SEEM. 1V.] CHRIST EXALTED AND THE SPIRIT GIVEN. 0! vii. 22. our Saviour declares, that some who prophesied in his name and cast out devils by virtue of these gifts, were workers of iniquity, he will not know them, he will at the last day bid them depart from him, and banish them for ever from his presence ; and on the other hand, the graces of the Spirit are bestowed on thousands in every age, where these ,extraordinary, gifts were never received; though some suppose that in the primitive days all that were converted by the apostles themselves, received some or other of these gifts by the imposition-of their hands. Give me leave now briefly to set before You, the se- veral kinds of these gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, which were poured down from heaven upon men by our exalted Saviour'; together with a hint of the chiefdesigns or uses of them, and then I shall conclude with some remarks upon them. The extraordinary gifts are of various kinds ; they are represented by the apostle Paul ; 1 Gor. xii. 8-11. and explained by learned and ingenious writers. In the first place, the word of wisdom, or an extensive acquaintance with the mysteries of christianityf the doctrines and du- ties of the religion of Christ. This eminently belonged to the apostles, that theymight be able upon all occa- sions to preach the gospel in all the substantial and ne- cessary parts of it, and answer the questions of import- ance which were proposed to them. The next was the . word of knowledge, which may imply such an insight into the Old Testament and the writings of the prophets, as to cite them and happily apply them by way of inter- pretation or allusion, to illustrate or confirm the gospel of Christ, and to refute the Jewish abuses and perver- sions of them. The third is the gift of faith, that is, pro= bably, a peculiar impulse that came upon them from heaven, when any difficult,matter was to be performed, which inwardly assured them, that the Spirit of God would enable them to perform it. Then follows the gift of healing of various. distempers by a word 'of their rnouth,.or a touch of their hand, and the gift of working other, miracles also, even the power of inflicting diseases or death itself upon offenders. So St. Paul not only healed the maladies of men, but struck Elymas the sorcerer blind; So St. Peter not only bid Tabitha arise
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