This is the clear teaching of 1 Corinthians xii. “The body is not one member, but many. 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, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now _hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him_.” (Ver. 14-18.) Here lies the true, the _only_ true source of ministry in the Church of God—the body of Christ. “God hath set the members.” It is not one man appointing another; still less is it a man appointing himself. It is divine appointment or nothing, yea, worse than nothing—a daring usurpation of divine rights. Now, looking at the subject in the light of that marvelous illustration of 1 Corinthians xii, what sense would there be in the feet charging the hands, or the ears charging the eyes, with taking too much upon them? Would not the notion be preposterous in the extreme? True, those members occupy a prominent place in the body; but why do they? Because “God has set them there as it pleased Him.” And what are they doing in that prominent place? They are doing the work which God has given them to do. And to what end? The good of the whole body. There is not a single member, however obscure, that does not derive positive benefit from the duly discharged functions of the prominent member. And, on the other hand, the prominent member is a debtor to the duly discharged functions of the obscure one. Let the eyes lose their power of vision, and every member will feel it; let there be functional derangement in the most trivial member, and the most honorable member will suffer. Hence, therefore, it is not a question of taking upon us much or little, but of doing our appointed work, and filling our appointed place. It is by the effectual working of all the members, according to the measure of every part, that the edification of the whole body is promoted. If this great truth be not seized and carried out, edification, so far from being promoted, is most positively hindered; the Holy Ghost is quenched and grieved; the sovereign rights of Christ are denied; and God is dishonored. Every Christian is responsible to act on this divine principle, and to testify against every thing that practically denies it. The fact of the ruin of the professing church is no reason whatever for abandoning the truth of God, or sanctioning any denial of it. The Christian is always solemnly bound to submit himself to the revealed mind of God. To plead circumstances as an excuse for doing wrong, or for neglecting any truth of God, is simply flying in the face of divine authority, and making God the author of our disobedience.