as to God himself as his Children unto Jesus Christ as his Members unto all Saints and Angels in the Families of God above and below and are called to many new Works Duties and Uses which before they knew nothing of They are brought into a new World erected by the New Creation and which way soever they look or turn themselves they say Old things are past away behold all things are become new So it is with every one that is made a New Creature in Christ Jesus 2 Cor. 5. 17. In this state and condition wherein a Man hath new Principles put within him new Relations contracted about him new Duties presented unto him and a new Deportment in all things required of him How shall he be able to behave himself aright and answer the condition and holy station wherein he is placed This no Man can do of himself for who is sufficient for these things Wherefore 2. IN this state God owns them and communicates unto them his Holy Spirit to fit them for their Relations to enable them unto their Duties to act their new Principles and every way to discharge the Work they are called unto even as their Head the Lord Christ was unto his God doth not now give unto them the Spirit of Fear but of Power of Love and of a sound Mind 2 Tim. 1. 7. And hereby doth God Seal them For 1. HEREBY he gives his Testimony unto them that they are his owned by him accepted with him his Sons or Children which is his Seal For if they were not so he would never have given his Holy Spirit unto them And herein consists the greatest Testimony that God doth give and the only Seal that he doth set unto any in this World That this is Gods Testimony and Seal the Apostle Peter proveth Acts 15. 8 9. For on the debate of that Question Whether God approved and accepted of the humble Believers although they observed not the Rites of Moses he confirmeth that he did with this Argument God saith he which knoweth their Hearts bare them Witness How did he do it How did he set his Seal to them as his Saith he By giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us Hereby God gives Testimony unto them And lest any should suppose that it was only the Gifts and Miraculous Operations of the Holy Ghost which he had respect unto so as that this Sealing of God should consist therein alone he adds that his Gracious Operations also were no less an effect of this Witness which God gave unto them And put no difference between us and them purifying their Hearts by Faith This therefore is that whereby God giveth his Testimony unto Believers namely when he Seals them with his Spirit or by the Communication of the Holy Spirit unto them And this he doth in two Respects For 2. THIS is that whereby he giveth Believers Assurance of their Relation unto him of their Interest in him of his Love and Favour to them It hath been generally conceived that this Sealing with the Spirit is that which gives Assurance unto Believers and so indeed it doth although the way whereby it doth it hath not been rightly apprehended And therefore none have been able to declare the especial Nature of that Act of the Spirit whereby he Seals us whence such Assurance should ensue But it is indeed not any Act of the Spirit in us that is the Ground of our Assurance but the Communication of the Spirit unto us This the Apostle plainly testifieth 1 John 3. 24. Hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us That God abideth in us and we in him is the subject matter of our Assurance This we know saith the Apostle which expresseth the highest Assurance we are capable of in this World And how do we know it Even by the Spirit which he hath given unto us But it may be the sence of these words may be that the Spirit which God gives us doth by some especial Work of his effect this Assurance in us and so it is not his being given unto us but some especial Work of his in us that is the Ground of our Assurance and consequently our Sealing I do not deny such an especial Work of the Spirit as shall be afterwards declared but I judge that it is the Communication of the Spirit himself unto us that is here intended For so the Apostle declares his sence to be Chap. 4. 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in God and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit This is the great Evidence the great Ground of Assurance which we have that God hath taken us into a near and dear Relation unto himself because he hath given us of his Spirit that great and Heavenly Gift which he will impart unto no others And indeed on this one Hinge depends the whole Case of that Assurance which Believers are capable of If the Spirit of God dwell in us we are his But if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8 9. Hereon alone depends the Determination of our especial Relation unto God By this therefore doth God Seal Believers and therein gives them Assurance of his Love And this is to be the sole Rule of your self-Examination whether you are Sealed of God or no. 3. HEREBY God evidenceth them unto the World which is another End of sealing He marks them so hereby for his own as that the World cannot but in general take notice of them For where God sets this Seal in the Communication of his Spirit it will so operate and produce such Effects as shall fall under the Observation of the World As it did in the Lord Christ so also will it do in Believers according unto their measure And there are two ways whereby Gods sealing doth evidence them unto the World The one is by the Effectual Operation of the Spirit communicated unto them both in Gifts and Graces Though the World is blinded with Prejudices and under the Power of a prevalent Enmity against spiritual things yet it cannot but discover what a Change is made in the most of those whom God thus sealeth and how by the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit which they hate they are differenced from other Men. And this is that which keeps up the difference and enmity that is in the World between the Seeds For Gods sealing of Believers with his Spirit evidenceth his especial Acceptance of them which fills the Hearts of them who are acted with the Spirit of Cain with Hatred and Revenge Hence many think that the respect which God had unto the Sacrifice of Abel was testified by some visible sign which Cain also might take notice of And there was an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the kindling of his Sacrifice by Fire from Heaven which was the Type and Resemblance of the Holy Ghost as hath been shewed All other Causes of difference are capable
with undeniable Efficacy but his Assumption into Heaven testified unto his Person with an astonishing Glory 2. IT was necessary with respect unto the Humane Nature it self that after all its Labours and Sufferings it might be crowned with Honour and Glory He was to suffer and enter into his Glory Luk. 24 26. Some dispute whether Christ in his Humane Nature merited any thing for himself or no but not to immix our selves in the Niceties of that Enquiry it is unquestionable that the highest Glory was due to him upon his accomplishment of the Work committed unto him in this World which he therefore lays claim to accordingly Joh. 17. 4 5. It was so 3. WITH respect unto the Glorious Administration of his Kingdom For as his Kingdom is not of this World so it is not only over this World or the whole Creation here below The Angels of Glory those Principalities and Powers above are subject unto him and belong unto his Dominion Eph. 1. 21. Phil. 2. 9 10. Among them attended with their ready Service and Obedience unto all his Commands doth he exercise the Powers of his glorious Kingdom And they would but degrade Him from his Glory without the least Advantage unto themselves who would have him forsake his high and glorious Throne in Heaven to come and reign among them on the Earth unless they suppose themselves more meet Attendants on his Regal Dignity than the Angels themselves who are mighty in Strength and Glory SECONDLY The Presence of the Humane Nature of Christ in Heaven was necessary with respect unto Us. The Remainder of his Work with God on our behalf was to be carried on by Intercession Heb. 7. 26 27. And whereas this Intercession consisteth in the Vertual Representation of his Oblation or of himself as a Lamb slain in Sacrifice it could not be done without his continual Appearing in the Presence of God Heb. 9. 24. The other Part of the Work of Christ respects the Church or Believers as its immediate Object So in particular doth his comforting and supporting of them This is that Work which in a peculiar manner is committed and entrusted unto the Holy Spirit after the Departure of the Humane Nature of Christ into Heaven But two things are to be observed concerning it 1. That whereas this whole Work consisteth in the Communication of Spiritual Light Grace and Joy to the Souls of Believers it was no less the immediate Work of the Holy Ghost whilst the Lord Christ was upon the Earth than it is now he is absent in Heaven Only during the time of his Conversation here below in the days of his Flesh his holy Disciples looked on him as the only Spring and Foundation of all their Consolation their only Support Guide and Protector as they had just Cause to do They had yet no insight into the Mystery of the Dispensation of the Spirit nor was he yet so given or poured out as to evidence himself and his Operation unto their Souls Wherefore they looked on themselves as utterly undone when their Lord and Master began to acquaint them with his leaving of them No sooner did he tell them of it but Sorrow filled their Hearts Joh. 16. 6. Wherefore he immediately lets them know that this great Work of relieving them from all their Sorrows and Fears of dispelling their Disconsolations and supporting them under their Trouble was committed to the Holy Ghost and would by him be performed in so eminent a manner as that his Departure from them would be unto their Advantage Ver. 7. Wherefore the Holy Spirit did not then first begin really and effectually to be the Comforter of Believers upon the Departure of Christ from his Disciples but he is then first promised so to be upon a double Account 1. Of the Fall Declaration and Manifestation of it So things are often said in the Scripture then to be when they do appear and are made manifest An eminent lustance hereof we have in this Case John 7. 38 39. The Disciples had hitherto looked for all immediately from Christ in the Flesh the Dispensation of the Spirit being hid from them But now this also was to be manifested unto them Hence the Apostle affirms that though we have known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth we know him no more 2 Cor. 1. 16. That is so as to look for Grace and Consolation immediately from him in the Flesh as it is evident the Apostles did before they were instructed in this unknown Office of the Holy Ghost 2. Of the full Exhibition and eminent Communication of Him unto this End This in every kind was reserved for the Exaltation of Christ when he received the Promise of the Spirit from the Father and poured it out upon his Disciples 2. THE Lord Christ doth not hereby cease to be the Comforter of his Church For what he doth by his Spirit he doth by himself He is with us unto the end of the World by his Spirit being with us and he dwelleth in us by the Spirit dwelling in us and whatever else is done by the Spirit is done by him And it is so upon a Three-fold Account For 1 The Lord Christ as Mediator is God and Man in One Person and the Divine Nature is to be consider'd in all his Mediatory Operations For he who worketh them is God and he worketh them all as God-Man whence they are Theandrical And this is proposed unto us in the greatest Acts of his Humiliation which the Divine Nature in it self is not formally capable of So God redeemed his Church with his own Blood Acts 20. 28. Inasmuch as he who was in the form of God and thought it no Robbery to be equal with God humbled himself and became obedient unto Death the Death of the Cross Phil. 2. 6 7 8. Now in this respect the Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit are one in Nature Essence Will and Power As he said of the Father I and my Father are one John 10. 30. So it is with the Spirit he and the Spirit are One. Hence all the Works of the Holy Spirit are his also as his Works were the Works of the Father and the Works of the Father were his All the Operations of the Holy Trinity as to things external unto their Divine Subsistence being individed So is the Work of the Holy Spirit in the Consolation of the Church his Work also 2 BECAUSE the Holy Spirit in this Condescention unto Office acts for Christ and in his Name So the Son acted for and in the Name of the Father where he every where ascribed what he did unto the Father in a peculiar manner The Word saith he which you hear is not mine but the Fathers which sent me John 14. 24. It is his originally and eminently because as spoken by the Lord Christ he was said by him to speak it So are those Acts of the Spirit whereby he comforteth Believers the Acts of Christ because the Spirit speaketh and acteth for
his Office so to do CHAP. II. General Adjuncts or Properties of the Office of a Comforter as exercised by the Holy Spirit TO evidence yet further the Nature of this Office and Work we may consider and enquire into the general Adjuncts of it as exercised by the Holy Spirit And they are Four FIRST Infinite Condescention This is among those Mysteries of the Divine Dispensation which we may admire but cannot comprehend And it is the Property of Faith alone to act and live upon incomprehensible Objects What Reason cannot comprehend it will neglect as that which it hath no concernment in nor can have Benefit by Faith is most satisfied and cherished with what is infinite and inconceivable as resting absolutely in Divine Revelation Such is this Condescention of the Holy Ghost He is by Nature over all God blessed for ever And it is a Condescention in the Divine Excellency to concern it self in a particular manner in any Creature whatever God humbleth himself to behold the things that are done in Heaven and in Earth Psal. 113. 5 6. How much more doth he do so in submitting himself unto the Discharge of an Office in the behalf of poor Worms here below THIS I confess is most astonishing and attended with the most incomprehensible Rays of Divine Wisdom and Goodness in the Condescention of the Son For he carried the Term of it unto the lowest and most abject Condition that a rational intelligent Nature is capable of So is it represented by the Apostle Phil. 2. 6 7 8. For he not only took our Nature into Personal Union with himself but became in it in his outward Condition as a Servant yea as a Worm and no Man a Reproach of Men and despised of the People and became subject to Death the Ignominious shameful Death of the Cross. Hence this Dispensation of God was filled up with Infinite Wisdom Goodness and Grace How this Exinanition of the Son of God was compensated with the Glory that did ensue we shall rejoyce in the Contemplation of unto all Eternity And then shall the Character of all Divine Excellencies be more gloriously conspicuous on this Condescention of the Son of God than ever they were on the Works of the whole Creation when this Goodly Fabrick of Heaven and Earth was brought by Divine Power and Wisdom through Darkness and Confusion out of nothing THE Condescention of the Holy Spirit unto his Work and Office is not indeed of the same kind as to the Terminus ad quem or the Object of it He assumes not our Nature he exposeth not himself unto the Injuries of an outward State and Condition But yet it is such as is more to be the Object of our Faith in Adoration than of our Reason in Disquisition Consider the thing in it self how one Person in the Holy Trinity subsisting in the Unity of the same Divine Nature should undertake to execute the Love and Grace of the other Persons and in their Names What do we understand of it This Holy Oeconomy in the distinct and subordinate Actings of the Divine Persons in these external Works is known only unto is understood only by themselves Our Wisdom it is to acquiesce in express Divine Revelation Nor have they scarcely more dangerously erred by whom these things are denyed than those have done who by a proud and conceited Subtilty of Mind pretend unto a Conception of them which they express in Words and Terms as they say precise and accurate indeed foolish and curious whether of other Men's coyning or their own finding out Faith keeps the Soul at an Holy Distance from these infinite Depths of the Divine Wisdom where it profits more by Reverence and Holy Fear than any can do by their utmost Attempt to draw nigh unto that inaccessable Light wherein these Glories of the Divine Nature do dwell BUT we may more steddily consider this Condescention with respect unto its Object the Holy Spirit thereby becomes a Comforter unto us poor miserable Worms of the Earth And what Heart can conceive the Glory of this Grace What Tongue can express it Especially will its Eminency appear if we consider the Ways and Means whereby he doth so comfort us and the Opposition from us which he meets withal therein whereof we must treat afterwards SECONDLY Unspeakable Love accompanieth the Susception and Discharge of this Office and that working by Tenderness and Compassion The Holy Spirit is said to be the Divine Eternal mutual Love of the Father and the Son And although I know that much Wariness is to be used in the Declaration of those Mysteries nor are Expressions concerning them to be ventured on not warranted by the Letter of the Scripture yet I judge that this Notion doth excellently express if not the distinct manner of Subsistence yet the mutual internal Operation of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity For we have no Term for nor Notion of that inessable Complacence and eternal Rest which is therein beyond this of Love Hence it is said that God is Love 1 John 4. 8 16. It doth not seem to be an essential Property of the Nature of God only that the Apostle doth intend For it is proposed unto us as a Motive unto mutual Love among our selves And this consists not simply in the Habit or Affection of Love but in the Actings of it in all its Fruits and Duties For so is God Love as that the Internal Actings of the Holy Persons which are in and by the Spirit are all the ineffable Actings of Love wherein the Nature of the Holy Spirit is expressed unto us The Apostle prays for the Presence of the Spirit with the Corinthians under the Name of the God of Love and Peace 2 Epist. 13. 11. And the Communication of the whole Love of God unto us is committed unto the Spirit for the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us Rom. 5. And hence the same Apostle distinctly mentioneth the Love of the Spirit conjoyning it with all the Effects of the Mediation of Christ Rom. 15. 30. I beseech you Brethren for the Lord Jesus Christ his sake and for the Love of the Spirit I do so on the Account of the respect you have unto Christ and all that he hath done for you which is a Motive irresistible unto Believers I do it also for the Love of the Spirit all that Love which he acts and communicates unto you Wherefore in all the Actings of the Holy Ghost towards us and especially in this of his Susception of an Office in the behalf of the Church which is the Foundation of them all his Love is principally to be considered and that he chuseth this way of acting and working towards us to express his peculiar personal Character as he is the Eternal Love of the Father and the Son And among all his Actings towards us which are all Acts of Love this is most conspicuous in those wherein he is a
