For I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.—1 Corinthians
ii., 2.
Should the apostle who penned this eloquent
expression resume his ministry
on earth, and should he deign to hold
converse with us on the principles of his high
calling, and should he repeat his strong words,
I am now, as of old, determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ, and
Him crucified, some of us would feel an impulse
to ask him:
"Can your words mean what they appear
to imply? You are learned in Rabbinical literature;
you have read the Grecian poets, and
even quoted from Aratus; you have examined
the statuary of Greece, and have made a permanent
record of an inscription upon an altar
in ancient Athens; you have reasoned on the
principles of Aristotle from effect to cause,
and have taken rank with the philosophers,
as well as orators of the world; and now, you
seem to utter your determination to abandon
all knowledge save that which concerns the
Jew who was crucified. You once said that
you had rather speak five words with the
understanding, than ten thousand words in
an unknown tongue; and here, lest the pithy
language of this text should fail of being truly
apprehended, we desire to learn its precise
meaning in three particulars:
"In the first place, do you intend to assert
that our knowledge is controlled by our will?
You determined not to know anything save
one. Can you by mere choice expel all but
one of your old ideas, and make your mind
like a chart of white paper in reference to the
vast majority of your familiar objects of
thought?"
"I am ready to concede," is the reply,
"that much of our knowledge is involuntary;
still a part of it is dependent on our will. In
some degree, at some times, we may attend
to a theme or not attend to it, as we choose,
and thus our choice may influence our belief,
and thus are we responsible, in a certain
measure, for our knowledge. Besides, the
word 'know' is used by us Hebraistic writers
to include not only a mental apprehension,
but also a moral feeling. When we know
Christ, we feel a hearty complacence in Him.
Again, to 'know' often signifies to manifest,
as well as to possess, both knowledge and love.
We do not know an old acquaintance when
we of set purpose withhold all public recognition
of him, and act outwardly as if we were
inwardly ignorant of his being. But I, Paul,
say to you, as I said to the Corinthians, that
I shall make the atonement of Christ, and
nothing but the atonement of Christ, the main
theme of my regard, of my loving regard, and
such loving regard as is openly avowed."
Thus our first query is answered; but there
is a second inquiry which some of us would
propose to the apostle, were he uttering to us
personally the words which he wrote to the
Corinthians. It is this:
"Should a Christian minister out of the
pulpit, as well as in the pulpit, know nothing
save the Crucified One? Did you not know
how to sustain yourself by the manufacture
of tents; and did you not say to the circle of
elders at Ephesus, 'These hands have ministered
to my necessities'? Did you not dispute
with the Roman sergeants, plead your
cause before the Roman courts? Must not
every minister cease for a time to converse on
the word of Jesus; and must he not think of
providing for his own household, lest he become
worse than an infidel?"
"I am willing to admit," is the reply, "that
the pulpit is the place where the minister
should speak of Christ with more uniform
distinctness than in other places; but there
are no places, and no times, in which he should
fail to manifest, more or less obviously, his
interest in his Redeemer. Wherever he goes
he has a pulpit. Whether he eat, or drink,
or whatever he do, he must do all for the
glory of God, and the highest glory of God is
Christ, and the highest honor of Christ is in
Him crucified. A minister must always respect
the proprieties of life; in honoring them
he knows that appropriate model Man who,
rising from the tomb, wrapped up the napkin
that was about His head, and laid it in a
place by itself. Now the proprieties of life
do require a minister to speak in the pulpit
on themes more plainly and more easily connected
with the atonement, than are various
themes on which he must speak in the market-place
or in the schools. But all subjects on
which he may discourse do lead, sooner or
later, more or less obviously and easily, to the
great work of Jesus; and he should converse
on them with the intent of seizing every hint
they give him, following out every line to
which they point him, in the direction of the
cross. I have been in many synagogues, and
in the temple, and on Mars' Hill, and on a
Mediterranean ship-deck; and once I was hurried
along in a night ride from Jerusalem to
Cæsarea with four hundred and seventy soldiers,
horsemen and spearmen. I have resided
at leisure with my arm chained to a
Roman guard in a prison at the capital of
the Roman Empire; but in all such places I
have felt, and everywhere I do feel, bound to
speak out, and to act out, all the interest which
the fitness of the occasion admits, in the atonement
of Jesus; and not to manifest, and not
to feel, any interest in any theme which may
lessen my regard for this, the chiefest among
ten thousand!"
