charity in its fruits by Jonathan Edwards. These sermons originally preached before his own congregation in the year 1738. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, And though I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 1 Corinthians 13 13 In these words we observe first that something is spoken of as of special importance and is peculiarly essential in Christians, which the Apostle calls charity. And this charity, we find, is abundantly insisted on in the New Testament by Christ and His Apostles. more insisted on, indeed, than any other virtue. But then the word charity, as used in the New Testament, is of much more extensive signification than as it is used generally in common discourse. What persons very often mean by charity in their ordinary conversation is a disposition to hope and think the best of others. and to put a good construction on their words and behavior, and sometimes a word is used for a disposition to give to the poor. But these things are only certain particular branches or fruits of that great virtue of charity, which is so much insisted on throughout the New Testament. The word properly signifies that disposition or affection in which one is dear to another, and the original word, agape, which is here translated charity, might better have been rendered love, for that is the proper English of it, so that by charity in the New Testament is meant the very same thing as Christian love. and though it be more frequently used for love to men, yet sometimes it is used to signify not only love to men, but love to God. So it is manifestly used by the Apostle in this epistle, as he explains himself in chapter 8. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth, and so on. Here the comparison is between the knowledge and charity, and the preference is given to charity because knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And then in the next two verses, it is more particularly explained how knowledge usually puffs up and why charity edifieth, so that what is called charity in the first verse is called loving God in the third, for the very same thing is evidently spoken of in the two places. And doubtless the apostle means the same thing by charity in the 13th chapter that he does in the 8th. For he is here comparing the same two things together that he was there, namely knowledge and charity. Though I have all knowledge and have not charity, I am nothing. And again, charity never faileth, but knowledge it shall vanish away. So that by charity here we are doubtless to understand Christian love in its full extent. and whether it be exercised towards God or our fellow creatures. And this charity is here spoken of as that which is, in a distinguishing manner, the great and essential thing which will appear more fully when we observe, secondly, what things are mentioned as being in vain without it, namely, the most excellent things that ever belonged to natural men, the most excellent privileges, and the most excellent performances. First, the most excellent privileges, such as preaching with tongues, the gift of prophecy, understanding all mysteries, faith to remove mountains, and so on. And secondly, the most excellent performances, such as giving all one's goods to feed the poor, and the body to be burned, and so on. Greater things than these no natural man ever had or did, and they are the kind of things in which men are exceedingly prone to trust. And yet the Apostle declares that if we have them all and have not charity, we are nothing. The doctrine taught then is this, that all the virtue that is saving, and that distinguishes true Christians from others, is summed up in Christian love. This appears from the words of the text, because so many other things are mentioned that natural men may have, and the things mentioned are of the highest kind it is possible they should have, both of privilege and performance. And yet it is said they avail nothing without this, whereas if any of them were saving, they would avail something without it. And by the apostles mentioning so many and so high things, and then saying of them all that they profited nothing without charity, we might justly conclude that there is nothing at all that avails anything without it. Let a man have what he will and do what he will, it signifies nothing without charity. What surely implies that charity is the great thing is that everything which has not charity in some way contained or implied in it is nothing, that this charity is the life and soul of all religion, without which all things that wear the name of virtues are empty and vain. In speaking to this doctrine, I would first notice the nature of this divine love, and then show the truth of the doctrine respecting it. And number one, I would speak of the nature of a truly Christian love, and here I would observe that all true Christian love is one and the same in its principle. It may be various in its forms and objects, and may be exercised either towards God or men, but it is the same principle in the heart that is the foundation of every exercise of a truly Christian love, whatever may be its object. It is not with the holy love in the heart of the Christian as it is with the love of other men. Their love toward different objects may be from different principles and motives and with different views, but a truly Christian love is different from this. It is one as to its principle, whatever the object about which it is exercised. It is from the same spring or fountain in the heart, though it may flow out in different channels and diverse directions, and therefore it is all fitly comprehended in the one name of charity, as in the text. That this Christian love is one, whatever the objects toward which it may flow forth, appears by the following things. First, it is all from the same Spirit influencing the heart. It is from the breathing of the same Spirit that true Christian love arises, both toward God and man. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love, and when the former enters the soul, love also enters with it. God is love, and he that has God dwelling in him by his Spirit will have love dwelling in him also. The nature of the Holy Spirit is love, and it is by communicating himself and his own nature to the saints that their hearts are filled with divine charity. Hence we find that the saints are partakers of the divine nature, and Christian love is called the love of the Spirit, Romans 15 30, and love in the Spirit, Colossians 1 8. And the very bowels of love and mercy seem to signify the same thing with the fellowship of the Spirit, Philippians 2 1. It is that Spirit, too, that infuses love to God, Romans 5, 5, and it is by the indwelling of that Spirit that the soul abides in love to God and man, 1 John 3, 23, 24, 4, 12, 13. 2. Christian love, both to God and man, is wrought in the heart by the same work of the Spirit. There are not two works of the Spirit of God, one to infuse a spirit of love to God and the other to infuse a spirit of love to men, but in producing one, the spirit produces the other also. In the work of conversion, the Holy Spirit renews a heart by giving it a divine temper, Ephesians 4, 23. And it is one and the same divine temper, this rod in the heart, that flows out in love both to God and man. And third, when God and man are loved with a truly Christian love, they are both loved from the same motives. When God is loved aright, he is loved for his excellency and the beauty of his nature, especially the holiness of his nature. And it is from the same motive that the saints are loved for holiness' sake. And all things that are loved with a truly holy love are loved from the same respect to God. Love to God is the foundation of gracious love to man, and men are loved either because they are in some respect like God in the possession of his nature and spiritual image, or because of the relation they stand in to him as his children or creatures, as those who are blessed of him, or to whom his mercy is offered, or in some other way from regard to him. Only remarking that though Christian love be one in its principle, yet it is distinguished and variously denominated in two ways with respect to its objects and the kind of its exercise, as for example its degrees, and so on. I now proceed, number one, to show the truth of the doctrines that all virtue that is saving or distinguishing of true Christians is summed up in Christian love. And we may argue this from what reason teaches of the nature of love, and if we duly consider its nature, two things will appear. First, that love will dispose to all proper acts of respect to God and man. This is evident, because a true respect to either God or man consists in love. If a man sincerely loves God, it will dispose him to render all proper respect to Him, and men need no other incitement to show each other All the respect that is due, then love. Love to God will dispose a man to honor Him, to worship and adore Him, and heartily to acknowledge His greatness and glory and dominion. And so it will dispose to all acts of obedience to God, for the servant that loves his master and the subject that loves his sovereign will be disposed to proper subjection and obedience. Love will dispose a Christian to behave toward God as a child to a father amid difficulties. to resort to him for help, and put all his trust in him. Just as it is natural for us, in case of need or affliction, to go to one that we love for pity and help, it will lead us to give credit to his word, and to put confidence in him. For we are not apt to suspect the veracity of those we have entire friendship for. It will dispose us to praise God for the mercies we receive from him, just as we are disposed to gratitude for any kindness we receive from our fellow men that we love. Love, again, will dispose our hearts to submission to the will of God, for we are more willing that the will of those we love should be done than of others. We naturally desire that those we love should be suited, and that we should be agreeable to them. And true affection and love to God will dispose the heart to acknowledge God's right to govern, and that He is worthy to do it. And so, while disposed to submission, love to God will dispose us to walk humbly with Him. For he that loves God will be disposed to acknowledge the vast distance between God and himself. It will be agreeable to such an one to exalt God and set Him on high above all, and to lie low before Him. A true Christian delights to have God exalted. on his own abasement, because he loves him. He is willing to own that God is worthy of this, and it is with delight that he casts himself from the dust before the Most High, from his sincere love to him. And so a due consideration of the nature of love will show that it disposes men to all duties towards their neighbors. If men have a sincere love to their neighbors, it will dispose them to all acts of justice towards those neighbors. For real love and friendship always dispose us to give those we love their due, and never to wrong them. Romans 8.10. