Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
1 Corinthians 3:12
There are 27 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 450, footnote 7 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book V (HTML)
Chapter IV.—Divine Things Wrapped Up in Figures Both in the Sacred and in Heathen Writers. (HTML)
... with meat: for ye were not able. Neither yet are ye now able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envy and strife, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” Which things are the choice of those men who are sinners. But those who abstain from these things give their thoughts to divine things, and partake of gnostic food. “According to the grace,” it is said, “given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation. And another buildeth on it gold and silver, precious stones.”[1 Corinthians 3:10-13] Such is the gnostic superstructure on the foundation of faith in Christ Jesus. But “the stubble, and the wood, and the hay,” are the additions of heresies. “But the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is.” In allusion to the gnostic ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 516, footnote 2 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XVII.—Philosophy Conveys Only an Imperfect Knowledge of God. (HTML)
And as to him who has hands it is natural to grasp, and to him who has sound eyes to see the light; so it is the natural prerogative of him who has received faith to apprehend knowledge, if he desires, on “the foundation” laid, to work, and build up “gold, silver, precious stones.”[1 Corinthians 3:12]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 295, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
On the Resurrection, and the Judgment, the Fire of Hell, and Punishments. (HTML)
... Isaiah, that the fire with which each one is punished is described as his own; for he says, “Walk in the light of your own fire, and in the flame which ye have kindled.” By these words it seems to be indicated that every sinner kindles for himself the flame of his own fire, and is not plunged into some fire which has been already kindled by another, or was in existence before himself. Of this fire the fuel and food are our sins, which are called by the Apostle Paul “wood, and hay, and stubble.”[1 Corinthians 3:12] And I think that, as abundance of food, and provisions of a contrary kind and amount, breed fevers in the body, and fevers, too, of different sorts and duration, according to the proportion in which the collected poison supplies material and fuel ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 502, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XIII (HTML)
... then we shall turn to what follows. The divine word says that our God is “a consuming fire,” and that “He draws rivers of fire before Him;” nay, that He even entereth in as “a refiner’s fire, and as a fuller’s herb,” to purify His own people. But when He is said to be a “consuming fire,” we inquire what are the things which are appropriate to be consumed by God. And we assert that they are wickedness, and the works which result from it, and which, being figuratively called “wood, hay, stubble,”[1 Corinthians 3:12] God consumes as a fire. The wicked man, accordingly, is said to build up on the previously-laid foundation of reason, “wood, and hay, and stubble.” If, then, any one can show that these words were differently understood by the writer, and can prove ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 549, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book V (HTML)
Chapter XV (HTML)
... nation of the Hebrews), it is a purificatory fire which is brought upon the world, and probably also on each one of those who stand in need of chastisement by the fire and healing at the same time, seeing it burns indeed, but does not consume, those who are without a material body, which needs to be consumed by that fire, and which burns and consumes those who by their actions, words, and thoughts have built up wood, or hay, or stubble, in that which is figuratively termed a “building.”[1 Corinthians 3:12] And the holy Scriptures say that the Lord will, like a refiner’s fire and fullers’ soap, visit each one of those who require purification, because of the intermingling in them of a flood of wicked matter proceeding from their evil nature; who need ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 606, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Chapter LXX (HTML)
... hearts of) the deserving. Nor is the Spirit, in our opinion, a “body,” any more than fire is a “body,” which God is said to be in the passage, “Our God is a consuming fire.” For all these are figurative expressions, employed to denote the nature of “intelligent beings” by means of familiar and corporeal terms. In the same way, too, if sins are called “wood, and straw, and stubble,” we shall not maintain that sins are corporeal; and if blessings are termed “gold, and silver, and precious stones,”[1 Corinthians 3:12] we shall not maintain that blessings are “corporeal;” so also, if God be said to be a fire that consumes wood, and straw, and stubble, and all substance of sin, we shall not understand Him to be a “body,” so neither do we understand Him to be a body ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 659, footnote 5 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Appendix. (HTML)
Anonymous Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian. (HTML)
A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5367 (In-Text, Margin)
7. Behold how glorious, how dear to the Lord, are the people whom these schismatics do not shrink from calling “wood, hay, stubble;”[1 Corinthians 3:12] the equals of whom, that is, those who are even still placed in the same guilt of their lapse, they presume must not be admitted to repentance. This they judge from that utterance of the Lord, where He says, “Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Oh grief! why do they strive against the Lord’s precepts, that this offspring of Novatian, following the example of his father ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 171, footnote 5 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Lactantius (HTML)
