Page:A Beacon to the Society of Friends.djvu/123

 sanctified in Christ Jesus—called saints—enriched in every thing—in all utterance and all knowledge—behind in no gift—called unto the fellowship of Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom the Apostle was writing concerning spiritual gifts; and plainly in the seventh verse, refers to the proper use of the divers gifts conferred by the Spirit. And there is no more reason why we should suppose every man in the seventh verse means all mankind, than we should conclude all mankind are meant in the eleventh verse.—"All these worketh that one and the self same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will;" an error which none appear to fall into.

"Every candid person, on attentively reading the whole chapter, can hardly fail to be convinced, that the purpose of the Apostle was, to urge the faithful exercise of the several gifts he describes; and to show that whoever was entrusted with any particular gift, and of whatever nature it might be, as all the gifts proceeded from the same Spirit, every man was to consider his gift, not as a private possession, of something for his own benefit, but as an endowment for the benefit of the church, that all might be profited; and that the church might be edified, [built up] whether by Apostles, prophets, teachers, or workers of miracles. And that no such doctrine was here intended, as that "a portion of the Spirit is given to every rational creature:" in contradiction of the express testimony of Christ, John, xiv. 17. "Whom the world cannot receive."

How necessary is it for us to regard the object of the writer, before we fix the meaning of the words which he uses: the adjectives and, seem especially to require the exercise of this caution. Take, as