which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?" "The first part of the pa8~,1~c refer, to the general principle that the priests who were engaged in the temple se?·vice, were supported from the various offerings which were brought there; and the seconi i clause mure definitely alludes to the particular fact that, when a sacrifice was oITered on .the altar, the sacrificing priests as well as the altar had a share of the animal." 6. The -ordination of Christ. "Even so bath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel" (see Matt. x. 10). "Should live of the gospel," not grow rich on the gospel, but have from it that which is needful for subsistence. Look- ing at all that Paul says on that question here, and at the immense service that a true· minister renders to society, the conviction cannot be avoided that no man has a stronger claim to a temporal recompense for his labour than a true gospel minister. Albeit nu claims are so universally ignored. "What Churches in these modern times tender to their ministers as an acknowledgment of their service is regarded as a charity rather than a claim. Charity, indeed I Call the money you pay to your butcher, baker, lawyer, doctor, charity; but in the name of all that is just, do not call that charity whic!-: yon tender to the man who consecrates his entire being and time to impart to you the -elements of eternal life. V. 'l'he greater the minister of Christ, the MORE RF.ADY TO SURRENDER HIS CLAnrn TOR THE SAKE OF USEFULNESS. Great as were the claims of Paul, he magnanimously surrenders them all in order to become more useful. He would not feast at banquets, enjoy conjugal life, or take payment for his services, lest his usefulness should be in the I-east impaired. "But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me; for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void." I would sooner die than be dependent on you for a livelihood. Grand man! He stood before his congregations and said, "I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with rue." Vers. 22, 23.-.ilforal identification with others a qual ifical.ion of the euanqel. Theso verses and the context are sometimes tak1m as expressi\'e of the accommodating spirit of the apostle in his endeavours to save men. Hence he is regarded as ncting iu n. somewhat Jesuitical way, pretending to be what he was nut, coming down to tho pre- jmlices of men, and taking them as it were by guile. Such a view of the apostle i~ utterly untrue. From his very constitution, to say nothing of his Christianity, he could not bend to auy temporizing expediency. There was nothing of the .Jesuit or the ,liplomatist in him. All that he means, I think, by the words is that ho endeavoured to put himself into the place, or rather into tho views an1l feelings, of those whom he endeavoured to win to Christ. He transmigrated himself, so to speak, went i1<tu their 1muls, clothed himself with their feelings, aud argued from their standpoint. Now, this way or influencing men is both right and wise. As a debater, whether iu politics, philo- wphy, or religion, he only acts fairly and with power who endeavours to put himself into the very position of his opponent, to look at the points in dispute from the opponent's standpoint, with the opponent's eyes, and through the opponent's passions. Such a man becomes mighty in debate. This is what Paul did. He made "himself nil things to all men." In arguin~ with the Jew he made himself a Jew in feeling, with the Greek a Greek in feeling, with a slave a slave in feeling, with a master a master iu lceling. Thus he was a philosopher when he spoke to the Athenians, and a Jew when he spoke to the Jews. Now, we regard this power of moi·al tmnsmigration, this power of pas~ing into another man's soul and taking another man's experience, as an t,SSential g_ualijication for a successful evcmgel; and this power iniplies at least three things. I. A HIGHLY IMAGrnATIVE TEMPEI\Al!ENT. The phlegmatic man, whoso nature is incapable of taking fire, who moves with the creeping legs of logic rather than on the wings of moral intuition, would find it all but impossible to realize another ma1<'s experiences. He could not be a dramatist. He could not show another m,1n to him~clL Nu one can enter into the experience of another only on the strong warm current u!: :,;acial sympathy. Hence no young men should be encuurnged to assume_ the work ot the Christian ministry who have nut th:it forvicl imagination, that glowing temper,1- u1eut, that constitute a dramatic genius. 'HIE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE COUL.'ITHIANS. [cu: 1x. 1-27.
II. A KNOWLEDGE OF BUMAN LIFE. It is necessary that we should make ourselves thoroughly acquainted, not merely with the outward circumstances of the men we seek to influence, but with their inner life-their moods of thought, their habits of mind, their leading passi,,.us, their strongest proclivities. 'l'his requires study of men, not as they appear in books, but as they appear in their circle; and men, not in the mass, but in their individual character and idiosyncrasies. Can an Encrlishman so know a Hindoo a Chinese, or a Japanese, as to put himself into his experien"'ce? I trow not. ' III. A PASSIO~ATE LOVE FOR SOULS. Nothing but the constrainincr love of Christ can invest man either_ with the dispositi~n ?r ~he power for such a work':_a work requiring self-sacrifice, patience, tenderness, IIlYmc1ble determination, and hallowed devotion. This is what gaYe Paul the power to be" made all thincrs to all men." "I please all men in all things," he says, "not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be ~a,·ed." Co~cLuSIO~. The ~ork of a ~oral redeemer is, of all works, the greatest and the most arduous. There 1s no work m all the departments of human labour that requires ;;uch high qualifications as the work of bringing souls to Cµrist.