from all other Individuals by Vertue of it's Personality Wherefore upon this Inhabitation of the Spirit wherein soever it doth consist there is no Personal Union ensuing between him and Believers nor is it possible that any such thing should be For he and they are distinct Persons and must eternally abide so whilst their Natures are distinct It is only the Assumption of our Nature into Union with the Son of God antecedent unto any individual Personal Subsistence of it's own that can constitute such an Union FOURTHLY The Union and Relation that ensues on this Inhabitation of the Spirit is not immediate between him and Believers but between them and Jesus Christ. For he is sent to dwell in them by Christ in his Name as his Spirit to supply his Room in Love and Grace towards them making use of his things in all his Effects and Operations unto his Glory Hence I say is the Union of Believers with Christ by the Spirit and not with the Spirit himself For this Holy Spirit dwelling in the Humane Nature of Christ manifesting and acting himself in all Fulness therein as hath been declared being sent by him to dwell in like manner and act in a limited Measure in all Believers there is a mystical Union thence arising between them whereof the Spirit is the Bond and Vital Principle ON these Considerations I say it is the Person of the Holy Ghost that is promised unto Believers and not only the Effects of his Grace and Power and his Person it is that always dwelleth in them And as this on the one hand is an Argument of his Infinite Condescention in complying with this Part of his Office and Work to be sent by the Father and Son to dwell in Believers so it is an evident Demonstration of his Eternal Deity that the one and self-same Person should at the same time inhabit so many Thousands of distinct Persons as are or were at any time of Believers in the World which is Fondness to imagine concerning any one that is not absolutely infinite And therefore that which some oppose as unmeet for him and beneath his Glory namely this his Inhabitation in the Saints of God is a most illustrious and incontroulable Demonstration of his Eternal Glory For none but he who is absolutely immense in his Nature and Omnipresence can be so present with and indistant from all Believers in the World and none but he whose Person by Vertue of his Nature is infinite can personally equally inhabit in them all An Infinite Nature and Person is required hereunto And in the Consideration of the Incomprehensibility thereof are we to acquiesce as to the Manner of his Inhabitation which we cannot conceive 1. THERE are very many Promises in the Old Testament that God would thus give the Holy Spirit in and by Vertue of the New Covenant as Ezek. 36. 27. Isa. 59. 21. Prov. 1. 23. And in every place God calls this promised Spirit and as promised His Spirit my Spirit which precisely denotes the Person of the Spirit himself It is generally apprehended I confess that in these Promises the Holy Spirit is intended only as unto his gracious Effects and Operations but not as to any Personal Inhabitation And I should not much contend upon these Promises only although in some of them his Person as promised be expresly distinguished from all his gracious Effects But the Exposition which is given of them in their Accomplishment under the New Testament will not allow us so to judge of them For 2. WE are directed to pray for the Holy Spirit and assured that God will give him unto them that ask him of him in a due manner Heb. 11. 13. If these Words must be expounded metonymically and not properly it must be because either 1 They agree not in the Letter with other Testimonies of Scripture Or 2 Contain some Sence absurd and unreasonable Or 3 That which is contrary unto the Experience of them that believe The first cannot be said for other Testimonies innumerable concur with it Nor the Second as we shall shew And for the Third it is that whose contrary we prove What is it that Believers intend in that Request I suppose I may say that there is no one Petition wherein they are more intense and earnest nor which they more frequently insist upon As David prayed that God would not take his Holy Spirit from him Psal. 51. So do they that God would bestow him on them For this they do and ought to do even after they have received him His Continuance with them his evidencing and manifestation of himself in and to them are the design of their continued Supplications for him Is it meerly external Operations of the Spirit in Grace that they desire herein Do they not always pray for his ineffable Presence and Inhabitation Will any Thoughts of Grace or Mercy relieve or satisfie them if once they apprehend that the Holy Spirit is not in them or doth not dwell with them Although they are not able to form any Conceptions in their Minds of the manner of his Presence and Residence in them yet is it that which they pray for and without the Apprehension whereof by Faith they can have neither Peace nor Consolation The Promise hereof being confined unto Believers those that are truly and really so as we shewed before it is their Experience whereby its Accomplishment is to be judged and not the Presumption of such by whom both the Spirit himself and his whole Work is despised 3. AND this Inhabitation is that which principally our Lord Jesus Christ directeth his Disciples to expect in the Promise of him He dwelleth with you and shall be in you John 14. 17. He doth so who is the Comforter the Spirit of Truth Or as it is emphatically expressed Chap. 16. 13. He the Spirit of Truth He is promised unto and he inhabits them that do believe So it is expresly affirmed towards all that are Partakers of this Promise Rom. 8. 9. Ye are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be the Spirit of God dwells in you Ver. 11. The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwelleth in you The Holy Spirit dwelleth in us 1 Tim. 3. 14. He that is in us is greater than he that is in the World 1 John 4. 4. And many other express Testimonies there are unto the same purpose And whereas the Subject of these Promises and Propositions is the Holy Ghost himself the Person of the Holy Ghost and that so expressed as not to leave any Pretence for any thing else and not his Person to be intended And whereas nothing is ascribed unto him that is unreasonable inconvenient unto him in the Discharge of his Office or inconsistent with any of his Divine Perfections but rather what is every way suitable unto his Work and evidently demonstrative of his Divine Nature and Subsistence It is both irrational and unsuitable unto the Oeconomy of Divine
But this Communication is by Eternal Generation and not by Sealing But it is an external transient Act of God the Father on the Humane Nature with respect unto the Discharge of his Office For it is given as the Reason why he should be complied withal and believed in in that Work Labour for that Bread which the Son of Man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father Sealed It is the Ground whereon he perswades them to Faith and Obedience unto himself SECONDLY It is not spoken of him with an especial respect unto his Kingly Office as some conceive For this Sealing of Christ they would have to be his Designation of God unto his Kingdom in opposition unto what is affirmed Ver. 15. That the People designed to come and make him a King by Force For that is only an occasional Expression of the Sence of the People the principal Subject treated on is of a Nobler Nature But whereas the People did flock after him on the account of a Temporal Benefit received by him in that they were fed filled and satisfied with the Loaves which he had miraculously encreased Ver. 26. He takes occasion from thence to propose unto them the Spiritual Mercies that he had to tender unto them And this he doth in answer unto the Bread that he had eat under the Name of Meat and Bread enduring to everlasting Life which he would give unto them Under this Name and Notion of Meat he did comprize all the Spiritual Nourishment in his Doctrine Person Mediation and Grace that he had prepared for them But on what Grounds should they look for these things from him how might it appear that he was Authorized and enabled thereunto In answer unto that Enquiry he gives this Account of himself For him hath God the Father Sealed namely unto this End THIRDLY Wherefore the Sealing of God unto this End and Purpose must have two Properties and two Ends also annexed unto it 1 There is in it a Communication of Authority and Ability For the Enquiry is how he could give them that Meat which endured unto everlasting Life As afterwards they ask expresly How can this Man give us his Flesh to eat Ver. 52. To this it is answered That God the Father had Sealed him that is He it was who was enabled of God the Father to give and dispense the Spiritual Food of the Souls of Men. This therefore is evidently included in this Sealing 2 It must have Evidence in it also that is somewhat whereby it may be evinced that he was thus authorized and enabled by God the Father For whatever Authority or Ability any one may have unto any End none is obliged to make Application unto him for it or depend upon him therein unless it be evidenced that he hath that Authority and Ability This the Jews immediately enquired after What Sign say they dost thou then that we may see and believe thee What dost thou work Ver. 30. How shall it be demonstrated unto us that thou art authorized and enabled to give us the Spiritual Food of our Souls This also belonged unto his Sealing for therein there was such an express Representation of Divine Power communicated unto him as evidently manifested that he was appointed of God unto this Work These two Properties therefore must be found in this Sealing of the Lord Christ with respect unto the End here mentioned namely that he might be the Promuscondus or principal Dispenser of the Spiritual Food of the Souls of Men. FOURTHLY It being God's Seal it must also have two Ends designed in it 1 God's owning of him to be his Him hath God the Father Sealed unto this End that all may know and take notice of his Owning and Approbation of him He would have him not looked on as one among the rest of them that dispensed Spiritual things but as him whom he had singled out and peculiarly marked for himself And therefore this he publickly and gloriously testified at the Entrance and again a little before the fininishing of his Ministry For upon his Baptism there came a Voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3. 17. which was nothing but a publick Declaration that this was He whom God had Sealed and so owned in a peculiar manner And this Testimony was afterwards renewed again at his Transfiguration in the Mount Matth. 17. 5. Behold a Voice out of the Cloud which said This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased hear ye him This is he whom I have Sealed And this Testimony is pleaded by the Apostle Peter us that whereinto their Faith in him as the Sealed One of God was resolved 2 Pet. 1. 17 18. 2 To manifest that God would take Care of him and preserve him in his Work unto the End Isa. 42. FIFTHLY Wherefore this Sealing of the Son is the Communication of the Holy Spirit in all Fulness unto him authorizing him unto and acting his Divine Power in all the Acts and Duties of his Office so as to evidence the Presence of God with him and Approbation of him as the only Person that was to distribute the Spiritual Food of their Souls unto Men. For the Holy Spirit by his powerful Operations in him and by him did evince and manifest that he was called and appointed of God to this Work owned by him and accepted with him which was God's Sealing of him Hence the Sin of them who despised this Seal of God was unpardonable For God neither will nor can give greater Testimony unto his Approbation of any Person than by the Great Seal of his Spirit And this was given unto Christ in all the Fulness of it He was declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holiness Rom. 1. 4. and justified in the Spirit or by his Power evidencing that God was with him 1 Tim. 3. 16. Thus did God Seal the Head of the Church with the Holy Spirit and thence undoubtedly may we best learn how the Members are sealed with the same Spirit seeing we have all our Measures out of his Fulness and our Conformity unto him in the design of all gracious Communications unto us SIXTHLY Wherefore Gods Sealing of Believers with the Holy Spirit is his gracious Communication of the Holy Ghost unto them so to act his Divine Power in them as to enable them unto all the Duties of their Holy Calling evidencing them to be accepted with him both unto themselves and others and asserting their Preservation unto Eternal Salvation The Effects of this Sealing are gracious Operations of the Holy Spirit in and upon Believers but the Sealing it self is the Communication of the Spirit unto them They are Sealed with the Spirit And farther to evidence the Nature of it with the Truth of our Declaration of this Priviledge we may observe 1. THAT when any Persons are so effectually called as to become true Believers they are brought into many new Relations
