Thirty-Six Sermons, Collection of sermons 1 · Group of sermons 1 · Sermon 3

Thirty-Six Sermons · Collection of sermons 1 · Group of sermons 1 · Sermon 3

p. 41AD CLERUM.

The Third Sermon.

At a Visitation at Boston, Lincoln, March 13^th 1620.

1 COR. XII. 7.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

IN the First Verse of this Chapter S. Paul proposeth to1. himself an Argument, which he prosecuteth the whole Chapter through, and (after a profitable digression into the praise of Charity in the next Chapter) resumeth again at the fourteenth Chapter, spending also that whole Chapter therein: and it is concerning spiritual gifts, aaVerse 1.(Now concerning spiritual 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 bbforeign.fuel▪ 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 Schism, and Faction, and Emulation in the Church. For the remedying of which evils, the Chrysost. in 1. Cor. hom. 29.Apostle entreth upon the Argument: discoursing fully of the variety of these spiritual 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 needful to be spoken anent this subject.

In this part of the Chapter, entreating both before and after this verse of2. the wondrous great, yet sweet and useful variety of these spiritual gifts, he sheweth, That howsoever manifold they are, either for kind or degree, so as they may differ in the material and formal; yet they do all agree both in the same efficient, and the same final cause. In the same efficient cause, which is God the Lord by his Spirit, ver. 6. [Now there are diversities of gifts, but p. 42the 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 final cause; which is the advancement of Gods glory, in the propagation of his Gospel, and the edification of his Church; in this verse. [But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.]

By occasion of which words, we may inquire into the nature, conveyance, 3.and use of these gifts. First, their nature in themselves, and in their1. original; what they are, and whence: they are the works of Gods Spirit in us; [the manifestation of the Spirit.] Secondly, their conveyance 2.unto us; how we come to have them, and to have prope…ty in them: it is3. 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; it is given to every man [to profit withal.] Of these briefly, and in their order; and with special reference ever to us that are of the Clergy.

By manifestation of the Spirit here our Apostle understandeth none other4. thing, than 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 general good. Such as are those particulars, which are named in the next following verses, ccVer. 10.the word of Wisdom, the word Knowledge, Faith, the gifts of healing, working 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 ddVerse 11.Spirit, which divideth to every one severally as he will: are therefore called eeVerse 1.foreign, Spiritual gifts; and here foreign, the manifestation of the Spirit.

The word [Spirit] though in Scripture it have many other significations,5. yet in this place I conceive it to be understood directly of the Holy Ghost, the third Person in the ever-blessed Trinity. For First, in ver. 3. that1. which is called the Spirit of God in the former part, is in the latter part called the Holy Ghost: [(f) I give you to understand, that no man speaking erse 1.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,2. which in ver. 4. is said to proceed from the ggVerse 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 and3. God; and that is only the Holy Ghost. And again, in those words, in ver. 11. [hhVerse 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, iiVerse 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; 6.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 only excepted which are of intrinsecal and mutual relation) are the joynt and undivided works of the whole three Persons: according to the common known Maxim, constantly and uniformly received in the Catholick Church, Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa. And as to this particular, concerning gifts the Scriptures are clear. Wherein, as they are ascribed p. 43to God the Holy Ghost in this Chapter; so they are elsewhere ascribed unto God the Father, kkJam. 1. 17▪Jas 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, llEphes. 4. 7.Eph 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 mmNe gratia & donum▪ divisum sit per personas Patris, & Filii, & Sp. Sancti: …sed indiscretae unitatis & naturae trium unum opus intelliga. tur.these spiritual 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 eternal Spirit of them both, the Holy Ghost, as from one intire, indivisible, and coessential Agent.