But there is a third question which some
of us would propose to the apostle, were he
to speak in our hearing the words of the text:
"Should every man, as well as every minister,
cherish and exhibit no interest in anything
but Christ? Should a sailor at the masthead,
a surgeon in the extirpation of the clavicle,
a warrior in the critical moment of the
last charge, look at nothing, and hear of
nothing, but the cross? Must not everyone
conduct business, and sustain cares, which
draw his mind away from the atonement?"
"I am ready to grant," is the reply, "that
some duties are less plainly and less intimately
connected than others with the work of
Jesus; but all of them are connected with it in
some degree, and this connection may be seen by
all who choose to gain the fitting insight. The
great principle of duty belonging to the minister
in the pulpit, belongs to him everywhere;
and the great principle of duty belonging to
the minister, belongs to every man, woman, and
child. There is not one religion for the man
when he is in the temple, and another religion
for the man when he is in the parlor or in
the street. There is not one law for ordained
pastor, and another law for the tradesman
or the mechanic. The same law and no different
one, the same religion and no different
one, are the law and religion for the apostles,
and publicans, and prophets, and tax gatherers,
and patriarchs, and children, and nobles,
and beggars. Every man is bidden to refuse
everything, if it be the nearest friend, who
interferes with the claims of the Messiah;
and therefore every man, layman as well as
clergyman, must keep his eye fixed primarily
upon the cross. He may see other things
within the range of that cross, but he must
keep the cross directly at the angle of his
vision, and allow nothing else, when placed
side by side with the tree of Calvary, to allure
his eye away from that central, engrossing
object."
Here, then, is our third question answered;
and in these three replies to these three queries,
we perceive the meaning of our text to
be: that not on the first day only, but on every
day likewise, not in the religious assembly
only, but in all assemblies, and in all solitudes
likewise, not the preacher only, but the hearer
likewise, every man must adopt the rule, to
give his voluntary, his loving, his secret and
open regard to nothing so much as to the
character and work of his Redeemer.
Having inquired into the meaning of the
apostle's words, let us proceed, in the next
place, to inquire into the importance of making
the atonement of Christ the only great
object of our thought, speech and action.
And here, did we hold a personal interview
with the author of our text, we should be
prompted to put three additional queries before
him. Our first inquiry would be:
"Is not your theme too contracted? It is
well to know Christ, but in all the varying
scenes of life is it well not to know anything
else? Will not the pulpit become wearisome
if, spring and autumn, summer and winter,
it confine itself to a single topic? We have
known men preach themselves out by incessant
repetitions of the scene at Calvary,—a scene
thrilling in itself, and on that very account
not bearing to be presented in its details,
every Sabbath day. How much less will the
varying sensibilities of the soul endure the
reiteration of this tragic tale every day and
at every interview! Such extreme familiarity
induces irreverence. The Bible is not confined
to this theme. It is rich in ecclesiastical history,
political history, ethical rules, metaphysical
discussion, comprehensive theology.
It contains one book of ten chapters which
has not a single allusion to God, and several
books which do not mention Christ; why
then do you shut us up to a doctrine
which will circumscribe the minds of good
men, and result in making their conversation
insipid?"
"Contracted!"—this is the reply—"and
you consider this topic a limited one, whose
height, depth, length, breadth, no finite mind
can measure? Of what would you speak?"
"We would speak of the divine existence."
"But Christ is the 'I am.'"
"We would speak of the divine attributes."
