TO

THE WORSHIPFUL

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE DIOCESE,

AND TO

THE REV. THE CLERGY,

PRESENT AT HIS VISITATION,

THIS SERMON,

PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST,

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

I. THESS. ii. 4.

AS WE WERE ALLOWED OF GOD TO BE PUT IN TRUST WITH THE GOSPEL, EVEN SO WE SPEAK; NOT AS PLEASING MEN, BUT GOD, WHICH TRIETH OUR HEARTS.

THERE is, perhaps, no feature more prominent in the character of St. Paul's ministry, than the resolution which he formed to have constantly in view, the great outline of the plan of Redemption. He seems to have kept before him, in a compact and tangible form, the sum and substance of the Gospel, the end and object of his apostleship. He seems to have thought of it himself, and to have spoken of it to others, in terms so comprehensive that they at once pointed out the fundamental principles he was to teach; and to have made it his effort so to simplify his character, that he might only be known as the ambassador from God to man. It was in this capacity that he introduced himself, and it was the only capacity in which he was anxious to be

known. He tied himself down in every possible way, lest he should transgress the integrity of this character; and, to this end, made it a matter of personal resolution and conscience, to know nothing among men, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and in the epistles which he sent to the churches he had seen, or might visit, he pledged himself to this rule, that they might observe and tax his consistency. He told them the nature and the sacredness of his office; and so amply bore out in his practice what he had represented to them in his profession, that he could appeal to themselves, as to the uniform consistency of his life. "Ye are witnesses (he says to the Thessalonians, in the chapter in which our text lies), and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:" and he goes on to remind them of the particular features of his ministry, "how he exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of them." In the same way also he writes to the Philippians, "Those things which ye have learned, and received, and seen in me, do; and the God of peace shall be with you." He thus endeavoured to be a living epistle and example of the doctrines which he taught, and therefore could say to all, "be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." In the same way, if time permitted, his appeal to the Corinthian and other Churches might be