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
it as solemnly made to the Apostles by Christ in the New For after his Resurrection when he gave them Commission and Authority to Teach and Baptize all Nations He said ‖ Matth. 28.19 20. All power is given unto me both in Heaven and earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father c. and lo I am with you to the end of the world Accordingly we read in the Acts of the Apostles with what invincible resolution and courage those poor men appeared before the Jewish and Heathen Tribunals and with what astonishing presence both of body and mind they and * Acts 72. other Teachers of the Gospel bore the name of Jesus before the Kings and Princes and people of the earth Under the Fourth miraculous Gift which is the gift of Healing is comprehended the power of Curing all diseases both of body and * Inde jam facultas datur posse venenorum virus extinguere animorum desipientium labes redditâ sanitate purgare infestis jubere pacem violentis quictem ferocientibus lenitatem Cyprian Epist ad Donat. mind without the help of Physick through the alone name of Jesus Christ as also the more wonderful power of raising the dead For as inflicting of death is usually joyned by the Ancients with the power of inflicting diseases So the power of Curing diseases and raising the dead are usually joyned together in their ‖ Alii laborantes aliquâ infirmitate per manûs impositionem curant sanos restituunt etiam quemaedmodum diximus mortui resurrexerunt perseverârant nobiscum annis multis Irenaeus lib. 2. c. 57. vid. Euseb lib. â—â— hist c. 7. writings as effects of the same miraculous gift Although the latter also is often reduced under the Fifth miraculous gift 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate working of Miracles under which is comprehended the power of working signs and wonders in the Heavens of silencing and casting Devils both out of Men and Oracles of inflicting death as the Prophet did on the Captains of Fifties and their Companies and St. Peter upon Ananias and his wife Lastly the power of inflicting Diseases on the bodies of incorrigible sinners as Paul did upon Elymas the Sorcerer which in this and the first of his Epistles to Timothy is called the delivering up to Satan by Excommunication and perhaps also the power of filling the Souls of contumacious sinners with supernatural horrour and agonies which when they are but natural are worse to be endured than the most intolerable bodily pains By Prophecy is not understood the gift of Prediction or knowing remote and future events But first the gift of Preaching or expounding the Scriptures by Inspiration in which sense it is said in the 4th verse of the 11th chap. every man Praying or Prophesying that is Praying and Preaching with his head covered dishonoureth his head In this sence Inspired Preachers are called Prophets in the 14th chap. of this Epist ver 29. Let the Prophets saith he speak two or three at a time and let the rest hear and judg Accordingly Nebia the Hebrew word for a Prophet is often rendred in the Chaldee Translation by * Targ. Jon. 1 Sam. 10.5.12 Siphra and ‖ Targ. Onk. Exod. 7.1 Meturgeman which signifies Teacher and Interpreter in which sence the Preachers in the Church of Corinth were very properly called Prophets who Preached and expounded the Holy Scriptures by Inspiration from the Holy Ghost Or else Prophecy may be taken as it often is in the Old and New Testament for Praising of God by inspired Hymns and Psalms For inspired persons did usually spend their Enthusiasm in composing of Hymns and Spiritual songs which is the reason we read of such a great number of Divine Poets or Psalmists among the Hebrews as Moses David Asaph Heman Jeduthun and the rest Hence it is that we read 1 Sam. 10. of a company of Prophets who came down from an high place Prophesying Singing saith the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paraphrast with Psalteries Tabrets Pipes and Harps And both in that and the 19th chap. where Saul is said to have Prophesied among the Prophets the Paraphrast plainly saith he Sang or Praised God And according to both these senses of the word Prophecy you find Psalms and Doctrines among the gifts of the Spirit in the 24th chap. of this Epist and the 26 verse But thirdly Prophecy is put here not only for Preaching and Praising God by Inspiration but also for Praying unto him in publick Assemblies by ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porro unà cum his omnibus donis erat precum donum quod ipsum spiritus dicebatur quo qui praeditus erat pro plebe universâ preces sundebat Quandoquidem enim multa eorum quae nobis conducunt ignorcmus quae minime conducunt postulemus accessit donum precum ad unum aliquem corum qui quod communitèr universae Ecclesiae conducebat id ipse pro omnibus stans postularet tum alios edoceret Spiritum igitur hic vocat tum donum tale tum animam eam quae donum id susciperet quaeque apud Deum intercederet ac gemeret Qui enim hujusmodi gratiá dignatus est is magnâ cum animi compunctione stins multisque cum gemitibus mente autem coram Deo prostratus quae omnibus conducunt petit cujus nunc Symbolum est Minister pro populo preces Deo offerens Hoc igitur Paulus sentiens dixit ipse spiritus