feeds his followers upon the husks in mistake for the true wheat, shall they

not starve?  If he leads them to put their trust in the observance of days,

months, weeks, years, sabbath days, meats and drinks (which are but shadows

of the true), must they not miss the mark?  'If the blind lead the blind,

both shall fall into the ditch'.  So important is keenness of vision for the

eastern guide, that no one was permitted by the Arabs to be a guide who could

not discern certain double stars, which to the ordinary town -dweller appear

as one.  As guides we need to see our path clearly, to discern the leading of

the Lord, and to distinguish the shadows from the substance.  The gatherer,

we found, was a title that could be borne by a shepherd.  So also a shepherd

can be a guide:

'But made His own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the

wilderness like a flock' (Psa. 78:52).

Looking to the Lord for guidance as we seek to guide others, we observe that

He 'guides the feet into the way of peace' (Luke 1:79).  If we read the cry

of the Ethiopian eunuch, and Philip's response to it, we shall not be in

doubt as to the character of the true guide:

'Understandest thou what thou readest?  And he said, How can I, except

some man should guide me? ... Then Philip opened his mouth, and began

at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus' (Acts 8:30 -35).

This, then, is the essential difference between the blind guides and

the true.  The blind guides cannot see that all Scripture points to Christ,

and so they lose themselves in shadows.  The true guide will always 'begin at

the same Scripture' and preach Jesus!

What is the earliest title of service recorded in the Scriptures?

Surely it is the word 'help':

'And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I

will make him an help meet for him' (Gen. 2:18).

In Eve we have our first symbol of service, 'the helper'.  And in Adam

we have the second, for although the word 'husbandman' is not actually used

of him, we know that this was what he became, out of sheer necessity, after

his expulsion from the garden: 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat

bread' (Gen. 3:19).  So, at the very beginning of the Scriptures, we find the

'helper' and the 'husbandman' linked together.

In 1 Corinthians 12 the apostle enumerates a number of spiritual gifts:

'God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets,

thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps,

governments, diversities of tongues' (1 Cor. 12:28).

The gift of 'helps' to the church is seen from this passage to be a

comparatively lowly one, but the apostle has already warned us against

lightly esteeming the lowly members of the body.  Miracles may be more

impressive, but in their absence how grateful we should be for a little help.

We cannot all have the highest and most important gifts.  Shall we do nothing

because we cannot be apostles?  Shall we fail to teach because we cannot

prophesy?  Shall we refuse help because we cannot work miracles?  The first