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, and the same love will dispose to truth toward neighbors, and will tend to prevent all lying and fraud and deceit. Men are not disposed to exercise fraud and treachery toward those they love. For thus to treat men is to treat them like enemies, but love destroys enmity. Thus the apostle makes use of the oneness that there ought to be among Christians as an argument to induce them to truth between man and man. Ephesians 4.25. Love will dispose to walk humbly amongst men, for a real and true love will incline us to high thoughts of others, and to think them better than ourselves. It will dispose men to honour one another. For all are naturally inclined to think highly of those they love, and to give them honour, so that by love are fulfilled those precepts in 1 Peter 11.17. Honour all men, and Philippians 2 3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Love will dispose to contentment in the sphere in which God has placed us, without coveting any thing that our neighbor possesses, or envying him on account of any good that he has. It will dispose men to meekness and gentleness in their courage towards their neighbors, and not to treat them with passion or violence or heat of spirit, but with moderation and calmness and kindness It will check and restrain everything like a bitter spirit, for love has no bitterness in it. But it's a gentle and sweet disposition and affection of the soul. It will prevent broils and quarrels, and will dispose men to peaceableness and to forgive injurious treatment received from others. As it is said in Proverbs 10, 12, Hatred stirreth up strife, but love covereth all sins. Love will dispose men to all acts of mercy toward their neighbors when they are under any affliction or calamity, for we are naturally disposed to pity those that we love when they are afflicted. It will dispose men to give to the poor, to bear one another's burdens, and to weep with those that weep, as well as to rejoice with those that do rejoice. It will dispose men to the duties they owe to one another in their several places and It will dispose of people to all the duties they owe to their rulers, and to give them all that honor and subjection which are their due. And it will dispose of rulers to rule the people over whom they are set, justly, seriously, and faithfully, seeking their good, and not any buy-ins of their own. It will dispose of people to all proper duty to their ministers, to hearken to their counsels and instructions, and to submit to them in the house of God, And to support and sympathize with and pray for them, as those that watch for their souls. And it will dispose ministers faithfully and ceaselessly to seek the good of the souls of their people, watching for them as those that must give an account. Love will dispose to suitable courage between superiors and inferiors. It will dispose children to honor their parents, and servants to be obedient to their masters, not with thigh service, but in singleness of heart. And it will dispose masters to exercise gentleness and goodness toward their servants. Thus love would dispose to all duties, both toward God and toward man. And if it would thus dispose to all duties, then it follows that it is a root in spring, and, as it were, a comprehension of all virtues. It is a principle which, if it be implanted in the heart, is alone sufficient to produce all good practice, and every right disposition toward God and man is summed up in it, and comes from it as a fruit from the tree, or the stream from the fountain. Second, Reason teaches, that whenever performances or seeming virtues there are without love are unsound and hypocritical, if there be no love in what men do, then there is no true respect to God or men in their conduct, and if so, then certainly there is no sincerity. Religion is nothing without proper respect to God. The very notion of religion among mankind is that it is a creature's exercise and expression of such respect toward a Creator. But if there be no true respect or love, then all that is called religion is but a seeing show, and there is no real religion in it, but it is unreal in vain. Thus if a man's faith be of such a sort that there is no true respect to God in it, reason teaches that it must be in vain, for if there be no love to God in it, There can be no true respect to him. From this it appears that love is always contained in a true and living faith, and that it is true and proper life and soul, without which faith is as dead as a body is without its soul, and that it is that which especially distinguishes a living faith from every other, but of this more particularly hereafter. Without love to God again, there can be no true honor to him. A man is never hardy in the honor he seems to render to another whom he does not love, so that all the seeming honor or worship that is ever paid without love is but hypocritical. So reason teaches that there is no sincerity in the obedience that is performed without love. For if there be no love, nothing that is done can be spontaneous and free. but all must be forced. So without love there can be no hearty submission to the will of God, and there can be no real and cordial trust and confidence in Him. He that does not love God will not trust Him. He never will, with true acquiescence of soul, cast himself into the hands of God, or into the arms of His mercy. And so whatever good carriage there may be in men towards their neighbors, yet reason teaches that it is all unacceptable and in vain. if at the same time there be no real respect in the heart towards those neighbors, if the outward conduct is not prompted by inward love. And from these two things taken together, namely, that love is of such a nature that it will produce all virtues, and dispose to all duties to God and man, and that without it there can be no sincere virtue and no duty at all properly performed, the truth of the doctrine follows that all true and distinguishing Christian virtue and grace may be summed up in love. The Scriptures teach us that love is the sum of all that is contained in the law of God, and of all the duties required in His word. This the Scriptures teach of the law in general, and of each table of the law in particular. First, the Scriptures teach this of the law and word of God in general. By the law in the Scriptures is sometimes meant the whole of the written word of God, as in John 10, 34. Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods? And sometimes by the law is meant the five books of Moses, as in Acts 24.14, where it is named with the distinction of the law and the prophets. And sometimes by the law is meant the ten commandments, as containing the sum of all the duty of mankind, and all that is required as of universal and perpetual obligation. But whether we take the law as signifying only the Ten Commandments, or as including the whole written word of God, the Scriptures teach us that the sum of all that is required in it is love. Thus when by the law is meant the Ten Commandments, it is said in Romans 8.8, He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. And therefore several of the commandments are rehearsed, and it is added in the tenth verse that love, which leads us to obey them all, is the fulfilling of the law. Now, unless love was the sum of what the law requires, the law could not be wholly fulfilled in love. For a law is fulfilled only by obedience to the sum or whole of what it contains and enjoins. So the same apostle of the Ginn declares in 1 Timothy 1.5, Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned, and so on. Or if we take the law in a yet more extensive sense, as the whole written word of God, the scriptures still teach us that love is the sum of all required in it. In Matthew 22, 40, Christ teaches that on the two precepts of loving God with all the heart, and our neighbor as ourselves, hang all the law and the prophets, i.e., all the written word of God. For what was then called the law and the prophets was the whole written word of God that was then extant. And second, the scriptures teach the same thing of each table of the law in particular. The command, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, is declared by Christ, in Matthew 22, 38, to be the sum of the first table of the law, or the first great commandment. And in the next verse, to love our neighbor as ourself, is declared to be the sum of the second table, as it is also in Romans 13, 9, where the precepts of the second table of the law are particularly specified. And it is then added, And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And in Galatians 5.14, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And the same seems to be stated in James 2.8. If you fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. His love appears to be the sum of all the virtue and duty that God requires of us, and therefore must undoubtedly be the most essential thing, the sum of all the virtue that is essential in distinguishing in real Christianity. That which is the sum of all duty must be the sum of all real virtue. 3. The truth of the doctrine as shown by the Scripture appears from this that the Apostle teaches us in Galatians 5.6 that faith works by love. A true nutrition faith is that which produces good works, but all the good works which it produces are by love. By this two things are evident to the present purpose first. that true love is an ingredient in true and living faith and is what is most essential in distinguishing in it. Love is no ingredient in a merely speculative faith, but it is the life and soul of a practical faith. A truly practical or saving faith is light and heat together, or rather light and love, while that which is only a speculative faith is only light without heat, and in that it wants spiritual heat or divine love, and is in vain and good for nothing. A speculative faith consists only in the assent of the understanding, but in a saving faith there is also the consent of the heart. If that faith which is only of the former kind is no better than the faith of devils, for they have faith, so far as it can exist without love, believing while they tremble. Now the true spiritual consent of the heart cannot be distinguished from the love of the heart. He whose heart consents to Christ as a Savior has true love to him as such. For the heart sincerely to consent to the way of salvation by Christ cannot be distinguished from loving that way of salvation and resting in it. There is an act of choice or election in truth-saving faith, whereby the soul chooses Christ its Saviour in portion, and accepts of and embraces Him as such. But, as was observed before, an election or choice, whereby it so chooses God and Christ, is an act of love, the love of a soul embracing Him as its dearest friend in portion. Faith is a duty that God requires of every one. We are commanded to believe, and unbelief is a sin forbidden by God. Faith is a duty required in the first table of the law, and in the first commandment of that table, and therefore it will follow that it is comprehended in the great commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and so on. And so it will follow that love is the most essential thing in a true faith. That love is the very life