their material substance, but of their sacrificial efficacy; so that, although the body and blood of Christ are not corporally or carnally present in, with, or under the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper; and yet are spiritually present to the faith of the receiver, no less truly and really than the elements themselves are to their outward senses; so they that worthily communicate in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper do therein feed upon the body and blood of Christ, not after a corporal or carnal, but in a spiritual manner; yet truly and really, while by faith they receive and apply unto themselves Christ crucified and all the benefits of his death.'"

CHAPTER XII.

GIFTS AND GRACES-DUTY OF THE SAVIOUR-VARIETY AND UNITY OF GIFTS-MIRACLES NOT IN THE CHURCH NOW COMPARATIVELY UNNECESSARY-ENVYING.

THE ancient prophets had clearly predicted that the Messianic period should be attended by a remarkable effusion of the Holy Spirit. "And it shall come to pass in those days," it is said in the prophecies of Joel," saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams." Our Lord, before his crucifixion, promised to send the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, to instruct and guide his Church; John xiv. &c. And after his resurrection he said to his disciples, "These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover;" Mark xvi. 17, 18. And immediately before his ascension he said to the disciples, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence;" Acts i. 5. Accordingly, on the day of Pentecost, these promises and prophecies were literally fulfilled. The

peculiarity of the new dispensation consisted, in the first place, in the general diffusion of these gifts. They were not confined to any one class of the people, but extended to all classes, male and female, young and old; and, secondly, in the wonderful diversity of these supernatural endowments. Under circumstances so extraordinary, it was unavoidable that many disorders should arise. Some men would claim to be the organs of the Spirit, who were deluded or impostors; some would be dissatisfied with the gifts which they had received, and envy those whom they regarded as more highly favoured ; others would be inflated, and make an ostentatious display of their extraordinary powers; and in the public assemblies it might be expected that the greatest confusion would arise from so many persons being desirous to exercise their gifts at the same time. To the correction of these evils, all of which had manifested themselves in the Church of Corinth, the apostle devotes this and the two following chapters. It is impossible to read these chapters without being deeply impressed by the divine wisdom with which they are pervaded. After contrasting the condition of the Corinthians, as members of that body which was instinct with the life-giving Spirit of God, with their former condition as the senseless worshippers of dumb idols, he first lays down the criterion by which they might decide, whether those who pretended to be the organs of the Spirit were really under his influence. How do they speak of Christ? Do they blaspheme, or do they worship him? If they openly and sincerely recognise Jesus as the supreme Lord, then they are under the influence of the Holy Ghost; vers. 1-3. Secondly, these gifts, whether viewed as graces of the Spirit, or

as forms of ministering to Christ, or the effects of God's power—that is, whether viewed in relation to the Spirit, to the Son, or to the Father-are but different manifestations of the Holy Ghost dwelling in his people, and are all intended for the edification of the Church; vers. 4-7. Thirdly, he ranges them under three heads: 1. The word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. 2. Faith, the gift of healing, the power of working miracles, prophesying, and the discerning of spirits. 3. The gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues; vers. 8-10. Fourthly, these gifts are not only all the fruits of the Spirit, but they are distributed according to his sovereign will; ver. 11. Fifthly, there is therefore in this matter a striking analogy between the Church and the human body. For, 1. As the body is one organic whole, because animated by one spirit, so the Church is one, because of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost as the principle of its life. 2. As the unity of life in the body is manifested in a diversity of organs and members, so the indwelling of the Spirit in the Church is manifested by diversity of gifts and offices. 3. As the very idea of the body as an organization supposes this diversity in unity, the same is true in regard to the Church. 4. As in the human body the members are mutually dependent, and no one exists for itself alone but for the body as a whole, so also in the Church there is the same dependence of its members on each other, and their various gifts are not designed for the exclusive benefit of those who exercise them, but for the edification of the whole Church. 5. As in the body the position and function of each member are determined not by itself, but by God, so also these spiritual gifts are distributed according to the good

VOL. VII.

pleasure of their author. 6. In the body the least attractive parts are those which are indispensable to its existence, and so in the Church it is not the most attractive gifts which are the most useful. Sixthly, the apostle draws from this analogy the following inferences. 1. Every one should be contented with the gift which he has received of the Lord, just as the hand and foot are contented with their position and office in the body. 2. There should be no exaltation of one member of the Church over others, on the ground of the supposed superiority of his gifts. 3. There should and must be mutual sympathy between the members of the Church, as there is between the members of the body. One cannot suffer without all the others suffering with it. No one lives, or acts, or feels for itself alone, but each in all the rest; vers. 12-27. In conclusion, the apostle shows that what he had said with regard to these spiritual gifts, applies in all its force to the various offices of the Church, which are the organs through which the gifts of the Spirit are exercised; Vers. 28-31.

The true explanation of this chapter is to be found in that memorable history contained in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles; which gives an account of the Pentecostal effusion of the Holy Spirit of God, and the results of that effusion in the experience of individual apostles and of the Church at large. It seems that for years after Pentecost the Church-not simply the ministers, but the lay members of the Church—was inspired with different miraculous gifts; but it seems that these miraculous gifts were not always set in supernatural graces, and that some of them were accompanied with pride, others with envy ;