things present and things to come These beasts each one of them hath sixe wings placed round about them and full of eyes within the wings these wings are not for that use that the wings are to the beasts in Ezechiel two to hide the face and two to flye and two to â—ide their 〈◊〉 but they are placed about their bodyes as it were for 〈…〉 erance and assistance in their proper place and not to flye withall from place to place These 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ings therefore signifie Governours and assistants or 〈…〉 by whom the ministers are ayded in their function and doe more swiftly and readily afford succour to every part of the Church These wings are full of eyes within These signifie the inward gifts of knowledge which are not placed in so neere a measure to the Throne as the eyes in the body but they are of the same nature of knowledge in divine things to this end they stand as in a watch tower to behold and discerne every ones manners and conversation and to reprove and exhort privately and to helpe the ministers in Censure and Discipline of the Church therefore Paul saith obey your overseers and leaders and yeeld submission unto them For they watch for your soules as those that shall give account These gifts are limited within and under the wings as to meddle onely with that which is committed unto their power 1 Pet. 5. 2. they are not to be strikers or busie-bodies and they are to watch over Christian people onely for what have wee to doe to judge them that are without 1 Cor. 5. 12. 13. They that desire to behold the patterne of Gods Church as she is on earth in Christ consider well this vision and readâ— it seriously as it is more fully expressed by Master Brightmans Exposition upon the fourth chapter of the Revelation This patternâ— is the perfection of the Church militant as she is in Christ and in the judgement of God the Father who onely knoweth who are his The beauty and glory thereof is not seene with mortall eyes for she is not composed of mortall but immortall seed even begotten of the immortall seed of the word of God 1 Pet. 1 23. for it is the ministration of God the holy Ghost communicating the knowledge of the Word unto the hearts of the elect which doth beget them anew or regenerate and unite them unto Christ and those are the supernaturall powers the word of God comunicated â—nto man and gathereth them into one head Christ and by a well compact union makes them one Church all communicating of one spirit one faith and in one Lord and Father of all who is above all and in all and through us all blessed for ever Amen How the VVord is the divine power of God and the authority committed to the Church WHen wee speake of the word of God consider that the word in essence and property of being is God with God in eternity eternitie it selfe as it is described in the first of Iohns Gospell and though it cannot bee divided in it selfe yet it is to bee distinguished after the personall order of the Trinitie Therefore we may say the Word in the person of the Father in the unbegotten Word in the person of the Sonne it is the begotten Word and in the person of the holy Ghost it is the procceding Word So that by the proceeding Word all things flow from the Father and the Sonne By the order of this proceeding power the world was made by the word of God As the Psalmist saith Psal. 33. 6. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the hoast of them by the breath of his mouth By this proceeding power of the Word man was made a living soule as Gen. 2. 7. And God breathed in his face the breath of life and the man was a living soule and Ioh. 1. 4. in it was life and that life was the light of man not naturall reason but supernaturall light which inlightened nature By this proceeding word Adam was restored after his fall by promising to make the Word the seed of the Woman and to breake the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. for God by the proceeding of the Word saying he will put enmity betwixt Satan whose nature is wicked and evill altogether and the humane generation or seed which Satan had made like himselfe he thereby promiseth that by his proceeding Word he would make his Word the seed of the Woman whereby it should be of a contrary nature to wickednesse of a heavenly pure and holy nature and condition powerfull against Satan Thus by the proceeding Word the word God is made the word of promise and the Promise is made life and thus it comes to pâ—sse that the Just shall live by faith By this proceeding word all the Elect of the Father are called are sanctified are washed are inspired and by inspiration are made sonnes of God Kings Priests and Prophets for by inspiration of the proceeding Word God the Word dwelleth in them for in the proceeding Word is both the begotten Word and the unbegotten Word the Father as Christ saith my Father and I are one and the proceeding Spirit is one with the Father and the Sonne so these three are one in themselves and beare record in heaven and they also agree in one by inspiration in the soules of the faithfull or the Church which makes three to beare record on earth as the water of Sanctification and the blood of justification and our spirit enlightned with the Spirit of God it beares witnesse with our spirits that we are the sonnes and servants of God For this cause the faithfull are called the Temple of the living God 2 Cor. 6. 