The Divine Institutes (HTML)
Book VI. Of True Worship (HTML)
Chap. IX.—Of the law and precept of god; of mercy, and the error of the philosophers (HTML)
But let us suppose it possible that any one, by natural and innate goodness, should gain true virtues, such a man as we have heard that Cimon was at Athens, who both gave alms to the needy, and entertained the poor, and clothed the naked; yet, when that one thing which is of the greatest importance is wanting—the acknowledgment of God—then all those good things are superfluous and empty, so that in pursuing them he has laboured in vain.[1 Corinthians 3:11-15] For all his justice will resemble a human body which has no head, in which, although all the limbs are in their proper position, and figure, and proportion, yet, since that is wanting which is the chief thing of all, it is destitute both of life and of all sensation. Therefore ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 468, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Of the eternal punishment of the wicked in hell, and of the various objections urged against it. (HTML)
Of Those Who Assert that All Catholics Who Continue in the Faith Even Though by the Depravity of Their Lives They Have Merited Hell Fire, Shall Be Saved on Account of the ‘Foundation’ Of Their Faith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1536 (In-Text, Margin)
... laid, which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day of the Lord shall declare it, for it shall be revealed by fire; and each man’s work shall be proved of what sort it is. If any man’s work shall endure which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. But if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire.”[1 Corinthians 3:11-15] They say, accordingly, that the catholic Christian, no matter what his life be, has Christ as his foundation, while this foundation is not possessed by any heresy which is separated from the unity of His body. And therefore, through virtue of this ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 259, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
The Enchiridion. (HTML)
The True Sense of the Passage I Cor. III. 11–15 About Those Who are Saved, Yet So as by Fire. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1221 (In-Text, Margin)
But as these most plain and unmistakeable declarations of the apostles cannot be false, that obscure saying about those who build upon the foundation, Christ, not gold, silver, and precious stones, but wood, hay, and stubble (for it is these who, it is said, shall be saved, yet so as by fire, the merit of the foundation saving them[1 Corinthians 3:11-15]), must be so interpreted as not to conflict with the plain statements quoted above. Now wood, hay, and stubble may, without incongruity, be understood to signify such an attachment to worldly things, however lawful these may be in themselves, that they cannot be lost without grief of mind. And though this grief burns, yet if ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 186, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)
The Third Item in the Accusation; And Pelagius’ Answer. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1627 (In-Text, Margin)
... statement was read which Pelagius had placed in his book, to this effect: “In the day of judgment no forbearance will be shown to the ungodly and the sinners, but they will be consumed in eternal fires.” This induced the brethren to regard the statement as open to the objection, that it seemed so worded as to imply that all sinners whatever were to be punished with an eternal punishment, without excepting even those who hold Christ as their foundation, although “they build thereupon wood, hay, stubble,”[1 Corinthians 3:12] concerning whom the apostle writes: “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he shall himself be saved, yet so as by fire.” When, however, Pelagius responded that “he had made his assertion in accordance with the Gospel, in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 187, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)
Pelagius’ Answer Examined. On Origen’s Error Concerning the Non-Eternity of the Punishment of the Devil and the Damned. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1631 (In-Text, Margin)
... with Pelagius, but rather in accordance with the Gospel, that such ungodly and sinful men shall be consumed by eternal fires as the Gospel determines to be worthy of such a punishment; and that he is a sharer in Origen’s abominable opinion, who affirms that their punishment can possibly ever come to an end, when the Lord has said it is to be eternal. Concerning those sinners, however, of whom the apostle declares that “they shall be saved, yet so as by fire, after their work has been burnt up,”[1 Corinthians 3:12] inasmuch as no objectionable opinion in reference to them was manifestly charged against Pelagius, the synod determined nothing. Wherefore he who says that the ungodly and sinner, whom the truth consigns to eternal punishment, can ever be liberated ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 16, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm VI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 173 (In-Text, Margin)
... by His laws, is called His anger. In which anger, the soul, which now prays, would not only not be reproved, but not even chastened, that is, amended or instructed. For in the Greek it is, παιδεύσῃς, that is, instruct. Now in the day of judgment all are “reproved” that hold not the foundation, which is Christ. But they are amended, that is, purged, who “upon this foundation build wood, hay, stubble. For they shall suffer loss, but shall be saved, as by fire.”[1 Corinthians 3:11-13] What then does he pray, who would not be either reproved or amended in the anger of the Lord? what else but that he may be healed? For where sound health is, neither death is to be dreaded, nor the physician’s hand with caustics or the knife.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 103, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 951 (In-Text, Margin)
