suppose, 11ssume that this Chloe was a good character, altho11gh, as a rule, the most un>'miablo persons are the most rearly to parade the imperfections of others. :Now, what woro the divisions a~ainst which he protests? "Now this I say, that every ona of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apolios; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ," etc. Their divisions consisted in rabid preferences for certain ministers. One party set up Paul as pre-eminent; another party set up A polios as unapproached in excellence; others Cephas, or Peter; and others gave Christ the pre-eminence, and they were right. Now, to put down these divisions, these schisms, Paul expostulates with great vehemence. "Is Christ divided? W'as Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" Party spirit has been the greatest curse to Christianity; it has filled Christendom with conflicting sects. Alas! that any professed minister of the gospel should defend the existence of separate sects and Churches. How often have I heard preachers on platforms compare the different denominations to regiments in the same army! Do regiments in an army fh1;ht one with another, and do they misinterpret the grand purpose of the campaign? However, so long as men have vested interests in sects, and live by denominations, I fear nothing but the crash of doom will destroy sectarianism. Ver. 17.-The world's greatest blessin.lJ and its greatest evil. "Lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." Here we have- I. The greatest BLESSING in the world. "The cross of Christ." By "the cross of Christ" the apostle did not mean, of course, the timber on which Christ was crucified, or any imitation of that in wood, brass, marble, gold, silver, or paint. He uses the word, as a symbol, as we use the words" crown,"" court,"" bench," etc. He meant the eternal principles of which the cross of Christ was at once the effect, evidence, anci. expression -he meant, in one word, all that we mean by the gospel. And this, we say, is the greatest blessing in the world to-day. The human world lives under a system of mercy, and mercy pours on it every hour blessings innumerable. But no blessing has come to it, has ever been found in it, or will ever come to it, equal to the cross or the gospeL Look at it, for example, in only three of its many aspects, and you will be impressed with its incomparable worth. 1. As a revealer. The chief value of the material universe is, that it reveals the spiritual and the eternal; but the gospel reveals all that the material does of God and the universe with much greater fulness and effect. It presents the "image of the invisible God." All true theological doctrine and ethical science come to us through the cross. It is the moral light of the world. 2. As :in educator. That in human life which is the most successful in quickening, evolving, and strengthening all the powers of the human mind is its chief blessing. The " cross of Christ" has done this a thousand times more effectively than any other agency. Art, government, science, poetry, philosophy, owe infinitely more to it than to any other a.gent in the world. The cross is to the human soul what the vernal sunbeam is to the seed; it penetrates, warms, quickens, and brings all its latent powers out to perfection. 3. As a deliverer. 'l'he cross is more than a. revealer or an educator; it is a, deliverer, The human soul is condemned. diseased, enthralled; everywhere it groans under the sentence of its own conscience. It languishes under a moral malady; it is fettered by lusts, prejudices, evil habits, and social influences; its deepest cry is, "0 wretched mall that I am, who shall deliver me?" The cross bears a. pen to cancel the· sentence, a balm to heal the wound, a weapon to break the fettering chain. Such, and infinitely more, is the cross. What would human life be without it? A voyage withoull a. compass, chart, or star. II. 'l'he greatest EVIL in the world. What is the evil? Making this cross of "none effect." That is "none effect" so far as its grand mission is concerned. Some effect it must have; it will deepen the damnation where it does not save. "We are unto God a sweet savour," etc. We offer three remarks concerning this tremendous evil. 1. It is pairifitlly manifest. The fact is patent to all, that the cross has not to any great extent in Christendom produced its true effect. Though it has been in the world upwards of eighteen hundred years, not one-tenth of the human·population know any- thing about it, and not one-hundredth of those who know something of it, experience its t~ue effect. Intellectually, socially, politically, it:has confessedly done wonders for man- kmd ; but morally, how little! How little genuine holiness, disinterested philanthropy, .12 THE FITIST EPISTLE 'l'O 'l'HE COUINTI:IIANS. [en. 1. 1-31.
sclf-snrrificing de1·0tion to truth and God! How little Chri~t.lincRs of life! In all moral 0