tongues: But all these worketh the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." The same general division of gifts fitting for teaching, and gifts fitting for administration, may be noticed here. To the first class belong "the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, prophecy, divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues :" to the second, the gifts of "healing and the discerning of spirits;" while the gifts of working miracles, and faith, which seems to mean supernatural confidence and boldness, were gifts which might be usefully employed both in teaching and in administration. That the design of those various gifts was the mutual edification of Christians, and the general advantage of the church, is distinctly stated in what follows: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? if the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. God hath tempered the body together, that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular;" that is, every one individually a member of that body.2

11 Cor. xii. 1-11.

21 Cor. xii. 12-27.

The third passage peculiarly fitted to illustrate the text, is in the Epistle to the Ephesians. The Apostle having exhorted the believers to endeavour to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,”—that is, just to have fervent charity among themselves, so that the multitude of sins might be covered,―goes on to state the manner in which they, being one body, were connected by having severally diverse gifts fitted and intended for the advantage of the body. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors; and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love."1

Viewed in the light of these passages, there is no difficulty in perceiving what are the great principles which our text involves. They are these: that God by Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, communicates to his church, in manifestation of his sovereign, undeserved, distinguishing favour, those gifts that are necessary to its prosperity as a society, and to the improvement and happiness of its indi

1 Eph. iv. 3-16.

vidual members; that this is not done by giving to every member the same gifts, far less an equal measure of the same gifts; that the gifts are manifold or various, suited to serve different purposes, and communicated, too, in diversified measure to different individuals; that these gifts are all communicated for the purpose of being exercised; that the design of these exercises is not only, or so much, the advantage of the gifted individual as that of the body at large; and, finally, that in the exercise of his gift every person ought to consider himself as a steward who must be faithful, managing the property of another for the specific purposes for which he has been entrusted with it.

He who neglects the gift that is in him, is an unprofitable servant. He who converts it to selfish objects, to the gratification of his own private tastes, for the purpose of interest or ambition, instead of the purpose of the edification of his brethren, is an unfaithful servant. He who, instead of cultivating and exercising his own gift, attempts to exercise a gift he has not received, and in this way to occupy a field which he is not fitted, and others are fitted, to occupy, is an unwise servant.

These observations are applicable to spiritual gifts, according to the definition already given of them, whether supernatural or not, and whether connected with official station in the church or not. The reference in the text, as well as in the parallel passages, seems to be to gifts, probably supernatural, connected with the two offices of teaching and ministry, of which all the offices in the primitive church seem to be represented as varieties; and the command is, of course, to be viewed as addressed primarily to those Christians who occupy official situations in the church. The man who, in consequence of a gift conferred on him, and a call addressed to him, "speaks as the oracles of God," officially teaches the doctrines and laws of Christ Jesus, that man is to exercise his gift and perform the duties of his office, not in the way most fitted to gratify his own particular taste, or promote his own reputation for learning, inge

nuity, and eloquence, but in the way most fitted for promoting the increase of the church in knowledge and faith, and holiness and comfort; and, if he has a peculiar gift, he is bound especially to cultivate and exercise that gift, whether it be for exposition or exhortation, for the establishment of truth or the exposure of error, for warning the unruly or comforting the afflicted. On the other hand, he who, in consequence of a gift conferred on him, and a call addressed to him, "ministers of the ability that God has given,” in presiding, superintending, administering the laws of Christ's church, managing the charities of the church, performing all the offices indicated by the terms ruling, giving, showing mercy, ought to exercise his gift and perform the duties of his office, not to secure personal influence, to gratify personal vanity, or to promote personal interest, but to advance the great interests of the church as a spiritual body, and of the individuals constituting its members.

But the principle in the text reaches beyond the limits of official station; it is applicable to every individual member of the church. Every member has a gift; and that gift, whatever it be, is to be exercised not only for his own advantage, but for that of his brethren, as God gives him opportunity. Every Christian is to look not only at his own things, but at the things of others. Christians are to work out each other's salvation, as well as each man his own. Indeed there is reason to think that that is the reference of the passage in the Epistle to the Philippians, now alluded to. Brother is to teach brother. They are to exhort one another daily; they are to bear one another's burdens; they are to look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God. In the use of the gifts of the private members of a church, wisdom is necessary, as well as profitable, to direct; but without at all interfering with the peculiar duties, or intruding into the peculiar province of official teaching and rule, there is abundant room for the exercise of the gift of each, for the common benefit of all; and there is, questionless, something wanting, something wrong, in all ecclesiastical constitutions, which do

not provide for the regular employment of the gifts of individuals, for the common good of all the members of the body of Christ. "I desire none," says the devout prelate so often referred to, "to leap over the bounds of their calling, or rules of Christian prudence in their converse; yea, this were much to be blamed; but I fear, lest unwary hands, throwing on water to quench that evil, have let some of it fall by upon those sparks that should rather have been stirred and blown up."

§ 3.-Motives to these two manifestations of Christian love. Enough has been said in illustration of the duty of the manifestation of Christian love, in the two forms prescribed in the passage before us. Let us say a word or two on the MOTIVES by which the duty is enforced.

There is a motive, and a powerful one, implied in the words "as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Neither the temporal goods nor the spiritual gifts of Christians are their own property. Both have been given them, and given not to serve selfish but public ends. They were talents to be traded with, not so much to enrich the individual as to enlarge and improve the Master's property. If they neglect to use them for this purpose, they are unprofitable servants, they waste their Lord's money. An active, wise, faithful, use of these gifts, is necessary, to their being good stewards. Official Christians, and all Christians, should often remember that they must give an account of their stewardship, for they must not always be stewards; and if they do not attend to the command in the text, the account cannot be given in with joy, but with grief, which will be unprofitable to them. Whereas, if they do apply their gift, however limited, honestly to its appropriate purpose, their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. The cordial welcome and its joyful results shall be theirs: "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." "Thinkest thou," says Archbishop Leighton, “that thy wealth, or power, or wit, is thine, to do with as thou wilt,