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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55393	Quo warranto, or, A moderate enquiry into the warrantablenesse of the preaching of gifted and unordained persons where also some other questions are discussed : viz. concerning [brace] ministerial relation, election, ordination : being a vindication of the late Jus divinum ministerii evangeliei ... from the exceptions of Mr. John Martin, Mr. Sam. Pette, Mr. Frederick Woodal ... in their late book, intituled The preacher sent / by Matthew Poole ...	Poole, Matthew, 1624-1679.	1659 (1659)	Wing P2850; ESTC R33938	110,108	175

But many unordained men were scattered abroad Therefore many unordained men preached p. 74. Ans. 1. You shall see what an hopefull Argument this is I will make use of their own Argument against them and I desire no other Umpire They who were scattered abroad they preached But many ungifted persons were scattered abroad Therefore such preached And because this example they bring as a president for us therefore ungifted persons may now preach publickly which because it is not only false but contrary to their own sense therefore that we may not be put to deny the Conclusion we must find fault with one of the premises and that can only be done our way i. e. by saying that not all that were scattered preached but only some of them preached Only here is the difference these some that preached say we were Officers say they they were gifted men which yet they cannot prove and if they could it reacheth not our case nor our times for it was a case of necessity as hath been argued If they like not this I will put it in another dresse They who were scattered preached But women as well as men were scattered so they say the scattering was subsequent to Pauls haling men and women c. and that the All that were scattered were not all the Officers but all the Church So that by this Argument here is a warrant for women-preachers if this example be a president Nor let them fly to their usual refuge that women are elsewhere forbidden for although they were ordinarily prohibited yet in cases of necessity such as this was they might do it as that woman did who preached to the Iberians and converted them To this I may adde that all that can be extorted from this place is this that they preached which we may grant without any prejudice to our cause for there are divers kinds of preaching or teaching they might do it divers waies It might be true of all that they preached and taught Jesus but not all alike nor all in the same capacity the Officers might teach publickly the rest privately the Officers constantly the others occasionally the Officers might preach officially in a Christian Church the rest might discourse to a company of Heathens or dispute with them and all these may be called teaching or preaching So that our Brethrens Argument is a genere ad speciem affirmativè which will not hold water For what they say that It is indefinitely said that they that were scattered preached Ans. They know that indefinite propositions in materiâ contingenti in a contingent matter such as this unquestionably is are not equivalent to an universal Supposing that Officers and people were scattered I say that if the Officers alone had preached that had been sufficient ground to say of the whole they preached as oftentimes that is said to be done by all Israel which was done by the Officers of the Congregation And thus we have seen those two great topicks of our Brethren from Scripture precept and Scripture president overthrown And so much for the third Argument Their fourth Argument is that principall place and pillar of their opinion which if I shall satisfactorily Answer there will be little ground left for our Brethrens confidence in this cause 1 Cor. 14. 29 31. whence they draw this Argument All that are Prophets may publickly preach But some men who are not ordained Officers are Prophets Therefore some men who are not ordained Officers may publickly preach Which Argument may be cut off in a word for their Conclusion may be granted without any detriment to our Cause and our Brethren might have known and ought to have considered that we grant that persons unordained may preach in a double case 1. In the case of necessity 2. In case of extraordinary gifts and an immediate Commission from God which we take to be the case of these Prophets of which more hereafter In the mean time let us follow them For their major it is granted on all hands For their minor it is this That some men who are not ordained Officers are Prophets where there is a double defect and insufficiency to the proof of what they intend For 1. The Prophets might be Officers though not ordained so were the Apostles neither of man nor by man 2. If the Prophets were not Officers at all yet the extraordinarinesse of their gifts was a sufficient warrant for the publick exercise thereof But neither of these are to be found in the case of those unordained preachers we plead against but they differ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from them for neither are they Officers at all ordained or not ordained nor are their gifts extraordinary so that the minor might be granted and yet the truth not wronged But let us see how they proceed I fear it will prove ominous to them thus to stumble in the threshold They argue thus to prove their minor All that have the gift of prophesie are Prophets But some