other, Christ himself became the bond of that union. Because, therefore, provident arrangement is seen in the human body, it ought also to exist in the society of the faithful; and so taking this similitude, Paul proves how necessary it is for each member of the body of Christ to consider what best suits his nature and character, and capacity, and calling. Since also this similitude has various parts, it can be applied in the following manner to the case under consideration that as the members of our body have distinct powers, and are all distinct in themselves, and no one member possesses at the same time all powers, or takes to itself the offices which belong to others; so God has dispensed to us various endowments, and by this distinction established among us an order which he wished to be preserved; that each believer might regulate himself according to the measure of his own ability, and not thrust himself into duties belonging to others; and that no individual might desire at the same time to have all, but content with his own lot, voluntarily refrain from usurping the offices assigned to others. By expressly pointing out the communion that exists among us, he clearly intimates how great diligence ought to be exerted for appropriating to the common good of the whole body of the church the powers which each member individually possesses. Having Gifts." Paul does not simply now preach concerning the cherishing of brotherly love, but he commends modesty and humility, which are the best means for regulating the whole course of our lives and all our conduct. Every person is desirous to have so great a supply as to stand in no need of his brethren; but the very bond of this mutual communication consists in no individual having sufficient for himself, but in his being compelled to borrow from others. I confess, therefore, that the society of the pious consists in each being contented with his own measure, while he bestows upon his brethren the gifts which he has received, and suffers himself to be assisted in turn by the gifts of others. But this apostle was particularly desirous to repress that pride, which he knew to be innate in mankind, and to prevent believers from being disappointed because all gifts were not bestowed upon them. Paul, therefore, shews that every disciple of Christ has his own part assigned him, with the best intention, and counsel of infinite wisdom; since it was necessary for the common salvation of the body that no single person should be so furnished with the fulness of the gifts as to despise any of his brethren with impunity. Here, therefore, we have the chief object aimed at by the apostle, that all things are not equally calculated for all, but the good things of our heavenly Father are so distributed that each has a limited portion. Every individual also ought to be so intent upon bestowing his own gifts for the edification of the church, that none may forsake his own function and enter upon another's. For the safety of the church is preserved by this very beautiful order, and as it were, symmetry - where each of himself so contributes to the common good what he hath received from the Lord as not to impede others. Every perverter of this order fights with God, by whose ordination it was established; for the difference of gifts has not proceeded from the decree of man, but because the Lord hath thought fit to dispense his grace in this manner.' Or Prophecy. He now adduces certain gifts for the purpose of exemplifying the truth of his statement, and shows how each ought to be employed in the use of his own powers as the means for preserving his station; since the particular gifts have their own determinate boundaries, to deviate from which is to corrupt the gifts themselves. This sentence which is a little out of order ought thus to be arranged, "He that hath prophecy let him prophesy according to the analogy of faith; he that hath ministry let him use it for ministering; he that hath doctrine let him use it for teaching." Every member of the church who shall keep his attention fixed on this as the mark to be aimed at, will confine himself within his own proper limits. This passage, however, is understood in various senses: for some mean by prophecy the power of prediction, which flourished in the church at its commencement, as the Lord was at that time desirous, by every possible means, to commend the dignity and excellency of his kingdom. And what is added," according to the proportion of faith," they consider ought to be referred to all the clauses. But I prefer the opinion of those commentators, who take the word in a more extended sense, and apply it to the peculiar gift of explaining revelation according as any one executes with skill and dexterity the office of an interpreter in declaring the will of God. Prophecy, therefore, at this period, is nothing else in the Christian church than the proper understanding of Scripture, and a peculiar faculty of explaining the same, since all the ancient prophecies, and all the oracles of God were contained in Christ and his Gospel. For Paul understood it in this sense, (1 Cor. xiv. 5,) when he said, "I wish you to speak with tongues, but rather that you prophesy" "we know in part, and we prophesy in part," (1 Cor. xiii. 9.) For it does not appear that Paul was only desirous in this passage to recount those admirable graces by which Christ ennobled his Gospel at the beginning; but he rather gives a statement of ordinary gifts which constantly remain in the church. Nor does the objection seem sufficiently valid, that the apostle would have made this remark in vain to such characters as could not, by the Spirit of God, call Christ accursed. For since in another passage (1 Cor. xiv. 32,) he testifies that the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets, and orders the first speaker to be silent if any revelation has been made to the person sitting, he may here also admonish prophets in the church to conform their prophecies to the rule of faith, and not wander from the line of truth. By the expression faith he means the first axioms of religion, and every doctrine not corresponding to these is thus