do not note distinct species or kindes of Churches but are only several adjuncts of the same Church which is called invisible in respect of the inward and invisible union which Members have with Christ the Head by the Spirit and Faith and visible in respect of their outward Profession of their Faith which is visible to men But in neither of these senses is the Catholick Church the first subject of the Keys 1. Not as invisible for that is not built by a visible profession such as Peter's was nor are the Ordinances dispensed or administred visibly in it to or by men in visible fellowship Add hereunto that the Keys here given to Peter can shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven even the same persons to whom they have opened the door before which cannot befal Believers in the visible Church 2. Not as visible For the Scripture doth not acknowledge a Catholick visible Church The Catholick Church is not visible as a Church and the Church that is visible is not Catholick Though the Catholick Church may be visible in its singular Members yet so they are not a Church or though it may be visible in particular Congregations See Mr. Cott. Defence of the way of Congreg Churches par 2. p. 56 yet none of them is Catholick or though all of them if they could meet together may be called a Catholick Church or general Assembly yet so it cannot be the first subject of the Keys i. e. of all Ecclesiastical power for such Assemblies See Mr. Hooker ' ◠Survey part 1. ch 14 15. if possible are extraordinary and extraordinary Assemblies are not fit Judicatories to hear and censure ordinary offences or to administer the ordinary acts of Church-power 2. If the visible Catholick Church be considered as totum integrale which is such a whole as ariseth out of the aggregation of all particular Churches as an Army is made up of all the several Regiments and Troops or a Kingdom of all the Cities and Counties within it it cannot be the first subject of the Keyes i. e. of all Church-power For 1. particular Churches are the Members which give the essential causes whence the integrity of this whole is made up and therefore in nature before it as the cause is before its effect 2. Church-Officers with their Offices are set ordinarily by Christs Institution only in such a Church where they are called the Chosen but that is a particular Church Act. 14.23 Tit. 1.5 For that choice and calling is the foundation of the relation between Pastors and People and of the duties both of the Rulers and of the Ruled mutually Act. 20.28 1 Pet. 5.2 Heb. 13.17 3. If a Catholick integral Church ariseth from all particular Churches as Members of it joyned together then it must be distinct from them all as the whole Body is a thing distinct from its several Members then also there must be some Officer and Ordinance and Act belonging to it which doth not appertain to particular Churches as there is a General over an Army besides the Captains and Officers of the several Regiments and a Supreme Monarch in a Kingdom besides the Governors in the several Corporations and Counties But no such Catholick-Church distinct from all particular Churches can be shewen nor Officers or acts of it besides those which are exercised in particular Churches 4. Diocesan Bishops look at these words as giving the Keys to them as the Successors of the Apostles whence they assume the power of Ordinathon and Jurisdiction as belonging to them jure divino A claim which King James whether out of his policy which he called his King-craft or out of his insight into the Scripture would not suffer them to pretend in his time Nor indeed is there any warrant for it in Scripture as it hath been abundantly proved by sundry witnesses against that usurpation We read of Bishops in the New-Testament but what Not one Bishop over many Churches but many Bishops over one Church not Diocesan but Congregational Bishops Phil. 1.1 Those whom Luke calls Elders in Act. 20.17 Paul calleth Bishops in v. 28. The Bishops which the Apostles acknowledge to be Christs Ordinance to continue in the Christian Church are Congregational Elders 1 Tim. 3 1-8 Tit. 1.5 7. 1 Pet. 5.1 2. and all the Teaching-Elders are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-Elders coequal in authority above whom Paul acknowledgeth no Rulers in the Church but rather sets these above all 1 Tim. 5.17 Euseb Eccles hist l. 6. c. 43. Cypr. Ep. l. 3. Ep. 10 l. 1. ep 3. And when after the Apostles time one of the Pastors was called Bishop by way of eminency for orders sake yet for many years he did no act of power but 1. with consent of the Presbytery 2. with consent Dr. Cudw on the Postscript to Galat. and in the presence of the People What is pleaded from Titus his ordaining Tit. 1.5 helps not their cause for he did it as an Evangelist not as a Diocesan Prelate and the Office of Evangelists together with the Apostles ceaseth The Postscript of the second Epistle to Timothy where he is called the first Bishop of the Church of the Ephesians and of that to Titus where he is called the first Bishop of