"mediately conferred on them by him the preacher of this gospel, "in which they believed); that is, as he adds, that I may be com"forted together with you, by the mutual faith both of you and me *: for he fays, he is fure, when he comes, he shall come to "them in the fulness of the bleffing of Chrift t." And though the generality of the believing Romans had not the gifts of the Holy Ghost, no apoftle having been among them at the time that Paul writ to them (they having been probably converted by fome of those who might be difperfed on fome of the perfecutions); yet fome among them had thefe gifts, as appears from Rom. xii. 3-8. Perhaps it might be thofe who converted them; and who had received thofe gifts from fome of the apoftles elsewhere. The fame may be faid of the Laodiceans, in cafe the epiftle commonly called the Epiftle to the Ephefians was really written to the Laodiceans, as 1 fuppofe it was 1. 86 Peter plainly refers to thefe gifts §; for he fays, "that it was re"vealed to the prophets of old, that not unto themselves, but unto "them of this age, they did minifter the things that were reported "unto them by them that preached the gofpel unto them, with (or by) the Holy Ghoft fent down from heaven." And he afterwards gives this exhortation (which fuppofes these gifts to have been very common): "As every man hath received the gift (xagioua), even fo minifter the fame as faithful stewards of the "manifold grace of God. If any man fpeak, let him fpeak as the oracles of God: if any man minifter (as a deacon, é tig dianova), let him do it as of the ability (or with the gifts of pru"dence) thet God giveth." And that Peter imparted thefe gifts to the believing Jews, as well as to thefe devout Gentiles to whom he writes, may be confirmed by Paul's teftimony; who fays, that He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apoftlefhip of the cir"cumcifion, the fame wrought effectually in me towards the Gentiles **.”› St. John tells all thofe he writes to, 1 John ii. 20. to fhew them in how little danger they were of being deceived under the fairest pretences, that they had an unction (a prophetic unction or spirit), from the Holy One (Chrift, called the Holy One, whofe Spirit "the Holy Ghoft was, and which he fent down); and ye know all things, that is, all things neceflary to be known." And afterwards he favs, "This anointing, which you have received of him, abideth in you, and ye have no need that any man teach you; "but as the fame anointing teacheth you all things, and is truth, " and is no lie." ver. 27. And he adds, " Hereby we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us his Holy Spirit," chap. iv. 13. And chap. v. 10. afferts, that "he that "believeth on the Son of God, hath the witnefs in himfelf, that is, the Spirit, which he faith beareth witnefs," ver. 6. And 86 Rom. i. 11, 12. Thid xv. 29. ** Gal ii. 8. See the Abiaệt. Pet. i. 12. chap. chap. vi. 7. "For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the "water, and the blood." St. Jude fpeaks of fenfual men, who feparated themselves from the Chriftians, as the only kind of men" who have not the "Spirit." And directs all thofe he writes to, that, "building" "themselves up fn their most holy faith, they fhould pray in the "Holy Ghoft t," which is what St. Paul calls, "praying with the Spirit." And St. James does not only speak of "the prayer of faith (by "which, the anointing with oil in the name of the Lord, the elders fhall heal the fick); but of the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous, as we tranflate it (or the inwrought, or infpired "prayer of the righteous, as it would be better rendered, denois "Sinaís évepygμévn), which availeth much §." And fpeaks of it, not as a thing peculiar to fome few righteous, but common among them. 66 All which quotations are but agreeable to what our Saviour told the Jews, on the laft day of the feast of tabernacles, which was the day of an holy convocation, or of a great congregation of the people, when it was the custom of the people to fetch water from Siloam (which St. John fays fignifies the foul**), fome of which they drank with loud acclamations and hosannahs (or fave-now +†) ; and fome of which they brought for a drink-offering to God, both as a commemoration of the rock that flowed and followed them through the wilderness, to relieve their thirft; and also as an offering, with prayers for rain against the following feed-time; when Jefus, obferving this folemnity, stood in a convenient place, and, alluding to this rite, cried (aloud) faying, "If any man thirst, let "him come unto me and drink (if any man earnestly defire the fpiritual water of wife inftruction, which, to the fouls of all thofe "that pant after it, is a greater refreshment than water is to a "thirsty body; let him but be my difciple, and he fhall have it). And then adds (nay, he fhall not only have it to quench his own thirst, but to communicate to others). He that believeth on me, "as the Scripture faith, out