as he was thereby carried on through great Bodily Weakness Languishing and Pains besides manifold other Tryals and Discouragements to bring forth out of his Treasury like a Scribe well instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven many useful and excellent Fruits of his Studies much beyond the Expectation and Hopes of those who saw how often and how long he was near unto the Grave But while he was thus indefatigably and restlesly laying out for the Service of Christ in this and succeeding Generations those Rich Talents with which he was furnished his Lord said unto him Well done thou good and faithful Servant enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. No Man ever yet but Jesus Christ was able to finish all that was in his Heart to do for God On the removal of such accomplished and useful Persons I have sometimes relieved my self with this Thought that Christ lives in Heaven still and the Blessed Spirit from whom the Head and Heart of this Chosen Vessel were so Richly Replemshed liveth still Nath. Mather October 27. 1692. ERRATA PAge 3. line 19. for concera read content p. 7. l. 23. dele comma after external and put it after subsistence p. 11. l. 7. f. above r. about l. 18. f. comprize r. confine p. 12. l. 19. r. this is his p. 14. l. 2. r. that he should p. 15. l. 11. r. acted them l. 3. a fine f. expect r. expects p. 23. l. ult f. and r. end p. 32. l. 19. f. Discovery r. Recovery p. 35. l. 13. f. wherein r. when p. 37. l. 21. f. Things r. Thoughts l. ult f. Being r. Living p. 38. l. 25. f. Direction r. directs us p. 39. l. 13. à fine f. declaring r. declares p. 40. l. 7 8 10 13. dele the Interragatory Points p. 42. l. 15. f. this r. his p. 43. l. 24. f. instances r. instaences p. 55. l. 4. à fine f. Heb. 11. 13. r. Luke 11. 13. p. 83. l. 14. f. he had r. they had p. 86. l. 7. f. in r. is p. 89. l. 6. dele comma after Spirit p. 90. l. 18. f. And there was r. and that there was l. ult f. this Holy Spirits r. his Holy Spirit p. 91. l. 17. r. Arrhabone r. posuit l. 18. r. Arrhabo l. 21. f. quam r. quum f. tuerit r. fuerit l. 22. f. redditur r. reddatur p. 92. l. 10. f. Arrabon r. Arrhabon l. 12. r. Obinius penult f. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 98. l. 5. f. natures r. names l. 14. f. longer r. long p. 99. l. 15. after called dele 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and and after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 add and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 105. l. 5. f. significations r. signification p. 120. l. 14. f. they r. there CHAP. I. The Holy Ghost the Comforter of the Church by way of Office How He is the Churches Advocate Joh. 14. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. Joh. 16. 8 9 10 11. opened THAT which remains to compleat our Discourses concerning the Dispensation of the Holy Spirit is the Office and Work that he hath undertaken for the Consolation of the Church And THREE things are to be considered with respect unto this Head of the Grace of the Gospel 1. That the Holy Spirit is the Comforter of the Church by way of Especial Office 2. What is in that Office or wherein the Discharge of it doth consist 3. What are the Effects of it towards Believers IT must be granted that there is some Impropriety in that Expression by the way of Office An Office is not simply nor it may be properly spoken of a Divine Person who is absolutely so and nothing else But the like Impropriety is to be found in most of the Expressions which we use concerning God for who can speak of him aright or as he ought Only we have a safe Rule whereby to express our Conceptions even what He speaks of Himself And he hath taught us to learn the Work of the Holy Ghost towards us in this Matter by ascribing unto Him those things which belong unto an Office among Men. FOUR things are required unto the Constitution of an Office 1 An especial Trust. 2 An especial Mission or Commission 3 An especial Name 4 An especial Work All these are required unto an Office properly so called and where they are complyed withall by a voluntary susception in the Person designed thereunto an Office is compleatly constituted And we must enquire how these things in a Divine Manner do concur in the Work of the Holy Spirit as he is the Comforter of the Church FIRST He is intrusted with this Work and of his own Will hath taken it on Himself For when our Saviour was leaving of the World and had a full Prospect of all the Evils Troubles Dejections and Disconsolations which would befall his Disciples and knew full well that if they were left unto themselves they would faint and perish under them He gives them Assurance that the Work of their Consolation and Supportment was left entrusted and committed unto the Holy Spirit and that He would both take Care about it and perfect it accordingly THE Lord Christ when he left this World was very far from laying aside his Love unto and Care of his Disciples He hath given us the highest Assurance that he continueth for ever the same Care the same Love and Grace towards us he had and exercised when he layd down his Life for us See Heb. 4. 14 15 16. Cap. 7. 27. But inas much as there was a double Work yet to be performed in our behalf one towards God and the other in our selves He hath taken a two-fold way for the Performance of it That towards God he was to discharge immediately Himself in his Humane Nature For other Mediator between God and Man there neither is nor can be any This He doth by his Intercession Hence there was a necessity that as to his Humane Nature the Heavens should receive him unto the Time of the Restitution of all things as Acts 3. 21. There was so both with respect unto Himself and us THREE things with respect unto Himself made the Exaltation of his Humane Nature in Heaven to be necessary For 1. IT was to be a Pledge and Token of God's Acceptation of him and Approbation of what he had done in the World Joh. 16. 7 8. For what could more declare or evidence the Concern and Delight of God in what he had done and suffered than after he had been so ignominiously treated in the World to receive him visibly gloriously and triumphantly into Heaven He was manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels and in the issue received up into Glory 1 Tim. 3. 16. Herein God set the great Seal of Heaven unto his Work of Mediation and the Preaching of the Gospel which ensued thereon And a Testimony hereunto was that which filled his Enemies with Rage and Madness Act. 7. 55 56 57. His Resurrection confirmed his Doctrine
Comforter WHEREFORE because this is of great use unto us as that which ought to have and which will have if duly apprehended a great Influence on our Faith and Obedience and is moreover the Spring of all the Consolations we receive by and from him we shall give a little Evidence unto it namely that the Love of the Spirit is principally to be considered in this Office and the Discharge of it For whatever Good we receive from any one whatever Benefit or present Relief we have thereby we can receive no Comfort or Consolation in it unless we are perswaded that it proceeds from Love and what doth so be it never so small hath Refreshment and Satisfaction in it unto every ingenious Nature It is Love alone that is the Salt of every Kindness or Benefit and which takes out of it every thing that may be noxious or hurtful Without an apprehension hereof and satisfaction herein multiplied beneficial Effects produce no internal Satisfaction in them that do receive them nor put any real Ingagement on their Minds Prov. 23. 6 7 8. It is therefore of Concernment unto us to secure this Ground of all our Consolation in the full Assurance of Faith that there was infinite Love in the Susception of this Office by the Holy Ghost And it is evident that so it was 1. FROM the Nature of the Work it self For the Consolation or comforting of any who stand in need thereof is an immediate Effect of Love with its inseparable Properties of Pity and Compassion Especially it must be so where no Advantage redounds unto the Comforter but the whole of what is done respects entirely the Good and Relief of them that are comforted For what other Affection of Mind can be the Principle hereof from whence it may proceed Persons may be relieved under Oppression by Justice under Want by Bounty but to comfort and refresh the Minds of any is a peculiar Act of sincere Love and Compassion So therefore must this Work of the Holy Ghost be esteemed to be I do not intend only that his Love is eminent and discernable in it but that it proceeds solely from Love And without a Faith hereof we cannot have the Benefit of this Divine Dispensation nor will any Comforts that we receive be firm or stable But when this is once graciously fixed in our Minds that there is not one Drop of Comfort or Spiritual Refreshment administred by the Holy Ghost but that it proceeds from his Infinite Love then are they disposed into that Frame which is needful to comply with him in his Operations And in particular all the Acts wherein the Discharge of this Office doth consist are all of them Acts of the highest Love of that which is Infinite as we shall see in the Consideration of them 2. THE manner of the Performance of this Work is so expressed as to evince and expresly demonstrate that it is a Work of Love So is it declared where he is promissed unto the Church for this Work Isa. 66. 13. As one whom his Mother comforteth so will I comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem He whom his Mother comforteth is supposed to be in some kind of Distress Nor indeed is there any of any kind that may befall a Child whose Mother is kind and tender but she will be ready to administer unto him all the Consolation that she is able And how or in what manner will such a Mother discharge this Duty it is better conceived than it can be expressed We are not in things natural able to take in a Conception of greater Love Care and Tenderness than is in a tender Mother who comforts her Children in Distress And hereby doth the Prophet graphically represent unto our Minds the manner whereby the Holy Ghost dischargeth this Office towards us Neither can a Child contract greater Guilt or manifest a more depraved Habit of Mind than to be regardless of the Affections of a Mother endeavouring its Consolation Such Children may indeed sometimes through the Bitterness of their Spirits by their Pains and Distempers be surprized into Frowardness and a present Regardlesness of the Mothers Kindness and Compassion which they know full well how to bear withall But if they continue to have no Sense of it if it make no Impression upon them they are of a prostigate Constitution And so it may be sometimes with Believers they may by Surprizals into Spiritual Frowardness by Weakness by unaccountable Despondencies be regardless of Divine Influences of Consolation But all these things the great Comforter will bear with and overcome See Isa. 57. 16 17 18 19 20. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the Heart of the contrite ones For I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth For the Spirit should fail before me and the Souls which I have made For the Iniquity of his Covetousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his Heart I have seen his ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore Comforts unto him and to his Mourners I create the Fruit of the Lips Peace Peace to him that is far off and to him that is near saith the Lord and I will heal him Where Persons are under Sorrows and Disconsolations upon the Account of Pains and Sickness or the like in a Design of Comfort towards them it will yet be needful sometimes to make use of Means and Remedies that may be painful and vexatious And these may be apt to irritate and provoke poor wayward Patients Yet is not a Mother discouraged hereby but proceeds on in her way untill the Cure be effected and Consolation administred So doth God by his Spirit deal with his Church His Design is to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the Heart of the contrite ones Ver. 15. And he gives this Reason of it namely That if he should not act in infinite Love and Condescention towards them but deal with them after their Deservings they would utterly be consumed the Spirit would fail before him and the Souls which he had made Ver. 16. However in the pursuit of this Work he must use some sharp Remedies that were needful for the curing of their Distempers and their Spiritual Discovery Because of their Iniquity the Iniquity of their Covetousness which was the principal Disease they laboured under he was wroth and smote them and hid his Face from them because his so doing was necessary to their Cure Ver. 17. And how do they behave themselves under this Dealing of God with them They grow prevish and froward under his Hand chusing rather to continue in their Disease than to be thus healed by him they went on frowardly
the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me His Unction consisted principally in the Communication of the Spirit unto him For he proves that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him because he was anointed And this gives us a general Rule that the anointing with material Oyl under the Old Testament did presigure and represent the Effusion of the Spirit under the New which now answers all the Ends of those Typical Institutions Hence the Gospel in opposition unto them all in the Letter outwardly visibly and materially is called the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6 8. So is the Unction of Christ expressed Isa. 11. 2. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding the Spirit of Counsel and Might the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord. 4. WHEREAS the Unction of Christ did consist in the full Communication of the Spirit unto him not by Measure in all his Graces and Gifts needful unto his Humane Nature or his Work though it be essentially one entire Work yet was it carried on by several Degrees and Distinctions of Time For 1 He was anointed by the Spirit in his Incarnation in the Womb Luke 1. 35. the Nature of which Work we have at large before explained 2 He was so at his Baptism and Entrance into his Publick Ministry when he was anointed to Preach the Gospel as Isa. 61. 1. And the Holy Ghost descended on him in the shape of a Dove Matth. 3. 17. The first part of his Unction more peculiarly respected a Fulness of the Grace the latter of the Gifts of the Spirit 3 He was peculiarly anointed unto his Death and Sacrifice in that Divine Act of his whereby he sanctify'd himself thereunto John 17. 19. which hath also been before declared 4. He was at his Ascension when he received of the Father the Promise of the Spirit pouring him forth on his Disciples Acts 2. 23. And in this latter instance he was anointed with the Oyl of Gladness which includes his glorious Exaltation also For this was absolutely peculiar unto him whence he is said to be so anointed above his Fellows For although in some other parts of this anointing he hath them who partake of them by and from him in their Measure yet in this of receiving the Spirit with a Power of Communicating him unto others herein he is singular nor was ever any other Person sharer with him therein in the least degree See the Exposition on Heb. 1. 8 9. Now although there be an inconceivable difference and distance between the Unction of Christ and that of Believers yet is his the only Rule of the Interpretation of theirs as to the kind thereof And 5. BELIEVERS have their Unction immediately from Christ. So is it in the Text You have an Unction from the Holy One. So is He called Acts 3. 14. Rev. 3. 7. These things saith He that is Holy He Himself was anointed as the most Holy Dan. 9. 24. And it is his Spirit which Believers do receive Eph. 3. 16. Phil. 1. 19. It is said That he who anointeth us is God 2 Cor. 1. 21. And I do take God there Personally for the Father as the same Name is in the verse foregoing For all the Promises of God in him that is in Christ are yea and in Him Amen Wherefore the Father is the Original Supream Cause of our Anointing but the Lord Christ the Holy One is the immediate Efficient Cause thereof This Himself expresseth when he affirms that he will send the Spirit from the Father The Supream Donation is from the Father the immediate Collation from the Son 6. IT is therefore manifest that the anointing of Believers consisteth in the Communication of the Holy Spirit unto them from and by Jesus Christ. It is not the Spirit that doth anoint us but he is the Unction wherewith we are anointed by the Holy One. This the Analogy unto the Unction of Christ makes undeniable for as he was anointed so are they in the same kind of Unction though in a degree inferior unto him For they have nothing but a Measure and Portion from his Fulness as he pleaseth Eph. 4. 7. Our Unction therefore is the Communication of the Holy Spirit and nothing else He is that Unction which is given unto us and abideth with us But this Communication of the Spirit is general and respects all his Operations It doth not yet appear wherein the especial Nature of it doth consist and whence this Communication of him is thus expressed by an Unction And this can be no otherwise learned but from the Effects ascribed unto him as he is an Unction and the Relation with the Resemblance that is therein unto the Unction of Christ. It is therefore some particular Grace and Priviledge which is intended in this Unction 2 Cor. 1. 21. It is mentioned only neutrally without the Ascription of any Effects unto it so that therein we cannot learn its especial Nature But there are two Effects elsewhere ascribed unto it The first is Teaching with a saving permanent knowledge of the Truth thereby produced in our Minds This is fully expressed 1 John 2. 20 27. You have an Unction from the Holy One aend you know all things that is all those things of the Fundamental Essential Truths of the Gospel all you need to know that you may obey God truely and be saved infallibly This you have by this Unction For this anointing which you have received abideth in you and teacheth you all things And we may observe that it is spoken of in an especial manner with respect unto our Permanency and Establishment in the Truth against prevalent Seducers and Seductions so it is joined with establishing in that other Place 2 Cor. 1. 21. WHEREFORE in the first Place this anointing with the Holy Ghost is the Communication of him unto us with respect unto that gracious Work of his in the Spiritual saving Illumination of our Minds teaching us to know the Truth and to adhere firmly unto it in Love and Obedience This is that which is peculiarly ascribed unto it and we have no way to know the Nature of it but by its Effects THE Anointing then of Believers with the Spirit consists in the Collation of him upon them to this End that he may graciously instruct them in the Truths of the Gospel by the saving Illumination of their Minds causing their Souls firmly to cleave unto them with Joy and Delight and transforming them in the whole inward Man into the Image and Likeness of it Hence it is called the anointing of our Eyes with Eye-salve that we may see Rev. 3. 18. So doth it answer that Unction of the Lord Christ with the Spirit which made him quick of Understanding in the fear of the Lord Isa. 11. 3. Let these things therefore be fixed in the first place namely that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Unction which Believers receive from the