intercedit pro nobis gemitibus menarrabilibus Chrys in ep ad Rom. c 8. Hom. 14. To the same purpose speaks Theoph. and Occumen upon the place Inspired Prayers For in the Apostles time there was a Miraculous gift of Praying as well as Preaching when the Spirit used to seize upon the Souls of men in publick and affect them in such an extraordinary way as to make them pray for such things and in such a due manner as in those times when as yet the Church had composed no Liturgies persons not Inspired could not do In this sense it was that the Apostle saith that the Spirit or gift of the Spirit helpeth our infirmities And that the Spirit or * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nam magnâ cum compunctione stabat spiritualis ille homo multis gemitibus cujus hodiè fignum est Diaconus stans intentas supplicationes pro populo effundâ—â—â— Theoph. in locum Inspired person maketh intercession for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with unutterable sighs and groans Likewise saith he the Spirit help-our infirmities for * Etiam scipsum immiscuit nè sermo odiosus videatur Oecumen in locum we know not what we should pray for or in what manner as we ought but the inspired man maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be expressed Which groanings were the effect of those supernatural raptures and Enthusiasms with which the Spirit filled the Souls of
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.
in cap. 7. Matth. Multi mihi dicent c. Judas as well as the rest of the Apostles and therefore saith our Saviour Matt. 7.23 to this purpose Many will say unto me in that day that is the day of judgment c Si sciam inquit omnia Sacramenta charitatem autem non habeam nihil sum Nemo ergo vobis fabulas vendai Pontius fecit miraculum Donatus oravit respondit Deus ei de Coelo contra istos ut sic loquar mirabiliarios cautum me fecit Deus meus dicens In novissimis temporibus c. Aug. tract 13. in Evang. Johan Cyprian de unit Eccles Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto you I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity From which place it is evident that Miraculous gifts are so far from transforming the sinful nature of man that if they do not find us they cannot make us good nor like a single act of Faith and Repentance give us a Title to the Kingdom of God Then as for their extent the latter are not useful for all Churches nor for the same Church in all conditions and states and in the Churches where they were useful they were as it appears from Ecclesiastical History commonly given to the Ministers more than the people to children not at all and seldomer to women than to men But the Saving graces of the Spirit are equally useful for the Church in all conditions and states and are given as much to the people as to their Ministers and to women and children as much as to men and they are never taken from those to whom they are once given unless they neglect or abuse them and grieve the good Spirit from whom they come Lastly As for their use the Saving gifts are given to men for their own but the Miraculous gifts for the good of the Church By Those we vanquish the Devil and destroy his kingdom of sin within us by These the Apostles destroyed his kingdom of darkness in the Idolatrous world By Those we Glorifie God within the Pale of the Church by These we publish his Almighty Power and Glory to those without Lastly Those make us precious in the eyes of God These make us glorious in the eyes of men Whereupon Gifted persons as it appears from the 4th ch of this Epist ver 7. were often tempted by popular applause to pride themselves in their gifts For this reason it was as the Apostle suggests in the 11th ver that God divided these Gifts to several men in several measures and proportions according as he knew their capacities would bear For such is the infirmity of humane nature that the best of Gifted men were apt to * Vid. Chrysost Hom. 29. in 1 Ep. ad Cor. c. 12 glorifie themselves in their Gifts and despise the Un-gifted Ministers of the Church For which reason there was given a ‖ Ne extolleretur tanquam jâ—venis colaphizabatur tanquam puer si ergo Apostolus potuit extolli magnitudine revelationum nisi acciperet Angelum Satanae qui se colathizaret vidit Dominus quod tentaret cos superbias ex potentis miraculorum August in Psal 130. thorn in the flesh to this blessed Apostle himself and the messenger of Satan to buffet him lest he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations which he received And therefore knowing that these miraculous graces were valuable no further than as they were serviceable to the Church he reproved the Corinthians in the last verse of this and the beginning of the next Chapter for their immoderate ambitious desiring of them exhorting them rather to covet and pray earnestly for the saving graces of the Spirit as the more desirable gifts From which comparison and likewise from the several distributions of these gifts of which he treats in this Chapter it is most certain that he understood by them not the saving universal but the special miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost For as he speaks in the 8th and 9th verses to one was given one Gift to another another to a third a third to