In the first place, there is a great probability, a priori, that such would be the fact. Since, even under the dispensation of the law, the ministry was prompted by those immediate operations, it is altogether inconsistent with the analogy of divine truth to suppose that, under the more spiritual dispensation of the Gospel, the church should be deprived of so salutary a privilege. Again, it is to be remembered that the "prophesying" of which we are speaking was intended, as the apostle declares, for the great purposes of exhortation, edification, and comfort. Now, since exhortation, edification, and comfort, are required at the present day, as much as they were in the times of the apostles, and since the Great Head of the church is ever willing and able to supply the need of his servants, there are obvious reasons for our believing that the gift which was directed to these purposes, would still be permitted to operate. 993 The strong probability now adverted to, may be sufficient to throw the onus probandi upon those who deny the continued existence of the gift of inspired ministry. Nevertheless, it is desirable for us to remark, in the second place, that this probability is confirmed by certain plain promises contained in the Holy Scriptures. The prediction of Joel, as it is cited by the apostle Peter, declares that an abundant measure of this very gift should be poured forth on the servants of the Lord in "the last days." From the comparison of various other passages of the Bible, it appears that by "the last days" are intended the "times of Christianity"-" the times of the last dispensation"—and it will scarcely be denied that these expressions include the whole of that dispensation-its career and termination, as well as its commencement. It is most probable, therefore, that the promise of the Lord, through his prophet, did not relate exclusively to the events of the day of Pentecost, but is rather to be interpreted as describing some of the permanent marks of the Christian dispensation. Such a view of this celebrated prophecy appears to have been 1 1 Cor. xiv. 3. 2 In Joel ii. 28, we read, " And it shall come to pass afterward-Hebrew Kimchi, the Jewish commentator, informs us that this phrase signifies, in the last days; and it is well known that by "the last days" the Jews denote the times of the Messiah. 3 Acts ii. 17. 4 Comp. Isa. ii. 2; Heb. i. 2; 1 Peter i. 20; 1 John ii. 18. entertained by the apostle who cited it. After explaining to the people that the wonderful events of the day of Pentecost were effected by the Son of God, who had "received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost," and who had shed forth that which they then saw and heard, he proceeds to declare the continuance and universality, among believers of the same divine influence. "Repent and be baptized, every one of you," said he....." and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: for, the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” This passage has been cited, on a former occasion, to prove that the Holy Spirit was not to be withdrawn from the church as a guide to morals. Now, when we look at the circumstances under which these words were spoken, and consider their immediate connexion with the prediction of Joel and with its fulfilment, we can scarcely fail to perceive the evidence which they also afford, that the Holy Ghost was not to be withdrawn from the church as a guide to prophesying. It was, probably, in reference to both the general and the peculiar operations of the Spirit, that when our Lord promised to his disciples (who then represented his church militant,) the effusion of the Holy Ghost, he declared that this divine Teacher and Monitor should abide with them "for ever;" that is, I presume, through the whole course of the Christian dispensation.2 Lastly, an appeal may be safely made to the persons addressed in this work, when it is asserted that the sentiments of Friends, on the present subject, are confirmed by their own experience. That Society has, for more than a century and a half, been acting, with respect to the ministry, on the principles which have now been stated; and they have never found reason for considering those principles either untrue or ineffective. Although we are very far, indeed, from pretending to those higher degrees of inspiration which for peculiar and specific purposes were bestowed on some of the immediate followers of Jesus, we know that there are individuals among us who have received that gift of prophecy which is profitable for "exhortation, edification, and comfort;" that these persons cannot exercise their gift in their own strength, or at any stated periods; but that, as they are preserved in watchful depend ance upon their holy Leader, they are sometimes really anointed for the service; and that, on such occasions, their prayers and their preaching, however little adorned with the enticing words of man's wisdom, are evidently accompanied with life and power.' 1 In connexion with the subject of the present section, I wish to present to the reader's attention a very curious passage, selected from the Pastor of Hermas, a work probably composed during the first century after Christ, and although, in many respects, a fanciful composition, held in considerable repute among many of the early Christians. THE ELEVENTH COMMAND. That the Spirits and Prophets are to be tried by their works, I. He showed me certain men sitting upon benches, and one sitting in a chair; and he said unto me, Seest thou those who sit upon the benches? Sir, said I, I see them. He answered, They are the faithful; and he who sits in the chair is an earthly spirit. For, he cometh not into the assembly of the faithful, but avoids it. But he joins himself to the doubtful and empty, and prophesies to them in corners and hidden places; and pleases them by speaking according to all the desires of their hearts. For he, placing himself among empty vessels, is not broken, but the one fitteth the other. But when he cometh into the company of just men, who are full of the Spirit of God, and they pray unto the LORD, that man is emptied, because that earthly spirit flies from him, and he is dumb, and cannot speak any thing. As if, in a storehouse, you shall stop up wine and oil; and among those vessels shall place an empty jar; and shall afterward come to open it, you shall find it empty as you stopped it up: so those empty