And it will appear, upon calm consideration, that the knowledge, which the text recommends, and the fruits which always attend it, are perfectly correspondent with the genius of the gospel, and the end for which it has been sent to the children of men. Its great design is to abase the sinner, exalt the Saviour, and promote holiness. And the kind of knowledge I wish to inculcate, is specifically of that nature; by which all possible honor is given to Christ, and the heart penetrated with an habitual conviction of the necessity of glorifying him in body and spirit, which are his. How can he be elated, who knows that he has nothing to glory in but the cross of Christ? How can he be presumptuous, whose assurance rests upon the promise and him that made it? Or can he possibly want motives to obedience, or a principle of gratitude, whose eyes are opened to behold the salvation that rescued him from sin and hell, and whose heart is filled with love to the gracious Author of salvation? No. If the enemies of truth are disposed to seek for objections against our experience and our principles, let them find some more plausible than that of a charge, which might with great ease and greater justice be retorted upon themselves. A proud presumptuous spirit, inflated with vanity, filled with speculation, puffed up with self-conceit, and void of humility, we disclaim, because we think it the very bane of all religion. And the amiable idea, which a Christian would wish to give of religion, is that of a man, who, the more he knows, the more he sinks into self-abnegation; whose head is filled with light, and his heart with love; and who would rather feel a little genuine poverty of spirit and contrition of heart, than possess the most shining endowments. And, that this apology for the principles and temper of a true Christian is a just one, will still farther be made evident, if we consider, III. What is necessary to the attainment of that knowledge which the text promiseth. If the general plan of redemption, or the several constituent parts of that plan, be accurately surveyed, it will appear throughout to have been a very leading design of its great Author to pour contempt on those things, which are highly esteemed among men; and to adopt a procedure in all his dispensations directly subversive of those principles, which are most commonly received. Had he acted in conformity to the maxims and pretensions of the world, men of wisdom, of prowess, and of nobility, should have been his sole favorites. But that the very reverse is the case, is evident from St. Paul’s testimony in 1 Cor. i. 26; who asserts, that “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, yea and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence.”