But for that we are gross of understanding, and unable to conceiveAmbros. in 1 Cor. 7. c. 61.1 Cor 7 the distinct Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead, otherwise7. than by apprehending some distinction of their operations and offices to us ward: it hath pleased the Wisdom 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 special manner than unto the rest; although indeed and in truth none of the three persons had more or less to do than other in any of those great and common works. This manner of speaking Divines use to call nnV. Aquin. 1. qu. 39. 7.Appropriation. By which appropriation, as power is ascribed to the Father, and Wisdom 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 appropiated to the Father; and the work of Redemption, wherein is specially seen the wisdom of God, to the Son: and so the works of sanctification, and the infusion of habitual 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, spiritual gifts, and foreign, the manifestation of the Spirit.

We see now, why spirit? but then; why manifestation? The word,8. as most other verbals of that form, may be understood either in the active or passive signification. And it is not material, whether of the two ways we take it in this place, both being true, and neither improper. For these spiritual 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 it Acts 10. that they of the Circumcision were astonished ooActs. 10. 45, 46. …Acts 10:45Acts 10:46when they saw, that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gifts 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 spiritual Gift then is a ppId est, donum spiritus quo dono spiritus suam in homine praesentiam declarat. Metonymia effecti. Piscat, in schol. hic.manifestation of the Spirit, as every other sensible effect is a manifestation of its proper cause.

We are now yet further to know that the Gifts and graces wrought in us by the holy Holy Spirit of God, are of two sorts. The Scriptures sometimes distinguish them by the different terms of foreign and foreign:9. although those words are sometimes again used indifferently and promiscuously, either for other. They are commonly known in the Schools, and differenced by the names of qqAquin. 1. 2. 111.Gratiae gratum facientes, & Gratiae gratis datae. Which terms though they be p. 44not 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 terms, though haply for the better, hath by experience been found for the most part unhappy in the event, in multiplying unnecessary book-quarrels;) 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 General 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 for us, that is rrDuplex estoperatio Sancti spiritus, operatur enim in nobis aliud propter nos, aliud propter proximos. Bern. in parvis Ser. 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 ssGemin… operationis experimentum▪ Unius, quâ nos primâ intùs virtutibus solidat, ad salutem: alterius, quâ foris quo que muneribus ornat, ad lucrum. Illas nobis, has nostris accepimus. Bernard. in Cant. Ser. 18.ad salutem, for the saving of our Souls: these ad lucrum, for the winning of other mens Souls. Those proceed from the special love of God to the person; and may therefore be called personal, or special: these proceed from the General love of God to his Church, (or yet more general to humane societies:) and may therefore rather be called Ecclesiastical or General Gifts or Graces.

Of the first sort are Faith, Hope, Charity, Repentance, Patience, Humility, 10.and all those other holy graces ttGal. 5. 22.Gal 5:22fruits of the Spirit, which accompany Salvation: Wrought by the blessed and powerful operation of the holy Spirit of God, after a most effectual, 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 to1. 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 fogg, that we can discern nothing but flesh in a man, in whom yet there is spirit. But the gifts here spoken of do incurr 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 are2. not communicated by distribution, uu1 Cor. 7. 7.1 Cor 7:7Alius 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 thread, 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 several portions, and given to every man some, to none all; for xxVerse 8.to one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom, to another the Word, of Knowledge, &c. Thirdly, those Graces of sanctification, though they may3. and ought to be exercised to the benefit of others, who by the yyMatth. 5. 16.Matt 5:16shining 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 benefit of others, and for the edifying of the Church; they were given to profit withal.