"But Christ is the Alpha and Omega; He
searcheth the reins and trieth the hearts of
men; He is the same yesterday, to-day, and
forever; full of grace and truth; to Him belong
wisdom and power and glory and honor;
of His dominion is no end. Of what, then,
would you speak?"
"We would speak of the divine sovereignty."
"But Christ taught us to say: Even so,
Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight—and
He and His Father are one."
"We would converse on the divine decrees."
"But all things are planned for His praise
who was in Christ, and in whom Christ was
at the beginning."
"We would discourse on electing love."
"But the saints are elect in Christ Jesus."
"We would utter many words on the creation
of men and angels."
"Now by our Redeemer were all things
created that are in heaven and that are in the
earth, visible and invisible."
"We would converse on the preservation of
what has been created."
"Now Christ upholdeth all things by the
word of His power. What would you have,
then, for your theme?"
"We would take the flowers of the field for
our theme."
"But they are the delight, as well as the
contrivance of the Redeemer."
"We would take for our theme the globes
in space."
"But they are the work of His fingers."
"Then we would take the very winds of
heaven for our theme, lawless and erratic as
they are."
"But Jesus taught us to comment upon
these as an illustration of His truth. His
poetic mind gave us the conception that the
wind bloweth where it chooseth to blow; and
we look on, wondering whence it cometh, and
whither it goeth, knowing only that it is the
breath of the wonderful, the counselor, who
arouseth it as He listeth, or saith, Peace, be
still. What else, then, do you prefer for your
topic of conversation?"
"We prefer the laws of nature for our
topic."
"But in them the Father worketh and
Christ worketh equally."
"If it be so, we will select the fine and useful
arts for our subject."
"But all the materials of these arts and all
the laws which compact them, and all the
ingenuity which arranges them are of His
architectonic plan. He is the guide of the
sculptor, painter, musician, poet. He is the
contriver of all the graces which we in our
idolatry ascribe to the human discoverer, as
if man had originally invented them. The history
of the arts is the history of Christ's government
on earth. Will you propose, then,
some other theme for your remark?"
"Do let us converse on the moral law."
"You may; but Christ gave this law and
came to magnify it."
"Then let us comment on the ceremonial
law."
"You may; but all its types are prophecies
of Jesus."
"Then we will expatiate on virtue in the
general."
"Do so; but Christ is the first exemplar,
the brightest representative of all abstract
goodness, of all your virtue in the general."
"Then we will take up the ethical maxims."
"Take them up; but they are embodied in
Him who is the way, the truth, the life."
"We will resort, then, to human responsibility
for our subject of discourse."
"But we must all appear before the judgment
seat of that fair-minded arbiter who is
man as well as God."
"May we not speak of eternal blessedness?"
"Yes; but it is Christ who welcomes His
chosen into life."
"Shall we not converse, then, on endless
misery?"
"Yes; but it is Christ who will proclaim:
Depart, ye cursed."
"The human body; we would utter some
words on that."
"But your present body is the image of
what your Lord wore once, and the body that
you will have, if you die in the faith, is the
image of what your Lord wears now; the
image of the body slain for our offenses and
raised again for our justification. And have
you still a favorite theme which you have not
suggested?"
"The pleasures of life are our favorite
theme."
"Yes, and Jesus provided them and graced
them at Cana."
"The duties of the household are our favorite
theme."
"Yes, and Jesus has prescribed them and
disciplines you by them, and will judge you
for your manner of regarding them. What
would you have, then, what can you think of
for your choice topic of discourse?"
"We love to talk of our brethren in the
faith."
"But they are the indices of Christ, and
He is represented by them."
"We choose to converse on our Redeemer's
indigent, imprisoned, diseased, agonized followers."
"And He is anhungered, athirst, penniless,
afflicted in them, and whatsoever we do to one
of them we do to Him, and what we say of
one of them we say of Him."
"May we speak in the pulpit of slaves?"
