rational soul which is a Spiritual substance and as near a-kin in nature to the Father of Spirits as the Angels his eldest Sons can be Such gifts and endowments as these are Memory Fancy Wit Eloquence and all Organical powers which are commonly known by the name of Natural parts but more especially the pure intellectual powers of Apprehending and Judging Comparing Ordering and Discoursing many or all of both which kinds some happy Souls possess in such abundance and perfection as gives them according to Aristotles observation a natural kind of Superiority over their companions and fits them to govern or instruct the world But then how much soever some men may transcend others in their intellectual capacities and improvements we must not like the Poets ascribe their extraordinary gifts to an higher principle than the nature of man For the tallest Trees are natural as well as the lowest shrubs and Gigantick Souls as well as bodies how prodigious soever their stature may be yet like Saul among his brethren they are but men though worthy to be Princes and differ as much from persons gifted by inspiration as Goliah from Samson Praxiteles and Phidias from Bezaliel and Aholiab or studied Linguists from the Apostles who were inspired with the gift of tongues Indeed all our parts and abilities are the gifts of God who is the original Author of our nature and by consequence of all that belongs thereunto but the Gifts of which the Apostle speaks in this Chapter are wholly Supernatural and immediately proceed from the Spirit of God Gifts that were given to advance humane nature above it self to raise all its Springs above their Fountain and enable the blessed persons affected with them to speak and write and act such things and in such a peculiar manner as was impossible for men not inspired to do These are the Gifts or Graces which the Apostle treats of in this Chapter as may be proved from the first verse which is an Introduction to his whole discourse Now Brethren saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning Spiritual gifts I would not have you ignorant Spiritual gifts not so called from the soul or spirit of man wherein they were as in their subject for if this had been his meaning he must not have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the author from whom they came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit of God whom our Saviour promised to send to his Disciples after he ascended into Heaven which he first of all did on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost came down upon them in a mighty rushing wind to signifie the plentiful Inspiration of the Spirit and sat upon them all in the shape of fiery cloven tongues as so many visible Symbols of the most * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 29. in 1 ep ad Cor. cap. 12. wonderful act of Inspiration which was the gift of tongues But then there being Two sorts of Spiritual gifts common and special we must further proceed to enquire which kind of the Two is meant here By the common gifts of the Spirit I mean all those that all Christians are bound to pray for and expect and that are given by God in common to all those who sincerely desire them and labour after them and that are necessary for the Salvation of the Soul By Special gifs I understand those which men are not ordinarily bound to expect and which unless it be in some few circumstances that seldom happen would be vanity and presumption to beg of God and which by consequence are not necessary for the Salvation of the Soul Of the former sort are all the saving Gifts and Graces of the Spirit called in the Schools gratiae gratum facientes which the Spirit helps to work in mens hearts as Faith Hope Charity Purity Humility and all other gracious habits of mind which the Apostle calls the fruit of the Spirit and wherein the image of God the Power of Godliness and the Spirit of Christianity truly do consist Of the latter sort are all the Miraculous Unctions of the Holy Ghost called by the Schoolmen gratiae gratis datae such as the gift of tongues power of working miracles signs and wonders the spirit of Prophecy and the like which are not necessary for the Church but in certain cases of special exigence and which when they are necessary are not given like the other joyntly to all but severally to some Such wonderful gifts and graces were those which Elias sent down with his Mantle upon Elisha when he ascended into Heaven thereby prefiguring the liberal effusion of the Spirit from Christ upon his Disciples after his Ascension for as the Apostle writes in the 4th Chapter of his Epistle to the Ephesians When he ascended up on high and led Captivity that is Satan Sin and death captive he gave in like manner gifts unto men Both these sorts of gifts agree in this that they are Supernatural and freely given by God to men and therefore both of them are called gratiae in the vulgar Latin and Graces in all the modern tongues though for distinction sake the former are commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the latter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Divines But though both proceed from the same Spirit and spring from the same Fountain of Grace yet as I have already hinted they differ in their nature extent and use First in their Nature for the former are nothing but moral vertues insensibly wrought in our hearts by the Holy Ghost we our selves co-operating therewith And their proper effect is to sanctifie our nature and make us like and acceptable unto God But the latter are not of a moral nature nor capable of moral consideration as being either pure intellectual habits as the gift of Tongues discerning of Spirits c. or else bodily virtues and powers as the power of Curing diseases c. to which the affected person contributed nothing himself and by which though he were made a more eminent man or Minister yet was he not made a * Non omnes Christiani boni daemones ejiciunt omnium tamen nomina scripta sunt in Coelo August in Ps 130. better Christian than he was before Therefore they did not sanctifie the nature of the person on whom they were bestow'd nor render him in the least more acceptable unto God though they were some of them more especially often given to sanctified persons and so might declare but not make a man good I say they were often but not always given to sanctified persons for at a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophyl in 1 Cor. 12.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Epist ad Rom. cap. 8. Hom. 14. first the Holy Ghost fell upon all that were Baptized and Confirmed the Spirit of Prophecy was given to Balaam the Power of working Signs and Wonders and of casting out Devils was given to b Hieronym
these Inspired Orators often moving them withal to Pray in unknown tongues Which St. Paul Emphatically calls praying by the spirit in opposition to praying intelligibly or with the understanding as you may see in the ‖ Chrysost Theoph. in loc 14th chap. of this Epist the 14 and 15 verses which the Enthusiasts of this age have so perverted and abused This Gift above all others was looked upon as a singular pledge of Gods favour and as a Seal by which he own'd the Christians to be his adopted Sons And therefore in the 8th chap. of the Epistle to the Romans the Apostle calls it the Spirit of Adoption whereby they were moved to cry Abba Father A name as St. * In locum Chrysost and Theophyl observe by which the Jews were no where found to call upon God in Prayer although they called God ‖ Deut. 32.18 Mal. 2.10 1 Chron 29.10 Is 63.16.64.8 Joh. 8.41 So Joma c. 8. 9. dixit R. Akiba beati vos O Israel coram quo purificamini quis purificat vos â—ater vesler qui est in Coelis juxta dictum illud spargam c. Ezek. 36.25 Sotta cap. 9. 15. Postquam praedixit futuras calamitatos tempore visitationis templi sic erumpit Cui ergo nitemur nisi Patri nostio qui est in Coelis quae verba bis ibi repetuntur Father by way of acknowledgment and confession and therefore the Spirit moving the Christians to invoke God by the name of Father as our Saviour had directed his Disciples to address themselves unto him before did thereby bear witness with their Spirits that they were the Sons of God I pray mark what I say upon the Authority of St. Chrysost who asserts that the Jews were no where found to invoke God by the name of Father which must be * For in their Offices which are very ancient we find God invoked by the name of Father particularly in that solemn Prayer which is stiled because it contains Eighteen small prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and mention whereof is made in the Mishna tractat de Benedictionibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 4. 3. Ramban Gamaliel dicit quâlibet die orare debet quisquam octodecem preces one of those prayers beginneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fac nos revertere Pater noster ad legem tuam Turn us our Father unto thy Law Another Prayer for the blessing of the season of the year which particularly is cited in the Misna in the same tract cap. 5. 2. beginneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bless us our Father in all the works of our hands In the days appointed for penitence which are 10 days and to some 40 before the day of atonement there are many prayers which begin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Father our King But though this title of Father be now found in the Prayers of the Jewes yet it is very probable that they being under a servile dispensation very rarely presumed to address themselves unto God by that familiar appellation till they saw that the Christians who reproached them as bondmen to the law came with such freedom to the throne of Grace restrained to the Old Testament and the Apocrypha where from Abraham to the Macâ—abeans we find none that calls upon him in Prayer by the name of Father which makes this Great mans notion very probable that the Christians first invoked God by that title being thereunto moved by the Holy Ghost who thereby declared to