edge hereafter in heaven, as well as now on earth, and vastly more than there is on earth, as the Apostle expressly declares in the following verses. The knowledge that Christians have of God, and Christ, and spiritual things, and in fact all their knowledge, as that word is commonly understood, shall not vanish away, but shall be gloriously increased and perfected in heaven which is a world of light as well as love. But by the knowledge which the Apostle says shall vanish away, is meant a particular miraculous gift that was in the church of God in those days. For the Apostle, as we have seen, is here comparing charity with the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, those extraordinary gifts which were common in the church in those days, one of which was the gift of prophecy, and another the gift of tongues, or the power of speaking in languages that had never been learned. Both these gifts are mentioned in the text, and the Apostle says they shall fail and cease. And another gift was the gift of knowledge, or the word of knowledge, as it is called in the eighth verse of the previous chapter, where it is so spoken of as to show that it was a different thing both from that speculative knowledge which is ob

tained from reason and study, and also from that spiritual or divine knowledge that comes from the saving influence of the Holy Spirit in the soul. It was a particular gift of the Spirit with which some persons were endowed, whereby they were enabled by immediate inspiration to understand mysteries, or the mysterious prophecies and types of the Scriptures, which the Apostle speaks of in the second verse of this chapter, saying, "Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, &c." It is this miraculous gift which the Apostle here says shall vanish away, together with the other miraculous gifts of which he speaks, such as prophecy, and the gift of tongues, &c. All these were extraordinary gifts, bestowed for a season for the introduction and establishment of Christianity in the world, and when this their end was gained, they were all to fail and cease. But charity was never to cease. Thus the Apostle plainly teaches, as the doctrine of the text,

THAT THAT GREAT FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, IN WHICH THE HOLY GHOST SHALL, NOT ONLY FOR A SEASON, BUT EVERLASTINGLY BE COMMUNICATED

TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, IS CHARITY, OR DI

VINE LOVE.

That the meaning and truth of this doctrine may be better understood, I would speak to it in the four following propositions: first, The spirit of Christ will be everlastingly given to his church and people, to influence and dwell in them; second, There are other fruits of the Spirit besides divine love, wherein the Spirit of God is communicated to his church; third, These other fruits are but for a season, and either have already, or will at some time cease; fourth, That charity, or divine love, is that great and unfailing fruit of the Spirit, in which his everlasting influence and indwelling in the saints, or in his church, shall appear.

I. The Spirit of Christ is given to his church and people, everlastingly to influence and dwell in them.-The Holy Spirit is the great purchase, or purchased gift of Christ. The chief and sum of all the good things in this life and in the life to come, that are purchased for the church, is the Holy Spirit. And as he is the great purchase, so he is the great promise, or the great thing promised by God and Christ to the church, as said the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 32, 33), “This

Jesus, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." And this great purchase and promise of Christ is forever to be given to his church. He has promised that his church shall continue, and expressly declared that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And that it may be preserved, he has given his Holy Spirit to every true member of it, and promised the continuance of that Spirit forever. His own language is (John xiv. 16, 17), "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

Man, in his first estate in Eden, had the Holy Spirit; but he lost it by his disobedience. But a way has been provided by which it may be restored, and now it is given a second time, never more to depart from the saints. The Spirit of God is so given to his own people as to become truly theirs. It was, indeed, given to our first parents in their state

of innocence, and dwelt with them, but not in the same sense in which it is given and dwells in believers in Christ. They had no proper right or sure title to the Spirit, and it was not finally and forever given to them, as it is to believers in Christ; for if it had been, they never would have lost it. But the Spirit of Christ is not only communicated to those that are converted, but he is made over to them by a sure covenant, so that he is become their own. Christ is become theirs, and therefore his fulness is theirs, and therefore his Spirit is theirs their purchased, and promised, and sure possession. But,

II. There are other fruits of the Spirit besides that which summarily consists in charity, or divine love, wherein the Spirit of God is communicated to his church. For ex

ample,

1. The Spirit of God has been communicated to his church in extraordinary gifts, such as the gift of miracles, the gift of inspiration, &c.-The Spirit of God seems to have been communicated to the church in such gifts, formerly to the prophets under the Old Testament, and to the Apostles, and evangelists, and prophets, and to the generality of the