CHAPTER II.

ON THE NECESSITY OF THE TEACHING AND WITNESSING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

SECTION I.—The situation and character of the twelve Apostles rendered the effusion of miraculous gifts necessary at the commencement of the new dispen

sation.

THE second thing I undertook, was to shew "the necessity of this teaching and witnessing of the Spirit in the first settlement of the Christian religion." Now what St. Paul asserts of some of the greatest of these gifts will be found on strict inquiry, to be true of all of them. They were all at the first settlement of Christianity very properly and necessarily given" for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be on more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive: but, speaking the truth

in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ; from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying itself in love," Eph. iv. 12-17. For that St. Paul speaks in this place of the several gifts of the Holy Ghost, and not of the several ministers of the church; or, if you will, not of the officers of the church, but of the gifts that filled them, or fitted and qualified them for 'their work or office, is plain from the context; which speaks of gifts from ver. 7, repeats the same thing, ver. 8, 10; where St. Paul also says, that " He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that (there receiving the fulness of power) He might fill all things (or all His members) with the proper measure of the gift of Christ. And He then gave gifts, which fitted some of these members of His body to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers." And that these are distinct gifts only, but not distinct officers, is evident from this farther consideration, that the same persons were sometimes apostles, prophets, and teachers; as particularly may be seen in Paul and Barnabas, who were both of them reckoned among the prophets and teachers in the church

180 Without miraculous assistance Christianity

of Antioch, when the Spirit said, "Separate me them to the work (that is, of apostles of the Gentiles) to which I have called them."1

Now as Moses, who was king in Jeshurun, and who had the Spirit of wisdom, found it necessary to appoint the princes of the twelve tribes captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and fifties, of the children of Israel; so Christ, as the King of His church, after the conquest He obtained over death, and him that had the power of death, by His being declared at the resurrection the Son of God, or Heir of all things; and having, at His triumphant ascension into heaven, and His solemn investiture into all power, by sitting down at the right-hand of God, all authority put into His hands, gives these gifts to qualify apostles (who were compared to the princes of the twelve tribes), prophets, evangelists, teachers, &c. to publish, spread, and confirm His kingdom in the world. And that each of these gifts in particular was highly necessary and useful to found and build up the Christian church at first, will be evident from considering the circumstances of things then, and how these gifts were suited to them. Let us therefore, abstracting entirely from the present state of things in the church, put ourselves exactly in the circumstances of those

times.

Acts xi. 1, 2.

2

Matt. xix, 28.

To do this, we must suppose twelve illiterate fishermen, and others, in all a company of men and women of about an hundred and twenty, who, from the opinion they had of Jesus of Nazareth, as the great Prophet, and temporal King of the Jews, became His disciples, from a well-disposed temper of mind; but who had yet scarce learnt any thing from Him, concerning the true design of His coming into the world, on account of the strong prejudices and preconceptions they laboured under; and they also expected, that He would restore the kingdom to Israel, not only before His death, but after His resurrection; though willing to wait His time for it. We must then consider them in the condition they were when they saw their great Lord and Master leave them; and were told by angels, that He was not to return to them any more. And what inclination can we imagine must they have had to go and witness His resurrection, or His being taken up out of their sight, to the Jews? All that we can expect from them is, to find them, as we do,' "assembled together in their upper room, where they used to meet (soon after Christ's resurrection), with the doors shut, for fear of the Jews,' in order to converse with one another. But can we expect that they should go and testify this to

I Acts i. 13.

2 John xx. 19.

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their countrymen, in hopes to persuade them of the truth of it? those, who were so far from believing on Him in His life-time, as to have put Him to death! who had hired men to say, that when the guards slept about His sepulchre His disciples had stolen Him away! and were fully determined to pursue them as cheats and deceivers? This was what our Saviour Himself did not expect from them. All that He required was, that they should become His witnesses, after they "had received power by the Holy Ghost's coming upon them:” or, as He expresses it in another place, after they had received "a mouth and wisdom from Him, which their adversaries should not be able to gainsay or resist.'

They seem therefore to have kept still together in their upper room, till (according to the sign our Saviour had given them of the Holy Ghost, "by breathing on them) they heard the sound from heaven, not of a mighty rushing or violent wind, but as of a mighty rushing wind, filling all the house;" or a gentle breeze (such as our Saviour had prefigured by breathing on them; which was to prefigure to them, that their sound or voice, though gentle, should yet be strong and powerful enough to go through the world, and that nothing should be able

Acts i. 8. 2 Luke xxi. 15.

3 John xx. 22.