of his audience; but as he was returning from dinner with the Lord Mayor, a poor man following him, pulled him by the sleeves of his gown, and asked him if he was the gentleman that preached before the Lord Mayor. He replied, he was. "Sir," said he, "I came with hopes of getting some good to my soul, but I was greatly disappointed, for I could not understand a great deal of what you said; you were quite above my comprehension." Friend," said the doctor, "if I have not given you a sermon, you have given me one: By the grace of God I will not play the fool in such a manner again."

66

Chap. ii, ver. 13.-Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Some time after the conversion of Mr. John Cotton, it came to his turn to preach at St. Mary's; when a high expectation from his known abilities was raised through the university, that they should have a sermon set off with all the learning and eloquence of the place. Mr. Cotton had now many difficulties in his own mind concerning the course he was to pursue. On the one hand he considered, that if he should preach with a scriptural and Christian plainness, he should not only wound his own fame, but also tempt carnal men to revive an old cavil, that religion made scholars turn dunces; whereby the honor of God might suffer not a little. On the other hand he considered, that it was his duty to preach with such plainness as became the oracles of the living God. He therefore resolved to preach a plain sermon; such a one as he might in his own conscience think would be most pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ; and accordingly he did so. But when he had finished, the wits of the university discovered their resentment, by their not humming, as according to their absurd custom they had formerly done; and the vice-chancellor, too, showed much dissatisfaction.

He had, however, many encouragements from some doctors, who having a better sense of religion, prayed him to persevere in that good way of preaching he had now taken. But the greatest consolation was, that by the sermon he became a spiritual father to Dr. Preston, one of the most eminent men of his time.

Chap. iii, ver. 2.-I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

At a meeting held at Wittemberg by the leading parties of the reformation, with a view to promote the harmony of the whole, it was agreed that Albert Bucer, and Luther, should be the preachers. At the close of the services, Luther requested Bucer to be his guest, to which Bucer readily acceded. In the course of the evening, Luther found an opportunity to make his remarks on the sermon delivered by his sage friend. He spake highly in its praises, but added, "Bucer, I can preach better than you." Such an observation sounded oddly to the ears of his friend, who, however, took it in good part, and readily replied, "Every person of course will agree, that Luther should bear the palm." Luther immediately changed his tone of voice, and with indescribable seriousness, addressed his friend to this effect.

"Do

not mistake me, my dear brother, as though I spake merely in the praise of myself. I am fully aware of my weakness, and am conscious of my inability to deliver a sermon so learned and judicious, as the one I have heard from your lips this afternoon. But my method is, when I enter the pulpit, to look at the people that sit in the aisles; because they are principally Vandals. (By this term he meant the ignorant common people, and alluded to the circumstance of those parts having been formerly overrun by hordes of savage Vandals.) I keep my eye on the Vandals, and endeavor to preach what they can comprehend. But you shot over their heads; your sermon was

adapted for learned hearers, but my Vandals could not understand you. I compare them to a crying babe, who is sooner satisfied with the breast of its mother, than with the richest confectionaries: so my people are more nourished by the simple word of the Gospel, than by the deepest erudition, though accompanied with all the embellishments of eloquence."

Chap. iii, ver. 21, 22, 23.-Therefore let no man glory in men: for all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

6

Dr. Stonehouse, who attended Mr. Hervey during his last illness, seeing the great difficulty and pain with which he spoke, and finding by his pulse, that the pangs of death were then coming on, desired that he would spare himself: "No," said he, "Doctor, No: You tell me I have but a few minutes to live; oh! let me spend them in adoring our great Redeemer. Though my flesh and my heart fail me, yet God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." He then expatiated in the most striking manner, on these words of Paul, All things are yours, life and death; things present, and things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' "Here, says he, is the treasure of a Christian, and a noble treasure it is. Death is reckoned in this inventory: how thankful am I for it, as it is the passage through which I get to the Lord, and giver of eternal life; and as it frees me from all the misery you see me now endure, and which I am willing to endure as long as God thinks fit; for I know he will by and by, in his good time, dismiss me from the body. These light afflictions are but for a moment, and then comes an eternal weight of glory. Oh welcome, welcome, death! thou mayest well be reckoned

P

among the treasures of the Christian. To live is Christ, but to die is gain."

Chap. iv, ver. 4.-For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified; but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

The celebrated Mr. Shepherd, when on his deathbed, said to some young ministers who had come to see him, "Your work is great, and calls for great seriousness." With respect to himself, he told these three things: First, That the studying of his sermons very frequently cost him tears. Secondly, Before he preached any sermon to others, he got good by it himself. And thirdly, That he always went to the pulpit, as if he were immediately after to render an account to his Master.

Chap. iv, ver. 13.-Being defamed, we entreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

"One Sabbath afternoon," says Mr. Lacey, a missionary in the East Indies, "the people were extremely violent, shouting, 'A lie! a lie!' at every word spoken. Some called aloud to drown my voice; others made impudent gestures, and excited a loud obscene laugh: and, in short, all means of diverting the attention of the hearers were resorted to. Some few, I observed, were more backward in the crowd, more serious, and seemed to feel the force of truth; these encouraged me to proceed. Upon others, persecution seemed to make a favorable impression: these came and complained of the folly and ignorance of the mob; but soon had their mouths stopped by hearing, Ah! are you of the caste, to blaspheme the mara poboo? It is blaspheming to hear this idiot's words, come away!' The epithets, fool, thief, liar, &c, were liberally bestowed this evening. Brother Bampton came up, followed by a mob, shouting him away. We both retired together, amidst the shouts

6

1

and hisses of the multitude, and a shower of dust and broken pots."

Chap. v, ver. 7, 8.-Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

General Burn, in recording his experience, says, "One Lord's day, when I was to receive the sacrament, before I approached that sacred ordinance, my conscience so keenly accused me on account of this beloved idol (playing at cards) that I hardly knew what to do with myself. I tried to pacify it by a renewal of all my resolutions, with many additions and amendments. I parleyed and reasoned the matter over for hours, trying, if possible, to come to some terms of accommodation, but still the obstinate monitor within cried out, There's an Achan in the camp; approach the table of the Lord if you dare!' Scared at the threat, and yet unwilling to part with my darling lust, I became like one possessed. Restless and uneasy, I flew out of the house to vent my misery with more freedom in the fields under the wide canopy of heaven. Here I was led to meditate on the happiness of the righteous, and the misery of the wicked in a future state. The importance of eternity falling with a ponderous weight upon my soul, raised such a vehement indignation against the accursed thing within, that crying to God for help, I kneeled down under a hedge, and taking Heaven and Earth to witness, wrote on a piece of paper with my pencil a solemn vow, that I never would play at cards, on any pretence whatsoever, so long as I lived. No sooner had I put my name to that solemn vow, than I felt myself another creature. Sorrow took wing