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house for the reproving of schism and envy arising out of the diversity of their gifts ("To each of you was [not is] given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ," ver. 7), he proceeds, by the very quotation of the Psalm, to shew them that these gifts were all derived from Christ, and distributed according to his pleasure. But upon mentioning the ascension, the Spirit suggests to him another prophetic Psalm, which, being introduced at this point of his argument, will give additional force to the great mystery of the membership of Christ in one body, which he is enforcing; and this, according to his rapid and full-minded way, he introduceth in a parenthesis: "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things" (Eph. iv. 9, 10). The Psalm to which he now refers is beyond question the cxxxix th, where Christ giveth glory to God for building up to him his body in the lower parts of the earth-that is, in the grave, where the work is finished by the resurrection of the body, being now begun in the regeneration of the Spirit. The words are these: "My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth: thine eyes did see my substance: yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them" (vers. 15, 16). If any one doubt whether it be proper to speak of the members and the head as one Christ, he is referred to the xiith chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, ver. 12; and if he doubt (for there is nothing but doubt arising mainly from ignorance) whether it be proper for the Psalms thus to unite the members and the head in one subject, he is referred to all the Psalms whatsoever which speak of Christ as confessing sin-the xlth and the lxix th, for instance. The Apostle, having thus gathered in the cxxxix th Psalm an additional ground upon which to rest his argument from the body and the members, doth proceed to it in a way which gives new light and confirmation upon that which hath been concluded above concerning the prophecy in the Ixixth Psalm: "He received gifts," saith he, " and gave some indeed apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers." The gifts, then, are men. This makes all clear in the Psalm, where it is said, "he received gifts in man, and even rebels." How very literal is an apostolical interpreter! He does not find it necessary, like our translators (however excellent, and they are the most excellent), to reject the literal translation," in the man," and adopt, for the sake of a meaning," for man :" which, besides being against the structure of the original; sacrifices the truth, that the persons to whom the gifts are given are themselves likewise gifts of God to the man; whereas the Apostle, adhering to the letter, makes

the persons also to be gifts-some of whom are apostles, others prophets, others evangelists, others pastors and teachers, others (to complete the catalogue from 1 Cor. xii. 28) workers of miracles, others teachers, others helps, others governors, others speakers with tongues, and others interpreters of tongues. Then he propoundeth the end of such variety to be for the perfect joining together (so the word is translated 1 Cor. i. 11) of the saints. It is remarkable that the same word is used by the Apostle of the body of Christ, when quoting from the xlth Psalm, in Heb. x. 5, "A body hast thou prepared for me." I do not think that it means for the perfecting of every saint, but for their perfect articulation into the one body of Christ; for the bringing about of their unity through means of a diversity of gifts, so as that one could not do without another, as is largely set forth in the xii th chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. But the Apostle adds his own explanation; for the latter two clauses of verse 12 are not repetition, but explanation of the preceding, as the change of the preposition sheweth: "unto a work of service (deaconship, mutually helpful to, and serving one another-" he that is a chief be as he that doth serve")-unto the building up as a house the body of the church; until the whole come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto perfect man, unto the measure of the size of the fulness of the Christ."

Without going further into the Apostle's commentary upon the passage before us, it is abundantly manifest from the premises that the habitation of God, which Christ was to construct for his Father, out of the gifts which he received when he ascended up on high, is the church, his body, the fulness of the election which the Father had given to him for his inheritance. And it is further evident, that the unity of these many members is bound together by the wise distribution which he makes of the Spirit, given to him of the Father, among the members of the body, in such wise as that one shall be necessary to the help and support of the other, and, all together co-operating, shall make the body to grow, and wax like the body of a child, from its rudiments then forming in the days of the Apostles, until it should attain unto the measure of its appointed fulness-that is, until all the election should be brought in, and the bride of the Lamb, the new Jerusalem, which is the tabernacle or habitation of God for ever, should be completed. If you take the figure of a house, then it is a house composed of living stones (1 Pet. ii. 5), whose union or cement is the Spirit; whence it is called a spiritual house, and an habitation of God in the Spirit: if it is a body, God is the soul of it, upon, in, and through all the members, in-working all things in all the members (1 Cor. xii. 6); his body, to express his mind, and word, and action, for ever and ever; and now, in this present age, intended to serve that almighty effect in the sight of this dark and erro

neous world. Wherefore the Apostle, giving to the Corinthian church orders concerning the behaviour that befitted them when they were gathered together, hath these words declaratory of the doctrine which I am now advancing, that Christ's work with the Spirit is to prepare for God such a living temple, such a speaking, acting body, as shall declare his presence to every beholder: "But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is IN YOU of a truth" (1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25).