every man severally to one greater to another less according as God in his wisdom saw fit Which cannot be truly said of the Saving Graces of the Spirit because God must bestow them joyntly or not at all God cannot give Humility to one Purity or Chastness to another and Charity alone to a third because there is such an inseparable union and alliance among the Graces of the Spirit as Philosophers have observed of Moral vertues that where one is really there all the rest must be Which as I conceive is the reason why the Writers of the New Testament express the whole body of Practical Divinity sometimes by Faith sometimes by Hope sometimes by Repentance and sometimes by Love because the combination of these Saving Graces is such that the mentioning of one implies all the rest But if this be not sufficient to prove especially against Enthusiasts that by Spiritual gifts in this place the miraculous sort of them is to be understood it will undeniably appear from considering the number and variety of them of which I proposed to speak in the second place For there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit A great diversity indeed for the Apostle here presents us with a list of Nine sorts The Word of Wisdom the Word of Knowledge Faith Gifts of Healing Working of Miracles Prophecy discerning of Spirits diverse kinds of Tongues and the interpretation of those Tongues First The Word of Wisdom or the Revelation of the Gospel which is called the Wisdom of God in Christ For as the Greeks and Romans called the Knowledge of secret and excellent things by the name of Philosophy So the Jews called it by the name of Chochmah or Wisdom which so often occurs in Solomons works And therefore St. Paul in his Hellenistical style which consisted in writing of Hebraisms or Syriacisms in Greek Emphatically calls the knowledge of * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Sermonem sapientiae vocat non eloquentiam sed veram doctrinam cujus ipse etiam divinus Apostolus gratiam acceperat divus Johan Evangelista divus Petrus Apostolorum summus Neque enim potuissâ—nt homines piscatores manu sibi victum parantes literarum planè ignari conciones habere scribere quae dicebant scriptis mandabant virtute maximâ implere nisi à divino Spiritu veram sapientiam accepissent Theodoret. in 2 ep ad Corinth cap. 12. Evangelical doctrines and mysteries by the name of Wisdom and distinguisheth it from the Wisdom i. e. from the Philosophy of the world in the 2d ch of this Epist 6 and 7. verses Howbeit saith he we speak wisdom yet not the wisdom of this world but the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom the revelation
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
called they also began to grow scarce about the latter end of the Second Century after God had sufficiently sealed the truth of the Gospel by them and in spite of the powers of hell brought the world to embrace the Christian Faith But yet because there still remained an * Apollo gave Oracles in Daphne the pleasant Suburbs of Antioch in the time of Constantius and Julian the Ap. Chrys de S. Babylá Mart. contra Gentiles Oracle now and then to be silenced a Pythonist to be exorcised a Magical spirit to be rebuked or an insulting and blasphemous Demoniack to be dispossessed God continued them upon these and ‖ As upon the building of the Temple by the Jews in Julians time Naz. 2. invect contra Julian Marcell lib. 22. such like occasions longer in the Church and yet they too * Aug. contra Manich. de ver relig lib. 1. retract c. 13. ceased about the beginning of the Fifth Century when ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys de S. Babylâ Idolatry was almost quite extinguished and when the Church built Her Faith not on present but past Miracles and her Hieroms Augustins and Chrysostoms like us were not inspired but studied Divines As for the gift of Praying and Preaching by the spirit there is no mention made of it in the Ecclesiastical Writers even where they enumerate the rest of the Spiritual gifts Unless * Lib. 1. cap. 57 Euseb hist lib. ◠cap. 7. Irenaeus comprehend it under the gift of strange tongues with all sorts of which he saith many of the brethren spoke in his time by the Holy Ghost Neither need we wonder that there is no further account to be found of it out of the Apostles writings since the Christians might learn what to pray for and how out of the Scriptures which are an excellent rule of devotion as well as Faith and since that gift was also rendered useless by the ‖ Cassand Liturg Dr. Ham. View of the new Directory early general use of Liturgies wherein the Church made Offices for the Sacraments for the Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons for the Catechumeni the Penitents and Possessed persons and Supplications and Prayers and Intercessions and giving of Thanks for all men for Kings and all that were in Authority in a good and acceptable manner through the name of the only Mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus Thus exspired these miraculous gifts of the Spirit the actual communication and exercise of which the Apostle in the 7. ver of this chap. calls the manifestation of the Spirit and saith that they were given to every man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the