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Let me —

I. FOR THE PREVENTING OF ALL MISTAKES, BRIEFLY ILLUSTRATE THE DOCTRINE CONTAINED IN THESE WORDS. But first it will be fit to tell you what is to be taken for granted of the persons here spoken of.

1. That they have a sufficient call to the office of the sacred ministry, and authority to exercise the same.

2. That they be furnished with a competent stock of divine knowledge, and understand the things they are to teach unto others, and are not blind leaders of the blind.

3. That they have at least such a faculty of expression as that they may be understood by those whom they are to instruct. These things supposed, I am now to show —

(l) What every minister of the gospel may and ought to do. He may both plant and water, and do the whole work of God, so far as He hath thought fit to entrust man with it, i.e., exercise the whole ministry of reconciliation.

(2) What one minister may be able to do more than another. God hath not given to all the same number of talents (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). All the apostles had not St. Peter's quickness of apprehension, forwardness of speech, or zeal; all were not, like James and John, sons of thunder; all had not Paul's learning, or Apollos's eloquence. One minister of Christ may have a more faithful memory, and another a clearer judgment, and a third a more fruitful invention, and a fourth a better elocution. One may be more dexterous at planting, another at watering, a third at weeding, and a fourth at fencing; and another may exceed all in pruning off the luxuriant branches and cherishing the tender plants. It is no less absurd to expect the same abilities in all ministers than it would be to imagine that all artists, &c., should be of equal skill.

(3) That all which the best can do is in itself of no efficacy. Neither is Paul nor Apollos anything, i.e., without the blessing of God. What is it that the ablest ministers can do to make men good Christians? All comes to no more but this: they can declare the doctrine of the gospel; they can exhort, persuade, and pray. None but He whose voice shaketh the heavens and the earth can rend the stony hearts of sinners.

(4) That the efficacy of all is of God only. Whoever planteth or watereth, God giveth the increase. He hath put His words into their mouth, and His seed into their hands; but still the seed itself, the skill and activity of the sowers, the goodness of the ground, the warmth and the rain, the growth and harvest, are all of Him.

II. FOR THE HELP OF SUCH AS MAY NEED IT, POINT AT SOME OF THE USES WE SHOULD MAKE OF IT. Because we are nothing, and all the increase is of God —

1. Let us take heed how we depend so much on the ministry of men as to attend too little in their ministry upon God. Whilst you are pleased to afford us your ear, be sure that you give God your heart. It is a very lamentable thing to see in what extremes we are apt to lose both God and ourselves. Because neither Paul nor Apollos are anything without God, or in comparison of God, therefore —

(1) Some rashly conclude that they are nothing at all to them. But though the very best instrument be able to do nothing by itself out of the workman's hands, yet even an indifferent one may do much when managed by the hand of a skilful workman. It is certainly God alone that gives the increase in the field as well as in the Church, and yet men are not so unreasonable as to expect a good harvest from God without the labour of the husbandman.

(2) Others make God Himself almost nothing, and the minister all. Such are they who place the greatest part of their religion in hearing many sermons, and when they have heard enough are apt to persuade themselves that they have served God well enough. So our ears be but constantly exercised; a barren heart, which bringeth forth no fruit of righteousness to God or to our neighbour in our life, never troubles us.

(3) Others attribute so much to the choice of the preacher, as if they thought that God Himself is like to some workmen who cannot do their work to any purpose unless they have the very best tools to work with.

2. Let us learn how we are to behave ourselves in relation to the ordinances of God administered by men.

(1) More generally, let us see that we rightly distinguish between the work of God and the ministry of man, neither expecting from men what God alone can do, nor expecting that God will do that alone which He ordinarily doth by the ministry of men.

(2) More particularly, remember —

(a) That the men who minister to you are still men, and will as long as they live have more or less the infirmities of men. You must therefore be so just as to allow for the common infirmities of human nature, and so charitable, too, as to overlook some personal failings. If the workman build on the right foundation and by his true rule; if he do his work truly, faithfully, and substantially, this ought to satisfy.(b) That as they are ministers of Christ they are not to be despised, and as they are no more but ministers they may be too much magnified. If he that glorieth in Apollos had indeed prefixed by Apollo's preaching, as he ought to have done, he would be very well pleased with Paul. And if he that glorieth in Paul had improved in sincere Christianity by Paul's ministry, he would be well enough pleased with Apollos. I know that it is pleaded by some that they cannot profit by some as by others, and possibly there may be some truth in this, and yet, it may be, the fault doth not always lie where they would have it laid, but where they have no mind at all to find it. However, what is here pleaded deserves to be considered. And first, suppose we that the Word of God, the wholesome food of our souls, is duly and fully administered, there is no room at all for this plea. The same living water coming from the same spring hath the same virtue, through what conduit soever it may pass unto us. The sound we hear is the man's, and that may be less grateful; but still the Word is God's, and should be always welcome. Secondly, the scales, it may be, hang a great deal evener than we yet think they do. As many pious people are edified, for ought we know, by him whom we forsake as are by him we follow. Some persons I have known who, through an unreasonable prejudice, have been even sick at the sight of some meat, whereof they could never be persuaded to taste, and yet, after they have but once or twice been prevailed with to eat of it, have fed upon it with much both delight and benefit. Possibly, then, you may not be edified, not because you cannot, but only because you think so, and will not try.

(C. Elis.)

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KJV: For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

WEB: For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," aren't you fleshly?