful when their reputation is touched. The case is this: where shew is a substitute for reality, it is always excessive. Actors always surpass the original characters. Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. Some people angle for praise with the bait of humility; I hope you will never be caught by it. They condemn themselves, hoping that you will contradict them, and commend them: I hope you never will, but join them in running them down. It is better to err always on the safe side; it is better to say too little of our

selves, always, than too much. Adams, in his "Private Thoughts," with that searchingness of spirit so peculiar to him, says, "O Lord, I want more humility. And why do I want it? To be noticed and admired for it. Ah, my God, I see that my humility is very little better than pride." Baxter observes, that he had always considered Judge Hale defective with regard to experimental religion; But," says he, "the cause was, he had witnessed so much pretence and hypocrisy during the Commonwealth, that he rushed into the opposite extreme." Remember that Paul here speaks from his real views and feelings, when he says, "I am less than the least of all saints."

And you will observe also on what he fixes his eye in this comparative depreciation of himself. "I am less," says he, "than the least of all saints.” "Saints" means "holy ones:" it is therefore of holiness of which he speaks; not of his condition, not of his natural talents, not of his learning, not of his knowledge; but of holiness. He does not say, "I am the least of all writers; the least of all scholars ;" (this would have been falsehood and affectation in him ;) but "I am less than the least of all holy ones." And the reason of this distinction is this-that all other qualities and excellences may be known in their subjects and in their effects; but not holiness. Holiness resides essentially within; and consists principally in the state of the heart, and the rectitude of our motives and principles. For a man is not the more or less holy, according to the actions he performs. These may be determined by opportunities, by occasions, by means. These may be performed without any love to God in the performer; they may be done even from an improper aim: it is possible for a natural man to surpass a real Christian in many things that are materially good. But a man is more or less holy as his heart is right with God, and as his motives and principles are pure and heavenly. And how do you know what is in the heart of another? How do you know the degree of his motives and principles? If your conduct is better than his, his motives and principles may be superior to yours; and therefore, in the view of God, he may have more of moral and spiritual excellence. It is thus you are to understand the admonition of the Apostle to the Philippians, when he says, "Let each esteem other better than himself." The maxim will not apply universally to use it in some cases would be folly. It would be absurdity, not humility, for a strong and healthy man to esteem a weak, sick one, as more able to do many things than himself; or for a wealthy man to suppose that a poor man is richer than himself; or a scholar to suppose that an illiterate man is wiser than himself. But it is otherwise with regard to holiness: there you never should presume in your own favour; never suppose that another exercises less self-denial or conscientiousness than yourselves. He may have imperfections; but those imperfections may have extenuations which may not attach to your deficiencies. He may not have had your light, your advantages; he may have had a thousand difficulties to struggle with, from which you have been free. In a word, you only see the actions of another; whereas you may feed upon your own motives and principles. You can only see the outside of another, and very little of this too: whereas you can look into your own heart: and you have never looked into it with the purpose, or in the light of the convincing Spirit of God, unless you have seen more wickedness there than ever you saw in the life of any fellow-creature upon earth. "For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murder, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, las

civiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness;" all these evil things come from within (but they could not come from within, unless they were there ;) "and defile the man."

Secondly, observe what he says of his OFFICE. "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach." Augustine calls Paul "the herald of grace." He well deserves the name: he is always magnifying it; never loses sight of it for a moment. He connects it, you see, with every thing. He connects it with his conversion: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant to me-ward." He connects it with his conversation in the world: "Not by fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God we have our conversation in the world." He connects it with his unparalleled exertions: "I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." He connects it with his functions: "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given." As if he had said, "This honour has been conferred on me, I have been invested with this office; not for any excellence in me, I did nothing to deserve ityea, burned with nothing but hatred against it, and compelled men to blaspheme: what but grace, grace the most free and sovereign, could-not only have pardoned me, but employed me, and made me the messenger of his heart's compassion, to go forth and announce to the perishing human race, God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." " What grace is there here! What do princes when they want ministers; or masters when they want servants? They will be sure to take those who seem the most meritorious, and who already possess the qualities and excellences they require in them. Why? Because if they have them not, they cannot impart them. God can; and therefore, in calling his servants he also qualifies them and therefore frequently takes the most unsuitable and the most inadequate, in order to shew that the excellency of the power is of God, and not of man. Man needs instruments; God does not it is true he employs them; but never from weakness-always from wisdom, and from kindness. Men depend upon their instruments: God's instruments depend upon him for every purpose, and in every work.

When the Apostle says, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given," he shews the estimation in which he held the work in which he was engaged. And, my brethren, though the ministry has been degraded, and rendered despicable, by many who have been attached to it; yet in itself the work is honourable, and glorious; and they who properly discharge it, as the Apostle says, ought to be "highly esteemed in love, for their work's sake." They are the ambassadors of God; they are stewards of the mysteries of Christ : under the agency of the Holy Ghost they turn men from the error of their ways, and save souls from death, and hide a multitude of sins, and build up believers in their most holy faith. Paul would rather have filled a pulpit than a throne; he would rather have been appointed to blow the trumpet of the gospel, than have been ordained to blow the trumpet of judgment at the last day. 66 "God," says an old Scotch writer, "had but one only begotten Son, and he made a preacher of him." And the Apostle says, he "came and preached peace to them that were afar off, and unto them that were nigh."