I do not understand how any one can resist such a breadth of doctrine as these passages of Scripture bring to the believing mind; and therefore I have nothing to say in the way of strengthening or confirming what hath been deduced from merely bringing one passage of Scripture to face another. It only remains, therefore, that I say a word or two upon the way in which these gifts of the Holy Ghost, received from the Father on the ascension and shed down upon the church on the day of Pentecost, do work together in Christ's hand the end of making a house for God, a temple where "spiritual sacrifices may be offered up to him, acceptable by Jesus Christ." And this seems to me to consist in two things; the one common to all the persons who compose the unity, the other proper and peculiar to them severally. That which is common to them all, is their life, whereby they become lively stones, and cleave to one another. This in common language would be called the cement, or band, which binds the stones together into one fabric fit for inhabitation. As for the stones, Christ doth not furnish them, but the Father. They are the Father's creation, fallen into disorder and disunion, out with him and out with one another: all ruins and rubbish, dark, and divested of their Creator's presence, warring against his holy mind, and cast out from his heavenly abode. Christ "having, in the man," by doing the will of God in flesh, and offering it a sacrifice upon the accursed tree, done away with the enmity, and brought reconciliation to pass, doth, when he ascendeth into heaven, receive the Holy Spirit from the Father, that with it he may take as many as the Father will give him, and make them so to cohere together in the bands of mutual charity, work together the will of God, and manifest forth his glory, as that He shall need nothing else to make his fulness and perfectness known in the sight of all his creatures. The first thing that Christ doth for these disjointed fragments, is to give them a law of coherence, which he doth by imparting to them that principle of life which is in himself. Then are they in a condition separately to love God, to love one another; and to perfect holiness, without which they could neither see, nor enjoy, nor shew forth God. This is like the cutting and polishing

of the stones in the quarry, and the preparing of the mortar to bind them into one. Then comes the Master-builder's work, to lift up the fabric in its just and fair proportions, to found it surely, and to bind it together with corner-stones, to fashion and to frame it, and to bring forth the work in all the perfection of beauty and majesty. The arches and the columns, the walls and the ceilings, the floors and the domes, must all have their proper places and adjustments, in order to bring out one symmetrical whole: for it is to be a house for expressing the mind of God. And not the house only, but the priesthood also, is to come forth under the hand of the same Divine Architect: therefore that which in one verse of Peter is thus described, "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ," is a few verses forward described thus,-" But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." The church is to be not only the container of the manifested God, but she is the actor of his works, and the utterer of his wisdom: and to accomplish this, Christ, when he ascended up on high, received the Seven Spirits, the fulness and completeness of the vital, active Godhead. This is his occupation in heaven, to build the spiritual temple of the Lord out of the materials which he hath impregnated with his own life. And the church is this temple: we are it; we on' earth are it. The idea and the end of the church is to be such a thing. Christ hath either failed to do his Father's will since his ascension, or the Spirit hath failed, or the materials have succeeded in defeating the Architect; or else the church is this building of God, where God is heard in his manifold wisdom, and seen in his various actings:-his wisdom, in this membership having the word of wisdom; his knowledge, in this membership having the word of knowledge; his truth, in this membership having the gift of faith; his health, in this membership having the gift of healing; his supremacy of spirits, in this membership having the discernment of spirits; his voice, in this membership having the gift of tongues; and his understanding, in this membership having the interpretation of tongues. But I am not the Master-builder, to scan the work or shew the adjustment of its several parts: I do only point to the variety of offices, the diversity of occupations, the mutual subministration, as being necessary in order to make a habitation or house for any one, how much more for God. If to give my spirit a proper habitation for dwelling in, and a fit organ for uttering itself by, this body of mine, so curiously fashioned and exquisitely adjusted, part to part, so various in its organizations, was all necessary; how much more, to make a proper habitation for the Eternal God, and a fit organ

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for expressing his various mind and action in the sight of all the creatures which he hath formed. This wonderful office, this most wonderful office, serveth the church, if there be any truth in Scripture and to fit her for serving this office Christ received the Seven Spirits when he ascended up on high, and bestoweth the various gifts throughout the church by the which that one Spirit is manifested.

II. The next passage in which God delivers his mind upon the subject of the supernatural gifts of the Holy Ghost is in these words of the viiith chapter of Isaiah, ver. 18: “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion." That this refers to Christ and his church is expressly declared by the Apostle Paul, in the iid chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews: so that here again we have the Holy Ghost both for the author and the commentator, and may surely obtain some insight into the mind of God. But because I have heard some, to whom I have proposed this passage as a light, take objection that "signs and wonders" may have no respect at all to miraculous endowments, but merely to the peculiarity and singularity of his disciples in the midst of the unbelieving world, I count it good here to observe, that in no instance doth the expression" signs and wonders" signify in Scripture any thing but supernatural acts and appearances. In proof of which I refer to these passages: Matt. xxiv. 24; Mark xiii. 22; John iv. 48; Acts ii. 22, 43, iv. 30, vi. 8, vii. 36; Rom. xv. 19; 2 Cor. xii. 12; Heb. ii. 4; in all of which the words used here in the Septuagint for "signs and wonders" occur as the ordinary and constant form of words for supernataral demonstrations of the power of God: nor is there a single instance to the contrary in all the Scriptures. Let us, then, with the more confidence examine for what ends of God those powers and gifts commonly called extraordinary are declared in this passage to have been given.

The prophecy is concerning Him whose name is Immanuel, God with us; against whom it is said (vers. 8-13), that the nations shall confederate, and against his land, and against his people, who are exhorted not to look to any human help, nor to form any confederacies in their turn, but to sanctify the Lord of hosts, and to make him their fear and their dread. Then follows, from ver. 14, a glorious promise of Immanuel and Immanuel's doings. And, first, he is proposed as a sanctuary: "He shall be for a sanctuary." And so spake he of himself the very first time he presented himself at Jerusalem, saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up: "he spake of the temple of his body." Instead, however, of receiving him as such, it is prophesied that he should be "for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the

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