Fifthly: While the phenomena under consideration were unquestionably believed both by St. Paul and the Corinthian Church to be supernatural manifestations, yet it is a supernaturalism which differs in its entire aspect and character from any other which has been believed in by man. We may wander over the entire regions of history and fable, and we shall fail to find any belief in the supernatural, bearing the smallest resemblance to it. It is most definitely contrasted with that which has been ascribed to the contemporaries of our Lord; and which I have considered in the earlier portions of this work. Whence has come this most striking contrast? If St. Paul and the members of the Corinthian Church were a prey to the superstitious beliefs above referred to, how was it possible for them to have considered themselves to be living in the midst of an atmosphere which presented so marvellous a contrast. The gifts, if real, were precisely suited to the wants of the Church, for building it up into the great institution which it became. It required accessions to its numbers from the populations in the midst of which it lived. The two miraculous gifts, even if they were not evidential, were fitted to draw attention to its claims. Collected as its members were from Judaism and Heathenism, without sufficient means for their definite instruction, those who performed this office were qualified for it by two gifts conferring various degrees of enlightenment. Then there was the prophet, who as an inspired preacher expounded and enforced the truths of Christianity. Its members were ill‐qualified for public offices, owing to the low condition of the society from which they sprang. Here again were two mental endowments to supply the need, the power of discerning spirits and the supernatural gift of faith. All these gifts here enumerated, were the very endowments suited for the building up of a body of converts taken from such unpromising sources, into the great society to which it speedily grew. A new society had to be formed of a wholly different character from any previously existing. It was designed to leaven by new influences the state of religious, moral, and political thought out of which it originated. The old social organization met it with determined opposition. The problem was how was it to be erected on such a basis as would give it permanence? The Church of Jesus Christ was to be a new moral creation in the midst of effete society. An extensive communication of endowments, such as are referred to in the Pauline Epistles, was the very thing which was requisite to accomplish this purpose. It came into existence; it grew; it struggled; it conquered; it subverted the old forms of civilization; it created new ones. These are facts which require to be accounted for. The forces referred to in these Epistles as in active energy before the eyes of St. Paul and the members of these Churches, were adequate to have effected this.