them, and the greatest check to their proceeding in their work), and so remove the great obstruction that His death must have given, whensoever it had happened, to the spreading of the gospel, and thereby open a free course for it. 4. That now they were prepared to receive His instructions, He might, by the Spirit, so fill their whole souls with the full knowledge of them, as to give the apostles the highest satisfaction about their truth and expediency; and to dispose them, with the greatest industry, zeal, and boldness, to bear all fatigues, and run all hazards, in publishing those instructions to the world. 5. That all the matters of fact, which they were to testify, might be finished; and so their testimony might become complete at once; and that the proof, which was to be given to the truth of their testimony by the Spirit, might relate to all the matters they were to testify: which it could not do, till Christ's crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, had taken place. 6. That by their assurance, boldness, and activity, but especially by this amazing concurrence of spiritual and intellectual prodigies, beautifully suited to evidence the last dispensation of light and knowledge, they might overbear all the resistance that should arise from the ignorance, prejudice, and lusts of men; and from the worldly powers that should oppose them in the testimony they gave of the great facts they attested, and the doctrines they built upon them. 7. That this success might attend Christ's state of exaltation to the right hand of power, and be the first act of His royalty; to which it was suited with the greatest beauty and proportion; whereas it would have been altogether unsuitable to His state of humiliation, and inconsistent with the whole design, and every circumstance of it. 8. That by the amazing success that attended their teaching and testimony, a fresh and convincing proof of the truth of Christianity might be furnished to the following ages of the church. I flatter myself, that these reflections will meet with the approbation of those who have considered human nature, what I have offered in this Essay, and several hints in Scripture, untouched perhaps, or unpursued by me. CHAPTER III. THE MIRACULOUS GIFTS WERE GRANTED AT THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. SECTION I.-Recapitulation of the evidence from the predictions of the old Prophets, of the Baptist, and of our Lord, that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were to be granted after the Ascension of Christ. THE third thing I undertook was to prove, "that the Spirit did thus teach and witness in the first settlement of the Christian religion." But I have been forced to anticipate myself in a very great measure on this head: since every text which I have brought to explain the teaching and the witness of the Spirit; or to shew that the Spirit fell down in those five instances I have mentioned, and that the apostles conferred it wherever they came; and that these gifts were used by those who had them, is a full proof that there was such a teaching, and such a witnessing of the Spirit. Yet as that proof may be set in a stronger light, and as some farther evidence may be brought, that the Spirit thus taught and witnessed; I will endeavour to lay it all together, in order to obviate These gifts to be granted after the ascension. 201 all cavils and objections that may be made against it it being so capital a point in the Christian religion. David foretells,' in the prophetic style, "Thou hast ascended on high; thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." Isaiah also, speaking of Jacob and Israel, says, "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing on thy offspring:" and afterwards, "And all thy children shall be taught of God." Jeremiah also prophesies of the day of the gospel : + "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah : not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt (which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband to them, saith the Lord): but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and 'Psal. lxviii. 18, 19. 2 Isa. xliv. 2, 3. 4 Jer. xxxi. 31-35. 202 The descent of the Spirit was to take place I every man his brother; saying, Know the Lord : for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sin no more." Joel likewise prophesies: ' And it shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants, and upon the hand-maids, in those days will I pour out my Spirit." John Baptist, Christ's forerunner, being sent to by the Sanhedrim, to know if he was the Messiah; "confessed and denied not: but confessed, I am not the Christ, but His forerunner." But withal told them, "that Christ was standing among them;" and the next day said to them, "Behold the Lamb of God!" pointing to Him. "And he bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending on Him like a dove; and it abode upon Him: and I knew Him not. But He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost" giving this as the distinguishing character of the Messiah; which probably is as Joel ii. 28, 29. 2 2 John i, 20, 29, 32, 33. |