1. What does the apostle say is given to each Christian, and according to what measure?
"But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Verse 7. Note 1.
2. By what scripture does he prove this?
"Wherefore He saith, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." Verse 8. Note 2.
3. What did Christ do before He ascended?
"(Now this, He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)" Verses 9, 10. Note 3.
4. What gifts did He bestow?
"And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." Verse 11. Note 4.
5. For what purpose did He bestow these gifts?
"For the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ." Verse 12. Note 5.
6. Till what time are these gifts to be manifest among His people?
"Till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Verse 13. Note 6.9
7. What would it save His church from?
"That we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error." Verse 14. Note 7.
8. What would it do for His children?
"But speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, even Christ." Verse 15. Note 8.
9. What does the body receive from the head?
"From whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love." Verse 16. Note 9.
Notes
1. "Unto each one."—There are no useless members in the body of Christ. There are no drones among His workers. Every soul who receives Christ, receives from Him not alone the Holy Spirit in general, but at least one spiritual gift in particular. The apostle Paul does not use the distributive term "every one," but he brings it home emphatically,—"unto each one,"—and "unto each one of us was the grace given." Note also that the gift is not bestowed according to men's measure, or men's estimate. Some would mark out for themselves great places which God in His wisdom clearly sees they could not fill. Others could use great gifts, but in their timidity and humility think that they can do almost nothing. Infinite Wisdom, who bestows the gift, also takes account of the measure. It is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. We may therefore be sure that if we are Christ's we have some divine gift for service. We may have confidence in Him in the use of that gift; and if the life be truly consecrated, that gift, used for Him, will glorify His name.
2. "Wherefore He saith."—That is, God saith. The apostle quotes from Ps. 68:18, a prophecy of Christ, of what God has done for His people, of what He will do. The quotation is direct from the Septuagint version,—"Thou hast led captivity captive." The margin of our Common Version is, "Thou hast led a multitude of captives." When our Lord gave Himself, He gave Himself for all God's creation that had been touched by sin. Consequently He went down to the very lowest depths that sin can bring a soul to; that is, to death. He died and was buried, the portals of the grave closed over Him. Entirely apart from the power of righteousness and life, He would have remained there forever. He was victorious, however, in life, over sin, and was therefore victorious over death; for death is but finished sin.
We read in the account of the crucifixion in Matthew that when He died there was a great earthquake, the rocks were rent, and the graves were opened, and at the time of His resurrection many came out from the graves and went into the city and appeared unto many. Matt. 27:51-53. He had broken the power of the grave, and these first-fruits demonstrated that He had conquered. The captives of Satan that had been chained by death, because of sin in man, were redeemed and released by the almighty power of the Son of God. He led the captives of Satan captive, and when He ascended, there was sung that prophetic 24th Psalm,—"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in." Thus sang the angel escort of our Lord and His redeemed captives. The response comes from within the gates: "Who is this King of Glory?" and the answer is returned, "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in." Once again the question is repeated, "Who is this King of Glory?" and the answer is returned, "The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory." He has come home for the celebration of His triumph, and the captives that He brings with Him are not the captives of death, but the captives of life released from the chains of death.
3. Descended — ascended.—Our Lord descended into the very depths, that He might rescue all who would put their trust in Him, and demonstrate the surety of the faith of those who had put their trust in Him during past ages. Ascending, He fills all things. By the fulness of His power and His life and His righteousness He meets every need of the great, needy universe. And all those who are in harmony with His plan—with the infinitely wise, divine plan for the universe—will receive of His fulness to eternal perfection.
