his doctrines would have merited the odium which has most unjustly been cast upon them. But on neither side did he err : he forgot neither the foundation nor the superstructure: he distinguished properly be- tween them, and kept each in its place : and hence with great propriety adopted the determination in our text.
Having explained his determination, we shall now proceed,
II. To vindicate it —
It was not from an enthusiastic fondness for one particular point, but from the fullest conviction of his mind, that the Apostle adopted this resolution : and so the word in the original imports ; " I determined, as the result of my deliberate judgment, to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him cruci- fied : I have made it, and will ever make it, my theme, my boast, and my song." The reasons why he insisted on this subject so exclusively, and with such dehght, shall now be stated : — he' did so,
1 . Because it contained all that he was commissioned to declare.
" It pleased God to reveal his Son in the Apostle, that he might preach him among the heathen :" and accordingly St. Paul tells us, that '' this grace was given to him to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ." This, I say, was his office ; and this too is the ministry of reconciliation which is committed to ministers in every age; " to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them°." To the Apostles, indeed, the commission was to " go forth into all the world, and to preach the Gospel to every creature ;" whereas to us is assigned, as it were, a more limited sphere : but the subject of our ministry is the same with theirs : we have the same dispensation committed unto us ; and " woe will be unto us, if we preach not the Gospel."
But, as though men needed not to be evangelized
" 2 Cor. V. 18, 19.