discerners of Spirits gave to the Church whereby to try the Spirits was this that every Spirit which wrought Miracles to prove that Jesus was the Christ was of God but every Spirit that wrought wonders to prove that he was not Christ or that another was the Christ was a lying Spirit that Spirit of Antichrist which our Saviour foretold his Disciples should come and which was in the world in the time of St. John as you may read in the place I cited before as also in his 2 Epist ver 7. Conformably to this St. Paul in the verse before my text lays down the same infallible rule that no man that calleth Jesus Anathema as many Infidels and Apostates did can speak by the Spirit of God Another rule whereby to try the Spirits was submission and obedience to the Governours of the Church We are of God saith St. John 1 Ep. 4.6 he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us hereby we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error And If any man among you saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 14.37 pretend to be a Prophet or inspired by the Holy Ghost as a sign that he is truly so let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the Commandments of God I question not but they had other tests besides these by which to try the spirits as that every spirit which wrought signs to confirm any doctrine which was inconsistent with a pure and peaceable life or the sober use and rules of moral reason must needs be a diabolical Pseudo-prophetical spirit as I think I could demonstrate if I had but time From whence I come to speak of the two last kinds viz. of the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in 1 Ep. ad Cor. 12. c. Hom. 29. Gift of Tongues and which was as wonderful as that the gift of Interpreting thereof To the understanding of which be pleased to take notice that the gift of strange tongues was usually accompanied with such strong Enthusiasms and Raptures that the affected person could not use his understanding in an ordinary way so as to ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys ib. interpret and explain his inspirations in the audience to which he spoke which was the reason that the spirit did usually reveal to * 1 Cor. 14.4 28. others who stood by and understood not the inspired Languages the matter which the gifted Oracles spoke or else by a * 1 Cor. 14.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in 1 Cor. 12.10 new inspiration revealed unto them the things which they had spoken in the unknown tongue but through the violence of the Enthusiasm had forgot Which latter Gift because it was more profitable for the Church the Apostle in the 14th chap. prefers before the former which the vain Corinthians did so much affect These are the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost which as it appears from the 28. ver of this chap. God gave to the difference of Ministeries or Ministers i. e. to the Apostles Prophets Teachers Helps and Governments of the Primitive Church To the Teachers i. e. to the more profound and solid sort of Doctors who answered to the Scribes in the Synagogue and wholly devoted themselves to Preach and expound the Scriptures which was an excellent Gift or Talent and always esteemed the most useful way of instruction especially of the ‖ Luke 23.27 Acts 2. ch 28.23 Jews in the Primitive Christian Church To the Helps i. e. to the helpers or assistants such as the Evangelists were to the Apostles as Silas to Paul Mark to Barnabas or such as the Deacons were to the Bishops and Presbyters and the whole Church And they are called helps by an Hebraism in Greek as the Levites were called in the Jewish Church and Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helps to the Priests By Governments are to be understood Governours for in the Hellenistical style the abstract is often put for the concrete according to the custom of the Hebrew and Syriack tongues and by Governours are meant the Apostles and * So Rev. 2.2 The Angel of the Church of Ephesus is commended for trying them which say they are Apostles and are not Bishops to whom the Gift of discerning Spirits seems to have belonged in a peculiar manner because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here put for Government is used by the Septuagint to render the Hebrew word Tachbuloth which signifies discerning Wisdom Prudence or Counsel wherein the spirit of Government doth consist Thus in the first of Proverbs v. 5. where we say a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel the Septuagint saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of understanding shall attain unto Government The like may be seen Prov. 11.14 and 14.6 There were other Miraculous gifts under the New Testament which are not mentioned in this Chapter and which though properly speaking they did not proceed from the Holy Ghost yet in a large sense may be called spiritual gifts These were the voice from Heaven which the Jews called Bath col and the appearance of Angels those holy messengers of God and Ministring Spirits who sometimes acted as Gods Vice-gerents and * Galat. 