Holy One is the Spirit himself and that his first peculiar especial Effect as an Unction is his teaching of us the Truths and Mysteries of the Gospel by saving Illumination in the manner before described HEREUNTO also is referred what is said of Believers being made Kings and Priests Rev. 1. 5. For there is an Allusion therein unto the Anointing of those sorts of Persons under the Old Testament Whatever was Typical therein was fully accomplished in the Unction of Christ unto his Office wherein he was the Soveraign King Priest and Prophet of the Church Wherefore by a Participation in his Unction they are said to be made Kings and Priests or a Royal Priesthood as it is 1 Pet. 2. 9. and this participation of his Unction consists in the Communication of the same Spirit unto them wherewith he was anointed Whereas therefore these Titles denote the Dignity of Believers in their especial Relation unto God by this Unction they are peculiarly dedicated and consecrated unto him IT is manifest therefore first that this Unction we receive from the Holy One is the Holy Spirit which he hath promised unto all that believe in him and then that we have these two things by Vertue thereof 1. Spiritual Instruction by Saving Illumination in the Mind of God and the Mysteries of the Gospel 2. An especial Dedication unto God in the way of a Spiritual Priviledge WHAT remains is to enquire 1. What Benefit or Advantage we have by this Unction 2. How this belongs unto our Consolation seeing the Holy Spirit is thus bestowed on us as he is promised to be the Comforter of the Church AS unto the first Head it is hereon that our stability in Believing doth depend For it is pleaded unto this purpose in a peculiar manner by the Apostle 1 John 2. 20 27. It was the Unction from the Holy One which then kept Believers from being carried from the Faith by the Craft of Seducers Hereby he makes Men according unto their measure of quick Understanding in the fear of the Lord. Nor will any thing else give Assurance in this Case Temptations may come as a Storm or Tempest which will quickly drive Men from their greatest fleshly Confidences Hence oftentimes those who are forwardest to say Though all Men should forsake the Truth yet would not they so do are the forwardest upon Trials so to do Neither will Mens Skill Cunning or Disputing Abilities secure them from being at one time or other inveigled with fair Pretences or intangled with the cunning sleights of them who lye in wait to deceive Nor will the best defences of Flesh and Blood stand firmly and unshaken against powerful Allurements on the one hand and fierce Persecutions on the other the present Artillery of the Patrons and Promoters of Apostacy None of these things doth the Apostle prescribe or recommend unto Believers as an effectual means of their Preservation when a Trial of their stability in the Truth shall befall them But this Unction he assures them will not fail neither shall they fail because of it AND to this End we may consider 1. The Nature of the Teaching which we have by this Anointing The Anointing teacheth you It is not meerly an External Doctrinal Instruction but an Internal Effectual Operation of the Holy Ghost Herein doth God give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him that the Eyes of our Understanding being enlightned we may know what is the hope of his Calling Eph. 1. 17 18. He maketh use indeed of the Outward Means of Instruction by the Word and teacheth nothing but what is revealed therein But he gives us an Understanding that we may know him that is true and openeth our Eyes that we may clearly and spiritually see the wondrous things that are in his Law And there are no Teachings like unto his None so abiding none so effectual When Spiritual things through this anointing are discovered in a Spiritual manner then do they take up an immoveable Possession in the Minds of Men. As God will destroy every oppressing yoke because of the anointing of Christ Isa. 10. 27. so will he break every Snare of Seduction by the anointing of Christians So it is promised that under the Gospel Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the stability of the Times Isa. 33. 6. Nothing will give stability in all Seasons but the Wisdom and Knowledge which are the Effects of this Teaching when God gives us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him 2. WHAT it is that it teacheth and that is all things The same anointing teacheth you all things So was the Promise that he should teach us all things and bring all things to our Remembrance that Christ hath said unto us John 14. 26. and guide us into all Truth Chap. 16. 13. It is not all things absolutely that is intended for they are restrained unto those of one certain kind even the things which Christ had spoken that is such as belonged unto the Kingdom of God Neither are they all of them absolutely intended especially as to the Degrees of the Knowledge of them For in this Life we know but in part and see all things darkly as in a Glass But it is all things and all Truth with respect unto the End of this Promise and Teaching In the Promise the whole Life of Faith with Joy and Consolation thereon is the End designed All things necessary thereunto this Unction teacheth us And in the other place of the Apostle it respects the great Fundamental Truths of the Gospel which the Seducers opposed from whose Seduction this Unction doth secure Believers Wherefore it teacheth all that are made partakers of it all that Truth all those things all that Christ hath spoken that are necessary unto these Ends that they may live unto God in the Consolation of Faith and be delivered from all Attempts to draw them into Error THE Degrees of this Knowledge which are exceeding various both with respect unto the clearness and evidence of Conception and the extent of the things known depend on the various Measures whereby the Spirit acteth according unto his own Will and the different use of the external Means of Knowledge which we do enjoy But what is necessary unto the Ends mentioned none shall come short of who enjoy this anointing And where its Teachings are complyed withall in a way of Duty where we obstruct them not by Prejudices and Sloth where we give up our selves unto their directive Efficacy in a diligent impartial Attendance unto the Word whereby alone we are to be taught we shall not fail of that knowledge in the whole Counsel of God and all the Parts of it which he will accept and bless And this gives stability unto Believers when Trials and Temptations about the Truth do befall them and the want hereof in the uncured Darkness of their Minds and Ignorance of the Doctrine of the Gospel is that which betrays Multitudes into a
is in it self that Spring from whence their secret Refreshments and Supportments do arise And there is none of them but upon Guidance and Instruction are able to conceive how their chiefest Joys and Comforts even those whereby they are supported in and against all their Troubles are resolved into that Spiritual Understanding which they have into the Mysteries of the Will Love and Grace of God in Christ with that ineffable Complacency and Satisfaction which they find in them whereby their Wills are engaged into an unconquerable Constancy in their Choice And there is no small Consolation in a due Apprehension of that Spiritual Dignity which ensues hereon For when they meet with the greatest Troubles and the most contemptuous Scorns in this World a due Apprehension of their Acceptance with God as being made Kings and Priests unto him yield them a Refreshment which the World knows nothing of and which themselves are not able to express CHAP. VI. The Spirit a Seal and How SECONDLY Another Effect of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter of the Church is that by him Believers are sealed 2 Cor. 1. 21 22. He who anointed us is God who hath also sealed us And how this is done the same Apostle declares Eph. 1. 13. In whom also after ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise And Chap. 4. 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the Day of Redemption In the first place it is expresly said that we are sealed with the Spirit whereby the Spirit himself is expressed as this Seal and not any of his especial Operations as he is also directly said himself to be the Pledge of our Inheritance In the latter the Words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom in and by the receiving of whom ye are sealed Wherefore no especial Act of the Spirit but only an especial Effect of his Communication unto us seems to be intended hereby THE common Exposition of this Sealing is taken from the Nature and Use of Sealing among Men. The Summ whereof is this Sealing may be considered as a Natural or Moral Action that is either with respect unto the Act of it as an Act or with respect unto its Use and End In the first way it is the Communication of the Character or Image that is on the Seal unto the thing that is Sealed or that the Impression of the Seal is set unto In answer hereunto the Sealing of the Spirit should consist in the Communication of his own Spiritual Nature and Likeness unto the Souls of Believers So this Sealing should materially be the same with our Sanctification The End and Use of Sealing among Men is two-fold 1 To give Security unto the Performance of Deeds Grants Promises Testaments and Wills or the like engaging Signification of our Minds And in answer hereunto we may be said to be Sealed when the Promises of God are confirmed and established unto our Souls and we are secured of them by the Holy Ghost But the Truth is this were to Seal the Promises of God and not Believers But it is Persons and not Promises that are said to be Sealed 2 It is for the safe-keeping or Preservation of that which a Seal is set upon So things precious and highly valuable are sealed up that they may be kept safe and inviolable So on the other hand when Job expressed his Apprehension that God would keep an everlasting Remembrance of his Sin that it should not be lost or out of the way he saith his Transgression was sealed up in a Bag Chap. 14. 17. And so it is that Power which the Holy Ghost puts forth in the Preservation of Believers which is intended And in this respect they are said to be Sealed unto the Day of Redemption THESE things have been spoken unto and enlarged on by many so that there is no need again to insist upon them And what is commonly delivered unto this purpose is good and useful in the Substance of it and I have on several occasions long since my self made use of them But upon renewed Thoughts and Consideration I cannot fully acquiesce in them For 1 I am not satisfied that there is such an Allusion herein unto the use of Sealing among Men as is pretended And if there be it will fall out as we see it hath done that there being so many Considerations of Seals and Sealing it will be hard to determine on any one Particular which is principally intended And if you take in more as the manner of the most is to take in all they can think of it will be unavoidable that Acts and Effects of various kinds will be assigned unto the Holy Ghost under the Term of Sealing and so we shall never come to know what is that one determinate Act and Priviledge which is intended therein 2 All things which are usually assigned as those wherein this Sealing doth consist are Acts or Effects of the Holy Ghost upon us whereby he Seals us whereas it is not said that the Holy Spirit Seals us but that we are Sealed with him He is God's Seal unto us ALL our Spiritual Priviledges as they are immediately communicated unto us by Christ so they consist wholly in a Participation of that Head Spring and Fulness of them which is in him And as they proceed from our Union with him so their principal End is Conformity unto him And in him in whom all things are conspicuous we may learn the Nature of those things which in lesser measure and much Darkness in our selves we are made Partakers of So do we learn our Unction in his So must we enquire into the Nature of our being Sealed by the Spirit in his Sealing also For as it is said that he who hath sealed us is God 2 Cor. 1. 21 22. so of him it is said emphatically For him hath God the Father Sealed Joh. 6. 27. And if we can learn aright how God the Father sealed Christ we shall learn how we are sealed in a Participation of the same Priviledge I confess there are variety of Apprehensions concerning the Act of God whereby Christ was sealed or what it is that is intended thereby Maldonate on the Place reckons up Ten several Expositions of the Words among the Fathers and yet embraceth no one of them It is not suited unto my Design to examine or refute the Expositions of others whereof a large and plain Field doth here open it self unto us I shall only give an Account of what I conceive to be the Mind of the Holy Ghost in that Expression And we may observe FIRST That this is not spoken of Christ with respect unto his Divine Nature He is indeed said to be the Character of the Person of the Father in his Divine Person as the Son because there are in him communicated unto him from the Father all the Essential Properties of the Divine Nature as the thing Sealed receiveth the Character or Image of the Seal
part of the Body of Christ of the Essence of it by the same quickning animating Spirit of Grace but one is an Eye another an Hand another a Foot in the Body by vertue of peculiar Gifts For unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ Eph. 4. 7. § 2. THESE Gifts are not saving sanctifying Graces those were not so in themselves which made the most glorious and astonishing appearance in the World and which were most eminently useful in the Foundation of the Church and propagation of the Gospel Such as were those that were Extraordinary and Miraculous There is something of the Divine Nature in the least Grace that is not in the most glorious Gift which is only so It will therefore be part of our work to shew wherein the Essential Difference between these Gifts and sanctifying Graces doth consist as also what is their Nature and Use must be enquired into For although they are not Grace yet they are that without which the Church cannot subsist in the World nor can Believers be useful unto one another and the rest of Mankind unto the Glory of Christ as they ought to be They are the powers of the World to come those effectual Operations of the power of Christ whereby his Kingdom was Erected and is preserved § 3. AND hereby is the Church state under the New Testament differenced from that under the Old There is indeed a great Difference between their Ordinances and ours theirs being suited unto the dark apprehensions which they had of Spiritual things ours accommodated unto the clearer Light of the Gospel more plainly and expresly representing Heavenly things unto us Heb. 10. 1. But our Ordinances with their Spirit would be carnal also The principal Difference lyes in the Administration of the Spirit for the due performance of Gospel Worship by vertue of these Gifts bestowed on Men for that very End Hence the whole of Evangelical Worship is called the Ministration of the Spirit and thence said to be glorious 2 Cor. 3. 8. And where they are neglected I see not the Advantage of the outward Worship and Ordinances of the Gospel above those of the Law For although their Institutions are accommodated unto that Administration of Grace and Truth which came by Jesus Christ yet they must lose their whole Glory Force and Efficacy if they be not dispensed and the Duties of them performed by vertue of these spiritual Gifts And therefore no sort of Men by whom they are neglected do or can content themselves with the pure and immixed Gospel Institutions in these things but do rest principally in the outward part of Divine Service in things of their own finding out For as Gospel Gifts are useless without attending unto Gospel Institutions so Gospel Institutions are found to be fruitless and unsatisfactory without the attaining and exercising of Gospel Gifts § 4. BE it so therefore that these Gifts we intend are not in themselves saving Graces yet are they not to be despised For they are as we shall shew The powers of the World to come by means whereof the Kingdom of Christ is preserved carried on and propagated in the World And although they are not Grace yet are they the great means whereby all Grace is ingenerated and exercised And although the spiritual Life of the Church doth not consist in them yet the Order and Edification of the Church depends wholly on them And therefore are they so frequently mentioned in the Scripture as the great priviledge of the New Testament Directions being multiplyed in the Writings of the Apostles about their nature and proper use And we are commanded earnestly to desire and labour after them especially those which are most useful and subservient unto Edification 1 Cor. 12. 