Fourteen Sermons, Sermon 3
AD CLERUM. The Third Sermon. At a Visitation at Boston, Lincoln, 13. March 1620.
1 COR. 12.7.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man, to profit withall.
IN the first Verse of this Chapter S. Paul proposeth to himself an Argument, which he prosecuteth the whole Chapter through, and (after a profitable digression into the praise of Charity in the next Chap.) resumeth again at the 14. Chapter, spending also that whole Chapter therein: and it is concerning spirituall gifts, [aVerse 1. Now concerning spirituall gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant, &c.] These gracious gifts of the holy Spirit of God, bestowed on them for the edification of the Church; the Corinthians (by making them the bforeign. Chrys. in 1 Cor. hom. 29.fuell either of their pride, in despising those that were inferiour to themselves; or of their envy, in malicing those that excelled therein,) abused to the maintenance of schisme, and faction, and emulation in the Church. For the remedying of which evils, the Apostle entreth upon the Argument: discoursing fully of the variety of these spirituall gifts, and who is the Author of them, and for what end they were given, and in what manner they should be imployed; omitting nothing that was needfull to be spoken anent this subject.
In this part of the Chapter, entreating both before and after this verse of the wondrous great, yet sweet and usefull, variety of these spirituall gifts: he sheweth, that howsoever manifold they are either for kind, or degree, so as they may differ in the materiall and formall; yet they do all agree both in the same efficient, and the same finall cause. In the same efficient cause, which is God the Lord by his Spirit, ver. 4, 6. [Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.] And in the same finall cause; which is the advancement of Gods glory, in the propagation of his Gospel, and the edification of his Church; in this ver. [But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall.]
By occasion of which words, we may enquire into the nature, convenience, and use of these gifts. First, their nature in themselves, and in their originall; what they are, and whence: they are the works of Gods Spirit in us, [the manifestation of the Spirit.] Secondly, their conveyance unto us; how we come to have them, and to have property in them: it is by gift; [It is given to every man.] Thirdly, their use and end; why they were given us, and what we are to do with them: they must be employed to the good of our Brethren, and of the Church; is given to every man [to profit withall.] Of these briefly, and in their order; and with speciall reference ever to us that are of the Clergy.
By manifestation of the Spirit here our Apostle understandeth none other thing, then he doth by the adjective word foreign in the first, and by the substantive word foreign in the last verse of the Chapter. Both which put together, do signifie those spiritual gifts and graces whereby God enableth men (and specially Church-men) to the duties of their particular Callings for the generall good. Such as are those particulars, which are named in the next following verses, aVerse 8—10.the word of Wisdome, the word of Knowledge, Faith, the gifts of healing, workings of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues. All which, and all other of like nature and use, because they are wrought by that one and self-same bVerse 11.Spirit, which divideth to every one severally as he will; are therefore called cVerse 1.foreign, spirituall gifts; and here foreign, the manifestation of the Spirit.
The word [Spirit] though in Scripture it have many other significations, yet in this place I conceive to be understood directly of the holy Ghost, the third Person in the ever blessed Trinity. For first, in ver. 3. that which is called the Spirit of God in the former part, is in the latter part called the Holy Ghost: [aVerse 1. I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the spirit of God, calleth Iesus accursed; and that no man can say that Iesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.] Again, that variety of gifts, which in ver. 4. is said to proceed from the bVerse 4—6.same Spirit, is said likewise in ver. 5. to proceed from the same Lord, and in ver. 6. to proceed from the same God: and therefore such a Spirit is meant, as is also Lord and God; and that is onelyonly the Holy Ghost. And again, in those words, in ver. 11. [cVerse 11. All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will;] the Apostle ascribeth to this Spirit the collation and distribution of such gifts according to the free power of his own will and pleasure: which free power belongeth to none but God alone, dVerse 38.Who hath set the members every one in the body, as it hath pleased him.
Which yet ought not to be so understood of the Person of the Spirit; as if the Father, and the Son, had no part or fellowship in this business. For all the Actions and operations of the Divine Persons, (those onelyonly excepted which are of intrinsecall and mutuall relation) are the joynt and undivided works of the whole three Persons: according to the common known maxime, constantly and uniformly received in the Catholike Church, Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa. And as to this particular, concerning gifts the Scriptures are clear. Wherein, as they are ascribed to GOD the Holy Ghost in this Chapter; so they are elsewhere ascribed to God the Father, [aJames 1.17. Every good gift and every perfect giving is from above, from the Father of Lights: Jam. 1.] and elsewhere to God the Son, [bEphes. 4.7. Unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ: Eph. 4.] Yea, and it may be, that for this very reason in the three verses next before my text, these three words are used; Spirit, in ver. 4. Lord, in ver. 5. and God, in ver. 6. to give us intimation, that cNe gratia & donum divisum sit per personas Patris, & Filii & Sp. Sancti, sed indiscretae unitatis & naturae t…ium unum opus intelligatur. Ambros. in 1 Cor. 7. c. 61.these spirituall gifts proceed equally and undividedly from the whole three Persons; from God the Father, and from his Son Iesus Christ our Lord, and from the eternall Spirit of them both the Holy Ghost, as from one entire, indivisible, and coessentiall Agent.
But for that we are grosse of understanding, and unable to conceive the distinct Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead, otherwise then by apprehending some distinction of their operations and offices to-us-ward: it hath pleased the wisdome of God in the holy Scriptures, (which, being written for our sakes, were to be fitted to our capacities) so far to condescend to our weakness and dulness, as to attribute some of those great and common works to one person, and some to another, after a more speciall manner than unto the rest; although indeed and in truth none of the three persons had more or lesse to do than other in any of those great and common works. This manner of speaking Divines use to call aV. Aquin. 1. qu. 39.7.Appropriation. By which appropriation, as Power is ascribed to the Father, and Wisdome to the Son; so is Goodness to the Holy Ghost. And therefore, as the Work of Creation, wherein is specially seen the mighty power of God, is appropriated to the Father; and the work of Redemption, wherein is specially seen the wisdome of God, to the Son: and so the works of sanctification, and the infusion of habituall graces, whereby the good things of God are communicated unto us, is appropriated unto the Holy Ghost. And for this cause, the gifts thus communicated unto us from God, are called foreign, spirituall gifts, and foreign, the manifestation of the Spirit.
We see now, why spirit! but then; why manifestation? The word, as most other verballs of that form, may be understood either in the active or passive signification. And it is not materiall, whether of the two wayes we take it in this place: both being true; and neither improper. For these spirituall gifts are the manifestation of the spirit Actively: because by these the spirit manifesteth the will of God unto the Church; these being the instruments and means of conveying the knowledge of salvation unto the people of God. And they are the manifestation of the spirit Passively too: because where any of these gifts, especially in any eminent sort, appeared in any person, it was a manifest evidence that the Spirit of God wrought in him. As we read in Acts 10. that they of the Circumcision were astonished, aAct. 10.45, 46.When they saw, that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. If it be demanded, But how did that appear? it followeth in the next verse, [For they heard them speak with tongues, &c.] The spirituall Gift then is a bId est donum spiritûs, quo dono spiritus suam in homine praesentiam declarat. Metonymia eff…cti. Pisca. in schol. hic.manifestation of the Spirit, as every other sensible effect is a manifestation of its proper cause.