4. "And He gave some to be apostles."—It is not the design of this letter to tell us all the gifts bestowed in the church. These are simply named as samples. Elsewhere the apostle has given us more of these, as in the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians and in the 12th chapter of Romans. There are not only apostles and prophets and evangelists and teachers and pastors, but there are miracles and healings and helps and governments, and ministrations of various sorts, tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Every gift that His people need, and have needed in the past or will need in the future, was bestowed by Christ when He ascended up on high. As the first of all these gifts He places that of apostleship. "Apostle" means "one sent;" and of course the outsending of God's gospel message is the first thing always. Very frequently—it may be said, almost invariably—the one who was called to be an apostle possessed other gifts, sometimes the prophetic gift, the evangelical gift, the teaching gift. The prophet is one who speaks for God. He bears an authoritative message. An evangelist is one who proclaims the gospel; the pastor, one who cares for the flock; and the teachers, those who instruct in divine things. Sometimes these are blended in one, sometimes they are individualized. Sometimes the very prophet may not be the best teacher, may not have the wisdom of an apostle. A right conception of the gifts which God has bestowed upon His church would help wonderfully in the consideration which would be given the individuals who possess the gifts. Read 1 Corinthians 12, where these gifts are likened to members of the body, where we are told that the members that seem the feeblest are necessary, where everything should be regarded because of the office work which belongs to it, because of the Giver who has bestowed upon it His own divine power and efficiency.
5. "For the perfecting of the saints."—These gifts were needed in the apostolic days. They are needed not less now. Proud man does not like to acknowledge his need. He wants to be all-sufficient in himself; yet he could easily understand, by the simple illustration of his own body, that the various members are needed. The various organs and members of the body do not work for themselves, but for the other members. Each is served by all the others, and so God designed that it should be in His church—each member should be served by all others, and then all are well served. The perfecting of God's church, the building up of His saints, must come through a recognition of these gifts not in ourselves alone, but in others as well. And there must be that willingness to learn and to receive from others those things in which we ourselves may be lacking; and at the same time, willingness to give to others that which, in His own way, God has bestowed upon them. And so the gifts are "for the perfecting of the saints." They are given "unto the work of ministering," that in all the various and multiplied gifts the fulness of Christ may be manifested in ministry to the world. They are given for the building up of the body of Christ by a continual gathering out from the world into the fellowship of Christ those who will glorify His name, and in developing those who are already in Christ into greater, more efficient, more unselfish laborers.
6. "Till."—How frequently are we told that these gifts were all right for the apostolic age, and then they ceased? But the apostle does not confine them to that age. In the 25th chapter of Matthew we find the parable of the talents. These talents, the highest denomination of Hebrew money, represent the gifts of God's Spirit. The one who went away and distributed the talents represents the Master, and the talents were to be used until his return; and so the gifts in the church are to be used in the church till Christ shall come the second time, used there as long as they are needed, and that need continues till the whole church attain to the unity of the faith, or come in the unity of the faith to "the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."—Christ the infinitely wise Head, and a perfect body fulfilling all the desires of the mind. The church has not reached her full stature as yet. She does not stand blameless before God. She is not yet without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, before His throne. The gifts of God are needed to make visible the imperfections, cut them away, carve and polish and refine the various members, till they will all reflect and declare to the world the glory of Christ's character.
7. "No longer children."—We love children—that is, the normal men and women do. They love the little innocent babe, and the wee, prattling child, and the growing and developing lad and lassie; but they do not want to see them always remain children. It is a most pitiful thing to see a child remain a child. We look for growth; and when we see growth neither in mind nor in body, we know that the form before us is abnormal; there is a lack of development, and our love changes to pity, and hope to utter discouragement. Spiritually, there are those in God's church who never grew. They were little children in Him yesterday; they are the same to-day. Instead of bearing burdens, they are anxious to be borne themselves. Instead of helping others, they are anxious to be helped. Instead of finding real, strong, virile encouragement and enjoyment in doing hard—perhaps onerous—work for God, they wish to be amused, petted, till the professed church is full of little children—old in years but undeveloped spiritually in mind and soul. It is pitiful, isn't it? And yet if God's gifts were recognized—if each one of these children, when he comes into the faith, were made to understand that God has bestowed upon him a gift to be used, a talent not to be hidden or buried—how many more would develop into strong, stalwart workers for God? That is the design of all the gifts which God has bestowed,—that the members of His church should be no longer children. They should not be saying, as the children in the market-places did, "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced,"—we have played one thing, and you would not play with us. He would not have them carried about with every wind of doctrine, or be like children, amused or influenced by the sleight of men, after the wiles of error. It is not in such a way that God would have His church built; and yet every true, loyal, observing soul knows that it is of these largely that His visible church consists.
