"'\"ers. 9, 10.-Tl,e true wisdom. Often in the Epistles there is a single word on which the \\"hole discussion turns. In the letter to the Romans, it is "righteousness;" to the Colnssi:ms, it is "fulness;" to the Hebrews, it is "perfection." In the letter to the Corinthians, it is" wisdom." Those Greeks sought after wisdom. It was nothing to tbem that the gospel might relieve a trouhkd conscience or reform an unworthy life, if it did not correspond with their ideas of philosophy. But St. P,tnl had an answer to gi,e them for which they were not at all prepared. He calmly affirmed that they were incompetent judges of a heavenly wisdom, and that in his gospel to the people there was a philosophy beyond their power of apprehension-" the manifold wisdom of God." Greek philosophy at its best sought to ascertain how man may, by knowledge and the pursuit of ,irtue, reach up towards the highest good. But the gospel taught that the highest Good had come down to dwell among men; and that, by union in faith to that hif:hest Good, man becomes more than a philosopher-a saint. I. THE L'\'.APTITUDE OF MAN TO RECEIVE THE DIVINE WISDOM OF THE GOSPEL. This is expressed by a quotation from the Old Testament (Isa. !xiv. 4): "Eye hath not seen it." The reference is not, as in a well-known poem, to "the better land," but to the wisdom of God. When Jesus, the incarnate Wisdom, was on earth, many eyes saw him that could not discern the glory of God in him. And many an eye to-day sees the position of Christianity in the world, the width of its influence, and the dignity of its institutions, yet does not "see Jesus," and the things which God has prepared in Jesus for those that lo,•e him. "Ear hath not heard it." That organ which receives so impartially all communications fails to drink in the wisdom of the gospel. It is closed by earthliness of mind, till the power of God's Spirit unstops it, so to hear that the soul may live. "Neither have entered into the heart," etc. (ver. 9). The heart is hardened, as well as the eye closed and the ear stopped. 'l'he spirit of a man of itself knows only "the things of a man," conceives of wisdom and goodness after the manner and measure of man, and so fails to conceive the ways and thoughts of God, and the things which are freely given by him. So the apostle denied that a man untaught by the Spirit, even though be were a Greek, could rightly estimate the gospel. He could remind the disputers and rhetoricians of Greece that their philosophy might sound as jargon to the unlettered, who could not bring to it a sufficient intellectual appreciation. In like manner, the gospel which he preached might seem to tbem a jargon or a piece of "foolishness," merely because they were out of moral sympathy with it, and had not sufficient spiritual enlightenment to discern and value it. It was the same lesson which our Lord impressed on Nicodemus, "Except a rr.an be born again, he cannot see the kin"dom of God." He can see Churches, preachers, forms of service, but not the kingdo~ which is "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," till be is born again. II. 'l'HE REVELATION OF THJJ: HEAVE!s"LY WISDOM DY THE HOLY SrmIT. 1. It was made known to holy apostles an<l prophets in the Spirit. By them it was communicated to the Churches. But all who beard them required the unction of the Spirit, that they might receive and know the truth. No one can say that this is unreasonable. I:very kind of knowledge requires for its reception a healthy state of the human understand.in"; and, when it relates to morals, a healthy condition of the imagination, conscience, a;d affections, because of' the effect which these have on the understanding. In like manner, spiritual things can be interpreted only to spiritual men. 'l'he all- cu. 11. 1-16.J THE FIRST EPISTLI'.. TO THE CORINTilIA~S.
Rcarching Spirit of God must act on the spirits of men to whom the gospel is pro- claime<l, an<l 80 enlighten and empower them to receive "the <leep things of God.'' 'l'hus boasting is excluded at every point. Boasting of onr righteousness is exclu<le,l by the work of the Son of God, all-sullicient fur us; and boasting of our wisdom by th,, work of the Spirit of Go<l, all-sufficient in us. By the Spirit all things are made new. Eye and ear and heart are new. The eye can see, the ear hear, the heart conceive, "the things which are freely given to us of God." What a di~nity is this! What a jov ! ••We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God.'' W,· are taught of God, 80 as to enter with a new power of discernment into the secret vf his covenant and the glory of his go8pel.-F.