proved to be false. There is less difficulty in the other clauses. Whoever is appointed a minister, let him perform his office by ministering; and let him not imagine that he is appointed to this honour on his own account, but for the sake of others; as if he had said, "let him perform his office by executing the duty of a minister properly, that he may answer to this title." Thus, also, when Paul afterwards recommends to teachers, under the name of teaching, solid edification, he means "let every powerful teacher know that his object is the true instruction of the church, and let him only meditate on the means by which he may render the church more learned by his doctrine." For he is a teacher who forms and instructs the church by the word of truth; he is powerful in the word of exhortation, who considers that his object is to exhort with efficacy. However close an affinity and connexion these offices have with each other, they do not therefore cease to be various. None, indeed, can exhort without teaching, but a teacher is not immediately possessed with the power of exhorting. Now no prophet, or teacher, or exhorter can perform his office without ministering; but it is sufficient if we preserve the distinction which we observed in the gifts of God, and know to be calculated for maintaining church order." Without at all insisting that Calvin's exposition of this portion of scripture is throughout correct, this much we can confidently assert, that in the above passage he concedes those points which if carried out into practice would turn all things upside down, in the established order of "the one man system.' The variety of the gifts exercised by all, and the free acknowledgment that "as every man hath received the gift," even so should all the recipients of gift "minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God," is of such an import, that if the words were put into action, a general ruin would ensue wherever the apostasy is now in power. This testimony therefore of a Theologian so celebrated ought not to be buried in oblivion; the perusal of it might convince some persons, that a fair examination of the New Testament compels a candid mind to come to conclusions, wholly subversive of those varied forms of clerical rule, which, now, every where prevail in the wide dominions of the apostasy. M. E. MISCELLANEOUS. MELVILL'S SERMON ON PHIL. IV. 22. WE take the following passages from a sermon on the above text, by the Rev. H Melvill, B.D., of Camden Chapel, Camberwell : 66 6 All the saints salute you; chiefly they that are of Cæsar's household.'Philip. iv. 22. "You are aware that the earlier ages of the church were marked by a spirit of deep love; so that Christians actually regarded themselves as all members of one family. The saying of our Lord, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, because ye love one another,' appears to have been successfully taken as the foremost rule of conduct; for 'see how these Christians love one another,' was the common remark of enemies and persecutors. And the observable thing is, that it was the love of Christians, as Christians, irrespective altogether of any other claim upon the affections. The moment a man had embraced Christianity, he was regarded as a brother, and felt to be a brother, by the whole Christian body; a thousand hearts at once beat kindly towards him, and multitudes who were never likely to see him in the flesh, were instantly one with him in spirit. It may admit of great doubt, whether there be much in our own day of that which thus distinguished the beginnings of Christianity. "The love of Christians because they are Christians, no regard being had to country, or clime, or condition —is this still a strongly marked cha racteristic of those who profess themselves the disciples of the Redeemer ? There was something very touching and beautiful in Christ's promise to those who should forsake all for his sake; There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands.' How was such a promise to be fulfilled, except that those who had been cast out for their religion from their own families and possessions, should find themselves at once admitted into a new household, and endowed with new property, even the household and property of the whole Christian community? For every natural relation whom they had lost, they obtained instantly an hundred spiritually; and the goods of which they had been spoiled, were regained an hundred-fold in the multiplied possessions of those by whom they were received as children and as brethren. Thus was strikingly verified the description long before given by the Psalmist, God setteth the solitary in families;" for those, who, to all appearance, were abandoned and left orphans, and alone in the world, were suddenly surrounded by numerous kinsmen. "But we fear that only in a very limited sense can the like be affirmed of Christians in our day. And yet the criterion of genuine Christianity remains what it was. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren; he that loveth not his brother abideth in death.' In our time the ends of the earth are being wondrously brought together; there is an ever-growing facility in the means of communication between country and country; and this must naturally break down the many barriers, which seemed once to forbid intercourse between widely separated lands. In earlier times, nation was widely divided from nation; the inhabitants of different lands were necessarily strangers to one another; and it could not be expected therefore, that much approach would be made towards a universal brotherhood. And yet it was then that the spirit of Christianity shewed its diffusive and amalgamating energies; the name of Christ was as a spell to annihilate distance; and it was enough to plant the cross in a land, to make that land one with districts removed from it by half the diameter of the globe. We have made paths across the waters, we have brought low the hills and the mountains, so that we can visit every region of the earth, and hardly seem to leave our home; but where is now that glowing and ample Christian, that beats warm towards Christians whom