prophets, when they come among the spirits of the just, are found to be such as they came. II. I said, How then shall a man be able to discern them? Consider what I am going to say, concerning both kinds of men; and as I speak unto thee, so shalt thou prove the prophet of God, and the false prophet. And, first, try the man who hath the Spirit of God; because the Spirit which is from above is humble, and quiet; and departs from all wickedness; and from the vain desires of the present world; and makes himself more humble than all men; and answers to none when he is asked; nor to every one singly; for the Spirit of God doth not speak to a man when he will, but when God pleases. When therefore, a man who hath the Spirit of God shall come into the church of the righteous, who have the faith of God, and they pray unto the Lord; then the holy angel of God fills that man with the blessed Spirit, and he speaks in the congregation as he is moved of God. Thus, therefore, the Spirit of God is known, because, whosoever speaketh by the Spirit of God, speaketh as the Lord will. III. Hear now concerning the earthly spirit, which is empty and foolish, In reviewing the principal particulars of the present chapter, the reader will observe that the influences of the Holy Spirit are both general and extraordinary-that the former effect our conversion and sanctification, and, as such, are essential to salvation, and common to all the Lord's children-that the latter are not intended for the salvation of those to whom they are imparted, but for the use of the church; and are variously bestowed upon various personsthat any one gift of the Spirit, such as that of "the ministry," appertains only to a selected few-that while the faculty of ministry (called by the apostle prophecy) is verbally acknowledged to be a gift of the Spirit, this doctrine is, to a great extent, practically disregarded among the professors of Christianity-that it is the principle of the Society of Friends to admit no ministry, in connexion with the worship of God, but such as is considered to spring immediately from divine influence-that their opinions on this subject, as well as those respecting typical rites, are founded upon that part of the and without virtue. And, first of all, the man who is supposed to have the Spirit (whereas he hath it not in reality) exalteth himself, and desires to have the first seat, and is wicked, and full of words; and spends his time in pleasure, and in all manner of voluptuousness; and receives the reward of his divination; which if he receive not, he does not divine. Should the Spirit of God receive reward, and divine? It doth not become a prophet of God so to do. Thus you see the life of each of these kind of prophets. Wherefore, prove that man by his life and works who saith that he hath the Holy Spirit. And believe the Spirit which comes from God, and has power as such. But, believe not the earthly and empty spirit, which is from the devil, in whom there is no faith nor virtue. Hear now the similitude which I am about to speak unto thee. Take a stone, and throw it up toward heaven; or take a spout of water, and mount it up thitherward; and see if thou canst reach unto heaven. Sir, said I, how can this be done? For neither of those things which you have mentioned is possible to be done. And he answered: Therefore, as these things cannot be done, so is the earthly spirit without virtue and without effect. Understand, yet further, the power which cometh from above, in this similitude. The grains of hail that drop down are exceeding small; and yet, when they fall upon the head of a man, how do they cause pain to it! And again: consider the droppings of a house; how the little drops, falling upon the earth, work a hollow in the stones. So, in like manner, the least things which come from above, and fall upon the earth, have great force. Wherefore, join thyself to the Spirit which has power; and depart from the other, which is empty; Archbishop Wake's Version of the Apostolic Fathers, p. 255. divine law which prescribes that God, being a Spirit, should be worshipped spiritually-that, in order, moreover, to be applicable to the mental condition of the hearers, the ministry must be prompted and ordered by Him who alone "searcheth the reins and the hearts"-that the examples of preaching and public prayer recorded in the Bible have, in general, the character of effusions, flowing immediately from the Spirit of truth and righteousness— that such, more particularly, was the prophesying exercised, in their assemblies for worship, by the primitive Christians-finally, that Scripture and experience, unite in bearing evidence that the immediate influences of the Spirit, as productive of such administrations, were not to be withdrawn from the church on earth, and that they continue to operate to this very hour. To conclude:-if the weapons, wielded by the Lord's servants, in the cause of righteousness, are to be "mighty for the pulling down of strong holds," they must be spiritual and not carnal: if the "preaching of the cross" is to be "the power of God," it must be divine in its origin: if the ministry of the Gospel of Christ is to enliven and cleanse the recipients, it must be derived, with true. simplicity, from the Source of life and holiness. Observation may serve to convince us that these sentiments are gradually extending their influence among true Christians. "All the minister's efforts will be vanity and worse than vanity," said a late enlightened clergyman of the Church of England, "if he have not unction. Unction must come down from heaven, and spread a savour, and relish, and feeling, over his ministry." I am persuaded that there are many pious ministers, of various denominations, whose hearts will respond to such a declaration; and who are more and more convinced that, in the exercise of their gift, they must no longer rely on human learning or intellectual effort, but rather on the powerful visitations of that sacred influence which, when it is withheld, no man can command, and, when it is poured forth, no man can rightly stay. Under such circumstances, it is plainly very important, that Friends should be faithful in maintaining their principle on this subject, in all its vigour and all its purity; and that they should continue, without wavering, to uphold in the church the highest standard respecting the nature and origin of true Chris 1 See Cecil's Remains, p. 12. |