"O yes," you say,

an apostle was indeed an extraordinary character; he was in the church secondary only to the Son of God himself: he possessed

much of his authority and power: he could often discern spirits; he could heal the sick; he could raise the dead with a word; he could draw back the veil of futurity, and foretel things to come." Very true; but the Apostle does not value his office because of these; he does not esteem it so highly because of the miraculous gifts and endowments, but because of the preaching part: “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given"—not “that I should speak with other tongues, and do wonders”—but "that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." And therefore, however distinguishable our ministry may be from the apostolical office, there is no difference as to the nature and the design of it. No; what God said to Paul he says to every minister now that he commissions: "I send thee to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me." And therefore the real ministers of the Gospel now, though destitute of their extraordinary endowments, yet can say with Paul and his companions, “Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

I wish to render this part of my subject useful and interesting, not only to ministers-very few of whom I have before me-but to Christians at large-of whom I have so many before me in the presence of God this evening. I wish you therefore to remember this, (now carry it away with you,) that whatever you are enabled to do for the Lord dignifies you; that as far as you serve him you reign. David was a hero, and a conqueror, and a monarch; but he preferred the temple portal to the condition of any heathen monarch. He could say, "A day in thy courts is better than a thousand; I would rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” "O," says he, "what a privilege, to open the doors, and let people in to see his power and glory in the sanctuary! What a privilege, to admit persons to come in and see the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple!"

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God does not communicate the same favour to all, nor in the same degree : he is a sovereign, and has a right to do what he will with his own. To some he gives more; to some less: some he places in splendid stations, others are called to pass their days in obscurity. But did you never observe the language of the Apostle: "To every one is given grace, according to the gift of Christ." There is a variety in all his works. If you look up you will see one star differing from another star in glory if you survey the earth you will find hills and valleys: if you observe the natural body, there is a diversity of parts, and they are very unequal; yet no one of them is needless or useless. It is the same in the mystical body; there are many offices, but all cannot fill the same office. "If all were the hearing where was the smelling?" "But now," says the Apostle, "the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor the head to the feet, I have no need of you." Hear therefore the language of the Apostle to the Romans: "Having then," says he,“ gifts differing according to the grace" (now mind this phrase again)—" according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation. For as we have many members, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one

body in Christ, and every one members one of another." So the Apostle Peter says to the Christians scattered abroad: "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Grace again-manifold grace. "If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ." To you is this grace given—that you should teach that poor child to read his Bible. To you is this grace given-to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. To you is this grace given-to subscribe to the Bible Society, the Missionary Society, the Tract Society. And to you is this grace givento collect for them. Thus you see, all may be graciously employed and honoured. And Newton, when he says, that at God's bidding some fly over earth and seas, adds finely, "They also serve thy will; and they require more grace who wait than those who fly." Yes; "Unto you it is given," says the Apostle, (mark the language again) "in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake."

Here is an honour often conferred upon Christians; for nothing strikes like a fact: I believe nothing is ever so impressive as the display and the exercise of the passive graces in the believer. God therefore gives his people the grace of being placed in a state of affliction, in order that they may become his witnesses that they may be examples, to display to others the truth of the excellency and efficacy of the religion of the Gospel; and they are often enabled peculiarly to glorify God in the fire. Sometimes when they are laid by through accident, or an affliction, or a disease, they are ready to think they are approaching a very useless part of their lives; they are led to conceive of it, as Job says, as being "made to possess months of vanity," during which they can do nothing for God or their generation; when I have known them in such circumstances to be approaching, as I verily believe, the most useful part of their lives; when they have been enabled to suffer as Christians; when their whole frame and character has been expressive of this language: “O Lord I mourn, but I do not murmur: I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant." What has been the effect of this? How useful has the impression been! And even where the Christian lives, perhaps, in a mud-wall cottage, stretched, it may be, on nothing better than a pallet of straw, where he is hardly observed by any of his fellow-creatures-how do we know but, by the manner in which he suffers there, he may excite even praise and thanksgiving in another world for the Apostle tells us we lie open to it; we are "a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men."

Thirdly, Let us observe what he says of his AUDIENCE. "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles" not exclusively; but immediately, extensively, and peculiarly. And there is something remarkable and worthy of notice in this. When it pleased God, who separated him from his mother's womb, and called him by his grace, to reveal his Son in him, it was that he might preach him among the Gentiles; and he conferred immediately, not with flesh and blood. And you will observe that he preached the Gospel to the Gentiles long before he preached it to the Jews at all. Upon his conversion at Damascus he went into Arabia