Two discourses concerning the Holy Spirit, and His work the one, Of the Spirit…

And he that wants this Spiritual Gift, will never divide the Word aright unto its proper Ends, 2 Tim. 3. 16, 17. And it is lamentable to consider what shameful Work is made for want hereof in the Preaching of some Men: Yea how the whole Gift is lost, as to its Power, Use and Benefit.

(§ 5.) THIRDLY, The Gift of Utterance also belongeth unto this part of the Ministerial Duty in the Dispensation of the Doctrine of the Gospel. This is particularly reckoned by the Apostle among the Gifts of the Spirit, 1 Cor. 1. 5. 2 Cor. 8. 5. And he desires the Prayers of the Church ⟨p. 264⟩that the Gift may abide with himself, and abound in him, Ephes. 6. 19. And he there declares that the Nature of it consists in the opening of the Mouth boldly to make known the Mysteries of the Gospel: As also Col. 4. 3. Now this Utterance doth not consist in a Natural Volubility of Speech, which taken alone by it self, is so far from being a Gift of the Spirit, or a thing to be so earnestly prayed for, as that it is usually a Snare to them that have it, and a trouble to them that hear them. Nor doth it consist in a Rhetorical Ability to set off Discourses with a flourish of Words, be they never so plausible or enticing; much less in a bold corrupting of the Ordinance of Preaching by a Foolish Affectation of words in supposed Elegancies of Speech, Quaint Expressions, and the like Effects of Wit, that is Fancy and Vanity. But four things do concur hereunto. (1) [Greek or Hebrew], or dicendi libertas. The word we Translate Utterance is [Greek or Hebrew], that is Speech. But that not Speech in general, but a certain kind of Speech is intended, is evident from the places mentioned, and the Application of them. And it is such a Speech as is elsewhere called [Greek or Hebrew], that is, a freedom and liberty in the declaration of the Truth conceived. This a Man hath when he is not from any Internal Defect, or from any outward Consideration straitened in the Declaration of those things which he ought to speak. This Frame and Ability the Apostle expresseth in Himself,