We are now yet farther to know, that the Gifts and graces wrought in us by the holy spirit of God, are of two sorts. The Scriptures sometimes distinguish them by the different terms of foreign and foreign: although those words are sometimes again used indifferently and promiscuously, either for other. They are commonly known in the Schooles, and differenced by the names of aV. Aquin. 1.2 qu. 111.1.Gratiae gratum facientes, & Gratiae gratis datae. Which termes though they be not very proper, (for the one of them may be affirmed of the other; whereas the members of every good distinction ought to be opposite:) yet because they have been long received, (and change of termes, though haply for the better, hath by experience been found for the most part unhappy in the event, in multiplying unnecessary book-quarrells;) we may retain them profitably, and without prejudice. Those former, which they call Gratum facientes, are the graces of Sanctification; whereby the person that hath them, is enabled to do acceptable service to God, in the duties of his generall Calling: these latter, which they call Gratis datas, are the Graces of Edification; whereby the person that hath them is enabled to do profitable service to the Church of God in the duties of his particular Calling. Those are given Nobis, & Nobis; both to us, and from us, that is bDuplex est operatio sancti spiritús; operatur enim in nobis aliud propter nos, aliud propter proximos. Bern. in parvis S…r. 55.chiefly for our own good: these Nobis, sed Nostris; to us indeed, but for others, that is, chiefly for the good of our brethren. Those are given us cGeminae operationis experimentum: Unius, quâ nos primo intùs virtutibus solidat ad salutem: alterius, quá foris quoque muneribus ornat ad lucrum. Illas nobis, haec nostris accepimus. Bernard. in Cant. Ser. 18.ad salutem, for the saving of our own souls: these ad lucrum, for the winning of other mens souls. Those proceed from the speciall love of God to the Person; and may therefore be called personall, or speciall: these proceeed from the Generall love of God to his Church, (or yet more generall to humane societies:) and may therefore be rather called Ecclesiasticall or Generall Gifts or Graces.
Of that first sort are Faith, Hope, Charity, Repentance, Patience, Humility; and all those other holy graces and aGal. 5.22.fruits of the Spirit, which accompany salvation: Wrought by the blessed and powerful operation of the holy Spirit of God, after a most effectuall, but unconceivable manner, regenerating, and renewing, and seasoning, and sanctifying the hearts of his Chosen. But yet these are not the Gifts so much spoken of in this Chapter; and namely in my Text: Every branch whereof excludeth them. Of those graces of sanctification first, we may have indeed probable inducements to perswade us, that they are, or are not in this or that man: But hypocrisie may make such a semblance, that we may think we see spirit in a man, in whom yet there is nothing but flesh; and infirmities may cast such a fogge, that we can discern nothing but flesh in a man, in whom yet there is spirit. But the gifts here spoken of do incurre into the senses, and give us evident and infallible assurance of the spirit that wrought them: here is foreign, a manifestation of the spirit. Again, Secondly, those Graces of sanctification are not communicated by distribution, (b1 Cor. 7.7. Alius sic, alius verò sic;) Faith to one, Charity to another, Repentance to another: but where they are given, they are given all at once and together, as it were strung upon one threed, and linked into one chain. But the Gifts here spoken of are distributed as it were by doal, and divided severally as it pleased God, shared out into severall portions, and given to every man some, to none all; for cVerse 8.to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdome, to another the word of Knowledge, &c. Thirdly, those Graces of sanctification, though they may and ought to be exercised to the benefit of others, who by the dMat. 5.16.shining of our light, and the sight of our good works, may be provoked to glorifie God by walking in the same paths: yet that is but utilitas emergens, and not finis proprius; a good use made of them upon the bye, but not the main, proper and direct end of them, for which they were chiefly given. But the Gifts here spoken of, were given directly for this end, and so intended by the giver, to be imployed for the the benefit of others, and for the edifying of the Church; they were given to profit withall.
It then remaineth, to understand this Text and Chapter of that other and latter kind of spirituall Gifts: Those Graces of Edification, (or Gratiae gratis datae) whereby men are enabled in their severall Callings, according to the quality and measure of the graces they have received, to be profitable members of the publick body, either in Church or Common-wealth. Under which appellation, (the very first naturall powers and faculties of the soul onelyonly excepted, which flowing à principiis speciei, are in all men the same and like;) I comprehend all other secondary endowments, and abilities whatsoever of the reasonable soul, which are capable of the degrees of more and lesse, and of better and worse; together with all subsidiary helps any way conducing to the exercise of any of them. Whether they be first, supernaturall graces, given by immediate and extraordinary infusion from God: such as were the gifts of tongues and of miracles, and of healings, and of prophesie properly so called, and many other like; which were frequent in the infancy of the Church, and when this Epistle was written, according as the necessity of those primitive times considered, God saw it expedient for his Church. Or whether they be, Secondly, such as Philosophers call Naturall dispositions: such as are promptnesse of Wit, quicknesse of Conceit, fastnesse of Memory, clearnesse of Understanding, soundnesse of Iudgement, readinesse of Speech, and other like; which flow immediately à principiis individui, from the individuall condition, constitution, and temperature of particular persons. Or, whether they be, Thirdly, such as Philosophers call Intellectuall habits: which is, when those naturall dispositions are so improved, and perfected by Education, Art, Industry, Observation, or Experience, that men become thereby skilfull Linguists, subtile Disputers, copious Orators, profound Divines, powerfull Preachers, expert Lawyers, Physicians, Historians, Statesmen, Commanders, Artisans, or excellent in any Science, Profession, or faculty whatsoever. To which me may adde in the fourth place, all outward subservient helps whatsoever, which may any way further or facilitate the exercise of any of the former graces, dispositions, or habits: such as are health, strength, beauty, and all those other Bona Corporis; as also Bona Fortunae, Honour, Wealth, Nobility, Reputation, and the rest. All of these, even those among them which seem most of all to have their foundation in Nature, or perfection from Art, may in some sort be called foreign, spirituall gifts: in as much as the spirit of God is the first and principall worker of them. Nature, Art, Industry, and all other subsidiary furtherances, being but second Agents under him; and as means ordained, or as instruments used by him, for the accomplishing of those ends he hath appointed.
And now have we found out the just latitude of the spiritual gifts spoken of in this Chapter, and of the manifestation of the spirit in my Text. From whence not to passe without some observable inferences for our Edification: We may here first behold, and admire, and magnifie the singular love, and care, and providence of God for and over his Church. For the building up whereof, he hath not onelyonly furnished it with fit materialls, men endowed with the faculties of understanding, reason, will, memory, affections; not onelyonly lent them tools out of his own rich store-house, his holy Word, and sacred Ordinances: but, as sometimes he filled aExod. 35.30, &c.Bezaleel and Aholiab with skill and wisdome for the building of the materiall Tabernacle; so he hath also from time to time raised up serviceable Men, and enabled them with a large measure of all needfull gifts and graces, to set forward the building, and to give it both strength and beauty. A Body, if it had not difference and variety of members, were rather a lump, than a Body; or if having such members, there were yet no vitall spirits within to enable them to their proper offices, it were rather a Corps than a Body: but the vigour that is in every part to do its office, is a certain evidence and manifestation of a spirit of life within, and that maketh it a living Organicall body. So those active gifts, and graces, and abilities, which are to be found in the members of the mysticall body of Christ, (I know not whether of greater variety or use) are a strong manifestation, that there is a powerfull Spirit of God within, that knitteth the whole body together, and worketh all in all, and all in every part of the body.