and spirit of a true faith is especially evident from a comparison of this declaration of the apostle, that faith works by love, in the last verse of the second chapter of the epistle of James, which declares that as a body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. The working, active and acting nature of anything is the life of it, and that which makes us call a thing alive is that we observe an active nature in it. This active, working nature in man is the spirit in which he has within him. And as his body without this spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. And if we would know what the working, active thing in true faith is, the Apostle tells us in Galatians 5, 6, Faith worketh by love. So that it is love which is the active, working spirit in all true faith. This is his very soul, without which it is dead. In another form, he tells us a text saying that faith without charity or love is nothing, though it be to such a degree that it can remove mountains. And when he says in the seventh verse of the context that charity believeth all things and hopeth all things, he probably refers to the great virtues of believing and hoping in the truth and grace of God, to which he compares charity in other parts of the chapter, and particularly in this last verse. Now abideth faith, hope, and charity, and so on. For in the seventh verse he gives a preference to charity or love before the other virtues of faith and hope, because it includes him. For he says, Charity believeth all things, and hopeth all things. So that this seems to be his meaning, that charity believeth and hopeth the best with regard to our neighbors, that a justifying faith is the most distinguishing mark of Christianity, is comprehended in the great command of loving God, appears also very plainly from what Christ says to the Jews in John 5. Second, it is further manifest from this Declaration of the Apostle that faith works by love, that all Christian exercise of the heart and words of the life are from love, for we are abundantly taught in the New Testament that all Christian holiness begins with faith in Jesus Christ. All Christian obedience is, in the Scriptures called, the obedience of faith, as in Romans 16.26. The Gospel is said to be made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. The obedience here spoken of is doubtless the same with that spoken of in the 18th verse of the preceding chapter, where Paul speaks of making the Gentiles obedient by word and deed. And in Galatians 2.20 he tells us, The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, and so on. And we are often told that Christians, so far as they are Christians, live by faith, which is equivalent to saying that all gracious and holy exercises and virtues of the spiritual life are by faith. But how does faith work these things? Why, in this place, in Galatians, it is expressly said that it works whatsoever it does work by love, for which the truth of the doctrine follows, namely, that all that is saving and distinguishing in Christianity does radically consist in the summarily comprehended in love. In the application of the subject, we may use it in the way of self-examination, instruction, and exhortation. 1 In view of it, let us examine ourselves, and see if we have the spirit which it enjoins. For love of God springs love to man, as says the Apostle in 1 John 5. 1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and every one that loveth him that beget loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2 Have we this love to all who are the children of God? This love also leads those who possess it to rejoice in God, and to worship and magnify him. Heaven is made up of such. Revelation 15 24 And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints! Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy, for all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest. Do we thus delight in God, and rejoice in His worship, and in magnifying His holy name? This love also leads those who possess it sincerely to desire, and earnestly to endeavor to do good to their fellowmen. 1 John 3.16-19 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. Is this spirit which dwelt in Jesus Christ the spirit that reigns in our hearts and is seen in our daily life? The subject may also be of use, number two, in a way of instruction. First, this doctrine shows us what is a right Christian spirit when the disciples on their way to Jerusalem desired Christ to call down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans who would not receive Him. He told them in Luke 9.55, by way of rebuke, You know not what manner of spirit ye are of. By which we are to understand, not that they did not know their own hearts, but that they did not know and truly feel what kind of spirit was proper in becoming to their character, in spirit as his professed disciples, in becoming that evangelical dispensation that he had come to establish, and under which they were now living. It might indeed be, and doubtless was true, that in many respects they did not know their own hearts. But what Christ here referred to was not the want of self-knowledge in general, but the particular spirit they had manifested in desiring Him to call down fire, and so on. A desire which showed not so much that they did not know what their own hearts or dispositions were, as that they did not seem to know what kind of spirit and temper was proper to the Christian dispensation. that was henceforth to be established, and to the Christian character of which they were to be examples. They showed their ignorance of the true nature of Christ's kingdom, that it was to be a kingdom of love and peace, and that they did not know but that a revengeful spirit was a proper spirit for them as his disciples. And for this it is that he rebukes them. And doubtless there are many nowadays, greatly to be rebuked for this, that though they have been so long in the school of Christ and under the teachings of the gospel, yet they still remain under a great misapprehension as to what kind of a spirit a truly Christian spirit is, and what spirit is proper for the followers of Christ and the dispensation under which they live. But if we attend to the text in its doctrine, they will teach us what this spirit is, namely, that in its very essence and savour it is a spirit of divine and Christian love. This may, by way of eminence, be called a Christian spirit, for it is much more insisted on in the New Testament than anything that concerns either our duty or our moral state. The words of Christ, in which He taught men their duty, and gave His counsels and commands to His disciples and others, were spent very much on the precepts of love. And as the words that proceeded out of His mouth were so full of this sweet divine virtue, He thus most manifestly commends it to us. And after His ascension, the apostles were full of the same spirit in their epistles abundantly, recommending love, peace, gentleness, goodness, bowels of compassion and kindness. directing us by such things to express our love to God and to Christ, as well as to our fellow men, and especially to all that are his followers. The spirit, even a spirit of love, is the spirit that God holds forth greater motives in the gospel to induce us to, than to any other thing whatever, The work of redemption, which the Gospel makes known, above all things, affords modus to love. For that work was the most glorious and wonderful exhibition of love that was ever seen or heard of. Love is a principal thing that the Gospel dwells on when speaking of God and of Christ. It brings to light a love externally existing between the Father and the Son, and declares how that same love has been manifested in many things. How that Christ is God's well-beloved Son, in whom He is ever well pleased. how he so loved him that he raised him to the throne of the meditatorial kingdom, and appointed him to be the judge of the world, and ordained that all mankind should stand before him in judgment. And the gospel too is revealed, the love that Christ has to the Father, and the wonderful fruits of that love, particularly in his doing such great things, and suffering such great things, in obedience to the Father's will, and for the honor of his justice, and law, and authority, as a great moral governor. There it is revealed how the Father and Son are one in love, that we might be induced in the like spirit to be one with them and with one another, agreeable to Christ's prayer in John 17 21 23. That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. The gospel also declares to us that the love of God was from everlasting and reminds us that He loved those that are redeemed by Christ before the foundation of the world, and that He gave them to the Son, and that the Son loved them as His own. It reveals, too, the wonderful love of both the Father and the Son to the saints now in glory, that Christ not only loved them while in the world, but that He loved them to the end. And all this love is spoken of, is bestowed on us while we were wanderers, outcasts, worthless, guilty, and even enemies. This is love, such as was never elsewhere known or conceived. John 15, 13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die, but God committeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, when we were enemies. God and Christ appear in the Gospel revelation as being clothed with love, as sitting as it were on a throne of mercy and grace, a seat of love, encompassed about with the sweet beams of love. Love is the light and glory that is round about the throne on which God is seated. This seems to be intended in the vision the Apostle John, that loving and loved disciple, had of God in the isle of Patmos, Revelation 4.3. There was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald, that is round about the throne on which God was sitting, so that God appeared to him as he sat on the throne, as encompassed with a circle of exceeding sweet and pleasant light, like the beautiful colors of the rainbow, and like an emerald, which is a precious stone of exceeding pleasant and beautiful color, thus representing that the light and glory with which God appears surrounded in the gospel is especially the glory of His love and covenant grace. for the rainbow was given to Noah as a token of both of these. Therefore it is plain that the spirit, even a spirit of love, is a spirit that the gospel revelation does especially hold forth modus and inducements to, and this is especially and imminently the Christian spirit, the right spirit of the gospel. Second, if it is indeed so, that all the deceiving and distinguishing in a true Christian is summarily comprehended in love, The professors of Christianity may in this be taught as to their experience, whether they are really Christian experiences or not. If they are so, then love is the sum and substance of them. If persons have the true light of heaven lit into their souls, it is not a light without heat. Divine knowledge and divine love go together. A spiritual view of divine things always excites love in the soul and moves forth the heart and love to every proper object. True discoveries of the