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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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worldly honour and profit , so Neither does it seek any assistance from the secular arm . Put up thy sword into its sheath , was Christ ' s own command to zealous Peter , who had drawn it in his defence . Had the
kingdom which our Lord came to erect ( as he himself declares ) been like those which were established in this world , then icould my servants fight ; but now my kingdom is not from hence . Yea , so desirous was
the author of our text that the gospel he preached should make its way in the world , without any foreign , adventitious aid , that he did not seek to recommend it by an ostentatious parade of human learning , by a studied , artful arrangement of words , or high rhetorical flourishes ; but held it up to view in unadorned simplicity , and gave it no other advantage than what it derived from the laudable zeal with which he recommended it , and the
divine authority by which it was sanctioned . Thus he appeals to the Corinthians ( in the chapter succeeding to that in which our text lies ) , And T , brethren , when I came to you , came not with excellency of speech , or of wisdom , declaring- unto you the testimony of God ; for I determined to hnow nothing among you , but Jesus
Christ , and him crucified -, and even in the verse of which our text is a part , he says , 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 .
9 JU Saint Paul , you observe , from the words of the text , appears to be much concerned about the cross of Christ , and particularly lest ( through any improper conduct of his own in preaching it ) it should be made of none effect .
— And all who properly understand what this doctrine means , how nearly it is connected with our best interest , and to what moral purposes it may be applied , will shew some anxiety , similar to that of the apostle , lest any thing be said or done to render it ineffectual among mankind .
The doctrine of the cross is so interwoven with every part of the New Testament , that in our text , and in many other places of scripture , it is put for the Gospel itself ; as it is indeed the foundation of the glad-tidings which it contains of eternal life .
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This doctrine of tlie cross is the same , I apprehend , which is in some places called the doctrine of redemp . tion ; in other places the doctrine of propitiation , or atonement ,, or reconciliation ; and is that to which the
Prophet Isaiah refers , when , speakinoof the Messiah , he says , He was wounded for our transgressions , he was bruised for our iniquities , the chastisement of our peace was upon him , and with his stripes we are healed ; and to which Daniel alludes
when he says , the Messiah shall be cut off , but not for himself ; and which was typified under the Jewish dispensation by a variety of expressive symbols , and especially by expiatory sacrifices . It is the same doctrine , I apprehend , which we find in the New
Testament , in which Christ is mentioned as having tasted death for every man ; as having laid down his life for the life of his sheep ; that he has suffered the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God ; that it pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell , and having
made peace through the Hood of his cross , by him to reconcile ail things to himself ; that we are bought with a price , not with corruptible things , such as silver and gold , but with the precious blood of Christ ; and numerous other passages which are scattered through the whole of the New Testament .
Now the author of our text entertained a holy jealousy over himself , lest , while he preached the doctrine of the cross , it should be made of none effect . My reverend brethren , this is the
point to which I would now principally direct your attention , the effect of the doctrine of the cross . Indeed , the effect of all the doctrines of the Gospel is the only consideration worth attending to . Merely adopting them into our creed is of little
importance ; if they are treated only as notions which find place in the head , but never descend into the heart , they deserve no other name than useless speculations . The doctrines of the Gospel , properly understood , ia m Y opinion , are all of a practical tendency . Those , therefore , know but little of the truth as it is in Jesus , who do not find by happy experience , that it enlightens , enlarges , exalt *
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446 The late Rev . John Folletfs Flews of the Atonement .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1826, page 446, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2551/page/2/
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