16. as God hath said I will dwell among them and walke there and I will bee their God and they shall bee my people Also know yee not that your body is the temple of the holy Ghost which is in you which yee have from God Ye are not your owne for yeare bought with a price therefore glorifie God in body and in Spirit for they are Gods As the proceeding Word hath proceeded by inspiration to dwell in man which is his internall ministration so he proceedeth by externall ministration to divulge and write the same proceeding Word by the instrumentall pen and voyce of man for mans instruction at first written by his Prophet Moyses and after by the rest of Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists to feed and preserve their holy faith worship of God among the faithfull As Paul witnesseth 2 Tim. 3. 15 16. Thou hast knowne the holy Scriptures of a child which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus For the whole Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable to teach to convince to correct to instruct in righteousnesse Thus the proceeding Word doth proportion it selfe to mans capacity first it becomes the word of promise in the seed of
and suppose me to be a terrestriall Hierarchie to bee governed by positive lawes traditions Decrees and Canons of men which cannot search the reines of the heart nor cure the soule nor lead her into blisse Therefore I request you to take into your consideration the heavie burdens grievous to bee borne which the Scribes and Pharisees of Rome who pretended to sit in Moyses seat have laid upon my shoulders the Episcopall waight whereof you my sonnes have heretofore borne with much griefe whilst they advanced themselves to the chiefe seates and most eminent dignities loving to be reputed great and excellent Rabbies even above you the naturall Peeres and Potentates of State And now I conclude and doe offer unto your sacred considerations the holy Sinode of the Apostles set forth for a perfect patterne of all Counsells and Ecclesiasticall causes In the fifteenth of the Acts where you may observe that Synode consisted of the Apostles Elders and Brethren Their consultation was according to the rule of the written Word there conclusion and sentence was thus It seemed good to the holy Ghost and to us to lay no more burden upon you then these things necessarie That is that yee abstaine from things offered to Idols and blood which includes all Ceremoniall inventions and bloudy sacrifices and prohibits from that which is strangled with all crueltie and oppression and from fornication which imports uncleane conversation and lusts which if yee forbeare yee shall doe well And though I here claime of you the honour of being your Mother being the body of Christ and Church of God in whom you also have the honour and prerogative to be the sonnes of God yet touching my earthly habitation and abode I am under your Dominion and tuition whom my Lord hath placed over me for my peace and prosperity on earth And that through Soveraigne power and authority which he hath ordained over all men to the end you may give his Gospell a free passage and be nursing and protecting Fathers of mee in your Common-wealth that your Father may give you and your King a blessing of welfare and happy being in my Lord Christ in whom all Nations are blessed and blessed is that Nation whose God is the Lord A Breviate of the ensuing second Treatise THe subsistence of the Church of God composed of a threefold cord 1. Worship 2. Dominion 3. Discipline In the Tractate of worship are declared 1. The nature of Divine worship 2. The nature of acceptable obedience 3. How this worship corresponds with the nature of God 4. The manner of publike worship from Adam till Moyses 5. The Service used by the Patriarkes 6. The same continued in the Nationall Church 7. The service used in the Synagogues 8. The same observed by the Apostles 9. The testimony of the Fathers 10. An amplification and undeniable reasons for the puritie of Gods word and worship In the Tractate of dominion or divine jurisdiction 1. Of the first gradation of this Dominion 2. How Christ ordaines his Vice-royes on earth 3. Difference betwixt Regall and divine power 4. The Glasse of Kings 5. How Divine power is derived unto man from the Father by the Word through the spirit 6. How the Word is the Divine power of God and the authority committed to the Church In the Tractate of Government and Discipline 1. Of the calling of Ministers 2. The manner of their ordination 3. The orders and degrees of Pastours and their 4. Denominations under the Law and Gospell 5. Of Discipline and