benefit and advantage of the Church But as the Church grew up from an infant to her full stature in Christ so they grew useless till at last some sooner some later they were quite taken away This St. Paul who could do all Miracles foretold in the 13th chap. of this Epist wherein he exhorts the Corinthians to covet the saving rather than the miraculous Graces of the Spirit because these should but those should never fail Charity saith he is a gift that never faileth but other gifts shall for whether there be * Si enim Prophetiae linguae sunt propter susceptionem fidei side undique explicatâ tanquam superflua cessabunt in praesenti maximè autem in futuro Theoph. Prophecies they shall fail or whether there be * Si enim Prophetiae linguae sunt propter susceptionem fidei side undique explicatâ tanquam superflua cessabunt in praesenti maximè autem in futuro Theoph. tongues they shall cease or whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away For we know what we know by Revelation but in part and we Prophesie by inspiration but in part but when the perfect knowledge of the Christian Religion or the perfect state of the Church is come then that which is imperfect and obscure shall be done away Even as when I was a child I ‖ Dicit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tanquam ad linguas referat id spake as a child I * Hoc ad prophetias referre videtur id understood as a child I thought and conceived things as a child but when I became a man and to the full use of my reason I put away childish conceptions and things For now we see Divine Revelations as the Prophets did of old in a dark Enigmatical manner and by Symbolical representations of things upon the fancy as in a glass but then in the adult state of the Church we shall see them after the Mosaical manner in a more rational way and more accommodate to humane nature as it were face to face Now I know them imperfectly but then I shall know them clearly even as I am known To conclude there are three permanent gifts Faith Hope and Charity but the most excellent of these is Charity Having thus discoursed First of the kinds of Spiritual gifts and Secondly of the number and variety of that miraculous sort which is understood in my text and having in the Third place shewed the reasons which moved God to give them to the Primitive Church and not to the Churches of latter times I proceed in the last place to make some improvement of the whole discourse First then I desire you to reflect on the difference betwixt the Saving and Miraculous gifts of the Spirit and then to consider how much more excellent and desirable the former are than the latter and how much rather you ought to covet these than those although they were extant yet in the Church As for these they neither supposed any saving Grace in the gifted person nor brought any along with them nor drew any after them but as * 1. Cor. 12. Hom. 29. S. Chrys compares them to riches so like riches they tempted men to ‖ Chrys in Eph. 4. Hom. 11. Pride Vanity and contempt of their Governours as also to * Theoph. on 1 Cor. 12.1 envy and hate one another so that this Apostle was fain to make use of the same Apologue to allay the envy of some and the grief of other Corinthians who had none or not so many or not such spiritual gifts or not to such a degree as others had as Menenius Agrippa did to appease the Commons of Rome by comparing the body politick of the Church to the natural body which cannot be all head hand or eye but hath several members some more honourable than the other and all conspire to the good of the whole Nay so inconsiderable are these gifts in themselves and so unprofitable to any Christian as to his main concern that * Ress ons ad quast 5. ad Orthodox in Justin Mart. August de Serm. domini like the sun and rain they were given to good and bad and when they were given to a truly good Christian they could not secure him in a state of Grace for
23. mischief to the Church and of much dishonour to the name of God It hath caused men to have a mean opinion of Forms although our Saviour not only taught his Disciples to pray by a form but prayed by a form when he hang'd upon the cross It hath made them reject all Liturgies and Liturgical offices contrary to the practice of Gods Universal Church nay it hath made these Spiritual Mountebanks not only dis-use the Lords Prayer it self but forbid the use of it as Superstitious Idolatrous and ‖ See D. Owens life a Papistical charm By this the people of these kingdoms have been led into the most unnatural Schism and Rebellion that ever was not to mention the later Murders Rebellions and Covenants which the Separatists from our Sister Church have committed raised and carried on by the help of this delusion and they may Preach and Pray the people to what they please as long as they hold them captive under this error which is not only inconsistent with what I have now delivered concerning the gifts of the Holy Ghost but contrary to the practice of the Catholick Church and it may be confuted would people but reflect by the example of the Pharisees among the Jews and the flagitious lives of many Christians as of * Casaub of Enthusiasm Basilides the bloudy Tyrant of Mascovy the late Vsurper of these Three