... will not be “corrected.” For he will at all events “rebuke” those to whom He will say, “I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat.” … “Neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure;” so that Thou mayest cleanse me in this life, and make me such, that I may after that stand in no need of the cleansing fire, for those “who are to be saved, yet so as by fire.” Why? Why, but because they “build upon the foundation, wood, stubble, and hay.” Now they should build on it, “gold, silver, and precious stones;”[1 Corinthians 3:12] and should have nothing to fear from either fire: not only that which is to consume the ungodly for ever, but also that which is to purge those who are to escape through the fire. For it is said, “he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.” And ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 103, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 953 (In-Text, Margin)
... “gold, silver, and precious stones;” and should have nothing to fear from either fire: not only that which is to consume the ungodly for ever, but also that which is to purge those who are to escape through the fire. For it is said, “he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.” And because it is said, “he shall be saved,” that fire is thought lightly of. For all that, though we should be “saved by fire,” yet will that fire be more grievous than anything that man can suffer in this life whatsoever.[1 Corinthians 3:11-15] …
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 262, footnote 2 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Two Homilies on Eutropius. (HTML)
Homily II. After Eutropius having been found outside the Church had been taken captive. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 877 (In-Text, Margin)
... the way of almsgiving: or thou canst not enter by the way of almsgiving? then try the way of fasting. If thou canst not use this way, take that—or if not that, then take this. Therefore the prophet spoke not of a garment of gold, but of one woven with gold. It is of silk, or purple, or gold. Thou canst not be a golden part? then be a silken one. I accept thee, if only thou art clothed in my raiment. Therefore also Paul saith “If any man builds upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones.”[1 Corinthians 3:12] Thou canst not be the precious stone? then be the gold. Thou canst not be the gold? then be the silver, if only thou art resting upon the foundation. And again elsewhere, “there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 386, footnote 2 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily VI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1307 (In-Text, Margin)
... were free, though they were given over to the furnace, because they had before put off the slavery of sin. For this alone is liberty; and not an immunity from punishment, or from suffering anything fearful. But having heard of the furnace, call thou to mind the “rivers of fire,” which there shall be in that fearful day. For as on the above occasion, the fire seized upon some, but reverenced others, so also shall it be with those rivers. If any one should then have hay, wood, stubble, he increases[1 Corinthians 3:12] the fire; but if he has gold and silver, he becomes the brighter. Let us therefore get together this kind of material, and let us bear the present state of things nobly; knowing that this tribulation will both bring us deliverance from that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 540, footnote 9 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)
The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)
Festal Letters. (HTML)
(For 341.) Coss. Marcellinus, Probinus; Præf. Longinus; Indict. xiv; Easter-day, xiii Kal. Maii, xxiv Pharmuthi; Æra Dioclet. 57. (HTML)
4. But all those who ‘call their lands by their own names,’ and have wood, and hay, and stubble[1 Corinthians 3:12] in their thoughts; such as these, since they are strangers to difficulties, become aliens from the kingdom of heaven. Had they however known that ‘tribulation perfecteth patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed,’ they would have exercised themselves, after the example of Paul, who said, ‘I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.’ ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 67, footnote 9 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pammachius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1046 (In-Text, Margin)
... deceived by the error of Tatian, the chief of the Encratites, into supposing all cohabitation unclean. For he condemns and reprobates not marriage only, but foods also which God has created for us to enjoy. We know that in a large house there are vessels not only of silver and of gold, but of wood also and of earth. We know, too, that on the foundation of Christ which Paul the master builder has laid, some build up gold, silver, and precious stones; others, on the contrary, hay, wood, and stubble.[1 Corinthians 3:10-12] We are not ignorant that ‘marriage is honorable…and the bed undefiled.’ We have read the first decree of God: ‘Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.’ But while we allow marriage, we prefer the virginity which springs from it. Gold is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 5, footnote 6 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
Procatechesis, or Prologue to the Catechetical Lectures of our Holy Father, Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 452 (In-Text, Margin)
17. We for our part as men charge and teach you thus: but make not ye our building hay and stubble and chaff, lest we suffer loss, from our work being burnt up: but make ye our work gold, and silver, and precious stones[1 Corinthians 3:12]! For it lies in me to speak, but in thee to set thy mind upon it, and in God to make perfect. Let us nerve our minds, and brace up our souls, and prepare our hearts. The race is for our soul: our hope is of things eternal: and God, who knoweth your hearts, and observeth who is sincere, and who a hypocrite, is able both to guard the sincere, and to give faith to the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 104, footnote 11 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Clause, And Shall Come in Glory to Judge the Quick and the Dead; Of Whose Kingdom There Shall Be No End. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1821 (In-Text, Margin)
