Page:A Beacon to the Society of Friends.djvu/134

130 wisdom of God. In the 2nd chapter, v. 2nd, of the. same Epistle, he says, "I determined not to know any thing among you, (that is in his preaching) save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." And in the 15th chapter, v. 1-4, he says, "I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I declared unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Here then the Apostle leaves us in no doubt as to what meant by "." And to speak of the Gospel, as God in man, is a manifest perversion of Scripture; for our Lord Jesus Christ compares the Gospel to seed sown by the sower, that is, the preacher; and the Apostle Paul, Rom. xvi. 25, and 2 Tim. ii. 8, speaks of his Gospel, that is, the good message of life and salvation, which was given to him to deliver. In its comprehensive sense, the Gospel must be considered, as the announcement of the infinite love of God, in the salvation of man through Jesus Christ, by his incarnation, life, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, mediation, intercession, and gift of the Holy Spirit.