'Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that
is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according
to the proportion of faith; 7. Or ministry, let us wait on
our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8. Or he
that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do
it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that
showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.'--ROMANS xii. 6-8.
The Apostle here proceeds to build upon the great thought of the
unity of believers in the one body a series of practical
exhortations. In the first words of our text, he, with characteristic
delicacy, identifies himself with the Roman Christians as a
recipient, like them, of 'the grace that is given to us,' and as,
therefore, subject to the same precepts which he commends to them. He
does not stand isolated by the grace that is given to him; nor does
he look down as from the height of his apostleship on the multitude
below, saying to them,--Go. As one of themselves he stands amongst
them, and with brotherly exhortation says,--Come. If that had been
the spirit in which all Christian teachers had besought men, their
exhortations would less frequently have been breath spent in vain.
We may note