It then remaineth, to understand this Text and Chapter of that other11. and later kind of spiritual Gifts: Those Graces of Edification, (or Gratiae p. 45gratis datae) whereby men are euabled in their several 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 natural powers and faculties of the Soul only 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 less, and of better and worse; together with all subsidiary helps any way conducing to the exercise of any of them. Whether they be First, supernatural graces, given by immediate and extraordinary infusion1. from God: such as were the gifts of tongues and of miracles, and of healings, and of prophesy 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, 2.such as Philosophers call Natural dispositions: such as are promptness of Wit, quickness of Conceit, fastness of Memory, clearness of Understanding, soundness of Iudgment, readiness of Speech, and other like; which flow immediately à principiis Individui, from the individual condition, constitution, and temperature of particular persons. Or, whether they be, Thirdly, such as Philosophers call intellectual habits: which is, when3. those natural dispositions are so improved, and perfected by Education, Art, Industry, Observation, or Experience, that men become thereby skilful Linguists, subtle Disputers, copious Orators, profound Divines, powerful Preachers, expert Lawyers, Physicians, Historians, Statesmen, Commanders, Artisans, or excellent in any Science, Profession, or Faculty whatsoever. To which we may add, in the Fourth place, all outward 4,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 Ar…, may in some sort be called foreign, spiritual gifts: in as much as the spirit of God is the first and principal 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 we have found out the just latitude of the spiritual gifts 12.spoken of in this Chapter, and of the manifestation of the Spirit in my Text: From whence not to pass 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 only furnished it with fit materials, men endowed with the faculties of understanding, reason, will, memory, affections, not only lent them tools out of his own rich store-house, his holy Word, and sacred Ordinances: but, as sometimes he filled zzExod. 35. 30, &c.Exod 35:30Bezaleel and Aholiab with skill and wisdom for the building of the material Tabernacle; so he hath also from time to time raised up serviceable Men, and enabled them with a large measure of all needful 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 vital spirits within to enable them to their proper offices, p. 46it 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 Organical body. So those active gifts, and graces, and abilities, which are to be found in the members of the mystical body of Christ, (I know not whether of greater variety or use) are a strong manifestation, that there is a powerful 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 men13. 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 Head 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 mystical 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 several different estates and conditions: giving aaEph. 4. 11, 13.Eph 4:11Eph 4:13some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers; for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ, till we all meet 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 fullness of Christ. He hath promised long since, who was never yet touched with breach of promise, that he would bbMatth. 28. 20.Matt 28:20be with his Apostles (and their successors) always unto the end of the World.

Thirdly, where the Spirit of God hath manifested it self to any man by14. the distribution of gifts, it is but reason, that man should manifest the Spirit that is in him, by exercising those gifts in some lawful 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, joineth these two together, a Gift, and a Calling; as things that may not be severed: cc1 Cor. 7. 17.1 Cor 7:17As God hath dictributed 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 ddMatth 25. 30.Matt 25:30unprofitable 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: eeMatth. 20. 6.Matt 20:6Why stand ye all the day Idle? Do not say, because you heard no voice, that therefore no man hath called you: those very gifts you have received, are a Real 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 p. 47unnatural excres…ency 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 ingross the Spirit unto15. our selves, as if none were spiritual persons but our selves: yet the voice of the World hath long given us the Name of Spiritualty after a peculiar sort; as if we were spiritual 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 Spiritual man all one, (and by Prophesying, in that whole Chapter he most what meaneth Preaching:) ff1 Cor. 1. 37.1 Cor 1:37If any man think himself to be a Prophet, either spiritual, 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, ggJoh. 20. 22.John 20:22Accipite Spiritum Sanctum, Receive the holy Ghost. Since then at our admission into holy Orders we receive a spiritual power by the imposition of hands, which others have not; we may thenceforth be justly styled Spiritual persons. The thing for which I note it, is, that we should therefore endeavour our selves hh2 Tim. 1. 6.2 Tim 1:6foreign, so to stir up those spiritual gifts that are in us; as that by the eminency thereof above that which is in ordinary temporal men, we may shew our selves to be in deed, what we are in name, Spiritual persons. If we be of the Spiritualty, there should be in us anothergates manifestation of the Spirit, than 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 livd 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 lawful at any time, that thing may not be condemned as universally, and de toto genere, unlawful. 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 customs 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 Phylosophy, Divinity, or the Arts; yea, and to chastise his very method and phrase, if he speak loosly, 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 iiCom. 1. 11.impart a spiritual 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 p. 48convenient 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 quarrel: kkTit. 2. 7, 8.Titus 2:7Titus 2:8shewing in his Doctrine (as our Apostle writeth to Titus) uncurruptness, 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 spiritual persons, should strive to answer that name by a more than ordinary manifestation of spiritual gifts. And thus much shall suffice us to have spoken concerning the name and nature of these spiritual 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 gifts16. 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 gifts; 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 sence;) as that every man that hath the manifestation of the Spirit, hath it given him, and given him withal 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 may only intend to shew the received order of the things to be such, as that every man that learneth both, learneth thut 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, Every man at the beginning setteth forth good Wine, and then after, llJohn 2. 12.John 2:12that 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 universal particle, Every man, both in this, and in many other like speeches in the Scriptures; with mmforeign restringendum est ad praesentem hypothesin. Piscat. Schol. in Luc. 20. 38. Instances, see John 11. 7. Rom. 5. 18, &c.Luke 20:38John 11:7Rom 5:18due 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 spiritual gift, or no: only thus much is directly intended that nnUnicuique 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 spiritual 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 may 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, and of the Offices 17.wherein to imply those gifts, is wonderful; and no less wonderful the distribution of both gifts and offices. But all that ooforeign. Chrysost. in 1 Cor. hom 29.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 liberal donation. Have all the Word of Wisdom? Have all the Word of Knowledge? Have all Faith? Have all Prophecy? or other spiritual grace? No; they had not: but pp1 Cor. 12. 8, &c.1 Cor 12:8to one the Word of Wisdom, the Word of Knowledge to another, and 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 qqIbid.is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom; to another the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit, p. 49and 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. rrVerse 29.Are all Apostles? Are all Prophets? Are all Teachers? Answer may be made, as before, negatively, No; they are not: but some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some. Teachers. There is the like variety, and distribution, as before: but withal, the same Donor, and the same donation, as before. For ssEphes. 4. 11.Eph 4:11he gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Pastors and Teachers: Eph. 4. And tt1 Cor. 13. 28.1 Cor 13:28God 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 Caesar's 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, uuJam. 1. 17.Jas 1:17foreign, 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. [xx1 Cor. 4. 7.1 Cor 4:7 Quid habes quod non accepisti? What hast thou, that thou hast not received?

