The Gospel also displays the manifold wisdom of God, in its admirable adaptation to the moral condition and spiritual wants of man. It harmonizes all the divine perfections in the forgiveness of sin; it secures the honour of the moral law, the glory of God, the love and obedience of the believer, the admiration of all holy and intelligent creatures. Even the angels desire to look into it. (Eph. iii. 10.; 1 Pet. i. 12.) So the power and wisdom of God are displayed in the person of the Mediator, who is possessed of all the perfections of God, and of all the sympathies of man. He manifested his glory in the miracles which he performed; and in the offices which he sustains, he exerts almighty power. In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge-never man spake like himnever was so sublime a system taught, or such an admirable character exhibited; hence he is able both to govern and to protect his church, to guide his people in the way that they should go, and to save them to the uttermost. It is agreeable to the ordinary dispensations of Providence to accomplish the most stupendous effects by the most simple means. The vast system of the universe is upheld by the laws of gravitation and attraction. In the same manner, in the dispensations of grace, He renders the unadorned preaching of the Gospel more effectual in securing the true happiness of man, than any of the vaunted schemes of human philosophy. That very doctrine which appears foolishness to the world, is found to be more sublime in its nature than all their boasted theories; it can produce effects which all the power of earthly governments, and all the wisdom of legisla tors, have failed to accomplish. It renews the heart and transforms the character of man; and these effects it produces even when wielded by the feeblest instruments. 25. "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." There is nothing like weakness or folly in the Gospel scheme, or in any of the works of God: but the Apostle adopts the contemptuous language of the opponents of Christianity, to turn it back upon themselves. They esteemed it foolishness: well, allowing it to be so, yet it is wiser than the inventions of men. They despised the weakness of its preachers, yet their foolish preaching was more powerful than all the eloquence and rhetoric of the schools. REFLECTIONS. 1. The scheme of redemption bears intrinsic evidence of its heavenly origin, as the only conceivable way in which the righteousness and the mercy of God could meet together in the pardon of sinful men. It bears the stamp of truth in the effects which it has produced, independently altogether of external evidence. 2. The doctrine of the cross is the grand instrument of converting souls; hence the importance of dwelling frequently on this topic, as the most affecting and august display of the love of God. 3. The Gospel is still viewed as foolishness by the proud speculatist; it is yet a stumbling-block to the self-righteous and the worldly minded. But those who reject the gospel perish in their sins! SECTION FOURTH.-VERSES 26-31. THE DESIGN OF GOD IN CALLING THOSE THAT ARE DESPISED. THE Apostle had shewn the incompetency of unassisted reason to arrive at a right knowledge of God, and the marks which the Gospel bears of the wisdom and power of its divine Author. Its heavenly origin is further conspicuous, if we consider the effects which it has produced on the human character, and the instruments employed in making it known to the world. 26-29. "For ye see (or see ye Bari) your calling (7) brethren, that not many wise men according to (xara) the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble (are called) but God hath chosen the foolish things (ga) of the world that he might confound (xaraioxum put to shame) the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, that he might shame the strong (rxvea) and the base things (ays) of the world, and the things that are despised (cover) hath God chosen, and the things that are not (Ta un evra) that he might bring to nought (xaragynon abolish) the things that are, that no flesh should glory before him (evov autou). The Apostle puts these adjectives in the neuter gender, still more to depreciate the characters spoken of, and to heighten our conceptions of the sovereign grace of God. Two views have been taken of this passage. The sertence is elliptical; the words "are called" being supplemental. Some give an active sense to the words, and read “not many noble, &c. call you;" and this must be allowed to be more agreeable to the main scope of the argument, which is to reprove the Corinthians for their undue attachment to human philosophy, by shewing that those who were called to preach the Gospel, possessed no external accomplishments, either of rank, or birth, or extraordinary talent. They were not the instruments which men would naturally have employed, and their success must be attributed mainly to the power of God, and not to their personal qualifications. There were not many among them whom the world would have considered as wise: if we except the Apostle Paul, few of the primitive preachers were skilled either in Jewish or in heathen literature; nor did they possess any uncommon originality or acuteness of mind; nor were they endowed with any extraordinary powers of eloquence. They could not be ranked with the mighty or powerful; they had neither fleets nor armies at command, with which to undertake so difficult an enterprize as the subjugation of the world-they had neither wealth nor influence, to enable them to effect any moral revolution in the views or character of men-they were few in number, and poor in circumstances-their natural disposition was timid and retiring, and so far from having any countenance or support from the established authorities, the whole ecclesiastical and civil power was exerted to oppose