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A61651 A rebuke to the informers with a plea for the ministers of the Gospel, called nonconformists, and their meetings and advice to those to whom these informers address themselves for assistance in their undertakings. Stockton, Owen, 1630-1680. 1675 (1675) Wing S5699; ESTC R34618 98,356 92

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shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of glory which fadeth not away As Preaching so Hearing the Word is a good work For 1. It is commanded of God Jam. 1.19 Let every one be swist to bear 2. It hath the promise of life and salvation annexed to it Isa 55.3 Hear and your soul shall live 3. By Hearing the Word of God we get great good for our souls For hereby we get faving faith Rom. 10.17 Faith cometh by hearing And have the Holy Ghost communicated to us Act. 10.44 While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on them that heard him with many other precious blessings And yet for these things are Ministers that preach and pray and people that hear them vexed and molested 3. These Ministers are true Ministers of Jesus Christ called of God to preach the Gospel To prove this confider 1. They have the internal call which consists in bestowing Ministerial abilities and a willingness to serve the Lord in the work of the Ministry Gods distribution of abilities is one branch of this call 1 Cor. 7.17 As God hath distributed as God hath called every man Our Lord Jesus proves his Call to the Ministry by being anointed with the Spirit Luk. 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor These Ministers are endued with Ministerial abilities and have those qualifications required by the Apostle in a Minister of the Gospel 2 Tim. 2.3 4. They are blameless vigilant sober of good behaviour given to hospitality apt to teach not given to wine no strikers they rule their houses well c. The internal Call consists also in a willingness and desire stirred up in the heart by the Spirit of God to undertake this work and office of preaching the Gospel Deut. 18.5 6 7. In the 5th verse Moses tells us that of all the Tribes God had chosen Levi to minister to him and v. 7. he tells us which of the Sons of Levi were to be admitted to minister before the Lord namely he that came with all the desire of his mind This willing mind to serve the Lord in the work of the Ministry God hath given unto these men 2. They have given up themselves unto the Lord to serve him in the Gospel of his Son and have been set apart for this work in a solemn manner by fasting and prayer and most of them also with imposition of hands And they that having the internal Call are separated and set apart by fasting and prayer for the work of the Ministry are sent out by God to preach the Gospel Act. 13.2 3 4. The Holy Ghost said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them they sent them away So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed 3. They prove themselves to be true Ministers of Jesus Christ by preaching the word of truth There is nothing contrary to sound Doctrine in what they teach and preach unto the people This was the way by which the Apostle proved himself a true Minister by preaching the word of truth 2 Cor. 6.4.7 But in all things approving your selves as the Ministers of God by the word of truth And thus John Baptist proved Christ to be sent of God because he preached Gods word Joh. 3.34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God Such as being separated to the work of the Ministry do teach the truth and preach sound Doctrine are good Ministers of Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 4.6 If thou put the Brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good Minister of Jesus Christ nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine whereunto thou hast attained 4. God hath given evidence to the truth of their Call to the Ministry by the conversion of many souls They have been instrumental to turn many souls from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God and also to edifie and build up such as are converted When there were some that questioned whether Paul were a true Apostle he proves himself to be a true Apostle by the success God had given his Ministry in the conversion of the Corinthians 1 Cor. 9.1 2. Am I not an Apostle Are not you my work in the Lord If I am not an Apostle to others yet doubtless am unto you for the seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord. 5. The people that do feel the want of the word and desire to be instructed in the way to life and salvation do call upon them to preach the word to them We read of Paul that he concluded assuredly that God called him to preach the Gospel in Macedonia because he saw a man in a vision calling to him Come over into Macedonia and help us Act. 16.9 10. There are multitudes of people that call out to these men Come and help us Why may they not thence assuredly gather that the Lord hath called them to preach to them being such as are duly qualified and have been set apart for the work of the Ministry Obj. These men were not ordained to the work of the Ministry by the Bishops and therefore are no true Ministers Answ 1. The Ministers of the French and Dutch and several other Reformed Churches have no other Ordination than by Presbyters yet are their Churches owned by most Protestants for true Churches and their Ministers for true Ministers of Jesus Christ 2. Many of the Nonconformists were ordained by Bishops yet these Informers prosecute them with as great fury as they do others making no distinction between them 3. Those whose cause I plead that were not ordained by Bishops were set apart to the work of the Ministry with fasting and prayer by the Elders of other Churches And it is contrary to the judgment of many learned Bishops and great Assertors of Episcopacy to deny those to be true Ministers that were ordained by Presbyters because they had not Episcopal Ordination For divers instances might be given out of their Writings whereby it appeareth they did allow Ordination by Presbyters to be valid and lawful especially in such cases as Ordination could not be had by Bishops and in Ecclesiâ turbatâ which is the case of several of these Ministers they were set apart to the work of the Ministry when Bishops were laid aside in the Nation and when the Nation and Church were in great troubles I will mention two or three Archbishop Spotswood in his History of Scotland lib. 7. p. 514. makes mention of three Bishops that came out of Scotland to be Consecrated in England when the time and place for the Consecration was agreed on a Question in the mean time was moved by Dr. Andrews Bishop of Ely touching the Consecration of the Scottish Bishops who as he said must first be ordained Presbyters as having received no Ordination from a Bishop The Archbishop