censures 6. Of Excommunication The subsistence of the Church of God THe subsistence of Gods Church is composed of a threefold thred which cannot easily be broken 1. The first is spirituall and divine worship worship 2. Spirituall and divine Jurisdiction or Jure Divino dominion 3. Spirituall and divine discipline or government discipline I call this threefold cord of grace Divine and Spirituall because the universall Minister of Gods dispensation of all saving grace is the holy Spirit the third person of the Trinitie These are correlative subsistences in the Church of God so depending one upon another that they cannot be separated or untwisted without either some defect or dismembring of the Church in her selfe or utter dissolving of her in essence and nature to be any true Church Also without these distinct subsistences in the Church she cannot exercise the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit nor the functions and offices ordained of God for ministration of the Word For this cause I call them subsistences in the essence of the Church like unto the subsistences of the Trinitie in the essence of God himselfe Of Spirituall and Diuine worship The Worship which God requires must bee such as is agreeable to his owne nature and the good pleasure of his owne will therefore true divine worship is tyed to the prescript commandement of God and not to the devising invention of man therefore to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken is better then the fat of Rammes The nature of acceptable Obedience It is a supernaturall and filiall worke of God internally and spiritually wrought seated and invested by Gods Spirit into the intellect making man a new creature created in Christ Jesus unto good workes which God hath ordained that he should walke in them being renewed in the spirit of the mind to offer himselfe unto God a living sacrifice in an understanding worshipping of God This worship and sacrifice is described by the Prophet David to be a broken and contrite spirit called a well-pleasing sacrifice to God presenting a sin-offering as Psal. 51. 17. also in the 116 it is called the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving How this Worship is correspondent to the nature of God The Lord doth shew it in the fourth of John 23. and 24. saying the true worshippers shall worship God in spirit and truth that is in the Spirit of sanctification dwelling in the mind helping our infirmities with sighes and groanes which cannot be exprest and in the truth of his Word dwelling in us in all wisedome and spirituall understanding such as these the Father requireth should worship him because God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth and not in the ignorance of the mind nor in the invention and will-worship of man For this cause the Psalmist saith in the 51 6. Thou O Lord lovest truth in the inward affections and in the 50. Psalme he saith Offer to God the sacrifice of praise and pay the vowes of the most high and call upon God for the Lord loveth truth in the inward parts This is the pure and simple worship of God without the glory and beautie of outward Ceremonies agreeing with the simple pure essence and nature of God himselfe Consider wel Pauls Caveat in the Coloss. 2 8. 18. 20 21 22 23. warning all men to beware of humane wisedome and deceitfull inventions and traditions according to the
present And thus wee feed our faith with holy speeches we relieve and succour our hope we make strong our confidence and therewithall likewise fortifie our Discipline and manner of government by the urgent and uncessant rehearsall and renewing of the memorie of good precepts In our Congregations is used likewise exhortations reprehensions and the exercise of sacred censures for their matters are judged with great advisement as is wont to be done of such men as assuredly know that the face of God is towards them Behold and see their doings and it is a great foreshew of the judgement to come if any one amongst us have sinned so deeply as to be excluded from the Communion of prayer and the Assembly and of all manner of having any thing to doe with this societie and fellowship whereof the Elders that are best approved and found most faithfull doe sit as presidents in the Assembly advanced and called to that dignity not through any summes of money but by the weight and sway of the good testimonie which they have given I have onely reported the testimony of these two Authors of the Primitive times to shew the pure simplicity of Gods worship in their publike service which was no other but the same in order and forme with the worship used in the Jewes Church onely in this they differed from the Christians that after their services and exhortation they ministred the Sacrament of Baptisme when there was occasion And then the Catechumeni were dismissed with this word Missa then the Elders which were all the best approved of Congregation were admitted to the Sacrament of the Lords body and blood ministred with