Page images
PDF
EPUB

effect would certainly follow, yet that faith was not required to the working of all miracles: Though the Spirit never disappointed that faith, yet he might and did work above and without it; and therefore the gifts of faith and miracles might well be distinguished.

These miraculous works had wonderful effects, and proeured great regard to the apostles and their doctrine; and were much for the honour of the Holy Spirit, who is declared to be the prime efficient cause of them, for from him the power of working them was derived, as the scriptures expressly declare a. Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, did great miracles among the people; and so did Philip at Samaria; and the people, with one accord, gave heed to his preaching of Christ, hearing and seeing the miracles he did. The ministration of the Spirit must needs be glorious, as it was attended with such excellent gifts and euch visible wonderful works as shewed all nature to be at his command, and under his controul.

6. Prophecy was another gift of the Holy Spirit, which gave a beauty and glory to this dispensation. Christ had promised that when the Spirit came he should shew things to come b. By prophecy, some understand every extraordinary and eminent gift of understanding the divine will, whether as to things past, present, or to come. Agabus, and the four daughters of Philip, had the spirit of prophecy; so had Paul and the rest of the apostles, and many of the primitive Christians. And when under the particular influence of the Holy Ghost, they spoke by exhortation, to edification and comfort in the explication and application of scripture, it is called prophesying e; and it is ordered to be according to the analogy or proportion of faith. Paul, by the spirit of prophecy, foretold the casting off, and recalling of the Jews, and the bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles d: The prophets at Antioch pointed out the persons whom the Holy Ghost would employ

a Acts vi. 8.; vii 5, 6.

c1 Cor. xiv. 3.-Rom. xii. 7.

b John xvi. 13.

d Acts xiii. 1-3.

in calling the Gentiles: Timothy was constituted an evangelist a, according to prophecy. St. John foretold the mystery of the beast, the persecuted and glorious state of the church before and at the end of time. Prophecy, in this comprehensive sense, was a very excellent and useful gift, and rendered the ministration of the Spirit, from whom it came, very glorious.

[ocr errors]

7. Discerning of spirits is another work and gift of the Holy Spirit. There were many false prophets in the primitive times; Satan did all he could to puzzle and confound the Christian cause, and sent many to mimic and resemble the true prophets, so that it was not easy, at first, to distinguish the true prophets from the false ones: As an antidote against this evil, the Holy Spirit furnished some with a power of distinguishing true prophets and prophecies from all counterfeits. There b was a power of discerning the secrets of the heart through all disguises, and detecting false pretenders to inspiration, or to a gracious work upon the heart. Thus Peter c

perceived Simon Magus to be in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity; and Paul detected Elymas the false prophet; for being filled with the Holy Ghost, he set his eyes on him, as a token, it may be, of the inward sight and view which he had' of him, and said, 'O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?' That Spirit who searches all things, could easily discover the state and the designs of men, to such of his servants as he saw fit to entrust with this gift; and this was another wonderful work and gift of the Spirit, suited to the preservation of the church from the ill effects of fraud and deceit, and to the conviction of others; for the secrets of men's hearts being thus made manifest, they are brought to confess, that God is in and with his servants of a truth d.

8. Divers kinds of tongues are mentioned as another mira

a 1 Tim. i. 18.

c Acts viii. 21–23.; xiii. 9, 10.

b Cor. xiv. 25.

d 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25.

culous work and gift of the Spirit. This was a wonderful thing, and what filled the first auditors with amazement, to hear ignorant and unlearned men, who had never studied the languages, speak them with the greatest propriety and fluency. This gift was, indeed, a sign that God was with them a, and was very proper for them who were to teach all nations, but could not have done it, if they could not have conversed with them in their several languages. What few men now attain with many years study and labour, these primitive teachers received in a moment, by the teachings of the Holy Spirit, who made them better linguists in a minute, than other men are by the painful labours of a whole life.

9. The last gift, or work of the Spirit in the apostle's list, is the interpretation of tongues: An ability to render any language into another that was understood by the people; as the turning Hebrew or Greek into Latin, for the sake of such as understood Latin, but understood neither of the other languages: This, I think, is the most natural sense of the expression; though some would carry it farther, and would have us understand an explication of the things or doctrines delivered in the unknown language, as well as giving the true sense and signification of the words, in a language understood by those for whom the translation was made. It was doubtless of excellent use and service in the church, to have the inspir ed discourses of the first preachers, delivered in one language to a mixed multitude, where many did not understand it, interpreted to them by the infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost, who knows all languages, and enabled some of his servants to help and assist the rest this way.

