134 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK 11.
came. Much more was there such an evidence in it unto them who enjoyed its original inspiration. Secondly, He acted and guided them as to the very organs of their bodies whereby they expressed the revelation which they had received by inspiration from him. They spake as they were acted by the Holy Ghost. He guided their tongues in the declaration of his revelations, as the mind of a man guideth his hand in writing to express its conceptions. Hence David, having received revelations from him, or being inspired by him, affirms, in his expression of them, that " his tongue was the pen of a ready writer," Ps. xlv. 1 ; that is, it was so guided by the Spirit of God to express the conceptions received from him. And on this ac- count God is said to speak by their mouths: " As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets," Luke i. 70 ; — all of whom had but one mouth on the account of their absolute consent and agreement in the same predictions; for this isthe meaning of "one voice" or ''one mouth" in a multitude. " The Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of David," Acts i. 1 6. For whatever they received by revelation, they were but the pipes through which the waters of it were conve3^ed, without the least mixture with any alloy from their frailties or infirmities. So, when David had received' the pattern of the temple, and the manner of the whole worship of God therein by the Spirit, 1 Chron. xxviii. 12, he says, " All this the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern,"^ verse 19. The Spirit of God not only revealed it unto him, but so guided him in the writing of it down as that he might understand the mind of God out of what himself had written; or, he gave it him so plainly and evidently as if every particular had been expressed in writing by the finger of God.
/ (1.) It remaineth that, as unto this first extraordinary work and gift of the Holy Ghost, we consider those especial ways and means which he made use of in the communication of his mind unto the prophets, with some other accidental adjuncts of prophecy. Some, following Maimonides in his " More Nebuchim," have, from the several ways of the communication of divine revelations, distinguished the degrees of prophecy or of the gifts of it, preferring one above another. This I have elsewhere disproved, "Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews," chap. i. Neither, indeed, is there, either hence or from any other ground, the least occasion to feign those eleven degrees of prophecy which he thought he had found out ; much less may the spirit or gift of prophecy be attained by the ways he prescribes, and with Tatianus seems to give countenance unto.^ The distinct outward manners and
» " Neo aer voce pulsatus ad aures eorum perveniebat, sed Deus loquebatur in animo proplietanim," — Hieron. Prooem., in lib. i. Comment, in Isa.
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CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION. 1 35
ways of revelation mentioned in the Scriptures may be reduced unto three heads: — 1. Voices; 2. Dreams; 3. Visions. And the accidental adjuncts of it are two: — 1. Symholical actions; 2. Local mutations. The schoolmen, after Aquinas, xxii. q. 174, a. 1, do commonly re- duce the means of revelation unto three heads. For whereas there are three ways whereby we come to know any thing, — 1. By our external senses; 2. By impressions on the fantasy or imagination; 3. By pure acts of the understanding: so God by three ways re- vealed his will unto the prophets, — 1. By objects of their senses, as by audible voices ; 2. By impressions on the imagination in dreams and visions ; 3. By illustration or enlightening of their minds. But as this last way expresseth divine inspiration, I cannot acknowledge it as a distinct way of revelation by itself, for it was that Avhich was absolutely necessary to give an infallible assurance of mind in the other ways also; and setting that aside, there is none of them but is obnoxious to delusion.
First, God sometimes made use of an articulate voice, speaking out those things which he did intend to declare in words significant of them. So he revealed himself or his mind unto Moses, when he " spake unto him face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend," Exod. xxxiii. 1 1 ; Num. xii. 8. And as far as I can observe, the whole revelation made unto Moses was by outward, audible, articu- late voices, whose sense was impressed on his mind by the Holy Spirit ; for an external voice without an inward elevation and dispo- sition of mind is not sufficient to give security and assurance of truth unto him that doth receive it. So God spake to Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 12-18, as also to Samuel and Jeremiah, and it may be to all the rest of the prophets at their first calling and entrance into their ministry; for words formed miraculously by God, and conveyed sensibly unto the outward ears of men, carry a great majesty and authority with them. This was not the usual way of God's reveal- ing his mind, nor is it signified by that phrase of speech, " The word of the Lord caine unto me;" whereby no more is intended but an immediate revelation, by what way or means soever it was granted. Mostly this was by that secret effectual impression on their minds which we have before described. And these voices were either im- mediately created by God himself, as when he spake unto Moses, — wherein the eminency of the revelation made unto him principally consisted, — or the ministry of angels was used in the formation and pronunciation of them. But, as we observed before, the divine certainty of their minds to whom they were spoken, with their abilities infallibly to declare them unto others, was from an imme-