prayer under the signes of Bread and Wine and singing of Psalmes then the Minister blessed them and then with the same word Ite Missa the Congregation was dismissed This word did properly signifie depart or be gone or leave to depart but by use it did after signifie the first service and the second service which they called the first Missa and the second Missa and in corruption of time it came to signifie the Masse and Idolatrous sacrifice from hence the Papists lyingly faigne to derive their Masse from the Apostles and the Fathers of the Primitive times Wee may also observe from the Apostles and the primitive Congregations that they had this tradition they ministred the Sacraments every Sabbath and every one did bring something according to their abilitie to the Lords Table of bread meat and wine which was set on a Table in the middest of the house of prayer and this they called an offering the more to encourage the people to this bounty and charity and this was covered till the first service was done and the preaching then the Cloath was taken of and then the Bishop or Pastor or president came to the side of the Table and gave thankes and prayed for all men and after tooke Bread and Wine and consecrated them with prayers Sometimes onely with the Lords prayer rehearsing the words of the Institution of our Lord as in the 1 Cor. 12. 11. And brake the Bread and the Wine was poured out and distributed to the people thereto admitted The rest of the offerings were given to the poore the needy and the widowes by the Deacons And Platina in the life of Telesphorus saith that in the Apostles times all things were done nakedly plainly and simply in the action of this mysterie And in Rome where the mysterie of iniquitie was to take roote and bee seated all things continued and were done after the same order doctrines and traditions as the Apostles taught As Irenaeus doth witnesse for twelve Bishops successively from the Apostles unto Eleutherius Nay the simplicitie and puritie of worship continued without addition or diminution untill Constantine the great his time An amplification what undeniable reasons for the puritie of Gods Worship and service It is evident and undeniable that Gods worship and the Divine service hath beene ever from Adam and practised by his posteritie in the first age plaine simple pure and naked prayer praise and thankes without any invention of man or externall Ceremonie nor yet any Sacramentall signes save onely that Adam taught his sonnes to bring unto him as to their high Priest presenting the person of the promised seed before the incarnation their first fruits in thankfulnesse having onely the naked and simple ministration of the word promised to be made man preached by Adam Seth and Enoch and Noah to feed their holy faith God enlightning them with the inspiration of his spirit making them the Prophets of God And the Divine reasons why God used no Sacramentall signes nor figurative Sacrifices was for that Adam and his posterity had not altogether forgot that Divine light of life which hee was endued with in his creation though hee had newly lost the possession thereof yet he was more capable of inspiration then the next generations were who had smothered even the light of nature by multiplying their transgressions And this was a principall cause why they lived in this age above 960. But in the second age God did not onely for their overgrowth of sinfulnesse cut short the dayes of man but hee also did choose himselfe a people from the loynes of Abraham and renewed unto him the promise of his blessed seed and made him a great Nation and Church unto himselfe and to this Church and people God gave Sacramentall signes to distinguish them from all other Nations to be his owne and ordained them Statutes Lawes and ordinances to instruct them as under a Schoolemaster and by signes to lead them unto the spirituall power and efficacie of the Incarnation of Christ and his death unto the remission of sinnes But it is undeniable and manifest that hee required no other manner of worship and service of them then hee did of the first people for God is unchangeable in his nature therefore he cannot nor will not have any other kinde of worship but one simple pure worship of praise prayer and thanksgigiving and feeding of this worship with the plaine ministration of his promised word of life preached unto them But why was this second age burthened with ordinances and figures because this age was drowned with the growth of sinne and incapable of light for sinne by the law became more raging and sinfull and the law was weak and could not prevaile with man because of sinne for mans sinfulnesse was so great that the spirit of the law which is righteousnesse could not dwell in flesh and blood but it must be consumed for this cause the law became death unto man and man by the law became dead for the law did not onely reprove but condemne But in this third age the righteousnesse of the law became incarnate and was made man that man might be made the righteousnesse of the law Thus that Christ who was promised to the first age is become our righteousnesse so that