men who are not ordained Officers have the gift of prophesie Ergo Some men who are not ordained Officers are Prophets For the major though we grant it yet according to our Brethrens principles it might be denied for if it were as they say that those prophesiers here spoken of had the gift but no Office I should deny such to be Prophets because the name of Prophet both in vulgar acception and in Scripture use connotes an Office Caiaphas did prophesie Ioh. 11. and yet I beleeve our Brethren are not so hardy as to say that Caiaphas was a Prophet The minor will lead us to the main point which is this Some men not ordained Officers have the gift of prophesie which they attempt to prove by three steps They say this prophesie 1. is a gift not an Office 2. That it is a gift still continuing 3. And which some unordained persons have p. 90. And if these things be proved they say something to the purpose but let it be considered if there be a flaw in any one of them their whole Argument fals and how much more when every one of them will be taken tardy The last Proposition they place first and use three Arguments to prove it whereof the last is that which the other propositions treat of the two former are these which follow 1. Say they Some not ordained have this gift of prophesie because we find no Scripture warrant for the ordaining of Prophets Ans. 1. What if there be no particular warrant it is sufficient that there is a general rule for the ordaining of all Church-officers Pastors Teachers Elders c. and at least if these be ordinary Officers as our Brethren make them a parity of reason which is a sufficient Argument to sober minded men such as I take our Brethren to be will prove that they also are to be ordained 2. But if they be extraordinary Officers as the Provincial Assembly affirm preferred before the Evangelists and having this priviledge above the

Evangelists for ought we read to be immediatly and infallibly indued c. then what wonder if in this they partake with the Apostles who as they were not of men so neither by men and needed no Ordination nor had it unless in relation to some special work as Acts 13. 1. 2. Say they They must be discerned to have the gift before they be ordained and therefore some not ordained may have the gift of prophesie Ans. This Argument is built upon the former mistake as if there were a necessity of such a Prophets Ordination whereas I say Gods indowment of him with extraordinary gifts is a kind of Ordination and supplies the defect of an Ordination by men But complying thus far with our Brethren to own these Prophets to be unordained persons and their gifts but ordinary I further Answer that this is wholly impertinent as was intimated before for in the case of a Pastor the question is not Whether one not ordained may have Pastoral gifts which we assert he may have nay he must have and must be known to have them before he be ordained but the question is Whether a man not ordained may commonly and ordinarily exercise those Pastoral gifts which is quite another thing It is one thing to have gifts another thing to exercise gifts A man may lawfully have divers gifts v. g. of ruling an Army or a State c. which yet he may not lawfully exercise But let us now come to their next Proposition which is more to the purpose viz. That this prophecying is not an Office but a gift If this be proved it amounts to something but I doubt the premises will fall a mile short of the conclusion I passe by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they run into which Dr. Collins takes notice of and shall rather consider how they attempt to prove it which they do by two Arguments 1. All who have the gift of prophesie are Prophets But all that have the gift are not Officers Ans. If these Prophets were ordinary persons I deny the major for then besides the gift they must be ordained as in other ordinary cases But if these Prophets were extraordinary persons I deny the minor for the very having of such a gift extraordinarily inspired is an immediate call and makes them extraordinary Officers as it was in the Prophets of the old Testament Arg. 2. That which ought in duty and might in faith be coveted by every member of the Church of Corinth was not an Office but a gift For 1. God no where promised to make every one an Officer there 2. This was impossible for then all the body had been the eye and if these were extraordinary Officers much lesse might they covet to be such But now this prophesying they ought and might covet in faith v. 1. 39. Ans. 1. The major is denied 1. An Office might be coveted as well as a gift 1 Tim. 3. 1. If a man Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if any man desire the Office of a Bishop he desireth a good work Yea an extraordinary Office might be coveted as is evident from the desires and endeavours of the sons of the Prophets in the old Testament 2. Let our Brethren shew where God promised to every member of the Church of Corinth these extraordinary gifts and I will shew them where God promised to every one of them to be Officers 3. If extraordinary gifts might be desired as our Brethren say why not an extraordinary Office If an extraordinary Office might not be desired this is either because this is an Office or because it is extraordinary not because it is an Office that hinders not but it may be coveted as we have shewn nor because it is extraordinary for then extraordinary gifts might not be desired That extraordinary gifts might be desired appears from the very words cited by our Brethren 1 Cor. 14. 