which our discipleship to a person is declared. Illustrate by the branding of cattle or slaves, or by the public declaration of having adopted a child as son aml heir. /faptism is a voluntary taking on ourselves of a Name; from it we are called "Christians;" wo bear on UB the Name into which we were baptized, and are under- pledge to live in the spirit worthy of that Name. With the administration of any rite Paul contrasts his call to preach the gospel. The nature of his call may be thus enlarged. on. He was- I. 'l'o PREACH. A term used in the Acts as distinct from teach. "Daily . . . ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." The figure in the word is that of the herald, whose duty is to go from place to place, and announce, or declare, a message, or proclamation. John the Baptist preached as a herald. When our Lord sent the apostles forth on a trial mission, he would instruct them in their work as preachers, "As ye go say, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Press, that stili preaching is the authoritative announcement of God's mercy to men in Christ, and the demand at once to accept that mercy. II. To PREACH THE GOSPEL. The very essence of the gospel is given in John iii.16. It has these points-Man's need and helplessness; God's love and pity ; the effective manifestation of that love in Christ; the requirement of faith in the Redeemer thus set forth. The power that lies in the simple announcement of the gospel may be illus- trated by the familiar story of Kajarnak the Greenlander and the early Moravian. missionaries. III. To PREACH THE GOSPEL IN SIMPLICITY. Not with elaborations of "human wisdom," or as trusting to the artifices of "human rhetoric." Paul wanted no other- power than that which lay in personal conviction and simple fulfilment of the duty imposed upon him. 'l'o him the persuasion and power of the go~pel lay in its simpli- city. He preached Ghrist, and strove to draw men to him in trust and love. IV. To PREACH THE GOSPEL EVEN IN THE ASPECT THAT MEN WOULD RESIST. He was not to hold back the story of the cross, however Jew or Greek may seem to be offended at it; he was to declare the whole gospel he had received; and he was to be quite- confident that God could and would make it power unto salvation. In this we have the very essence of missionary work in every age. A kind of work that has its spheres both at home and abroad; and finds its agents in all who, having received the gospelr find an inward impulse urging them to make that gospel known.-R. T. Vers. 19-25.-The world's foolishness, and God's wisdom. So far as we can under- stand the Divine dealings with our race, it appears that, for some four thousand years, God left the nations to a free experiment. They might find out for themselves what is the "chief good of man." 'l'he more civilized Gentile nations were interested in one form of the experiment, viz.-Can man find God, and all in God, by the researches of his own wisdom~ At Corinth much was made of man's " wisdom." 'l'herefore Paul deals with it, and shows that- I. HITHERTO MAN'S WISDOM HAD FAILED. The various devices of science, philosophy, and religion may bo reviewed; and the actually hopeless moral condition of Paul's age should be forcibly presented. There was prevalent atheism ; religion was mocked at;. philosophy was an amusement, and had become a mere logomachy, an arena for mere disputants; and there was no satisfact-ion for man's mind or heart anywhere. 'l'he foolishness of the world's wisdom was declared. Impress what must be the conse- quenceR always if man's wisdom is made mistress, and not kept handmaid. II. HENCEFORTII MAN'S WISDOM MUST DE DISPLACED. It was not to be tho Divine agency employed in the redemption of the world. That should be re~elati?n, _not man's discovery. A manifestation, in the earthly spheres, beyond human 1magmat10n. A life and death, in which human wisdom would see nought but weakness and sh~me. And the simple heralding of a message, the proclaiming of a fact and truth given, which the wise of this world would think any commonplace and ignorant person could <lo. Yet God's wisdom proves able to accomplish that in whic~ man's wisdom failed. For the gospel preaching does bring God near to men, does brmg ho_me to ~hem ~he knowledge of him and the love of him, o.nd does give to men the salvatwn, satisfaction, and eternal life which they both need and seek.-R. 'l'. .58 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO 'l'lllJj CORINTHIANS. [en. II. 1-lG.
Ycrs. 26-30.-lntellectual power and moml power: which does God chiefly lionoui· aml 11sc ~ Paul's point appears to be that the wisdom of God is declared in his using moral rather than material or -intellectual forces in carrying out his great purpose of human redemption. The material forces bad to be set aside in order that the mural forces might work without obstruction; therefore only the simplest human agents were -)iiosen as the apostles and first preachers of the gospel. It is still true that moral character and spfritual affinities are the best fitnesses for Christian service. It may be well to compare the moral and the intellectual powers. J. 'l'HF.Y AHE OFTEN C01'NECTED IN THE SAME PERSON. There is no natural divorce- ment between them. They n,ay be found iu becoming harmony. II. Ix IDEAL MA1'HOOD TREY MUST BE so CONNECTED. For the ideal man has all the faculties and powers of his nature proportionally and harmoniously cultured and -developed. III. IN ACTUAL FACT THEY ARE Too OF'rEN SEVERED. And this is the fact, mainly by reason of the dist11rbance and disorder of man's nature, which follows as the con- sequence of sin. Self-wiU tends to nourish those parts of our nature throucrh which we may gain human place and pmisc; and so it fosters the material and intellectual at the expense of the moral and spiritual. IV. Goo SETS MORAL POWER AT THE IHGHEST VALUE. And this he manifests and declares in every revelation he makes to men, passing by the" rich and great and wise" to exalt the humble and the meek. He honours moral power because of its sphere. It is character, and the influence of character, the force of the man himself, of what he is. And because of its agent. It is the soul, the man's very self, and not the mind, which is only something the man has. Then show what is the true self-culture.-R. 'l'.