in him who is servant of all.
Ministry to be rightly discharged needs spiritual character. The
original seven were men 'full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,' though
all they had to do was to hand their pittances to poor widows. It may
be difficult to decide for what reason other than the emphasising of
this contrast the Apostle links together ministry and prophecy, and
so breaks a natural sequence which would have connected the second
pair of graces with the first member of the first pair. We should
have expected that here, as elsewhere, 'prophet,' 'teacher,'
'exhorter,' would have been closely connected, and there seems no
reason why they should not have been so, except that which we have
suggested, namely, the wish to bring together the highest and
the lowest forms of service.

The second pair seem to be linked together by likeness. The 'teacher'
probably had for his function, primarily, the narration of the facts
of the Gospel, and the setting forth in a form addressed chiefly to
the understanding the truths thereby revealed; whilst the 'exhorter'
rather addressed himself to the will, presenting the same truth, but
in forms more intended to influence the emotions. The word here
rendered 'exhort' is found in Paul's writings as bearing special
meanings, such as consoling, stimulating, encouraging, rebuking and
others. Of course these two forms of service would often be
associated, and each would be imperfect when alone; but it would
appear that in the early Church there were persons in whom the one or
the other of these two elements was so preponderant that their office
was thereby designated. Each received a special gift from the one
Source. The man who could only say to his brother, 'Be of good
cheer,' was as much the recipient of the Spirit as the man who could
connect and elaborate a systematic presentation of the truths of the
Gospel.

These four graces are followed by a group of three, which may be
regarded as being more private, as not pointing to permanent offices
so much as to individual acts. They are 'giving,' 'ruling,' 'showing
pity,' concerning which we need only note that the second of these
can hardly be the ecclesiastical office, and that it stands between
two which are closely related, as if it were of the same kind. The
gifts of money, or of direction, or of pity, are one in kind. The
right use of wealth comes from the gift of God's grace; so does the
right use of any sway which any of us have ove