Secondly, though we have just cause to lay it to heart, when men of eminent gifts and place in the Church are taken from us, and to lament in theirs, our own, and the Churches loss: yet we should possess our souls in patience, and sustain our selves with this comfort, that it is the same God that still hath care over his Church; and it is the same H…ad Iesus Christ, that still hath influence into his members; and it is the same blessed Spirit of God and of Christ, that still actuateth and animateth this great mysticall Body. And therefore we may not doubt, but this Spirit, as he hath hitherto done from the beginning, so will still manifest himself from time to time, unto the end of the world; in raising up instruments for the service of his Church, and furnishing them with gifts in some good measure meet for the same, more or less, according as he shall see it expedient for her, in her severall different estates and conditions: giving aEph. 4.11, 13some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers; for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministery, for the edifying of the Body of Christ, till we all meet in the unity of the Faith, & of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. He hath promised long since, who was never yet touched with breach of promise, that he would bMat. 28.20.be with his Apostles (and their successors) alwayes unto the end of the world.
Thirdly, where the Spirit of God hath manifested it self to any man by the distribution of gifts, it is but reason, that man should manifest the Spirit that is in him, by exercising those gifts in some lawfull Calling. And so this manifestation of the Spirit in my Text, imposeth upon every man the Necessity of a Calling. Our Apostle in the seventh of this Epistle, joyneth these two together, a Gift, and a Calling; as things that may not be severed? a1 Cor. 7.17.As God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one. Where the end of a thing is the use, there the difference cannot be great, whether we abuse it, or but conceal it. The bMat. 25.30.unprofitable servant, that wrapped up his Masters talent in a napkin, could not have received a much heavier doom, had he mis-spent it. O then up and be doing: cMat. 20.6.Why stand you all the day idle? Do not say, because you heard no voyce, that therefore no man hath called you: those very gifts you have received, are a Reall Call, pursuing you with continual restless importunity, till you have disposed your selves in some honest course of life or other, wherein you may be profitable to humane society, by the exercising of some or other of those gifts. All the members of the Body have their proper and distinct offices, according as they have their proper and distinct faculties; and from those offices they have also their proper and distinct names. As then in the Body, that is indeed no member, which cannot call it self by any other name, than by the common name of a member: so in the Church, he that cannot style himself by any other name than a Christian, doth indeed but usurp that too. If thou sayest, thou art of the body: I demand then, What is thy office in the Body? If thou hast no office in the body, then thou art at the best but Tumor praeter naturam (as Physicians call them) a scab, or botch, or wenne, or some other monstrous and unnaturall excrescency upon the body; but certainly thou art no true part and member of the body. And if thou art no part of the body, how darest thou make challenge to the head, by mis-calling thy self Christian? If thou hast a Gift, get a Calling.
Fourthly, we of the Clergy, though we may not ingrosse the Spirit unto our selves, as if none were spirituall persons but our selves: yet the voyce of the World hath long given us the Name of the Spiritually after a peculiar sort; as if we were spirituall persons in some different singular respect from other men. And that not altogether without ground, both for the name, and thing. The very name seemeth to be thus used by S. Paul in the 14. Chapter following, where at ver. 37. he maketh a Prophet and a Spirituall man all one, (and by prophesying, in that whole Chapter he mostwhat meaneth Preaching:) a1 Cor. 14.37If any man think himself to be a Prophet, either spirituall, let him acknowledge, &c. But howsoever it be for the title, the thing it self hath very sufficient ground from that form of speech which was used by our blessed Saviour, when he conferred the Ministerial power upon his Disciples; and is still used in our Church at the collation of Holy Orders, bJohn 20.22.Accipite spiritum sanctum, Receive the Holy Ghost. Since then at our admission into holy Orders we receive a spirituall power by the imposition of hands, which others have not; we may thenceforth be justly styled spirituall persons. The thing for which I note it, is, that we should therefore endeavour our selves c2 Tim. 1.6.foreign, so to stir up those spirituall gifts that are in us; as that by the eminency thereof above that which is in ordinary temporall men, we may shew our selves to be indeed, what we are in name, Spirituall persons. If we be of the spiritualty, there would be in us another gates manifestation of the spirit, then is ordinarily to be found in the Temporalty. God forbid I should censure all them for intruders into the Ministry, that are not gifted for the Pulpit. The severest censurers of Non-preaching Ministers, if they had lived in the beginning of the Reformation, must have been content, as the times then stood, to have admitted of some thousands of non-preaching Ministers, or else have denied many Parishes and Congregations in England the benefit of so much as bare reading. And I take this to be a safe Rule: Whatsoever thing the help of any circumstances can make lawfull at any time, that thing may not be condemned as universally, and de toto genere unlawfull. I judge no mans conscience then, or calling, who is in the Ministry; be his gifts never so slender; I dare not deny him the benefit of his Clergy, if he can but read: if his own heart condemn him not, neither do I. But yet this I say; As the Times now are, wherein learning aboundeth even unto wantonness; and wherein the world is full of questions, and controversies, and novelties, and niceties in Religion; and wherein most of our Gentry, very Women and all (by the advantage of long Peace, and the customes of modern Education, together with the help of a multitude of English books and translations) are able to look through the ignorance of a Clergy-man, and censure it, if he be tripping in any point of History, Cosmography, Moral or Natural Philosophy, Divinity, or the Arts; yea, and to chastise his very method and phrase, if he speak loosely, or impertinently, or but improperly, and if every thing be not point-vise: I say, as these times are, I would not have a Clergy-man content himself with every mediocrity of gifts; but by his prayers, care and industry improve those he hath, so as he may be able upon good occasion to dRom. 1.11.impart a spirituall gift to the people of God, whereby they may be established, and to speak with such understanding, and sufficiency, and pertinency (especially when he hath just warning, and a convenient time to prepare himself,) in some good measure of proportion to the quickness and ripeness of these present times, as they that love not his Coat, may yet approve his labours, and not find any thing therein, whereat justly to quarrell: eTit. 2.7, 8.Shewing in his Doctrine (as our Apostle writeth to Titus) uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of him. They that are called spirituall persons, should strive to answer that name by a more than ordinary manifestation of spirituall gifts. And thus much shall suffice us to have spoken concerning the name and nature of these spirituall gifts, by occasion of the title here given them, The manifestation of the spirit.
