Anglican Church document in the Sixteenth Century

In the reign of Edward VI, during the Reformation, two books of Homilies were published and were required to be read in churches by ministers. It is written, of course in Elizabethan English. (The Holy Spirit was often styled “the Holy Ghost”.)

Homilies II. 16 was written for Whitsunday (Pentecost). It includes the following words:

“The holy Ghost doth always declare himself by his fruitful and gracious gifts, namely, by the word of wisdom, by the words of knowledge, which is the understanding of the Scriptures, by faith, in doing of miracles, by healing them that are diseased, by prophecy, which is the demonstration of GOD’s mysteries, by discerning of spirits, diversities of tongues, interpretation of tongues, and so forth. All which gifts, as they proceed from one Spirit, and are severally given to man according to the measurable distribution of the holy Ghost: Even so do they bring men, and not without good cause, into a wonderful admiration of GOD’s divine power (1 Corinthians 7: 11-12).”

Then same document commences with a reference to “the great & manifold gifts, of the holy Ghost, wherewith the Church of GOD hath been evermore replenished…”

Taken from The Anglican library, this HTML edition copyright 1999.
http://www.anglicanlibrary/homilies
Renaissance Electronic Texts 1.1 copyright 1994 Ian Lancashire (Ed) University of Toronto.

The spelling in the quote above has been modernised for The Flame.

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