Possibly thou wilt alledge thy excellent natural parts; these were not18. given, 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 Marte, 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. [yy1 Cor. 4. 7.1 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 zz—Cum illius sit gratie, quod creatus es. Hieron. Epist. 139. Attendamus gratiam Dei non solùm quâ fecit nos—Aug. in Psal. 144.Ps 144Nature 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 aaDeut. 8. 18. foreign dictum Agamemnonis ad Achillem apud Homer. Iliad. foreign.Deut 8:18power 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 merely from the good will and pleasure of that free spirit, which bloweth where, and when, and how he listeth; bb1 Cor. 12. 11.1 Cor 12:11dividing his graces severally to every man as he will, (at the eleventh) and ''ccIbid. 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 overruled by some higher power, worketh always 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 ddRom. 11. 35.Rom 11:35given to him first, that it might be recompensed him again? As a lump of eeEsay 64. 8.Isa 64:8Clay lieth before the Potter; so is all mankind in the hand of God. The Potter at his pleasure out of that ffRom. 9. 21.Rom 9:21lump frameth vessels of all sorts, of different shape, proportion, strength, fineness, capacity, as he thinketh good, unto the several uses for which p. 50he 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, equal 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 spiritual 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 fruitful consideration for men of all sorts; whether they19. 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 useful gifts, whom to thank for them; the other, if we want any needful 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 ggHab. 1. 16.Hab 1:16nets, either of Nature or Endeavour; as if these Abilities were the manifestation of thine own spirit: but enlarge thy heart to magnifie the goodness and bounty of him who is hhHeb. 12. 9.Heb 12:9Pater spirituum, 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 ii1 Cor. 15. 41.1 Cor 15:41one star differeth from another in glory;) remember thou shinest but by a borrowed light from him who is kkJam. 1. 17.Jas 1:17Pater 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 thankful to the giver.

