hopes of justifying himself before God, or of meriting any thing good at his hands. He saw, felt, and owned himself to be a Sinner, nay the chief of Sinners; and was contented to pray for grace and mercy. In short, the self-righteous Pharisee became a penitent Publican. Instead of proudly thanking God "that He was not as other men are, He smote upon his breast, and cried, God be merciful to me a Sinner." Nor let us suppose, my Brethren, that this was a little sacrifice. Let us not suppose that the Apostle, in thus giving up his own righteous. ness, and these high notions of his own merits and goodness, gave up little. He gave up a great deal for there is not any one thing, with which man in his natural state is more unwilling to part, than this good opinion of himself. He cleaves and clings to it with all his might and we may sooner prevail with him to cut off a right hand, or to pluck out a right eye, than to renounce his own righteousness. He proudly maintains it throughout his life; and the nearer he comes to death, the faster he holds it. This, then, was one of the things which St. Paul relinquished for Christ.

2dly. He relinquished his worldly prospects; his hope of preferment; his expectation of rising to distinction and eminence, of becoming a rich, and, in the opinion of the

world, a great man. What his prospects, his hopes and expectations of this kind were, we do not exactly know. But probably they were very considerable. His talents were great. His education had been good. The Pharisees were in general a wealthy and powerful party. And we see that he had already risen into notice, and was invested with no small authority, when he was sent to Damascus under a commission from the Chief Priests to seize the Christians, and to bring them bound unto Jerusalem. Such an acceptable service would doubtless have been well re warded by his employers.But all prospects of this nature, whatever they might have been, he entirely relinquished. When he embraced the Gospel there was at once an end to all his worldly hopes. His flattering dreams, his well, founded expectations of wealth and honour, were renounced for ever. My Brethren, was this a small sacrifice? You know how difficult it is to persuade a man to do even a little thing against his own interest. You know how fond men are of the world, and worldly things; how anxious to procure them; how loth to part with them. You would find it a great trial to relinquish some earthly object which you had been eagerly pursuing, and had good hopes of obtaining, or which perhaps you already possessed and enjoyed. But remember, that St. Paul relinquished all

worldly friends, interests, and hopes; every expectation and enjoyment of a worldly nature were at once abandoned by him. He knew that he must never more look for comfort or satisfaction from them. Surely this was a great sacrifice.

3dly. He relinquished his good name and reputation in the world. Perhaps this is one of the hardest things for a man to lose. Persons in general would sooner part with their property than their credit. Nay, we know that they will often spend their fortune in defence of their character. Poverty itself is not, in their eyes, so great an evil as disgrace : and they will submit to any hardship, rather than that the world should think lightly or speak evil of them. Now it is probable that St. Paul felt on this subject like other men; nay, considering what we have seen was his character, how proud and self-righteous he naturally was, it is probable he valued his reputation, and the good opinion of his fellow-creatures, even more than mankind in general. What, then, were the consequences of his becoming a Christian? He at once lost every thing of this kind. Christians, in those days, were the most despised of all persons. To become a Christian, was at once to lose the favour of the world, and to incur reproach and disgrace. The Christians were a "sect every where spoken against." And lid St. Paul escape when he joined himself

to them? No, he was called a fool, and a madman: he was represented as a mover of sedition; as one who turned the world upside down; as a turbulent and pestilent fellow, who deserved nothing but imprisonment and death. Now, for any man, and especially for such a man as St. Paul was, to bear all these indignities, to lose his credit in the world, and to subject himself to shame and infamy, was no small trial. Would any of you, my Brethren, willingly encounter these things? If any evil is spoken of you, and especially if it be false, how 'ready are you to take fire, and to clear yourselves from such unjust imputations. How jealous are you of your character, and how anxious that all men should think well of you. You would probably endure much pain and suffering, rather than become an object of ridicule and scorn,

4thly. St. Paul relinquished his own ease, comfort, and security.-These are things with which a man does not readily part. Who is willing to expose himself to continual hardships, sufferings, and dangers? But to these things St. Paul willingly exposed himself, when he took up the Cross and followed Christ. Christians in those times were not only a despised but a persecuted people. Their property, their liberty, their very lives

the case with the Apostles and Preachers of the Gospel. Attend to the account which St. Paul gives of his own sufferings in the cause of Christ, and then see what was the amount of his loss in these respects. "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one; thrice was I beaten with rods; once was I stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often; in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness; in watchings often; in hunger and thirst; in fastings often; in cold and nakedness"

Such, then, is a short view of the Losses which St. Paul sustained by becoming a Christian. And now, my Brethren, is it not plain, that whatever gain could compensate for such Losses; whatever acquisition could make him amends for relinquishing so many things,—his own good opinion of himself, his worldly prospects, his good name, his per sonal ease and safety-must have been some, thing very valuable indeed? How immense, then, must have been its value, when he tells us, that in comparison of it, all those things with which he had parted for its sake, were #2 Cor. xi. 24-27.