the Church of the Cretians are Apocryphal as the rest are and the first consisteth not with 2 Tim. 4.5 where Timothy is called an Evangelist and therefore not tyed to personal residence to abide in one place as Bishops and Pastors are but the Evangelists were to go from place to place to set things in order and confirm the Churches planted by the Apostles The same may be said of Titus Nor is the Postscript of that Epistle of more credit than the former where the Scribe saith it was written from Nicopolis Hiperius justly disliketh the ground of that opinion in the Scribe which he saith was from Tit. 3.12 Because Paul bade Titus come to him to Nicopolis for he determined to winter there whereas if he were there at that time he would have said I purpose to winter here not there as Beza noteth 5. Others conclude from this Text that the power of the Keys i. e. the power of Ordination and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is given in Peter to Church-Officers only especially to Pastors and Teachers And that such only or principally are meant in this Grant they endeavour to prove by five reasons especially We will examine them severally and briefly 1. Reas Because the Keys are given to Stewards by Office 1 Cor. 4.1 2 Cor. 4.5 1 Tim. 3.15 Isa 22.12 Answ 1. The three former Texts speak of the Apostles and Evangelists Office and in them of Pastors and Teachers not of Ruling-Elders But I suppose they will not deny the Ruling-Elders to have a Key of Office also The last Text proveth only that the Key sometimes signifies Office-power given to a Steward which none deny But this toucheth not this Text Mat. 16. which means not only
That therefore it may be effectual for their eternal good it is their duty when the sentence proceeds either according to the eighteenth of Matthew upon their not hearing the Church in less hainous offences or according to 1 Cor. 5. and Rev. 22.15 upon the hainous nature of scandals given by them against common light to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt them in due time 1 Pet. 5.6 and to cry mightily to him to add efficacy to his Ordinance by his Spirit that their spirits may be duly and truly humbled their corruptions powerfully mortified and their souls eternally saved Be sure that you take not part with your sin against the Ordinance but take part with the Ordinance against your sin and account it your honour to honour God and exalt his Rules and let others learn hereby to fear not joyning with the Church but persisting obstinately in sin 2. Corollary Then a Congregational Church such as hath been described is the highest Ecclesiastical Tribunal under Christ in its own matters This was revealed to John as that frame of Church-Government which should continue from the Apostles time unto the end of the World when he saw a Throne set in Heaven the Trinity sitting upon it and the four living Creatures between it and the four and twenty Elders who sate round about the Throne Rev. 4.1 -9. Thither appeals must be made according to Christ his Ordinance by an offended Brother after the first and second step or by any Member that finds himself over-rigorously dealâ— with by his Brethren in these steps Matth. 18.17 18. that there the Cause may be scanned and Sentence proceed according to Christ If the Church want sufficient light or consent for the sentence they are to seek help from others by their Light and Counsel but still preserving the power of Censure intirely in the Church where Christ hath placed it The wisdom of Christ the good of the Church and of every Member and the nature of the thing require that there be some chief Tribunal in the exerciâ—â— of Church-Government unto which Appeals must be last made Juridically and from which no Appeal may be granted and expected 2. That this chief Tribunal must have no Ecclesiastical Power above it and 3. That it may not be judially censured by any Power of the same kind All the question is which is the chief Tribunal That say some must be the Classes under which such Churches stand and the Synods under which the Classes are subordinate and they give this Reason Because the end for which the Keys are given to the Church is that all offences may be removed Mat. 18.15 16 c. Which they say cannot be done if you put the chief Power of Judgment into a Congregational Church For what if an Elder what if the whole Edership yea what if the whole Church offend The Church cannot censure their Elders for that were to rule their Rulers and to judge their Judges nor will they censure themselves But a Classis or Synod of many Elders may and will reform all by judicially censuring all Answ 1. This Argument is built upon a mistake or error in the foundation of it For the Rule prescribed in Matth. 