31. And as the neglect of Internal saving Grace wherein the power of Godliness doth consist hath been the Bane of Christian Profession as to Obedience issuing in that Form of it which is consistent with all manner of Lusts so the neglect of these Gifts hath been the Ruin of the same Profession as to Worship and Order which hath thereon issued in fond Superstition § 5. THE great and signal promise of the Communication of these Gifts is recorded Psal. 68. 18. Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led Captivity Captive thou hast received Gifts for Men. For these words are applyed by the Apostle unto that Communication of spiritual Gifts from Christ whereby the Church was founded and edified Ephes. 4. 8. And whereas it is foretold in the Psalm that Christ should receive Gifts that is to give them unto Men as that Expression is Expounded by the Apostle so he did this by receiving of the Spirit the proper cause and immodiate Author of them all as Peter declares Acts 2. 23. Therefore being by the Right Hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear speaking of the miraculous Gifts conferred on the Aposties at the Day of Pentecost For these Gifts are from Christ not as God absolutely but as Mediator in which Capacity he received all from the Father in a way of free Donation Thus therefore he received the Spirit as the Author of all spiritual Gifts And whereas all the powers of the World to come consisted in them and the whole work of the Building and Propagation of the Church depended on them the Apostles after all the Instructions they had received from Christ whilst he conversed with them in the Days of his Flesh and also after his Resurrection were commanded not to go about the great work which they had received Commission for until they had received power by the coming of the Holy Ghost upon them in the Communication of those Gifts Acts 1. 4 8. And as they neither might nor could do any thing in their peculiar work as to the laying of the Foundation of the Christian Church until they had actually received those extraordinary Gifts which gave them power so to do so if those who undertake in any Place Degree or Office to carry on the Edification of the Church do not receive those more ordinary Gifts which are continued unto that end they have neither Right to undertake that work nor Power to perform it in a due manner § 6. The things which we are to enquire into concerning these Gifts are 1. Their Name 2. Their Nature in general and therein how they agree with and differ from Saving Graces 3. Their Distinction 4. The particular Nature of them and 5. Their Use in the Church of God § 7. 1. THE general Name of those Spiritual Endowments which we intend is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Apostle renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4. 8. from Psal. 68. 18. Dona Gifts That is they are free and undeserved Effects of Divine Bounty In the Minds of Men on whom they are bestowed they are Spiritual Powers
and Endowments with respect unto a certain end But as to their Original and principal cause they are free undeserved Gifts Thence the Holy Spirit as the Author of them and with respect unto them is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gift of God John 4. 10. And the Effect it self is also termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gift of the Holy Ghost Acts 10. 45. The Gift of God Acts 8. 20. The Gift of the Grace of God Ephes. 3. 7. The Gift of Christ Ephes. 4. 7. The Heavenly Gift Heb. 6. 4. All expressing the Freedom of their Communication on the part of the Father Son and Spirit And in like manner on the same account are they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is gracious largesses Gifts proceeding from meer Bounty And therefore saving Graces are also expressed by the same Name in general because they also are freely and undeservedly communicated unto us Rom. 11. 28. But these Gifts are frequently and almost constantly so expressed Rom. 12. 6. 1 Cor. 1. 7. Chap. 7. 7. Chap. 12. 4 9 28 30. 1 Pet. 4. 14. 2 Tim. 1. 6. And it is absolute freedom in the Bestower of them that is principally intended in this Name Hence he hath left his Name as a Curse unto all Posterity who thought this free gift of God might be purchased with Money Acts 8. 20. A Pageantry of which Crime the Apostate Ages of the Church erected in applying the Name of that Sin to the purchase of Benefices and Dignities whilst the Gift of God was equally despised on all hands And indeed this was that whereby in all Ages Countenance was given unto Apostasie and Defection from the Power and Truth of the Gospel The Names of Spiritual things were still retained but applyed to outward Forms and Ceremonies which thereby were substituted insensibly into their room to the ruine of the Gospel in the Minds of Men. But as these Gifts were not any of them to be bought no more are they absolutely to be attained by the Natural Abilities and Industry of any whereby an Image of them is attempted to be set up by some but deformed and useless They will do those things in the Church by their own Abilities which can never be acceptably discharged but by Vertue of those Free Gifts which they despise whereof we must speak more afterwards Now the full Signification of these Words in our Sence is peculiar unto the New Testament For although in other Authors they are used for a Gift or Free Grant yet they never denote the Endowments or Abilities of the Minds of Men who do receive them which is their principal Sence in the Scripture § 8. WITH respect unto their especial Nature they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sometimes absolutely 1 Cor. 12. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but concerning Spirituals that is Spiritual Gifts And so again Chap. 14. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desire Spirituals that is Gifts for so it is explained Chap. 12. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covet Earnestly the best Gifts Whenever therefore they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denoting their general Nature is to be supplied And where they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be understood as expressing their especial Difference from all others They are neither Natural nor Moral but Spiritual Endowments For both their Author Nature and Object are respected herein Their Author is the Holy Spirit their Nature is Spiritual and the Object about which they are exercised are Spiritual Things § 9. AGAIN with respect unto the Manner of their Communication they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2. 4. Distributions or Partitions of the Holy Ghost Not whereof the Holy Ghost is the Subject as though he were parted or divided as the Socinians dream on this place but whereof he is the Author the Distributions which he makes And they are thus called Divisions Partitions or Distributions because they are of divers sorts and kinds according as the Edification of the Church did require And they were not at any time all of them given out unto any one Person at least so as that others should not be made Partakers of the same sort From the same inexhaustible Treasure of Bounty Grace and Power these Gifts are variously distributed unto Men. And this Variety as the Apostle proves gives both Ornament and Advantage to the Church If the whole Body were an Eye where were the Hearing c. 1 Cor. 12. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25. It is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this various Distribution of Gifts that makes the Church an Organical Body and in this Composure with the peculiar Uses of the Members of the Body consists the Harmony Beauty and Safety of the whole Were there no more but One Gift or Gifts of one sort the whole Body would be but one Member As where there is none there is no animated Body but a dead Carkass § 10. AND this various Distribution as it is an Act of the Holy Spirit produceth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are Diversities of Gifts 1 Cor. 12. 4. The Gifts thus distributed in the Church are Divers as to their sorts and kinds one of one kind another of another An Account hereof is given by the Apostle particularly Ver. 8 9 10. in a distinct Enumeration of the sorts or kinds of them The Edification of the Church is the general End of them all but divers distinct different Gifts are required thereunto § 11. THESE Gifts heing bestowed they are variously expressed with regard unto the Nature and Manner of those Operations which we are enabled unto by Vertue of them So are they termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Minisirations 1 Cor. 12. 5. That is Powers and Abilitles whereby some are enabled to administer Spiritual Things unto the Benefit Advantage and Edification of others And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 6. Effectual Workings or Operations efficaciously producing the Effects which they are applied unto And lastly they are comprized by the Apostle in that Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Manifestation of the Spirit Ver. 7. In and by them doth the Holy Spirit evidence and manifest his Power For the Effects produced by them and themselves in their own Nature especially some of them do evince that the Holy Spirit is in them that they are given and wrought by him and are the ways whereby he acts his own Power and Grace These things are spoken in the Scripture as to the Names of these Spiritual Gifts And it is evident that if we part with our Interest and Concern in them we must part with no small Portion of the New Testament For the mention of them Directions about them their Use and Abuse do so frequently occur that if we are not concerned in them we are not so in the Gospel CHAP. II. Differences between Spiritual Gifts and Saving Grace § 1. THEIR Nature
from External Causes and Considerations And 1 As to the different Subjects of them Spiritual Gifts are placed and seated in the Mind or Understanding only whether they are ordinary or extraordinary they have no other Hold nor Residence in the Soul And they are in the Mind as it is Notional and Theoretical rather than as it is practical They are Intellectual Abilities and no more I speak of them which have any Residence in us For some Gifts as Miracles and Tongues consisted only in a transient Operation of an extraordinary Power Of all others Illumination is the Foundation and Spiritual Light their Matter So the Apostle declares in his Order of Expression Heb. 6. 4. The Will and the Affections and the Conscience are unconcerned in them Wherefore they change not the Heart with Power although they may reform the Life by the Efficacy of Light And although God doth not ordinarily bestow them on flagitious Persons nor continue them with such as after the reception of them become flagitious yet they may be in those who were unrenewed and have nothing in them to preserve Men absolutely from the worst of Sins But Saving Grace possesseth the whole Soul Men are thereby sanctified throughout in the whole Spirit Soul and Body 1 Thes. 5. 17. as hath been at large declared Not the Mind only is savingly enlightened but there is a Principle of Spiritual Life infused into the whole Soul enabling it in all its Powers and Faculties to act Obedientially unto God whose Nature hath been fully explained elsewhere Hence 2. They differ in their Operations For Grace changeth and transformeth the whole Soul into its own Nature Isa. 11. 6 7 8. Rom. 6. 17. Chap. 12. 2. 2 Cor. 3. 18. It is a New a Divine Nature unto the Soul and is in it an Habit disposing inclining and enabling of it unto Obedience It acts it self in Faith Love and Holiness in all things But Gifts of themselves have not this Power nor these Operations They may and do in those who are possessed of them in and under their Exercise make great impression on their own Affections but they change not the Heart they renew not the Mind they transform not the Soul into the Image of God Hence where Grace is predominant every Notion of Light and Truth which is Communicated unto the Mind is immediately turned into practice by having the whole Soul cast into the Mould of it where only Gifts bear sway the use of it in Duties unto Edification is best whereunto it is designed 3. As to Effects or Consequents the great difference is that on the part of Christ Christ doth thereby dwell and reside in our Hearts when concerning many of those who have been made partakers of these other Spiritual Endowments he will say Depart from me I never knew you which he will not say of any one whose Soul he hath inhabited § 16. These are some of the principal Agreements and Differences between Saving Graces and Spiritual Gifts both sorts of them being wrought in Believers by that one and self-same Spirit which divideth to every one as he will And sor a close of this discourse I shall only add that where these Graces and Gifts in any Eminency or good Degree are bestowed on the same Persons they are exceedingly helpful unto each other A Soul sanctified by Saving Grace is the only proper Soil for Gifts to flourish in Grace Influenceth Gifts unto a due Exercise prevents their abuse stirs them up unto proper occasions keeps them from being a matter of Pride or Contention and subordinates them in all things unto the Glory of God When the actings of Grace and Gifts are inseparable as when in Prayer the Spirit is a Spirit of Grace and Supplication the Grace and Gift of it working together when utterance in other Duties is always accompanied with Faith and Love then is God glorified and our own Salvation promoted Then have Edifying Gifts a Beauty and Lustre upon them and generally are most successful when they are cloathed and adorned with Humility Meekness a Reverence of God and Compassion for the Souls of Men. Yea when there is no evidence no manifestation of their being accompanied with these and the like Graces they are but as a Parable or wise Saying in the Mouth of a Fool. Gifts on the other side excite and stir up Grace unto its proper Exercise and Operations How often is Faith Love and Delight in God excited and drawn forth unto especial Exercise in Believers by the use of their own Gifts And thus much may suffice as to the Nature of these Gifts in general we next consider them under their most general Distributions CHAP. III. Of Gifts and Offices Extraordinary And first of Offices § 1. THE Spiritual Gifts whereof we treat respect either Powers and Duties in the Church or Duties only Gifts that respect Powers and Duties are of two sorts or there have been or are at any time two sorts of such Powers and Duties The first whereof was Extraordinary the latter Ordinary and consequently the Gifts subservient unto them must be of two sorts also which must further be cleared § 2. Wherever Power is given by Christ unto his Churches and Duiies are required in the execution of that Power unto the Ends of his Spiritual Kingdom to be performed by vertue thereof there is an Office in the Church For an Ecclesiastical Office is an especial Power given by Christ unto any Person or Persons for the performance of especial Duties belonging unto the Edification of the Church in an especial manner And these Offices have been of two sorts 1. Extraordinary 2. Ordinary Some seem to deny that there was ever any such thing as Extraordinary Power or Extraordinary Offices in the Church For they do provide Successors unto all who are pleaded to have been of that kind and those such as look how far short they come of them in other things do exceed them in Power and Rule I shall not contend about words and shall therefore only enquire what it was that constituted them to be Officers of Christ in his Church whom thence we call Extraordinary and then if others can duely lay claim unto them they may be allowed to pass for their Successors § 3. THERE are four things which constitute an extraordinary Officer in the Church of God and consequently are required in and do constitute an extraordinary Office 1. An extraordinary Call unto an Office such as none other have or can have by virtue of any Law Order or Constitution whatever 2. An Extraordinary Power communicated unto Persons so called enabling them to act what they are so called unto wherein the Essence of any Office doth consist 3. Extraordinary Gifts for the Exercise and Discharge of that Power 4. Extraordinary Imployment as to its extent and measure requiring extraordinary Labour Travail Zeal and Self-denial All these do and must concur in that Office and unto those Offices which we call Extraordinary § 4.