divine character dispose us to love God as the supreme good. They unite the heart in love to Christ. They incline the soul to flow out in love to God's people and to all mankind. When persons have a true discovery of the excellency and sufficiency of Christ, this is the effect. When they experience a right belief of the truth of the gospel, such a belief is accompanied by love. They love Him whom they believe to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. When the truth of the glorious doctrines and promises of the gospel is seen, these doctrines and promises are like so many cords which take hold of the heart and draw down in love to God and Christ. When persons experience a true trust and reliance on Christ, they rely on Him with love, and so do it with delight and sweet acquiescence of soul. The spouse sat under Christ's shadow with great delight, and rested sweetly under his protection, because she loved him. When persons experience true comfort and spiritual joy, their joy is a joy of faith and love. They do not rejoice in themselves, but it is God who is their exceeding joy. Third, this doctrine shows the amiableness of a Christian spirit. A spirit of love is an amiable spirit. It is the spirit of Jesus Christ. It is the spirit of heaven. Fourth, this doctrine shows the pleasantness of a Christian life. A life of faith is a pleasant life. Reason and the Scriptures alike teach us that happy is a man that findeth wisdom, and that her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. Proverbs 3, 13, 17 Fifth, hence we may learn the reason why contention tends so much to the ruin of religion. The Scriptures tell us that it has this tendency. Where envying and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. James 3.16. And so we find it by experience. When contention comes into a place, it seems to prevent all good. And if religion has been flourishing before, it presently seems to chill and deaden it. and everything that is bad begins to flourish. And in the light of our doctrine we may plainly see the reason of all this, for contention is directly against that which is a very sum of all that is essential and distinguishing in true Christianity, even a spirit of love and peace. No wonder, therefore, that Christianity cannot flourish in a time of strife and contention among its professors. No wonder that religion and contention cannot live together. Sixth, hence, then, what a watch and guard should Christians keep against envy and malice and every kind of bitterness of spirit towards their neighbors. For these things are the very reverse of the real essence of Christianity, and it behooves Christians, as they would not by their practice directly contradict their profession, to take heed to themselves in this manner. They should suppress the first beginnings of ill will and bitterness and envy, watch strictly against all occasions of such a spirit. Strive and fight to the utmost against such a temper as tends that way, and avoid as much as possible all temptations that may lead to it. A Christian should, at all times, keep a strong guard against everything that tends to overthrow or corrupt or undermine his spirit of love. That which hinders love to men will hinder the exercise of love to God. For, as was observed before, the principle of a truly Christian love is one. If love is the sum of Christianity, surely those things which overthrow love are exceedingly unbecoming Christians. An envious Christian, a malicious Christian, a cold and hard-hearted Christian is the greatest absurdity and contradiction. It is as if one should speak of dark brightness or a false truth. 7. Hith it is no wonder that Christianity so strongly requires us to love our enemies, even the worst of our enemies, as in Matthew 5.44. For love is the very temper and spirit of a Christian, it is the sum of Christianity. And if we consider what incitements thus to love our enemies we have set before us, and what the gospel reveals of the love of God and Christ to their enemies, we cannot wonder that we are required to love our enemies, and to bless them, and do good to them, and pray for them. that we may be the children of the Father which is in heaven, who maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 3. Our subject exhorts us to seek a spirit of love, to grow in it more and more, and very much to abound in the works of love. If love is so great a thing in Christianity, so essential and distinguishing, yea, the very sum of all Christian virtue, then surely those that profess themselves Christians should live in love, and abound in the works of love. For no works are so becoming as those of love. If you call yourself a Christian, where are your works of love? Have you abounded, and do you abound in them? If this divine and holy principle is in you and reigns in you, Will it not appear in your life in works of love? Consider, what deeds of love have you done? Do you love God? What have you done for Him, for His glory, for the advancement of His kingdom in the world? And how much have you denied yourself to promote the Redeemer's interest among men? Do you love your fellow men? What have you done for them? Consider your former defects in these respects, and how becoming it is in you as a Christian hereafter to abound more in deeds of love. Do not make excuse that you have not opportunities to do anything for the glory of God, for the interest of the Redeemer's kingdom, and for the spiritual benefit of your neighbors. If your heart is full of love, it will find vent. You will find or make ways enough to express your love and deeds. When a fountain abounds in water, it will send forth streams. Consider that, as a principle of love, is the main principle in the heart of a real Christian. So the labor of love is the main business of the Christian life. Let every Christian consider these things, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things, and make you sensible what spirit it becomes you to be of, and dispose you to such an excellent, amiable, and benevolent life, as is answerable to such a spirit, that you may not only love in word and tongue, but indeed in truth. 4. Having in the last lecture shown that on the virtue in the saints which is distinguishing and saving may be summed up in Christian love, I would now consider what things are compared with it in the text, and to which of the two the preference is given. The things compared together in the text are of two kinds. On the one hand, the extraordinary and miraculous gifts of the Spirit, such as the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, and so on, which were frequent in that age, and particularly in the church at Corinth, and, on the other hand, the effect of the ordinary influences of the same Spirit in true Christians, namely charity or divine love. That was an age of miracles. It was not then as it had been of old among the Jews, when two or three, or at most a very few in the whole nation, had the gift of prophecy. It rather seemed as if Moses' wish, recorded in Numbers 11.29, had become in a great measure fulfilled. Would to God all the Lord's people were prophets! Not only some certain persons of great eminence were endowed with such gifts, but they were common to all sorts, old and young, and women, according to the prophecy of the prophet Joel, who, preaching of those days, foretold beforehand that great event. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy." Especially the church at Corinth was very eminent for such gifts. All sorts of miraculous gifts were, as is apparent from this epistle, bestowed on that church. And the number who enjoyed these gifts was not small. To one, says the apostle, is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the workings of miracles, to another prophecy. But all these worketh that one in the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. And so some had one gift, and some another. But, says the Apostle, covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet I show unto you a more excellent way, i.e., something more excellent than all these gifts put together, yea, something of so great importance that all these gifts without it are nothing. For though I speak with the tongues of men, As they did on the day of Pentecost, yea, and of angels too, and if not charity, I am become an empty worthless thing, a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have not only one, but all the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, and can not only speak with tongues, but have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, to see into all the deep things of God by immediate inspiration, And though I have all faith to work all sorts of miracles, yea, even so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. Charity, then, which is the fruit of the ordinary sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, is preferred as being more excellent than any, yea, than all the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, even Christian love, which has been shown as the sum of all saving grace. Yea, so very much is it preferred that all the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit without it are nothing, and can profit nothing. The doctrine taught, then, is that the ordinary influence of the Spirit of God work in the grace of charity in the heart is a more excellent blessing than any of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. Here I would endeavor to show, first, what is meant by the ordinary and extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are indeed great privileges, and yet, thirdly, that the ordinary influence of the Spirit work in the grace of charity, or love in the heart, is a more excellent blessing. First, I would briefly explain what is meant by the ordinary and extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, for the gifts and operations of the Spirit of God are, by defiance, distinguished into common and saving, and into ordinary and extraordinary. The gifts and operations of the Spirit of God are distinguished into those that are common and those that are saving. By common gifts of the Spirit are meant such as are common both to the godly and the ungodly. There are certain ways in which the Spirit of God influences the mind of nature. Thus there are common convictions of sin, i.e., such convictions as ungodly men may have as well as godly. So there are common illuminations or enlightenings, i.e., such as are common to both godly and ungodly. So there are common religious affections, common gratitude, common sorrow, and the like. But there are other gifts of the Spirit which are peculiar to the godly, such as saving faith and love and all the other saving graces of the Spirit. 