and they brought him before him and he gave him Dominion Honour and a Kingdome that all people Nations and languages should serue him for this cause we are taught to conclude our petitions with this obedient acknowledgement for thine is the kingdome the power or dominion and the glory This kingdome is one entire kingdome of distinct gradations yet individuall like the wheeles in the vision of Ezechiel one within another as the kingdome of Providence the Church of Christ militant with the Soules triumphant and the dominions powers and principalities of Angels ministring before him The dominion given unto Christ as he is the Sonne of man * Christ God and Man is the personall power of the Fathers eternall begotten Word by individuall union of Divine nature with the humanity communicated to Gods elect whereby hee is the ingraven forme of the Fathers owne person unto the world holding up all things by his mighty Word This Word by the ministeriall proceeding of the holy Ghost is that Scepter of righteousnesse whereby he guideth and ruleth his kingdomes as David saith thy Throne O God is for ever the Scepter of thy kingdome is a Scepter of righteousnesse This is that Scepter of righteousnesse by the precepts and power whereof Kings raign and Princes decree Justice For this cause Christ is called the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the onely ruler of Princes Of the first gradation For the first gradation of Gods great kingdome God by Divine ordination in nature in the Creation gave a blessing and dominion unto Adam to fill the earth with his seed and to subdue it under his obedience For this cause it is said the heaven of heavens is the Lords the earth he hath given to the Children of men from hence God claimes the first borne to be his substitutes on earth which honour in the beginning was due to them as the dignity of their birth-right by Gods ordination which continued in the Family of Adam till Cain lost it by killing his brother Abell Cham lost it by scoffing his father Noah Esau sold it for a messe of Pottage and Reuben lost it by defiling of his fathers bed Then by the law of that ordinance the dignitie of Birth-right was of divine right conferred upon the Tribe of Judah and reserved in the line of Iudah for the Lyon of Judah who is the image of the invisible God the first begotten of every creature and for that all things were created by him and for him and that he is before all things and in him all things consist And also being the ordained Lambe of God before the foundation of the world he is therefore made the head of the body of the Church King of Israel that in all things hee might have dominion and preheminence both of things in earth and things in heaven For it was the Fathers pleasure that in him all fulnesse should dwell from this fountaine all soveraigntie is derived How Christ doth constitute his Vice-royes on earth Kings Princes and Potentates c. The first ordination of Soveraignty being thus as I have shewed of Divine right conferred upon the naturall Sonne of God sitting upon his highest Throne of glory farre above all powers and principalities he doth by his divine and all foreseeing providence constitute whom it pleaseth him to sit upon his earthly Thrones over any Nation people or language induing them with proper gifts of his owne spirit for rule and government Thus doth God constitute Kings and Princes and Rulers after what manner soever it bee done on earth whether by lineall descent or Nationall choise or by the sword howsoever the hand of Providence doth direct appoint and establish 1 Sam. 2. 4. Psal. 123. Hee raiseth the poore out of the dust and lifteth the beggar out of the dung to set them among Princes and to make them inherit the seat of glory Also hee pulleth downe and setteth up at his pleasure It is profitable for us to observe that Adam by his transgressiion lost neither the natural faculties of his soule nor the honour and dignity of his birth-right and dominion though at the first by losing that breath of life which was the light and life of his soule and that made him the perfect Image of God they were weakened and blemished in capacitie For if he had lost his naturall faculties hee had lost the forme of his being and if his birth-right and dignity of dominion had beene abolished before it had beene conferred upon another then should nature have been deprived of the ministration of judgement Justice and equity which would have brought forth an utter dissolution of the whole generation of man But after the sonnes of Adam as it were forfeited their dignity and birth-right of dominion by multiplying transgression then God the Father conferred the preheminence thereof upon the Sonne of Man even Christ that he might consecrate and appoint whom it seemed good unto him to sit upon his temporall Throne so that birth right and preheminence might be his