"Of slaves! Can you not speak of Medes
and Parthians, Indians and Arabians? Why
not then of Africans? Have they, or have
they not, immortal souls? Was Jesus, or
was He not, crucified for them? Was He
ashamed of the lowly and the down-trodden,
and those who have become the reproach of
men and the despised of the people? You may
speak of all for whom Christ died; as all men,
bond or free, and all things, globes or atoms,
suggest thoughts leading in a right line or in a
curved line to the cross of Christ. All things,
being thus nearly or remotely suggestive of the
atonement, are for your sakes; whether Paul
or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or
death, or things present, or things to come,—all
are yours, for your thoughts, for your
words. If things pertain to the divine essence,
the whole of that is the essence of
Jesus; if they pertain to the divine relations,
all of them are the relations of Jesus; if they
pertain to the noblest and brightest features
of seraphs, all the angels of God bow down
before Jesus; if they pertain to the minutest
changes of human life, in all our vicissitudes
Jesus keeps up His brotherhood with us; if
they pertain to the vilest and darkest spot of
our depravity, they pertain to Jesus,—for
to speak aright of sin is to be determined
to speak of Christ and of Him crucified for
sin.
"And is this the doctrine which men call
a contracted one? Narrow! The very suspicion
of its being narrow has now suggested
the first reason why you should place it and
keep it as the crown of all your words and
deeds—it is so large, so rich, so boundless,
that you need nothing which excludes it. And
therefore," continues the apostle, "I mean to
know and to love nothing, and to make it
manifest that I care for nothing, in comparison
with, and disconnected from, the God-man,
as He develops all His attributes and all
His relations on the cross."
But were the author of these laconic words
in a familiar conference with us, we might
be tempted to address to him a second inquiry:
"Is not your theme too large? At first we
deemed it too small, but now it swells out before
us into such colossal dimensions that we
change our ground, and ask: Can the narrow
mind of man take in this multiplicity of relations,
comprehended in both the natures, and
in the redemptive, as well as all the other
works of Christ? Do not frail powers need
one day as a day of rest, and one place as a
sanctuary of repose, from every thought less
tender than that of the atoning death itself?
Must we not call in our minds from Christ and
Him crucified, so as to concentrate all our
emotions on the simple fact of Christ crucified?"
"Too large a theme!" this is the reply, "it
is a large theme, too large to be fully comprehended
by finite intelligences. Men have
dreamed of exhausting the atonement by defining
it to be a plan for removing the obstacles
which stand in the way of our pardon.
It is too large for that definition, as the atonement
also persuades the Most High to forgive
us. Then men have thought to mark it round
about by saying that it is a scheme for inducing
God to interpose in our aid. But the
atonement is too large for that defining clause,
as it also presents motives to man for accepting
the interposition of God. Then some
have thought to define it exactly, by saying
that the atonement is both an appeal to the
Lawgiver and also an appeal to the sinner.
Too large still is the atonement for that explanation.
It is an appeal to both God and
man, but it is more. It is an appeal to the
universe, and is as many-sided as the universe
itself is to be variously affected. Can we by
searching find out the whole of atoning love?
It is the love of Him who stretched out His
arms on the fatal wood, and pointed to the
right hand and to the left hand, and raised
His eyes upward, and cast them downward;
and thus all things above and below, and on
either side, He embraced in His comprehensive
love. It is a large theme, but not too
large to operate as a motive upon us. The
immeasurable reach of a motive is the hiding
of its power. The mind of man is itself expansive,
and requires and will have something
immense and infinite of truth or error, either
overpowering it for good or overmastering it
for evil. The atonement is a great theme, but
not too great; and for the additional reason,
its greatness lies, in part, in its reducing all
other doctrines to a unity, its arranging them
around itself in an order which makes them
all easily understood. We know in other things
the power of unity amid variety. We know
how simple the geography of a land becomes by
remembering that its rivers, altho meandering
in unnumbered circuits around the hills and
through the vales, yet pursue one main direction
from one mountain to one sea. Now all
the truths of God flow into the atonement.
They are understood by means of it, because
their tendencies are toward it; and it is understood
by means of them, because it receives
and comprehends them.