18. is â—â—t for removal of all offences but of such private and less hainous offences as grow publick and notorious only by the obstinacy of the Delinquent For if offences be publick and heinous in themselves the Apostle doth not direct Churches to proceed by those steps 1 Cor. 5.11 Rev. 22.15 2. Nor doth it make the People Rulers of their Rulers or Judges of their Judges when we say that the Church hath a power over them in case of Delinquency For Excommunication is not an act of the highest Rule or Authority but of the highest Judgment and therefore the Power of it may well be in the whole Church as their Priviledge without any intrenchment upon the Rule and Authority of Elders wherein as Officers they are above the Brethren whilst they act according to Rule But if they become Delinquents then as Members they are under the Power of the whole The Church must submit to them as Rulers whil'st they rightly exercise the Authority of their Office in Preaching Administring the Seals holding forth light from Scripture to guide them in censure ordering Speech and Silence according to Rules of Order and Edification and in other Official Acts But they must submit to the Church questioning or proceeding to censure them with good advice of Neighbour-Churches and Elders who as they concurred in giving them the right hand of fellowship in their Ordination so they should concur in approving this Censure as justly inflicted by the Church from parity of reason The Mayor in a free City or Corporation is in the right Administration of his Office above the Court none but he can perform the Acts peculiar to his place yet if he corrupt the People pervert Justice or be any way grosly and scandalously delinquent the Court can censure and despose him For the whole hath Power over any Member to preserve its purity and peace and safety against any in the Body that would corrupt disturb or destroy the same And the Covenant binds every Member to be subject to the Power of the whole either to be reformed or removed from communion of it thereby 3. Their Plaister is not suitable to heal the Sores of the Church but it is either too broad when offences of Brethren may be healed by Church-censure within themselves or it is too narrow For 1. Those Assemblies are too seldom and cannot sit together long enough to remove the many offences that fall out frequently in Churches 2. Non can they Excommunicate a Church nor any Officer or Member of a particular Chuch by warrant from Christ 3. Classes and Synods and general Councils may be under just offences as well as Churches and who shall censure them 4. This Plaister hinders the healing of the Sores of Churches For Appellatio est jus per quod prima sententia tantisper extinguitur donec de causae cognitione ad superiorem devolutâ fuerit pronunciatum if a Delinquent disliking the Churches proceeding appeals from the sentence of the Church to the Classis and for the same reason from the sentence of the Classis to a Provincial Synod then to a National Synod then to an Oecumenical Council which may not assemble in an Age while the Appeal depends he shall stand as uncensured For this is the Law of Appeals Now how can that heal which is cross to the prescription of our Lord Jesus Christ the only wise Physician He saith Tell the Church and if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen Publican But he who appeals from the Church doth not hear the Church Therefore he that so doth deserves to be cut off by the sentence of Christ which this Tradition of Appeals from Churches in re propriâ
to Superiour Ecclesiastical Judicatories contradicteth and so maketh the Commandment of Christ void and of none effect It remaineth therefore that the Church of a particular Congregation is the highest Tribunal under Christ in such things as are proper to it self 3. Corollary Then intireness of Church-Government in a particular Church compleated with its Officers in re propriâ will well consist with that communion of Churches which the Scripture establisheth The reason is because both are the Ordinances of Christ and Christs Ordinances do not interfere As the Communion of Neighbour-Families doth not cross the compleat Government of several Families within themselves respectively in things properly Domestical And as communion among Kingdoms and Common-wealths hindreth not the intireness of Jurisdiction in each Kingdom and Commonwealth within it self in its proper concernments So it is in the communion of Churches Therefore Church-communion must be only in a way of Brotherly association for mutual helpfulness in matters of this nature but not in way of subordination or subjection of one Church to the Ecclesiastical Government whether of another Church or of the Elders of several Churches assembled in Classes or Synods The Communion of Churches in the former way is exercised according to Rule in sundry cases as 1. In mutual care 2. In recommendation of Members 3. In participation of such Ordinances as are for comfort and strengthning the Members of other Churches occasionally 4. In relieving and succouring one another 5. In countenancing by giving the right hand of fellowship unto a Church in its first gathering and unto Elders at their Ordination 6. In consulting one with another when we have occasion to require the Judgment and Counsel of other Churches concerning any Person or Cause See these particulars proved in the Platform of Church-Discipline published-by the Synod at Cambridge in New-England Anno. 1649. the eighth moneth Chap. 15. 