For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. For, as in these troubles and persecutions, which we endure for the Gospel, it is not so much we that suffer, as it is Christ that suffers in us; and in these we abound: so the consolations, which we have also, are in and by Christ; and these comforts abound, according to the proportion of our sufferings. VOL. IV. C C And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And, both our sufferings and consolations are for your good, our and not only for own: for, while we suffer patiently and constantly, we do herein give you an example of courageous suffering for Christ; whereby you may receive not only present consolation, but also eternal salvation, which is effectually wrought, through the mercy of Christ, in the enduring of those your sufferings; and while we are comforted, we give you a cheerful example of the joyful issue of those sufferings, and thereby help forward also your consolation and salvation. That we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. We were pressed exceedingly with those troubles and persecutions, even above the power of our natural strength, to undergo them; insomuch as we made no account, that we could escape them with life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: But we made full reckoning of our present death, as utterly inevitable; giving ourselves for dead men, that we should not trust in ourselves for any possibility of life, but in God, who raiseth the very dead: Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you. Now I beseech you, brethren, and do, as it were, earnestly adjure you, by the sacred name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as ye love and honour that dear Saviour of ours, that ye all agree together in the truth of one and the same doctrine. Who delivered us from so great a death. Who delivered us from so instant and so cruel a death. That for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. That, for the gift bestowed upon us, for the benefit and behoof of many and upon the earnest prayers of many, thanks may be also given to God by many, on our behalf. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Now this I say, that ye are partially affected to your teachers, and make sides, in emulation of your respects to them: so as, one says, I am for Paul; another, I am for Apollos; another, I am for Peter; and another, I am for Christ. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. Our demeanour in the world was not guided by a worldly wisdom and policy; as if we sought ourselves, by the disadvantage of others: neither was our preaching taken up in the ostentation of secular philosophy and human eloquence; but set forth with the efficacy of God's grace, and simplicity of truth and holy zeal, as to all God's people, so to you especially, more abundantly. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? What? are ye not all then for Christ? Or is Christ one in Paul, another in Apollos, another in Peter? Is Christ divided? Is he not one in all his messengers? Or why make ye mention of Paul or Peter? Was Paul crucified for you, or were ye baptized into the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius. If ye be in that mind, I thank God that I have not meddled with you, this way; for I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius. That ye might have a second benefit. That, as ye received one main benefit by my first coming, which was your conversion; so ye might receive a second benefit by my coming to you again, even your confirmation in the Gospel. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the main errand, whereupon Christ sent me, was, not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not in the pomp and vain ostentation of eloquent speech, as the false teachers affect; lest I should rather seem to gain this way than by the plain simplicity of the laying forth of the sufferings of Christ, and should by this means frustrate that plain and effectual doctrine of the Cross of Christ. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For this homely preaching of the Cross of Christ, is to vain minds of carnal men, which go on securely to their perdition, no better than foolishness; but unto those that are wrought upon by God's Spirit, and are in the sure way of salvation, it is no other than the strong power of God. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Where then is the wise and learned Pharisee? where is the Scribe? where is the Philosopher? These all seem great knowers, and deep scholars in their kind: but hath not God made the wisdom of this world mere foolishness, in respect of divine mysteries? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For, since that the world, by their natural wisdom, did not, nor could, nor would know God, in that way of divine wisdom, wherein he vouchsafed to declare himself; it pleased God, by this preaching of the Gospel, which the world calls Foolishness, to save them that believe. I. 22, 23, 24. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. For the Jews look to be convinced by signs from heaven, that they may believe; and the Grecians look to be convinced and won with human reason and philosophical demonstrations, that they may believe; But we care not to satisfy either of them in their own ways; but rather we preach Christ Crucified unto them: which is a stumbling-block to the Jews, who expect a magnificent and temporal Redeemer of Israel; and unto the learned Grecians, no other than foolishness, who cannot conceive how He that is God could die, or how he that did die could redeem us; But unto them, which are truly and effectually called, by the inward voice of the Spirit, whether they be Jews or Greeks, the power of God to save us, and the wisdom of God to inform us. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Because that Gospel of God, which the world misnames Foolishness, is wiser than all the deepest philosophy of men; and that plain word of his, which the world thinks to be weak and forceless, is stronger than the powerfullest arguments of men: and thus it is in a generality; whatsoever, in and from God, seems to savour of the least wisdom and reason, or of the most weakness, far surpasseth all the wisdom and strength of men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many, &c. Ye see, my brethren the condition of Christianity; how that now, in this entrance of the Gospel, not many that are worldly wise and deep learned, not many mighty &c. are called. Yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: And hath chosen us, that had no being at all, in grace, and seemed to be but as nothing in worldly respects, even us hath he chosen to humble and bring down those that make the most glorious appearance in the world: That no flesh should glory in his presence. That no man whosoever, being no better than base and contemptible flesh, should arrogate ought to himself, or boast of his parts or privileges, in the presence of God. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. But ye are not mere flesh and blood; neither have reason to stand upon these carnal privileges, since ye are admitted into a happy communion with God through Christ Jesus: who, of God his Father is made unto us Wisdom, in that, by him we receive true knowledge and illumination; is made unto us Righteousness, in that, both his righteousness is made ours, and we are for his righteousness graciously acquitted and accepted; is made unto us Sanctification, in that, by his Spirit, we are renewed and purged from our sins; is made unto us Redemption, in that, by his precious blood we are ransomed from the hands of our spiritual enemies. That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Thus is Christ made All to us; that, according as it is written, He, that glorieth, might not glory at all in himself, but might glory in the Lord. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. And as for me, brethren, I, when I came unto you to preach the Gospel of God, did not come to you with flourishes of vain eloquence, nor with the persuasions of human wisdom and learning; as I see the false teachers do, to insinuate themselves the better into your minds. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. For, howsoever I were able to know and discourse with the best of them, as having been trained up at the feet of a learned master; yet I resolved to let go all that secular skill, and so to bear myself amongst you, as if I knew nothing else in the world but Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And I was amongst you in much meekness and humility; in manifold infirmities; in much awe of that great and weighty charge, which I sustained; in much fear of those many and spiteful machinations of mine enemies against me. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: And my speech, both in my private exhortations and in my public preachings, was not curiously plausible, as if I would win with words of human eloquence and wit; but in plain and powerful expressions of God's Spirit, speaking in me, and working in you by me. That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. That so your faith might not rest and depend upon, or appear to be wrought by, the force of man's persuasion or wisdom, but by the mighty power of God's Spirit. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: Yet, let no man think it is out of our disability, that we speak not in these high strains of wisdom, which others so much wonder at: for both we can and do speak deep points of wisdom and divine knowledge, amongst them that are attained to a meet perfection of skill to conceive it; yet not points of carnal and secular wisdom, such as the world admires, and the great men of this world, who vanish and come to nothing, are wont to affect: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: But we speak divine wisdom, even the deep mysteries of the Gospel of God, which he hath hid from the eyes of the world; even that, which concerns the Salvation of man, by his Son Jesus Christ manifested in the flesh: which Gospel of his was ordained by him before the world was, as the means to bring us to his glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, &c. Which none of the great rulers of this world, Herod, Pilate, the High Priests, and the other Governors of Judea knew; for had they known it, &c. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But herein also hath God made good that of the prophet Isaiah; The eye hath not seen, &c. the things that God hath prepared for them that love him; and therefore these spiritual blessings, of remission of sins and salvation by Christ, are things far beyond the reach and apprehension of the eyes, and ears, and hearts of the men of this world. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God. But God hath vouchsafed to reveal them unto us by his Spirit; having, by the power thereof, illuminated our minds, to see these great things of God; for the Spirit of God alone is he, that doth fully know, and is able to reveal them unto us: He only knoweth all things, and particularly the deepest mysteries of God's eternal counsel, and proceedings with men. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. For, as it is with men, so it is with God also: what man knoweth a man's secret thoughts, but only himself, and his own soul or spirit? even so, the secret counsels and mysteries of God can none know, but the Spirit of God only. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God: that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Now, this Spirit of God is that, which we have received: we, that are his regenerate children, are partakers, not of that spirit wherewith worldly men are led and carried, but of that good Spirit which is of God; that we might, by his illumination and grace, know and apprehend the great, spiritual, and heavenly blessings of forgiveness and salvation, that are freely given to us of God. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Fitting spiritual things with plain and simple spiritual expressions; and not uttering spiritual things, in a carnal and affected fashion. I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother. I was much grieved and troubled in my soul, for that I met not with Titus, my brother, by whom I made account to hear of your estate. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But the man, that is merely natural and unregenerate, receiveth not these divine mysteries of the Spirit of God: for they seem to be mere foolishness unto him, who is nothing but flesh and blood; neither indeed can he, while he continues in that condition, know or conceive them, because they are to be discerned by spiritual eyes, which he hath not. And maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. And casteth abroad the sweet perfume or savour of the knowledge of God by our preaching, in every place; so as the world is, as it were, filled therewith. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. But he, that is renewed by the Spirit of God, knoweth, and apprehendeth, and rightly judgeth of all these spiritual things; yet he himself is judged of no carnal man, so as that his knowledge in these divine matters can be controlled or censured by him. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: For we, by our preaching, are as a sweet and acceptable perfume in the nostrils of God; casting abroad and spreading the fragrant savour of Christ, all the world over; graciously accepted of God, howsoever we speed with men; since he doth not judge of us by the event, but regards and crowns our conscionable labours, whether they light upon them that are saved, or on them that perish. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. For the counsel and will of God is hid from carnal minds; so as the prophet might well ask, Who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But as for us, we, that be his renewed and faithful ones, we have the will of Christ clearly revealed unto us. To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? To the one, we are as a deadly savour, by reason that their corruption turns this wholesome and saving Gospel into poison, and thereby makes our preaching an occasion of their destruction; to the other, we are a sweet and comfortable savour, giving both the life of grace here to those that receive our Gospel, and of eternal glory hereafter: so as this employment is noble and great, and of exceeding importance; and how few are there, that are fit and able to discharge it?