2. Ordinary and Extraordinary The extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, such as the gift of tongues, of miracles, of prophecy, and so on, are called extraordinary because they are such as are not given in the ordinary course of God's providence. They are not bestowed in the way of God's ordinary providential dealing with His children, but only on extraordinary occasions as they were bestowed on the prophets and apostles, to enable them to reveal the mind and will of God before the canon of Scripture was complete, and so on the primitive church in order to the founding and establishing of it in the world. But since the canon of the Scripture has been completed and the Christian church fully founded and established, these extraordinary gifts have ceased. But the ordinary gifts of the Spirit are such as are continued to the Church of God throughout all ages. Such gifts as are granted in conviction and conversion, and such as appertain to the building up of the saints in holiness and comfort. It may be observed, then, that the distinction of the gifts of the Spirit into ordinary and extraordinary is very different from the other distinction into common and special. For some of the ordinary gifts, such as faith, hope, charity, are not common gifts. There are such gifts as God ordinarily bestows on His Church in all ages. But they are not common to the godly and the ungodly, they are peculiar to the godly. And the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are common gifts. The gifts of tongues, of miracles, of prophecy, and so on, although they are not ordinarily bestowed on the Christian Church, but only on extraordinary occasions, yet are not peculiar to the godly, for many ungodly men have had these gifts. Matthew 7, 22 and 23. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Having explained these terms, I proceed now to show, secondly, that the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit of God are indeed great privileges. When God endows anyone with the spirit of prophecy, favors him with immediate inspiration, or gives him power to work miracles, to heal the sick, to cast out devils and the like, the privilege is great. This is one of the highest kinds of privileges that God ever bestows on men next to saving grace. It is a great privilege to live in the enjoyment of the outward means of grace and to belong to the visible church, but to be a prophet and a worker of miracles in the church is of a much greater privilege still. It is a great privilege to hear the word which has been spoken by prophets and inspired persons, but a much greater to be a prophet, to preach the word, to be inspired by God, to make known his mind and will to others. It was a great privilege that God bestowed on Moses when he called him to be a prophet, and employed him as an instrument to reveal the law to the children of Israel, and to deliver to the church so great a part of the written word of God, even the first written revelation that ever was delivered to it. And when he used him as an instrument of working so many wonders in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, great was the privilege that God bestowed on David in inspiring him and making him the penman of so great and excellent a part of his word for the use of the church in all ages. Great was the privilege that God bestowed on those two prophets, Elijah and Elisha, in enabling them to perform such miracles and wonderful works. And the privilege was very great that God bestowed on the prophet Daniel in giving him so much of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, particularly such understanding in the visions of God. This procured him great honor among the heathen and even in the court of the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, that great and mighty and haughty monarch, so admired Daniel for it that he was once about to worship him as a god. He fell upon his face before him and commanded that an ablation of sweet odors should be offered unto him. Daniel 2.46. And Daniel was advanced to greater honor than all the wise men, the magicians, astrologers, and soothsayers of Babylon, in consequence of these extraordinary gifts which God bestowed upon him. Hear how the Queen speaks of him to Belshazzar, Daniel 5, 11, and 12. There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him, whom the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father the king, I say, thy father made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers, forasmuch as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding Interpreting of dreams and showing of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel. This privilege was also the thing which gave Daniel honor in the Persian court, Daniel 6, 1 and 3. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom, and over the three presidents of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this, Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king sought to set him over the whole realm. By this excellent spirit was doubtless, among other things, meant a spirit of prophecy and divine inspiration, for which he had been so honored by the princes of Babylon. It was a great privilege that Christ bestowed on the apostles, and so filling them with the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit. inspiring them to teach all nations, and making them, as it were, next to himself, and to be the twelve precious stones that are considered as the twelve foundations of the church. Revelation 21 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Ephesians 2 20 Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. And how highly was the Apostle John favored when he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and had such extraordinary visions representing the great events of God's providence towards the Church. in all ages of it to the end of the world. Such extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are spoken of in Scripture as very great privileges. So was the privilege that God bestowed on Moses in speaking to him by way of extraordinary miraculous revelation, as it were, face to face. And that outpouring of the Spirit and His extraordinary gifts on the day of Pentecost, which was foretold and spoken of, by the prophet Joel is a very great privilege in those four cited words in Joel 2, 28 and 29. And Christ speaks of the gifts of miracles and of tongues as great privileges that he would bestow on them that should believe in him, Matthew 16, 17 and 18. Such extraordinary gifts of the Spirit have been looked upon as a great honor. Moses and Aaron were envied in the camp because of the peculiar honor that God put upon them. And so Joshua was ready to envy Eldad and Medad, because they prophesied in the camp. Numbers 11.27 And when the angels themselves have been sent to do the work of the prophets, to reveal things to come, it has set them in a very honorable point of light. Even the apostle John himself, in his great surprise, was once again ready to fall down and worship the angel that was sent by Christ, to reveal to him the future events of the church. But the angel forbids him, acknowledging that the privilege of the spirit of prophecy which he had was not of himself, but that he had received it of Jesus Christ. Revelation 20 verse 10 and 22, 8 and 9. The heathen of the city of Lystra were so astonished at the power the apostle Barnabas and Paul had to work miracles that they were about to offer sacrifices to them as gods. Acts 14, 11 and 13. And Simon the sorcerer had a great hankering after that gift that the apostles had, of conferring the Holy Ghost by laying on their hands, and offered them money for it. These extraordinary gifts are a great privilege, in that there is in them a conformity to Christ and His prophetical office. And the greatness of the privilege appears also in this, that though sometimes they have been bestowed on natural men, yet it has been very rarely and commonly such as have had them bestowed on them have been saints, yea, and the most eminent saints. Thus it was on the day of Pentecost, and thus it was in more early ages, 2 Peter 1, 21. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. These gifts have commonly been bestowed as tokens of God's extraordinary favor and love, as it was with Daniel. He was a man greatly beloved, and therefore he was admitted to such a great privilege as that of having these revelations made to him. Daniel 9, 23, 10, 11, 19. And the apostle John, as he was the disciple whom Jesus loved, so he was selected above all the other apostles to be the man to whom those great events were revealed, that we have an account of in the book of Revelation. I come now thirdly to show that though these are great privileges, yet that the ordinary influence of the Spirit of God, working the grace of charity in the heart, is a far more excellent privilege than any of them. a greater blessing than the spirit of prophecy, or the gift of tongues, or of miracles, even to the removing of mountains, a greater blessing than all those miraculous gifts that Moses and Elijah and David and the twelve apostles were endowed with. This will appear if we consider This blessing of the saving grace of God is a quality inherent in the nature of Him that is the subject of it. This gift of the Spirit of God, working a truly Christian temper in the soul, and exciting, gracious exercises there, confers a blessing that has its seat in the heart, a blessing that makes a man's heart or nature excellent, yea, the very excellency of the nature does consist in it. Now it is not so with respect to these extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. They are excellent things, but not properly the excellency of a man's nature, for they are not things that are inherent in the nature. For instance, if a man is endowed with the gift of working miracles, his power is not anything inherent in this nature. It is not properly any quality of the heart and nature of the man. as true grace and holiness are, and so most commonly those that have these extraordinary gifts of prophecy, speaking with tongues, and working miracles, have been holy persons, yet their holiness did not consist in their having these gifts. These extraordinary gifts are nothing properly inherent in the man, they are something adventitious. They are excellent things, but not excellencies in the nature of the subject. They are like a beautiful garment, which does not alter the nature of the man that wears it. They are like precious jewels, with which the body may be adorned. But true grace is that whereby the very soul itself becomes, as it were, a precious jewel. 