Apostles first Apostles secondarily Prophets 1 Cor. 12. 28. between them and Evangelists Ephes. 4. 11. And two things are ascribed unto them 1. That they received immediate Revelations and Directions from the Holy Ghost in things that belonged unto the present Duty of the Church Unto them it was that the Holy Ghost revealed his Mind and gave Commands concerning the separation of Barnabas and Saul unto their Work Acts 13. 2. 2. They foretold things to come by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost wherein the Duty or Edification of the Church was concerned So Agabus the Prophet foretold the Famine in the days of Claudius Caesar whereon Provision was made for the poor Saints at Hierusalem that they might not suffer by it Acts 11. 28 29. And the same Person afterwards prophesied of the Bonds and Sufferings of Paul at Hierusalem Acts 21. 10 11. And the samething it being of the highest Concernment unto the Church was as it should seem revealed unto the Prophets that were in most Churches for so himself gives an account hereof And now behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Hierusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City that Bonds and Afflictions abide me Acts 20. 21 22. That is in all the Cities he passed through where there were Churches planted and Prophets in them These things the Churches then stood in need of for their Confirmation Direction and Comfort and were therefore I suppose most of them supplyed with such Officers for a Season that is whilst they were needful And unto this Office though expresly affirmed to be set in the Church and placed between the Apostles and the Evangelists none that I know of do pretend a Succession All grant that they were extraordinary because their Gift and Work was so but so were those of Evangelists also But there is no mention of the Power and Rule of these Prophets or else undoubtedly we should have had on one pretence or other Successors provided for them § 23. 2dly Sometimes an Extraordinary Gift without Office is intended in this Expression So it is said that Philip the Evangelist had four Daughters Virgins which did Prophesie Acts 21. 9. It is not said that they were Prophetesses as there were some under the Old Testament only that they did Prophesie that is they had Revelations from the Holy Ghost occasionally for the use of the Church For to Prophesie is nothing but to declare hidden and secret things by virtue of immediate Revelation be they of what Nature they will and so is the word commonly used Mat. 26. 68. Luke 22. 64. So an Extraordinary Gift without Office is expressed Acts 19. 6. And when Paul had laid his Hands upon them the Holy Ghost came and they spake with Tongues and Prophesied Their Prophesying which was their Declaration of Spiritual things by immediate Revelation was of the same Nature with their speaking with Tongues both Extraordinary Gifts and Operations of the Holy Ghost And of this sort were those Miracles Healings and Tongues which God for a time set in the Church which did not constitute distinct Officers in the Church but they were only sundry Persons in each Church which were endued with these Extraordinary Gifts for its Edification And therefore are they placed after Teachers comprizing both which were the principal sort of the ordinary continuing Officers of the Church 1 Cor. 12. 28. And of this sort do I reckon those Prophets to be who are treated of 1 Cor. 14. 29 30 31 32 33. For that they were neither stated Officers in the Churches nor yet the Brethren of the Church promiscuously but such as had received an especial Extraordinary Gift is evident from the Context see verse 30. 37. § 24. AGAIN an Ordinary Office with Ordinary Gifts is intended by this Expression Rom. 12. 6. Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given to us whether Prophesie let us Prophesie according to the proportion of Faith Prophesie here can intend nothing but Teaching or Preaching in the Exposition and Application of the Word for an External Rule is given unto it in that it must be done according to the proportion of Faith or the sound Doctrine of Faith revealed in the Scripture And this ever was and will ever continue to be the Work and Duty of the ordinary Teachers of the Church whereunto they are enabled by the Gifts of Christ which they receive by the Holy Ghost Eph. 4. 7. as we shall see more afterwards And hence also those who are not called unto Office who have yet received a Gift enabling them to declare the Mind of God in the Scripture unto the Edification of others may be said to Prophesie § 25. AND these things I thought meet to interpose with a brief Description of those Officers which the Lord Jesus Christ granted unto his Church for a Season at its first Planting and Establishment with what belonged unto their Office and the necessity of their Work For the Collation of them on the Church and their whole Furniture with Spiritual Gifts was the immediate Work of the Holy Ghost which we are in the Declaration of and withall it was my Design to manifest how vain is the pretence of some unto a kind of Succession unto these Officers who have neither an Extrordinary Call nor Extraordinary Gifts nor Extraordinary Imployment but only are pleased to assume an Extraordinary Power unto themselves over the Churches and Disciples of Christ and that such as neither Evangelists nor Prophets nor Apostles did ever claim or make use of But this matter of Power is Fuel in it self unto the Proud Ambitious Minds of Diotrephists and as now circumstanced with other Advantages is useful to the corrupt Lusts of Men and therefore it is no wonder if it be pretended unto and greedily reached after by such as really have neither Call to the Ministry nor Gifts for it nor do employ themselves in it And therefore as in these Extraordinary Officers and their Gifts did consist the Original Glory and Honour of the Churches in an especial manner and by them was their Edification carried on and perfected so by an empty pretence unto their Power without their Order and Spirit the Churches have been stained and deformed and brought to destruction But we must return unto the Consideration of Extraordinary Spiritual Gifts which is the especial Work before us CHAP. IV. Extraordinary Spiritual Gifts 1 Cor. 12. v. 8 9 10 11. § 1. EXTRAORDINARY Spiritual Gifts were of two sorts First Such as absolutely exceed the whole Power and Faculties of our Minds and Souls These therefore did not consist in an abiding Principle or Faculty alway resident in them that received them so as that they could Exercise them by vertue of any inherent Power and Ability They were so granted unto some Persons in the Execution of their Office as that so often as was needful they could produce their Effects by
vertue of an immediate Extraordinary Influence of Divine Power transiently affecting their Minds Such was the Gift of Miracles Healing and the like There were no Extraordinary Officers but they had these Gifts But yet they could work or operate by vertue of them only as the Holy Ghost gave them especial Direction for the putting forth of his Power in them So it is said that Paul and Barnabas Preaching at Iconium the Lord gave Testimony unto the word of his Grace and granted Signs and Wonders to be done by their Hands Acts 14. 3. The working of Signs and Miracles is the immediate operation of the Spirit of God nor can any Power or Faculty efficiently productive of such Effects abide in the Souls or Minds of Men These miraculous Operations were the witness of the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which he gave to the Truth of the Gospel See Heb. 2. 4. with our Exposition thereon Wherefore there was no more in these Gifts which absolutely exceed the whole faculties of our Natures but the designing of certain Persons by the Holy Ghost in and with whose Ministry he would himself effect miraculous operations Secondly They were such as consisted in Extraordinary Endowments and Improvements of the Faculties of the Souls or Minds of Men such as Wisdom Knowledge Utterance and the like Now where these were bestowed on any in an Extraordinary manner as they were on the Apostles and Evangelists they differed only in Degree from them that are ordinary and still continued but are of the same kind with them whereof we shall treat afterward Now whereas all these Gifts of both sorts are expresly and distinctly enumerated and set down by our Apostle in one place I shall consider them as they are there proposed by him § 2. 1 COR. 12. 7 8 9 10 11. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withall For to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit to another Faith by the same Spirit to another the Gifts of Healing by the same Spirit to another the working of Miracles to another Prophesie to another discerning of Spirits to another divers kinds of Tongues to another the Interpretation of Tongues But all these worketh that one and self-same Spirit dividing to every one severally as he will The general Concernments of this passage in the Apostle were declared and the context opened at the beginning of our Discourse on this subject I shall only now consider the especial Spiritual Gifts that are here enumerated by the Apostle which are Nine in number laid down promiscuously without respect unto any order or dependance of one upon another although it is probable that those first placed were the principal or of principal use in the Church § 3. The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word of Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is of the same signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew which often signifies a Thing or Matter Wherefore the Word of Wisdom is nothing but Wisdom it self And our Enquiry is What was that Wisdom which was a peculiar and an especial Gift in those days of the Holy Ghost Our Lord Jesus Christ promised unto his Disciples that he would give them a Mouth and Wisdom which all their Adversaries should not be able to gainsay nor resist Luke 21. 15. This will be our Rule in the Declaration of the Nature of this Gift That which he hath respect unto is the Defence of the Gospel and its Truth against powerful persecuting Adversaries For although they had the Truth on their side yet being Men ignorant and unlearned they might justly fear that when they were brought before Kings and Rulers and Priests they should be baffled in their Profession and not be able to defend the Truth Wherefore this Promise of a Mouth and Wisdom respects Spiritual Ability and Utterance in the Defence of the Truth of the Gospel when they were called into question about it Spiritual Ability of Mind is the Wisdom and Utterance or freedom of Speech is the Mouth here promised An Eminent instance of the accomplishment hereof we have in Peter and John Acts 4. For upon their making a Defence of the Resurrection of Christ and the Truth of the Gospel therein such as their Adversaries were not able to gainsay nor resist it is said that when the Rulers and Elders saw their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is their utterance in Defence of their Cause with Boldness and so the Wisdom wherewith it was accompanied considering that they were unlearned and Ignorant they were astonished and only considered that they had been with Jesus v. 13. And he it was who in the accomplishment of his Promise had given them that Spiritual Wisdom and Utterance which they were not able to resist So it is said expresly of Stephen that his Adversaries were not able to resist the Wisdom and Spirit whereby he spake Actt 6. 10. Wherefore this Gift of Wisdom in the first place was a Spiritual Skill and Ability to defend the Truths of the GosPel when questioned opposed or blasphemed And this Gift was eminent in those Primitive Times when a Company of unlearned Men were able upon all occasions to maintain and defend the Truth which they Believed and Professed before and against Doctors Scribes Lawyers Rulers of Synagogus yea Princes and Kings continually so confounding their Adversaries as that being obstinate in their unbelief they were forced to cover their Shame by betaking themselves unto Rage and Bestial Fury Acts 6. 10 11 12 13 14. Chap. 7. 54. Chap. 22. 22 23. As hath been the manner of all their Successors ever since § 4. NOW although this be an especial kind of Wisdom an Eminent Gift of the Holy Ghost wherein the Glory of Christ and Honour of the Gospel in greatly concerned namely an Ability to manage and defend the Truth in times of Trial and Danger to the Confusion of its Adversaries yet I suppose the Wisdom here intended is not absolutely consined thereunto though it be principally intended Peter speaking of Paul's Epistles affirms that they were written according to the Wisdom given into him 2 Pet. 3. 15. That is that especial Gift of Spiritual Wisdom for the management of Gospel Truths unto the Edification of the Church of Christ which he had received And he that would understand what this Wisdom is must be throughly conversant in the Writings of that Apostle For indeed the Wisdom that he useth in the management of the Doctrine of the Gospel in the due consideration of all Persons Occasions Circumstances Temptations of Men and Churches of their State Condition Strength or Weakness Growth or Decays Obedience or Failings their Capacities and Progresses with the Holy Accommodation of himself in what he teacheth or delivereth in Meekness in Vehemency in Tenderness in Sharpness in severe Arguings and pathetical Expostulations with all other ways and means suited
time And this Direction manifests that the Gift was extraordinary and is now ceased though there be a continuance of ordinary Gifts of the same kind and to the same end in the Church as we shall see afterwards ver 30. Fourthly By the observation of this order the Apostle shews that all the Prophets might exercise their Gift unto the Instruction and Consolation of the Church in a proper Season such as their frequent Assemblies would afford them ver 31. And whereas it may be objected that these things coming in an extraordinary immediate manner from the Holy Ghost it was not in the power of them who recieved them to confine them unto the order prescribed which would seem to limit the Holy Spirit in his operations whereas they were all to speak as the Spirit gave them Ability and Utterance let what would ensue the Apostle assures them by a general Principle that no such thing would follow on a due use and exercise of this Gift For God saith he is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace as in all Churches of the Saints ver 33. As if he should have said If such a course should be taken that any one should speak and prophesie as he pretended himself to be moved by the Spirit and to have none to judge of what he said all Confusion Tumult and Disorder would ensue thereon But God is the Author of no such thing gives no such Gifts appoints no such exercise of them as would tend thereunto But how shall this be prevented seeing these things are extraordinary and not in our own power yea saith he the Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets ver 32. By the Spirit of the Prophets that their Spiritual Gift and Ability for its exercise is intended none do question And whereas the Apostle had taught two things concerning the Exercise of this Gift 1 That it ought to be Orderly to avoid Confusion 2 That what proceedeth from it ought to be judged by others he manifests that both these may be observed because the Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets that is both their Spiritual Gift is so in their own Power as that they might dispose themselves unto its Exercise with Choice and Judgment so as to preserve Order and Peace not being acted as with an Enthusiastical Afflation and carried out of eheir own Power this Gift in it's Exercise was subject unto their own Judgment Choice and Understanding so what they expressed by vertue of their Spiritual Gift was subject to be judged of by the other Prophets that were in the Church Thus was the Peace and Order of the Church to be preserved and the Edefication of it to be promoted § 25. Discerning of Spirits is the next Gift of the Spirit here enumerated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To another the Discernings of Spirits the Ability and Faculty of Judging of Spirits The Dijudication of Spirits This Gift I have upon another occasion formerly given an Account of and therefore shall here but briefly touch upon it All Gospel-Administrations were in those Days avowedly executed by Vertue of Spiritual Gifts No Man then durst set his Hand unto this Work but such as either really had or highly pretended unto a Participation of the Holy Ghost For the Administration of the Gospel is the Dispensation of the Spirit This therefore was pleaded by all in the preaching of the Word whether in private Assemblies or publickly to the World But it came also then to pass as it did in all Ages of the Church that where God gave unto any the extraordinary Gifts of his Spirit for the Reformation or Edification of the Church there Sathan suborned some to make a Pretence thereunto unto it's Trouble and Destruction So was it under the Old Testament and so was it foretold that it should be under the New So the Apostle Peter having declared the Nature and Excellency Use and Certainty of that Prophesie which was of old 2 Pet. 1. 19 20 21. adds thereunto But there were false Prophets also among the People Chap. 2. 1. That is when God granted that signal Priviledge unto the Church of the Immediate Revelation of his Will unto them by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost which constituted Men true Prophets of the Lord Sathan stirred up others to pretend unto the same Spirit of Prophesie for his own malicious Ends whereby there were false Prophets also among the People But it may be it will be otherwise now under the Gospel Church State No saith he There shall be false Teachers among you that is Persons pretending to the same Spiritual Gift that the Apostles and Evangelists had yet bringing in thereby damnable Heresies Now all their damnable Opininions they Fathered upon immediate Revelations of the Spirit This gave occasion to the Holy Apostle John to give that Caution with his Reason of it which is expressed 1 John 4. 1 2 3. which Words we have opened before And this false Pretence unto extraordinary Spiritual Gifts the Church was tried and pestred withall so long as there was any occasion to give it Countenance namely whilst such Gifts were really continued unto any therein What way then had God Ordained for the Preservation and Safety of the Church that it should not be imposed upon by any of these Delusions I answer There was a Standing Rule in the Church whereby whatsoever was or could be offered Doctrinally unto it might certainly and infallibly be tryed judged and determined on And this was the Rule of the written Word according to that everlasting Ordinance To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light in them Isa. 8. 20. This in all Ages was sufficient for the Preservation of the Church from all Errors and Heresies or damnable Doctrines which it never fell into nor shall do so but in the sinful Neglect and Contempt hereof Moreover the Apostle further directs the Application of this Rule unto present occasions by advising us to fix on some Fundamental Principles which are likely to be opposed and if they are not owned and avowed to avoid such Teachers whatever Spiritual Gift they pretend unto 1 John 4. 2 3. 2 John 9 10 11. But yet because many in those Days were weak in the Faith and might be surprized with such Pretences God had graciously provided and bestowed the Gift here mentioned on some it may be in every Church namely of Discerning of Spirits They could by Vertue of the Extraordinary Gift and Aid therein of the Holy Ghost make a true Judgment of the Spirits that Men pretended to act and to be acted by whether they were of God or no. And this was of singular Use and Benefit unto the Church in those Days For as Spiritual Gifts abounded so did a Pretence unto them which was always accompanied with pernicious Designs Herein therefore did God grand Relief for them who were either less skilful or less