of his belly fhall flow rivers of living "waters. Which, the Evangelift adds (who wrote this Gofpel "after the accomplishment of this prediction), he fpake of the "Spirit, which they that believe in him fhould receive." They that believe, is here an expreffion of the fame force, as all they that believe; for here is no diftinction or limitation made. Our Saviour's doing this at the feaft of tabernacles is the more remarkable, because the Jews called the days of the Meffiah the feast of tabernacles; and this was the laft day of thofe feasts that preceded our Lord's death, and confequently that preceded the miffion of the Holy Ghoft; and it is alfo very obfervable, that the Jews thought this water a type of the Spirit. And St. Mark fpeaks in the fame 66 general terms when he relates, that after our Saviour had given his commiffion to the apoftles, to go and preach the Gospel to every creature; he added, " And thefe figns thall follow (not only you apoftles, in confirmation of the truth of what ye fhall preach, purfuant to my command, but) them that believe in my name "they fhall caft out devils, they fhall fpeak with tongues, &c." And fo likewife our Saviour fays f, "He that believeth on me, the "works that I do fhall he do alfo, and greater works than these shall "he do, because I go to my Father." 06 When I lay all thefe facts together, and fee that where the apoftles had been they always conferred the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and that the members of thofe churches where they had not been were the only members of churches that feem not to have had them; I can scarce forbear thinking, that this general communication of the Holy Ghoft is what John the Baptift referred to, when he told the Jews, that "he indeed baptized with water, but that "Chrift would baptize them with the Holy Ghoft and with fire ." Which feems to import at least thus much, that as he (John) a witness to Jefus, baptized all that came to him, that believed the kingdom of heaven was at hand, with water; fo the apoftles, the chofen witneffes of Chrift's refurrection, being firft baptized with the Holy Ghoft and fire immediately from heaven, fhould baptize with the. Holy Ghost all believers that fhould come to them, and that had not been first baptized with it in the fame immediate manner as themfelves (as the reft of the hundred and twenty, Saul, and the firft fruits of the devout and idolatrous Gentiles, were). And fo our Saviour tells the apoftles after his refurrection §: "For "John truly baptized with water, but ye fhall be baptized with "the Holy Ghoft and with fire, not many days hence." And that ye here is not reftrained to the apoftles, we learn from the quotation Peter makes of this prediction of our Saviour, and his application of it to the Holy Ghoft's defcending on Cornelius and his house ||; and to this alfo I think Paul refers **, though he does not quote the paffage quite out. And may not our Saviour alfo refer to this in his converfation with Nicodemus, John iii. 5. who comes to him privately, when he tells him (in anfwer to that which must be fuppofed to be Nicodemus's queftion, ver. 7. I fee you are a teacher come from God by your miracles; but pray what is the fum of the doctrine you come to teach?) when he tells him, that "if a man "is not born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Which perhaps is to fay, that “a man "cannot become a fubject of the kingdom that he was going to fet up, by private inftruction, without being openly initiated, and "making a public profeffion; and that that would not only be by baptifm with water, which was an actual and public declaration "of a change of opinion and manners, and when with the mouth * Mark xv. 16, 17. Ibid. xi. 16. ↑ John xiv. 12. **** lbid. xiii. 35. Luke iii.ro. § A&ts i. 5. " confeffion 66 "confeffion was to be made; but also by baptifm with the Holy "Ghoft, when his kingdom was actually come, after his afcenfion, "when men would be bronght to fpeak the great things of God, as the Spirit fhould give them urterance," which baptifm would be, as I just now faid, either immediately, as in the cafe of thofe on whom the Holy Ghoft came without the intervention of hands; or by the intervention of the hands of fome on whom the Holy Ghoft had fo defcended. The expreffion being general, the occafion on which it is fpoke, and fome paffages in the converfation, point this way. For that the general notion that is always included in bap tifm is initiation, I believe, will appear beyond doubt, to him that confiders it in any of the three kinds of it mentioned in Scripture, in that of water, in this of the Holy Ghoft and fire particularly; ⚫ and most clearly of all in that which our Saviour mentions Matth. xx. 22-24.and Luke xii. 50. For I think baptifm cannot poffibly be understood, in thofe two laft places, in any other fenfe than the fufferings by which Jefus was to be initiated into his kingdom, and the fulness of power he was to receive upon his going