sician has provided a remedy for that disease, and will you reject it? He has appointed the means of emancipation, and will you renounce the gracious deliverer? Oh, how necessary is it then, that your pride should be abased-that you should see your condition in the sight of GOD-that you are guilty, condemned, and lost; for then, and not till then, will you thankfully rejoice that Christ is made unto you, wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. My dear friends, our own righteousness long since was driven like some wretched vessel on the breakers, and went to pieces, and yet the pride of our hearts strangely clings for many a day, to the fragments of the wreck, and we vainly hope, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship, to reach the land. But there is only one way to escape the yawning gulf beneath, and that is, to accept the provision which Divine grace hath made for our deliverance in the righteousness and death of his Son; and when a man proudly rejects this boon, he rejects the council of GoD against himself, and must be ever regarded as an enemy of the cross of Christ.

We find, my brethren, that these individuals who are described as the enemies of the cross of Christ, were not only proud men, valuing their own righteousness, but,

Secondly, sensual men, who lived to their own pleasure. "Their GOD is their belly." It is very evident, brethren, that the individuals who are alluded to in this verse, were men anxious to make gain of godliness; and to truckle to the prejudices of the people, that thereby they might obtain supplies to minister to their lusts, and the indulgence of their sensual appetites; and therefore the cross of Christ, which binds all its followers to the denial of ungodliness, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world, was necessarily offensive to

them. For whatever men may think of the religion of Jesus, let it be remembered, that this is the strain in which it addresses all its disciples :-"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in GOD." "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which thing's sake the wrath of GoD cometh upon the children of disobedience. In which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now you also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds: and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free but Christ is all in all." See, my brethren, what a strain of holy exhortation the Apostle supplies us with here, and how necessary it is for us to prove that we are not the enemies of the cross of Christ, by having ourselves crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.

We find, my brethren,

Thirdly, that these were worldly men, who held to their possessions. They are said "to mind earthly things." There are two views that may be taken of this phrase: and it is very possible that both may be included by the Apostle. The one is, that earthly things, in the phraseology of St. Paul, are placed in opposition to heavenly things, as descriptive of the Jewish in opposition to the Christian dispensation; and therefore, these individuals minded

those earthly things, those shadowy, typical, secular things which belong to the Jewish ritual, to the neglect of those things which were spiritual, and which pertained to the Christian economy. But whilst I think it very probable that this idea was entertained by the Apostle, yet these words convey a just view of the unhappy state of all the enemies of the cross of Christ; who with great solicitude mind earthly things; who look on the things which are seen and temporal, to the neglect of those things which are unseen and eternal, and seek what they shall eat, and what they shall drink, wherewithal they shall be clothed, how they shall provide for to-morrow, and how that day shall be as this, and much more abundant; oh, some of you may say, if that be the description of the enemies of the cross of Christ, then I must be classed with them, for my mind is continually anxious, careful, and troubled about many things. But, my brethren, is there not this difference, that in the one case it is felt as an infirmity and a burthen, and in the other case it is accounted as their glory and their joy? While you who are mothers lament that you are careful and troubled with many things in your household-while you that are merchants lament that you are careful and troubled with many things in your warehouseswhile you who are in professions, lament that you are careful and troubled about many things in your offices: the man who minds earthly things glories in his solicitude and feels content that prosperity on earth should be to him instead of heaven. The woman who is devoted to the world, feels her sphere of gaiety where she is admired and flattered, to be the congenial element, in which she can live and enjoy enough to make her heaven. But the Christian man, he thanks the Lord for meaner things, "but these are not his GoD:" he is happy when

he closes the iron safe, and shuts the warehouse door, and turns his back on the busy affairs of time, and catches an hour for converse with God, or for social communion with his people. Let us therefore remember, that the habitual state of a man's mind is the true evidence of his condition before God. "As he thinketh in his heart so is he," and when all his anxieties and cares relate to those fleeting interests, which perish on this side of eternity; he is a worldly man, and thus an enemy to the cross of Christ, Again,

Fourthly, these were timid men who screened their own persons. I mentioned the amazing conflicts of which the cross of Christ is the signal; and, brethren, be assured that there will ever be a collision between light and darkness-between the principles of good and evil— between the church and the world. "The world will love its own-but because ye are not of the world therefore the world hateth you"-the seed of the serpent will oppose the seed of the woman, and we shall continually find in our hearts, in our houses, and in our spheres, the opposing principles in powerful operation and in fearful conflict. Now the individuals whom the Apostle describes, wished to screen themselves from all the secular disadvantages which might result from their avowed attachment to the cross of Christ; they would not be called Christians in St. Paul's sense of Chritianity, but wished to retain their connection with the Jewish body; and he informs us in his epistle to the Galatians, "that they desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." They were anxious to keep up the Jewish badge of religious nationality that they might not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ's sake, and thus like timid time-serving men, they were

dear friends, let us warn our own consciences in this matter-let us not be ashamed of the reproach of Christ. "He that is ashamed of me," said our Lord, "and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels." Are you threatened with the loss of property, or the loss of patronage, or the loss of home for Christ's sake, oh, let it be remembered by you who have counted the cost, that as you did not begin to build without estimating the sacrifice, so you must follow the Lord fully, and be not numbered among those cautious politic minds, who renounce the name of Jesus, to secure those possessions which they cannot perpetuate, and to hold that unsatisfying wealth, which will yield no comfort to them without his blessing.