3.19 Hebr. 2.2 assumed his person in speaking to men But though the Apostle take no notice of them here because they were not intrinsecal and inherent gifts yet I thought fit to mention them because they were extraordinary and relate to some passages in the following part of this discourse Thus having given you an account of the number and diversities of these gifts of the Holy Ghost together with the difference of Ministeries to which they belong'd I proceed in the Third place to shew the reasons why they were given by God to the Primitive Churches and not to the Churches of latter times Now this reason is to be taken from the wants and necessities of the Primitive Church whose infant-state required that God should assist her with the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit till the Gospel was sufficiently Preach'd about the Empire the Scriptures of the New Testament compleated the Temple-worship abolished among the Jews Idolatry destroyed among the Gentiles and both were united together under Christ into one Communion or Catholick Church It had been impossible for God to bring to pass all these stupendous things in a way consistent with his own Wisdom and the freedom of humane nature without making use of these or other fitting means as wonderful as these to publish the Gospel and confirm the truth thereof How should the Jewish and Gentile world have believed without Apostles and * 2 Cor. 8.23 Phil. 2.25 Apostolical Preachers and how should the Apostles and Evangelists have preached unless they had been inspired for their Saviour left them like Orphans or rather like Scholars of the third Classe before he had revealed all the Gospel unto them and therefore it was necessary for God to send his
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
Spirit the Comforter to supply his place among them to build upon the Foundation which he had laid and discover the word of Wisdom in as ample manner unto them as they were to Preach it about the world And then because they were illiterate men that knew no Languages but their own it was requisite for him to give them and their assistants the gift of strange tongues that they might freely converse with men of all countries and Provinces and Preach the Gospel through all the world But then as the Spirit qualified them by infused Divinity and Languages to preach So was it requisite for him to confirm the Truth of their doctrine by Signs and Wonders as by giving them Power to silence Oracles and rebuke Magical spirits to cast out Devils heal the Sick raise the Dead and demonstrate his special Presence in Christian assemblies by sending his Spirit upon private men and Idiots and in particular by enabling them to speak in strange tongues which by reason of the rapturous way in which they were inspired they could not interpret to the Congregations in which they spoke This manner of speaking in unknown tongues is different from that which I mentioned a little before For the former way of speaking was given to the Apostles and Evangelists not so much for a sign as to enable them to instruct forein nations in the Faith and it was either a permanent gift or if it were not it always came upon them in a calm and gentle manner insomuch that they were perfect masters of their own understandings and could freely converse with the people to whom they spoke But the use of the latter was principally * 1 Cor. 14.22 Signal or Testimonial like other miracles and came upon the people as well as the Ministers and that in such a rapturous Enthusiastical manner that though they understood their ‖ 1 Cor. 14.4 own inspirations yet they were not able to interpret them to the Church and therefore to this gift was usually annexed the more useful gift of interpreting tongues of which I spoke before All these Miracles are called the Testimony of the Spirit particularly Heb. 2.4 God the sender of the Spirit is said to have born the Apostles witness with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost Hither we may also refer the word of Knowledge or the gift of Prophecy properly so called which of all the Unctions of the Holy Ghost was a particular sign to the Jews that the Christians were also the children of promise upon whom the Spirit of Prophecy came But then it was requisite for them upon other accounts because the discovery of things secret and remote and the prediction of future events was frequently necessary for the preservation of the Christians and preventing of imminent danger to the Church Thus Agabus signifying by the Spirit that there should be a great dearth throughout all the world i. e. all * Hum. on Matth. 24.7 Judaea the Disciples at Antioch determined before-hand to send relief unto their Brethren in Judaea by the hands of Barnabas and Paul So an Angel was sent to Paul to assure him that he should be brought before Caesar and that God would save all the lives in the ship for his sake By which Revelation he was enabled both to encourage and direct the Sea-men who had otherwise given up all in despair Hither I may also refer the prediction of our Lord Matth. 