"t Ou gzwa ra s/osva/ rt £v v/xiv,-— I did not judge it equitable to know with marked regard any thing among you. — He does not condemn all other knowledge except when it rivals the knowledge of Christ, #c.
SERM. t THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. S5
Christ. This, therefore, I resolve to make the scope and end of my ministry, and the end regulates the mean ; such pedantic toys, and airy notions as injudicious ears affect^ would rather obstruct than promote my grand design among you ; therefore, wholly waving that way, I applied myself to a plain, popular, unaffected dialect, fitted rather to pierce the heart, and convince the con- science, than to tickle the fancy. This is the scope of the words, in which three things fall under consideration ;
First, The subject matter of his doctrine, to wit, Jesus Christ " I determined to know nothing," i. e. to study nothing myself, to teach nothing to you, but " Jesus Christ." Christ shall be the centre to which all the lines of my ministry shall be drawn. I have spoken and written of many other subjects in my sermons and epistles, but it is all reductively the preaching and discovery of Je- sus Christ : of all the subjects in the world, this is the sweetest ; if there be any thing on this side heaven, worthy our time and studies, this is it. Thus he magnifies his doctrine, from the ex- cellency of its subject-matter, accounting all other doctrines but airy things, compared with this.
Secondly, We have here that special respect or consideration of Christ, which he singled out from all the rest of the excellent truths of Christ, to spend the main strength of his ministry upon ; and that is, Christ as crucified : and the rather, because hereby he would obviate the vulgar prejudice raised against him upon the account of his cross ; " For Christ crucified was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness," chap. i. 23. This also best suited his end, to draw them on to Christ ; as Christ above all other subjects, so Christ crucified above all things in Christ. There is, therefore, a great emphasis in this word, " and " him crucified." *
Thirdly, The manner in which he discoursed this transcendent subject to them, is also remarkable ; he not only preached Christ crucified, but he preached him assiduously and plainly. He preached Christ frequently ; " and whenever he preached of Christ " crucified, he preached him in a crucified stile." -f* This is the sum of the words ; to let them know that his spirit was intent up- on this subject, as if he neither knew, nor cared to speak of any other. All his sermons were so full of Christ, that his hearers might have thought he was acquainted with no other doctrine. Hence observe,
^ * Vehementem habet £ft<paffiv quod adjecit, $ hunc crucifixum. He writes with pecu- liar emphasis — And him crucified. Pet Martyr in Loc. f Christum crucifixum stylo crucifixo prcedicabat.
§4 THE FOUXTAIN OF LIFE. SEEM. I.
Doet. That there is no doctrine more excellent hi itself, or more ne- cessary to be preached and studied, than the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
All other knowledge, how much soever it be magnified in the •world, is, and ought to be esteemed but dross, in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, Phil. iii. 8. " In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge/1 Col. ii. 3 *
Eudoxus was so affected with the glory of the sun, that he thought he was born only to behold it ; much more should a Chris- tian judge himself born only to behold and delight in the glory of the Lord Jesus.
The truth of this proposition will be made out by a double con- sideration of the doctrine of Christ.
First, Let it be considered absolutely, and then these lovely pro- perties with which it is naturally clothed, will render it superior to all other sciences and studies.
1st, The knowledge of Jesus Christ is the very marrow and ker- nel of all the scriptures ; the scope and centre of all divine revela- tions : both Testaments meet in Christ. The ceremonial law is full of Christ, and all the gospel is full of Christ : the blessed lines of both Testaments meet in him; and how they both harmonize, and sweetly concentre in Jesus Christ, is the chief scope of that excel- lent epistle to the Hebrews, to discover ; for we may call that epistle the sweet harmony of both Testaments. This argues the unspeak- able excellency of this doctrine, the knowledge whereof must needs therefore be a key to unlock the greatest part of the sacred scriptures. For it is in the understanding of scripture, much as it is in the knowledge men have in logic and philosophy : if a scholar once come to understand the bottom-principle, upon which, as upon its hinge, the controversy turns, the true knowledge of that principle shall carry him through the whole controversy, and fur- nish him with a solution to every argument. Even so the right knowledge of Jesus Christ, like a clue, leads you through the whole labyrinth of the scriptures.
2<%, The knowledge of Jesus Christ is ^fundamental hnoidedge ; and foundations are most useful, though least seen. The know- ledge of Christ is fundamental to all graces, duties, comforts, and happiness.
(1.) It is fundamental to all graces ; they all begin in know- ledge ; Col. iii. 10. " The new man is renewed in knowledge.1'
* He that prefers any knowledge on earth, to this sacred and heavenly knowledge, chuseth trash before a treasure. jSavemnt on CqIqss, chap, ii. ver, 5.
SEEM. I. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 85
As the old, so the new creation begins in light ; the opening of the eyes is the first work of the Spirit ; and as the beginnings of grace, so all the after-improvements thereof depend upon this in- creasing knowledge, 2 Pet. iii. 18. " But grow in grace, and in « the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour.'' See how these two, grace and knowledge, keep equal pace in the soul of a Christian ; in what degree the one increases, the other increases answerably.