in whom all fulnesse dwelt And that by him Judgement Justice and equity might reigne with men Thus the Regall power of Princes is derived from Christ by the rule of divine ordination in nature for he that is the Author of nature is the observerr and preserver of all the ordinances in nature so that this royall office is restored to man by ordination in Christ But the priestly and propheticall office man hath from God by union and communion with Christ and by inspiration and supernaturall donation through the holy Ghost For this cause a Tyrant may bee a lawfull King by ordination of God yet no Christian member of Christ Difference betwixt Regall ordination and Divine power From hence we may extract an evident difference betwixt the power of royall ordination in nature and the supernaturall power of God which is given to his Church on earth That is a ministeriall power to distribute Judgement Justice and equity amongst men with absolute power of coaction to punish actuall offences with corporall or pecuniary punishment upon body lands and goods This other is a supernaturall power and divine efficacy properly given to the elect of God by inspiration whereby they have union and communion with Christ and one with another for every ones owne particular prerogative of son ship and for the edification one of another and to some men it is given in a peculiar manner and a greater measure of divine power and gifts for the ministration writing teaching and preaching of the Word and Sacraments of God which is that which was revealed by God to the antient Prophets and that which was taught by Christ and after written by the Spirit of God from the pen and mouth of the Apostles And this power is a ministeriall power mighty in operation to bind and loose the conscience to open and shut heaven and hell by declaring the judgement of God
the woman then the inspirated word to dwell in the mind and also it is the ministeriall Word declared written taught and preached for mans instruction and all is one Word for this cause the Apostle Peter saith we have a most sure word of the Prophets to which yee doe well that yee take heed as unto a light that shineth in a darke place untill the day dawne and the day starre arise in your hearts and from hence it is evident that the Scripture is the very word of God which proceedeth out of God by inspiration by instrumentall publishing and writing the same and the written Word being the same proceeding word of God even God declared in writing The Scriptures therefore are the Fountaines of living water and the ground of truth for preaching teaching and instruction exhortation and correction And therefore the Scriptures are to be had in Divine estimation for they containe the divine Word it selfe and the Pastors and teachers thereof being thereunto called of God by a full measure of inspiration are to be esteemed the Messengers and Embassadours of God And this is alwayes to be understood that no man can attaine to the interpretation of the written Word by naturall ingenuitie or humane learning or art or industrie though all he needfull instruments and meanes of knowledge but onely by inspiration of the proceeding Word as ver. 2. 1. 20. 21. so that fast ye know this that no prophecie of the Scripture is of any private interpretation For as the prophecie came not in old time by the will of men but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost so must holy men of God speake and interpret the Scriptures as they are moved by the holy Ghost And that we may know the interpretation to be of the holy Ghost being the proceeding Word and hee that indicted the same Word from the Father and the Sonne by inspiration cannot give any other sence or understanding to the written Word then is agreeable to the nature of the Word in the person of the Sonne and of the Father and the Word in the person of the Sonne is the revealed will of God the Father made manifest in the flesh Therefore we may discerne whether the interpretation be of the Spirit of God or no by this Iohn 4. 2. 3. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that confesseth not that Iesus is come in the flesh is not of God For the confession is not an outward confession of the lips nor an historicall confession of the mind nor a voluntary supposition and opinion of carnall reason but it is the confession of the Spirit of God which declares and manifests to the heart that the Word that is come in the flesh is the very true God as Christ said to know thee and him whom thou hast sent Christ to be the very true God as Peter confessed thou art that Christ that Sonne of God and Christ told him that flesh and blood did not teach him this but his Father revealed it unto him This word of God not having beene after this order knowne and considered hath beene the cause and occasion of much mistake and errours in the Church of God but under standing the Word in the true nature and property of Gods order and manner of working leadeth us by the hand from one gradation