24.15 and 16. verses which the believing Jews remembring when Gallus so providentially raised the siege of Jerusalem immediately went out of it and fled to the Mountains insomuch that when Titus some months after besieged the City there was not one Christian in the * Euseb Ecc. Hist l. 3. c. 5. place Furthermore the Spirit of Preaching Praying and Praising God by Inspiration or Prophecie improperly so called was requisite for the state of the Primitive Christian Church for by this the Circumcision was also convinced that God was no respecter of persons when they saw to their astonishment that on the Gentiles also were poured out the gifts of the Holy Ghost This was the reason why the Apostles did by Solemn Prayer and Imposition of hands confer these and other gifts of the Holy Ghost upon Baptized Gentiles to convince the Jews that the Christian Religion was to be Catholick and that Christ was the Saviour of no less than the whole world Furthermore they were necessary to confirm the Faith and warm the devotion of the Newly Converted Christians who were very apt through the delusion of Hereticks and Satanical spirits to Apostatize and renounce Christ as likewise to convince the Jewish and Gentile unbelievers whom curiosity brought to the Christian Assemblies that God was in them and among them for a truth Lastly as St. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 43. vid. 44. Clement who was St. Paul's fellow-work-man assures us in his first Epistle to these Corinthians who were so rich in spiritual gifts these and other gifts were sent upon the people as divine indications to the Apostles whom they should Ordain Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons in the Cities and Countries which should be converted to the Faith So the Apostles directed the Disciples to look out among themselves Seven men of honest report and full of the Holy Ghost whom they might ordain Deacons And S. Paul in his first Epist to Timothy 4.14 charged him not to neglect the * Calvin Instit l. 4. gift of the Priesthood which was given him by Prophecy and the Imposition of his hands And accordingly Eusebius out of Clemens Alexandrinus reports of St. John Cap. 3. in locum that he took men to ordain Bishops of the Asiatick Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from among those who were signalized with spiritual gifts Agreeable to which ‖ Acts 20.28 St. Paul told their Predecessors that the Holy Ghost had set them over the flock Lastly Because it was impossible to govern the Church more than other Societies and Bodies politick without sensible punishments God endowed the Apostles and their Successors with a power of inflicting supernatural diseases and death upon incorrigible offenders while for want of assistance from the Secular arm they had not power to make penal laws for themselves This supernatural power of inflicting corporal punishments which usually accompanied excommunication made the Apostolical rod as terrible as the pestilence that walketh in darkness and the destruction that wasteth at noon day For by it offenders were delivered up to Satan to be tormented possessed and killed by him who is the ‖ Job 2.6 1 Sam. 16.14 ordinary executioner of Gods judgments And it was so inherent at that time in the Apostolical function for punishing of Scandals and preserving the Unity and Order of the Church that God was pleased to second their dreadful Censures in their absence as well as their presence as upon the incestuous Corinthian whom this Apostle
they could not restrain these Corinthians from many grievous sins with which the Apostle chargeth them nor as it appears from Heb. 6.4 5 6. verses keep others from a final Apostasie from Christ This I suppose was the reason why our Saviour when his Disciples returned with joy saying Lord even the devils are subject unto us in thy name answered them thus ‖ Luke 10.17 18 19 20. Aug. in Psal 130. Rejoyce not in this that the devils are subject unto you but rather rejoyce that your names are written in the book of life To the same purpose speaks this Apostle to the vain Corinthians who valued themselves so much upon the account of their spiritual gifts * Aug. tract 13. in Evang. Joh. qui habet sponsam sponsus est Cyprian de unit Eccles Nam prophetare damonia excludere virtutes magnas in terris facere sublimis utique atque admirabilis res est non tamen regnum coeleste consequitur quisquis in his omnibus invenitur si non c. Though saith he I could not only speak with all the tongues of men but express my thoughts like Angels and have not Charity I should be no better than a musical instrument of brass or a tinkling Cymbal And though I had the gift of Prophesying and understood all Mysteries and had all knowledge revealed unto me and though I had the highest degree of miraculous Faith so that as our Lord said I could remove mountains and yet had no Charity with them I should be good for nothing nor become in the least