ind out
the laws of heaven and earth, and to set the world right by them;
and you have not done it. You have not found out the secrets of the
world. You have not set the world right. You have not even set
your own hearts and lives right. But what your seeming wisdom
cannot do, the seeming foolishness of Christ on his cross will do.
Does it seem to you foolish of him, to believe that he could save
the world, by giving himself up to a horrible and shameful death?
Does it seem to you foolishness in me, to preach nothing but him
crucified, and to say, Behold God dying for men? Then know, that
what seems to you foolishness, is the very wisdom of God. That God
knows the secret of touching, convincing, and converting the hearts
of men, though you do not. That God knows how the world is made,
and how to set it right, though you do not. That God knows the law
which keeps all heaven and earth in order, though you do not; and
that that law is charity,--self-sacrificing love, which shines out
from the cross of Christ. Know, that when all your arguments and
philosophies have failed to teach men what they ought to do, one
earnest penitent look at Christ upon his cross will teach them.
That their hearts will leap up in answer, and cry, If this be God, I
can believe in him. If this be God, I can trust him. If this be
God, I can obey him. That one look at Christ upon his cross will
make them--what you could never make them--new men, filled with a
new thought; the thought that God is love, and that he who dwelleth
in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him; and that the poor slaves
and wretches, whom you despise, will look unto the cross and be
saved, and become new men, and lead new lives, and rise to be saints
and martyrs to God and to his Christ, giving themselves up to
torments and death, as Christ did before them; and that out of them
shall spring that church of Christ, which shall reign over all the
world, when you and your philosophies have crumbled into dust.

My friends, let us look, earnestly, humbly, and solemnly this day,
at Christ upon his cross. Let us learn that love, the utter self-
sacrificing love which Christ shewed on his cross, is stronger than
all pomp and might, all armies, riches, governments; aye, that it is
the very power of God, by which all things consist, which holds
together heaven and earth and all that is therein.

Let us learn that love, the utter self-sacrificing love which Christ
shewed on