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First part of Sermon LXV. for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity.  1 Cor. i. 4-8.    St. Matthew xxii. 34-46.      He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Him LORD, saying,  The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit Thou on My right hand,  till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool ? —ST. MATT. xxii. 43, 44.     
ALTHOUGH the Epistle for the day is always placed  before the Gospel, and is therefore to be first considered by us, yet we know that, in point of fact, it usually alludes to circumstances which occurred long after those of which the Gospel speaks, and after important changes had taken place, by our Lord’s ascent to Heaven, and the coming of the Holy Ghost. It would therefore often tend to edification, if we could take the Epistle after the Gospel, in which case it would afford a striking confirmation of its truth, or introduce precepts flowing from it. Such is much the case to-day. For how wonderful is the language of our short Epistle, when we consider it as a fulfilment of that which our Lord alluded to in the Gospel, as the text mentions. He spoke of that mysterious expression of David, when it was all unintelligible to the Jews; but how different was the case when St. Paul wrote! Sitting at the right hand of God, and there seen by the eye of faith, He had poured down such gifts on His Church, and exerted such power in the hearts of believers, that about five-and-twenty years after our Lord had thus spoken St. Paul was able to write to the Corinthians, appealing to his and their own experience in such words as these :— 

I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Church of Corinth was peculiarly rich in these spiritual gifts, the outward manifestations of power, but all intended to promote their spiritual profit, and to prepare them for Christ’s return in judgment. And thus, in the opening of this Epistle, St. Paul bears testimony to these gifts, showing how much he rejoiced in these their privileges, and giving solemn thanks for them, before he proceeds, as he afterwards does in this Epistle, to correct the abuses of them, and to turn their attention to the great end of all, that charity which comprehends the love of God and the love of our neighbour. 

The passage, moreover, is remarkable, as St. Chrysostom observes of it, and indeed of the whole of this Epistle, for the very frequent mention of the Name of Christ. He speaks of the grace bestowed by Christ, of their being enriched by Christ, of the testimony of Christ confirmed in them, of their waiting for Christ’s coming, of Christ so establishing them that they may be blameless in the day of His Coming. So forcible is this testimony, as an answer to our Lord’s question, and as explaining the expression of David when he spake in prophecy. 

And now let us consider in detail the Gospel itself; .... 

.... (for the second part, on the Gospel.)