more acceptable to God The tongues of men or Angels to speak in the Apostles phrase could have said nothing more plain or emphatical to shew how much more excellent the saving graces of the Spirit are than the miraculous gifts which can neither render us like God nor qualifie us for the enjoyment of him and which gave no intrinsecal worth to the persons who formerly had them nor made them more useful for the Church than acquired gifts which are the ordinary means of Faith and Repentance make us Suppose thou knowest the Gospel like the Apostles by Inspiration what then another Minister who knows it by reading and study is as capable to serve the Church as thee and besides if thou art like a vain Corinthian ambitious of Inspiration know that it will add nothing to the reputation of thy parts for an inspired man is but the vessel to the treasure the very instrument and Machine of the Holy Ghost who can ordain strength out of the mouths of babes and sucklings and make a child or an idiot preach as well as thee Or suppose thou hadst the spirit of Prophecy what then The knowledge of things past being as excellent in it self and generally more useful to the world than the knowledge of things to come the historian would have as much to boast of as thee Nay historical knowledge hath the advantage above the Prophetical not only in this that it is more clear and distinct but that it extends a great deal farther for the greater face of Janus hath long been set behind to signifie unto us that the world is grown old and that many more ages are gone than are to come But it is an honour to be a Prophet of God and it is a greater honour to be a Minister of the Gospel the servant of Jesus Christ but if thou knowest the burden and pangs of * Dan. 10.8 Gen. 15.12 Ezek. 3.14 Is 21.3 Habak 3.2 Jerem. 23.9 Prophetical visions and the terror of Prophetical dreams thou wouldst like some of the greatest Prophets of old desire God to confer that honour on some other man But thou wouldest have the gift of healing why so Is it that thou wouldst take pleasure in doing good for the same reason thou mayest wish that all thy Fish-ponds were pools of Bethesda or that thou hadst all the riches of the world but if thou hast but Christian Charity and lovest thy neighbour i. e. mankind as well as thy self thou art as excellent a Christian and as acceptable to God as if thou wert an inspired Aesculapius and hadst Cured all the Hospitals in the world Or what if thou hadst this wonderful beneficial gift Thou hast contributed nothing to the having of it for the bones of Elisha and of the * Gervasius Protasius Aug. lib. 2. de civ dei c. 8. retract 1. c. 13. Milan Martyrs had that as well as thee But perhaps thou hast a mind to the gift of tongues What if thou hadst it an acquired linguist would do the Church as much service as thee and would really have more reason to boast of his learning for God can make an Oracle of an Ass and Timber and Stones speak Latin Hebrew and Greek But if thou couldst do Miracles what if thou couldst Hereticks have done them and Judas did them and yet was the worst of men and many shall say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name done many wonderful works and then I will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity But thou art a Minister and wouldst fain preach by inspiration why so not out of Corinthian vanity and ostentation for then thou art a vain-glorious man but because thou hast a desire to convert more souls but alas thou art not sure of that for the words of this inspired Apostle were a stumbling-block unto the Jewes and a scandal to the Greeks even the savour of death unto many who heard him And the Souls of thousands who heard inspired Sermons from Christ and his Apostles and saw them also work Miracles lye roaring now in the flames of hell But to pray by the Spirit is a most desirable gift so it would be indeed if thou like the Novice-converts of old knowest not how nor what to pray for as thou oughtest But thou canst cry Abba Father without inspiration and thou mayest make prayers and supplications and intercessions and giving of thanks for all men without inspiration which if thou hadst it would not make thy prayers more excellent in themselves or more acceptable in the sight of God For whosoever hath a devout Soul and approaches God with that reverence which is due to his infinite Majesty and heartily asks what he would obtain in the name of Jesus Christ his conceived nay his book devotion shall prevail as much at the Throne of Grace as if it were inspired But inspired prayers are a Testimony of God's love so generally speaking I believe they were but so are crosses and afflictions which immediately proceed not from our own sin and folly and yet thou art not desirous of them although they are signs of Adoption or publick testimonials by which God hath declared to his Church which he never did of inspired persons that * Heb. 12.5 6 7 8 9. afflicted men are not Bastards but Sons From
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.