Consider we next, and in the second place, the conveyance of these gifts over unto us; how we come to have a property in them, and by what right we can call them ours. The Conveyance is by deed of gift; the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man. Understand it not to be so much intended here, that every particular man hath the manifestation of the spirit, (though that may also be true in some sense;) as that every man that hath the manifestation of the Spirit, hath it given him, and given him withall to this end, that he may do good with it. Like as when we say, Every man learneth to read before he learn to write; it is no part of our meaning to signifie each particular person so to do, (for there be many that learn neither of both;) but we onelyonly intend to shew the received order of the things to be such, as that every man that learneth both, learneth that first. As we conceive his meaning, who directing us the way to such or such a place, should tell us, Every man rideth this way; and as we conceive of that speech of the Ruler of the Feast in the Gospel, aJohn 2.10.Every man at the beginning setteth forth good Wine, and then after that which is worse; though there be many thousand men in the world that never rode that way, or had occasion to set forth any Wine at all, either better or worse: very so ought we to conceive the meaning of the universall particle Every man both in this, and in many other like speeches in the Scriptures; with bforeign restring…ndum est ad praesentem hypothesin. Piscat. schol. in Luc. 20.38. Instances, see John 11.7. Ro. 5.18, &c.due limitations according to the tenour and purpose of the thing spoken of. It mattereth not then, as to the intent of this present speech (be it true, be it false otherwise,) whether every man have received a spirituall gift, or no: onelyonly thus much is directly intended, that cUnicuique datur) intellige, Unicuique cui datur. Piscat. in schol. hic.every man who hath received such a gift, hath received it by way of gift. All spirituall graces, all those dispositions, habits, and abilities of the understanding part, from which the Church of God may receive edification in any kind, together with all the secondary and inferiour helps that any way conduce thereunto; they are all the good gifts of God. [The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man.]
The variety, both of the gifts meet for several offices, & of the offices wherein to employ those gifts, is wonderfull, & no less wonderful the distribution of both gifts and offices. But all that aforeign. Chrys. in 1 Cor. hom. 29. 1 Cor. 12.8, &c.variety is derived from one and the same fountain, the holy Spirit of God: and all those distributions pass unto us by one and the same way, of most free and liberall donation. Have all the Word of Wisdome? Have all the Word of Knowledge? Have all Faith? Have all Prophecy? or other spirituall grace? No; they have not: but b to one the Word of Wisdome, the Word of Knowledge to another, & to others other gifts. There is both variety you see, and distribution of these graces. But yet there is the same Author of them, and the same manner of communicating them: For to one cIbid.is given by the spirit the Word of Wisdome; to another the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit, and to others, other graces; but they are all from the same Spirit, and they are all given. And as the gifts, so the offices too. To that question in ver. 29. dVerse 29.Are all Apostles? are all Prophets? are all Teachers? Answer may be made, as before, negatively, No; they are not: but some Apostles, & some Prophets, & some Teachers. There is the like variety, and distribution, as before: but withall, the same Donor, and the same donation, as before. For eEphes. 4.11.he gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Pastors and Teachers: Ephes. 4. And f1 Cor. 12.28.God hath set some in the Church; first, Apostles; secondarily, Prophets; thirdly, Teachers, &c. beneath at ver. 28. Both gifts and offices, as they are à Deo, for the Author: so they are ex dono, for the manner: from God, and by way of gift. If we had no other, the very names they carry, like the superscription upon Caesars penny, were a sufficient proof, from whom we first had them. When we call them foreign, Gratias gratis datas, gifts and graces, and manifestations of the Spirit; do we not by the use of those very names confess the receipt? For what more free than gift? and what less of debt or desert than grace? Heathen men indeed called the best of their perfections, foreign Habits: but Saint Iames hath taught us Christians a fitter name for ours, gJam. 1.17.foreign, gifts. They say they had them, and looked no farther: but we must know, as that we have them, so as well how we came by them. And therefore this Apostle above at Chap. 4. joyneth the having and the receipt together; as if he would have us behold them uno intuitu, and at once. [h1 Cor. 4.7. Quid habes, quod non accepisti? what hast thou, that thou hast not received?
Possibly thou wilt alledge thy excellent naturall parts; these were not given thee, but thou broughtest them into the world with thee: or thou wilt vouch what thou hast attained to by Art and Industry; and these were not given thee, but thou hast won them proprio Marté, and therefore well deservest to wear them. Deceive not thy self: it is neither so, nor so. Our Apostle in the place now last mentioned, cutteth off all such Challenges. [a1 Cor. 4.7. Quis te discrevit? who made thee to differ from another?] Say there were (as there is not) such a difference in and from Nature as thou conceivest; yet still in the last resolution there must be a receipt acknowledged: for even b— Cum illius sit gratiae, quod creatus es. Hieron. Epist. 139. Attendamus gratiam Dei non solùm quâ fecit nos— Aug. in Psal. 144.Nature it self in the last resolution is of Grace; for GOD gave thee that. Or, say there were (as there is not) such a difference of desert, as thou pretendest; yet still that were to be acknowledged as a gift too: for GOD gave thee that cDeut. 8.18. foreign. dictum Agam…mnonis ad Achillem apud Homer. Iliad. ….power whatsoever it was, whereby thou hast attained to whatsoever thou hast. But the truth is; the difference that is in men in regard of these gifts and abilities, ariseth neither from the power of Nature, nor from the merit of labour; otherwise than as GOD is pleased to use these as second causes under him: but it cometh meerly from the good will and pleasure of that free spirit, which bloweth where, and when, and how he listeth; d1 Cor. 12.11dividing his graces to every man severally as he will, (at the eleventh) and eIbid. 18.as it hath pleased him, (at verse 18. of this Chapter,) Nature is a necessary agent, and, if not either hindred by some inferiour impediment, or over-ruled by some higher power, worketh alwayes alike, and produceth the same effects in all individuals of the same kind: and how is it possible she should make a difference, that knoweth none? And as for Desert; there is indeed no such thing: and therefore it can work nothing. For can God be a debtor to any man? or hath any man fRom. 11.35.given to him first, that it might be recompensed him again? As a lump of gEsay 64.8.Clay lyeth before the Potter; so is all mankind in the hand of GOD. The Potter at his pleasure out of that hRom. 9.21.Lump frameth vessels of all sorts, of different shape, proportion, strength, fineness, capacity; as he thinketh good, unto the severall uses for which he intendeth them. So God after the good pleasure of his own will, out of mankind, as out of an untoward lump of Clay, (all of the same piece, equall in nature and desert,) maketh up vessels for the use of his Sanctuary: by fitting several men with several gifts, more or less, greater or meaner, better or worse, according to the difference of those offices and employments for which he intended them. It is not the Clay, but the Potter, that maketh the difference there: neither is it any thing in man, but the Spirit of God, that maketh the difference here. Whatsoever spirituall abilities we have, we have them of gift and by grace. The manifestation of the spirit is given to every man.
A point of very fruitfull consideration for men of all sorts; whether they be of greater, or of meaner gifts. And first, all of us generally may hence take two profitable directions: the one, if we have any usefull gifts, whom to thank for them; the other, if we want any needfull gifts, where to seek for them. Whatsoever manifestation of the spirit thou hast, it is given thee: and to whom can thy thanks for it be due, but to the giver? Sacrifice not to thine own aHab. 1.16.nets, either of Nature, or Endeavour; as if these Abilities were the manifestations of thine own spirit: but enlarge thy heart to magnifie the goodness and bounty of him who is bHeb. 12.9.Pater spiritum, the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and hath wrought those graces in thee by communicating his spirit unto thee. If thou shinest as a star in the firmament of the Church whether of a greater or lesser magnitude, (as c1 Cor. 15.41one star differeth from another in glory;) remember thou shinest but by a borrowed light from him who is dJames 1.17.Pater luminum, the Father and Fountain of all lights, as the Sun in the firmament, from whom descendeth every good gift, and every perfect giving. Whatsoever Grace thou hast, it is given thee: therefore be thankfull to the giver.