But if thou wantest any grace, or measure of grace, which seemeth needful 22.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. llJames 1. 5.Jas 1:5If any man lack wisdom (saith S. Iames) let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally; and it shall be given him. A large and liberal 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 withal; 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 wisdom 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, and thou shalt absolutely receive them, there needeth no conditional clause of Expediency in thy prayers for them; because they can never be inexpedient. But these may: and therefore 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 denial from him, not only 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, unless it be asked23. aright. mmJam. 1. 6, 7.Jas 1:6Jas 1:7But let him pray in Faith, saith St. Iames: Whoso doth not, let not that man think to receive any good from the Lord. Now that man only prayeth in Faith, who looketh to receive the thing he prayeth for, upon such terms, 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 than conditional; viz. p. 51upon our conscionable use of the appointed means. And the means which he hath ordained both for the obtaining, and the improving of spiritual 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 mouths, and to receive spiritual graces by immediate infusion: That manna, as nnHoskins Serm. on Luk. 12. 48.Luke 12:48one saith, was for the Wilderness. But now the Church is possessed of the Land, and grown to years of better strength; we must plow, and sow, and eat of the fruit of the Land, in the sweat of our faces: and now he that oo2 Thess. 3. 10.2 Thess 3:10will not labour, he may thank himself if he have not to eat. He prayeth but with an overly desire, and not from the deep of his heart, that will not bend his endeavours withal 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 than Praying. Solomon accounteth the idle man's prayer no better, and …t thriveth accordingly with him: ppProv. 13. 4.Prov 13:4The soul of the sluggard lusteth, and hath nothing, Prov. 13.

To make all sure then, here is your course. Wrestle with God by your22. fervent prayers; and wrestle with him too by your faithful endeavours; and he will not for his goodness sake, and for his promise sake he cannot, dismiss you without a Blessing. But omit either, and the other is lost labour. Prayer without study, is presumption; and study without prayer, Atheism: the one bootless, the other fruitless. You take your books in vain into your hand, if you turn them over, and never look higher; and you take God's 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 success; when there is Oculus ad coelum, manus ad clavum: when the Pilot is careful of both, to have his eye upon the compass, 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 with labour, (for God is a God of Order, and worketh not ordinarily, but by ordinary means;) so not to be had merely for the labour; for then should it not be so much a gift, as a purchace. It was Simon Magus his error, to think that qqActs 8. 20.Acts 8:20the 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 spiritual 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 done all, unless God give a blessing unto your endeavours, be as thin and meagre in regard of true and useful learning, as Pharaoh's rrGen. 41. 21.Gen 41:21lean kine were after they had eaten the fat ones. It is God ss2 Cor. 9. 10.2 Cor 9:10that both ministreth seed to the sower, and multiplieth the seed sowen: the Principal, 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 behind, either with our best endeavours to use the means he hath appointed, or with our faithful prayers to crave his blessing upon those means. These instructions are general, and concern us all, whatsoever our gifts be.

I must now turn my speech more particularly to you to whom God hath23. vouchsafed the manifestation of his Spirit in a larger proportion than unto many of your brethren: giving unto you, as unto his first. born, a ttDeut. 21. 17.Deut 21:17double Portion of his Spirit, as uu4 Kings 2. 9.Elisha had of Elijah's; or perhaps dealing with you yet more liberally, as Ioseph did with Benjamin, whose mess (though he were the youngest) he appointed to be xxGen. 43. 34.Gen 43:34five times as much as any of his brethrens. It is needful that you of all others, should be eft▪ soons 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 yyScientia inflat. 1 Cor. 8. 1.1 Cor 8:1swelling, which, as an p. 52Aposteme in the body through rankness of blood, is so apt to ingender in the soul through abundance of knowledge; and to let out some of the corruption. It is **Magna & rara virtus profecto est, ut magna licet operantem, magnum te nescias. Bern. in Cant. Ser. 13.a very hard thing Multum sapere, and not altum sapere; to know much, and not to know it too much; to excel others in gifts, and not perk above them in self-conceit. S. Paul, who zzPhil. 4. 12.Phil 4:12in 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 aa2 Cor. 12. 7.2 Cor 12:7abundance of revelations. If you find an aptness then in your selves, (and there is in your selves, as of your selves, such an aptness, as to no one thing more) to be exalted above measure in your own conceits; 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 terms of defiance [bbHic ver. 21. I have no need of thee; and, I have no need of thee:] to dispel this windy humour I know not a more sovereign remedy, than 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, [cc1 Cor. 4. 7.1 Cor 4:7 What hast thou, that thou hast not received? and if thou hast received it, why dost thou boast as if thou hadst not received it?

