examination of his scope and argument will produce a contrary impression, and show that the teachers of Christianity are especially intended. The parties in question, for instance, were placed in oppo sition to other persons and things, which they were designed to "confound" and "bring to naught;" and by these we are unques. tionably to understand Jewish tradition and heathenism, with their respective advocates. Now this object was not attained by the mere conversion of a number of obscure and illiterate people, either at Corinth or in any other place, but by the faithful inculcation of evangelical truth. It was by "the preaching of the cross" that the various forms of false religion then in existence were abolished, and their adherents, both philosophic and political, were confounded. By this simple means all the pride and power of Jewish error and of heathen wisdom were put to shame.

This view of the subject is confirmed by the context. The Corinthians, to whom this epistle was addressed, had been "called" from a state of pagan ignorance, superstition, and sin, "to be saints," and also into "the fellowship" of the Son of God. Mistaking the true nature of their vocation, like the different Grecian sects they assumed the names of their favourite teachers. One said, "I am of Paul;" another, "I am of Apollos;" another, "I am of Cephas." This the apostle strongly reproves, and remarks that their "calling" to the Christian state, with all its happiness and purity, was not of man, but of God. Their teachers were only his instruments, not one of whom could be of the slightest use without his grace and blessing. All their success depended upon the effectual working of his almighty Spirit. It was therefore manifestly wrong to "glory in man," however pious, gifted, and useful he might be. The Lord alone is to be honoured as the Author of salvation, and every creature should be placed at his feet. This is obviously the bearing of the text. Ye see your calling, brethren;" or, rather, "Ye see the calling of you;" the means by which you have been called out of the darkness and misery of your former state into the light and happiness of Christ's religion: "how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called;" or, "have been employed in calling you," as some of the best critics supply the ellipsis. There was therefore, in every respect, a manifest impropriety in the conduct of the Corinthian church. They gloried in men who were destitute of all those distinctions which excite admiration; men who were neither "wise," nor mighty," nor "noble," in the general sense of these terms, but rather "foolish," "weak," " base," "despised," and whom some persons would hardly acknowledge as having any existence.

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The apostle then goes on to declare that this was not a casual circumstance, but a part of God's plan, and was formed with a reference to his own glory. "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence." The remainder of the passage bears directly upon the same subject. The mistaken Corinthians, called by the instrumentality of their teachers to the knowledge of Christ and

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to the enjoyment of his salvation, most unbecomingly said: "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas." No, says the apostle, "of Him are ye in Christ Jesus;" that is, It is of God that ye are in Christ Jesus; and he significantly adds: "who of God is made unto us wis. dom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Thus teaching us that it is "of God" that men are made partakers of these inestimable blessings, the fruit of Christ's mediation. The design of the whole is, "that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

These brief remarks may suffice to justify the view which we take of the text, as describing, not particularly the character of the Corinthian Christians, but the ministry which had been employed in their conversion; the ministry by which idolatry was overthrown, and the religion of the Lord Jesus was established in the earth.

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Before we proceed to a more minute examination of the ministry in question, it will be requisite to glance at the state of the world upon which this ministry was intended to bear. And here a melancholy scene is brought before us. Of that age it might indeed be said: "Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." The Jewish church, though free from idolatrous rites, was deeply sunk in formality, skepticism, and hypocrisy. Little of piety remained among the chosen people of God, except the outward form. Many of them were resident in different towns and cities of the heathen world, where they had their synagogues and houses of prayer; and some of them compassed sea and land to make" even one "proselyte;" but when they had succeeded in their efforts, they made the wretched convert to a new set of opinions sevenfold more a child of hell than themselves. The state of the heathen was still worse. Never perhaps did the human intellect exist in greater strength than in the ages which immediately preceded the Christian era; and certainly it never was cultivated with greater assiduity and success. It is difficult to conceive of mightier men, intellectually considered, than were those master-spirits of Greece and Rome who figured in the senate, the forum, and the schools of philosophy. In those times literature and the arts were carried to such a state of perfection, that their productions have served as models for the imitation of civilized nations in all succeeding ages. Yet amidst all this splendour and refinement, these all but miraculous creations of genius, what was the state of the people, even the most eminent of them, with respect to religion and morals? The answer is found in the chapter before us, which contains the affecting record, THE WORLD BY WISDOM KNEW NOT GOD. The wise Socrates himself was a degraded worshipper of idols. God was not known as the Creator and Governor of the world; much less was he known as exist. ing in three persons, and as having made provision for the salvation of sinners. The very name of Athens awakens a thousand emotions in the breast of every one who is acquainted with the history of that far-famed city; yet when St. Paul passed through it, "his spirit was stirred in him," when he saw it " full of idols," and the people "wholly given to idolatry." "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." Where God is unknown, and his place is usurped