... And immediately after the Saviour Himself says, And I will draw near to you in judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulteresses, and against those who swear falsely in My Name, and the rest. For this cause Paul warning us beforehand says, If any man buildeth on the foundation gold, and silver, and precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire[1 Corinthians 3:12]. Paul also knew these two comings, when writing to Titus and saying, The grace of God hath appeared which bringeth salvation unto all men, instructing us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and godly, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 110, footnote 20 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Clause, And Shall Come in Glory to Judge the Quick and the Dead; Of Whose Kingdom There Shall Be No End. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1918 (In-Text, Margin)
... shall manifestly come, even our God, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall burn before Him, and a fierce tempest round about Him, and the rest. The Son of Man shall come to the Father, according to the Scripture which was just now read, on the clouds of heaven, drawn by a stream of fire, which is to make trial of men. Then if any man’s works are of gold, he shall be made brighter; if any man’s course of life be like stubble, and unsubstantial, it shall be burnt up by the fire[1 Corinthians 3:12-13]. And the Father shall sit, having His garment white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. But this is spoken after the manner of men; wherefore? Because He is the King of those who have not been defiled with sins; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 207, footnote 2 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2569 (In-Text, Margin)
... it is for him to learn how to submit to rule, it seems far harder to know how to rule over men, and hardest of all, with this rule of ours, which leads them by the divine law, and to God, for its risk is, in the eyes of a thoughtful man, proportionate to its height and dignity. For, first of all, he must, like silver or gold, though in general circulation in all kinds of seasons and affairs, never ring false or alloyed, or give token of any inferior matter, needing further refinement in the fire;[1 Corinthians 3:12] or else, the wider his rule, the greater evil he will be. Since the injury which extends to many is greater than that which is confined to a single individual.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 229, footnote 3 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
To Those Who Had Invited Him, and Not Come to Receive Him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2930 (In-Text, Margin)
... learning about God is more pleasant than teaching. Leave the more accurate search into these questions to those who are the Stewards of the Word; and for yourselves, worship a little in words, but more by your actions, and rather by keeping the Law than by admiring the Lawgiver; shew your love for Him by fleeing from wickedness, pursuing after virtue, living in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, drawing your knowledge from Him, building upon the foundation of the faith, not wood or hay or stubble,[1 Corinthians 3:12] weak materials and easily spent when the fire shall try our works or destroy them; but gold, silver, precious stones, which remain and stand.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 359, footnote 8 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
Oration on the Holy Lights. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4007 (In-Text, Margin)
... Lord together. Let none of you, even though he has much confidence in himself, dare to say, Touch me not for I am pure, and who is so pure as I? Give us too a share in your brightness. But perhaps we are not convincing you? Then we will weep for you. Let these men then if they will, follow our way, which is Christ’s way; but if they will not, let them go their own. Perhaps in it they will be baptized with Fire, in that last Baptism which is more painful and longer, which devours wood like grass,[1 Corinthians 3:12-19] and consumes the stubble of every evil.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 285, footnote 9 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book V. (HTML)
Prologue. (HTML)
... “even as the Lord gave to every man, I have planted; Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” Let each one then strive that be may be able to receive a reward according to his labour. “For we are labourers together with God,” as the Apostle said; “we are God’s husbandry, God’s building.” Blessed therefore is he who sees such usury on his principal; blessed too is he who beholds the fruit of his work; blessed again is he “who builds upon the foundation of faith, gold, silver, precious stones.”[1 Corinthians 3:12]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 349, footnote 5 (Image)
Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat
Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)
Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations. (HTML)
Of Faith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 700 (In-Text, Margin)
12. Now I must proceed to my former subject of faith, that on it are reared up all the good works of the building. And again, in what I said with regard to the building, it was in no strange fashion that I spoke, but the blessed Apostle wrote in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, saying;— I as a wise master-builder have laid the foundation, but every one buildeth on it.[1 Corinthians 3:12] One builds silver and gold and goodly stones; another builds reed and straw and stubble. In the last day that building shall be tried by fire; for the gold and silver and goodly stones shall be preserved in the midst of the fire, because they are a firm building. But as for the straw and reed and stubble, ...