prayer is one thing, and the grace of prayer is another. The gift of preaching and prophefying, is a fpiritual gift, 1 Cor. xii. 10. Now this a manmay have, and yet be but almost a Chriftian. Judas was a great preacher, fo were they that came to Chrift, and faid, "Lord, Lord, we have prophefyed in thy name, and in thy name caft out devils," etc. Mat. vii. 22. You must know that it is not gifts, but grace which makes a Chriftian. For, i. Gifts are from a common work of the Spirit. Now a man may partake of all the common gifts of the Spirit, and yet be a reprobate; for therefore they are called common, because they are indifferently difpenfed by the Spirit to good and bad, to them that are believers, and to them that are not. They that have grace, have gifts; and they that have no grace, may have the fame gifts; for the Spirit worketh in both; Nay, in this fenfe, he that hath no grace may be under a greater work of the Spirit (quoad hoc) as to this thing, than he that hath most grace: A graceless profeffor may have greater gifts than the most holy believer. He may out-pray, and out-preach, and out-do them; but they in fincerity and integrity out-go him. 2. Gifts are for the ufe and good of others; they are given, "in ordine ad alium," as the fchool-men fpeak, for the profiting and edifying of others; fo faith the Apostle, 1 Cor. xii. 7. They are given to profit withal, Eph. iv. 12. Dona dantur in adjutorium gratiae." D 2 Now Now a man may edify another by his gifts, and yet be unedified himfelf. He may be profitable to another, and yet unprofitable to himself. A lame man may with his crutch point to thee the right way, and yet not be able to walk in it himself. A crooked Taylor may. make a fuit to fit a ftraight body, though it fit not him that made it, because of his crookednefs. The Church Chrift's garden enclofed, may be watered through a wooden gutter; the fun may give light through a fluttish window and the field may be well fowed with a dirty hand. The raven was an unclean bird, yet God makes use of her to feed Elijah; though he was not good meat, yet it was good meat fhe brought,, 1 Kings xvii. 6. The efficacy of the word doth not depend upon the authority of him that fpeaks it, but: upon the authority of the God that bleffes it.. So that another may be converted by my preaching, and yet I may be a caft-away notwithstanding. Balaam makes a clear and rare prophefy of Chrift, and yet he hath no benefit by Chrift: "There fhall come a ftar out of Jacob, and a fceptre fhall arife out of Ifrael," But yet Balaam fhall have no benefit by it: "I fhall fee him, but not now: I fhall behold him, but not nigh,” Numb. xxiv. 17. God may use a man's gifts to bring another. unto Chrift, when he himself, whofe gifts God ufed, may be a stranger unto Chrift; one man may may confirm another in the faith, and yet himfelf may be a ftranger to the faith. Paudleton ftrengthens and confirms. Sanders in Queen Mary's days, to ftand to the truth he had preached, and to feal it with his blood, and yet afterwards played the apoftate himfelf, Acts and Mon. laft Edit. 3. v. page 141. Scultetus tells us of one Johannes Speiferus, a famous preacher of Augburg in Germany, in the year 1523, who preached the gospel fo powerfully, that divers common harlots were converted, and became good Christians, and yet himself afterwards turned Papist, and came to a miferable end. Scultet. Anħal. Page 118. Thus the candle may burn bright to light others in their work, and yet afterwards go out in a stink. 3. It is beyond the power of the greatest gifts to change the heart; a man may preach like an Apoftle, pray like an Angel, and yet may have the heart of a devil. It is grace only that can change the heart: the greatest gifts cannot change it, but the leaft grace can. Gifts may make a man a fcholar, but grace makes a man a believer. Now, if gifts cannot change the heart, then a man may have the greateft gifts, and yet be but almoft a Christian. 4. Many have gone loaden with gifts to hell; no doubt Judas had great gifts, for he was a preacher of the gofpel; and our Lord Jefus Chrift would not fet him in the work, and not fit him for the work; yet Judas is gone to his own place. The Scribes and Pharifees D 3 Pharifees were men of great gifts, and yet were is the wife? where is the Scribes ? I Cor. i. 20. "The preaching of the crofs is to them that perifh foolishness," Cor. i. 18. Them that perish; who are they? who? the wife and the learned, both among Jews and Greeks, these are called them that perish. Surgunt in docti & rapium cœlum dum nos cum doctrina noftra in gehennam detru dimur," faid a great Bifhop, when he saw a poor fhepherd weeping over a toad. The poor illiterate world attain to heaven, while we with all our learning fall into hell. There are three things must be done for us, if ever we would avoid perifhing. We must be throughly convinced of fin. We must be really united unto Chrift. We must be inftated in the covenant of grace. Now the greatest gifts cannot ftead us in any one of these. They cannot work through 'convictions. They cannot bring us into covenant-relation. And confequently- they cannot preferve from eternal perifhing: And if fo, then a man may have the greatest gifts, and yet be but almost a Chriftian.... 1:5. Gifts may decay and perifh; they do not lye beyond the reach of corruption; ind deed grace shall never perifh, but gifts will ; grace is incorruptible, though gifts are not Grace is a fpring whole waters tail not, Ifa. viii. 11. But the ftreams of gifts may be dri ed ed up, If grace be corruptible in its own nature, as being but a creature, yet it is incorruptible in regard of its conferver, as being the new creature: He that did create it in us, will conferve it for us. He that did begin it,. will alfo finish it, Heb. xii. 2. Gifts have their 100t in nature, but grace hath its roots in Chrift: And therefore though gifts may die and wither, yet grace fhall abide for ever. Now, if gifts are perifhing, then (though he that hath the leaft grace is a Chriftian, yet) he that hath the greateft gifts may be but almoft a Chriftian. Object. But doth not the Apoftle bid us covet earneftly the beft gifts? 1 Cor. xii. 31. Why? muft we covet them, and covet them earneftly, if they avail not to falvation. Anfw. Gifts are good, though they are not the beft good; they are excellent, but there is fomewhat more excellent; fo it follows in the fame verfe, yet I fhew unto you a more excellent way, and that is the way of grace, one dram of grace is more worth than a talent of gifts. Gifts may make us rich towards men, but it is grace that makes us rich towards God, Luke xii. 21. Our gifts profit others, but grace profits ourfelves: That whereby I profit another, is good; but hat whereby I am profited myfelf is better. Now because gifts are good, therefore we ought to covet them; but because they are not the best good, therefore we ought not to reft in them: We must covet gifts for the good |