and the Temper with which it should be attended.

34 his Holiness, might awaken the Arm of his Indignation. Yet even Sect. 22. thefe Sinners were chaftifed, that they might not be finally and for ever condemned.

Ver. 32.

Let not any then be terrified, as if every Soul that approached the Ordinance without due Preparation, muft by neceflary Confequence, feal its own Damnation. Thus to attend the Table of the Lord is indeed a Sin; but, bleffed be GOD, not a Sin too great to be forgiven. Let those therefore, who, tho' they feel in their Hearts a reverential Love to Chrift, yet have hitherto refrained from attending this Feaft of Love, be engaged to come; to come with due Preparation, and Self-Examination, as Ver. 28. to their Repentance and Faith, their Love and Obedience: Then may they, with the moft hearty Welcome from the great Lord of the Feast, eat Ver. 24 of this Bread, and drink of this Cup; receiving it as the Memorial of Chrift's Body broken, and of 'bis Blood fhed for the Remiffion of our Sins. Thro' that Blood alone, let us feek this invaluable Bleffing, without which indeed, nothing can be a folid and lafting Bleffing to us: And let us, on every Occafion, treat our Brethren with a Tenderness and Refpect becoming those who have confidered ourselves, and them, as redeemed. by that precious Blood, and indebted to it for the Hopes of everlasting Salvation.

can

In a Word,, let us never reft in the external Rites or Exercifes of Worship, how decently and regularly foever performed; but look to our inward Temper, and to the Conduct of our Minds, if we defire to maintain this Peace, and that our coming together should be for the better, and Ver. 17. not for the worse.

3.42

Sect. 23.

I Cor. XII.

I.

The Apoftle comes to treat on Spiritual Gifts; and introduces what he had farther to fay concerning them, by obferving, that, various as they are, they all proceed from the fame Sacred Agent, and are intended for the Edification of the fame Body, in which all Chriftians are united. I Cor.

XII. 1,--13.

IT

I CORINTHIANS XII. 1.

T is now Time I should proceed to fpeak fomething concerning thofe Spiritual [Gifts,] with which God hath been pleafed fo abundantly to bless you, my Corinthian Brethren; and as to the right Ufe and Improvement of which, I would not by any Means have you ignorant. 2 Upon this Head you in the general know, that during your natural State, before the chearing Rays of the Gofpel broke in upon you, ye were Heathens, without any Knowledge of the true GOD, and carried by a blind implicit Credulity after dumb Idols; which were fo far from being able to bestow on their Votaries any fupernatural Endowments, by which they might be enabled to fpeak extraordinary Truths, or in Languages before unknown, that they were themselves destitute of the common Powers of Speech, or any Capacity of Perception and Action. Yet you were blindly enslaved to the Worship of fuch ftupid Forms, degrading as it evidently is to the rational Nature of Man; [juft] as you were led by the Artifice of your Priefts, who found their Account in your Delufions. And I hope therefore, you will always remember, that the unmerited Goodness of GOD in beftowing fuch Gifts on Perfons, who could pretend fo little Claim to them, lays you under a lafting Obligation to use them in the moft dutiful and grateful Manner.

4

And

3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no Man fpeaking by the Spirit of GOD, calleth Jefus accurfed And that no Man can fay that Jefus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

3.

343

And fays, that none by the Spirit calls Jefus accurfed:
And therefore (a) I hope, you will not allow Sect. 23.
yourselves to defpife any of your Brethren, on
Account of their Deficiency in them; fince there 1 Cor. XII.
is an important Senfe, in which they may all be
faid, to have been enriched by Divine and Super-
natural Influences. For I give you to know, and
defire you to admit and retain it, as a Principle
equally certain and weighty; that, as no one
Speaking by the Spirit of GOD, calleth Jefus ac-
curfed (b), and confequently all Pretences made
to the Divine Spirit by the Jews, are notoriously
falfe and deteftable; fo, on the other Hand, no
one can seriously fay, [that] Jefus [is the] Lord (c) :
None can embrace his Religion, and fupport the
Profeffion of it in Truth, but by the powerful
Operation of the Holy Ghoft on his Heart; and
therefore, as you are all in a Senfe fpiritual, it
would be highly unreasonable, that the greatest
should defpife the leaft, on Account of any Di-
ftinction which may have been made in his Fa-

vour;

(a) Therefore.] The Force of this Particle do, feems to be this; I am careful to give you the following Hints concerning Spiritual Gifts, because in Proportion to the Degree in which God hath magnified his Grace in calling you from Idolatry to fuch extraordinary Priviledges and Endowments, I am follicitous you may be preferved from abufing them, and engaged to improve them in the wifeft and moft faithful Manner.