by filthy idols, there is no true religion; no spiritual worship; no holy and devout feeling; no joyous and sanctifying intercourse with the Father of spirits. And where there is no true religion, there can be no pure morality. In the absence of true religion, men do not understand the nature of the relations which they bear to one another: and if they did understand those relations, they have no adequate motives to discharge with fidelity the duties which arise from them. Nor indeed have they the moral power to do it; for they are held in spirit. ual bondage by "the sin that dwelleth in them;" so that they "cannot do" even "the things which they would." And hence we find, that in the most polished heathen nations every form of evil was prac tised as a matter of course, and without remorse. Cruel wars were carried on for the mere gratification of national resentment and ambition; the sensual appetites were even deified, and indulged without restraint; human life was wantonly sacrificed as a thing of naught; and in general society injustice, oppression, and wrong openly insulted the patience and long-suffering of God.

Such was the state of mankind when our blessed Lord, having risen from the dead, and being invested with "all power, both in heaven and in earth," commanded his apostles to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," and when he qualified them for the stu. pendous undertaking by the gift of the Holy Ghost. Thus commissioned, they went forth in the name and spirit of their great Master, preaching the word which they had received from him both to Jews and heathens. They were soon joined by a host of subordinate teachers, most of whom were their own spiritual children, who according to their various gifts and opportunities declared the same doctrine of life and salvation. "The Lord gave the word, and great was the company of the preachers;" so that, in the short space of one age, the cheering sound of mercy through the mediation of Christ went out into all lands, and was heard in every tongue.

The characteristics of this ministry were striking and peculiar. The men with whom it was intrusted were mostly plain and unlettered, taken from among the labouring poor. "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble," were called to this service. In selecting his agents, our blessed Lord went not either to the Jewish or Grecian schools of learning. Nor did he go to the men whose rank and office invested them with worldly power and influence; or to those who were nobly born, and deemed honourable because of their descent. One of the apostles was a publican, but the greater part of them were fishermen. St. Peter's peculiarity of "speech," in the hall of the high priest at Jerusalem, "bewrayed" him as a native of Galilee; and when he and John were arraigned before the sanhedrim, it was remarked that they were "unlearned and ignorant men." They were indeed " taught of God," in the highest and most important sense; but to human learning and refinement they made no pretensions.

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Two reasons may be assigned for this selection of instruments. The first is, that if the apostles had been taken from the schools of philosophy, their success in preaching would have been ascribed to their learning and eloquence, and not to the power of God: and, secondly, they would themselves have been in danger of mixing the truth

which they had been divinely taught with the speculations and opinions of men. That mankind might receive his gospel in all its purity, and that its success might be attributed to his power, and not to secular eloquence and erudition, God chose the fishermen of Galilee as his heralds, and as the instructers and reformers of the world.

Saul of Tarsus, it is true, was a man of education, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and well instructed in Jewish literature; but then he was made the apostle of the Gentiles, among whom that kind of literature was in no repute, and of little use. That he was poor, and destitute of independent property, is manifest from the fact, that he often wrought at the business of a tent-maker to obtain the necessaries of life. We do not say that persons of rank and affluence were absolutely excluded from this ministry; but "not many" such were employed in it. Their number was inconsiderable, so as not to affect the argument.

