so the Son quickeneth whom he will.”* In him the exercise of such unbounded power never could be misapplied, because in him it was directed by equally unbounded wisdom: "he knew all things," he "knew what was in man;" but to no mere human being could such power be entrusted. We also should observe that the gifts of the Holy Ghost, in their strict acceptation, consisted in, or were accompanied by an illumination of the mind. But that illumination appears to have been of two kinds, one that of a language, a system, an art or skill; this was permanent and always at the command of the possessor. The other of knowledge, power, or direction in some particular instance, and only serving that particular purpose, and therefore temporary and not to be recalled at the choice of the individual to whom it was given, but occasionally bestowed according to the will of the divine Inspirer. Thus the sacred narrative of the Gospels and Acts shows that the power of healing diseases and casting out devils was in the apostles of this latter kind, occasional and temporary, to the exercise of which they were directed by the same divine impulse, which at the moment gave them the power to exercise it. Of this we have many proofs in the New Testament. The gift of healing, for instance, was not exercised by the apostles at will; for if so, we can hardly suppose that St. Paul would not have employed it for the advantage of Timothy, who laboured under "many infirmities;" or of "Trophimus, whom he left at Miletus sick;" and that he was equally limited in the power of foreseeing or predicting future events, will be proved in the next section. But the gift of tongues, of the interpretation of tongues, of knowledge, of wisdom, of prayer, of those gifts suited to the apostles, evangelists, teachers, presbyters, deacons, and other stated officers in the church of Christ, when communicated were permanent. Now, if we admit this distinction, we shall, as it seems to me, perceive that the disorderly use of spiritual gifts which is said to have taken place in the religious assemblies of the Corinthian church, is perfectly consistent with their supernatural original. The gift of healing could not be abused, nor that of inflicting miraculous punishment, which the apostles on

* John v. 21. + John ii. 25, and xvi. 30. #1 Tim. v. 23; 2 Tim. iv. 20.

some occasions exercised, because the particular instance and mode in which they were exercised, were determined by the very same divine impulse, which communicated the power to perform these miracles. With the gift of prophecy it was otherwise, because though the foreknowledge of a future event was supernaturally communicated; yet when the knowledge was infused into the mind of the prophet, he was still a free agent as to the season and mode of communicating that knowledge to others. "The spirits of the prophets (says St Paul) are subject to the prophets; for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." That is; the prophets are not mere machines to proclaim the dictates of inspiration, for this would resemble the effects of fanatical delirium and convulsions, but free agents, able to select the occasion and mode of communicating the supernatural knowledge they possessed soberly and orderly. But as men were not rendered infallible or impeccable, by possessing prophetic knowledge, they may be conceived to be led away by impatience, or even by ostentation, to choose an unseasonable time or manner of communicating it; though in whatever manner communicated, it could not fail of appearing supernatural, and therefore, of evincing the divine original of that religion, to establish which it was employed. What is here observed of prophecy, is much more obviously true of other spiritual gifts of a more permanent, and, if I may express it so, of a more independent nature. The person to whom the knowledge of a new language was supernaturally communicated, must be conceived to employ this knowledge, without being in every particular instance of his doing so, supernaturally or forcibly overruled, and therefore may be conceived to have employed it in an unseasonable or irregular manner. Still, however, it would on the whole facilitate the diffusion, and prove the divine original of the Gospel. St. Paul seems, in his address to the Corinthians on this subject, to distinguish clearly between the perfection of morals, piety and wisdom, and the possession of spiritual gifts, and to represent humility, self-government and vigilance, as necessary to the religious

1 Cor. xiv. 32.

+ The observation of St. Paul in this passage applies to teachers which the original signifies, but it is not the less important in our present argument.

improvement and final salvation of even those, who were endowed with spiritual gifts of the most exalted and wonderful kind. Hence he exhorts those who were so endowed, "not to be puffed up, not to contend with each other for pre-eminence;" he exhorts them to prefer "charity" to all, &c. Such is the view which the Scripture exhibits to us of these gifts, which had, indeed, God for their Author, but were dispensed through the medium of men, who could not but remain liable to sin and

error.

Is not this representation equally free from the falsehood of hypocrisy, which would conceal the errors, and failings it could not but perceive, and from the blind presumption of fanaticism, which would not perceive any such errors or failings to exist? Does it not bear the plainest characters of truth and nature, and add one to those numberless instances of circumstances which, at first sight appear strongly objectionable, but which on a closer view, are found to prove confirmations of the truth and divinity of the Gospel scheme ?†

SECTION III.