But if thou wantest any grace, or measure of grace, which seemeth needfull for thee in that station and calling, wherein God hath set thee: herein is a second direction for thee, where to seek it, even from his hands, who alone can give it. aJames 1.5.If any man lack wisdome (saith S. Iames) let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally; and it shall be given him. A large, and liberall promise; but yet a promise most certain, and full of comfortable assurance; provided, it be understood aright, viz. with these two necessary Limitations: if God shall see it expedient; and if he pray for it as he ought. Thou mayest pray with an humble and upright affection, and put to thy best endeavours withall; and yet not obtain the gift thou prayest for: because, being a common Grace, and not of absolute necessity for salvation, it may be in the wisdome of GOD (who best knoweth what is best, and when) not expedient for thee, or not for his Church, at that time, and in that manner, or measure. Necessary Graces, such as are those of sanctification, pray for them absolutely, & thou shalt absolutely receive them▪ there needeth no conditionall clause of Expediency in thy prayers for them; because they can never be inexpedient. But these may: and thefore as thou oughtest not to pray for them, but with all subjection of thy desires to his most holy and most wise appointments; so thou oughtest to take a denyall from him, not onelyonly contentedly, but even thankfully, as a gracious fruit of his love unto thee, and a certain sign of the inexpediency of the thing desired.
But if it be expedient; it will not yet come for asking, unlesse it be asked aright. aJam. 1.6, 7.But let him pray in Faith, saith Saint Iames: Who so doth not, let not that man think to receive any thing of the Lord. Now that man onelyonly prayeth in Faith, who looketh to receive the thing he prayeth for, upon such termes, as God hath promised to give it: for Faith ever looketh to the promise. And God hath not made us any promise of the End other then conditionall; viz. upon our conscionable use of the appointed meanes. And the meanes which he hath ordained both for the obtaining, and the improving of spirituall gifts, are study and industry, and diligent meditation. We must not now look, as in the infancy of the Church, to have the teats put into our mouthes, and to receive spirituall graces by immediate infusion: That Manna, as bHoskins Serm. on Luk. 12.48.one saith, was for the Wildernesse. But now the Church is possessed of the Land, and grown to yeares of better strength; we must plow, and sow, and eate of the fruit of the Land, in the sweat of our faces: and now he that c2 Thes. 3.10will not labour, he may thank himself if he have not to eate. He prayeth but with an overly desire, and not from the deep of his heart, that will not bend his endeavours withall to obtain what he desireth or rather indeed he prayeth not at all. You may call it wishing and woulding; (and we have proverbs against wishers and woulders;) rather then Praying. Salomon accounteth the idle mans prayer no better; and it thriveth accordingly with him: dProv. 13.4.The soul of the sluggard lusteth, and hath nothing, Prov. 13.
To make all sure then, here is your course. Wrestle with GOD by your fervent prayers; and wrestle with him too by your faithfull endeavours; and he will not for his goodnesse sake, and for his promise sake he cannot, dismisse you without a blessing. But omit either; and the other is lost labour. Prayer without study, is presumption; and study without prayer, Atheisme: the one bootlesse; the other fruitlesse. You take your books in vain into your hand, if you turn them over, and never look higher: and you take Gods Name in vain within your lips, if you cry Da Domine, and never stir farther. The Ship is then like to be steered with best certainty and successe; when there is Oculus ad coelum, manus ad clavum: when the Pilot is carefull of both, to have his eye upon the Compasse, and his hand at the Stern. Remember these abilities you pray or study for, are the gifts of GOD: and as not to be had ordinarily without labour, (for God is a God of order, and worketh not ordinarily, but by ordinary meanes;) so not to be had meerly for the labour; for then should it not be so much a gift, as a purchase. It was Simon Magus his errour, to think that aAct. 8.20.the gift of God might be purchased with money: and it hath a spice of his sin, and so may go for a kind of Simony, for a man to think these spirituall gifts of God may be purchased with labour. You may rise up early, and go to bed late, and study hard, and read much, and devour the fat and the marrow of the best Authors; and when you have all done, unlesse God give a blessing unto your endeavours, be as thin and meagre in regard of true and usefull learning, as Pharaohs bGen. 41.21.leane Kine were after they had eaten the fat ones. It is God c2 Cor. 9.10.that both ministreth seed to the sower, and multiplieth the seed sowen: the Principall, and the Increase, are both his. If then we expect any gift, or the increase of any gift from him, neither of which we can have without him: let us not be behinde, either with our best endeavours to use the meanes he hath appointed, or with our faithfull prayers to crave his blessing upon those meanes. These Instructions are generall; and concern us all, whatsoever our gifts be.
I must now turn my speech more particularly to you, to whom God hath vouchsafed the manifestation of his Spirit in a larger proportion then unto many of your brethren: giving unto you, as unto his first-born, a aDeut. 21.17.double portion of his Spirit, as b4 Kings 2.9.Elisha had of Eliah's; or perhaps dealing with you yet more liberally, as Ioseph did with Benjamin, whose messe (though he were the youngest) he appointed to be cGen. 43.34.five times as much as any of his brethrens. It is needfull that you of all others, should be eft-soones put in remembrance, that those eminent manifestations of the Spirit you have, were given you. First, it will be a good help to take down that dScientia inflat. 1 Cor. 8.1swelling, which, as an Aposteme in the body through ranknesse of blood, so is apt to ingender in the soul through abundance of Knowledge; and to let out some of the corruption. It is *Magna & rara virtus profectò est, ut magna licèt operantem, magnum te nescias. Bern. in Cant. Serm. 13.a very hard thing Multum sapere, and not altum sapere; to know much, and not to know it too much; to excell others in gifts, and not perk above them in self-conceipt. S. Paul, who ePhil. 4.12.in all other things was sufficiently instructed, as well to abound, as to suffer need, was yet put very hard to it, when he was to try the mastery with this temptation, which arose from the f2 Cor. 12.7.abundance of revelations. If you find an aptnesse then in your selves, (and there is in your selves, as of your selves such an aptnesse, as to no one thing more,) to be exalted above measure in your own conceipts; boastingly to make ostentation of your own sufficiencies; with a kind of unbecoming compassion to cast scorn upon your meaner brethren; and upon every light provocation to fly out into those termes of defiance [gHic vers. 21 I have no need of thee; and, I have no need of thee:] to dispell this windy humour I know not a more soveraign remedy, then to chew upon this meditation; that all the Abilities and perfections you have, were given you, by one who was no way so bound to you, but he might have given them as well to the meanest of your brethren as to you, and that without any wrong to you, if it had so pleased him. You may take the Receipt from him, who himself had had some experience of the infirmity; even Saint Paul in the fourth of this Epistle. [h1 Cor. 4.7. What hast thou, that thou hast not received? and if thou hast received it, why doest thou boast as if thou hadst not received it?
