we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? "Buried with Him by baptism," in the very form of that Sacrament there was a protest against this Antinomianism. And again, in reference to the Lord's Supper, in the Church of Corinth abuses had crept in; that holy Communion had become a feast of gluttony and a signal of division. This error he endeavors to correct by reference to the institution of the Supper itself, "The bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ?" The single loaf, broken into many fragments, contains within it a truth symbolical, that the Church of Christ is one. Here, in the text, St. Paul makes the same appeal: he appeals to Baptism against sectarianism, and so long as we retain it, it is an everlasting protest against every one who breaks the unity of the Church. The other remark we have to make bears on the peculiar meaning of the Sacrament. We are all aware that there are those in the Church of Christ, whose personal holiness and purity are unquestionable, who yet believe and teach that all children are born into the world children of the devil, and there are those who agree in this belief, though differing as to the remedy; who hold that the special and only instrument for their conversion into God's children is Baptism; and they believe that there is given to the ministers of the Church the power of conveying in that Sacrament the Holy Spirit, which effects this wondrous change. I know not that I have misrepresented this view: I do not think I have, yet I say at least, that if a minister really believes he has this power, then it is only with fear and trembling that he should approach the font in which he is about to baptize a child. But, let us try this view by the passage before us: if this view be true, then the Apostle, in saying that he thanked God he had not baptized, thanked God that he had not regenerated any he rejoices that he had not conveyed the Spirit of God to any one but Crispus and Gaius, and the household of Stephanas,

And all this merely, lest he should perchance lie under the slander of having made to himself a party! If we reject this hypothesis as impossible, then it is plain that the view we have alluded to rests on no scriptural basis. We pass on, lastly, to consider the compromise which Paul refused to make: he would make none, either with the Jews in their craving after Signs, or with the Greeks in their longing after Wisdom. For fifteen hundred years forms and signs had been the craving of the Jews. St. Peter even had leanings in the same direction. The truth seems to be, that wherever there is life, there will be a form; but wherever a form is, it does not follow that there must be life; St. Paul stood firm - Not Signs, but Christ. Neither would he make any compromise with the craving after an intellectual religion. There was a diametrical contrast between the Jewish and the Grecian spirit: one seemed all body, and the other all mind. The wisdom of which St. Paul speaks, appears to have been of two kinds speculative philosophy, and wisdom of words - eloquence. Men bow before talent, even if unassociated with goodness, but between these two we must make an everlasting distinction. When once the idolatry of talent enters, then farewell to spirituality; when men ask their teachers, not for that which will make them more humble and God-like, but for the excitement of an intellectual banquet, then farewell to Christian progress. Here also St. Paul again stood firm-Not Wisdom, but Christ crucified. St. Paul might have complied with these requirements of his converts, and then he would have gained admiration, and love he would have been the leader of a party, but then he would have been false to his Master- he would have been preferring self to Christ.

1 CORINTHIANS, i. 23.

LECTURE V.

JUNE 29, 1851.

"But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.

In the course of our exposition of this Epistle, we have learnt the original constitution of Corinthian society, and have ascertained the state of the religious parties in that city at the time St. Paul wrote. We have seen that the Apostle Paul refused to make a compromise with either of these parties; it remains for us now to consider first the subject which he resolved to dwell upon, and then the results of that teaching on the different classes of his hearers. His subject was "Christ crucified." The expression, "preaching Christ," is very much misunderstood by many persons. It is, therefore, incumbent on us to endeavor calmly to understand what the Apostle meant by this. We say, then, that to preach Christ is to preach Christianity, that is, the Doctrines which He taught. In Acts, xv. 21, we read, "Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him." The reading of the Pentateuch was the preaching of Moses. Preaching Christ is setting forth His Doctrines in contra-distinction to those of the World. The World says Resent an injury; Christ says-Forgive your enemies. If, therefore, we preach Forgiveness, are we not thereby preaching Christ, even though no distinct mention may be made of his Divinity or of the doctrine of the Atonement? In the Sermon on the Mount there is contained no reference to any one special doctrine of Christianity, as we should call it; nor in the Epistle of St. James is there found one word respecting the doctrine of the Atonement; but if we take this Sermon or this Epistle, and simply work out the truths therein contained tell us, are we not there

by preaching Christ? To preach Goodness, Mercy, Truth, not for the bribe of heaven or from the fear of hell, but in the Name of God the Father, is to preach Christ.

Once more, this expression implies preaching Truth in connection with a Person: it is not merely Purity, but the Pure One; not merely Goodness, but the Good One that we worship. Let us observe the twofold advantage of this mode of preaching: first, because it makes religion practical. The Greek teachers were also teaching Purity, Goodness, Truth; they were striving to lead men's minds to the First Good, the First Fair. The Jewish Rabbis were also endeavoring to do the same, but it is only in Christ that it becomes possible to do this effectually. The second advantage in preaching Christianity in connection with a Person is, that it gives us something to adore, for we can adore. a person, but we cannot adore principles. There is implied in this expression, "preaching Christ crucified,” the Divine nature of Humility. Paul would not preach Christ as a conqueror, although by that he might please the Jews, or yet as a philosopher, in order that he might satisfy the Greeks; he would only preach Him as the humble, crucified Man of Nazareth.

We are, in the second place, to consider the results of this teaching on the several classes of his hearers. To the Jew it was a stumbling-block, something over which he could not pass; the Jew could not receive the Gospel, unless accompanied by signs and miracles to prove that it was from God. To the Greeks it was foolishness, for the Apostle spoke to them as an uneducated, uncultivated man; and they missed the sophistry, the logic, and the brilliant eloquence of their professional orators. Neither could they see what advantage his teaching could be to them, for it would not show them how to form a statue, build a temple, or make a fortune, which things they looked upon as the chief glories of life. But there was another class on whom his words made a very different impression. They are those whom the Apostle describes as "the Called." To them Christ

was the Power and the Wisdom of God. He does not mean to assert here the doctrine of Election or Predestination; on the contrary, he says that this calling was in respect of inward fitness, and not of outward. advantages. God prepares the heart of man for the reception of the Gospel- that is God's blessed plan of election.