There are four things that the apostle speaks of, which includes all, 1 Cor. i. 30. ' Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.' Christ Jesus is all in all. If we be ignorant, he is our ' wisdom ; ' if we want righteousness and holiness to stand before God, ' he is our righteousness.' We stand righteous, being clothed with his righteousness. If we want grace, ' Of his fulness we receive grace for gi-ace,' John i. 16. He is sanctification to us. If we be miserable, as we shall be to our sense, our bodies shall be turned to rottenness, ' he is our redemption,' not only of the soul, but of the body. He shall make our bodies ' like his glorious body,' Philip, iii. 21. As he makes our souls glorious, by his Spirit conforming them to his own image here, he means here redemption of our bodies from corruption, as well as of our souls from sin. ' He is all in all.' In sin, he is sanctification ; in death, he is life ; in ignorance, he is wisdom. There is nothing ill in us, but there is abundant satisfaction and remedy in Christ. I speak this the rather to shew what reason St Paul had to stand on this, that all his preaching was to bring Christ Jesus among them. I go on.
* The Son of God, Jesus Christ, preached among you.' Doct. 2. All the ijood tve have hy Christ is conveyed by the ministnj^ Despise that, and despise Christ himself. ~ Therefore whatsoever benefits we have by Christ, they are attributed to preaching ; they are attributed to the gospel as it is preached and unfolded ; therefore it is called ' The gospel of the kingdom,' ' The word of reconciliation,' ' The word of life,' ' The word of faith.' All these are by Christ. But it is no matter, whatsoever we have by Christ, we must have it by Jesus Christ unfolded in the ministry of the word. Despise the ministry, that is contemptible to flesh and blood, and despise Christ himself, despise the kingdom, and life, and all ; for Christ preached is that we must rely on, Christ unfolded. The bread of life must be broken, the sacrifice must be anatomized and laid open, Christ Jesus the Son of God must be preached. He profits not but as he is preached. His riches must be unfolded, ' the unsearchable riches of Christ,'
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP, I, \T>R. 19. 373
Eph. iii. 8. Therefore God, that hath appointed us to be saved by Christ, hath appointed and ordained preaching, to lay open Jesus Christ among us.
But, to come to the third point.
Doct. 8, Consent of ministers a help to faith.
Why doth he bring in consent to help ? * By me, and Silvanus, and Timotheus,' Would not his own authority serve the turn ?
I answer, no ; it would not sometimes. In itself it will, but in regard of the weakness of men, it is necessary to join the consent of others. St Paul was an apostle of Christ, but he knew that they were so weak, that they would regard his testimony the more for the joint testimony of ' Timotheus and Silvanus,' and the rest.
God considers not so much what is true in itself, as how to stablish our faith in it. As in the sacrament, would not God give Christ and his benefits ? is he not true of his word ? Yes ! but he gives the sacrament for us. His promises are sure enough, yet he condescends to our weakness, to add sacrament, and oath, and all tlie props that may be. So the men of God, that are led by the Spirit of God, though their own authority were sufficient, yet they condescend to the weakness of others. Therefore St Paul allegeth with himself, ' Silvanus and Timotheus,' to strengthen them the better.
Then again, consent is a lovely thing, and proceeds from love. How sweet a thing is it for brethren to dwell together in unity ; therefore we ought to stand much upon consent, if it may persuade us. But as Cyprian saith well, ' it must be consent in the truth' (qqq). Consent that is not in the truth, is not properly concord, but conspiracy ; consent in a he, in falsehood. The builders of Babel they had a consent among themselves when they came for a wicked purpose, as we see ofttimes in Scripture, Consent must be in the truth, in that which is good, or else it is not consent, but conspiracy. By reason of our weakness, consent is useful, and that is the reason why in doubtful cases we may allege antiquity ; not that the word is not sufficient in itself, but to help our weakness, to shew that we do not divert from the truth, but that it is a truth warranted by others before. In doubtful cases this is warrantable. He brings it likewise to enforce obedience the more, when it was a truth brought to them by so many. But that is not a thing I mean to stand on, a touch is enough.
That which I will spend a httle more time in, is the nest thing, ttiat is, that