The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 226

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST

i86 ages. tles.

The Church of to-day is the same as in the day of the aposThe life lived then is the life that animates it now. The

gains of two centuries ago belong to

The

received to-day.

past

its

treasury, as well as those

The wonderful and

is its capital.

rious revelation received by the Church of the given, through

it,

to the

Church of

all ages,

first

and

glo-

century was

is still effectual.

the spiritual strength and insight, the inward grace, the clearer consciousness, received during the course of the ages are not lost, but form an accumulated treasure, increasing still by the

And

all

ever-renewed additions of spiritual gifts. He who realizes and acknowledges this fact feels himself rich and blessed indeed. For this apostolic view of the matter causes us to be thankful for our brother's gift, which otherwise we might envy; inasmuch as those gifts do not impoverish, but enrich us. may be twelve ministers of the Word, all gifted According to the natural man, each will be in various directions. In one city there

jealous of his brother's gifts and fear that his talents will excel his own. But not so among the Lord's own servants. They feel that

together they serve one Lord and one flock, and bless God for givIn an ing them together what the leading and feeding require. army the artillerist is not jealous of the cavalryman, for he knows that the latter is for his protection in the hour of danger.

Moreover, this apostolic standpoint excludes isolation; for

it

creates the longing for fellowship with distant brethren, even tho

they walk in more or less deviating paths. in hand, to limit Christ's is

everywhere, in

all

Church

to one's

It is

own

impossible, Bible

little

community.

It

parts of the world; and whatever its external

form, frequently changing, often impure, yet the gifts wherever

received increase our riches.

This apostolic standpoint

is also

against the foolish notion that

whatever;

for eighteen centuries the

Church has received no

and hence

Church, each of us must take his confession. That standpoint makes one

gifts

that, like the early

Bible to formulate his

own

so intensely conscious of the

communion

of spiritual gifts that he

can not but appreciate the Church's treasure accumulated during the centuries. In fact, Christ's Church has received greatest

abundance of

spiritual gifts;

and to-day we have the disposition

not only of the gifts of the churches in our own city, but of all those imparted to the churches elsewhere, and of the historic capital

accumulated during eighteen centuries.

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