Kingdoms the Founder of the Jesuits Labbadé Major * In Ravil rediv. Weer and Captain Venner who of all Enthusiasts or Impostors that ever pretended to Pray by the Spirit were in this sense the most powerful and eloquent for they had words and tears and sighs at command and so bewitched the people by their rapturous spiritual-like devotions as to pass for men extraordinarily inspired Which brings me to reflect on the arrogance and presumption of some sort of Ministers who warranting themselves from the promises which God made of his special presence to the Prophets and Apostles and the spirit of supernatural courage and confidence which rested upon them by virtue thereof have treated Kings and Princes with a counterfeit sort of Prophetical boldness as if God as he spoke to the Prophet Ezekiel had hardned their foreheads like flint or Adamant or had made them as he told Jeremiah he would make him like an Iron-pillar and brazen wall against the whole land both against King and Priests and Princes and people Hence with incomparable rudeness and insolence they have contrary to all rules of Christian Charity libelled and upbraided instead of humbly reproving their King and all under the pretence of preaching the word with boldness and as if God had sent them on purpose as he sent Nathan to David Moses to Pharaoh or Elijah to Ahab c. they have called Protestant Princes Persecutors Idolaters and Jeroboams to their faces and told them that God would destroy them and their house Nay they have presumed in Gods name to lay civil injunctions and prohibitions upon them and their Courts of Justice and when the Magistrate hath commanded the people to do one thing they have charged them to do another With the like counterfeit spirit of Apostolical boldness but of real unchristian impudence and railing they have spoken evil of Civil and Ecclesiastical dignities to the great dishonour of God and his Prophets and Apostles who never spoke nor acted any thing by virtue of any special mission and the spirit of courage which did attend them in it but what was consistent with gentleness moderation humanity duty and love In the last place give me leave to shew you how much some Authors have injured the Christian Religion and abused the unlearned part of the world who writing the lives of some modern Enthusiastical Divines have represented them as endowed with most of these wonderful Spiritual gifts Those who desire to be satisfied in this particular may consult the life of Dr. Samuel Winter * In the 9. p. of the praes the Author saith that he saw the sky open and heard a voice which said to him that neither he nor his should ever want which cannot be true for his son went a begging see p. 41. of the book In the 10. pag. God assured him that he should have a safe voyage into Ireland and convert many souls there see p. 41. Once when he prayed for a sick person in another land he had an assurance of the parties recovery by an audible voice and a glorious brightness which shined round about him ib. When he was a School-boy God he thought assured him by a vocal answer that he heard his prayer p. 2. When he was very sick he assured his wife that he should not dy because God had not fulfilled a certain promise which he made to him p. 4. He conversed with Angels in a dream and had shewed unto him the exceeding weight of glory which is laid up in heaven for Gods chosen ones p. 17. He lay a whole day in an heavenly rapture and desired his wife a Minister and other friends to tell him whether he were in the body or out of the body for he could not tell p. 24. Before he prayed with Coll. Jones his wife when she was sick he asked her whether she had faith to be healed and when he had done praying he assured her she should live p. 44. His hearers could tell by his prayers for sick persons whether they should recover or not p. 47 48. he knew the same himself p. 50. When his wife lay under a temptation to turn Anabaptist God assured him by prayer that he should be quickly satisfied from heaven p. 51. Mrs. Winters Sisters husband lying very sick at London she sent to the Dr. at Dublin to pray for him but before he could be perswaded to pray he retired privately to know of God if he were yet alive and after prayer assured the company that he should recover p. 52 53. Once praying in imitation of Abrahams intercession for Sodom as he kneeled against a post in the room he saw a great shining light about him and perfectly heard a voice saying The Nations shall be spared for ten thousand righteous sake p. 56. He used to pray for things and have his answer before he rose from his knees and immediately give thanks thereupon p. 56. He often heard voices when none heard them but himself according to Acts 22.9 p. 57. Provost in the late times of Trin. Coll. by Dublin and what is written of old Mr. ‖ Whom that Author calls the man of God and saith that Mr. Rutherford called him the heavenly Prophetical and Apostolical man of God He struck a man dead upon the place as S. Peter did Ananias and Saphira with a word p. 252. He told one John Steward of Aire who came to visit him in prison that the Plague of God was broken out in that place and bid him hasten home and cause Heugh Kennedy Provost of that town to convene the people in the