8. "But . . . may grow up."—It is the growing church which God desires, "speaking the truth in love," or, as the margin reads, "dealing truly in love." "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments," and speaking in love must eventuate in doing in love, and doing in love is that which develops moral muscle and strong characters. Thus God would have His church "grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, even Christ." He is the beginning and the end, the establishment of the eternal verities of God in the hearts of devoted followers; and if each soul grows up in Him, he will not grow away from his brethren, or the other members of the body. He will find that the Christ to whom he is consciously united is that which binds him the more closely to every other member.
9. "From whom."—The "whom" is Christ. The nourishment must come from Him, the body must drink in of His life. The plan is from Him. The fit framing and the life-knitting must come from our divine Head, and that divine Head will be assisted by all those various gifts represented by the various joints of the body. Union and organization of various gifts make up the centers in God's work, just as there are nerve centers and blood centers in the body in order to supply its need. The working of the gifts which Christ has given in due measure, the recognition of these gifts from our Lord, supernatural in their giving, requiring supernatural grace in their exercise, will indeed make for the increase of the body and the building up of that body in love.
Envy
ENVY is one of the most devilish characteristics of the carnal heart. It is defined as, "Pain, uneasiness, mortification, or discontent excited by the sight of another's superiority or success, accompanied by some degree of hatred or malignity, and often or usually with a desire or an effort to depreciate the person, or with pleasure in seeing him depressed." This was the feeling held by Aaron and Miriam. They envied Moses. See Numbers 12. They could not bear to have any one above them, however worthy or well fitted he might be for the place. It pained their selfish hearts and made them discontented. Their only hope of being exalted, they thought, was to have Moses brought down, and so they took the course they did.
Envy is a manifestation of selfishness. It is often the result of pride. If cherished, it stops at nothing to gain its object. As the Scripture expresses it, "Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?" Prov. 27:4. The Jewish rabbis have a story of two men — one covetous, the other envious — to whom a certain one promised to give whatever they desired, but a double portion to him who asked last. The covetous man would not ask first, because he wanted most; and the envious man would not ask first, because he could not bear that his neighbor should receive a greater blessing than himself. But as the covetous man in his desire for self alone would not choose, the envious man finally wished that one of his eyes should be put out, in order that his neighbor might lose both of his.
"Base envy withers at another's joy,
And hates that excellence it can not reach."
How much better the gospel rule, "In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." Phil. 2:3.
THE OUTLOOK
By Editor
"Watchman, what of the night?"
A Charity Ball
If the wealthy people would use even a portion of what they take for their own pleasure, and give it to charity, charitable objects would fare much better than they do now. They would receive much more of the mere commercial product of some of their parties ostensibly held for charity. For instance, there was held in January in Chicago a gorgeous costume ball. One lady who attended it said, "Never, I believe, has American society flaunted its wealth in such magnificence." It was a "charity" ball. All the display of jewels and dress was professedly for the poor. The sparkle of jewels, we are told, was literally blinding. One woman wore a costume which looked as tho it were all made of pearls. Another, a heavy satin costume embroidered with gold, the coat being made of cloth-of-gold covered with blue chiffon. One string of one lady's pierced diamonds and emeralds was worth a quarter of a million dollars. "And they danced the tango, and all the other ragtime dances that society has stolen from the tenderloin." "One society leader remarked that the jewels alone in this parade cost ten million dollars,—diamonds and rubies and emeralds and sapphires and pearls. Women wore rings upon every finger, as well as the thumb, and one or two had huge rubies or emeralds on the backs of their hands. They wore anklets of gem-studded gold; and almost every waist, whether large or slender, was girded with precious stones." It is said that the wealth of families represented at that ball for charity was $500,000,000; that the cost of the jewelry worn was $10,000,000; of the clothing, $1,000,000; that the cost of the fancy costumes unusable after the ball was $100,000. Total receipts were $43,000. The expenses of the ball,—rent, lights, orchestra, etc.,—were $29,000. And charity got out of all that expenditure the sum of $14,000.
Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.
Our correspondent who sends us the printed account, written by a lady, well remarked that it seemed to him that the feast of Belshazzar would be next,—the hand of doom will be seen upon the wall, and the great judgment will declare—if not the words—"Weighed in the balances, and found wanting."
— ** —
The naval estimates for Great Britain for 1913-1914 are $231,546,500. This is an increase of a little more than $6,000,000 over last year. The new program provides for the building of five battle-ships, eight light cruisers, sixteen torpedo-boat destroyers, and a number of submarines. England will have under construction on April 1 eleven battle-ships, three battle cruisers, thirteen lighter cruisers, thirty-five torpedo-boat destroyers, and twenty-one submarines. In the year past, she has completed four battle-ships, three battle cruisers, five light cruisers, fifteen destroyers, and three submarines. The British admiralty has also been making investigations among motor boat owners around her coasts of what use could be made of all these small craft in case of war. There seems to be an indescribable feverishness among all the great nations on this question of being prepared for war, for what Great Britain is doing is only illustrative of what all the rest are aiming to do.
The White Slave and Low Wages
THE investigations of the white slave traffic that are going on in so many different parts of the country are eliciting considerable discussion as to the cause of the downfall of so many girls. Low wages in department stores and other lines of business is given as one of the great causes, and much is said to compel these employers to pay better wages. No doubt can enter the intelligent mind in regard to some of the large employers of women paying altogether too low wages. For instance, a big firm in Chicago, which employs 4,732 women, and which had a gain of $7,000,000 last year, and which has $12,000,000 in its reserve fund, paid its women an average of only $9.20 a week, while many of its girls and women got only $5.00 and $5.50.
Clinedinst Photo, Washington, D. C.
New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C. A half dozen or more presidents have worshiped in this church, and it was expected that both Mr. Wilson and Mr. Marshall would attend it, since they are Presbyterians. But they chose instead to go separately to two of the smaller churches.
The girl who has to work for such small wages is almost invariably unprotected by a strong brother or father, and that leaves her open to the wiles of the designing men and women who are constantly looking for girls for immoral purposes.
Some of the women from this underworld have written to the investigating committee in Chicago, while others have testified in person, telling them of the way in which girls in the stores of the great cities are constantly besieged by men. One of these said:
"Girls don't go wrong because they are hungry or because they need clothes. They go wrong because they are tempted by lies and overpowered by the evil in men. They listen to the pretty things that men tell them, and they fail because they think they can trust themselves and trust the tempters."
Another one testifies:
"I was a good girl and I worked in a store. I didn't get much money, but that didn't matter. I lived on $8.00 a week, and would be living like that now—but I met men. They seemed to consider me their prey. And all the time it was fight, fight. They said they wanted to be nice to me, and to take me to the theater and treat me fair, and give me a chance to enjoy life.
"I didn't know men were bad—all bad—where a girl is concerned. I thought only women were bad. I thought all a girl had to do to remain good was to be truthful with herself. God pity women who think that, and who keep their trust in men until it is too late! Every day it was some one else—always smiling at me—always trying to give me a 'fair chance' to be happy. In the street they followed me. These I could avoid—but the 'friends' who hung around! That is the big, big secret of the thing that makes a good girl bad. If they had only left me be, only let me live as I wanted to, I wouldn't have had to slink into the room when your commission was trying to solve things, and wouldn't have had to sit in a corner with my veil down, afraid to look good women in the face."
Copyright by Paul Thompson, N. Y.