The arguments from PROPHECY adduced by the Apostles could not derive their weight from the influence of Enthusiasm-proved in this section, so far as relates to the Prophecies of the Old Testament, which the Apostles asserted were accomplished in the Person of our Saviour.

IF from miracles we pass to the other mode by which the first preachers of Christianity convinced their disciples, even the argument from prophecy, it will, I trust, appear, that this was

* Vide 1 Cor. xii-xiv.

For a full a account of the nature of the spiritual gifts of the first converts, their necessity and their certainty, consult the Essay on the Teaching and Witness of the Holy Spirit, in Lord Barrington's Miscellanea Sacra, vol. 1st, reprinted by Bishop Watson, in the 4th vol. of his Theological Tracts. Vide particularly from p. 375-413, and 436–454. If the reader wishes for further information on this subject, he may consult Warburton's Doctrine of Grace, the five first chapters. Dr. Samuel Chandler's Sermons, vol. 1. Sermons 12th, 13th, 14th, on the Descent of the Holy Spirit, &c. and Leland's Answer to Morgan, chapter 13th.

equally incapable of deriving its efficacy from any enthusiastic delusion.

This argument, as used by the apostles, almost entirely consisted in appeals to the Jewish Scriptures, in which, the apostles contended, were clear prophecies, fulfilled by the life and sufferings of their Lord, who, according to them, united in himself all the characters by which the promised Messiah was to be distinguished.

It would be inconsistent with the subject of this essay, to enter into a detail of the arguments employed to prove this conclusion; but without any such detail it is, I think, obvious that this was a species of argument which could not derive either its origin or success from the influence of fanaticism.

The prophecies to which the first preachers of Christianity appealed, not only existed at the latest, two hundred and fifty years before their asserted accomplishment, but existed in the hands of their inveterate enemies, the Jewish scribes, priests, and Pharisees. Over these records they had no power; they could not themselves believe, nor make their hearers believe, that these prophecies existed, if they did not exist, nor could they alter the smallest item to adapt them to the events, by which it was asserted they were fulfilled.

And as the prophecies were in no degree in their power, so neither was it possible for them to direct the correspondent events; for these had all taken place before the apostles began to preach the resurrection of their divine Master; and they had many of them been brought about by the agency of his enemies, who had been the authors of his sufferings and death, which the apostles steadily maintained were plain accomplishments of acknowledged prophecies. Still further, these transactions were of so public a nature, they had it as little in their power to misrepresent, as originally to direct them.

But what is most important of all, the apostles could find no pre-disposition in any Jewish mind to admit the coincidence of the prophecy and the event instantaneously, and embrace it

*

"Two hundred and fifty years," it is generally admitted that the Jewish Scriptures were translated into Greek, at the desire of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, and copies of them deposited in the Alexandrian library at least two hundred and fifty years before Christ,

enthusiastically, because such an accomplishment was totally the reverse of that which Jewish minds had long expected and ardently wished. The interpretation which the apostles gave the prophecies and the facts to which they applied them, were such as shocked the national prejudices and the religious bigotry of their countrymen.

1

The Jews expected a temporal and triumphant Messiah, who was to appear suddenly in the temple in the splendour of divine Majesty, and to live for ever. The apostles offered to their acceptance a peasant, the reputed son of a carpenter, who lived a life of poverty, who had perished on the cross, and declared, as the event proved, that his kingdom was not of this world. The Jews expected that this Messiah would extend and perpetuate the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law. The apostles contended that he had weakened or annulled its obligation, and substituted in its room, a religion abolishing these rites and ceremonies. The Jews confined to themselves the title and privileges of the chosen people of God. The apostles contended that now the period was arrived, foretold by the prophets, when God should be "sought of them that asked not for him, when he should be found of them that sought him not; that he should say, behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by his name," when that was become true which was prophesied of Israel, "I have spread out my hands all day unto a rebellious people, which walked in a way that was not good;" when there should be "no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all, is rich unto all that call upon him; and whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved."*

Now, without entering into any minute proofs to show the Jews were wrong, and the apostles right in this interpretation of the prophecies, it seems to be clear beyond all reasonable doubt, that this mode of interpretation could not have been originally adopted by the apostles, or received by the converts merely from the force of enthusiasm.

† Reason and experience prove, that those doctrines which fanatics embrace, are generally such as have been grounded on

* Isaiah lxv. 1, 2; Rom. x. 12-20.

+ Vide. Dr. Campbell's Discourse on Enthusiasm, p. 17-19.