2. The Spirit of God communicates Himself much more in bestowing saving grace than in bestowing extraordinary gifts. of the Spirit, the Holy Ghost does indeed produce effects in men or by men, but not so as properly to communicate himself and his own proper nature to men. A man may have an extraordinary impulse in his mind by the Spirit of God, whereby some future things may be revealed to him, or he may have an extraordinary vision given him representing some future event. And yet the Spirit may not at all impart Himself and His holy nature by that. The Spirit of God may produce effects and things in which He does not communicate Himself to us. Thus the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters, but not so as to impart Himself to the water. But when the Spirit, by His ordinary influences, bestows saving grace, He therein imparts Himself to the soul in His own holy nature. That nature of His, on the account of which He is so often called in Scripture, the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit. By his producing this effect, the Spirit becomes an indwelling vital principle in the soul, and the subject becomes spiritual, being denominated so from the Spirit of God that dwells in him, and whose nature he is partaker of. Yea, grace is, as it were, the holy nature of the Spirit imparted to the soul. But the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, such as knowing things to come, or having power to work miracles, do not imply this holy nature. not but that God, when he gives the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, is commonly wont to give the sanctifying influences of the Spirit with them, but one does not imply the other. And if God gives only extraordinary gifts, such as a gift of prophecy, of miracles, and so on, these alone will never make their receiver a partaker of the Spirit, so as to become spiritual in himself, i.e., in his own nature. that grace or holiness, which is the effect of the ordinary influence of the Spirit of God in the hearts of saints, is that wherein the spiritual image of God consists, and not in these extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. The spiritual image of God does not consist in having a power to work miracles and foretell future events, but it consists in being holy as God is holy, in having a holy and divine principle in the heart, influencing us to holy and heavenly lives. Indeed, there is a kind of assimilation to Christ in having a power to work miracles, For Christ had such a power, and wrought a multitude of miracles, John 14, 12. The works that I do shall he do also. But the moral image and likeness of Christ is much more consistent having the same mind in us which was in Christ, and being of the same spirit that he was of, and being meek and lowly of heart, and having a spirit of Christian love, and walking as Christ walked. This makes a man more like Christ than if he could ever work ever so many miracles. That grace which is the effect of the ordinary influences of the Spirit of God is a privilege which God bestows only on His own favorites and children, but the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are not so. It has been observed before that though God most commonly has chosen saints and eminent saints to bestow extraordinary gifts of the Spirit upon, yet He has not always done so, but these gifts are sometimes bestowed on others. They have been common to both the godly and the ungodly. Balaam is stigmatized in Scripture as a wicked man, 2 Peter 2.15, Jude 11 and Revelation 2.14, and yet he had the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit of God for a while. Saul was a wicked man, but we read once and again of his being among the prophets. Judas was one of those whom Christ sent forth to preach and work miracles. He was one of those twelve disciples of whom it is said in Matthew 10 1. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. And in the next verses we are told who they were. Their names are all rehearsed over. And Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him, among the rest. And in verse 8 Christ says to them, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. The grace of God in the heart is a gift of the Holy Ghost peculiar to the saints. It is a blessing that God reserves only for those who are the objects of His special and peculiar love. But the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are what God sometimes bestows on those whom He does not love but hates, which is a sure sign that the one is infinitely more precious and excellent than the other. That is the most precious gift, which is most of an evidence of God's love. But the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit were, in the days of inspiration and miracles, no sure sign of the love of God. The prophets were not wont to build their persuasion of the favor and love of God on their being prophets and having revelations, but on their being sincere saints. Thus it was with David, see Psalm 15 1-5 and 17 1-3 and Psalm 119 throughout. And indeed the whole book of Psalms bears witness to this. So the Apostle Paul, though he was so greatly privileged with the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, was yet so far from making these the evidences of his good estate that he expressly declares that without charity they are all nothing. And hence we may argue, number five, from the fruit and consequence of these two different things, that the one is infinitely more excellent than the other. Eternal life is, by the promise of the gospel, constantly connected with the one and never with the other. Salvation is promised to those who have the graces of the Spirit, but not to those who have merely the extraordinary gifts Many may have these last, and yet go to hell. Judas Iscariot had them, and is gone to hell. And Christ tells us that many who have had them will at the last day be bid to depart as workers of iniquity, Matthew 7, 22 and 23. Therefore, when He promised His disciples these extraordinary gifts, He made them rejoice, not because the devils were subject to them, but because their names were written in heaven. Intimating that the one might be, and yet not the other, Luke 10, 17, and so on. And this shows that the one is an infinitely greater blessing than the other, as it carries eternal life in it. For eternal life is a thing of infinite worth and value, and that must be an excellent blessing indeed that has this infallibly connected with it, and of infinitely more worth than any privilege whatsoever, which a man may possess, and yet, after all, go to hell. 6. Happiness itself does much more immediately and essentially consist in Christian grace, wrought by the ordinary influences of the Spirit, than in these extraordinary gifts. Man's highest happiness consists in holiness. For it is by this that the reasonable creature is united to God, the fountain of all good. Happiness doth so essentially consist in knowing, loving, and serving God, and having the holy and divine temper of the soul, and the lively exercises of it, that these things will make a man happy without anything else. But no other enjoyments or privileges whatsoever will make a man happy without this. 7. This divine temper of Saul, which is the fruit of the ordinary sanctifying influences of the Spirit, is the end of all the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, the gift of prophecy, of miracles, of tongues, and so on, God gave for this very end to promote the propagation and establishment of the Gospel in the world. And the end of the Gospel is to turn men from darkness to light, and the power of sin and Satan to serve the living God, i.e., to make men holy. The end of all the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit is a conversion of sinners into building up a saint in that holiness which is a fruit of the ordinary influences of the Holy Ghost. For this, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles after Christ's ascension, and they were enabled to speak with tongues, work miracles, and so on. And for this, very many others in that age were endued with the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost. Ephesians 4, 11. and he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists. Here the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are referred to, and the end of all is expressed in the next words, namely, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And what sort of edifying of the body of Christ this is, we learn from verse 16, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. In love, that is, in charity, the same that is spoken of in our text, for the word in the original is the same, and the same thing is meant. So it is the same as in 1 Corinthians 8 verse 1, charity edifieth. But the end is always more excellent than the means. This is a maxim universally allowed, for means have no goodness in them any otherwise, and as they are subordinate to the end. The end, therefore, must be considered as superior in excellency to the means. 8. The extraordinary gifts of the Spirit will be so far from profiting without that grace which is the fruit of the ordinary influences of the Spirit, that they will but aggravate the condemnation of those that have them. Doubtless, Judas's condemnation was exceedingly aggravated by his having been one that had such privileges. And some that have had such extraordinary gifts have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, and their privileges were a main thing that rendered their sin the unpardonable sin, as appears from Hebrews 6, 4-6, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened. And have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away. To renew them again unto repentance, see them as they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put them to an open shame. Those who fell away were such as apostatized from Christianity. after having made a public profession of it, and received the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, as most Christians did in those days. They were instructed in Christianity, and through the common influences of the Spirit they received the Word with joy, like those in Matthew 13.20, and withal received the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, tasted of the heavenly gifts and the powers of the world to come, spake with tongues, prophesied in Christ's name, and in this name cast out devils, and yet, after all, openly renounced Christianity, joined to call Christ an imposter, as his murderers did, and so crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. Of these it is that the Apostle says that it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. Such apostates, in their renouncing Christianity, must ascribe the miraculous powers which themselves had possessed to the devil. So their case became hopeless, and their condemnation must be exceedingly aggravated. And from this it appears that saving grace is of an infinitely more worth and excellence than the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. 9. Another thing that shows a preferableness of that saving grace, which is the fruit of the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit to the extraordinary gifts, is that one will fail and the other will not. This argument the Apostle makes use of in the context to show that divine love is preferable to the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. 