Secondly, Every wise and conscionable man should advisedly weigh his24. 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 Laws 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 Laws do barely enjoyn us to do somewhat, lest, having no Law to compel 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 than 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 ddGregor.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 eeLuk. 12. 48.Luke 12:48to 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 sence, which Solomon spake in another, ffEccles. 1. 18.Eccl 1:18Qui apponit scientiam, apponit dolorem: the more and greater your gifts are, unless your thankfulness 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 beware25. 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 only for examples sake, viz. an ability to enlarge himself in prayer readily, and with fit expressions upon any present occasion. Being in the Ministry, or other Calling, he is careful to exercise his gifts by praying with his family, praying with the sick, praying with other company upon such other occasions as may fall out. He thinketh p. 53(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 unfaithfulness, 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 also should 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 unfaithfulness 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, than 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 ggMatt. 25. 24.Matt 25:24an 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 hhExod. 5. 18.Exod 5:18full tale of Bricks without sufficient allowance of materials? Shall he that hath a thousand a year, count him that hath but an hundred a Churl if he do not spend as much in his house weekly, keep as plentiful 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 than he hath received.

Now as for you to whom God hath dealt these spiritual gifts, with a26. more sparing hand; the freedom of God's distribution may be a fruitful meditation for you also. First, thou hast no reason, whosoever thou art,1. to grudge at the scantness of thy gifts, or to repine at the Giver. How little soever God hath given thee, it is more than he iiforeign. Chrysost. 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 kkActs 10. 31.Acts 10:31accepter 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 withal; llMatt. 20. 3. 15.Matt 20:3Matt 20:15He hath done thee no wrong: may he not do as he will with his own? Secondly, since the manifestation2. of the Spirit is a matter of free gift; thou hast no cause to envy thy brother, whose portion is greater. Why should mmMatt. 20. 15.Matt 20:15thy 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 nnHic 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 other some again, which he hath not. Say, thine be meaner; yet the meanest member, as it hath his ooHic Verse 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 withal, that thy accounts will be so much the easier. Merchants3. p. 54that 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 less of other mens goods in their hands! The less thou hast received, the less thou hast to answer for. If God hath given thee but one single talent, he will not require five; nor if five, ten. Fourthly, in the meanness of thy gifts thou mayest 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 ppRom. 8. 28.Rom 8:28all 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 thankful. Lastly, remember what the Preacher saith in Eccles. 10. [qqEccl. 10. 10. Maximum mediocris ingenii subsidium diligentia. Sen. in Controv.Eccl 10:10 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 bottom 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 withal, yet by their care and providence, and pains-taking, get up wonderfully. It is almost incredible, what industry, and diligence, and exercise, and holy rrforeign. 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 spiritual gifts: provided ever we joyn with these, hearty prayer unto, and faithful dependance upon God, for his blessing thereupon. I know no so lawful ssforeign. Matth. 25. 27.Matt 25:27usury, as of those spiritual talents; nor do I know any so profitable usury, or that multiplieth so fast as this doth; your use upon use, that doubleth the principal in seven years is nothing to it. Oh then ttLuke 19. 23.Luke 19:23cast in thy talent into the bank; make thy returns as speedy, and as many as thou canst, lose not a market, or a tide, if it be possible: uu2 Tim. 4. 2.2 Tim 4:2be instant in season, and 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. By this means, thou shalt not only 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 withal.

