CONTENTS. "And my speech, and my preaching, was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."-1 Cor. ii. 4, 5. "He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, "If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they, They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people SERMON I. THE NECESSITY OF THE SPIRIT TO GIVE EFFECT TO THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL. 1 CORINTHIANS, ii. 4, 5. And my speech, and my preaching, was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God." PAUL, in his second epistle to the Corinthians, has expressed himself to the same effect as in the text, in the following words: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit." In both these passages, the Apostle points to a speciality in the work of a Christian teacher,-a something essential to its success, and, which is not essential to the proficiency of scholars in the ordinary branches of education, an influence that is beyond the reach of human power and human wisdom; and to obtain which, immediate recourse must be had, in the way of prayer and dependence, to the power of God. Without attempting a full exposition of these different verses, we shall, first, endeavor to direct |