1. Desire spiritual gifts but rather that ye may prophesie whence it is most evident that not only prophesying but the other gifts mentioned there i. e. of tongues interpretation c. were to be desired So that our Brethrens Argument is feeble to prove this to be an ordinary gift because it was to be desired 4 For every member in the Church of Corinth to be an Officer was not impossible True it was impossible for all to be Officers there in that Church but not to be Officers in other places And this I would desire our Brethren to ruminate upon whether supposing that all the members of the Church of Corinth might in faith desire and so obtain gifts fitting them for Office which our Brethren grant supposing that the exigencies of the Church required their Office-relation which might well have been in those times and that their being in other callings ought not to hinder it as our Brethren sufficiently intimate pag. 53. I say whether supposing these things it were either impossible or unlawfull for every member of the Church of Corinth to desire to be an Officer where he might be serviceable to the Church That in this case it is unlawfull or impossible I suppose our Brethren will not readily say and if they say it nothing more easie then to disprove it And if they grant it to be possible and lawfull then all their Argument fals to the ground then every member ought in duty and might in faith covet as to have gifts necessary for an Office so in due order and fit time to be Officers though not in that Church yet in some Church which is enough to our purpose Adde to this that if this prophesie be an Office this is no more then that wish of Moses so much insisted upon at least according to their sense of it I would that all the Lords people were Prophets And thus I have shewn the insufficiency of their proofs alleadged for the defence of their first and most considerable Position That the prophesying here spoken of is a gift not an Office This Position they uphold only by two Arguments which I hope any ingenuous Reader will discern to be so farre answered that they have no great reason to be confident upon these grounds And yet I must intreat the Reader to consider that here lies the great stresse of the cause for if it be not a bare gift which you have seen our Brethren cannot prove but an Office then the preaching of these Prophets is no warrant nor example for the preaching of any that are not Officers Now although I might acquiesce here for as much as if any assert that these were barely gifted men it lies upon them to prove it yet ex abundanti there is a reason given whereby it doth more then probably appear that these Prophets were Officers In the mean time let this be remembred that if we could not prove that these preachers 1 Cor. 14. were Officers no more then they can prove that they were only gifted persons yet our cause stands unshaken and all that

by immediate revelation yet not so as that they did not at all exercise their ordinary gifts or that they never spake as ordinary men For even the Prophets and Apostles themselves sometimes spake their own private opinions And why might not these Prophets after the delivery of their revelation amplifie it and open it according to their private opinion by the help of their excellent though ordinary gifts which though they were much to be valued and respected yet well might be corrected by some immediate revelation manifested to another But say they this requiring the first to hold his peace doth not necessarily forbid his proceeding so far as he intended or command a sudden silence c. but only commandeth so to contract a mans discourse as there may be opportunity for others And I confesse nothing is more easie then to dictate This is soon said but if you ask our Brethren for a proof I am afraid they will stick in the mire In the mean time they having offered no proof for it must needs allow me to rely as much upon my affirmation which yet is not mine but the Apostles as they upon their negation It is plain from the words that it was a thing that fell out beyond expectation and therefore is brought in conditionally If any thing be revealed which condition was needlesse if the revelation spoken of was ordinary and common And this may be abundantly sufficient for the Vindication of this place from which I may justly expect this fruit that ingenuous men of a contrary mind to us may abate some of their confidence and see cause to make a further enquiry into this point then yet they have made And this may suffice for Answer to their Arguments whereby they attempt to prove that gifted persons may preach Let us now see whether we have not more convincing Arguments to prove that they may not preach Albeit this must needs be said that in course of disputations it is not incumbent upon us to prove the Negative but upon them to prove the Affirmative Asserenti incumbit probatio So that I might here take take up and having shewn the invalidity of their Arguments I might supersede further trouble And this memorandum I shall leave upon the file that this Assertion of our Brethren That unordained persons may preach ordinarily is neither commanded by any Gospel precept nor countenanced by any Gospel example which hitherto hath been alleadged But because our Arguments whereby we have proved our Assertion are assaulted by our Brethren it will be convenient to say something by way of Vindication CHAP. VII THe first Argument is put into our hands by the Apostle and it is Rom. 10. 