To profit whom? it may be, Himself. It is true; xxProv. 9. 12.Prov 9:12If thou art wise, thou 27.shalt be wise for thy self, said Solomon; and Solomon knew what belonged to wisdom as well as another. For yySyrac. 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 prodigal. 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 zz1 Cor. 9. 27.1 Cor 9:27preaching repentance unto others, himself becometh a Cast-away. 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 aa1 Tim. 4. 16.1 Tim 4:16take heed unto himself: that so doing he may save himself, as well as those that hear him.

This then is to be done: but this is not all that is to be done. p. 55In bbSunt qui scire volunt, ut aedificent, & charitas est: sunt qui scire volunt ut aedificentur, & prudentia est. Bern. in Cant. Serm. 26.Wisdom we cannot do less; but in Charity we are bound to do more than thus with our gifts. If our own profit only 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 ccUtilitatem sc. Ecclesiae. Pisc. in Schol. hic.community, such as before in the 10th Chapter he professeth himself to have sought after [dd1 Cor. 10. 33.1 Cor 10:33 Not seeking mine own profit, (he meaneth, not only his own) but the profit of many, that they may be saved.] We noted it already as the main and essential 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 lieth 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 spiritual graces so, as they may some way or other be profitable to his brethren and fellow-servants in Church and Commonwealth. It is an old received Canon, Beneficium propter officium. No man setteth a Steward over his house, only to receive his rents, and then to keep the monies in his hand, and make no provision out of it for Hines and Servants: but it is the eeLuk. 12. 42.Luke 12:42office of a good and wise Steward to give every of the houshold his appointed portion at the appointed seasons. And whoso receiveth a spiritual gift, ipso facto taketh upon him the office, and is bound to the duties of a Steward; ff1 Pet. 4. 10.1 Pet 4:10As every man hath received the gift, even administer the same one unto another, as good stewards of the manifold graces of God, 1 Pet. 4. It was not only for Orders sake, and for the beautifying of his Church, (though that also) that God gave ggEph. 4. 11, 12.Eph 4:11Eph 4:12some 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 Ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, Ephes. 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 espy 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 hhEph. 4. 16.Eph 4:16joynt supplieth something according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, for the fit joyning together and compacting, and encreasing of the body to the edifying of it self in love. iiHic Ver. 27.Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Now this necessity of employing spiritual gifts to the good and profit of29. 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 withal. Certainly, as kkDeus & Natura nihil faciunt frustrà.Nature doth not, so much less 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 ll1 Cor. 14. 26.1 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 turn the commodities of the thing some other way, and not to those special uses for which he was so estated in it. So he that employeth not his spiritual gift to the use for which it was given, to the mmIn communem utilitatem collatum est. Erasm. in paraphr. hic.profit of the Church; he hath de jure forfeited to the giver. And we have sometimes known him de facto to take the forfeiture; as from the unprofitable servant in the Gospel, [nnMatt. 25. 28. See Hieron. in Agg. 2. 9.Matt 25:28Hag 2:9 Take the talent from him.] We have sometimes seen the experiment of it. Men of excellent parts, by slacking their p. 56zeal, to have lost their very Gifts; and by neglecting the use, to have lost the principal; finding a sensible decay in those powers, which they were slothful to bring into act. It is a just thing with the ooJam. 1. 15.Jas 1:15Father of Lights, when he hath lighted any man a candle, by bestowing spiritual 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 ppMatth. 5. 15.Matt 5:15hide 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 spiritual gifts, as with most other things, which when they are imparted, are impaired, and lessened by communicating. Here is no place for that allegation of30. the Virgins, qqMatth. 25. 9.Matt 25:9Nè 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 wáx, and as fire conveyeth heat into Iron, and as one candle tindeth a thousand: all without loss of figure, heat, or light. Had ever any man less knowledge, or wit, or learning, by teaching of others? had he not rather more? rrEccl. 12. 9.Eccl 12:9The more wise the Preacher was, the more he taught the people knowledge, saith Solomon, Eccles. 12. and certainly the more he taught them knowledge, the more his own wisdom increased. As the ss1 Kings 4. 4.1 Kgs 4:4Widow's oil increased, not in the Vessel, but by pouring out: and as the ttJohn 6. 11.John 6:11barley bread in the Gospel multiplied, not in the whole loaf, but by breaking and distributing; and as the uu2 Cor. 9. 10.2 Cor 9:10Grain bringeth increase, not when it lyeth on a heap in the garner, but by scattering upon the land: so are these spiritual Graces best improved, not by xxAbsconsione minuitur, & 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, unless it be rust and canker; but travelling in the bank, besides the good it doth as it passeth to and fro, it ever yyQuo in plures diffunditur eo redundantior manet (forte leg. manat) & in suum fontem recurrit. In se enim refluit ubert as prudentiae; & quo pluribus fluxerit, e… exercitius … 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 31.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 wisdom, that there is no man so mean, but his service may be useful to the greatest: nor any man so eminent, but he may sometimes stand in need of the meanest of his brethren: of purpose, that whilst each hath need of other, each should help, none should despise other. As in a zzSocietas nostra lapid…m fornicationi simillima est: que casura, nisi inv…cem obstarent, h…c un… sust in…tur. 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 aaEphes. 4. 6.Eph 4:6lendeth some supply to the rest, and again receiveth supply from them: so in the spiritual building, and mystical body of the Church, God hath so tempered the parts, each having his use, and each his defects: bbHic v. 24. 25.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 ccAnthol. 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 other's Legs. When a man is once come to that all-sufficiency in himself, as he may truly say to the rest of his brethren, ddHic 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 withal.]