the unbelieving Jews that they were the Sons of God and his heirs and coheirs through Jesus Christ But then saith he as it were correcting himself if they did call God Father in their devotions they did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their own proper motion whereas the Gifted Christian Orators did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Spiritual Energy of the Holy Ghost and there was as sensible a difference saith he between calling God Father from those two principles as between speaking in acquired tongues and tongues by Inspiration or healing by Physick and the gift of the Holy Ghost whereof the latter carried along with them a visible divine impress and therefore the Spirit which moved the Christians to cry * Paracletus ipse testimonium dicit dono quod datum est nobis non enim nos Abba sonimus sine teste à nobis ipsis virum paracleti donum est ipse docuit nos per spiritum id est donum sic loqui in orationibus Theophyl Rom. 8.16 See Gal. 4.6 Abba Father in their devotions might well be called the Spirit of adoption which thereby bore witness with their Spirits that they were the sons of God From whence I pass to the discerning of Spirits which was as useful a gift as any of the rest For as in Egypt Satan raised up Jannes and Jambres and other Magicians to contend with Moses in working of Miracles So in the Primitive times of Christianity he raised up several Conjurers and Magicians who as the Apostle speaks in his first Epistle to Timothy Came after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders of whom our Saviour prophesying in the 24th chap. of St. Matthews Gospel said that they should shew great signs and wonders and deceive if it were possible the very * Compare Ex. 19.5 6. Deut. 7.6 and 14.2 and 26.18 with 1 Pet. 2.9 Col. 1.13 Rev. 1.9 and 5.10 Matth. 24.22 Elect that is the * Compare Ex. 19.5 6. Deut. 7.6 and 14.2 and 26.18 with 1 Pet. 2.9 Col. 1.13 Rev. 1.9 and 5.10 Matth. 24.22 Church it self They had power from the Devil as St. John plainly saith Rev. 13.14 and 16.14 to work signs and wonders in the air to speak diverse Languages to foretel Plagues and Storms to tell what was done at a distance to make fire come down from Heaven to vomit flames to walk and fly in the air and cast out Devils by a compact with Beelzebub their Soveraign Prince And all these things they did to confront the Miracles and invalidate the Authority of the Apostles and confirm this Anti-Christian doctrine which was a contradiction to their Gospel that Jesus was not Christ For this reason they are called in the forecited places Antichrist and false Prophets and there were very many of them both Jews and Gentiles as Simon called Magus Elymas the Sorcerer the seven sons of Sceva the Jew and many more not mentioned in the Scriptures as Barchozbah and Apollonius Thyanaeus who aped our Saviour as Pharaohs Sorcerers imitated Moses in as many Miracles as he could do and was the Prince of all the Devils Apostles and the greatest Magician that ever deceived the world God therefore in compassion to the state of the Primitive Church inspired the Governments in all places with a supernatural Sagacity to discern these Satanical spirits and distinguish their works from those of the Spirit of God One of the principal rules which the
done send them with the power of working Signs and wonders and whensoever they shall come we shall have a right to try them by the Scriptures as a Test But for these and the German Prophets who pretended to Inspiration and Prophecie without signs to voices from Heaven which none heard and strange Apparitions which none saw but themselves and who Preached other doctrines than what the Apostle hath preached they were Enthusiasts or Impostors or a composition of both and had they first appeared in the Church of Rome his Holiness had likely caressed them for great Saints and Prophets offered them the compliment of a new Order and so have obliged them as he hath done many more by the same arts to devote themselves to his service and declare him to be Vice Deus Vice Christus a God upon earth the Soveraign both of Angels and men In the next place let me observe unto you that among all the miraculous gifts of the Spirit recited either in this Chapter or any other place of the Gospel there is no mention made of Heroical impulse by which men were sometimes irresistably moved from the Spirit under the Jewish Oeconomy to execute judgment in an extrajudicial manner upon the enemies of God For God being the * Is 33.22 Ezek. 20.11 Numb 31.28.37.40 1 Chron. 