(continued from page 9.)

The Church is thus a body, not only because it is living, is a unity, but because it is an organic whole; "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Rom. 12:5). When the truth of the unity of the Body is seen, we can then learn what a diversity of parts, functions and activities characterize it. The very grace which has by the Spirit formed us into one, has also established the diversities of gifts, of ministries, and of operations (1 Cor. 12:4-6). And let it be specially noted that each of these parts is an individual, directly linked with and responsible to the Head. "Holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together increaseth with the increase of God" (Col. 2:19). Most jealously does the Spirit of God press upon us this absolute individuality, this direct personal link with Christ. What liberty this gives! We derive all from, we owe all to, our blessed Lord. No one can intrude between the soul and Him. The link is direct, there is no go-between who can tell us what to believe or do, apart from the supreme source of all authority. So jealous was the apostle that no one, not even an angel from heaven, should separate the soul from the Lord, that he pronounces a solemn curse upon the attempt (Gal. 1:8-10).

As has always been the case, and perhaps more markedly now, there have been countless intrusions into this inviolable relationship. "The Church" has been proclaimed as teacher and leader; the distinctive denomination intrudes its authority; minor schools and parties claim allegiance; prominent individuals attempt to dictate faith or conduct. From the greatest to the least of these we can only turn to the one Head, the one authority, for each individual believer-Christ, His Word, His Spirit. No will can possibly be binding upon us but the will of God. We cannot obey the best, the wisest of men. Their only claim upon us is "Thus saith the Lord."

How the saints of God need to be aroused as to this fact-to "cease from man," to turn to God afresh with the question, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" What searching of the Scriptures, what prayer, what self-judgment and humbling would mark us; and what lifting up and reviving, what healing of breaches, what firmness of separation from evil, what joy in the midst of trial would follow!

The call of the Lord is ever to the individual; "He that hath an ear, let him hear." There are multitudes of details to be dealt with; patience, prayer, love will all be constantly required-but if each one is in direct communion with the Lord, He will work and none can hinder.

The call to the young is definite and clear. Many of these have been born in an atmosphere of familiarity with scriptural truth. They have taken the walk and testimony, the principles and fellowship of their elders without question, as their guide. Or rather, they have blindly followed without any exercise. The result is, too often, that the unity of fellowship is but outward and formal. They can give no definite reason for their faith, their walk, or their fellowship.

But these older leaders are falling by the way, leaving that testimony so highly prized by them, learned and maintained at great cost, to successors who have entered upon outward privileges with but little understanding or appreciation of their value. We cannot conceal from ourselves that this creates a condition of great danger. It is not because the young are not stepping into the vacant places in the ranks of those who once so loyally stood for the faith; rather would we praise our God for added numbers. But do they realize the importance, the blessedness of that which has been entrusted to their care?

"The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that He did for Israel" (Judg. 2:7). We remember the solicitude of Joshua about his successors-his solemn warnings, his earnest entreaties to fear the Lord and to cleave to Him. We recall the holy interview that Paul had with the Ephesian Elders at the time of his parting from them, how he set his own example before them, telling of the coming in of perverse men who would seek to scatter the flock (Acts 20). Surely such faithfulness was called for, as the subsequent history, both of Israel and of the Church, shows. Is it less needed now? May we not hear the beloved apostle pleading with us, "As ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more In my absence" (Phil. 2:12). It is because our godly predecessors are no more with us, because apostles have departed to be with Christ, that we need to be stirred as to our present responsibilities.

But does some one ask, What are we to do? What practical suggestions are made for the present time? The answer is very definite and simple :"Remember your guides, who have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith fallow" (Heb. 13:7). Faith is ever linked with its Object, and with the faith, the sum of divine truth. It cannot flourish save as it feeds upon Christ and His truth. So we have in close connection with the scripture just quoted, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and forever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established with grace" (Heb. 13:8, 9). The faith of the men of God before us brought them, in an ever-deepening sense of their weakness, to Christ, to His Word, to prayer. Let us remember these God-given leaders, and profit by their example by drawing abundant supplies for all our need from the same inexhaustible source. "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" Had He changed? Elisha found Him the same, ready to work in him as in his predecessor.

Let us then set ourselves afresh to this great work, to seek to follow the faith, and not to build the sepulchers of our fathers. The work must begin in our closets. Is Christ our Lord increasingly precious? Are we worshipers of Him in the fulness of His person, the perfection of His work, in happy secret communion? Do we feed upon His Word? "Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" (Jer. 15:16). Have we studied for ourselves and became mentally and morally identified with the truth as to His Body, the Church? Has the effect of this been to humble and to quiet us, so that we have not attempted to be reformers in a superficial way, but have been more and more imbued with the spirit of confidence in the reality of God's great work, and controlled by a desire to be used in it? Have we learned to become intercessors, with the great Intercessor? We may be sure that we cannot be used by the Lord in a public way for the help of His people, unless we are daily interceding for them. Among all our glaring failures, which have wrought such outward havoc in alienations and divisions, none is greater than the failure to pray one for another-for the whole Church of God.

