September 20

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. - 1 Corinthians 12:4.

MEN have always been wishing for uniformity; and, in religious concerns, how many have been sacrificed to that Moloch! While men have always been seeking after uniformity, God has always been producing variety. There is variety in the heaven of heavens,-cherubim and seraphim, angels and archangels, thrones and dominions, principalities and powers. There is variety in the skies:-“One star differeth from another star in glory.” There is variety in the seasons,-morning and evening, summer and winter, spring and autumn. There is variety in the productions of the earth,-in the forest, the field, and the garden. It would be strange, therefore, indeed, if we had nothing but sameness and equality and uniformity in the church of God. But it is otherwise: there are differences,-numerous differences.

If the subjects of divine grace are examined, there will be found differences among them. There are differences in their natural talents: one excels in memory, another in judgment, another in speech. There are differences in their natural tempers: some are sanguine and warm, others are cold and phlegmatic; some are bold as a lion, others are timid as a dove. In this view, what a difference was there between the severe Toplady and the candid Doddridge,-between the rough Knox and the mild Leighton, -between the forward Peter and the retiring John! There are differences in their very graces too: we have more zeal in one, more humility in another, more resignation in a third, more liberality in a fourth, and so of the rest. One is weak in faith, another is strong; one has a trembling hope, another possesses the “full assurance of hope:” yet all are partakers of His grace.

There are differences in their destinations, in their appointments, in their functions. One man is called to do a public work, and a public work requires great talents and strong passions, and he is furnished with them; another is called to move in private and domestic life, and he is fitted by those gentle qualities which embellish and adorn it. Now, let us observe what use the apostle makes of this diversity in the church of God. He applies it to two purposes. The first is to encourage those who feel that they are not what others are, but are yet parts of the same body too. “If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, is it therefore not of the body?” And then he applied it also to prevent pride and disdain among those who view others as not equal to themselves. “The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor, again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you.”

Let us, then, operate according to our position, according to the functions to which God hath called us, according to our ability and our opportunity.