These expressions from those unfortunate women give something of an idea of the determination with which men work to accomplish the ruin of girls. It is estimated that 60,000 girls are required each year to recruit the ranks of the prostitutes that are broken down and who go into untimely and very frequently into unknown graves. Leading men and women are raising the note of warning that the vices of Sodom are an impending peril, which is international, and which threatens the extinction of our race.
There are those who will tell us that these conditions have always existed. There is no denial of the truth of that statement; and yet at the same time there is no denying the fact that conditions are getting worse and worse each year. And the worst feature of it all is that such things are practised in the so-called Christian nations of the world. The Author of Christianity proclaims in His word that He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness." We are a long way from being up to the standard called for by the term "Christian nation" so long as we do not have enough moral sentiment to sweep from the earth the awful traffic in girls that is in every part of this land.
The greater part of the sentiment of the country is either in favor of the white slave evil or else is indifferent to it, otherwise the thing could not exist for a moment. It is hard to believe such a thing, but the facts will not warrant any other conclusion. We have the army of men and women who11are engaged in the evil traffic for the gain they get out of it; we have another army of men and women who have properties they rent at high rates to those who are engaged in this traffic in sin; we have another army of officials that get immense sums of bribe money to pay them for protecting prostitution instead of driving it away as is the sworn duty of the officer of the law; and in addition to all these who are interested in the curse of Sodom from a money standpoint, we have the great army of those who are wholly indifferent to the subject. And while we have these conditions, the warnings and entreaties of the comparatively few who are aroused to the danger make but little impression on those invasions of vice that are ruining so many thousands of our young girls, to say nothing of our boys, each year.
While we have such conditions as this, we should be ashamed to call ourselves a Christian nation. There are many thousands of Christian men and women in the nation, it is true; and because of these, conditions are a great deal better than they otherwise would be. But the preponderating numbers of the nation come far short of the ideals and standard of righteousness that belong to the righteous Christ.
T.
Spiritistic Manifestations
By Editor
Helen Keller, the well-known deaf and blind girl, thinks that President Wilson will not be able to accomplish the reforms for which he is working, for the reason that the “interests” will turn aside too many of his supporters.
Photo by Paul Thompson Louis Barthou, France's new prime minister, succeeding Briand. Barthou has served as minister of justice, and also as minister of public works.
The king and queen of Spain. The king very narrowly escaped assassination on April 13. This is the third time he has come near losing his life in this way.
This year Germany celebrates the centenary of her liberation from the yoke of Napoleon. It is believed that the wave of patriotism that will attend the festivities of the celebration will be made use of by the government to induce the Reichstag to pass extraordinary military credits. Germany, together with all the other nations of Europe, is groaning now under the unbearable military burdens. But an unseen power seems to be driving them to assume still greater and more oppressive taxation in order that the war-god may be appeased. In these times of such great military stress and struggle, the words of the prophet of Patmos need often to be reviewed. They read: “And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrising. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. . . . And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Ar-Magedon [margin].” Rev. 16:12-16. An unseen power, according to this text, drives the nations to world-wide war in the last days. That is literally what is being done right now. Can we not see a thing that is so manifest and clear?
Spiritistic Manifestations
ONE of our correspondents of Chetopa, Kansas, Mr. Clinton MacMickle, writes us that there is a phase of Spiritualism that he has never seen in print, which made its appearance in Iowa in the early 50's. The medium claimed that the spirits could give correct answers to any questions propounded. Our informant’s father, who is said to be a logical reasoner, inquired into the why and wherefore of things. He counted the grains of corn in his hand, and at the request of the medium the spirit gave correctly as many raps as there were grains, yet no one but his father knew the number. He then added more without counting, and the spirit hesitated to answer. The medium urged an answer, and it rapped a number, but was far wrong. His father therefore concluded that the spirit could answer correctly the thing that was known by any one present, altho the spirit proved itself a liar by professing to do something which it did not. However, spirits do sometimes give correct answers to things unknown to any one present. Our correspondent thinks that they must have obtained this information by contact with some one not present.
We would say that this mind-reading idea of Spiritualism is not new. It has been mentioned a good many times.