Thus have I attempted to show that the enemies of the cross of Christ, are those proud men who oppose it, as the symbol of abasing truths, those sensual men who despise it as the source of powerful motives to holiness, and those timid men who flee from that fearful struggle, of which it is the signal.

Now we are to notice, in the Third place, THE AWFUL CONDITION OF ALL SUCH PERSONS. The Apostle says of them" that they glory in their shame and their end is destruction."

First, then, They glory in their degradation. The persons the Apostle describes have taken a decided course -they reject the righteousness of Christ-the ways of holiness-and that cross which those who follow Christ in the path to heaven must bear. And this is their shame. For, my brethren, would it not be a shame to a man to build without a foundation? Would it not be a disgrace for a man to clothe himself with rags? Would it

not be folly in a man to reproach that name he professes to honour? Now these individuals are building for eternity, and yet they rest not on Christ as their foundation, though "there is no other name given under heaven whereby men can be saved but Jesus Christ;" though it is declared, "other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus." These men adorn themselves with their own righteousness which are but as filthy rags, like some poor inhabitant of a lunatic asylum, who glories in his tattered attire, as if he were mantled in imperial robes, and this scanty covering forms, in their esteem, an ample and glorious garment to protect them from every storm, and gracefully to adorn them for the presence of GOD and the festivities of heaven. Is it not a shame for that man who professes to serve God to dishonour him? And yet, my brethren, these individuals dishonour GoD by the inconsistency of their lives— now gratifying their selfish appetites, and anon truckling to the dictates of a carnal, wicked world. The Apostle Paul, in the second chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, charges this upon the judaizing teachers: "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, through you." Let me, my dear friends, inquire whether this is not applicable also to you? Are not you glorying in these things-glorying in your own righteousness—in your sinful pleasures-in your worldly interests-glorying in your crooked selfish policy? Oh, this will prove a shame to you! How shall you stand fast in the trying hour? How can you have boldness in the day of judgment? How will ye endure the presence of the Son of God? Remember, "If we suffer with him we shall reign with him; but if we deny him he also will deny us."

Then let me in the Second place notice, that their condition is awful

as they pursue their own destruction. "Their end is destruction." That this was the destiny of the unhappy individuals, to whom the Apostle primarily alludes, may be interred from his language in the second Epistle to to the Corinthians-" For such are false Apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." And what are their works? rejecting the only foundation, they build on the sand-neglecting the specific which the heavenly physician has prescribed, they trust a remedy of their own invention-despising the ample robe of the Saviour's righteousness, they seek to cover themselves from the gathering storm in their own scanty attire. Their end must be destruction, for they reject Christ, and there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Their end must be destruction, for their God is their belly-they mind earthly things, and it is written, "He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption." "The wages of sin is death." Their end must be destruction, for they shrink from the offence of the cross. "And whosoever," said the Saviour, "shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

My dear friends, let us then ask ourselves this morning in what class are we found? Do we regard the cross of Christ as the symbol of truths, which are precious to our hearts? Do we feel it as the source of motives which influence our conduct? Do we observe it as the signal of a conflict in

which we are engaged for GoD and Christ, or are we proud, seeking to justify ourselves? Are we worldly and sensual, seeking to gratify ourselves? Are we timid, and wary, seeking to protect ourselves? My dear hearers, the line of demarcation is broad-the distinction is evidentthe separation obvious? Where are we? Oh, think of being enemies of the cross of Christ, opposed to that cross which is the tree of life bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month, the leaves whereof are for the healing of the nations! Enemies of that cross in which we behold the attributes of God harmonized

in which motives to holiness are so strikingly displayed! Can you bear to fight against saints and angels, GoD and Christ, against all the principles of righteousness and purity which are to be found in the universe of GOD? Let me therefore warn you, for he hath said, "Ah, I will rid me of my adversaries speedily!" Well might St. Paul weep over such-Jesus wept for Jerusalem thus, and we may weep, too, when we think of your condition, and of the multitudes who are in the same awful state of mind. But, dear friends, if on the other hand you have the persuasion that God has been pleased to slay the enmity of your hearts, has brought you to accept the righteousness of Christ, and to glory in the satisfaction of his cross, then manifest your affection by your obedience. We are about to come this morning to the table of the Lord; but are all coming who profess to be the friends of the cross, who have felt the power of his grace? What, let me ask, keeps you back? Is it that timid policy which took possession of the minds of the judaizing teachers, afraid of worldly reproach, afraid of worldly censure, afraid of worldly sacrifices? Is this thy kindness to thy friend? This thy subjection to thy Lord? Oh