"Consider more fully the first part of this
sentence; all other truths are understood by
means of the atonement. It gives to them all
a unity by illustrating them all. Other truths
are not so much independent themes, as they
are branches growing up or sidewise out of
this one root, and they need this single theme
in order that their relations may be rightly
understood. What, for example, can we know
in its most important bearings, unless we
know the history and office of our Redeemer?
Begin from whatever point we may examine
the uses of things, we can never measure their
full utility until we view them from the cross.
The trees bud and blossom. Why? To bear
fruit for the sustenance of the human body.
But is this an ultimate object? The nourishment
of the body favors the growth of the
mind. But is the human mind an end worthy
of all the contrivances in nature? Does the
sun, with all its retinue of stars, pursue its
daily course with no aim ulterior to man's
welfare? Do we adopt a Ptolemaic theory in
morals, that man is the center of the system,
and other worlds revolve round him? All
things were made of God, as the Being in
whom they all terminate. Do they exist for
elucidating His power? This is not his chief
attribute. His knowledge? There is a nobler
perfection than omniscience. His love? But
there is one virtue imbedded as a gem in His
love, and His love is but a shining casket for
this pearl of infinite price. This pearl is
grace. This is the central ornament of the
character of Jehovah. But there is no grace
in Jehovah save as it beams forth in Christ;
not in Christ as a mere Divinity, nor in Christ
as a mere spotless humanity, but in the two
united, and in that God-man crucified. All
things were made by Him and for Him, rising
from the cross to the throne. Without reference
to Him in His atoning love has nothing
been made that was made in this world. The
star in the East led wise men once to the
manger where the Redeemer lay; and all the
stars of heaven lead wise men now to Him
who had risen above the stars, and whose
glory illumines them all. He is termed the
Sun of righteousness; and, as the material sun
binds all the planets around it in an intelligible
order, so does Christ shine over, and
under, and into, and through all other objects,
attract them all to Himself, marshal them all
into one clear and grand array, showing them
all to be His works, all suggestive of our duty,
our sin, our need of atonement, our dependence
on the one God, and the one Mediator between
God and man.
"The first part of my sentence was, All
other truths are understood by means of the
atonement. Consider next the second part:
The atonement is understood by means of
other truths. It crystallizes them around itself,
and reduces them into a system, not only
because it explains them, but also because it
makes them explain it. It is not too large a
theme, for all the sciences and the arts bring
their contributions to make it orderly and
plain. Our text is a simple one, because its
words are interpreted by a thousand facts
shining upon it, and making themselves and
it luminous in their radiations around and
over it. Listen again to its suggestive words:
"'For I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.'
"Now, what is the meaning of this plain
term 'Christ'? It means a 'King.' But how
can we appreciate the King, unless we learn
the nature of the beings over whom He rules?
He reigns over the heavens; therefore we investigate
the heavens. The whole earth is
full of His glory; therefore we study the earth.
He is the Lord over the angels; when we reflect
on them, we catch a glimpse of Him in
His regal state. He is the King of the Jews
and the Gentiles. When we meditate on men,
we enjoy a glance at Him who was born for
this end, that He might have dominion over
our race. When we contemplate the material
worlds, all the vastness and the grandeur included
in them—the sphere of mind, all the
refinement and energy involved in it—we are
overpowered by the reality, surpassing fable,
that He who superintends all the movements
of matter and first spake it into being and
once framed, as He now governs, the souls of
His creatures—He is the King who atoned
for us; and the more we know of the stars in
their courses, and of the spirit in its mysteries,
so much the deeper is our awe in view of the
condescending pity which moved their Creator
to become one with a lowly creature acquainted
with grief for you and me. So much
is involved in the word 'Christ.'
"But our text speaks of Jesus Christ. That
word 'Jesus!' What is the meaning of it?
It means a 'deliverer,' and in the view of
some interpreters it means 'God, the deliverer.'
