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the world; still, as the foolishness of God,

It has taught the

it is wiser than man. world true wisdom, which none of the heathen philosophers were ever able to do, and which modern philosophers, (as they are falsely called) if we may judge from some specimens of their talents lately produced, are still less likely to do. It has brought those who sat in gross darkness, at the coming of Christ in the flesh, to the clear light of Evangelical Truth. In consequence of which glorious manifestation of true wisdom, by the shining of the Sun of Righteousness on the world, the dumb idols of senseless superstition fell prostrate at the foot of the Cross; whilst it has been rendered possible, by the aid of that Light which has shined from on high, for the most unlettered peasant in a Christian country, to boast himself of more true wisdom than the wisest philosopher of antiquity.

It was, therefore, to give the most striking specimen of the unprofitableness of all knowledge, that does not lead its possessor up to God; that at the publication of the Gospel, God thought proper

to

to make a marked distinction between the wisdom of this world, and that wisdom which cometh from above, by passing by for the most part the wise men after the flesh, the mighty and the noble; and choosing the foolish and weak things of the world, to confound the wise and the mighty that the foolishness of preaching (as it was contemptuously styled) might bring those back to God, whom the wisdom of this world (falsely so called,) had been instrumental in drawing away from Him.

And one principal object which God had in view, in thus humbling the wise men of the Heathen world, by making their boasted learning and philosophy give way to the arguments and proofs, with which the first, for the most part, unlettered Teachers of the Gospel were furnished, was, (as the Apostle proceeds to inform us,) to teach mankind that important lesson, which must accompany the Gospel, to render it effectual; namely, "that no flesh should glory before God; but that he that glorieth, might glory in the Lord." 1 Cor. i. 29. 31. That fallen man

should

should in humility and gratitude look up to God, as the Author of Salvation, and the fountain of all true wisdom: that all

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imaginations should be cast down, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God; and every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," 2 Cor. x. 5.-" who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."

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From this review of the Apostle's mode of arguing on this occasion it appears; that in reminding his disciples at Corinth, that Jesus Christ was made unto them wisdom, he had the condition of the Gentile world principally in view; meaning thereby to contrast the true wisdom, by which man becometh wise unto Salvation, with that vain wisdom of the Heathen philosophers; which so far as respected all saving knowledge, left the possessors of it in a state of ignorance and folly.

By Jesus Christ, that embodied wisdom from on high, the great mystery of godliness had been fully revealed. With reference to this divine subject, He was made wisdom unto them that believed: not, as

the

the Apostle observes; "the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, who come to nought; but the wisdom of God in a mystery; even that hidden wisdom, which God had ordained before the world to our glory." 1 Cor. ii. 7. Thus was Christ made wisdom to the Gentile; leading him, by the light of his Gos pel, from the dark ignorance of his heathenish state, to that supreme species of knowledge, which constitutes the perfection of human nature; the knowledge of God, and his Salvation.

But Jesus Christ is not only made unto us wisdom, that is, he is not only the author of all true wisdom; but he is also made unto us righteousness; in the proper sense of that expression; to the end, that every one disposed to glory, "might glory in the Lord." With reference to this part of our Saviour's office, one of the names, by which he was distinguished in the Old Testament, was that of THE JUST ONE. The idea is taken from the equality of scales and weights. Hence it is, that Justice is emblematically represented with a pair of equal scales in her hand, to signify

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that the essence of Justice consists in an equal distribution.

The object of the covenant entered into by the Divine Persons in the Godhead was, to restore to its proper standard, the scale, by which the rewards of a just God were to be measured out to his reasonable creatures. The Fall had rendered man's payment so short of the divine demand, and thereby inclined the scale so much against him, that it required an extraordinary weight to be thrown in, to bring it back to its just equilibrium.

That Divine Person who undertook to do this for man, was, therefore, distinguished by the title of the "Lord our Justifier:" "THE JUST ONE," or the Giver of Justice. Hence it was, that the sacrifices under the Law, were called “ Sacrifices. of Righteousness," because they typically represented that Person, who was to be Righteousness for man; for, considered in themselves, sacrifices had no claim to such a title. "Offer unto God (says the Psalmjst) the Sacrifices of Righteousness, and trust in the Lord." Psalm iv. 5. When, therefore, the Prophet proclaimed the advent

of

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