wary or less able on any account to make a right Judgment between those who were really endowed with extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit and those who falsly pretended thereunto For these Persons received this Gift and were placed in the Church for this very End that they might guide and help them in making a right Judgment in this matter And whereas the Communication of these Gifts is ceased and consequently all Pretences unto them unless by some Persons Phrenetical and Enthusiastical whose Madness is manifest to all there is no need of the Continuance of this Gift of Discerning of Spirits that standing Infallible Rule of the Word and ordinary Assistance of the Spirit being every way sufficient for our Preservation in the Truth unless we give up our selves to the Conduct of corrupt Lusts Pride Self-conceit Carnal Interest Passions and Temptations which Ruine the Souls of Men. § 22. THE two Spiritual Gifts here remaining are Speaking with Tongues and their Interpretation The first Communication of this Gift of Tongues unto the Apostles is particularly described Acts 2. 1 2 3 4 c. And although they were at that time endued with all other Gifts of the Holy Ghost called Power from Above Acts 1. 8. yet was this Gift of Tongues signalized by the Visible Pledge of it the joynt Participation of the same Gift by all and the Notoriety of the matter thereon as in that place of the Acts is at large described And God seems to have laid the Foundation of Preaching the Gospel in this Gift for two Reasons 1 To signify that the Grace and Mercy of the Covenant was now no longer to be confined unto one Nation Language or People but to be extended unto all Nations Tongues and Languages of People under Heaven 2 To testifie by what means he would subdue the Souls and Consciences of Men unto the Obedience of Christ and the Gospel and by what means he would maintain his Kingdom in the World Now this was not by Force and Might by external Power or Armies but by the Preaching of the Word whereof the Tongue is the only Instrument And the outward Sign of this Gift in Tongues of Fire evidenced the Light and Efficacy wherewith the Holy Ghost designed to accompany the Dispensation of the Gospel Wherefore although this Gift began with the Apostles yet was it afterwards very much diffused unto the Generality of them that did believe See Acts 10. 46. Chap. 19. 6. 1 Cor. 14. And some few things we may observe concerning this Gift As 1 The especial matter that was expressed by this Gift seems to have been the Praises of God for his wonderful Works of Grace by Christ. Although I doubt not but that the Apostles were enabled by vertue of this Gift to declare the Gospel unto any People unto whom they came in their own Language yet ordinarily they did not Preach nor Instruct the People by Vertue of this Gift but only spake forth the Praises of God to the Admiration and Astonishment of them who were yet Strangers to the Faith So when they first received the Gift they were heard speaking the wonderful Works of God Acts 2. 11. And the Gentiles who first believed spake with Tongues and magnified God Acts 10. 46. 2 These Tongues were so given for a Sign unto them that believed not 1 Cor. 14. 22. that sometimes those that spake with Tongues understood not the Sence and Meaning of the Words delivered by themselves nor were they understood by the Church it self wherein they were uttered 1 Cor. 14. 6 7 8 9 10. c. But this I suppose was only sometimes and that it may be mostly when this Gift was unnecessarily used For I doubt not but the Apostles understood full well the things delivered by themselves in divers Tongues And all who had this Gift though they might not apprehend the meaning of what themselves spake and uttered yet were so absolutely in the Exercise of it under the Conduct of the Holy Spirit that they neither did nor could speak any thing by vertue thereof but what was according unto the Mind of God and tended unto his Praise 1 Cor. 14. 2. 14 17. 3 Although this Gift were excellent in it self and singularly effectual in the Propagation of the Gospel unto Unbelievers yet in the Assemblies of the Church it was of little or no Use but only with respect unto the things themselves that were uttered For as to the principal End of it to be a Sign unto Unbelievers it was finished and accomplished towards them so as they had no farther need nor use of it But now whereas many Unbelievers came occasionally into the Assemblies of the Church especially at some freer Seasons for whose Conviction the Holy Ghost would for a Season continue this Gift among Believers that the Church might not be disadvantaged thereby he added the other Gift here mentioned namely The Interpretation of Tongues He endowed either those Persons themselves who spake with Tongues or some others in the same Assembly with an Ability to interpret and declare to the Church the things that were spoken and uttered in that miraculous manner which is the last Gift here mentioned But the Nature Use and Abuse of these Gifts is so largely and distinctly spoken unto by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. that as I need not insist on them so I cannot fully do it without an entire Exposition of that whole Chapter which the Nature of my Design will not permit CHAP. V. The Original Duration Use and End of Extraordinary Spiritual Gifts § 1. THIS Summary Account doth the Apostle give of these Extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost which then flourished in the Church and were the Life of it's extraordinary Ministry It may be mention may occur of some such Gifts under other Names but they are such as may be reduced unto some one of those here expressed Wherefore this may be admitted as a perfect Catalogue of them and comprehensive of that Power from Above which the Lord Christ promised unto his Apostles and Disciples upon his Ascension into Heaven Acts 1. 8. For he ascended up far above all Heavens that he might fill all things Ephes. 4. 10. that is the Church with Officers and Gifts unto the Perfection of the Saints by the Work of the Ministry and the Edification of his Body Ver. 11. For being by the Right Hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost he shed forth or abundantly poured out these things whereof we speak Acts 2. 33. And as they were the great Evidence of his Acceptation with God and Exaltation seeing in them the Spirit convinced the World of Sin Righteousness and Judgment so they were the great means whereby he carried on his Work amongst Men as shall afterwards be declared § 2. THERE was no certain limited Time for the Cessation of these Gifts Those peculiar unto the Apostles were commensurate unto their Lives None after their Decease had
of his Hand leaving him nothing to do in that which they called the Church But I suppose I need not handle this Principle as a thing in Dispute or Controversie If I greatly mistake not this presence of Christ in his Church by his Spirit is an Article of Faith unto the Catholick Church and such a Fundamental Truth as whoever denies it overthrows the whole Gospel And I have so confirmed it in our former Discourses concerning the Dispensation and Operations of the Holy Ghost as that I fear not nor expect any direct opposition thereunto But yet I acknowledge that some begin to talk as if they owned no other presence of Christ but by the Word and Sacraments Whatever else remains to be done lyes wholly in our selves It is acknowledged that the Lord Christ is present in and by his Word and Ordinances but if he be no otherwise present or be present only by their External Administration there will no more Church-State among Men ensue thereon than there is among the Jews who enjoy the Letter of the Old Testament and the Institutions of Moses But when Men rise up in express contradiction unto the Promises of Christ and the Faith of the Catholick Church in all Ages we shall not contend with them But § 4. 3 dly THIS presence of the Spirit is secured unto the Church by an Everlasting unchangeable Covenant Isa. 59. 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my Spirit that is upon them 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 the Mouth of thy Seeds Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever This is God's Covenant with the Gospel Church to be erected then when the Redeemer should come out of Zion and unto them that turn from Transgression in Jacob ver 20. This is a part of the Covenant that God hath made in Christ the Redeemer And as the continuance of the Word unto the Church in all Ages is by this Promise secured without which it would cease and come to nothing seeing it is Built on the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Ephes. 2. 20. so is the presence of the Spirit in like manner secured unto it and that on the same Terms with the Word so as that if he be not present with it all Covenant Relation between God and it doth cease where this promise doth not take place there is no Church no Ordinance no acceptable Worship because no Covenant-Relation In brief then where there is no participation of the Promise of Christ to send the Spirit to abide with us always no Interest in that Covenant wherein God ingageth that his Spirit shall not depart from us for ever and so no presence of Christ to make the Word and Ordinances of Worship living useful effectual in their Administration unto their proper Ends there is no Church-State whatever outward Order there may be § 5. AND hereon 4thly is the Gospel called the Ministration of the Spirit and the Ministers of it the Ministers of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6. Who hath also made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit not the Ministration of Death but that of the Spirit which is Glorious ver 7 8. There never was nor ever shall be any but these two Ministrations in the Church that of the Letter and of Death and that of the Spirit and of Life If there be a Ministration in any Church it must belong to one of these and all Ministers must be so either of the Letter or of the Spirit If there be a Ministry pretended unto that is neither of the Letter nor of the Spirit it is Antichristian The Ministry which was Carnal of the Letter and Death was a true Ministry and in its place Glorious because it was appointed of God and was efficacious as unto its proper end That of the Gospel is of the Spirit and much more Glorious But if there be a Ministration that hath the outward form of either but indeed is neither of them it is no Ministration at all And where it is so there is really no Ministration but that of the Bible that is God by his Providence continuing the Bible among them maketh use of iâ—â—s he seeth good for the Conviction and Conversion of Sinners wherein there is a secret 〈◊〉 of the Spirit also We may thereâ—â—â—â—â—â—quire in what sence the Ministration of the 〈…〉 called the Ministry of the Spirit Now this cannot be because the Laws Institutions and Ordinances of its Worship were revealed by the Spirit for so were all the Ordinances and Institutions of the Old Testament as hath been proved before and yet the Ministration of them was the Ministration of the Letter and of Death in a worldly Sanctuary by Carnal Ordinances Wherefore it must be so called in one of these Respects Either 1 Because it is the peculiar Aid and Assistance of the Spirit whereby any are enabled to administer the Gospel and its Institutions of Worship according to the Mind of God unto the Edification of the Church In this sence Men are said to be made able Ministers of the New Testament that is Ministers able to Administer the Gospel in due order Thus in that Expression Ministers of the Spirit the Spirit denotes the Efficient Cause of the Ministry and he that quickeneth it ver 6 7. Or 2 It may be said to be the Ministration of the Spirit because in and by the Ministry of the Gospel the Spirit is in all Ages Administred and Communicated unto the Disciples of Christ unto all the ends for which he is promised So Gal. 3. 2. the Spirit is received by the Preaching of Faith Take it either way and the whole of what we plead for is confirmed That he alone enableth Men unto the Discharge of the Work of the Ministry by the Spiritual Gifts which he communicateth unto them is the first sence and expresly that which we contend for and if in and by the Ministration of the Gospel in all Ages the Spirit is Communicated and Administred unto Men then doth he abide with the Church for ever and for what Ends we must further enquire § 6. 5thly THE great End for which the Spirit is thus promised administred and communicated under the Gospel is the continuance and preservation of the Church in the World God hath promised unto the Lord Christ that his Kingdom in this World should endure unto all Generations with the course of the Sun and Moon Psal. 72. 5. and that of the Encrease of his Government there should be no End Isa. 9. 7. And the Lord Christ himself hath declared his preservation of his Church so as that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against it Mat. 16. It may therefore be enquired whereon the Infallible Accomplishment of these Promises and others innumerable unto the same End doth depend or what
