magnifying the mere official authority of the clergy. But what says
the apostle himself? He says they were only "ministers by whom ye
believed." It was not the minister who did good, but the truth which
he ministered, and which he had received from another. It was not the
man who sowed the seed, or the basket which held it, that gave the
crop; but the living seed itself. Hence he adds: "So then neither is
he that planteth _anything_, nor he that watereth!" What? Neither
presbyter nor bishop, neither Paul nor Apollos, _anything_? Strange
words, again we say, from a "High Churchman," whether Episcopalian,
Presbyterian, or any other denomination; _for "High Churchmen" are
common to all Churches_. Yet not strange from St Paul, who knew how
true his words were, and that not man, but God, who gave the increase,
was "everything."
What, then, was the apostle's method of curing schism, and of making
men truly one who had been "divided?"
He directed every eye, and every heart, and every spirit, to one
object--JESUS CHRIST, the personal Saviour, the centre and source of
unity; in fellowship with whom all men would find their fellowship
with each other.
"We preach Christ crucified." "I determined not to know anything among
you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." "For other foundation can
no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." These are his
declarations. And his conclusion from this great and blessed principle
is just what we might expect: "He that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord." "Let no man glory in men: for all things are yours; whether
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or
things present, or things to come: all are yours; and ye are Christ's,
and Christ is God's."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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