+I. The Gospel is not constructed on human principles.+--"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man" (ver. 11). Its character is such as the human mind would never have conceived. When it was first proclaimed it was the puzzle of the religious and the ridicule of the learned--"unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness." It is wholly opposed to the drift of human tendencies. Its supreme aim is to effect a complete transformation of human nature. Not to destroy that nature, but to renew, elevate, and sublimate it. By its principle of self-sacrificing love, its insistence of the essential oneness of the race, its methods in dealing with the world's evils, its lofty morality, and its uncompromising claims of superiority the Gospel transcends all the efforts of human ingenuity. Augustine, the father of Western theology in the fifth century, divided the human race into two classes--the one who lived according to man and the other who lived according to God. The Gospel is the only revelation that teaches man how to live according to God. +II. The Gospel does not pander to human tastes.+--"For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ" (ver. 10). The adversaries of the apostle insinuated that he was a trimmer, observing the law among the Jews and yet persuading the Gentiles to renounce it; becoming all things to all men that he might form a party of his own. Such an insinuation was based on an utter misconception of the Gospel. So far from flattering, Paul preached a Gospel that humbled men, demanding repentance and reform. It often came in collision with popular tastes and opinions; and though the apostle was a man of broad views and sympathies, he was ever the faithful and uncompromising servant of Christ. Public opinion may be hugely mistaken, and there is danger of over-estimating its importance. It is the lofty function of the preacher to create a healthy public opinion and Christianise it, and he can do this only by a scrupulous and constant representation of the mind of Christ, his Divine Master. The wise Phocion was so sensible how dangerous it was to be touched with what the multitude approved that upon a general acclamation made when he was making an oration he turned to an intelligent friend and asked in a surprised manner, "What slip have I made?" George Macdonald once said, "When one has learned to seek the honour that cometh from God only, he will take the withholding of the honour that cometh by man very lightly indeed."