upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." 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 Scriptures 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 in his extraordinary gifts which on the day of Pentecost was foretold and spoken of by the prophet Joel, as a very great privilege, in those forecited words in Joel ii. 28, 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: Matt. xvi. 17, 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,

Psal. cvi. 16. And so Joshua was ready to envy Eldad and Medad because they prophesied in the camp: Num. xi. 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 and 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: Rev. xix. 10, and xxii. 8, 9. The heathen of the city of Lystra were so astonished at the power the Apostles Barnabas and Paul had to work miracles, that they were about to offer sacrifices to them as gods: Acts xiv. 11, 12, 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 in 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. Pet. i. 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: Dan. ix. 23, and x. 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 the Revelation. I come now,

III. 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,

1. 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 a gift of working miracles, this power is not anything inherent in his nature. It is not properly any quality of the heart and nature of the man, as true grace and holiness are; and though 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 excellences 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 these extraordinary gifts. In the ex traordinary gifts of the Spirit, the Holy Ghost does indeed produce effects, in men, or by men; but not so as properly to communicate himself, in his own proper nature, to men. A man may have an extraordinary impulse in his mind by the Spirit of God, whereby some future thing 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, in his holy nature, by that. The Spirit of God may produce effects in things in which he does not communicate himself to us. Thus the Spirit