to another and stoppeth the mouth of all men that speake against the Scriptures and the holy Spirit For considering the word of God in these gradations we shall evidently perceive and understand that the power and authoritie giuen and committed to the Church is no other thing but the proceeding word of God ministring the begotten Word from the Father manifested in the flesh which ministration is twofold internall by inspiration through hearing of the Word because man is an intellectuall Spirit and therefore a proper Tabernacle for the divine Word to dwell in Also externall ministration because man dwells in an elementary earthly and naturall tabernacle therefore the holy Ghost applyeth himselfe to mans infirmity and doth use in his externall ministration elementary earthy and naturall instruments by which as a meanes and ordinance the proceeding Word and the power thereof is daily communicated unto man both to ingraft him into the Word and to nourish him in the Word unto everlasting life For this manner of externall ministration is necessary for man so long as hee dwelleth in this body or earthly house The instruments which the holy Ghost doth use in the dispensation of the ministeriall Word are either proper as some members of the Church set apart for the worke of the ministery or lesse proper as the signes of the Sacraments I may call those the externall gifts which God gives to his Church for it is said that unto every one of us is given grace or the gifts of the Spirit according to the measure of the gift in Christ For wee may discerne the Church is a compact body knit to the head Christ and consisteth of many members yet in unity of the spirit they are one body and although there be but one Spirit yet are there diversities of gifts diversities of administrations diversities of operations yet all 〈◊〉 and the same spirit and these diversities or gifts make diversities of functions So there are many functions in the Church but God worketh all in all But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withall but peculiar gifts without the which the Church cannot at any time be and therefore most proper of which it is said that Christ ascended on high and lead captivity captive and received gift◠to give unto men as some to bee Apostles some Prophets 〈◊〉 Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers Here is to bee observed that the divine power by internall dispensation is given in common to all and every member of the Church so that all have common interest in the word of God and peculiar power thereby to admonish comfort and instructions another and pray for one another and beare one anothers burdens especially they are all Kings Priests and Prophets in their Families For every Father ought to useth office of an Elder in his house Deut 6. 6 7. Deut. 4. 9. But for the externall dispensation of the Word the power and efficacy thereof is committed unto peculiar men wherof Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors teachers are in the first ranke and functions and the power and efficacy which is given them is onely the ministration of the Word they have not that absolute power which Christ hath to know who are his from the beginning and to have compassion on whom he would have compassion and to shew mercy on whom hee would show mercy For Christ had not this absolute power as he was the Son of man but as he was the person of God For as he was Man he came not to do
his owne will but the will of his Father So likewise when he sent his Apostles and Disciples to teach all Nations he sent them as he was sent of his Father So send I you saith he which was not to doe their owne will nor to teach their owne doctrine but to do his will as he did his Fathers will and to teach his doctrine which he taught them as his Father taught him so by the Word they are to do and teach but nothing beside the Word or without the Word More at large of this in the Treatise of Discipline Thus we see the word of life is God in the person of the Father the unbegotten Word in the Sonne the begotten Word and the incarnate Word In the person of the Spirit it is the proceeding Word and the ministeriall Word and this ministeriall Word is the power and the authority committed to the Church So the Ministers cannot doe any thing but by the power of the Word and this Word is Christ who abideth with them and with the whole Church alwayes unto the end of the world So Christ is the chiefe and they are his servants and embassadours Of the third Subsistence of the Church Government and Discipline AS Divine worship cannot bee wiâ—hout the divine power of the ministeriall Word from whence it extracts both the nutriment and efficacie so neither worship nor the Divine Word can be without order government and discipline whereby the whole spirituall body the Church is preserved in spirituall health and blessednesse shining in spirituall decencie and divine beauty As Psal. 45. 13. 14. The Kings daughter is all glorious within And her heavenly glory is most excellently set forth in Canticles 6. 