15. How shall they preach except they be sent i. e. How can they do it lawfully The summe of our Brethrens Answer lies in this That the mission here spoken of is not Ministeriall whereby they are constituted in their office but providentiall whereby they are sent into any place and that this mission is indeed necessary to preaching i. e. naturally not morally As it is true How can a man preach except he have health strength c. And besides it may be morally necessary and yet not constitutive of a Minister For it is morally necessary to a Ministers preaching i. e. lawfully that he have all the Gospel qualifications required to a Preacher and yet though he want some of these he may be constituted a Minister To which I Reply 1. To the last clause there is an apparent fallacy which will plainly appear by this one distinction That a mans preaching may be unlawfull two waies 1. Circumstantially when there is a defect in the principles or in the manner of acting c. 2. Substantially when there is a defect in the substance of the act both as to the matter and manner of it When a Minister wants some necessary qualification c. he preacheth lawfully for the substance of the act though he sins in the manner of acting but when one that preacheth wanteth mission the very substantial act of preaching is unlawfull As when a Magistrate acts vaingloriously he sins in the manner of his acting but his act is lawfull in it self but when a man usurps the power of a Magistrate there he sins in the substance of the act because he wants authority c. Or as it is in the case of the Lords Supper it is wholly unlawful for a scandalous sinner to receive it but it is lawfull for a regenerate man though weak in grace to receive it though he sins in the receiving of it In a word the act is lawfull quoad specificationem actus for the kind of it and per se though it is sinfull quoad exercitium actus in the exercise of it and per accidens 2. It must be granted that the word sending is vocabulum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken variously in diyers places Sometimes it is taken for the mission of a person already authorized to any place or people but sometimes also it is taken for the authorization of a person to a work or office yea so it is frequently taken as Ioh. 20. 21. As my Father hath sent me so send I you i. e. As the Father authorized and sealed me to the Office of a Mediator so do I authorize you to be Apostles c. 1 Cor. 1. 17. Christ sent i. e. commissionated me not to baptize but to preach John 1. 6. A man sent of God Thus Christ often said that he was sent in Answer to that Question of his enemies By what authority doest thou these things 3. This providential mission and Ministerial mission need not to be opposed to one another but may well consist together A providential sending of a Minister to any place such as that of Paul Acts 16. to Macedonia doth not at all exclude but rather presuppose a Ministerial ' mission that Paul was an Apostle before hand Nay indeed upon further search these will be found to be much coincident How can they preach unless they be sent Sent by whom They say by God Well then we must enquire in the Scripture how God sends Preachers Thus much is apparent that God sends them by some call distinct from the gifting of them Whether this call be by people or by Officers that is another dispute which now I shall not meddle with this is sufficient to our purpose A call authorizing men to preach is that whereby God sends men to the work of preaching If they were extraordinary Officers then God sent them oft-times immediatly if ordinary then God sent them by the ministry and mediation of men And all those that were providentially sent by God to any place were called either one way or the other And this calling or designation of them to their office and work is that which is commonly known by the name of Sending This authorization of Isaiah is called the sending of him Isa 6. So it is called sending by Moses

all Scripture-Preachers may challenge maintenance or onely such Preachers as are in office-relation to those to whom they preach and of whom they challenge maintenance But not onely such Preachers may challenge maintenance as are in office-relation to them Therefore all Scripture-Preachers may challenge this maintenance The Minor for that onely is liable to exception I prove thus The Apostles say our Brethren were onely in office-relation to the Church and other Teachers are onely in office-relation to their particular Churches as they assert But these might challenge maintenance from others The disciples Luke 10. had no office-relation to them to whom they preached they were no officers in the Jewish Church and the Christian Church was not then erected and yet for their very work they may require maintenance v. 7. And in the same house remaine eating and drinking such things as they give for the labourer is worthy of his hire And Paul where ever he sowes spirituals though it be among heathens he may require carnals 1 Cor. 9. And generally in Scripture the maintenance is rather thrown upon the work then upon the office The double honour 1 Tim. 5. 17. and the high estimation 1 Thes. 5. 