emotion of thanks to Him who _gave himself to die_ for them! And is not
this treating the Gospel as _foolishness_? But this heartless unconcern,
criminal as it undoubtedly is, in the sight of God, is not so fearfully
impious--affords not so appalling a disclosure of depravity, as the
absolute disgust and contempt, with which the doctrines of the cross are
sometimes received. In almost every community, there are those who
utterly despise the whole system--who do not disguise their
abhorrence--and who evidently hate the very mention of the subject. How
indignant are such at any effort, in private conversation, to urge upon
their attention themes connected with the dying love of Christ! How
chilling is the effect, when such discourse is attempted, in many
circles of refinement and elegance? And what a brand of infamy is
affixed to the human character, by the fact, that from most such circles
all these topics are absolutely excluded! Let a man confine his
conversation to such subjects as engaged the attention of Christ and his
apostles--such subjects as now employ the hosts of heaven,--let him be
accustomed in company, to bring forward the holy mysteries of
redemption,--and by how many would he be shunned like a pestilence? And
with what scornful hatred are those churches avoided by many, where
nothing is heard but _Jesus Christ and him crucified_? Such are the
open, unequivocal expressions of contempt and disgust, with which many
treat the doctrines of the cross. Do not _they_ esteem them
_foolishness_?

But there is a class of the contemners of evangelical truth,
characterized by more active zeal and decided measures. Far from the
giddy thoughtlessness of those who hardly reflect upon the subject at
all, and from the strange inconsistency of such, as profess to respect
what they really despise and hate,--these feel and express a deep
interest in religious opinions; devote time and attention to theological