Secondly; Every wise and conscionable man should advisedly weigh his own Gifts, and make them his Rule to work by: not thinking he doth enough, if he do what Law compelleth him to do, or if he do as much as other neighbours do. Indeed where Lawes bound us by Negative Precepts, [Hitherto thou mayest go, but further thou shalt not,] we must obey, and we may not exceed those bounds. But where the Lawes do barely enjoyne us to do somewhat, lest having no Law to compell us, we should do just nothing; it can be no transgression of the Law, to do more. Whosoever therefore of you have received more or greater Gifts then many others have; you must know your selves bound to do so much more good with them, and to stand chargeable with so much the deeper account for them. aGregor.Crescunt dona, crescunt rationes. When you shall come to make up your accounts; your receipts will be looked into: and if you have received ten talents, or five, for your meaner brothers one; when but one shall be required from him, you shall be answerable for ten or five. For it is an equitable course, that bLuk. 12.48.to whom much is given, of him much should be required. And at that great day, if you cannot make your accounts straight with your receipts, you shall certainly find that most true in this sense, which Salomon spake in another, cEccles. 1.18.Qui apponit scientiam, apponit dolorem: the more and greater your gifts are, unlesse your thankfulnesse for them, and your diligence with them rise to some good like proportion thereunto; the greater shall be your condemnation, the more your stripes.
But thirdly; though your Graces must be so to your selves, yet beware you do not make them Rules to others. A thing I the rather note, because the fault is so frequent in practice, and yet very rarely observed, and more rarely reprehended. God hath endowed a man with good abilities and parts in some kind or other; I instance but in one gift onelyonly for examples sake, viz. an Ability to inlarge himself in prayer readily, and with fit expressions upon any present occasion. Being in the Ministry, or other Calling, he is carefull to exercise his gift by praying with his family, praying with the sick, praying with other company upon such other occasions as may fall out. He thinketh (and he thinketh well,) that if he should do otherwise or less than he doth, he should not be able to discharge himself from the guilt of unfaithfulnesse, in not employing the talent he hath received to the best advantage, when the exercise of it might redound to the glory of the giver. Hitherto he is in the right: so long as he maketh his gift a Rule but to himself. But now if this man shall stretch out this Rule unto all his brethren in the same Calling, by imposing upon them a necessity of doing the like; if he shall expect or exact from them, that they should also be able to commend unto God the necessities of their families, or the state of a sick person, or the like, by extemporary prayer; but especially if he shall judge or censure them, that dare not adventure so to do, of intrusion into, or of unfaithfulnesse in their Callings: he committeth a great fault, and well deserving a sharp reprehension. For what is this else, but to lay heavier burdens upon mens shoulders, then they can stand under? to make our selves judges of other mens consciences, and our abilities Rules of their actions, yea, and even to lay an imputation upon our Master, with that ungracious servant in the Gospel, as if he were aMat. 25.24.an hard man, reaping where he hath not sown, and gathering where he hath not strewed, and requiring much where he hath given little, and like Pharaoh's task-masters, exacting the bExod. 5.18.full tale of bricks without sufficient allowance of materialls? Shall he that hath a thousand a year, count him that hath but a hundred, a Churl if he do not spend as much in his house weekly, keep as plentifull a table, and bear as much in every common charge, as himself? No less unreasonable is he that would bind his brother of inferiour gifts to the same frequency and method in preaching, to the same readiness and copiousness in praying, to the same necessity and measure in the performance of other duties; whereunto, according to those gifts he findeth in himself, he findeth himself bound. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man: let no man be so severe to his brother, as to look he should manifest more of the Spirit then he hath received.
Now as for you to whom God hath dealt these spirituall gifts, with a more sparing hand; the freedome of Gods distribution may be a fruitfull meditation for you also. First, thou hast no reason, whosoever thou art, to grudge at the scantness of thy gifts, or to repine at the Giver. How little soever God hath given thee, it is more then he aforeign. Chrys. in 1 Cor. hom. 29.owed thee. If the distribution of the Spirit were a matter of justice or of debt; God, we know, is no bActs 10.34.accepter of persons, and he would have given to thee, as to another. But being, as it is, a matter of gift, not of debt; nor of justice, but of grace: take that is thine thankfully, and be content withall; cMat. 20.3-15.He hath done thee no wrong: may he not do as he will, with his own? Secondly, since the manifestation of the Spirit is a matter of free gift: thou hast no cause to envy thy Brother, whose portion is greater. Why should dMat. 20.15.thy eye be therefore evil against him, because God hath been so good unto him? Shall the foot envy the hand, or the ear the eye▪ because the foot cannot work, nor the ear see? If the eHic Verse 17—19.whole body were hand, where were the going? and if the whole were eye, where were the hearing? or if the whole were any one member, where were the body? If the hand can work, which the foot cannot; yet the foot can go, which the hand cannot: and if the eye can see, which the ear cannot; yet the ear can hearken, which the eye cannot. And, if thy brother have some abilities, which thou hast not; thou art not so bare, but thou hast othersome again, which he hath not. Say, thine be meaner: yet the meanest member, as it hath his fHic Ver. 22.23.necessary office, so it is not destitute of his proper comeliness in the Body. Thirdly, if thy gifts be mean, thou hast this comfort withall, that thy accounts will be so much the easier. Merchants that have the greatest dealings, are not ever the safest men. And how happy a thing had it been for many men in the world, if they had had lesse of other mens goods in their hands! The less thou hast received, the less thou hast to answer for. If God have given thee but one single talent, he will not require five: nor if five, ten. Fourthly, in the meaneness of thy gifts thou maist read thy self a daily lecture of humility: and humility alone is a thing of more value, than all the perfections that are in the world besides, without it. This think: that God, who disposeth gRom. 8.28.all things for the best to those that are his, would have given thee other and greater gifts, if he had seen it so expedient for thee. That therefore he hath holden his hand, and with-holden those things from thee: conceive it done, either for thy former unworthiness, and that should make thee humble; or for thy future good, and that should make thee also thankfull. Lastly, remember what the Preacher saith in Eccles. 10. [hEccl. 10.10. Maximum mediocris ingenii subsidium, diligentia. Sen. in controv. If the Iron be blunt, then he must put to the more strength.] Many men that are well left by their friends, and full of money; because they think they shall never see the bottome of it, take no care by any employment to encrease it, but spend on upon the stock, without either fear or wit, they care not what, or how, till they be sunk to nothing before they be aware: whereas on the contrary, industrious men that have but little to begin withall, yet by their care and providence, and pains-taking, get up wonderfully. It is almost incredible, what industry, and diligence, and exercise, and holy iforeign ver. 31. hic.emulation (which our Apostle commendeth in the last verse of this Chapter,) are able to effect, for the bettering and increasing of our spirituall gifts: provided ever we joyn with these hearty prayers unto, and faithfull dependance upon God, for his blessing thereupon. I know no so lawfull kforeign. Mat. 25.27.usury, as of these spirituall talents; nor do I know any so profitable usury, or that multiplieth so fast as this doth: your use upon use, that doubleth the principall in seven yeares, is nothing to it. Oh then, lLuk. 19.23.cast in thy talent into the bank; make thy returnes as speedy, and as many as thou canst; lose not a market, or a tide, if it be possible; m2 Tim. 4.2.be instant in season & out of season; omit no opportunity to take in, and put off all thou canst get: so, though thy beginnings be but small, thy latter end shall wonderfully encrease. But this meanes, thou shalt not onelyonly profit thy self, in the encrease of thy gifts unto thy self: but (which no other usury doth besides) thou shalt also profit others, by communicating of thy gifts unto them. Which is the proper end for which they were bestowed; and of which we are next to speak. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall.