13. is for their works sake And the oxe that treadeth out the corn though it may be he treadeth not out his own Masters but another mans corn ought not to be muzled I would desire our brethren to answer me this question Suppose a man will go into Wales to preach the Gospel Whether in that case they do not believe the people are obliged to give him carnalls for his spiritualls If they affirme it as I believe they have too much ingenuity to deny it and the foregoing places fully evince it then we have gained thus much that the maintenance is not due onely to such as are office-wise related to those to whom they preach but to all Scripture-Preachers which was the thing to be proved and so we have secured the Major For the Minor it is needless to spend time about it for our brethren grant it and besides it speakes for it self For if all gifted men be bound to preach as our brethren assert and if in Churches many men are and all ought to covet to be so gifted which also they assert then the maintenance of such would be both absurd and impossible And thus much shal suffice for the vindication of the Provinciall Assemblies Arguments to prove that none ought to Preach without Ordination And so I have done with the principall Question Onely that the Reader may be able more judiciously to compare things together I shall present him with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or enumeration of the Arguments on both sides The Arguments alledged by them to prove that unordained men may preach I am the more willing to propound all their Arguments together because I would not take them at advantage but set the best glosse upon their cause for it oft times falls out that quae non prosunt singula juncta juvant those Arguments which when they are pull'd asunder have but little strength in them being united together seem considerable so that if their cause have any reall strength in it we shall see it here when the arrowes are all put together in one bundle or else we may conclude that there is neither strength nor truth in it Their first Argument is this Election must go before Ordination which they take for granted though it never was proved But a person must Preach before Election and therefore before Ordination and so one not yet Ordained may Preach So that their Argument is this Because a man unordained may Preach in a case of necessity i. e. when he is to be tried for Election or Ordination therefore he may Preach where there is no necessity Arg. 2. Gifted men unordained are commanded to Preach And here because Peter 1 Pet. 4. 9 10 11. commands every man to exercise his gift they inferre from thence that this gift must needs include preaching though it may as well relate to hospitality and that this gift must needs be exercised in a publick way by such as have no further call thereunto Arg. 3. They argue from examples Because Apollos who was a man extraordinarily indowed and an Officer 1 Cor. 1. 12. spake publickly to divers Iews though not gathered together in a Church assembly and because the scattered Saints who it is doubtful whether they were officers or no in a case of persecution and necessity spake occasionally of the things of God to persons they met with therefore any gifted men may ordinarily and without a case of necessity preach publickly in a Church Assembly Arg. 4. Because some persons who are called by the name of Officers Prophets and therefore may well be concluded to be in Office because such being inriched with extraordinary gifts did Prophesie therefore persons who are unquestionably no Officers and whose gifts are but ordinary may preach And this is bonâ fide the whole strength of their opinion which whether it be of sufficient force to transport a man beyond the sentiment or judgement of the Church in all ages of the generality of the reformed Churches of the present ages of the far greater part of learned and godly divines among us I desire our brethren and all that are concerned in it in the fear of God to consider And now let us see whether we cannot give a better account of our assertion and whether it doth not stand upon a firmer basis The Arguments alledged by us to prove that unordained men may not Preach Arg. 1. None may Preach lawfully unlesse besides their gifts they have a mission from God Rom. 10. Arg. 2. Neither Aaron no nor the Lord Jesus would undertake their offices nor-do any work of their offices untill over and above their excellent gifts they had received from God a call and designation thereunto And therefore persons farre inferiour in excellency and gifts ought not upon the account of their gifts either undertake any office or any work of any office without a further call thereunto nor are they by 1 Pet. 4. or any other place obliged to it Arg. 3. Gospel-Preachers are called by names importing an office Embassadors Stewards c. And therefore such Preachers are onely officers for names must answer to things Arg. 4. Gifts and calling are constantly distinguished 5. Diverse rules are laid down to guide and caution men in the admission of persons to the office of Preaching the Gospel all which are superfluous if gifted men are eonomine warranted to Preach 6. To allow the Preaching of unordained men opens a door to all confusion 7. God hath punished such as though sufficiently gifted and qualified for the work they did undertook to do a work to which they were not called as Uzzah Saul Uzziah 8. None may performe any religious service to God but such as are appointed or otherwise warranted thereunto But all gifted men are not appointed