But our view of this relation will answer no good end, unless we attend to,
II. The duties arising from it —
The offices mentioned in our text, were, if not wholly, yet in a measure distinct, in the apostolic age. There were two great leading offices ; the " prophesying," or preaching of the word of Godf; and " ministering" to the temporal necessities of the Church, as the deacons didg. Under these two classes all the remainder may be arranged. Connected with those who prophesied were those also who " taught"
d 1 Cor. x. 24. e 1 Cor. x. 27. with Eph. iv. 15, 1(3.
f So the word frequently means ; and does not necessarily include miraculous gifts. 1 Thess. v. 20. 6 The Creek word shews this.
and " exhorted :" and connected with the deacons' office were those who " ruled," or superintended the temporal concerns of the Church, " giving," and dis- pensing its alms, and " shewing mercy" to those whose afflictions called for more than ordinary tenderness and compassion. But it is obvious that these various offices, even admitting that some of them were in the first instance associated with miraculous powers, are, in substance, of perpetual use and authority in the Church of Christ : there must still be persons to administer both spiritual instruction and temporal relief; and in many instances, the offices are most advantageously united. Without entering into any minute distinctions of this kind, we will content our- selves with saying in general, that, whatever station any of us hold in the Church of Christ, or whatever office we be called to execute, we should execute it,
1. With care and diligence —
[Certainly " prophesying," or preaching the word of God, ought to be prosecuted with all imaginable care and diligence. We should, as " stewards of the mysteries of God," administer to every one his portion in due season. We should "give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine," " that so we may save both ourselves and them that hear us." We should " take heed to our ministry that we fulfil it." In like manner, if we perform any other office, visiting the sick, instructing the ignorant, relieving the necessitous, we should bestow much attention on the work, to execute it most for the benefit of the Church and the glory of God. It requires no small care to act so as most to counteract the effect of prejudice, and to render our efforts most beneficial to those for whom they are used. We must take care " not to let our good be evil spoken of," and not to defeat by imprudence what, by a due attention to times and circumstances, might have been advantageously accomplished'1.]
2. With patience and perseverance —
[We must expect to meet with difficulties in every service which we are called to perform. But we must not be dis- couraged by them. We must go forward, like St. Paul, " not moved by any trials," " nor counting our lives dear to us," if we be called to sacrifice them in the way of duty. Whatever
11 Matt. vii. 6.