through them. It may be of fome ufe too here to obferve, that though John Baptift and Jefus, fpeaking, in the places juft now quoted, of the baptifm of the Holy Ghoft and fire, before it happened, and before it was explained, fpeak of it in fuch general expreffions as comprehend both the immediate communication of the Holy Ghost from heaven, and the conferring it by the apoftles; yet when the predictions of John Baptift and our Savlour about this baptifm were fully explained by the event, then the diftinction that was made between them plainly appears; and particularly Heb. vi. 2. which I confidered whilft I treated of the immediate defcent of the Holy Ghost on the first Chriftians among the Jews, and among the devouf and idolatrous Gentiles. Nor is this the fingle inftance of general expreffions used by our Saviour, which afterwards came to be more diftin&t and fpecific. If, after all this, any one fhould be of opinion, that the apostles. did not confer thefe gifts on all the believers where they came; I defire he would let me know, by what rule he can prove, or even fuggeft with any probability, that the apoftles governed themselves in conferring thefe gifts on fome where they came, and not on others. They who imagine, that the apoftles conferred the Holy Ghost only on the bishops, prefbyters, and deacons; or on paftors, teachers, and elders, as a diftinct order of men from the brethren or believers a do not read the Scriptures with that freedom from the prepoffeffion of modern fyftems, or modern practice, which becomes the dif ciples of Chrift; much lefs with that knowledge of the ftate of things in the times of the apoftles, which they must have, who will make themselves mafters of them. He who reads them with out prejudice, and with this previous preparation, will undoubtedly, fee, that there were many churches without any, fuch orders of men in them. This is owned now by thofe who contend the most fiercely fiercely for fuch orders and they will fee too, that these gifts were conferred on too many to allow them to fuppofe, that all on whom they were conferred were of the clergy; unless they will make them all of the clergy, and fcarce leave them any laymen to exercise them on. Thns it seems to me, that the gifts of the Holy Ghoft were ordinarily conferred by the laying on of the hands of the apoftles and that the apoftles laid them on all believers where they came, and on no others. But it appears to me, at the fame time, that whenever the gifts of the Holy Ghoft were conferred by the laying on of their hands, they were conferred in a lower degree: for we do not find, that any of thofe, to whom the apoftles imparted the gift of the Holy Ghoft by the laying on of their hands, are ever faid to be full of the Holy Ghoft. They only, as we observed before, feem to have this expreffion ufed of them, on whom we either know, or have great reafon to think, the Holy Ghoft fell without the intervention of hands. And no wonder, that where the apoftles laid their hands, there fhould not be fo plentiful a communication of the Spirit; fince where they laid on their hands, it was only to confirm particular perfons or churches in the faith of the Gofpel whereas the Holy Ghost always defcended to confirm fome things that were to be of univerfal inftruction and importance; or confer gifts on perfons that were to be of the greatest use and fervice to the whole Chriftian church as will appear upon the leaft reflection on the only inftances which occur of his immediate defcent. However, though the gifts conferred by the apostles were conferred in a lower degree than when the Holy Ghoft fell on them; yet I am apt to think, that whenever the apostles conferred fuch gifts of the Holy Ghoft as they could impart, they always prayed that thofe to whom they were going to impart them might receive them. Our Saviour, who told his difciples, that their heavenly Father would give them the Holy Spirit, adds, that "it fhould be "on their afking it t." It is very obfervable, that the Holy Ghost did not defcend on our Saviour till after his praying, on coming out of the water 1. And it is exprefsly related of Peter and John, that" when they had prayed, they laid their hands on the Sama"ritans, and gave them the Holy Ghoft §." And though it is not mentioned in any other cafe, yet I am ftrongly inclined to believe, that prayer always preceded; to fhew that this great gift came from God, and was difpenfed according to his will. And I the rather incline to this, from the laying on of hands, which always accompanied the conferring thefe gifts; that being a ceremony which always attended folemn bleffing and prayer; or, if you pleafe, a folemn prayer for a bleffing; as I fhall prove in the third Effay. St. Auftin, to this purpose, fpeaking of the apoftles imparting the Holy Ghoft to the Samaritans, fays, "Orabant quippe ut veniret * See Mr. Dodwell, de Jur. Laic. Sacerd, and Dr. Whitby, on the Cor, and Theff. † Luke xii. 13. Ibid. iii. 21. § Acts viii. 15. |
