AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. of internal saving grace to cease, and the church must absolutely cease as to its internal form. For we are unit- ed unto the Lord Christ, as our mystical head, by the Spirit, the one and self-same Spirit dwelling in him and them that do believe. .Union unto Christ, without sav- inggrace, or saving grace without the Holy Spirit, are strangers unto the gospel and Christian religion. So is it to havea church that is holy and catholic, which is not united unto Christ as a mystical head. Wherefore the very being of the church, as unto its internal form, de- pends on the Spirit in his dispensation ofgrace, which, ifyou supposean intercessionof the church, must cease. It bath the same dependence on him as to its outward form and profession upon his communication of gifts. For no man can call Jesus Lord, or profess subjection and obedience unto him in a due manner, but by the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. xii. 3. Suppose this work of his to cease, and there can be no professing church. Let men mould and casthemselves into what orderand form they please, and let them pretend that their right and title unto their church power and station is derived unto them from their progenitors or predecessors, if they are not furnished with the gifts of the Spirit to enable their guides unto gospel - administrations, they are no orderly gospel-church. Wherefore, 7. 6thly, The communication of such gifts unto the ordinary ministryof the church, in all ages, is plainly as- serted in sundry places of scripture; some whereof may be briefly considered. The whole nature ofthis work is declared in the parable of the talents, Matth. xxv. from ver. 13. to31. The state of the church from the ascen- sion ofChrist untohis coming again unto judgment, that is, in its whole course on the earth, is represented in this parable. In this season he bath servants whom he in- trasteth in the affairs of his kingdom, in the care of his church, and the propagation of the gospel. That they may, in their several generations, places, and circum- stances, be enabled hereunto, he giving them in various distributions talents to trade withal, the least whereof was sufficient to encourage them who received them unto their use and exercise. The trade they had to drive, was that ofthe administration of the gospel, its doctrine, worship,and ordinances, to others. Talents are abilities to trade, which may also comprise opportunities and other advantages; but abilities are chiefly intended. These were the gifts whereof we speak. Nor did it ever Z 89 enter into the minds of any to apprehend otherwise of them. And they are abilities which Christ, es the king and head of his church, giveth unto men in an especial manner, as they are employed under him in the service of his house andwork of the gospel. The servantsmen- tioned are such as are called, appointed, and employed in the service of the house of Christ, that is, all ministers of the gospelfrom first to last. And their talents are the gifts which he endows them withal by his own imme- diate power and authority for their work. And hence these three things follow: (1.)- That wherever there is a ministry that the Lord Christ setteth up, appointeth, or owneth, he furnisheth all those whom he employs therein with gifts and abilities suitable to their work, which he doth by the Holy Spirit. He will never fail toown his institutions with gracious supplies to render them effectual. (b.) That where any have not received talents to trade withal, it is the highest presumption in them, and casts thegreatest dishonouron the Lord Christ, as though he requires work where he gave no strength, or trade where he gave no stock, for any one to under- take the work of the ministry. Where the Lord Christ gives no gifts, he bath no work to do. He will require ofnone any especial duty where he doth not give an e- special ability. And for any to think themselves meet for this work and service, in the strength of their own natu- ral parts and endowments, however acquired, is to de- spise both his atthority and his work. (3.) For those who have received of these talents, either not to trade at all, or to pretend the managing of their trade on ano- ther stock, that is, either not sedulously and duly toexer- cise their ministerialgifts, or to discharge their ministry by other helps and means, is to set up their own wisdom inopposition unto his wisdom andhis authority. In brief that which the whole parable teacheth is, that wherever there is a ministry in the church that Christ owneth or re- gardeth, as used and employedby him, there persons are furnishedwith spiritual gifts from Christ by the Spirit, enabling them unto the discharge of that ministry; and where there are no such spiritual gifts dispensed by him, there is no ministry that he either accepteth or ap- proveth. 8. Rom. xii. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. e, As we have many mem- bers in one body, and all members have not the sameof- fice; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts dif- 40
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