Deliverer? From what? We do not
understand the power of His great office, unless
we learn the nature and the vileness of
sin; and we have no conception how mean,
how detestable, sin is, unless we know the
needlessness of it, the nobleness of the will
which degrades itself into it, the excellence of
the law which is dishonored by it. All our
studies, then, in regard to the nature of the
will, the unforced voluntariness of depravity,
the extent of it through our race, the depth
of it, the purity of the commands aiming to
prevent it, the attractions of virtue, the
strangeness of their not prevailing over the
temptations of vice—they are not mere metaphysics;
they are studies concerning the truth
and the grace of Immanuel, who is God with
us, and whose name is 'Deliverer' because He
delivers His people from their sins; sins involving
the power and the penalty of free
wrong choice; a penalty including the everlasting
punishment of the soul; a punishment
suggesting the nature and the character of
the divine law, and the divine Lawgiver, in
their relation to the conscience and all the
sensibilities of the mind; and that mind, as
undying as its Maker. All these things are
comprehended in the word 'Jesus.'
"But our text speaks of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified: and this third term,
'crucified,' adds an emphasis to the two preceding
terms, and stirs us up to examine
our own capabilities—to learn the skill pervading
our physical organism, so exquisitely
qualified for pain as well as pleasure; the wisdom
apparent in our mental structure, so
keenly sensitive to all that can annoy as well
as gratify; and thus we catch a glimpse of
the truth, that He who combines all of our
dignity with none of our guilt, and with all
of the divine glory, and who thus develops
all that is fit to be explained in man, and all
that can be explained in God—He it is who
chose to hang and linger with aching nerve
and bleeding heart upon the cross for you
and me. This cross makes out an atonement
of the sciences and the arts and brings them
also, as well as devout men, at one with God;
all of them tributary to the doctrine that we
are bought with a price—that we are redeemed,
not with silver and gold, but with
the precious blood of a man, who was God
manifest in the flesh. Too large a theme is
the atonement? But it breaks down the middle
wall of partition that has kept apart the
different studies of men; and it brings them
together as illustrations of the truth, which
in their light becomes as simple as it is great.
"The very objection, then, that the redemptive
work is too extensive for our familiar
converse, has suggested the second reason why it
should be the main thing for us to think
upon, and speak upon, and act upon: It systematizes
all other themes, and gains from
them a unity which becomes the plainer because
it is set off by a luminous variety; and
for this cause," continues the apostle, "I intend
to know nothing with supreme love, except
this centralizing doctrine which combines
all other truths into a constellation of
glories."
There is still a third inquiry which we
might present to the author of our text, could
we meet him in a personal colloquy:
"Your words all converge toward one
point; will they not then become monotonous,
and inapposite to the varying wants of various,
or even the same, individuals?"
"A monotonous theme!" this is the reply:
"What can be more diversified than the character
and work of Him who is at one time
designated as the omniscient God, and at another
time as a Mechanic; at one time as a
Judge, and at another time as an Intercessor;
now a Lion, and then a Lamb; here a Vine, a
Tree, there a Way, a Door; again a Stone, a
Rock, still again a Star, a Sun; here without
sin, and there He was made sin for us.
"Monotonous is this theme? Then it is
sadly wronged, and the mind of man is sadly
harmed; for this mind shoots out its tendrils
to grasp all the branches of the tree of life,
and the tree in its healthy growth has
branches to which every sensibility of the
human mind may cling. The judgment is
addrest by the atonement, concerning the
nature of law of distributive justice, the mode
of expressing this justice either by punishing
the guilty or by inflicting pain as a substitute
for punishment, the influence of this substitution
on the transgressor, on the surety,
on the created universe, on God Himself.
There is more of profound and even abstruse
philosophy involved in the specific doctrine
of the atonement, than in any other branch
of knowledge; and there has been or will be
more of discussion upon it, than upon all
other branches of knowledge; for sacred science
is the most fruitful of all sciences in
logical deduction, and this specific part of the
science is the richest of all its parts.
