Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SERMON VI. APOSTOLIC PREACHING. 1 CORINTHIANS, i. 21. For after that, In the witdom of God, the world ly wittlom tnew not God, it pleased Gad ly the foolithnets of preaching to tavt them that believe. T HE best method, in my judgment, of determining with accuracy, how far the light of nature is sufficient to lead mankind to the knowledge of the true God and their duty to him, is, to attend to the condition of the heathen world : not of the most barbarous and ignorant, but of the inhabitants of Greece and Rome, at the periods when they were most celebrated for learning and refinement. Even then they were gross idolaters ; and many of their sentiments and practices were shocking to decency and common sense. t"Whence it appears, that with all their wisdom and learning, they quite mistook the nature of God and religion : hence divine revelation became absolutely necessary. " For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God." The meaning is, that although " the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, the world knew him not ; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." This and the two following Sermons were delivered in November, 1790. f "The sports of the gladiators, unnatural lusts, the licentiousness of divorce, the exposing of infants and slaves, the procuring abortions, the public establishment of stews ; all subsisted at Rome, and not one of them was condemned, or hinted at in Tully'g offices....