e ignored. They boast as if
the accomplishment were all theirs. Of these ye must be disciples and
pupils. Their preaching ye must accept, while my Gospel must become
odious. My case is that of the bee who labors to make honey and then
the idle drones and the earthworms come and consume the sweet not of
their making. In me is illustrated Christ's proverb (Jn 4, 37), 'one
soweth, and another reapeth.' Continually one enters into the fruits
of another's labor. One must toil and incur danger, while another
reaps the benefit in security.

8. "Ye can suffer these false apostles, though they be fools and teach
only foolishness. In this ye display wisdom and patience. But ye do
not so suffer me, who taught you true wisdom. Nor do ye permit me much
enjoyment of my labor. Further, ye can permit them to make servants of
you, to be your lords and to order you to do their bidding. And ye
obey. But I who have made myself your servant, I who have served you
without profit to myself, that ye might be lords with Christ, must now
be ignored and all my labors be lost. They rule you at their pleasure,
and their pleasure is all they consult. You suffer yourselves to be
devoured. That is, your property is consumed; for ye bestow it upon
them abundantly, as Psalm 14, 4 has it, 'Who eat up my people.' Upon
such as these ye can shower goods and gifts, and can permit them to
devour you as they please. But I have never enjoyed aught of your
property. All my service has been without recompense, that ye might
become rich in Christ.

"Again, ye suffer the false teachers to take from you beyond your
consent; to exalt themselves above you, to esteem themselves better
than you and me, and to exercise their arrogance upon you. But ye deal
not so with me, who have sacrificed my own substance, and have taken
from others, that I might bring the Gospel to you; who have not
exalted myself above any, but have yielded to all and served them. The
false apostles permit you to serve them; in fact, trample you beneath
their feet. They even smite you in the face; that is, they reproach
you publicly, put you to shame, and abuse you with rude and insolent
words. They act as if ye were beasts of burden and they your real
masters. All this ye suffer. But my patience with you, my parental
tenderness, past and present, is remembered no more. Paul is now
represented as having wrought no good at Corinth."

PAUL'S DESCRIPTION OF FALSE TEACHERS.

9. Note the master ha