To profit whom? it may be, Himself. It is true; aProv. 9.12.If thou art wise, thou shalt be wise for thy self, said Salomon; and Salomon knew what belonged to wisdome as well as another. For, bSyrac. 14.5.Qui sibi nequam, cui bonus? He that is not good to himself, it is but a chance that he is good to any body else. When we seem to pity a man by saying, He is no mans foe but his own, or he is worst to himself; we do indeed but flout him, and in effect call him a fool, and a prodigall. Such a fool is every one, that guiding the feet of others into the way of peace, himself treadeth the paths that lead unto destruction; and that c1 Cor. 9.27.preaching repentance unto others, himself becometh a Castaway. He that hath a gift then, he should do well to look to his own, as well as to the profit of others; and as unto doctrine, so as well and first to d1 Tim. 4.16.take heed unto himself: that so doing he may save himself, as well as those that heare him.
This then is to be done; but this is not all that is to be done. In aSunt qui scire volunt, ut aedificent, & charitas est: sunt qui scire volunt ut aedificentur, & prudentiae est. Bern. in Cant. serm. 36.Wisdome we cannot do lesse; but in Charity we are bound to do more than thus with our gifts. If our own profit onelyonly had been intended, foreign would have served the turn as well: but the word here is foreign, which importeth such a kind of profit as redoundeth to bUtilitatem sc. Ecclesiae. Pisc. in Schol. hic.community, such as before in the 10. Chapter he professeth himself to have sought after, [c1 Cor. 10.33. Not seeking mine own profit, (he meaneth, not onelyonly his own,) but the profit of many, that they may be saved.] We noted it already, as the main and essentiall difference between those graces of sanctification, and these graces of edification: that those, though they would be made profitable unto others also, yet were principally intended for the proper good of the owner; but these, though they would be used for the owners good also, yet were principally intended for the profit of others. You see then, what a strong obligation lyeth upon every man that hath received the Spirit, conferre aliquid in publicum, to cast his gifts into the common treasury of the Church, to imploy his good parts and spirituall graces so, as they may some way or other be profitable to his brethren and fellow-servants in Church and Common-wealth. It is an old received Canon, Beneficium propter officium. No man seetteth a Steward over his house, onelyonly to receive his rents, and then to keep the moneys in his hand, and make no provision out of it for his Hines and servants: but it is the dLuk. 12.42.office of a good and wise Steward to give every one of the houshold his appointed portion at the appointed seasons. And who so receiveth a spirituall gift, ipso facto taketh upon him the office, and is bound to the duties of a Steward; [e1 Pet. 4.10. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one unto another, as good stewards of the manifold graces of God, 1 Pet. 4.] It was not onelyonly for orders sake, and for the beautifying of his Church, (though that also) that God fEph. 4.11, 12.gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers: but also, and especially, for more necessary and profitable uses; for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministery, for the edifying of the body of Christ, Ephs. 4.11, 12. The members of the body, are not every one for it self, but every one for other, and all for the whole. The stomach eateth, not to fill it self, but to nourish the Body; the Eye seeth, not to please it self, but to espie for the Body; the foot moveth, not to exercise it self, but to carry the Body; the Hand worketh, not to help it self, but to maintain the body; every gEph. 4.16.joynt supplieth something according to the effectuall working in the measure of every part, for the fit joyning together, and compacting, and encreasing of the body to the edifying it selfe in love. hHic Ver. 27.Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
Now this necessity of employing spirituall gifts to the good and profit of others, ariseth first from the will and the intent of the Giver: my Text sheweth plainly what that intent was; The manifestation of the Spirit was therefore given to every man, that he might profit withall. Certainly, as aDeus & natura nihil saciunt sustra.Nature doth not, so much lesse doth the God of Nature, make any thing to no purpose, or barely for shew; but for use: and the use, for which all these things were made and given, is b1 Cor. 14.26edification. He that hath an estate made over to him in trust and for uses, hath in equity therein no estate at all, if he turne the commodities of the thing some other way, and not to those speciall uses for which he was so estated in it. So he that employeth not his spirituall gift to the use for which it was given, to the cIn communem utilitatem collatum est. Erasm. in paphr. hic.profit of the Church; he hath de jure forfeited it to the giver. And we have sometimes known him de facto to take the forfeiture; as from the unprofitable servant in the Gospel, [dMat. 25.28. See Hieron. in Agg. 2.9. Take the talent from him.] We have sometimes seen the experiment of it. Men of excellent parts, by slackning their zeal, to have lost their very gifts; and by neglecting the use, to have lost the Principall; finding a sensible decay in those powers, which they were slothfull to bring into act. It is a just thing with the eJam. 1.15.Father of Lights, when he hath lighted any man a candle, by bestowing spirituall gifts upon him; and lent him a candlestick too whereon to set it▪ by providing him a stay in the Church: if that man shall then fMatth. 5.15.hide his candle under a bushel, and envy the light and comfort of it to them that are in the house; either to remove his candlestick, or to put out his candle in obscurity.
As the intent of the Giver, so secondly, the nature and quality of the gift calleth upon us for employment. It is not with these spirituall gifts, as with most other things, which when they are imparted, are empaired; and lessened by communicating. Here is no place for that allegation of the Virgins, aMatth. 25.9.Ne non sufficiat: Lest there be not enough for you and for us. These graces are of the number of those things, that communicate themselves by Multiplication, not Division; and by diffusion, without waste. As the seal maketh impression in the wax, and as fire conveyeth heat into Iron, and as one candle tindeth a thousand: all without losse of figure, heat, or light. Had ever any man lesse knowledg, or wit, or learning, by teaching of others? had he not rather more? bEccles. 12.9.The more wise the Preacher was, the more he taught the People Knowledge, saith Salomon, Eccles. 12. and certainly the more he taught them knowledge, the more his own wisdome increased. As the c… King. 4.4.Widows oyle increased, not in the vessell, but by powring out; and as the dJoh. 6.11.barly bread in the Gospel multiplyed, not in the whole loaf, but by breaking and distributing; and as the e2 Cor. 9.10.grain bringeth increase, not when it lyeth on a heap in the garner, but by scattering upon the land: so are these spirituall graces best improved, not by fAbsconsione minnitur, & communicatione multiplicatur. Cassiod. in Epist.keeping them together, but by distributing them abroad. Tutius in credito quàm in sudario: the talent gathereth nothing in the napkin, unlesse it be rust and canker; but travelling in the bank, besides the good it doth as it passeth to and fro, it ever gQuò in plures diffunditur, …ò redundantior manet (fortè leg. manat.) & in suum fontem recurrit. In se enim refluit ubertas prudentiae; & quò pluribus fluxerit, eà exercitius fit omne quod remanet. Ambr. 2. Offic. 15.returneth home with increase.