"Here, then, is the first method in which
you may keep up the habit of making 'Jesus
and Him crucified' the soul of your activity:
Bring to your help the force of a resolute
determination. There is a tendency in this
resolute spirit to divert your thoughts from
other themes, to turn the current of your
sensibilities into the right channel, to invigorate
your choice, to exert a direct and reflex
influence in confirming the whole soul in
Jesus. God is in that determination. He inspires
it. He invigorates it. He works with
it and by it. There is a power in it, but the
power is not yours; it is the power of God.
God is in every holy resolve of man."
In our interview with the apostle we should
address to him a second inquiry:
"In what method can we avoid both the
fact and the appearance of being slavishly
coerced into the habit of conversing on Christ
and on Christ alone? You speak of taking
your stand, adhering to your decision; but
this dry, stiff resolve-comes any genial spirit
from it? Will you not be a slave to your unswerving
purpose? Your inflexible rule, will
it not be a hard one, wearisome to yourself,
disagreeable to others? You hold up a
weighty theme by a dead lift."
"I am determined"—this is the reply—"and
it is not only a strong but it is a loving
resolve. For the love of Christ constraineth
me; whom having not seen in the flesh I love;
in whom, though now I see him not, yet believing,
I rejoice with the joy unspeakable
and full of glory. It is not a business-like
resolution. It is not a diplomatic purpose. It
is not a mechanical force. It is an affectionate
decision. It is a joyous rule. It is the effluence
of a supreme attachment to the Redeemer.
"And this is the second method in which
you may retain Jesus Christ as the jewel of
your speech and life: Cherish a loving purpose
to do so. A man has strength to accomplish
what with a full soul he longs to accomplish.
Your Christian toil will be irksome to
you, if it be not your cordial preference; but
if your undeviating resolve spring out of a
hearty choice of your Savior, then will it be
ever refreshed and enlivened by your outflowing,
genial preference; then will your pious
work be the repose of your soul. There is a
power in your love to your work. It is a
power to make your labor easy for yourself
and attractive to others. This is not your
power; it is the power of God. He enkindles
the love within you. He enlivens it. He gives
it warmth. He makes it instinct with energy.
God is in all the holy joy of man."
In our conference with the author of our
text we might suggest to him our third and
last inquiry:
"In what method can we feel sure of persevering
in this habitual exaltation of Christ?
You speak of your stern purpose, but can you
depend upon the continuance of it? You
speak of your cordial as well as set resolve.
But who are you? (forgive our pertinacious
query). Jesus we know. But His disciples,
His chief apostles—is not every one of them
a reed shaken with the wind, tossed hither and
thither, unstable as a wave upon the sea?"
"I know it is so"—this is the reply. "Often
am I afraid lest, having preached the gospel
to others, I should be a castaway. And after
all I am persuaded that nothing—height
depth, life, death, nothing—shall be able to
separate me from the love of Christ; for I
put my confidence in Him, and while my purpose
is inflexible and affectionate, it is also inwrought
with trust in the atonement and the
intercession. I do pursue my Christian life
in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
For all the piety of the best of men is
in itself as grass, and the goodliness thereof
as the flower of the field. Therefore serve I
the Lord with all humility of mind and with
many tears and temptations. Yet I am determined
with a confiding love. I am troubled
on every side; my flesh has no rest; without
are fightings, within are fears; in presence I
am base among you, my bodily presence is
weak and my speech contemptible; and if I
must needs glory, I will glory in the things
which concern my infirmities. Still, after all,
I am determined, my right hand being enfolded
in the hand of my Redeemer. I know
whom I have believed, and am persuaded that
He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day. For my
conversation is in heaven, from whence I am
to look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body that it may
be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according
to the mighty working whereby He
is able to subdue all things unto Himself. I
say the truth in Christ; I lie not; I am the
least of the apostles, that am not meet to be
called an apostle, because I injured the Church
of God; I am less than the least of all saints.
Still I am determined; for by the grace of
God I am what I am; and this grace which
was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I
labored more abundantly than they all; yet
not I but the grace of God which was with
me; for I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me, and therefore I am
determined.