he never saw, and makes the range of his own household include the far off and the near, who worship the same God, and who trust in the same Saviour ?" Commencing with this lamentation over the absence of glowing and ample Christian love in the present day, with which we can truly sympathise, we meet at the close of this sermon the following extraordinary paragraph :- "And why, then, should not personal piety flourish? why should it be stunted, why should it not rather be all the more beautiful and vigorous, for the being thus exercised? Oh! let no man think it cannot be expected of him that he should make great progress in religion, because he is obliged to be much in contact with the wicked -because his calling in life is one of great moral danger, NOT ONLY KEEP ING HIM FROM HABITS OF GODLINESS, BUT EVEN REQUIRING WORLD LY-MINDEDNESS. It will be from situations such as these, that God shall finally gather into the kingdom of heaven the most eminent of his Servants; it will not be from the cloistered solitude where there is nothing to contend with-it will rather be from the court where earthliness has reigned, from the exchange where gold has been the idol, and from the family where godliness was held in derision. Not that there may not be exalted piety where there is not a passing through extraordinary trial; but that the extraordinary trial met in God's strength, which is never insufficient, is almost sure to issue in such prayerfulness, and faith, and vigilance, and devotedness, as can hardly be looked for where there is little to arouse, to alarm, and to harass." EXTRACT FROM A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, AT ST. MARY'S, ON SUNDAY, FEB. 6, 1831, BY HENRY BELLENDEN BULTEEL. I cannot conclude this discourse, in which the work of the Spirit has been largely mentioned, without putting two distinct questions. The first is, Are we individually, each for himself, led by the Spirit of God? The second is, Are we collectively, as a Church, led by the Spirit of God? The first of these questions cannot appear strange to members of the Church of England; nay, many of us now present have openly and solemnly, before the face of God and man, declared that we believed ourselves to be inwardly moved by God the Holy Ghost to take upon us the work of the ministry. If this profession was true, then we shall not fail to bear about us the marks of the minister of Christ. "If, then, according to the Scripture, we both labour and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God; if we are an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity; if we give attendance to reading the word of God, to exhortation, to doctrine; if we neglect not the gift that is in us; if we meditate upon these things; if we give ourselves wholly to them; if we take heed unto ourselves, and to the doctrine; if we continue in them; then we shall both save ourselves, and them that hear us; and while we have by faith in Christ, a clear conscience before God, our profiting shall appear to men" (1 Tim. iv. 10—16). Such characters as these are good ministers of the Lord Jesus, and are led by the Spirit of God. "But the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter and the last days perilous times shall come, when men, and ministers too, shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, and proud, and anything but what they ought to be, having their conscience seared with a hot iron" (1 Tim. iv. 1, 2. and 2 Tim. iii. 2). If, then, there be amongst us any who have put ourselves into one of the priests' offices that we may eat a piece of bread; if we follow Christ because we have eaten of the loaves and fishes, and are full; if, instead of being well acquainted with the word and doctrine, "we be blind watchmen, ignorant, and dumb dogs, that cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber, yea, greedy dogs, that can never have enough; if we be shepherds that cannot understand, all looking to our own way, every one for his gain from his quarter; if, instead of having our conversation in heaven, we are saying one to another, Come ye, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink, and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant" (Isa. lvi. 10—12.) ; why then the case is plain to the most superficial observer: we have among us those of whom Paul spake afore VOL. III. time, and spake with tears in his eyes, that they were the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things (Phil. iii. 18). Such men are not led by, and have not received, the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God, we know, allows of no habitual wickedness wheresoever he dwells, in ministers or people; but there are nevertheless many good livers, and holy walkers after the dead faith, who have never known Christ, nor partaken of his Spirit. Let two or three marks suffice. There are some cold, calculating religionists, who are content that what they think a form of sound words should enter into the heads of people, but are well nigh overwhelmed, if the truth as it is in Christ lays hold on the heart and affections. These are men whom at every turn we hear crying up prudence, judgment, and discretion, bidding their disciples do as much good as they can without giving any offence either to Jew, Gentile, or the church of God; keeping back the truth in order to shun the cross, and then wresting Scripture to justify their practice. Tell these men that Christ is precious to your soul; tell them that you are acquainted with him, that you love him better than all the world besides, that you are willing to die for the name of the Lord Jesusstraightway they are offended; yea, the very name Jesus carries a cross with it; they dont like to hear it mentioned, except on a Sunday, and then within the walls of a church. Now though there may be plenty of hypocrites who take his name within their lips-and a bare talking of Jesus is no proof of our being in Jesus, yet herein lies the condemnation of the men of whom I speak, that though they bear his name, yet will they have none of him in their conversation, but are ashamed of him! Such men have not received the Spirit of God. 2 B |