Charity and Its Fruits. Jonathan Edwards
up of saints in that holiness which is the fruit of the ordinary influences of the Holy Ghost. For this, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles after Christ’s ascension; and they were enabled to speak with tongues, work miracles, etc.; and for this, very many others, in that age, were endued with the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost (Eph. 4:11)—“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists.” Here the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are referred to; and the end of all is expressed in the next words, viz. “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” And what sort of edifying of the body of Christ this is, we learn from ver. 16—“Maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in LOVE.” In love, that is, in charity, the same that is spoken of in our text, for the word in the original is the same, and the same thing is meant. And so it is the same as in 1 Cor. 8:1—“charity edifieth.”
But the end is always more excellent than the means: this is a maxim universally allowed; for means have no goodness in them any otherwise than as they are subordinate to the end. The end, therefore, must be considered as superior in excellency to the means.
8. The extraordinary gifts of the Spirit will be so far from profiting without that grace which is the fruit of the ordinary influences of the Spirit, that they will but aggravate the condemnation of those that have them.—Doubtless Judas’s condemnation was exceedingly aggravated by his having been one that had had such privileges. And some, that have had such extraordinary gifts, have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, and their privileges were a main thing that rendered their sin the unpardonable sin; as appears from Heb. 6:4-6,—“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have e tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance: seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” Those who fell away, were such as apostatized from Christianity after having made a public profession of it, and received the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, as most Christians did in those days. They were instructed in Christianity, and, through the common influences of the Spirit, they received the word with joy, like those in Matt. 13:20, and withal received the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit—“were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, tasted of the heavenly gift, and the powers of the world to come;” spake with tongues; prophesied sled in Christ’s name, and in his name cast out devils; and yet, after all, openly renounced Christianity; joined to call Christ an impostor, as his murderers did; and so “crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” Of these it is that the apostle says, “It is impossible to renew them again to repentance.” Such apostates, in their renouncing Christianity, must ascribe the miraculous powers which themselves had possessed to the devil. So their case became hopeless, and their condemnation must be exceedingly aggravated. And from this it appears that saving grace is of infinitely more worth and excellence than the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. And, lastly,
9. Another thing that shows the preferableness, of that caving grace which is the fruit of the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit, to the extraordinary gifts, is, that one will fail, and the other will not.—This argument the apostle makes use of in the context, to show that divine love is preferable to the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit (ver. 8)—“Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” Divine love will remain throughout all eternity, but the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit will fail in time. They are only of the nature of means, and when the end is obtained they shall cease; but divine love will remain forever. In the improvement of this subject, I remark:
(1.) If saying grace is a greater blessing than the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, we may doubtless hence argue, that it is the greatest privilege and blessing that ever God bestows on any person in this world.—For these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, such as the gift of tongues, of miracles, of prophecy, etc., are the highest kind of privileges that God ever bestows on natural men, and privileges which have been very rarely bestowed on such, in any age of the world, the apostolic age excepted.
If what has been said be well considered, it will appear evident beyond all doubt, that the saving grace of God in the heart, working a holy and divine temper in the soul, is the greatest blessing that ever men receive in this world: greater than any natural gifts, greater than the greatest natural abilities, greater than any acquired endowments of mind, greater than the most universal learning, greater than any outward wealth and honor, greater than to be a king or an emperor, greater than to be taken from the sheepcote, as David was, and made king over all Israel; and all the riches and honor and magnificence of Solomon, in all his glory, are not to be compared with it.
Great was the privilege that God bestowed on the blessed virgin Mary, in granting that of her should be born the Son of God. That a person, who was infinitely more honorable than the angels, yea, who was the Creator and King of heaven and earth, the great Sovereign of the world,—that such an one should be conceived in her womb, born of her, and nursed at her breasts, was a greater privilege than for her to be the mother of the child of the greatest earthly prince that ever lived; yet even that was not so a greet a privilege as to have the grace of God in the heart; to have Christ, as it were, born in the soul, as he himself cloth expressly teach us, in Luke 11: 27, 28—“And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” And once, when some told him that his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him, he thence took occasion to let them know that there was a more blessed way of being related to him than that which consisted in being his mother and brethren according to the flesh (Matt. 12:46-50)—“Who is my mother?” said he, “and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
(2.) Hence these two hinds of privileges are not to be confounded, by taking things that have some appearance of an extraordinary miraculous gift of the Spirit, for sure signs of grace.— If persons at any time have some extraordinary impression made upon their minds, which they think is from God, revealing something to them that shall come to pass hereafter, this, if it were real, would argue an extraordinary- gift of the Holy Ghost, viz. the gift of prophecy; but, from what has been said, it is evident that it would be no certain sign of grace, or of anything saving; even if it were real, I say—for indeed we have no reason to look on such things, when pretended to in these days, as any other than delusion. And the fact that such impressions are made by texts of Scripture coming suddenly to the mind, alters not the case; for a text of Scripture coming to the mind, proves no more to be true than the reading of it proves. If reading any text of Scripture, at any time, and at all times, as it lies in the Bible, does not prove such a thing, then its coming suddenly to the mind does not prove it; for the Scripture speaks just the same thing at one time as it does at another. The words have the same meaning when they are read along in course, as they have when they are suddenly brought to the mind; and if any man therefore argues anything further from them, he proceeds without warrant: for their coming suddenly to the mind does not give them a new meaning, which they had not before. So, if a man thinks that he is in a good estate, because such a text of Scripture comes suddenly to his mind, if the text does not prove it as it lies in the Bible, and if it would not have proved it had he only read it as he was reading along in course, then by such a text coming to his mind, he has no evidence that ho is in a good estate. So, if anything appears to persons as though they had vision of some visible form, and heard some voice, such things are not to be taken as signs of grace; for if they are real and from God, they are not grace, for the extraordinary influence of tile Spirit, producing visions and dreams, such as the prophets of old had, are no sure signs of grace. All the fruits of the Spirit, which we are to lay weight upon as evidential of grace, are summed up in charity, or Christian love; because this is the sum of all grace. And the only way, therefore, in which any can know their good estate, is by discerning the exercises of this divine charity in their hearts; for without charity, let men have what gifts you please, they are