10. Who is shee that looketh forth as the morning faire as the Moone pure as the Sunne terrible as an army with banners Without externall pompe temporall confusion or humane policy for God hateth nothing more in the government of his Church and in his worship then pompe and policy and loveth nothing more then to have his Church excell in meeknesse holinesse and simplicity like himselfe as hee saith Bee ye holy for I am holy And learne of me for I am meeke and lowly And he exalteth the humble and meeke but the proud he sends empty away When we speake of the Church it is to bee considered in what sence we take the Church for the Church of God is in a twofold aspect to be apprehended one as she is in a mysticall union the body of Christ the Spouse of Christ the Lambe the Bride in this sence shee is spirituall pure and holy without spot without wrinkle his undefiled The other as she dwelleth in her naturall humanitie and abideth here on earth wherein shee is invironed with manifold temptations infirmities and afflictions fighting against the world the flesh and the divell and in this condition she is elementary naturall and visible Therefore God in his wisedome and goodnesse to man hath ordained externall dispensation thereby to communicate the holy and invisible mysteries of his Word to man through visible instruments elementary and naturall proper for mans capacity and nature lest naturall infirmities should become an excuse that God should not speake unto man For this cause God doth minister the mighty power of his Word by the weake and simple voyce of man Teaching man by letters syllables words and sentences divine truth and making evident to the mind and sences of man by elementary signes tropes and allegories and so demonstrating inscrutable mysteries and divine secrets of grace power and glory The first beames of the glorious gospell of Christ which Paul calls the Image of the living God that shines unto man is the publike and visible ministration whose glory compared with the glorious ministration of the law 2 Cor. 3. 7 which none was able to behold and live which made mountaines tremble and the Israelites excuse themselves is farre more exceeding glorious which we all are able to behold with open face shining through the vaile of Christs humanitie wherein as in a glasse or Crystall wee see the glory of God in the love of the Father and are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord And the thing that is ministred is the glorious gospell of Christ which is the doctrine of Christ or the mystery of the Father and it carrieth alwayes this Character with it to know it to be the true doctrine of God It giveth all glory to God the Father by Christ and it glorifies Christ through the Spirit for Christ saith that which is the Fathers is mine therefore the Spirit shall take of mine and give it you Outward ministration is called the face and countenance of God Therefore the Prophet David saith O Lord God of hoasts turne us againe and make thy face to shine upon us and wee shall be saved It was Davids delight and his whole hearts desire Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I require that I may dwell in the temple of the Lord all my dayes to behold the beauty of the Lord and to visit his temple The first ordination of this ministration was instituted and practised by God himselfe in Paradise preaching unto Adam in a created voyce in the coole of the day and by that meeke voyce Gods presence was knowne unto man I heard thy voyce and was afraid The voyce or word of God for it is a significant voyce making it selfe to be understood howsoever God useth weake and despised instruments to expresse himselfe to mans capacity yet his voyce is mighty as in the 29. Psal Reade the whole Psalme For the voyce of the Lord is powerfull the voyce of the Lord is full of Majesty And as Paul describes it it is mighty in operation and sharper then any two edged sword piercing through even to the dividing of the soule and the spirit and of the joynts and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart For this cause preaching is called the power of God unto salvation But if the glorious beauty and power of Gods ministration seeme weake and foolish unto some men because it is ministred by the voyce of man and the weake sigâ—es of the Sacraments being of no strength not beauty in themselves It is because the glorious Gospell is hid unto them that perish and becomes the savour of death unto death because the God of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that beleeve not lest the light of the glorious Gospell of Jesus Christ should shine unto them These riches are sent unto us of God from the Father of lights by the Sonne of the fulnesse of all rich gracâ— through the spirit the over-flowing waters of life and blessednesse and we have it in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may appeare to be of God and not of man and those that are 〈◊〉 of God are