him, whose power was made use of in confirmation of it.

That the gifts of this fort conveyed no fanctifying grace to the receiver, is evident from what St. Paul has taught us; 1 Cor. xiii. Though 1 fpeak with the tongue of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as founding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all myfteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have no charity, I am nothing. The fuppofition here made, that the exercise of thefe gifts may confift with a want of charity, i. e. with the want of the moral qualifications of a Christian, warrants the conclufion, that these gifts do not convey the fanctifying grace of the Gofpel; and that they are given, not for the fake of the receivers, but for the fake of others, who through their miniftry are to be converted to the knowledge of the truth. For this reafon they were given, and for fome time continued in the primitive church, to make way for the acknowledgment of Chrift, and for the conviction of unbelievers; and may be again renewed, whenever God fhall think fit vifibly to interpofe in the farther propagation of his Gospel in the heathen world. : It is manifeft then, that the Scripture afcribes to the Spirit of God a twofold operation in the work of the Gospel. The firft is that already mentioned, and is the fupplying and furnishing motives of credibility, and proper means to establish the doctrine and faith. The fecond is that now to be confidered in explaining the words of the text, to wit, the affording affiftance and strength to all, who undertake

the conditions of the Gofpel, to perform them, and to render a fervice worthy of the Gospel, and acceptable to our God and Saviour.

The wifdom mentioned in the text is described to be the wifilom that is from above, that is, which is given or communicated from above. And in the first chapter the Apoftle inftructs us how to obtain it: If any of you lack wifdom, let him afk of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him: but let him afk in faith. And foon after he fhews us upon what grounds his advice ftands: Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither fhadow of turning.

The inftruction given, that we fhould afk this wifdom in faith; the reason affigned to support this faith, that with God is no variableness, neither fhadow of turning; do fufficiently fhew, that the wifdom which we are encouraged to afk for is no other than 'the grace promifed under the Gofpel: for the declaration of God's purpose to give this wisdom, which is no where declared but in the Gospel, muft be supposed, before the immutability of his purpose 'can be alleged as a ground of hope and affurance to obtain the good gift by the prayer of faith.

By the word wisdom then in the text we must understand the grace of God promifed in the Gospel, and confidered in Scripture as the ruling and governing principle in the difciples of Chrift: that principle of holinefs by which they are enabled to mortify the deeds of the flesh; by which they do no fin, and are alive to righteousness: elsewhere spoken of as the Spirit of Chrift dwelling in them, and by which

their mortal bodies are quickened; and described as fo neceffary to a Chriftian, that the Apostle to the Romans has affirmed, If any man have not the Spirit of Chrift, he is none of his.

This grace is called wisdom upon the fame account that the fear of the Lord is faid to be the beginning of wisdom; because the wisdom of man confifteth in the obedience of God, in whofe hand are the iffues of life and death, and not upon the account of any degrees of knowledge, either facred or civil, which it is fuppofed to convey. The fruits afcribed to this wifdom in the text are all moral qualifications: it is pure, and peaceable, and gentle, full of mercy, and the like; of the learning and knowledge which proceed from it, we read nothing. The knowledge of myfteries, and things facred, may be reckoned among the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, and are mentioned as fuch by St. Paul in the paffage of his Epiftle to the Corinthians already alleged but he speaks of them as not neceffarily inferring charity, and confequently as diftinct gifts from that grace, or wisdom, which is pure, and peaceable, and full of mercy.

The gifts of the Spirit, confidered with refpect to the Author of them, and the motives inducing him to bestow them, are properly ftyled the grace of God; for of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, and of his own will it is that he enableth us to run the course that is fet us: fo that our confidence is, to use the language of St. Paul, that he which hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jefus Chrift. But, confidered with respect to their influence on the receiver, they are, by St,

James in the text, ftyled wisdom, as correcting the depravity of nature, and enabling men to become wife unto falvation.

The gifts of God are free, and he bestoweth them as feemeth beft to his wifdom. If he gives to one more liberally than to another, yet he who receives leaft has reason to be thankful, and no reason to demand an account of God of the unequal diftribution of his favour. Were the gifts therefore of the Spirit to be confidered as special favours only granted to fome, we should not be obliged, by the terms of our religion, to render an account of God's proceeding herein. But the promise of the Spirit being general to all Chriftians, and represented in Scripture as the purchase of Chrift's obedience to the will of his Father, and as a principle of new life, by which they who are dead in fin are made alive to righteousness; it is evident that we cannot account for our being Chriftians, without fhewing a reason for the neceffity of grace to render our hopes and affurances of falvation effectual.

This is a point in which there is an effential difference between the Gospel and mere natural religion; and it is confequent to another point of difference relating to the ftate and condition of mankind before the Gofpel. If men were in that state of original purity in which God muft, in justice to his divine attributes, be supposed to have made them, it will be hard to fay what grace was wanting to enable them to attain the end of their creation. If they have fallen from that ftate, and contracted a corruption not to be cured by natural means, it will be hard for any man to dispute against the grace of

God, without having a reafon to produce that fhall render it impoffible, or improper, for God to redeem the world. For, the fall of man fuppofed, it is more reasonable to think, because it is far more honourable to God, that he fhould deftroy the power of fin by communicating a new principle of holiness, in 'order to the falvation of the world, than that he fhould honour fin fo far, as to render finners both glorious and immortal. Since then there can be no redemption, but either by deftroying fin, or by granting happiness to finners, unreformed finners, it is eafy to judge which method is moft fuitable to the wisdom of God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.

It will be one means of fhewing the neceffity of grace, to fhew the effects afcribed to it in Scripture. For the Spirit of God is certainly given for the fake of thofe effects, which were to be produced by it in true believers: and he that can prove that the fame effects generally are, or may be, attained by the mere ftrength of nature, will give the best argument against the neceffity of grace in order to falvation. For, if men are naturally inclined to virtue and holiness, they will not want grace to make them fo. But this has never yet been the cafe; and if we may judge of those who shall be after us, by ourselves, and those who have lived before us, this never will be the cafe.

Now the works of the Spirit are described to us in many places of Scripture. They are in the text fet forth to be pure, then peaceable, gentle, and cafy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrify. The Apostle to the