Let it be repeated, until we learn and believe it, that this individual heart work must precede and accompany all efforts at maintaining the truth, and at healing the breaches among us-our common sorrow and shame, a dishonor to our blessed Lord and Saviour. May the young among us be aroused, and more than ever retrieve themselves from the charge of superficiality. This is no light thing, dear brethren; it was the burden of the apostle's word to Timothy, his beloved child in the faith, companion in service, and successor in caring for the Church. See the whole second Epistle, how it dwells upon these facts and truths.

We have thus, in a very partial way, dwelt upon some of the results of our individual relationship to Christ our Head and Lord. We must next see how this very individuality will bind us more closely to one another. It could not be otherwise; for the link with Christ means the link with His people, all the stronger and sweeter because it is through Him. The man, therefore, who most deeply realizes his individual relationship to the Lord, will value his brethren. The hand will not say of the foot, "I have no need of thee." We will love, cherish, and seek to build up our fellow-members of the Body. There will be a recognition of every gift, the functions of each one. Instead of suspicion and jealousy, we will esteem others more excellent than ourselves, "in honor preferring one another." We will find our interest and affections going out to every believer, whoever and wherever they may be.

So far from this making us indifferent to the conduct or position of our brethren, it will make us all the more sensitive as to their place in the Body. "If one member suffer all the members suffer with it." If one of our limbs is dislocated, if a ligament is strained, do we not feel it. and seek to remedy it? If any of our nutritive organs are not functioning properly, are we not conscious of it, do we not suffer from it, and will we not seek to remedy it? And there is no remedy but the divine one. We cannot let a member continue in its disjointed position without suffering and hindering the proper action of the body. Love that is worthy of the name, will even cause pain to reduce the dislocation, to minister to the unhealthy condition.

As we see the broken, disjointed state of the saints, do we not feel the urge of the ministry of healing? Here we have the true "bodily healing," far, far more important than the soundness of our own bodies. Here is where "faith healing" is indeed called for, and, thank God, effective. Let us be spiritual physicians to the Body of Christ. It is a work of toil, but most blessed are its results. As the natural body must be ministered to and adjusted according to the divine laws of anatomy and health, so will it be in the spiritual body. Indifference to the principles of divine truth there cannot be. "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him" (1 Cor. 12:18). If we are to contribute toward the edifying of the Body of Christ, we must know our anatomy, physiology and hygiene.

It would carry us into too wide a field to particularize. Each cell, organ, limb of the Body would have to be considered. But we have in the Scripture a generalization of these members, under which we may classify all the saints of God. "And He gave some, apostles, and some, prophets; and some, evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11,12).

Here we have five (the number of human capacity and responsibility) classes of members in the Body of Christ. And let it be noted that these gifts are for perfecting all saints to the work of the ministry. An apostle has not done his work unless it extends to every member of the Body. Thanks to our God, the apostles have done and are still doing their work well. All who listen to them are being fitted to the work of the ministry. Those who neglect the writings of the apostles, are inefficient members of the Body. "He that knoweth God heareth us (the apostles); he that is not of God heareth not us" (1 John 4:6). So the apostles are a present and active element in the Body to-day, and until we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man in the glory (Eph. 4). There is no need, therefore, for "apostolic succession;" they are in a real sense present. Let us see that we do not "keep Paul bound."

The prophets are linked with the apostles in the foundation of the Church (Eph. 2:20), and no doubt, from their position in the list we are examining, are to be considered in close relationship with them. Necessarily, at the beginning, there were special divine manifestations and communications of the Spirit, which gave form to and permanently influenced the Church. This prophetic gift was prominent in the apostles themselves, in their teachings and inspired writings. It was manifested also in others, who brought the message of the Lord to His people; "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us" (Acts 15:28; see also Acts 13:1-3). It would ill become us to ignore the special prophetic gift at the beginning, or to confound it with the abiding prophetic ministry (1 Cor. 14:1-5, 31) which we should "covet earnestly." We have the Scriptures of the prophets, or "prophetic Scriptures" (Rom. 16:26), which are the inspired Word. There is, however, a link between the inspired prophets and all present prophetic ministry of "edification, exhortation and comfort," which may well remind us to heed the admonition of the apostle Peter, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God" (1 Pet. 4:10,11; see the whole connection).

Beloved brethren, the prophet was a "man of God," marked by being much alone with Him. He spoke with divine certainty, bringing the message of his Master. In times of failure, he came forth with his message, to call the people back to God. In times of danger, he gave the word of comfortable assurance (2 Chron. IS:1-8, etc.). He applied divine revelation to the present need. Where are the prophets to-day?-Men who, from their piety, their knowledge of the mind of God, can call us to the well-known truths, to the "old paths." "Ye may all prophesy," but do we? What holiness, lowliness, faithfulness and wisdom become the prophet. S. R.

(To be continued, D. V.)