them-they were not distinguished by the splendour of their birth, or the nobility of their ancestors-they were selected from the most obscure ranks of life-fishermen, publicans, or tentmakers, who had spent their life in toiling for their daily subsistence. No persons, in fact, could have seemed more unfit to contend with the learning, religion, and civil authorities of this world. Yet these were the individuals who had, under God, been appointed to propagate the Christian faith. It was to persons of this description, that the Corinthians themselves owed all their present privileges, and all their hopes for eternity; and therefore it did not become them to set so high a value on those outward advantages, which were of so little account in the sight of God. For he had, in the exercise of his divine sovereignty, chosen those who were esteemed as the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. All the power and subtilty of the Jewish sanhedrim were baffled by Peter and James and John; and the plausible reasonings of the Greek philosophers were refuted by Paul and his fellow-labourers. Those who were despised as deluded enthusiasts and vain babblers, were honoured to publish such an admirable system of truths, as could never have been invented by all the ingenuity of the most admired sages, for their Lord gave them a mouth and wisdom which their enemies could not gainsay or resist. Those who appeared weak and feeble, on account of their want of influence,-not only plain unlettered men, but persons of the weaker sex, and of the most tender age, by their exemplary conduct, their patient labours, and their heroic fortitude under the most cruel sufferings, were chosen to be fellow-helpers in the propagation of Christianity, by their preaching or their death, to confound the mighty who did not know the spring of divine consolation from which they were supplied, and who could not see the invisible arm by which they were sustained. Those whom the world considered base on account of the meanness of their birth, and the obscurity of their station, or who were despised on account of the disreputable employments they had formerly pursued, or the immoral lives which they had once led, became useful members of society, and were honoured to effect the most salutary change on the character of others; nay, those who, as Gentiles by birth, were considered by the Jews as morally dead, as having no existence in comparison with them, were selected to bring to nought the proud pharisee and the self-sufficient moralist. Thus every scheme that had been devised by men for the welfare of the species, was thrown into the shade; and the names of those who stood highest in the rolls of science or of fame, were eclipsed by a few simple mechanics. And the great design of this arrangement was, that no flesh might glory in the divine presence -that the world might see that the race was not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong-that the preachers of the gospel might be taught that their success was not owing to any intellectual superiority of theirs, and that those who were converted by them might be kept from glorying in feeble flesh, or from giving that honour to the creature which is the sole prerogative of the almighty Agent. In short," that he who glorieth, might glory in the Lord." The sentiment in the passage is also true in the other sense above alluded to, " See your calling (TM xλnd up) brethren; consider what sort of persons have been called among you."* The first converts to Christianity were generally persons of inferior rank, and the Corinthians had formerly been immersed in idolatry and vice, chap. vi. 11. "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called." The very simplicity of the Gospel serves to hide it from the wise and prudent in their own eyes. They busy themselves in investigating the works of nature, but they are seldom, from these, "led up to nature's God." The attention of the mighty is engrossed with schemes of ambition, or with political speculations; the voice of flattery conceals from them the knowledge of their true character, and the pomp of earthly grandeur makes them conceive a distaste for the hum bling and self-denying doctrines of the cross. The noble are exposed to the same temptations. They cannot think of parting with the pleasures of sin, or of stooping from their elevated station, to cast in their lot with the humble followers of the Lamb. But God selects the foolish ones of the world to make them wise unto salvation the weak he furnishes with strength and fortitude to overcome surrounding temptations. He chooses those that are despised on account of their poverty, to enrich them with the treasures of grace; and the young and ignorant, he guides, by his Holy Spirit, into the way of life: the poor have the Gospel preached to them, and praise is perfected out of the mouth of babes. Thus we may often meet with an humble christian in an obscure situation, who has more experimental knowledge of the Gospel, than those who have made the Scriptures the study of their lives; and young children have attained such a deep acquaintance with divine truth, as has silenced and confounded the proud infidel. The reason is, they are taught of God; and the design is, that no flesh should glory in his presence. Yet there is nothing in the doctrines of the Gospel, to justify the neglect or rejection of it by the wise and the noble. It is, in itself, an object of contemplation sufficiently interesting and important, to engage the serious attention of the most refined and cultivated minds. Though not many noble are usually called by divine grace, there have been a few such in every age, who have not been ashamed of the gospel of Christ; these have been raised • Thus Beza, "Cernitis enim vocationem vestrem, fratres; vos videlicet non esse multos sapientes," &c. с |