Book of Common Prayer

It is not eloquence and glorious painted words of worldly wisdom that can edify and convert souls to Christ, but the plain words of the scripture. For they tell of him and his cross.

2 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not in gloriousness of words or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. ² Nor did I show myself to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. ³ And I was among you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴ And my words and my preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith would not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

⁶ That which we speak of is wisdom among those who are sound: not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world (who come to nothing), ⁷ but we speak the wisdom of God, which is in secret and lies hid, which God ordained before the world for our glory. ⁸ Which wisdom none of the rulers of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. ⁹ But as it is written: The eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love him.

¹⁰ But God has revealed them to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the bottom of God’s secrets. ¹¹ For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of a man which is within him? In the same way, the things of God are known by no man, but by the Spirit of God. ¹² And we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes of God, in order to know the things that are given to us by God – ¹³ which things also we speak, not in the wise words of man’s wisdom, but with the wise words of the Holy Spirit, making spiritual comparisons of spiritual things.

¹⁸ As Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. ²⁰ And they straightaway left their nets and followed him.

²¹ And he went onwards from there and saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And he called them. ²² And they without delay left the boat and their father, and followed him.

²³ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. And he healed all manner of sickness and all kinds of diseases among the people. ²⁴ And his fame spread abroad throughout all Syria. And they brought to him all the sick people who were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those who were possessed with devils, and those who were mentally ill, and those who were paralyzed; and he healed them. ²⁵ And there followed him a great number of people from Galilee and the Ten Cities, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from the regions that lie beyond the Jordan.