These, with other miraculous gifts, were plentifully bestowed on the primitive churches; the church at Corinth, in particular, was full of them; they spoke with tongues, they prayed, they prophesied, they interpreted, they blessed with the Spirit, or by his assistance: When they came together, every one had a doctrine, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation b; b 1 Cor. xiv. 14, 16, 26.; vi. 5, 6. ; xii. 12.

a 1 Cor. xiv. 22.

they were enriched in all utterance, and in all knowledge, so as that they came behind in no gift, and were not inferior to any of the other churches; which strongly implies that these gifts abounded in the other churches also. Had we lived in those times, and seen and heard the fore-mentioned things, what high thoughts of the Holy Spirit must it have raised in us? And how fully should we have been convinced that this ministration of the Spirit was far more glorious than any dispensation that went before it?

And thus I have gone through another part of the Spirit's work relating to his glorious coming at Pentecost, and the wonderful gifts and works that attended and followed it. Many exclude the Holy Spirit from any concern in their religion; there are some who deny his Deity, others who disown his divine Personality, many who disbelieve or despise his Works, but how groundless and guilty a conduct is this, if we consider his works of creation and providence, of prophecy and inspiration, of miracles, and on Christ's human nature, and when he came after Christ's ascension, and imparted his gifts, as the sun his glittering rays, throughout the world, even the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning spirits, divers tongues, and the interpretation of them.

VIII. I shall now add a brief consideration of his work relating to the institution and success of the gospel-ministry.

Paul a has told us, that he and his brethren were ministers of the Spirit; and that the Holy Ghost had made the elders of the church at Ephesus overseers or bishops. Clement b of Rome has told us, "That the apostles going forth in the full

a 2 Cor. iii. 6.-Acts xx. 28.

* Οι ἀπόςολοι - παραγγελίας λάβοντεσ κ πληροφορηθέντες διὰ τῆς ἀνατάσεως το κυρίς ἡμῶν Ιησέ Χρισέ, κ πιςωθεντες εν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ Θεῷ μετὰ πληροφορίας πνέυματΘ ἁγίᾳ, ἐξῆλθὸν ἐυαγγελιζομενοι την βασίλειαν το Θε8 μέλλειν ἔρχειν. Κατὰ χώρας ἐν κ πόλεις κηρύσσοντες καθέςανον τὰς απαρχὰς ἀυτῶν, δοκιμάσαντες τῷ πνεύματι ἐις ἐπισκόπες κ διακόνες τῶν μiλλóvTWV Wisive.-Clement. Epist. i. c. xlii. p. 170.

persuasion of the Holy Ghost, preached the gospel, and ordained, to be bishops and deacons, those who were the first fruits of their ministry, having made proof and trial of their spirits." And the apostle John set such apart for the ministry, in the churches of Asia, as were pointed out by the Spirit, as Clement of Alexandria observes a.

When Christ ascended up on high, he gave gifts to men b; the first and great gift was that of the Spirit, and from and by that Spirit the church received other great gifts, as apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers for the work of the ministry, and the edifying the body of Christ. When Christ, in his forty days conversation with his disciples after his resurrection, gave them commandments relating to the ministry and worship of the church, it is expressly said, That he gave those commandments by the Holy Ghost c:* And afterwards, on a special occasion, he gave commandment to separate to him Barnabas and Saul to the work whereto he had called them d; and they were sent forth by the Holy Ghost. The elders at Ephesus, who were ordinary officers of the church, were made overseers by the Holy Ghost, as was hinted before.

The institution of the gospel-ministry is then the work of the Holy Ghost; and as he appointed it at first, so he continues it in the church to the end of time; not by flux of extraordinary miraculous powers, as at first, but by a supply of gifts and grace in an ordinary way; such as the ministers of Christ have received from him in every age, since miracles have ceased. This was long since solemnly promised in those remarkable words; My Spirit which is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of

ὁ Επειδὴ τῇ τυράννε τελευτήσαντα, ἀπὸ της Πατμα της νήσε [ο Ιωάννης] μετῆλθεν επί την Εφεσον, απήει παρακαλέμενΘ κ επὶ τὰ πλησιόχωρα τῶν ἐθνών, ὅπε μὲν επισκόπες καταςήσων, ὅπε δε ὅλες εκκλησίας ἁρμόσων, ὕπε δε κλῆρον ἕνα τέ τινα κλήρώσων ἀπὸ τὸ πνεύματΘ σημαινομένων Clement. Al. de Salvabilitate divitum, c. xlii. p. 959.

Eph. iv. 8-13.

c Acts i. 2.

d Acts xiii. 2.

« PreviousContinue »