READER THere is newly published a Volume of LXI Sermons Preached by the same Author Printed for Rich. Marriott and Sold by most Book-Sellers in London THE Spirit of Enthusiasm EXORCISED IN A SERMON PREACHED Before the UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD on ACT-SUNDAY July 11. 1680. By George Hickes D. D. Prebendary of Worcester and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Lauderdale Printed at the request of Mr. Vice-Chancellor and many others who heard it Preached Diserti sunt multi inter illos magnae linguae flumina linguarum nunquid Angelicè loquuntur omnia illa nihil iis prosunt quia conscindunt unitatem Paulus loquitur si sciam omnia sacramenta c. Nemo ergo vobis fabulas vendat Pontius fecit miraculum Donatus oravit Deus ei respondit de Coelo Crederem si non divisisset unitatem nam contra istos ut sic loquar mirabiliarios cautum me fecit Deus meus dicens in novissimis temporibus teneamus ergo unitatem fratres mei prater unitatem qui facit miracula nihil est Proinde fratres mei nemo vos fallat nemo vos seducat amate pacem Christi c. August exp in Evang. Johan tract 13. LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXX To the Reverend Doctor TIMOTHY HALTON Provost of QVEENS-COLLEDGE and VICE-CHANCELLOR Of the UNIVERSITY of OXFORD SIR THIS Discourse which was so acceptable to You from the Pulpit comes now in all Humility from the Press to offer it self to your further Acceptance and Protection and to the Perusal of all those Learned and Orthodox men who desired me to Publish it as containing some Sober and wholsom doctrines which they judged seasonable for the age I had a mind to satisfie my self in this Subject and having by Gods blessing upon my enquiries attained to satisfaction in them I framed my Observations on purpose into a Sermon to see if happily I could satisfie other mens reasons by the same Arguments by which I had convinced my own And because the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets I chose to Preach it in that Audience where are always so many Competent and able Judges of Truth and Error and what I said on that obscure Subject as Chrysostom calls it having been approved therein I am encouraged to hope that it will find the like Entertainment in other places especially among all ingenuous spirits who are wont to read with unprejudiced minds But lest any should think that the Scheme by which I go in this Discourse were an Hypothesis of my own inventing I have confirmed the passages in it which I thought would be most surprizing with good Authorities because how plausible soever any Notions in Divinity may be yet they may reasonably pass for suspected unless they appear to be agreeable to the Sentiments of the Writers of the Oecumenical Church To write all things consonantly to Catholick Antiquity is a safe and excellent rule and it is for adhering to it in her Doctrine and Discipline that the Church of England and Her Clergy have been always persecuted by the Papists those Pseudo-Catholicks on one hand and their Instruments the Anti-Prelatical Sects on the other and because under God the Vniversities are the support of the Church therefore have they been decryed for want of Learning by those and want of Virtue and Religion by these although they have been and are as fruitful Seminaries of both as any Schools or Vniversities that are or ever were in the world And now having occasion to speak of the Vniversities it would be real injustice to your Merits not to let the world know how happy ours is in Your Government I might justly speak great things of Your Severity in punishing of Vice of the great encouragement you give to Virtue and Learning and of your Care and Vigilance both over your own Colledge and the Vniversity particularly in giving life to the Publick Exercises in the Schools of which you are in all Arts and Faculties so great a Judge It is under such Governours as You that the Muses will flourish in Oxford and that true Learning and Sound Religion will always be taught therein And therefore that there may never want a Succession of such Vice-Chancellours as You to Govern that Famous Vniversity nor of such Learned Masters and Scholars as now adorn it is the hearty prayer of SIR Your most Obliged and Humble Servant GEORGE HICKES THE SPIRIT OF Enthusiasm EXORCISED 1 COR. xii 4. Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit THE Discourse which I intend to make upon this Verse will oblige me to explain the most obscure and difficult passages of this Chapter from the misunderstanding of which and most other places of the Gospel which speak of the Spirit and Spiritual gifts Impostors on one hand and Enthusiasts on the other have raised such absurd and exorbitant doctrines as are utterly inconsistent not only with the use and Authority of the Scriptures but the Tradition of the Universal Church the Orders of the Ministery and the Study of Divinity and by consequence render the Christian Religion which consists of such Sober and Rational Doctrines the most wild uncertain and unintelligible institution that ever was in the world But how groundless and unwarrantable the Enthusiastical Interpretations of this and other like places of Scripture are will appear from the process of this Discourse in which I intend to treat so particularly of the Gifts of the Spirit as to leave out nothing which may be said in such a short Discourse to illustrate such an excellent Subject the knowledge of which is a most Soveraign Antidote against the poison of Enthusiasm which is the Spiritual drunkenness or Lunacy of this Schismatical age and so distempers the minds of men of the other Communions with extravagant phancies as to make them more or less affect the extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit and then conceit like Poets in Religion that they have them and are inspired Thus much I thought convenient to premise concerning the matter and design of this Discourse in which I shall proceed according to this familiar method First I intend to speak of the several kinds of Spiritual gifts and shew which sort is mentioned in my Text. Secondly I shall treat of the number and variety of them and explain the nature of each particular gift Thirdly I shall discourse of the true use of them and shew the reasons why they were given by God to the Primitive Church and not to the Churches of latter times And Lastly I shall make some Practical improvement of the whole discourse First then as to the kinds of these Spiritual gifts I know my Text is often misapplyed by way of accommodation to signifie the natural or acquired gifts of mans mind which in a Physical sense indeed may be called Spiritual because they transcend the Mechanical powers of matter and proceed more or less from the
all which it appears how much more excellent and desirable the saving Graces of the Spirit are than all these pompous miraculous gifts in which there is really no intrinsecal excellence nothing why we should desire or expect them further than as they may be useful for the Church instruments of Religion and motives to Faith and Repentance in defect of ordinary means and acquired gifts All which I would have those especially to consider whose Enthusiastical tempers or educations encline them first to admire and then to conceit these miraculous gifts till by insensible degrees they impose upon their own imaginations and commence within themselves illuminated men Secondly I proceed to shew what little reasons the Romish Doctors have to make miracles a sign of the true Church For Miracles were formerly wrought for signs to confirm the Authority of the Apostles and their Assistants and Successors and to seal the truth of that new doctrine which they were to preach about the world Therefore to suppose that the Church stands always in need of Miracles is to suppose her to be still in a state of Minority and her doctrine to be always a publishing to the world or else to suppose that infinite wisdom may become impertinent and seal the same truths ten thousand times over Indeed as they argue in the Church of the Jews there were always miracles to be found because their Theocratical constitution of Church and State was miraculous God as their King being obliged to make known his pleasure in Civil and Military as well as in Ecclesiastical matters unto them by Voices from heaven Oracles and Prophecies as other Princes do by Proclamations and messages and their Prophets were always to work signs and wonders to prove the Truth of their mission and sometimes the certainty of what they foretold should come to pass But then besides the miracles which belonged to the nature of their Theocratical Government God wrought others for them and among them to render himself and that particular Church more conspicuous in the eyes of the Gentile world Hither we may refer their miraculous victories by single men or armies over their enemies which God wrought to convince them by sensible experiments of his Omnipotence that of all the divinity of the Eastern world he alone was the true God But