And His the sea, And His the peace, O'er all and me.
Once from His boat He taught the curious throng,
Then bade me let down nets into the sea; I murmured, but obeyed, nor was it long, Before the catch amazed and humbled me. His was the boat,
And His the skill, And His the catch, And His my will.1
II.
The Message.
1. Preaching. — The clear, creative imagination of St. Paul could penetrate into the brain of the Roman and look through his eyes; into the intellect of the Greek and judge with his cynicism ; into the spirit of the Hebrew and feel with his heart, or dream with his fancy. And as he looked at the men he could read their thoughts without the help of words, translating the scowl on the Hebrew's face into bitter speech, the scorn on the
1 Joseph Richards.
i4 POWER AND WISDOM OF GOD
Greek's lip into eloquent reproach. But though he knew the thoughts of the men he did not dare be silent in their presence. For God sent him to preach the Gospel, and he preached it possessed with the passion for souls that is the image in man of grace in God.
(1) "But we preach." St. Paul refused to make any com- promise. He was very clearly conscious of the two great streams of expectation and wish which he deliberately thwarted and set at naught. "The Jews ask for signs" — but we preach Christ crucified. "The Greeks seek after wisdom" — but again, we preach Christ crucified. To all their subtleties, whether of out- ward sign or of inward wisdom he opposed the simple fact of his preaching.
(2) " We preach." The word " preach " is emphatic ; it means in its full signification " to proclaim as a herald does." St. Paul proclaimed his Gospel simply as a fact. The Jew required a sign; he wanted a man who would do something. The Greek sought after wisdom ; he wanted a man who would perorate and argue and dissertate. St. Paul says, " No ! " " We have nothing to do. We do not come to philosophize and to argue. We come with a message of fact that has occurred, of a Person that has lived."
^| Preaching is an institute peculiar to the Gospel. Nothing can be preached but the Gospel, so nothing can be done with the Gospel but preach it. It is not a mere law to be enjoined, or a philosophy to be developed by human thought, or a series of articles to be taught. In its naked essence, it is a fact of God's doing, a Divine datum, a salvation provided, stored, and offered in the person of a Saviour. As such, it is to be asserted, declared, published, heralded.1
2. Preaching Christ. — St. Paul proclaimed a Person, not a system of philosophy. We can adore a person, but we cannot adore principles. It is not merely Purity, but the Pure One ; not merely Goodness, but the Good One, that we worship. Some of 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 endeavouring to do the same ; but it is only in Christ that it is possible to do this effectually, jt is only in Christ that we find our ideal realized.
1 J. 0. Dykes,
i CORINTHIANS i. 22-24 15
Tf Preaching Christ is not preaching about Christ. There is a well-known passage in the tenth chapter of Komans which gives a balanced account of the reason for the failure of so much preaching to produce any adequate or satisfactory results. The first part of the passage points to causes of failure in the preachers; the second half to causes of failure in the hearers. The great cause of failure in preachers is indicated in one of these opening interrogations as it is translated in the Eevised Version. The old version, smoothing over a difficulty of trans- lation, and giving not the actual sense of the words but what it was imagined St. Paul ought to have said and meant to say, reads thus, " How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? " Now the Eevisers give us what St. Paul actually did write. "How shall they believe in him whom they have not heard ? " You see there is a whole world of difference in the two phrases. According to the first one the difficulty of belief is that they have not heard about Christ ; but according to the second it is that they have not heard Christ. According to the first the function of the preacher is to talk about Christ; but according to the second his function is to be a mouthpiece through whom Christ can speak about Himself. " They are not likely to believe," St. Paul says, " unless they hear Christ." If it was true when he wrote, it is abundantly true to-day. There are few indeed to-day who have not heard about Christ ; but there are multitudes who have never heard Christ.1
3. Preaching Christ crucified. — St. Paul's subject was " Christ crucified." He would not preach Christ the Conqueror, or Christ the Philosopher (by preaching which he might have won both Jews and Greeks), but Christ the crucified, Christ the humble. There is a distinction between preaching Christ crucified and preaching the Crucifixion of Christ. It is said by some that the Gospel is not preached unless the Crucifixion be named. But the Apostle did not preach that ; he preached Christ — Christ the Example — Christ the Life — Christ the Son of Man — Christ the Son of God — Christ risen — Christ the King of Glory. And ever and unfailingly he preached that Christ as a humble Christ crucified through weakness, yet living by the power of God.