29.11 Political King and Legislator of the Jews did as other absolute Monarchs do in some special exigencies send men with extraordinary supra-legal commissions to do present execution upon great and dangerous offenders without staying for the ordinary process by Law But our Saviour one end of whose coming was to put an ‖ Eph. 2.14 Dan. 9.26 27. Acts 10.34 35. end to the Jewish Oeconomy and who came not to destroy mens lives but to save them gave no such gifts unto men No there is to be no fire from Heaven nor no Phinehases under the Christian dispensation Accordingly the first Apostolical ages of wonder were utterly ignorant of killing impulse and zeal which I could not but observe to the utter detestation of Christian Assassins the Clements and Ravilliacs on one hand and the * Knoxes history Ravilliac redivivus and the history of the late Archâ—bishop of S. Andrews his murder in the spirit of Popery Melvils and Mitchels on the other To proceed Let us a little more particularly reflect upon that blasphemous doctrine of the Quakers now by the industry of the Emissaries no contemptible Sect concerning a Spiritual ministery and spiritual worship whereby they pretend that the Holy Ghost now comes down upon their Assemblies as it did in the Apostles time and moves them to preach and pray by inspiration without any regard to condition or Sex Hence when they meet together they sit hanging their heads in a silent dumb manner till the Spirit as they pretend shall move some body it is indifferent be it man or woman to preach or pray Accordingly they call their Preaching Prophesying and precariously say that they have the Spirit of Adoption by which they call God Father and that the spirit in the inspired Minister maketh Intercession for them with unutterable groans That they groan sufficiently we grant for sometimes in their meetings they do nothing else but if their groaning or vocal devotions be from the Spirit how comes it to pass that the Spirit never moves them as it did in the Apostles days to Pray and Prophesie in unknown tongues When we shall see in their Assemblies as the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles did in the Primitive Christian meetings that they have the gift of tongues and the gift of interpreting thereof when together with the gift of tongues we shall see that they have as the Christians had all the other miraculous gifts when we shall see that they shew themselves to be Prophets and Spiritual in receiving what this Apostle hath written in particular that a woman should not speak in the Church as the Commandments of God and lastly when with all this they shall preach no other doctrine than what the Apostle hath preached and the Catholick Church received then we will believe if they be lawfully baptized that it is the spirit which is speaking in them and that God is in them and among them of a truth but till then we must believe them all to be Impostors or Enthusiasts and blasphemers of the Holy Ghost Therefore in the next place let us consider what an horrible sin it is to counterfeit any of the gifts of the Holy Ghost in particular the spirit of Praying and Preaching which with the gift of Faith as it is taken for inspired courage and boldness is most easie to be counterfeited of all the spiritual gifts But first let us make some reflection on the pretenders to the spirit of praying and preaching under whom I comprehend not only those whom I mentioned above but another sort of spiritual juglers who when they are ashamed to talk like the lowest form of Enthusiasts in a plain Fanatical strain and so apparently blaspheme the Holy Ghost yet invent such uncouth ambiguous terms in Divinity and so artificially contrive the style and phrase of their religious discourses as to beget an opinion in their followers that they pray and preach by inspiration and so besides the dishonour they reflect on the Christian Religion and the Holy Ghost maintain the Schisms which they have made under the colour of more spiritual ordinances and worship and sacrilegiously usurp that specifick veneration to themselves which was wont to be given to inspired men One equivocal phrase which is commonly in the mouths and writings of these Sanctimonious men is the Spirit of preaching and the Spirit of prayer which though by an Hebraism in English they ought now to signifie no more than the skill or habit of praying and preaching yet these Sophisters and usurpers for so most of them are of our Holy Profession so use them that the deluded people generally take them in a more obvious sense for praying and preaching by immediate inspiration from the Holy Ghost To this purpose they talk much of the in-comeings out-lettings and in-dwellings of the Spirit and have taught their disciples to object that to pray by a form doth stint the spirit and by these and other like phrases whereof store may be found in Rutherfords letters and the writings of the Independents not to mention any more they have made their followers take it for granted that extemporary prayers especially as they are spoken and acted by them are the effect of inspiration and by consequence that themselves are immediately inspired This error concerning the extemporary spirit of Prayer hath been the cause of much * Concil Milev 2. can 12. Placuit ut preces quae probatae fuâ—rint in concilio ab omnibus celebrentur nec aliae omnino dicantur in Ecclesiâ ne fortè aliquid contra fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum See also Con. Carth. 3. c.