(2) Christ crucified is to the Christian the wisdom of God because the Cross explains (so far as they can be explained in this world) the dark mysteries of life and death, and because it is the practical guide to truth and happiness. All the wisdom man needs to take him safely through the perils and perplexities of life is to be learned from the Cross.
^J St. Buonaventura (wise and strong himself) used to say that all the learning in the world had never taught him so much as the sight of Christ upon the cross.
(3) The Divine wisdom is such that it comes within the reach of all. The wisdom of man would be offered to the select few. Not everybody can read Plato and understand him. Very few can read Hegel and understand him. There are great thinkers concerning whom we take it for granted that they are great thinkers, but can only say that the little we understand is good, and that we assume that the rest is quite as good. But God's wisdom comes to all. What if the world were to be saved by the wisdom of man ? How many could thus be saved ? What if we had to depend for redemption on the utterances of some wise philosopher ? Thousands of the poor sons and daughters of men possessing little intellect and less learning would not be able to lay hold of it. But this is a wisdom coming into the hearts of all, and first of all by preference into the hearts of the simple and untutored and childlike.
Away, haunt thou not me
Thou vain Philosophy !
Little hast thou bestead,
Save to perplex the head,
And leave the spirit dead.
Unto thy broken cisterns wherefore go,
While from the secret treasure-depths below,
24 POWER AND WISDOM OF GOD
Fed by the skiey shower,
And clouds that sink and rest on hill-tops high,
Wisdom at once, and Tower,
Are welling, bubbling forth, unseen, incessantly?
Why labour at the dull mechanic oar,
When the fresh breeze is blowing,
And the strong current flowing,
Eight onward to the Eternal Shore?1
1 Clough, Poems, 24,
The Sum of Saving Knowledge.
Literature.
Alexander (S. A.), The Cliristianity of St. Paul, 13.
Benson (E. W,\ Living Theology, 191.
Bigg (C), The Spirit of Christ in Common Life, 267.
Brooks (P.), Seeking Life, 259.
Clayton (C), Stanhope Sermons, 366.
Cooper (T. J.), Love's Unveiling, 93.
Davidson (A. D.), Lectures and Sermons, 1.
Ellis (P. H.), Old Beliefs and Modern Believers, 69.
Goulburn (E. M.), Occasional Sermons, ii. 235.
Horton (R. F.), The Triumph of the Cross, 31.
Horwill (H. W.), The Old Gospel in the New Era, 1.
Hunter (J.), Be Profundis Clamavi, 74.
Little (W. J. Knox), The Hopes of the Passion, 106.
Lucas (A.), At the Parting of the Ways, 1.
Mabie (H. C), The Meaning and Message of the Cross, 47.
Mac Arthur (R. S.), The Calvary Pulpit, 1.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : 1 and 2 Corinthians, 19 ; A Rosary of
Christian Graces, 273. Melvill (H.), Lothbury Lectures, 224. Moore (A. L.), The Message of the Gospel, 16. Neale (J. M.), Sermons in Sackville College Chapel, ii. 187. Park (E. A.), Discourses, 45. Parker (J.), Studies in Texts, i. 76. Potts (A. W.), School Sermons, 201. Shelford (L. E.), By Way of Remembrance, 13. Vaughan (D. J.), The Days of the Son of Man, 337. . Wardell (R. J.), Studies in Hom.iletics, 32. Wheeler (W. C), Sermons and Addresses, 44. Young (D. T.), The Crimson Boole, 71. Christian World Pulpit, ii. 385 (Saphir) ; xvii. 289 (Brown) ; xxv. 219
(Shalders) ; xxvii. 38 (Rogers) ; xxxviii. 420 (Whittaker) ; lii. 264
(Campbell) ; liii. 67 (Parker) ; lvii. 67 (Rogers) ; lxi. 193 (Boyd
Carpenter) ; lxiv. 182 (Smith) ; lxx. 58 (Lee). Church of England Pulpit, liii. 230 (Boyd Carpenter). Church Family Newspaper, Aug. 26, 1910, p. 676 (Tetley).
9) The Sum of Saving Knowledge.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.— i Cor. ii. 2.
There is another way of translating the text. Some have translated it thus: "For I did not determine to know any- thing among you. . . ." According to Godet, " the Apostle does not say ' I determined (judged good) not to know . . / but 'I did not judge good to know . . .' He intentionally set aside the different elements of human knowledge by which he might have been tempted to prop up the preaching of salvation. He deemed that he ought not to go in quest of such means."
The Apostle's Determination.
1. / determined. There is no doubt or hesitation in this statement. These are the words of one who had weighed the matter well, and knew whereof he spoke. Here is one who blows the trumpet of truth with no uncertain sound, who speaks with no tremor in his voice ; who has a decided conviction of what he knows and believes, and who thinks, and speaks, and acts in accordance with that knowledge and belief. St. Paul has decided for himself what is true ; and is determined to declare it and to stand by it.
^J St. Paul was no hired teacher — not an official expounder of a system. He preached what he believed. He felt that his words were Eternal Truth; and hence came their power. He preached ever as if God Almighty were at his side ; hence arises the possibility of discarding elegance of diction and rules of oratory. For it is half-way towards making us believe, when a man believes himself. Faith produces faith. If you want to convince men, and ask how you shall do it, we reply, Believe