16. wherewith they may be better acquainted than our selves 7. In admonishing one another in case of publick scandal All these and if withdrawing fellowship upon just causes be added to them are no more than one Apostle may do to another without exercising Church-Government over them Communion of Churches in the latter way of subordination or subjection to other Churches or Synods in re propriâ the Scripture no where approveth Not of one Church to another for there is a parity among Churches and par in parem non habet imperium Nor of one Church to a Synod made up of the Elders of sundry Neighbour-Churches The Assembly in Act. 15. Is a pattern they say of such a Synod Let us see how their Classical Assemblies answer it 1. That was no set meeting monethly or quarterly but meerly occasional Act. 15.1 2. 2. If was not an Assembly of Elders meeting apart from the Brethren of the Church where they assembled Vers 22 23. 3. It was but a meeting of two Churches that of Antioch sending their Messengers with Paul and Barnabas and that at Jerusalem the Apostles whose residence for the present was there joyning with them Vers 4 6. 4. That assembly gave their judgment both of the Doctrine taught at Antioch of the persons that taught it as troublesome and subverters Vers 24. but did neither Excommunicate them nor command the Church to Excommunicate them 5. They directed and charged the Church from the Word what they should do Vers 28 29. but they did not do their Acts of Power for them 6. Nor did this Assembly exercise Church-government over that Church at Antioch or any other Church or Churches in admission of their Members or in Ordination of their Officers or in Administration of the Seals or in Excommunicating or in reversing or nullifying the censure inflicted by the Church For these were res propria to every particular Church within it self Yet because I study peace and consent with godly Brethren so far as it may stand with Truth I willingly grant that other Churches and Synods rightly gathered and ordered have so much Power and Authority even in these matters as I can find any warrant for in Scripture being willing also to yield further if it can be cleared from Scripture that more is due unto them There are two Cases wherein the res propria of a particular Church may fall under the cognizance and determination of other Churches or Synods 1. When they want sufficient light or competent consent among themselves which was the case of the Church at Antioch provided that they have liberty to choose such a Church or Churches for this purpose as themselves approve to be fittest for attainment of their end in seeking light as the Church at Antioch agreed to send to that at Jerusalem though two hundred miles distant from them But if they have sufficient light within themselves and hold it forth convictingly from Scripture the Elders and Principal Members of the Church and major part of the Brethren by far consenting therein no Rule requireth or alloweth that for the wilfulness of a Delinquent who will not hear the Church or of two or three Brethren who side with him and refuse to joyn with the Church in censuring him the Church should be hindred from proceeding till other Churches or Elders have been consulted For if this be granted 1. It will disturb all Church-Proceedings 2. And if it be brought to a Classis it must issue there by the Vote of the major part if as many Elders in that Assembly dissent as Brethren did before in the Church-meeting so that nothing is gained thereby And if the Delinquent for the same reason appeal to a Synod there may be the same issue and so appeals may be drawn further till a Delinquent wrest himself at last from all power of censure The second Case is when that which is res propria in the thing done simply considered becomes res communis in the Cause or ground of proceeding For though receiving of Members Election and Ordination of Officers and Administration of Seals and Censures be Acts of the power given by Christ to particular Churches yet it never was the mind of Christ to establish by that Grant an absolute power in such Churches to corrupt the Faith and Worship of God in themselves and in other Churches If therefore a Church that was planted a noble Vine wholly a a right Seed shall turn into the degenerate Plants of a strange Vine unto God and become Heretical or Schismatical or scandalously corrupt and therefore receive into their fellowship known Hereticks and Schismaticks and choose such into Office and refuse to admit into fellowship or Office such as are sound in the Faith because they are sound in the Faith and Order of the Gospel and cast out from their fellowship such as testifie according to Rule against these evils and refuse to consent with them therein c. the Neighbour Church or Churches or Elders and Brethren Assembled in a Synod if the evil spread to the disturbing corrupting or scandalizing