Thirdly, our own unsufficiency to all offices, and the need we have of other mens gifts, must enforce us to lend them the help and comfort of ours. GOD hath so distributed the variety of his gifts with singular wisdome, that there is no man so mean, but his service may be usefull to the greatest: nor any man so eminent, but he may sometimes stand in need to the meanest of his brethren: of purpose, that whilest each hath need of other, each should help, none should despise other. As in a aSocietas nostra lapidum fornica i…xi simillima est: quae casura, nisi▪ invicem obstarent, hoc uno sustinetur. Senec. Epist. 95.building, the stones help one another, every lower stone supporting the higher from falling to the ground, and every higher stone saving the lower from taking wet; and as in the body, every member bEphes. 4.16.lendeth some supply to the rest, and again receiveth supply from them: so in the spirituall building, and mysticall body of the Church, God hath so tempered the parts, each having his use, and each his defects; cHic. V. 24, 5….that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. Such a consent there should be in the parts, as was between the dAnthol. 1.4.blind and lame man in the Epigram: mutually covenanting the Blind to carry the Lame, and the Lame to direct the Blind; that so the Blind might find his way by the others eyes, and the Lame walk therein upon the others legs. When a man is once come to that all-sufficiency in himself, as he may truly say to the rest of his brethren, eHic Ver. 21.I stand in no need of you: let him then keep his gifts to himself: but let him in the mean time remember, he must employ them to the advantage of his master, and to the benefit of his brother. [The manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withall.]
Surely then those men, first of all, run a course strangely exorbitant; who instead of employing them to the profit, bend those gifts they have received, (whether spirituall or temporall) to the ruine and destruction of their brethren. Instead of winning souls to Heaven; with busie and cursed diligence aMat. 23.15.compassing Sea and Land, to draw Proselytes to the Devil: and instead of raising up seed to their elder brother Christ, seeking to make their brethren (if it were possible) ten times more the children of hell then themselves. Abusing their Power to oppression, their wealth to luxury, their strength to drunkennesse, their wit to Scoffing, Atheism, Prophanenesse, their learning to the maintenance of Heresie, Idolatry, Schism, Novelty. If there be a fearfull woe due to those that bMat. 25.30. Intelligatur poena interversoris ex poena pigri. Aug. in Psal. 99.use not their gifts profitably; what woes may we think shall overtake them, that so ungraciously abuse them?
But to leave these wretches: be perswaded in the second place, all you, whom God hath made Stewards over his houshold, and blessed your basket and your store, to aMat. 13.52.bring forth of your treasures things both new and old; manifest the spirit God hath given you, so as may be most for the profit of your brethren. The spirit of God when he gave you wisdome, and knowledge, intended not so much the wisdome and the knowledge themselves, as the manifestation of them, or (as it is in the next verse) bHic Ver. 8.the Word of Wisdome, and the Word of Knowledge: as Christ also promised his Apostles, to give them cLuke 21.15.Os & sapientiam; A mouth, and wisdom. Alas, what is wisdom without a mouth? but as a pot of treasure hid in the ground, which no man is the better for. dSyrac. 20.30.Wisdom that is hid, and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is in them both? O then do not knit up your Masters talent in a eLuc. 19.20.Napkin, smother not his light under a fMat. 5.15.bushell; pinch not his servants of their due gLuc. 12.42—46.provision; pot not up the hExod. 16.…0.Manna you have gathered till it stink, and the worms consume it: but above all, squander not away your rich portions by riotous living. Let not either sloth, or envy, or pride, or pretended modesty, or any other thing hinder you, from labouring to discharge faithfully that trust and duty, which God expecteth, which the necessity of the Church challengeth, which the measure of your gifts promiseth, which the condition of your calling exacteth from you. Remember the manifestation of the Spirit was given you to profit withall.
Thirdly, since the end of all gifts is to profit: aim most at those gifts that will profit most; and endeavour so to frame those you have in the exercise of them, as they may be likeliest to bring profit to those that shall partake them. aHic ver. 31.Covet earnestly the best gifts, saith my Apostle at the last verse of this Chapter, and you have his Comment upon that Text in the first verse of the fourteenth Chapter, b1 Cor. 15.1.Covet spirituall gifts, foreign, but rather that ye may prophecy. And by propecying, he meaneth cProphetas interpretes dicit scripturarum Ambr. in 1 Cor. c. 63. Prophetia i. e. donum interpretandi, scripturas. Piscat. schol. in 1 Cor. 1.22. Mysticum sensum ad salutem auditorum explanantes. Eras. in Paraphr. ad 1 Cor. 14.the Instruction of the Church, and people of God in the needfull doctrines of faith towards God, Repentance from dead works, and new and holy Obedience. It is one Stratagem of the Arch-enemy of mankind, (and when we know his wiles, we may the better be able to defeat him,) by busying men of great and useful parts in by-matters, and things of lesser consequence; to divert them from following that unum necessarium, that which should be the main in all our endeavours, the beating down of sin, the planting of Faith, and the reformation of manners. Controversies, I confesse, are necessary, the Tongues necessary, Histories necessary, Philosophy and The Arts necessary, other Knowledge of all sorts necessary in the Church: for Truth must be maintained, Scripture-phrases opened, Heresie confuted, the mouths of Adversaries stopped, Schisms and Novelties suppressed. But when all is done, Positive and Practique Divinity is it must bring us to Heaven▪ that is it must poise our judgements, settle our consciences, direct our lives, mortifie our corruptions, encrease our graces, strengthen our comforts, save our souls. Hoc opus, hoc studium: there is no study to this, none so well worth the labour as this, none that can bring so much profit to others, nor therefore so much glory to God, nor therefore so much comfort to our own hearts, as this. dTitus 3.8.This is a faithfull saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly (saith S. Paul to Titus) that they which have believed in God might be carefull to maintain good works: these things are good and profitable unto men. You cannot do more good unto the Church of God, you cannot more profit the people of God, by your gifts; then by pressing effectually these two great points, Faith, and good works. These are good and profitable unto men.
I might here adde other Inferences from this point, as namely, since the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one of us chiefly for this end, that we may profit the people with it, that therefore fourthly, in our preaching we should rather seek to profit our hearers, though perhaps with sharp and unwelcome reproofs, then to please them by flattering them in evil: and that fifthly, we should more desire to bring profit unto them, then to gain applause unto our selves: and sundry other more besides these. But I will neither adde any more, nor prosecute these any farther at this time, but give place to other businesse. God the Father of Lights, and of Spirits, endow every one of us, in our Places and Callings, with a competent measure of such Graces, as in his wisdome and goodnesse he shall see needfull and expedient for us, and so direct our hearts, and tongues, and endeavours in the exercise and manifestation thereof, that by his good blessing upon our labours we may be enabled to advance his Glory, propagate his Truth, benefit his Church, discharge a good Conscience in the mean time, and at the last make our account with comfort at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. To whom, &c.
FINIS.