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SERMON XIV.

1 CORINTHIANS XIII. 13.

Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

THE picture which these two epistles present of the early Corinthian Church, is a very melancholy one yet it is also, in many respects, highly instructive, and even even consolatory. We could scarcely have imagined that a body of Christians, won over to the Gospel, and united together in church-fellowship, by the long continued personal ministry of the Apostle Paul, could so soon have fallen into such a variety of errors as are here reproved. But the fact shews us what human nature, even under a Divine influence, is and ever will be, till "mortality shall be swallowed up of life." It bids us not despond, while we mourn over the distractions of the Church in our own day: for it assures us, that "the Lord is slow to anger; and that while man is evil, only evil," and that "continually,' "" the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and

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he knoweth them that," amid all their infirmities, "trust in him."

But we must not so learn this lesson, as to harden ourselves in presumptuous sin. The case of the Corinthian Church is recorded for our admonition, as well as for our encouragement; that we may 66 purge out from ourselves" that "old leaven," by which their Christian simplicity was so grievously corrupted.

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They were carnal, and walked as men."One of their errors arose out of those splendid gifts, which were vouchsafed to the early Church, for the purpose of establishing a body of evidence, to suffice for the whole world, even to the end of time. They were elated and intoxicated by the possession of those gifts-regarded them as the principal blessing of Christianity-made invidious comparisons concerning their respective valueand thus became, in a measure, indifferent to the substance of the Gospel; nay, even superciliously ungrateful to the Apostle from whom they had received it. Confusion, rivalries, and jealousies, quickly sprang up from this sowing of "the Wicked One." St. Paul, therefore, hastens to correct the evil. Without disparaging the spiritual gifts in which they gloried-without denying that some of them were more valuable than others--he informs them that there was something better still; that the end and design of all God's ordinances was "Charity"-love to

God, and, for his sake, love to man; and that, if this were altogether wanting, then all their "prophesyings," all their "unknown tongues," their powers of "healing," their " interpretation of tongues," their "discerning of spirits," would prove to be nothing more than "sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."

The chapter before us sings the praises of Charity; and the closing verse, upon which, by the help of the good Spirit of God, we are about to meditate, sums up the whole argument in a very pointed and impressive manner. "Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest" even "of these is charity."

Two subjects here propose themselves for our consideration: 1. The Superiority of Christian graces above gifts; and 2. The Excellence of Charity above other Christian graces.-Our chief attention will be directed to the former of these two subjects; namely,

I. THE SUPERIORITY OF CHRISTIAN GRACES ABOVE GIFTS.

And here it is proper that we should begin by investigating

1. The Nature of the three graces, more particularly specified by the Apostle.

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FAITH is the first thought of a sinner, when comes to himself." For what is sin, but the most pitiable madness? As a lunatic sees

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nothing as it actually is, but imagines to himself a number of ideal shapes and circumstances, so the unrenewed man virtually denies the holiness, the truth, the presence, the authority, the goodness, nay, the very existence of God; and forms to himself a fools' paradise of earthly enjoyment, which continually mocks his pursuit. Many go on thus to the end of their days: but to others the Spirit of God, unsolicited and unthought of, gives a new heart-a heart of faith; and faith at once breaks the enchantment. the man is aware, the whole scene around him is changed. Everything that he now beholds is full of God. It may be a sense of His unmerited and inexhaustible goodness, which introduces the new train of ideas that now crowd upon the sinner's mind: more frequently, I apprehend, it is the fear of his righteous anger; or a feeling of utter destitution, in the very midst of the world's lying promises. A new turn, however, being given to the mind, every subject is regarded under a new aspect. The ordinances of religion now assume an importance, which they never before appeared to possess. The Bible, and the expounder of that Bible, find a way to the man's heart and conscience. He begins to consider his own position as a transgressor. He searches the Scriptures, for light and information respecting it. His standard of right and wrong, of good and evil, becomes daily more severe and accurate.

His apprehensions increase: his confidence grows weaker: his anxiety can find no rest. What is the secret of all this? The secret is, that now, for the first time, he is believing what God says— feeling the truth of it in his own heart-and prepared to take upon trust whatever he may find revealed in Scripture; if peradventure some sure ground for the sole of his foot may be discovered there, some peace for his guilty and distracted heart. Thus far, I doubt not, I have spoken to the conscience of some who are now present before me.

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But you must go further than this, my brethren,

you would shew that you have genuine faith. There is one truth in God's word, which, though written there as with a sunbeam, you may not yet have discerned, or which you have not yet fully received. It is this: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The particulars of that wonderful love, the acts and deeds to which it led, cannot have escaped your observation: how that the Son of God 66 was led as a lamb to the slaugh ter "—how he "bare the sin of many "-how he invites sinners of every name and nation to "look unto him and be saved" -how he still is seated

at the right hand of God,

"ever living to make

intercession for us"-how he dispenses of his Spirit to all that ask him; of these facts, I say,