(b) Calleth Jefus accurfed.] Mr. Nathaniel Taylor, (on Deifm, pag. 60, 61.) thinks, this refers in general to the fet put on Chriftians, by their Perfecutors, that they fhould not only deny, but blafpheme Chrift. This the Gentiles indeed required, (See Plin. Epift. x. 97. Eufeb. Ecclef. Hift. iv. 15.) But I rather think, this refers to the Jews, who while they uttered Blafphemies against Christ themselves, (1 Tim. i. 13.) and extorted them, if poffible, from those they apprehended to be his Difciples, (Acts xxiv. II.) pretended to the Gifts of the Spirit, by which they undertook to caft out Devils; and perhaps they might imitate fome of the Exorcifes, which Chriftians under the Operation of the Spirit performed. Such a Caution might therefore be very ufeful. (Compare 1 John iv. 1,3. which feems nearly parallel to this Paflage.) Dr. Owen pertinently obferves, that the fews fometimes call Jefus,, instead of y; concealing their Blafphemy under the three initial Letters of the Words, 1', which fignify, let his Name and Memory be blotted out; which is equivalent to Anathema, or let him be accurfed. Owen on the Spir. pag. 3.

(c) Sincerely fay, [that] fefus [is the] Lord.] Chryfoftom well oblerves, this Phrafe of Jaying, that Jefus is the Meffiah, must be fuppofed to proceed from true Faith in him; and the Expreffion is used to import a Man's being a true Chriftian, because fuch ftrong Temptations lay against profeffing Chrift under this Character, that they who maintained this Doctrine were in Heart real Believers; tho' there might be a few excepted Inftances. This feems as plain a Proof as could be defired, that true Faith is the Work of the Spirit of GOD upon the Heart. See the third Letter to the Author of Chriflianity not founded on Argument, pag. 34, 36.

(d) Diver

344

But among Chriftians, there are Diversities of Gifts :

Set. 23. vour; especially, when you confider, who is the
great Source of all.
Now there are Diver-

I Cor. XII. 4.

wor signs of

4 Now there are Diver

fifies of Gifts, but the fame Spirit.

5 And there are Differences of Adminiftrations,

6 And there are Diver

fities of Gifts in different Perfons, but there is one
and the fame Divine Spirit, from whom they are
5 all derived
And tho' there are Diverfities
of Adminiftrations (d), there is one and the fame but the fame Lord.
common Lord, who appoints his Minifters un-
der their diftinct Offices, and gives them their
6 Powers, their Ability, and their Success. And
tho' there are Diverfities of Operations, and Ef
fects produced, yet is is one and the fame GOD,
who worketh all thefe Effects in all the Perfons
concerned; and they can pretend to nothing
more than being the Subjects, or at most, the
Inftruments of his almighty and univerfal A-

7

gency.

But to every one of his believing Servants, who are thus honoured, is given, according to his wife and holy Diftribution, a Manifestation of the Spirit, (for that our Portion of Gifts may properly be called :) and this in fuch a Degree, as is most agreeable and profitable for the Intereft of the whole, that all may harmoniously carry on the great Defign of glorifying GoD, in the Edification and Happinefs of the whole Body. 8 For to one for Inftance, who is placed in the highest Rank of the Chriftian Church, is given by the Spirit, the Word of Wisdom; a comprehenfive View of that grand Scheme, in which the Wisdom of GOD is fo wonderfully difplayed, that even Angelick Intelligences are continually admiring it: To another, by the fame Spirit, fuch lower Degrees of it, as may be called the Word of Knowledge (e); whether refpecting the

Meaning

fities of Operations, but it worketh all in all.

is the fame God, which

(d) Diverfities of Administrations.] Calling them Adminiftrations, or Services, (Saxonur,) was a gentle Manner of reminding them of the great Defign of thefe Gifts; and fo of reproving thofe, who perverted them to contrary Purposes.

