nppcarcd, will g11ze with devout reverence on the c1mllcd hloorl of Jan,rnrius turning ]i(JUid before his eyes, and will touch with awe the relics of some saint., believing that they will cure his diseases. 'l'he Protestant, disdaining these supergtitions, shows the ~ame spirit in other ways. He may love the sensuous in worship and the sensatioml in preaching. He may run after the man who is an adept in oratoricnl jugglery, who knows the day and the hour when the work! is to end, etc. Whatever is novel, unusual, popular, is sure to find such sign-seekers among its ardent supporters. To men of this temper the cross of ChriRt is still a" stuml,ling-block." For it speaks of humiliation, of obedience unto death, of a quiet unostcntatious doing of the will of God; and this is the very thing such people feel to be distaRtefol. To go with Jesus into the garden, and there drink tbe cup God puts to our lips; to cn,lure with him the contradiction of sinners, and be exposed to shame and hissing; to go after him, denying ourselves and bearing our cross ;-this is the meaning of tile sign. Is it any wonder if men stumble at it? 2. The Greelcs. "Greeks seek after wisdom." The idea of a crucified Saviour was to them foolishness. Accustomed to the speculations of their own philosophers, set forth with learning and snbtlety, these lovers of wisdom applied to the doctrine of the cross a purely intellPctual test. It was in their eyes a new philosophy, and Jesus of Nazareth was to be tried by the same rules as the founders of their own schools. To these critical Greeks Paul had nothing to offer but the story of him who was crucified (compare our Loru's words to the Gn•eks, John xii. :!3, etc.). The cross for them, as for the Jews, had but one langnage-it spoke of the lowest infamy; and to preach salvation by a cross would he in their view the sheerest absurdity. These Greeks have still their representatives in modern life. 'There are those who glorify human intellect, and think themselves capable of solving all mysteries. How many of our men of science seem to lose their beads when they come to speak of Christianity! 'They have nothing but a sneer for a "theology of blood;" and their quarrel with Jesus is that, after giving the world such splendid precepts, he should have imagined that he could save men by letting them crucify him. In forms Jess extreme than this the same spirit may be trace<l. Many bearers of the \Vord have more regard to the mental grasp of the preacher, the literary finish of the discourse, or tl,e manner in which it is delivered, than to the scriptural and edifying character of the truth preached. The simple preaching of Christ crucified is to their thinki11g comparative folly. Let us not be carried away hy this craving for wi~dom. " When once the idolatry of talent enters the Church, then farewell to spirituality; when men ask their teachers, not for that which will make them more humble and Godlike, but for the excitemeut of an intellectual banquet, then farewell to Christian progress" (F. vV. Robertson). Observe the apostle's statement with regard to these despisers of the cross: "In the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God." Men groped after him, but could not find him. It was part of the Divine scheme that the wisdom of the world should have free scope to work; and only when it had exhamtc,\ itself was the world ripe for the bringing in of the gospel. This was a part of tl,e preparation for Christ. Human wisdom is still inadequate. It cannot save a single soul. Men perish as they speculate; men die as they frame theories of life. In God's view, man's wisdom is folly; in man's view, God's wisdom is folly. ·which is the wiser? IV. How THE GOSPEL APPEARS TO THOSE THAT RECEIVE IT. They are describe,l as" called" (ver. 24), as "believers" (ver. 21), as" being saved" (ver. 18); each term presenting a different aspect of their condition. They are called by God out of tl,e world into the fcllow~hip of Christ; heing called, they believe in him; and believing, they are in the way of salvation. Thero is no salvation without faith, anti no faith without the calling of God by his Word and Spirit. Now, to all such Christ is" the Power of God, and tho Wisdom of God." Tho Jew stumbled at the cross as a thing ol' weakness; the believer rejoices in it as a thing of power. It has done for him what nil other appliances failed to accomplish. It hns made him a new creature, bringing bim out of darkness and death into light and life. Every one who has been cured by n 11articular medicine is a witness to tho efficacy of that merlicino; so every saved sinner bears testimony to the power of the cross. And there is wisdom here as well as power -" the wisdom of God." Christ crucified is not a philosophy, but n fact; yet through this fact there shines the highest wisdom. We can well understand how the Greek THE FmST EPISTLE 'l'O THE CORINTIIIANS. [CH. 1. 1-31..
mind, once brought to the obedience of faith, would revel in this view of the cross. He· would learn to see in Chri~t "all the trcasmes of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. ii. 3). In him" God is just, and the juslificr of him that bath faith in Jesus" (Rom. iii. 26). In him we have the highest exemplification of that great law of the kingdom: "Ho that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Matt. xxiii. 12). All that the ancient philosophies had been striving after-the knowledge of God, the nature of man, and the meaning of human life-is to be found in Christ and him crucified. Here is the centre of ail knowledge, round which all else revolves in order and beauty. Here is the shrine where the wise men of the earth must fall down and worship-the touch- ~tone by which their speculations must be tried. Here is "the wisdom of God," outshining every other manifestation in creation and providence-that wisdom by which we become wise unto salvation.-B.