-0f "the true cross," and even now relics (supposed) of the instrument of our SaviCJnr's ~u!Terings are treasured and revered. 'fhe cross may be reproduced in shape, ir; orna- ment, in architecture, in posture, and there may all the time be no spiritual under- .standing of the cross. 2. Nor did a merely sentimental meaning attach itself in Paul'~ mind to the cross. Suffering, and especially the suffering of innocence, awakens sympathy, and people talk about the cross they carry, with no other apprehension of the meaning of the phrase. 3. But it was a symbol of Christ's sacrifice. Jesus bare the cross before he set out for Calvary; its shadow had been for years upon his soul. In his death upon the cross he bore our sins, and secured that his people should "·ith him be crucified unto the world. Thus the tree of death became the sign of redemption .and the law of life. ll. THE OFFENCE OF THE DOCTRINE, OR WORD, OF THE CROSS, 1. In itself. The .cross was associated in men's minds with slavery, with guilt and crime, with suffering, ,with shame, with reviling, and with death. 2. In its position in the Christian scheme. 'J'o hope to convert the world by preaching seemed to many the vainest folly ; by 1ireaching a person, ridiculous; by preaching a person judicially put to death, insanity; by preaching one crucified, a moral obliquity and infa·ny. 3. There was a special .reason why the Jews should resent this doctrine. Th, y cherished a carnal love of ,splendour and power of a manifest and impressive kind, and the word of the cross .011 trao-ed their sentiments. They looked for a temporal deliverer in the Messiah, and .this ;xpectation was disappointed in the gospel of the Crucified. 4. There was a cSpecial reason why the Gentiles, especially those of education and philosophical tastes, should take offence at the word of the cross. They disdained the barbarian anc\ <lespised the Jew, and they contemned the form in which Christianity was proclaimed. '!'hey loved health, beauty and power, and had no sympathy with a religiun whicii gloried in the Crucified, and appealed to the sinful and the wretched. Their taste for speculation and for novelty was not gratified by Christian doctrine, and the cross would fit into none of their schemes of the universe. III. THE POWER OF THE DOCTRINE, OR WORD, OF THE CROSS. 1. The source of this ,power. It is Divine. 'l'he word of the cross expresses the Divine mind, shows God's ,estimate of human sin, exhibits the Divine righteousness, reveals the Divine loYe, ,anJ does all this on a human platform, so that we are enabled to appreciate the mystery of heavenly counsels. 2. The sphere of this power. Unbelievers cannot recognize it; they cannot but regard it as folly, for they are perishing in the sin from which it might deliver them. But all who are "in course of salvation" are living witnesses to the efficacy of the gospel. In a free moral nature, truth and love must be received in order that they may operate. 3. The proofs of this power. Compare it with any other power, and its superiority is manifest. What else can awaken the selfish, the sensual, and the obdurate to a sense of sin; can impel the low-minded and earthly to the pursuit of holiness; can guide and graciously constrain to a life of consecrated service; can .enter a corrupt society as leaven, and can purify it as salt ?-T. Yer. 31.-Gloryin-g in the Lord. The one condition of spiritual blessing, upon which Scripture universally insists, is humility. The lowly are assured of acceptance, and the proud and self-confident are condemned to rejection. The terms of Christianity -correspond with the teaching of the Old Testament; for it is to the poor in spirit and to the meek, to the child-like in character and disposition, that the blessings of the new covenant are assigned. The same spirit which is e. means of obtaining the blessings ul -Christianity is distinctive of those who possess these blessings. They have received all they enjoy from the free grace of God, and it is their delight to abase themselves nn,l to exalt him from whom they have derived their spiritual privileges and prospects. 'They may glory, but it is not in anything which is their own; it is in him of whu1u and to whom are all things. I. CHRISTIANS REPUDIATE ALL GLORYING IN SELF. 1. In their own possessions awl ,7?0Wers. There is a natural tendency to think highly of self, and to depreciate on1· .lellow-men and their gifts, and to forget our God the Giver of all. But the very fact •that we are Christians is conclusive ao-ainst the lawfulness of such moral habits. Glttl Ji_as made us; Christ has redeemed is, and we arc not our own. 2. In the gifts ni •God's providence. To boast of wealth, or nationaiity, or faruiiy, is to overlook tl,c great 22 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cH. I. 1-31.
question, "·what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" ~- In their privileqes. This the Jews were constantly in t.he habit of doing; they boasted that they were Abraham's ,·hildren, and Mo~es' disciples, etc. If highly favoured by Christian privilege, let Christ's people be upon their watch lest they claim credit for what they owe to the free grace of God. 4. In thefr attainrnents. The Corinthians seem to have been in special danger nf falling into this snare. Human learning and philosophy may very possibly become nn occasi(>n of stumbling and reproach. Ii. In their virtues. This was the Pharisaic spirit, and should be checked by the remembrance that" we are unprofitable servants." II. CHRISTIANS CULTIVATE THE HABIT OF GLORYING IN THEIR LORD. 1. This is afust and reasnnable habit. Heflection assures every true and spiritual Christian that he is indebted to the mercy of God in Christ, first lor his redemption from sin, and then for e-ery grace, all help, all counsel, all comfort, through which he is what he is. There- fore in the Author of salvation and life he is bound to rejoice. 2. '!'his is a profitable hal,it. To glory in the Lord is a sure preservative against ingratitude and murmuring, and will help in maintaining a cheerful and happy tone and temper of mind. It is, moreover, an evident and beautiful preparation for the employments of heaven. 3. This is a habit for which we have the apostolic example and precedent. It was the habit of Paul's mind to glory, not in man, but in God. He could glory in his own infirmities; he could glory in the blessing God bestowed upon his labours, though then he "became a fool in glorying." But this was the prevailing sentiment of his spirit: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ Jesus my Lord! "-T.