Ver. 3.-Ghristian 1n·ophesying. In our day a "prophet" is one who predicts future- c,ents, but in the older times the word iocluden. niuch more tliim that; Old Testament? prophets were religious teachers who. revealed the will of God, and expounded the \Y ord of God. Moses was a prophet, but his chief work was religious teaching. John the Baptist was a prophet, but he appeared as a preacher of repentance and of righteous- ness. New Testament prophets were the teachers or preachers of the Word-men to ~horn _God had gi,·en special insight into his Divine truth, and a happy faculty of nnpartmg that truth to others. The verse now before us describes the proper results that are to be reac_hed _by the prophecy, or ministry, of- the -Word. The gift of pro- phesymg, or preachmg, 1s the most useful and most practical of all the gifts. Other gifts direct attention to the man who possesses them; this gift makes a man a blessincr to others, for he may speak to "edification, and exhortation, and comfort." <= I. 'l'rrE PROPER SPHERE OF THE CHRISTIAN PROPHET. Theoretically our pastors are- separated unto the ministry of the Word; practically the office is very sadly confused, and our pastors are brought into the most hindering and injurious contact with common worldly things and inferior Church duties. The Pauline idea is, that God has bestowed a ,ariety of gifts upon his Church, and the true conception of his Church is only realized ,,hen each man uses faithfully his own gift without interfering with the gifts of others. The work of the Christian pastor is precisely this-by teaching and preaching to cultivate the spiritual life of believers. They should nourish so high and so vigorous a life and acti,ity iu the members of the Church as that each one might become, in his place, a light of God, a po,ver for God; each one, in his own way, a holy force bringing in other souls to Christ. It does not matter what other work a pastor may do well, whether it be visiting or governing or writing, he is not- faithful to his call and to his. office unless by preaching he can speak to men "unto edification, and exhortation, and comfort." It would be a time of holiest revival for the Church of Christ, if her ministers might say, " For all other forms of work, look you out men from amongst you, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, but we will give ourselves to the Word of the Lord and to prayer." If ministers could be more truly separated to their own proper work, they would bring, out of the deserts of holy stillness and qniet, the most heart-sti1Ting views- of truth and the noblest spiritual influences. Moses came forth in power from the lonely wilderness. Elijah burst out as a sudden flash of Divine fire from the privacies and hidings of the desert. Our Lord himself had a scene of lonely stillness and struggle on the threshold of his ministry, and his story tells of nights on the desolate mountain brow, or in the shady garden outside the city. The Christian prophet can ·only come forth ari"ht into his sphere, if he dwells in the "secret place of the Most High, and abides uider the shadow of the Almighty." lL THE PROPER INFLUENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN PROPHET WITHIN BIB SPHERE. His sphere is the Church. He is to be a spiritual power upon its members. 'l'hat is work enourrh for any roan. To do it aright he must know all the forms and influences of bum;n sorrow; he must understand, and find the antidote for, all the subtleties, devices, and diseases of temptation and of evil; he must win the power to sympathize in every joy that gladdens, and in every sorrow that clouds, the Christian heart. He must be able keenly, critically, to estimate the spirit of the age, "the signs of the times;" the tone of social moral, and re)ic,ious life, so as to judge aright of the atmosphere in which Christian )if; has to be lived. He must have a wide acquaintance with the history of Christian thought, and with the books exerting present influence upon the Christiar. mind. He must be deeply read in the mystery and meaning of God's great Book, so that, "like a scribe instructed to the kingdom, he may bring forth out of his treasury things new and old." Surely all thi~ is a full li'.e-_work for any_ man. Observe, t_he specific terms by which St. Paul descnbes the Chm:t1an prophet's mfluence. 1. Ed·ifi- cation--a term bearing immediate relation to Christian growth. 'l'here is to be growth, under pastoral influence, in knowledge, in character, in the great grace of self-deninl, in control over the bad passions and inclinations of a corrupt nature, and growth in practica~ devotedness to all works of charity. Upbuilding on all these sides must be continued, if the plan of the Divine Architect is to be seen gaining completion in the temple of OH. uv.·l----40.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 479
our life. 2. ExliortatiQ'Tl,-B term bearing relation to Christian dangers, failings and lemptations. • Warnings, revelations of the evils of sin, searching pictures of the co~mor: experience of frail men, calls to neglected duties-these are "exhortations," and a faithful ministry must deal largely ,with them. It must reach the worldly minded, the almost drunken, the man whose bands are stained with dishonest or ungenerous deeds, the injurer of the widow and the fatherless, the selfish, the proud, the unforgivin". He must" warn all the wicked from the error of their way." 3. Comfort-a term bearino- relatioo. to Christian s01Tows. The pastor's words are to be holy words of quiet, tende~ memories of past goodnesses, gentle whispers of the stability of the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, which may lift suffering souls up to their rest in the bosom of the heavenly Father, and lull the tired heart into a sweet sleep upon the "everlasting arms." What would Christian life be without its comfortings 1 It is no little thing that our pastors can bring balm for wounded hearts; leaves for the healing of bruised hearts; whispers of the eternal love for doubting hearts ; and upliftings for downcast, tear-filled eyes, so that they may see the great High Priest "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," and" tempted even as we are."-R. T.