(e) Word of Wisdom,and of Knowledge. There are perhaps few Texts in the New Teftament more difficult, than fome in this Chapter, and in the xivth of this Epiftle, relating to the extraordinary Gifts then in the Church; which were at that Time fo well known, as not to need Explication; and it is a noble Inftance of the genuine Simplicity and Modesty of the Apoftle, that he did not expatiate on fo grand a Subject with any unneceffary

One hath the Gift of Faith; another, of Healing, &c.

9 To another Faith by the fame Spirit; to another the Gifts of healing by the fame Spirit ;

10 To another the Work

ing of Miracles; to another Prophecy; to another difcerning of Spirits; to another divers

9:

345 Meaning of the Old Testament, or other Things Sect. 23. in the Chriftian Plan, which may render them fuperior to most of their Brethren; tho' inferior I Cor. XIL to the Clafs I mentioned above. To another is given fuch an extraordinary Faith (f), by the fame Spirit, that he can commit himself to the Divine Protection in the Midst of the extreameft Dangers; and is thereby qualified courageously to affert the Truth of the Gofpel, in the very Face of its most violent Perfecutors: To another, the Gifts of Healing, by the fame Spirit, in Confequence of which, while under its Operation, he can by a Word, or a Touch, remove the most inveterate Diseases. To another, the working 10 of Miracles (g) of a different Kind, fuch as taking up Serpents, drinking any deadly Draught unhurt, and especially the Ejection of Dæmons: To another the Gift of Prophecy; whereby he shall be able exactly to foretel fome contingent future Event: To another, the difcerning of Spi

rits,

ceffary Parade. I think the late Lord Barrington, and after him Dr. Benfon, have made it highly probable, that the Word of Wisdom was that extenfive Plan of Chriftianity, which was revealed to the Apostles by the Holy Spirit. See Barring. Mifc. Sacr. Essay i. pag. 39.-41. Benf. Propa. of Christianity, Vol. i. pag. 40,-46. But that the Word of Knowledge was, as they, after Dr. Whitby affert, (Mife. Sacr. ibid. pag. 142-45. and Benf. ibid. pag. 46, 48.) an extraordinary Ability to understand, and explain the Old Teftament, and efpecially its Prophecies, I do not think equally apparent. Perhaps it might be a lower Degree of the Word of Wisdom. See Mr. Chandler on Foel, pag. 133,137. In Confirmation of which Opinion, it may be observed, that when Wisdom and Knowledge, ( and ny,) are mentioned together, Wisdom is generally put firft, as most excellent. Compare Ecclef. i. 16. Chap. ii. 26. Ifai. xxxiii. 6. Chap. xlvii. 10. Col. ii. 3. And it is well known, that the highest Orders of Teachers in Ifrael were called anciently, ', Wife-men. See Deut. i. 13. Chap. xvi. 19. 1 Cor. i. 20. Mr. Saurin explains Knowledge of a difcerning of Myferies; fuch as the Appearance of Chrift to change the Saints found alive, the Re-establifhment of the Jews, the Man of Sin, the Beast, &c. Saur. Serm. Vol. vi. pag. 13.

(f) Faith.] Faith, as an extraordinary Gift, in this Connection, muft in the general fignify, a firm Perfuafion of being called out by GOD, at any particular Time, to perform "fome Miracle, and accordingly going about it without any Sufpicion or Fear, in confident "Dependence on a correfpondent divine Interpofition."

(g) Working of Miracles.] 'Tis difficult to distinguish this from Faith, as explained above. Some understand it of fome very extraordinary Miracles, fuch as taking up Serpents, drinking any deadly Draught unhurt, curing Difeafes by a Shadow paffing over the Patient, &c. Compare Mark xvi. 18. Acts v. 15. But I rather think, with Monf. Amyraut, (in his excellent Paraphrafe,) that pynjala duvausw, may refer to the Difpoffeffion of Dæmons, or delivering Perfons over to them. This Gift, and that of Healing, might be comprehended in Faith; but perhaps in some Instances, it might work only in the one, or the other of thefe Effects.