had the Law been published among all Nations like the Gospel and Judaism become the Universal Religion of the world Miracles at length would have grown out of use as indeed they grew very rare after the Jews were dispersed among the Nations and their Law was translated into Greek which at the time of the Translation was become the most general Language of the world Thirdly I proceed to shew you how unreasonably the Church of Rome hath acted in verifying the Fanatical pretensions of so many gross Impostors and Enthusiasts as she hath done to Inspiration Prophesie Visions Dreams Familiar converses with God and the glorified person of our Saviour working of wonders Communion with Saints and Angels Raptures Impulses and all other sorts of Miraculous gifts that we read of in the Primitive Church Such as these were Dominic Francis of Assize Francis of Pole Francis Xaverius Ignatius the founder of the Jesuits Genvieve Tiresia Catherin of Siena Brigit and many more of both Sexes whom she hath not only Canonized for Saints but to the great scandal of the Christian Religion hath incorporated Religious Societies of men and women to live according to their pretended inspired rules For which not only the Common people and the Brethren and Sisters of the Orders but their Learned Doctors pretend to have as great and it may be a greater veneration than for the Gospel it self Fourthly I proceed to shew you what a sandy foundation the Popes Infallibility is grounded upon For it must be resolved into this Enthusiastical principle of immediate Inspiration which according to the doctrine I have now Preached neither he nor any other Bishop or Presbyter of the Church hath warrant from the Scriptures to pray for or expect I say it is a most dangerous and Fanatical pretension which is so far from having any ground in Scripture that it makes it a most imperfect and useless rule of Faith destroys the certainty of the Christian belief which was fixed above Sixteen hundred years ago and instead of being a means of ending controversies as Papists pretend it introduces everlasting Scepticism into all the parts of Divinity by making truth or falshood good and evil light and darkness sweet and bitter nay what shall I say by making right and wrong God and Belial Christ and Anti-christ depend upon the breath of a single man In the Fifth place let me shew you what a dangerous damnable and precarious principle that is which * George Reiths immediate Revelation Printed 1676. asserts that immediate Revelation or Inspiration is not ceased but is a standing and perpetual gift in the Church of Christ belonging to the very substance of the Gospel-Covenant and of indispensable necessity to the whole body and every member thereof And that this spirit of immediate Revelation or Spiritual light is not like the Spirits in Primitive times to be tryed by the * Barclay 's Theses or Apologia Theolog. Scriptures and reason but that both of them are to be tryed by it This doctrine differs from the preceding only in this that that makes only the Bishop of Rome but this makes every private Christian a Pope and as it utterly overthrows the Authority of the Scriptures and makes them an useless rule of Faith So hath it already cashiered the use of the Sacraments and annulled the Ministerial Orders contrary to the Precepts and Precedents of the Gospel and the practice of Gods Universal Church And when time shall serve it can as effectually convert the Professors of it into down-right Popery consistently with their own principles for they have nothing more to do than to say that the Spirit hath told them that the Church of Rome is the only true Church and that supra hanc Petram belongs to the Pope As this doctrine was first privately sowed among us by ‖ Foxes and Fire-brands pag. 15. c. Printed 1680. Popish Emissaries so hath it been published in our and other countries by those who were Papists as by Robert Barclay who was bred in the Scottish Covent at Paris and Labbade a Jesuit defrooqued In the next place to montion will be sufficient to confute the Pseudo-Prophetical Spirits of this age such as Nayler Venner and Muggleton with his companion Reeve who call themselves the Lords Two last Witnesses and Prophets and have framed many tracts and letters from Jesus and the Holy Spirit a collection of which may be had in Print I deny not but that God is free to send Prophets when he pleases and that he may do so when the exigence of the Church doth require it but then whensoever he sends them he will as he hath always