With respect to the substance of the preaching in question, we have ample information in the New Testament. No sooner was St. Paul converted than it is said, "Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue, that he is the Son of God." Speaking of himself, and of his brethren in the apostleship, he says, "We preach Christ crucified." "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord." At Athens he "preached Jesus and the resurrection." When Philip went down to Samaria, he "preached Christ" unto the people; and when he was invited into the chariot of the Ethiopian, he "preached unto him Jesus." Their fellow-labourers all followed in the same path. Their discourses contained nothing that was speculative, uncertain, or conjectural. All was matter of testimony, and was asserted on the authority of God. They declared at once the Godhead and humanity of Christ; and they bore witness to his miracles, and his resurrection from the dead. According to them, his death was the divinely appointed sacrifice for the world's guilt, and absolutely necessary in order to the justification and salvation of sinners. With his sacrificial death they connected his intercession for the transgressors of God's law; and they called upon all men, everywhere, to repent of their sins, and believe in him, upon pain of everlasting punishment. They preached Christ, not only as dying for men, but also as living in them by his Spirit, quickening them to newness of life, and making them partakers of the divine nature. In behalf of Christ they demanded the homage and surrender of the heart, and the consequent consecration to him of every power both of mind and body, from the consideration, that men are not their own, but are his by right of purchase, being redeemed by his blood. All spiritual blessings they represented .as being conveyed to men through the mediation of Christ, who is the only way of access to the Father in all acts of divine worship. Every religious and moral duty they inculcated in the name of Christ, and enforced by his authority. To him they attributed that victory over death which all believers enjoy; and his presence they described as constituting the happiness of the blessed in their disembodied state. For him they claimed an absolute and universal dominion through all time. By his power the dead will be raised, and the living "shall be changed." He shall judge all nations with perfect righteousness and equity; for he shall come again in all his Father's majesty and glory,

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"taking vengeance upon them that know not God, and obey not the gospel," and conferring eternal life upon those who "by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory, honour, and immortality." In the ministrations of those original teachers of Christianity we observe a strict adherence to the principle which St. Paul adopted for his own guidance: "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." They connected the death of Christ most intimately with his mediatorial glory and authority, with the salvation of sinners, and with the hopes of believers; and they deduced from that death the most powerful motives to an obedient and holy life.

Those early teachers of Christianity delivered their message with the utmost simplicity of manner. Several of their oral discourses are placed upon record in the Acts of the Apostles; and it may be justly presumed that in the apostolical epistles we have a fair specimen of the form in which their instructions were generally given. Here we find no examples of rhetorical finesse, and of gaudy metaphor. The speakers present every indication of the most perfect conviction of the truth and importance of what they deliver, and appear only anxious to make it understood. To the mere arts of oratory, upon which the Greeks bestowed the greatest labour and care, they were perfectly indifferent. And this was not matter of chance, but of design, and a course to which they were led by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. On this subject St. Paul speaks distinctly. "Christ sent me," says he, "not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God." "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." We speak, "not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." There was the profoundest reason for all this "plainness of speech." All art, and anxious attention to rhythm and cadence, in the delivery of God's message of mercy to dying men, upon which their everlasting happiness or misery is declared to depend, would have been obviously out of place, and would indeed have awakened a just suspicion whether the gospel were in reality a divine revelation. "The testimony of God" is most appropriately delivered in its naked simplicity. It is both degraded and weakened by the paltry ornaments of an artificial rhetoric. All pomp of words is here deprecated both by piety and taste.

The ministry by which the world was in the first instance evange lized was exercised with the utmost freedom, with respect to place. The command by which it was instituted was general. "Preach the

gospel to every creature," said our blessed Lord; "Go and teach all nations." When this charge was given, not one Christian place of worship had been erected; nor had the apostles then the means of erecting any. Nor did they wait for any such accommodation. They began in the temple, and then extended their labours to the Jewish synagogues. But they did not confine their ministry to ecclesiastical buildings. In Jerusalem they preached "daily," and "in every house."