Prophesie c. It is indifferent as to our present purpose whether the Apostle treat here of Offices or of Duties only The things ensuing which are plain and obvious in the Text are sufficient unto the confirmation of what we plead for 1 It is the ordinary state of the Church its Continuance being planted its Preservation and Edification that the Apostle discourseth about wherefore what he speaks is necessary unto the Church in all Ages and Conditions To suppose a Church devoid of the Gifts here mentioned is to overthrow the whole Nature and End of a Gospel Church 2 That the Principle of all Administrations in the Church-state described is Gifts received from Jesus Christ by his Spirit For declaring the way whereby the Church may be Edified he laveth the Foundation of it in this that to every one of us is Grace given according to the measure of the Gift of Christ. For the Apostle exhorts those unto whom he speaks to attend unto those Duties whereby the Church may be Edified and that by vertue of the Gifts which they had received All the whole Duty of any one in the Church lyes in this that he act according to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he is made partaker of And what these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are as also by whom they are bestowed hath been already fully declared 3. That these Gifts give not only Ability for Duty but Rule and Measure unto all Works of Service that are to be performed in the Church Every one is to act therein according to his Gift and no otherwise To say that this state of the Church is now ceased and that another state is introduced wherein all Gospel Administrations may be managed without Spiritual Gifts or not by virtue of them is to say that which de facto is true in most places but whether the true Nature of the Church is not overthrown thereby is left unto consideration 1 Pet. 4. 10 11. is a parallel Testimony hereunto and many others to the same purpose might be pleaded together with that which is the Foundation of this whole Discourse Ephes. 4. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 c. Only let it be remembred that in this whole Discourse by Gifts I do understand those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Spiritual Largesses which are neither absolutely Natural Endowments nor attainable by our own Industry and Diligence § 9. 7thly THESE Gifts as they are bestowed unto that End so they are indispensibly necessary unto Gospel Administrations For as we have proved they are Spiritual and not Legal or Carnal and Spiritual Administrations cannot be exercised in a due manner without Spiritual Gifts Yea one Reason why they are Spiritual and so called is because they cannot be performed without the Aid and Assistance of the Holy Spirit in and by these Gifts of his Had the Lord Christ appointed Administrations of another Nature such as were every way suited unto the Reason of Men and to be exercised by the Powers thereof there had been no need of these Spiritual Gifts For the Spirit of a Man knoweth the things of a Man and will both guide and act him therein And whereas these Admistrations are in their Nature Use Signification and Efficacy Spiritual it is by Spiritual Gifts alone that they may be managed Hence these things do live and die together Where the one is not there neither will the other be Thus when many perhaps the most who were outwardly called unto Office in the Church began to be Carnal in their Hearts and Lives and to neglect the use of these Gifts neither applying themselves unto the attaining of them nor endeavouring to excite or encrease what they had received by Diligence or constant Exercise refusing to Trade with the Talent committed unto them they quickly began to wax weary of Spiritual Administrations also Hereon in compliance with many corrupt Affections they betook themselves unto an outward Carnal Ceremonious Worship and Administration of Ordinances which they might discharge and perform without the least Aid or Assistance of the Holy Ghost or Supply of Spiritual Gifts So in the neglect of these Gifts and the loss of them which ensued thereon lay the beginning of the Apostasie of the Christian Church as to its outward Profession which was quickly compleated by the neglect of the Grace of the Spirit whereby it lost both Truth and Holiness Nor could it be otherwise For as we have proved the outward Form and Being of the Church as to its visible Profession depends on the receipt and use of them On their decay therefore the Church must decay as to its Profession and in their loss is its Ruin And we have an instance in the Church of Rome what Various Extravagant and Endless Inventions the Minds of Men will put them upon to keep up a shew of Worship when by the loss of Spiritual Gifts Spiritual Administrations are lost also This is that which their innumerable Forms Modes sets of Rites and Ceremonies seasons of Worship are invented to supply but to no purpose at all but only the aggravation of their Sin and Folly § 10. IN the last place we plead the Event even in the days wherein we live For the Holy Ghost doth continue to dispense Spiritual Gifts for Gospel Administrations in great variety unto those Ministers of the Gospel who are called unto their Office according unto his Mind and Will The opposition that is made hereunto by Profane Scoffers is not to be valued The Experience of those who are Humble and Wise who fearing God do enquire into those things is appealed unto Have they not an Experiment of this Administration Do they not find the presence of the Spirit himself by his various Gifts in them by whom Spiritual things are Administred unto them Have they not a proof of Christ speaking in them by the Assistance of his Spirit making the Word mighty unto all its proper Ends And as the thing it self so variety of his Dispensations manifest themselves also unto the Experience of Believers Who see not how different are the Gifts of Men the Holy Ghost dividing unto every one as he will And the Experience which they have themselves who have received these Gifts of the especial Assistance which they receive in the Exercise of them may also be pleaded Indeed the Profaneness of a contrary apprehension is intolerable among such as profess themselves to be Christians For any to boast themselves they are sufficient of themselves for the Stewardly Dispensation of the Mysteries of the Gospel by their own Endowments Natural or Acquired and the Exercise of them without a participation of any peculiar Spiritual Gift from the Holy Ghost is a presumption which contains in it a Renunciation of all or any Interest in the Promises of Christ made unto the Church or the continuance of his presence therein Let Men be never so well perswaded of their own Abilities let them Pride themselves in their Performances in Reflection of
is as pleadable against them who pretend to exercise the Rule and Power of his present Kingdom after the manner of the Potestative Administrations of the World When our Saviour forbad all Rule unto his Disciples after the manner of the Gentiles who then possessed all Sovereign Power in the World and told them that it should not be so with them that some should be great and exercise Dominion over others but that they should serve one another in Love the greatest Condescention unto Service being required of them who are otherwise most eminent he did not intend to take from them or divest them of that Spiritual Power and Authority in the Government of the Church which he intended to commit unto them His Design therefore was to declare what that Authority was not and how it should not be exercised A Lordly or Despotical Power it was not to be nor was it to be exercised by Penal Laws Courts and Coercive Jurisdiction which was the way of the Administration of all Power among the Gentiles And if that kind of Power and Rule in the Church which is for the most part exercised in the World be not forbidden by our Saviour no Man living can tell what is so For as to Meekness Moderation Patience Equity Righteousness they were more easie to be found in the Legal Administrations of Power among the Gentiles than in these used in many Churches But such a Rule is signified unto them the Authority whereof from whence it proceedeth was Spiritual its Object the Minds and Souls of Men only and the way of whose Administration was to consist in an humble holy Spiritual Application of the Word of God or Rules of the Gospel unto them 2 The End of this Rule is meerly and solely the Edification of the Church All the Power that the Apostles themselves had either in or over the Church was but unto their Edification 2 Cor. 10. 8. And the Edification of the Church consists in the Encrease of Faith and Obedience in all the Members thereof in the subduing and mortifying of Sin in Fruitfulness in good Works in the Confirmation and Consolation of them that stand in the raising up them that are fallen and the recovery of them that wander in the Growth and Flourishing of mutual Love and Peace and whatever Rule is exercised in the Church unto any other end is Foreign to the Gospel and tends only to the Destruction of the Church it self 3 In the way and manner of the Administration of this Rule and Government two things may be considered 1 What is internal in the Qualifications of the Minds of them by whom it is to be exercised Such are Wisdom Diligence Love Meekness Patience and the like Evangelical Endowments 2 What is external or what is the outward Rule of it and this is the Word and Law of Christ alone as we have elsewhere declared § 9. FROM these things it may appear what is the Nature in general of that Skill in the Rule of the Church which we assert to be a peculiar Gift of the Holy Ghost If it were only an Ability or Skill in the Canon or Civil Law or Rules of Men if only an Acquaintance with the Nature and Course of some Courts proceeding litigiously by Citations Processes Legal Pleadings issuing in Pecuniary Mulcts outward Coercions or Imprisonments I should willingly acknowledge that there is no peculiar Gift of the Spirit of God required thereunto But the Nature of it being as we have declared it is impossible it should be exercised aright without the especial Assistance of the Holy Ghost Is any Man of himself sufficient for these things Will any Man undertake of himself to know the mind of Christ in all the occasions of the Church and to adminster the Power of Christ in them and about them Wherefore the Apostle in many places teacheth that Wisdom Skill and Understanding to administer the Authority of Christ in the Church unto its Edification with Faithfulness and Diligence are an especial Gift of the Holy Ghost Rom. 12. 6 8. 1 Cor. 12. 28. It is the Holy Ghost which makes the Elders of the Church it's Bishops or Overseers by calling them to their Office Acts 20. 28. And what he calls any Man unto that he furnisheth him with Abilities for the Discharge of And so have we given a brief Account of these Ordinary Gifts which the Holy Ghost communicates unto the constant Ministry of the Church and will do so unto the Consummation of all things having moreover in our Passage manifested the Dependance of the Ministry on this Work of his so that we need no Addition of Pains to demonstrate that where he goeth not before in the Communication of them no outward Order Call or Constitution is sufficient to make any one a Minister of the Gospel § 10 THERE are Gifts which respect Duties only Such are those which the Holy Ghost continues to communicate unto all the Members of the Church in a great Variety of Degrees according to the Places and Conditions which they are in unto their own and the Churches Edification There is no need that we should insist upon them in particular seeing they are of the same nature with them which are continued unto the Ministers of the Church who are required to excell in them so as to be able to go before the whole Church in their Exercise The Spirit of the Gospel was promised by Christ unto all his Disciples unto all Believers unto the whole Church and not unto the Guides of it only To them he is so in an especial manner with respect unto their Office Power and Duty but not absolutely or only As he is the Spirit of Grace he quickens animates and unites the whole Body of the Church and all the Members of it in and unto Christ Jesus 1 Cor. 12. 12 13. And as he is the Administrator of all Supernatural Gifts he furnisheth the whole Body and all it's Members with Spiritual Abilities unto it's Edification Ephes. 4. 15 16. Col. 2. 19. And without them in some measure or degree ordinarily we are not able to discharge our Duty unto the Glory of God For § 11. 1. THESE Gifts are a great means and help to excite and exercise Grace it self without which it will be lifeless and apt to decay Men grow in Grace by the due exercise of their own Gifts in Duties Wherefore every individual Person on his own account doth stand in need of them with respect unto the exercise and improvement of Grace Zech. 12. 10. 2 Most Men have it may be such Duties incumbent on them with respect unto others as they cannot discharge aright without the especial Aid of the Spirit of God in this kind So is it with all them who have Families to take care of and provide for For ordinarily they are bound to instruct their Children and Servants in the Knowledge of the Lord and to go before them in that Worship which God requires of
him and in his Name 3 ALL those things those Acts of Light Grace and Mercy whereby the Souls of the Disciples of Christ are comforted by the Holy Ghost are the things of Christ that is especial Fruits of his Mediation So speaketh our Saviour himself of Him and his Work He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you John 16. 14. All that Consolation Peace and Joy which he communicates unto Believers yea all that he doth in his whole Work towards the Elect is but the effectual Communication of the Fruits of the Mediation of Christ unto them And this is the first thing that constitutes the Office of the Comforter this Work is committed and entrusted unto him in an especial manner which in the infinite Condescention of his own Will he takes upon him SECONDLY It farther evinceth the Nature of an Office in that he is said to be sent unto the Work And Mission always includeth Commission He who is sent is entrusted and empowred as unto what he is sent about See Psal. 104. 30. John 14. 26. Chap. 15. 26. Chap. 16. 7. The Nature of this sending of the Spirit and how it is spoken of him in general hath been consider'd before in our Declaration of his general Adjuncts or what is affirmed of him in the Scripture and may not here again be insisted on It is now mentioned only as an Evidence to prove that in this Work of his towards us he hath taken that on him which hath the Nature of an Office For that is his Office to perform which he is sent unto and he will not fail in the Discharge of it And it is in it self a great Principle of Consolation unto all true Believers an effectual Means of their Supportment and Refreshment to consider that not only is the Holy Ghost their Comforter but also that he is sent of the Father and the Son so to be Nor can there be a more uncontroulable Evidence of the Care of Jesus Christ over his Church and towards his Disciples in all their Sorrows and Sufferings than this is that he sends the Holy Ghost to be their Comforter THIRDLY He hath an especial Name given him expressing and declaring his Office When the Son of God was to be incarnate and born in the World he had an especial Name given unto him He was called Jesus Now although there was a signification in this Name of the Work he was to do for he was called Jesus because he was to save his People from their Sins Matth. 1. 21. yet was it also that proper Name whereby he was to be distinguished from other Persons So the Holy Spirit hath no other Name but that of the Holy Spirit which how it is characteristical of the Third Person in the Holy Trinity hath been before declared But as both the Names of Jesus and of Christ though neither of them is the Name of an Office as one hath dreamed of late yet have respect unto the Work which he had to do and the Office which he was to undergo without which he could not have rightly been so called So hath the Holy Ghost a Name given unto him which is not distinctive with respect unto his Personality but denominative with respect unto his Work And this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THIS Name is used only by the Apostle John and that in his Gospel only from the mouth of Christ Chap. 14. Ver. 16 26. Chap. 15. Ver. 26. Chap. 16. Ver. 7. And once he useth it himself applying it unto Christ 1 John 2. 1. where we render it an Advocate The Syriack Interpreter retains the Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paraclita not as some imagine from the use of that Word before among the Jews which cannot be proved Nor is it likely that our Saviour made use of a Greek Word barbarously corrupted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Word he employed to this purpose But looking on it a proper Name of the Spirit with respect unto his Office he would not translate it As this Word is applyed unto Christ which it is in that One Place of 1 John 2. 1. It respects his Intercession and gives us Light into the Nature of it That it is his Intercession which the Apostle intends is evident from its Relation unto his being our Propitiation For the Oblation of Christ on the Earth is the Foundation of his Intercession in Heaven And he doth therein undertake our Patronage as our Advocate to plead our Cause and in an especial manner to keep off Evil from us For although the Intercession of Christ in general respects the procurement of all Grace and Mercy for us every thing whereby we may be saved unto the utmost Heb. 7. 25 26. yet his Intercession for us as an Advoeate respects Sin only and the evil Consequents of it For so is he in this place said to be our Advocate and in this place alone is he said to be only with respect unto Sin If any Man sin we have an Advocate Wherefore his being so doth in particular respect that part of his Intercession wherein he undertakes our Defence and Protection when accused of Sin For Sathan is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Accuser Rev. 12. 10. And when he accuseth Believers for sin Christ is their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Patron and Advocate For according unto the Duty of a Patron or Advocate in Criminal Causes partly he sheweth wherein the Accusation is false and aggravated about the Truth or proceeds upon Mistakes partly that the Crimes charged have not that Malice in them as is pretended and principally in pleading his Propitiation for them that so far as they are really guilty they may be graciously discharged FOR this Name is applied unto the Holy Spirit Some translate it a Comforter some an Advocate ond some retain the Greek Word Paraclete It may be best interpreted from the Nature of the Work assigned unto Him under that Name Some would comprize the whole Work intended under this Name unto his Teaching which he is principally promised for For the Matter and Manner of his Teaching what he teacheth and the way how he doth it is they say the Ground of all Consolation unto the Church And there may be something in this Interpretation of the Word taking Teaching in a large Sence for all Internal Divine Spiritual Operations So are we said to be taught of God when Faith is wrought in us and we are enabled to come unto Christ thereby And all our Consolations are from such Internal Divine Operations But take Teaching properly and we shall see that it is but one distinct Act of the Work of the Holy Ghost as here promised among many BUT 2dly The Work of a Comforter is principally ascribed unto him For 1 That he is principally under this Name intended as a Comforter is evident from the whole Context and the occasion of the Promise It was with respect unto the Troubles and Sorrows