*  *  *  whoever  in  the  spirit  saith.  Give  me  money
or  something  else,  ye  shall  not  hear  him."

Thus  far  we  have  considered  only  the  work  of
spreading  the  gospel  and  building  up  the  church  in  the
faith.    But  how  about  the  administration  of  the  affairs


362  THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE

of  the  local  cliurcli?  Who  were  the  officers  to  whom
this  was  entrusted?  Here  Paul's  list  gives  us  little
aid,  though  ^^  helps  and  governments  "  are  gifts  out  of
the  use  of  which  offices  may  arise.  In  the  heginniug
the  only  person  outside  its  own  memhership  to  whom
a  church  can  look  for  counsel  and  direction,  is  the
apostle  who  founded  it;  and  though  he  retains  his
fatherly  interest  in  it,  he  is  seldom  where  he  can  be
consulted.  Eeally  there  is  very  little  need  at  first  of
any  officers.  Any  member  can  baptize  or,  if  he  has  the
gift,  can  teach  and  preach;  there  is  no  church  build-
ing; the  gatherings  for  worship  are  most  informal;
discipline,  as  we  shall  see,  is  administered  by  the  whole
little  group  of  believers ;  there  are  no  funds  to  be  cared
for.  Organization  comes  later,  as  the  church  develops ;
and  it  arises  out  of  special  needs.  And  in  forming  it,
the  pattern  is  naturally  some  organization  with  which
the  believers  are  already  familiar, — the  synagognie  for
Jewish- Christians,  the  club  of  some  sort  for  Gentile
converts.  Bearing  in  mind  that  church  government  is
a  gradual  development  based  on  need,  shaped  some-
what by  environment,  and  with  dignity  of  service  ac-
cording to  special  gifts,  we  can  conjecture  its  probable
rise,  though  no  exact  dates  can  be  assigned  because
some  churches  would  progress  much  faster  than  others.