"Borne onward, therefore, by your fixed
plan, and no one can succeed in anything
without a plan, yet you must never rely ultimately
upon your determined spirit. Allured
further and further onward by your
delight in your plan, and no one can work as
a master in anything without enthusiasm in
his prescribed course, still you must not place
your final dependence upon your affectionate
spirit; for if you take, for your last prop,
either the sternness or the cheerfulness of your
own determination, then you will know your
determination, and you are not to know anything
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Here, then, is the third method in which you
may give the fitting prominence to the best
of themes: You must rest for your chief and
final support on Him and only on Him, from
whom all wise plans start, by whom they hold
out, and to whom they all tend, who is all and
in all, Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
My Christian brethren, you are all apostles.
Every man, every woman, every child, the
richest and the poorest, the most learned and
the most ignorant of you—who have come up
hither to dedicate yourselves and this sanctuary
to your Lord, all being sent of Him to
serve Him, have in fact and in essence the
same responsibility resting on you as weighed
on the author of our text. And he was burdened
by the same kind of temptations and
fears which oppress your spirit. But he was
held up from failing in his work by a threefold
cord; and that was his resolute determination,
as loving as it was resolute, and as
trustful as it was loving, to know nothing
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The last
that you hear of him as an impenitent man
is in the words: "And Saul, yet breathing
out threatening and slaughter against
the disciples of the Lord." It was Christ
whom the proud Jew last opposed. The first
that you hear of him as a convicted man is
in the words: "Who art thou, Lord?" It
was Christ whom the inquiring Jew first
studied. And the first that you hear of him
as a penitent man is: "Lord, what wilt thou
have me to do?" It was Christ to whom the
humble disciple first surrendered his will.
And the first that you hear of him as a Christian
minister is: "And straightway he
preached Christ in the synagogs that he
is the Son of God." And the last that you
hear of him as a Christian hero is: "I have
fought the good fight, I have finished my
course. I have kept the faith; henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."
And the secret of this victorious
career is in words like those of our text: "I
adhered to my plan (when among the fickle
Corinthians), I was decided (when among the
vacillating Galatians) to know nothing (when
among the learned at Athens and them of
C�sar's household at Rome) save Jesus Christ
(when I was among my own kinsmen who
scorned Him), and Him crucified (when I
was among the pupils of Gamaliel, all of
whom despised my chosen theme); still I was
determined to cling to that theme among the
Greeks and the Barbarians, before Onesimus
the slave and Philemon the proud master; for
I loved my theme, and, suffering according
to the will of God, I committed the keeping
of my soul to Him in well-doing as unto a
faithful Creator."
And herein is it to be your plan, my brethren,
and your joy, not to make this sanctuary
the resort of wealth and of fashion, but rather
of humble suppliants, who by their prayers
may divert all the wealth and fashion of the
world into the service of your Lord; not to
make this temple the resting-place of hearers
who shall idly listen to the words of an orator,
but a temple of earnest coworkers with Christ—thinking
of Him, speaking of Him, loving
Him first, and last, and midst, and without
end. As you come to this house of God on
the Sabbath, as you go from it, as your week-day
recollections gather around it, may you
renew and confirm your plan to know your
Redeemer, and not only to shut yourselves up
to the supreme love of nothing except Christ,
but also—His grace will be sufficient for you—to
worship and serve Christ in the central
relation of Him crucified. Knowing Him
alone, He will sustain you as fully as if He
knew you alone. He will come to you in this
temple as frequently as if He had no other
servants to befriend. He will listen to your
prayers as intently as if no supplications came
up to Him from other altars, and He will intercede
for you as entirely as if He interceded
in behalf of no one else; for remember, that
when He hung upon the cross, He thought of
you, and died for you, just as fully as if He
had been determined to think of no one, and
to die for no one, save you, whom He now
calls to the solemn service of consecrating
your own souls, and your "holy and beautiful
house" to the glory of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified.