8. Charity never faileth, but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail, whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. Divine love will remain throughout all eternity, but the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit will fail in time. They are only of the nature of means, and when the end is obtained, they shall cease, but divine love will remain forever. In the improvement of this subject, I remark, first, that saving grace is a greater blessing than the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. We may doubtless hence argue that it is the greatest privilege and blessing that ever God bestows on any person in this world, for these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, such as the gift of tongues, of miracles, of prophecy, and so on, are the highest kind of privilege that God ever bestows on natural men. and privileges which have been very rarely bestowed on such in any age of the world the apostolic age accepted. If what has been said be well considered, it will appear evident beyond all doubt that the saving grace of God in the heart, working a holy and divine temper in the soul, is the greatest blessing that ever men receive in this world. greater than any natural gifts, greater than the greatest natural abilities, greater than any acquired endowments of mine, greater than the most universal learning, greater than any outward wealth and honor. greater than to be a king or an emperor, greater than to be taken with the sheep coat, as David was, and made king over all Israel, and all the riches and honor and magnificence of Solomon, and all his glory, are not to be compared with it. Great was the privilege that God bestowed on the blessed Virgin Mary, and granting that of her should be born the Son of God, that a person who was infinitely more honorable than the angels, yea, who was the Creator and King of heaven and earth, The great Sovereign of the world, that such an one should be conceived in her womb, born of her, and nursed at her breasts, was a greater privilege than for her to be the mother of the child of the greatest earthly prince that ever lived. Yet even that was not so great a privilege as to have the grace of God in the heart, to have Christ as it were born in the soul, as He Himself doth expressly teach us in Luke 11, 27 and 28. And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that beareth thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. And once, when some told him that his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him, he thence took occasion to let them know that there was a more blessed way of being related to him than that which consisted in being his mother and brethren according to the flesh. Matthew 12, 46-50. Who is my mother, said he, and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother. 2. Hence these two kinds of privileges are not to be confounded. By taking things that have some appearance of an extraordinary, miraculous gift of the Spirit, for sure signs of grace. If persons at any time have some extraordinary impression made upon their minds, which they think is from God, revealing something to them that shall come to pass hereafter, this, if it were real, would argue an extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost, namely the gift of prophecy. But from what has been said, it is evident that it would be no certain sign of grace or of any thing saving, even if it were real. I say, for indeed we have no reason to look on such things when pretended to in these days as any other than delusion. And the fact that such impressions are made by texts of Scripture coming suddenly to the mind alters not the case, for a text of Scripture coming to the mind proves no more to be true than the reading of it proves. If reading any text of Scripture at any time and at all times as it lies in the Bible does not prove such a thing, then its coming suddenly to the mind does not prove it, for the Scripture speaks just the same thing at one time as it does at another. The words have the same meaning when they are read along in chorus as they have when they are suddenly brought to the mind. And if any man therefore argues anything further from them, he proceeds without warrant. For their coming suddenly to the mind does not give them a new meaning, which they had not before. So if a man thinks that he is in a good estate because such a text of Scripture comes suddenly to his mind, if the text does not prove it as it lies in the Bible, and if it would not have proved it had he only read it as he was reading along in course, then by such a text coming to his mind he has no evidence that he is in a good estate. So if anything appears to persons as though they had a vision of some invisible form, and heard some voice, such things are not to be taken as signs of grace. For if they are real and from God, they are not grace, for the extraordinary influence of the Spirit producing visions and dreams, such as the prophets of old had, are no sure signs of grace. All the fruits of the Spirit, which we are to lay weight upon as evidential of grace, are summed up in charity or Christian love, because this is the sum of all grace. And the only way, therefore, in which any can know their good estate is by discerning the exercises of this divine charity in their hearts. For without charity let men have what gifts you please, they are nothing. 3. If saving grace is more excellent than the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, Then we cannot conclude from what the Scripture says of the glory of the latter times of the Church that the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit will be granted to men in those times. Many have been ready to think that in those glorious times of the Church, which shall be after the calling of the Jews and the destruction of Antichrist, there will be many persons that will be inspired and endued with the power of working miracles. But what the Scripture says concerning the glory of those times does not prove any such thing or make it probable. For it has been shown that the pouring out of the Spirit of God in His ordinary and saving operations, to fill men's hearts with a Christian and holy temper, and lead them to the exercise of the divine life, is the most glorious way of pouring out the Spirit that can be, more glorious, far more glorious, than the pouring out of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. Therefore, the glory of the times of the Church does not require any such thing as those extraordinary gifts. Those times may be far the most glorious times of the Church that ever have been without them. Means not having the gift of prophecy, of tongues, and healing, and so on, as they had in the apostolic age, will not hinder those being far more glorious times than were then, if the Spirit be poured out in greater measure in His sanctifying influences. For this, as the Apostle expressly asserts, is a more excellent way, 1 Corinthians 12, 31. This glory is the greatest glory of the Church of Christ, and the greatest glory which Christ's Church will ever enjoy in any period. This is what will make the church more like the church in heaven, where charity or love hath a perfect reign than any number or degree of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit could do, so that we have no reason on this account, and perhaps not on any other, to expect that the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit will be poured out in those glorious times which are yet to come. For in those times there is no dispensation to be introduced and no Bible to be given. Nor have we any reason to expect our present Scriptures are to be added to and enlarged, but rather in the end of the sacred writings which we now have it seems to be intimated that no addition is to be made till Christ comes. See Revelation 22 18-21. 4. What cause have they to bless God, and to live to His glory, who have received such a privilege as is implied in the influence of the Holy Spirit working saving grace in the heart? If we do but seriously consider the state of the godly, of those who have been the subjects of this inexpressible blessing, we cannot but be astonished at the wonderful grace bestowed upon them. And the more we consider it, the more wonderful and inexpressible it will appear. When we read in the Scriptures of the great privileges conferred on the Virgin Mary and on the Apostle Paul when he was caught up into the third heaven, we are ready to admire such privileges as very great. But after all, they are as nothing compared with the privilege of being like Christ and having His love in the heart. Let those in that have hope they have this last blessing consider, more than they ever yet have done, how great a favor God has bestowed upon them, and how great their obligations to glorify Him for the work He has wrought in them, and to glorify Christ who hath purchased this blessing for them with His own blood, and to glorify the Holy Spirit who has sealed it to their souls. What manner of person ought such to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Consider you that hope in God's mercy, how lightly He has advanced and exalted you, and will you not be diligent to live for Him? Will you dishonor Christ so as to regard Him but little, not giving Him your whole heart, but going after the world, neglecting Him in His service and His glory? Will you not be watchful against yourselves, against a corrupt, worldly, proud disposition that might lead you away from God, who has been so kind to you, and from the Savior, who has purchased such blessings for you at the cost of His own agonies and death? Will you not every day make this your earnest inquiry? What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? What could God have done more for you than he has done? What privilege could he have bestowed better in itself for a more worthy to engage your heart in thankfulness? And consider how you are living, how little you have done for Him, how much you do for self, how little this divine love has wrought in your heart to incline you to live for God and Christ and for the extension of His kingdom. Oh, how should such as you show your sense of your high privileges by the exercises of love, love that is manifest toward God in obedience, submission, reverence, cheerfulness, joy, and hope, and toward your neighbor in meekness, sympathy, humility, charitableness, and doing good to all as you have opportunity. Finally, number five, the subject exhorts all unrenewed persons, those who are strangers to this grace, to seek this most excellent blessing for themselves. Consider how miserable you now are while wholly destitute of this love, far from righteousness in love with the vanities of the world and full of enmity against God. How will you endure when He shall deal with you according to what you are, coming forth in anger as your enemy, and executing His fierce wrath against you? Consider, too, that you are capable of this love, and Christ is able and willing to bestow it, and multitudes have obtained it and been blessed in it. God is seeking your love, and you are under unspeakable obligation to render it. The Spirit of God has been poured out wonderfully here. Multitudes have been converted. Scarcely a family has been passed by. In almost every household, some have been made nobles, kings and priests unto God, sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. What manner of persons, then, ought all of us to be? How holy, serious, just, humble, charitable, devoted in God's service, and faithful to our fellow men! As individuals, and as a people, God has most richly blessed us. As both individuals and a people, it becomes us to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, showing forth the praises of Him that has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me, and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God. CHARITY AND HIS FRUITS Lecture 3 The greatest performances are sufferings in vain, without charity. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 1 Corinthians 13.3 In the previous verses of this chapter, the necessity and excellence of charity are set forth, as we have seen, by his preference to the greatest privileges, and the utter vanity and insignificance of these privileges without it. The privileges particularly mentioned are those that consist in the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit of God. In this verse, things of another kind are mentioned, namely, those that are of a moral nature, and it is declared that none of these avail anything without charity, and particularly first, that our performances are in vain without it. Here is one of the highest kinds of external performances mentioned, namely, giving all our goods to feed the poor. Giving to the poor is a duty very much insisted on in the Word of God, and particularly under the Christian dispensation. In the primitive times of Christianity, the circumstances of the church were such that persons were sometimes called apart with all they had and given away to others. This was partly because of the extreme necessities of those who were persecuted and in distress, and partly because of difficulties that attended being a follower of Christ. And doing the work of the gospel were such as to call for the disciples disentangling themselves from the care and burden of their worldly possessions, and going forth, as it were, without gold or silver in their purses, or scrip, or even two coats apiece. The Apostle Paul tells us that he had suffered a loss of all things for Christ, and the primitive Christians in the church at Jerusalem sold all that they had and gave it into a common fund, and none said that aught that he had was his own. Acts 4.32. The duty of giving to the poor was the duty that the Christian Corinthians at this time had particular occasion to consider. not only because of the many troubles of the times, but by reason also of a great dearth or famine that sorely distressed the brethren in Judea, and few of which the Apostle had already urged it on the Corinthians as their duty to send relief to them, speaking of it particularly in this epistle in the sixteenth chapter, and also in a second epistle to the same church in the eighth and ninth chapters. And yet, though he says so much in both these epistles to stir them up to the duty of giving to the poor, still he is very careful to inform them that though they should go ever so far in it, yea, though they should bestow all their goods to feed the poor and have not charity, it would profit them nothing. Secondly, the Apostle teaches that not only our performances, but also our sufferings are of no avail without charity. Men are ready to make much of what they do, but more of what they suffer. They are ready to think it is a great thing when they put themselves out of their way, or at great expense or suffering for their religion. The Apostle here mentions a suffering of the most extreme kind, suffering even to death, and that one of the most terrible forms of death, and says that even this is nothing without charity. When a man is given all his goods, he has nothing else remaining that he can give but himself. And the Apostle teaches that when a man is given all his possessions, if he then goes on to give his own body, and that to be utterly consumed in the flames, it would have failed nothing if it had not been done from sincere love in the heart. The time when the Apostle wrote to the Corinthians was a time when Christians were often called, not only to give their goods, but their bodies also, for Christ's sake. For the church then was generally under persecution, and multitudes were then, or soon after, put to very cruel deaths for the gospel's sake. But though they suffered in life, or endured the most agonizing death, it would be in vain without charity. What is meant by this charity has already been explained in the former lectures on these verses, in which it has been shown that charity is the sum of all that is distinguishing in the religion of the heart. And therefore the doctrine that I would derive from these words is this, that all that men can do, and all that they can suffer, can never make up for the lack of sincere Christian love in the heart. 1 There may be great performances, and so there may be great sufferings, without sincere Christian love in the heart, and there may be great performances without it. The Apostle Paul in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians tells us what things he did before his conversion and while he remained a Pharisee. In the fourth verse he says, If any other man thinketh that he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Many of the Pharisees did great things and abounded in religious performances. The Pharisee, mentioned in Luke 18 and 11 and 12, boasted of the great things that he had done, both towards God and men, and thanked God that he had so exceeded other men in his doings. And many of the heathen have been eminent for their great performances, some for their integrity or for their justice, and others for their great deeds done for the public good. Many men, without any sincerity of love in their hearts, have been exceedingly magnificent in their gifts for pious and charitable uses. and have thus gotten to themselves great fame, and have their names handed down in history to posterity with great glory. Many have done great things from fear of hell, hoping thereby to appease the Deity, and make atonement for their sins. And many have done great things from pride, and from a desire for reputation and honor among men. And though these motives are not wont to influence men to a constant and universal observance of God's commands, and to go on with the course of Christian performances, And with the practice of all duties towards God and man through life, yet it is hard to say how far such natural principles may carry men in particular duties and performances. And so, number two, there may be great sufferings for religion, and yet no sincerity of love in the heart. Persons may undergo great sufferings in life, just as some of the Pharisees used themselves to great severities and dependences and voluntary inflictions. Many have undertaken worrisome pilgrimages, and have shut themselves out from the benefits and pleasures of the society of mankind, or have spent their lives in deserts and solitudes, and some have suffered death, of whom we have no reason to think that they had any sincere love to God in their hearts. Multitudes among the Papists have voluntarily gone and ventured their lives in bloody wars, in hopes of meriting heaven by it. And the war is carried on with the Turks and Syriac Finns. called the Holy Wars or Crusades, thousands went voluntarily to all the dangers of the conflict, in the hope of thus securing the pardon of their sins and the rewards of glory hereafter. And many thousands, yea, some millions in this way, lost their lives even to the depopulation in the considerable measure of many parts of Europe. And the Turks were, many of them, enraged by this exceedingly, so as to venture their lives and rush, as it were, upon the very points of the swords of their enemies. because Mohammed has promised that all that die in war in defense of the Mohammedan faith shall go at once to paradise. And history tells us that some that have yielded themselves to voluntary death out of mere obstinacy and sturdiness of spirit rather than yield to the demand of others when they might without dishonor have saved their lives. Many among the heathen have died for their country, and many as martyrs for a false faith, though not in any wise in such numbers nor in such manner as those that have died as martyrs for the true religion. And in all these cases, many doubtless have endured their sufferings or met death without any sincere divine love in their hearts. Whatever men may do or suffer, they cannot, by all their performances and sufferings, make up for the lack of sincere love in the heart, if they lay themselves out ever so much in the things of religion, and are ever so much engaged in acts of justice and kindness and devotion, and if their prayers and fastings are ever so much multiplied, or if they should spend their time ever so much in the forms of religious worship, giving nights and days to it, and denying sleep to their eyes and slumber to their eyelids, that they might be the more laborious in religious exercises, and if the things that they should do in religion were such as to get them a name throughout the world, and make them famous to all future generations, it would be all in vain without sincere love to God in the heart. And so if a man should give most bounteously to religious or charitable uses, And if, possessing the riches of a kingdom, he should give it all, and from the splendor of an earthly prince should reduce himself to a level of beggars, and if he should not stop there, but when he had done all this, should yield himself to undergo the fiercest sufferings, giving up not only his possessions, but also giving up his body to be clothed in rags, or to be mangled and burned and tormented as much as the wit of man could conceive, all, even all of this, would not make up for the want of sincere love to God in the heart. and it is plain that it would not, for the following reasons. 1. It is not the external work done, or the suffering endured, that is, in itself worth anything in the sight of God, the motions and exercise of the body, or anything that may be done by it, if considered separately from the heart, the inward part of the man. It has no more consequence or worth in the sight of God than the motions of anything without life. If anything be offered or given, though it be silver or gold, or the cattle on a thousand Though it be a thousand rams or ten thousands of rivers of oil, there is nothing of value in it as an external thing in God's sight. If God were in need of these things, they might be of value to Him and themselves considered, independently of the motive of the heart that led to their being offered. We often stand in need of external good things, and therefore such things offered or given to us may and do have a value to us and themselves considered. But God stands in need of nothing, he is all-sufficient in himself. He is not fed by the sacrifices of beasts, nor enriched by the gift of silver, or gold, or pearls. Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine in the fullness thereof. Psalm 50, 10, and 12. All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. O LORD our God, all the store that we have prepared to build thee in house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. 1 Chronicles 29 14-16 And as there is nothing profitable to God in any of our services, or sight, in a mere external action, without sincere love in the heart, for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart. The heart is just as naked and open to him as the external actions, and therefore he sees our actions and all our conduct, not merely as the