Article January 13, 1912 Issue

THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT

MARY H. W. CARTER.

In his second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul, after exhorting the brethren to bountiful and cheerful almsgiving, closes with the words, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." Immediately the human mind queries, What is this wonderful gift for which the apostle so earnestly returns thanks?

Many references are made in the Bible to the gift which God has bestowed upon His children, and according to the measure of spiritual understanding possessed by the authors of the sacred books is the meaning of this gift interpreted. To the Preacher, saddened by his unsuccessful search for wisdom and happiness, the material good which comes as the result of diligent work is this gift of the Father. "Every man," he says, "should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God." "Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, ... and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God." As spiritual discernment increased, the apostolic writers were, however, led to look beyond the fleeting and the temporal for the meaning of this precious gift. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above," said James, and Peter urged the multitude to repentance that they might "receive the gift of the Holy Ghost;" also in his scathing rebuke to Simon the magician, who sought to buy from the disciples the secret of their power, Peter said: "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money."

In St. Paul's epistles we find the most frequent and definite references to this all-to-be-desired gift. "Covet earnestly the best gifts," is his counsel to the Corinthians; "Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee," is his command to his disciple Timothy, and his epistle to the Romans abounds in passages of similar import. In the fifth chapter he emphasizes the fact that this gift is free, "the gift by grace," and in the following chapter he says plainly and definitely, "The gift of God is eternal life." Reviewing briefly the events of Paul's dramatic career, one recalls the earnestness and zeal which characterized him even when persecuting the early Christians, the vision whose splendor blinded him on the road to Damascus, followed by the overwhelming expansion of consciousness, the realization of life eternal, the revelation of the Christ, the great basic truth of man's immortal birthright: "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." This, then, was that gift which, transcending the limitations of mortal speech, filled his heart with gratitude and thanksgiving and which he longed to bring to the consciousness of his brethren.

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