Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1912-05-30

1'F 0FAATHEA a. ARANEN-A1h u
united q the body OF Christ. and
thereby becomes a member. Each
member has some function TO per
form, Just a. the hand or eye has In
the physical body. ITO every man his
work"
TO perform. so also he has some gift,
for the great head OF the church Toes
not expect the members to serve
without a capacity for service. The
manifestation OF the spirit In given
70 every man." Il Cor. 12:D.
Every believer is bound 10 believe
that he has some spiritual gifts. ever
II he has not discovered Il, and ever
II other people think and say that he
has none. God says he has. and that
settles IL, and the humblest believer
will hnd. II he Is willing to wait. and
work. and pray. that Gods promise is
true.
When Dwight l. Moody was exam
med for church membership one OF
the deacons went home and told his
family. that Of all the people whom
he had ever examined. young Moody
was about the most unpromising.
Events proved that Gods promises are
reliable than a deacon's iudg-
ment.
The spiritual gifts which believers
receive are not of their own selec-
ton. but are such as God chooses to
confer upon them. Dividing to ev-
cry man s%everally as he will" God
hath set the members every one Of
them in the body as II hath pleased
him" q Cor. 1911, Is).
Spiritual gifts are not conferred on
us for our own benefit. but for the
perfecting Of the saints. for the work
Of the ministry. for the edifying OF the
body OF Christ" (Eph. 4:12). Too oft
en- this Is forgotten, and many a fee
BILE church has unemployed talent
enough in its membership to make It
a mighty spiritual power. II only its
members would exercise their gifts.
l. Many Christians question serious
ly whether they have any spiritual
gift. and the devil encourages them
In this belief. So long as he can keep
them inactive in the masters service,
they give him little trouble. As a
rule this notion arises from the fact
that they have never attempted any
kind of Christian work. They have
never tried earnestly to meet any
spiritual need. and hence they do not
Ernu -kuf sk.w -
would never know that it could swim
II II did not attempt II.
Gifts Are Different.
1t is a great mistake to suppose that
all spiritual gifts are necessarily gifts
OF speech. BY no means. What a
misfortune It would be II the body of
Christ we're all mouth, Let IL never
be forgotten that the eye and the ear.
the hand and the foot are Just as i'm
portant as the mouth. Romans
l2:6-15 shows what a great variety of
gifts the spirit confers on the mem
bers of the body. Among them is
eheerfulness. hatred of evil, patience
In suffering, prayerfulness, and hospi-
tality. The fact is that many spirit
ual gifts are not recognized as such.
About W years ago l was present
at a football game between Yale and
Princeton. On the grand stand were
nearly twenty thousand people. Di-
rectly back OF me sat a young lady
accompanied by a gentleman. She
was n OF those healthy. happy girls
that aarrxy uR.ahF1. r-EtL 81 II
ever they go. Whenever a good play
was made, she gave rem to her en-
thusiasm in the heartiest manner
Finally. a Yale a caught the ball
and, making a fine end play, he ran
down the field in triumph. Springtng
TO her feet, she threw up her hat, o a
and everything about her that was
loose, and shouted. "oh. I am SO glad
| was born"
The young man seemed equally
glad, and | am frank to confess that
| shared his sentimental Such splen-
did enthusiasm, What would It be
worth to the cause Of Christ, How
It would inspire a church, or put new
life into a dead prayer meeting, or
make even drudgery seem delightful.
You may not have the gift Of en-
thusiasm, but perhaps you have cour-
g to attempt hard things, or a pa
thence that never tires, or a cheerful
ness that Is contagious, or the faculty
OF making others see things as you do.
or the gift of approaching other peo-
pies good qualities. which is one of
the finest Of all. You certainly have
some gift, for God says so.
H. How can one ascertain what his
gifts are? By going to work for
Christ. As a rule no one knows what
gifts he possesses until he begins to
use them.
Unless we employ our gifts. they
will be taken from us, for the law
which governs all u faculties Is this
use them or lose them. Mr.. Charles
Darwin in early life was very fond of
poetry, and passionately fond of mu-
sic. He became interested in natural
science, and eventually devoted his
life TO IL. In his last years he testi-
fed that his scientific studies mad 80
completely changed his tastes that he
no longer cared for poetry. and. music
caused him positive torture. In other
words. he had lost certain gifts by
disuse.