3
That evening, as he was strolling in the fine summer twilight along the banks of the river, he met the Dr., who had walked that way to enjoy the fineness of the season, and to refresh himself after the holy labours of the day. He told him his difficulty, nearly in the words in which we have expressed it; and the Dr., smiling good naturedly, thus replied.
Dr.—Are you quite sure, John, that you have stated your case aright? Is it perfectly certain that miraculous powers were the greatest gifts which the Eternal Spirit was commissioned to bestow upon mankind?
J.—It certainly appeared to me that they were; such marked, such striking instances of God's favour were surely greater boons than any thing else which we can conceive to be given to mortals in this present life. I think, Sir, that I have heard you yourself call these gifts of the Spirit, as opposed to others, His extraordinary gifts.
Dr.—You may very probably have heard me so call them; but "extraordinary" only means "unusual;" and it does not always follow that what is unusual is more important than what is of frequent occurrence. But tell me, John, in the case in which one thing is done in order to prepare for the doing of some other thing, which is the most important of the two? the first of these things or the last; the means or the end?
J.—The end, of course, is more important than the means; no man would venture to call the scaffolding which is raised that the house may be built, more important than the house itself.
Dr.—Now think a moment, John, before you answer me; why were the miraculous powers bestowed on the Apostles?
J.—To make men believers in Christ.
Dr.—To prepare the way, that is, for their receiving those inward gifts of the Spirit in which true believers now participate as fully as those who lived in the days of the Apostles.
J.—I see. Sir; the extraordinary gifts might be compared to the scaffolding, the ordinary ones to the house.
Dr.—Exactly so, John; marvellous and striking as were the signs and wonders of the Apostolic age, we should ever recollect that they were not greater gifts, or even gifts so great as those inward ones which are our evangelical inheritance, as well as that of the Primitive Christians. When the doctrine of the Holy Ghost, and of His inward influence, was new to the world, it pleased God to confirm it, and to show that the influence was