p. 57Surely then those men, first of all, run a course strangely exorbitant;32. who instead of employing them to the profit, bend those gifts they have received, (whether spiritual or temporal) to the ruine and destruction of their brethren. Instead of winning souls to Heaven; with busie and cursed diligence eeMatth. 23. 15.Matt 23:15compassing 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 than themselves. Abusing their power to oppression, their wealth to luxury, their strength to drunkenness, their wit to scoffing, Atheism, Prophaneness; their learning to the maintenance of Heresie, Idolatry, Schism, Novelty. If there be a fearful woe due to those that ffMatth. 25. 30. Intelligatur poena interversoris ex poena pigri. Aug. in Psalm 69.Matt 25:30Ps 69use 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,33. whom God hath made Stewards over his houshold, and blessed your basket and your store, to ggMatth. 13. 52.Matt 13:52bring 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 wisdom, and knowledge, intended not so much the wisdom and the knowledge themselves, as the manifestation of them, or as it is in the next verse hhHic ver. 8.the Word of Wisdom and the Word of Knowledge: as Christ also promised his Apostles, to give them iiLuke 21. 15.Luke 21:15Os & 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: kkSyrac. 20. 35.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 llLuc. 19. 20.Luke 19:20Napkin, smother not his light under a mmMatth. 5. 15.Matt 5:15bushel; pinch not his servants of their due nnLuc. 12. 42—46.Luke 12:42provision; put not up the ooExod. 16. 20.Exod 16:20Manna 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 withal.

Thirdly, since the end of all gifts is to profit: aim most at those gifts that 34.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 of them. ppHic ver. 31Covet 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, qq1 Cor. 14. 1.1 Cor 14:1Covet spiritual Gifts, foreign, but rather that ye may prophesie. And by prophesying, he meaneth rrProphetas interpretes dicit Scripturarum. Amor. 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. 14.1 Cor 1:221 Cor 14the instruction of the Church, and people of God in the needful 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 confess, 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 p. 58done, Positive and Practick Divinity is it must bring us to Heaven: that is it must poise our judgments, 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. ffTim. 3. 8.This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly (saith S. Paul to Titus) that they which have believed in God might be careful 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; than by pressing effectually these two great points, Faith, and good Works. These are good and profitable unto men.

I might here add other Inferences from this point, as namely, since the 35.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, than to please them by flattering them in evil: and that Fifthly, we should more desire to bring profit unto them, than to gain applause unto our selves: and sundry other more besides these. But I will neither add any more, nor prosecute these any farther at this time, but give place to other business. 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 wisdom and goodness he shall see needful 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.