There is a diversity of gifts as there is of tempers, and of tempers as there is of faces, that in all this variety God may be the more glorified: The Pen-men of Scripture that all wrote by the same Spirit, and by an infallible Conduct, do not write in the same stile: In the Old Testament there is a plain difference between the lofty Courtly stile of Isaiah, and the Priestly grave stile of Jeremiah; In Amos there are some marks of his Calling in his Prophecy: In the New Testament you will find John sublime and Seraphical, and Paul rational and argumentative; 'tis easy to track both by their peculiar phrases, native elegancies, and distinct manner of expression: this variety ⟨image 4⟩and *manifold grace still continueth, the stones that lye in the building of Gods house are not all of a sort, there are *Sapphires, Carbuncles and Agates, all which have their peculiar use and lustre, some are doctrinal, and good for information, to clear up the truth, and vindicate it from the Sophisms of wretched men; others have a great force and skill in application: Some are more Evangelical, their souls are melted out in sweetness, others are sons of Thunder, more rousing and stirring, gifted for a rougher strain, which also hath its use in the art of winning souls to God: *'twas observed of the three Ministers of Geneva, that none thundered more loudly than Farell, none piped more sweetly than Virett, none taught more learnedly and solidly than Calvin: so variously doth the Lord dispense his gifts, to show the liberty of the Spirit, and for the greater beauty and order of the Church; for difference with proportion causeth beauty, and to prevent Schism, every member having his distinct excellency, so that what is wanting in one, may be supplied by another, and all have something to commend them to the Church, that they may not be despised; as in several Countries they have several Commodities, to maintain traffic between them all: we are apt to abuse the diversity of gifts to divisions and partialities, whereas God hath given them to *maintain a communion; in the Churches Vestment there is variety but no rent, varietas sit, scissur a non sit.
There is a diversity of gifts as there is of tempers, and of tempers as there is of faces, that in all this variety God may be the more glorified: The Pen-men of Scripture that all wrote by the same Spirit, and by an infallible Conduct, do not write in the same stile: In the Old Testament there is a plain difference between the lofty Courtly stile of Isaiah, and the Priestly grave stile of Jeremiah; In Amos there are some marks of his Calling in his Prophecie: In the New Testament you will find John sublime and Seraphicall, and Paul rational and argumentative; 'tis easie to track both by their peculiar phrases, native elegancies, and distinct manner of expression: this variety ⟨image 4⟩and *manifold grace still continueth, the stones that lye in the building of Gods house are not all of a sort, there are *Saphires, Carbuncles and Agates, all which have their peculiar use and lustre, some are doctrinall, and good for information, to clear up the truth, and vindicate it from the Sophismes of wretched men; othets have a great force and skill in application: Some are more Evangelical, their soules are melted out in sweetnesse, others are sons of Thunder, more rouzing and stirring, gifted for a rougher strain, which also hath its use in the art of winning soules to God: *'twas observed of the three Ministers of Geneva, that none thundred more loudly than Farell, none piped more sweetly than Virett, none taught more learnedly and solidly than Calvin: so variously doth the Lord dispense his gifts, to shew the liberty of the Spirit, and for the greater beauty and order of the Church; for difference with proportion causeth beauty, and to prevent Schisme, every member having his distinct excellencie, so that what is wanting in one, may be supplyed by another, and all have something to commend them to the Church, that they may not be despised; as in several Countreys they have several Commodities, to maintain traffique between them all: we are apt to abuse the diversity of gifts to divisions and partialities, whereas God hath given them to *maintain a communion; in the Churches Vestment there is variety but no rent, varietas sit, scissur a non sit.
- *1 Pet. 4. 10. Ubi Vulgat. dispensatio multiformis gratiae.
- *Isai. 54. 12. Varia gemmarum genera propter varia dona quae sunt in Ecclesiâ. Sanct.
- *Gallica mirata est Calvinum Ecclesia nuper, Quo nemo docuit doctius. Est quoque te nuper mirata […] tonantem, Quo nemo […] fortiùs. Et miratur adhuc fundentem mella Viretum, Quo nemo fatur dulcius. Beza.Gallica mirata est Calvinum Ecclesia nuper, Quo nemo docuit doctius. Est quoque te nuper mirata 〈…〉 tonantem, Quo nemo 〈…〉 fortiùs. Et miratur adhuc fundentem mella Viretum, Quo nemo fatur dulcius. Beza.
- *Tunc bene multiformis Dei gratia dispensatur, quando acceptum donum […] ejus qui hoc non habet, creditur, quando propter eum cui impenditur sibi datum putatur. Greg•r. moral. lib. 28. cap. 6.Tunc bene multiformis Dei gratia dispensatur, quando acceptum donum 〈…〉 ejus qui hoc non habet, creditur, quando propter eum cui impenditur sibi datum putatur. Greg•r. moral. lib. 28. cap. 6.
