Part 149

Surely, was the Apostle _Paul_ to rise from the dead, and read over, or hear of such strange positions, his spirit, as once at _Athens_, would again be stirred in him; to see a writer thus attempting to erect an altar for the public worship of an unknown GOD: I say, an unknown GOD. For how is it possible, in the very nature of the thing, for us, who are by nature carnal and sold under sin, ever to worship GOD, who is a spirit, in spirit and in truth, without some inward manifestations of grace and spiritual knowledge, superadded to the light of external revelation, to enable us so to do? For, to apply what this Apostle observes upon a like occasion, “he is not a real christian, who is only one outwardly; but he alone is a true christian, who is one inwardly, whose baptism is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not merely of the water, whose praise is not of man, but of GOD.” And yet (would you think it?) this writer is so unwary as to attempt to press this very Apostle, that true assertor of the doctrine of grace, that genuine, irrefragable vindicator of the offices and operations of the Holy Spirit, into his mistaken service. Never, I believe, were the saint and the scholar, the gentleman and the christian, more sweetly blended together, than in the character and writings of this favourite of heaven. How often, my dear friend, in our more retired moments, when conversing together concerning the lively oracles of GOD, have you called upon me to take notice of this truly great man’s pertinent and powerful preaching before _Felix_ the governor, as well as his inexpressibly polite and persuasive address to King _Agrippa_? And how have you again and again read over to me, and made remarks upon, those striking images, and those divine characteristics, which this accomplished master of human and divine rhetoric lays before us, in the xiiith chapter of his first epistle to the _Corinthians_, of that most excellent grace charity, or the love of GOD? A grace so absolutely necessary to the christian life, that without it, to use the inimitable language of this inspired writer, “Though we had a miraculous faith, so as to remove mountains, nay though we should give all our goods to feed the poor, and even our bodies to be burnt, it would profit us nothing.” A grace that never faileth, but a sacred something of which we shall eternally remain possessed, and be increasing in, even when faith shall end in the vision, and hope in the endless fruition of the ever-blessed GOD. O my dear friend, how frequently have our hearts burned within us, under the glowing warmth of such an animating prospect? And yet, incredible as it may seem to you, I assure you, that this very chapter is singled out by our hapless Author, to prove, “That supernatural manifestations of grace and knowledge, and spiritual aids in spiritual distresses, were the miraculous gifts of the primitive church, and were totally withdrawn on its perfect establishment.” Surely a more pertinent one could not be selected out of the whole New Testament, to prove directly the contrary. For let any man impartially examine the glorious inseparable properties and concomitants of this divine grace and gift, CHARITY, recorded in this chapter, can he then make the least doubt, whether any person living, can possibly be possessed of this most excellent gift, without those very supernatural manifestations of grace and knowledge, and those divine influences of the Holy Spirit exceeding the powers of humanity, which this unhappy writer would fain persuade us are now abated or totally withdrawn. “Charity (says our Apostle) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” Now can human reason, with all its heights; can calm philosophy, with all its depths; or moral suasion, with all its insinuating arts; so much as pretend to kindle, much less to maintain and blow up into a settled habitual flame of holy fire, such a spark as this in the human heart? Sooner might one attempt to extinguish the most rapid and devouring flames, by reading a lecture upon the benefit of cold water; or reach out one’s presumptuous hand to create a new heaven and a new earth; than to dream of extinguishing those innate, fiery passions of envy, selfishness, or malice, which this charity or love of GOD is here said to militate against; or, to work or form the soul into any of those divine tempers here spoken of, as the genuine effects and fruits of the love of GOD. No, my dear friend, these are flowers not to be gathered in nature’s garden. They are exotics; planted originally in heaven, and in the great work of the new birth, are transplanted by the Holy Ghost, not only into the hearts of the first Apostles, or primitive christians, but into the hearts of all true believers, even to the end of the world. For doubtless of all such St. _Paul_ speaks, when he says, “Tribulation worketh patience, patience experience, experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of GOD is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” And hence, doubtless, it is, that we were all in general, directed in one of the collects of our church, to “pray to that LORD who hath taught us, that all our doings without charity, are nothing worth, that he would send the Holy Ghost, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity.” So that, according to our reformers, supernatural influence and manifestations of grace and knowledge, are so far from being totally withdrawn, that, in the end of this very collect, they teach us to confess, that “without them,” or, which is the same, without the love of GOD poured into the heart by the Holy Ghost, “whosoever liveth, is counted dead before him.” But, if we will believe our Author, charity signifies little more than the outward establishment of the christian church, and consequently, that the Apostle means no more in this chapter than to shew us, “That prophecies, mysteries, knowledge,” (_i. e._ according to this writer, all supernatural knowledge) “were to cease when christianity arrived to a perfect establishment.” Page 82.――Nay, scorning to tread in the steps of _Whitby_, _Hammond_, _Burkit_, and every consistent spiritual expositor of holy writ, our new commentator, out of his paradoxical genius, labours to prove, that when the great Apostle asserts, that “charity never fails,” and therefore hath the preference over faith and hope, he means nothing less than to assert its eternal duration, and that consequently his true meaning hath hitherto escaped every unwary reader but himself, pages 75, 6, 7. Conscious, no doubt, of this singularity, and justly aware of its needing some apology, he very properly adds, page 82. that such an uncommon interpretation “instructs the unwary reader, with what caution and application he should come to the study of that profound reasoning with which all St. _Paul_’s epistles abound.” And may I not, at least with as great propriety subjoin, that this may also instruct every unwary reader, with what caution he should come to the study of that profound reasoning with which this treatise abounds? so very profound, that I believe it exceeds the powers of humanity to fathom its depths, so far as to draw out of it any true, consistent interpretation of the Apostle’s reasoning on this chapter at all.