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A46626 Ad clerum a visitation sermon preached at Beckonsfield in the county of Bucks, April the 9th, 1678 / by John James ... James, John, b. 1649. 1678 (1678) Wing J427; ESTC R35427 26,308 47

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AD CLERUM A VISITATION SERMON PREACHED At Beckonsfield in the County of Bucks April the 9 th 1678. By JOHN JAMES A. M. Rector of Latimers in the County of Bucks LONDON Printed by T.H. for R. Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1678. Imprimatur Geo. Thorp R mo in C.P.D. Domino Gulielmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacris Domesticis May 31. 1678. 1 Cor. 4.1 2. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God Moreover it is required in Stewards that a man be found faithful SAint Paul having planted Christianity among the Corinthians by preaching the Gospel of Christ in the City of Corinth and other adjacent Provinces in the Countrey of Greece after the space of Eighteen Months he departed from those Regions and took his Journey into Asia where he alsodelivered what he had received from the Lord and instructed the People both publickly in the Synagogues and privately in their Houses in the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God Immediately after his departure Apollos being by Priscilla and Aquila sufficiently instructed in the Doctrine of the Gospel upon his coming to Ephesus is by them recommended and sent to the Brethren at Achaia where he boldly delivered and diligently taught the things of the Lord confirming those who were converted by the Ministry of St. Paul in the grounds and principles of the Christian faith and by arguments unanswerable confuting the most obstinate Jews and putting to silence publickly in the Synagogues the most subtle and shrewdest Disputants among them Acts 18. vers 24 c. But though Paul had planted the Christian Religion in converting many by the preaching of the Gospel to be Proselytes to it and Apollos after him had watered those Converts in contributing his utmost assistance to settle and establish them on the Foundation which Paul had laid though God himself had given increase in making their labours effectual by the blessed influence of his Spirit to obtain those great ends he designed in the promulgation of the Gospel to wit the Conversion and Edification of Souls in the faith of Christ yet in a short time the heat of their Devotion began to be abated or rather to be misimployed upon improper objects For those which had enrolled themselves into the same Society professed and were Baptized into the same faith and so became members of the same mystical body broke forth into furious contentions animosities against each other rendring most miserably and most cruelly tearing the Church of Christ to pieces in its very Infancy for through the enmity of those impure Gnosticks against the Rules and Precepts of Christianity and the malice of the Judaizing Christians against many points of Doctrine contained therein most lamentable Schisms and Factions broke forth in the Church of Corinth which like flames of Fire were ready to consume and burn it down to the ground Errors and Heresies were scattered abroad and greedily received by too many among them which like ill Weeds soon grew up and brought forth most unwholsom fruit in their lives and manners This sad news no sooner came to the Ears of our Apostle but it sunk heavily down upon his Soul and made a deep impression of sorrow upon his minde therefore to redress these mischiefs and if possible to settle the distractions and divisions of Corinth he presently composeth and directs this Epistle to the Church there and to all other Christians both Jews and Gentiles inhabiting the Regions of Achaia in which after a Religious and most affectionate Salutation to procure from them a favourable Audience and a candid entertainment of what he delivered from v. 1. to v. 9. He most earnestly exhorts them to an Unity in Doctrine and brotherly Communion one among another vers 10 11. And then laying open before their eyes the grievousness of their Schism he charges them boldly with it to their very faces vers 11 12 13. Telling them plainly that the Christian Religion is but one and Christ Jesus the only Author of it That the excellency of its is such that though it be not ushered into the World with sublimity of speech and the Ornaments of humane wisdom and therefore is styled the foolishness of Preaching and by the learned Scribes and wise Disputers of the World was rejected with pride and insolence yet it consisteth in the power of God and so far excelleth the wisdom of this World that it destroys the understanding of the Wise and Prudent and confounds the things that are Mighty and Noble Chap. 1.2 That as Christ is the Author of this Divine Institution so he is the only proper Foundation for men to lay the Superstructure of their Faith and Salvation upon and according to the expression of St. Peter Acts 4.12 The only Name under Heaven given among Men whereby they should be called And consequently that thoso who labour in the Church of Christ have no dominion over the Faith of men or authority to command their Consciences notwithstanding they are Ministers of Christ and fellow-labourers together with God Stewards in the Houshold of Faith and Dispensers of the Mysteries of the Gospel and therefore as men are obliged to shew them their respective and just esteem but not to transcend its prescribed limits and bounds so 't is required these be faithful in their Office and Conscientious in the discharge of so Sacred a Function which as 't is a prevalent means to repair the breaches and cure the divisions in the Church of Christ so 't is the advice of the Apostles to the Corinthians and the immediate design of the words in my Text. Let a man so account of us c. That my discourse may be full and comprehensive proportionable to the just design and import of these words and serviceable in some measure to the present occasion and future necessities of this Assembly Three things necessarily require our consideration First The Subjects of the Apostles discourse implyed under the Pronoun Us. Secondly The matter predicated of or attributed to these Persons The Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries both which Particulars joyned together make up an entire Proposition that the Persons intended by the Apostle are the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God Thirdly Practical Inferences deduced from the truth of the Apostles assertion one respecting the men to whom these persons are employed as Ministers and Stewards Let a man so account of us as of The other relating to the Persons themselves to whom their Office is committed Moreover 't is required in Stewards that a man be found faithful First We shall consider the subjects of the Apostles discourse implyed under the Pronoun Us The Persons here intended being the very Foundation of the Apostles Argument and a just determination of this Particular the most regular and orderly Method to assist us in the undertaking and progress of our present employment 'T is certain that the
Persons spoken of whom St. Paul did directly and immediately respect are those mentioned Chap. 3. vers 22. Paul Apollos and Cephas who were separated by the Lord for the work of the Ministry and appointed as subservient to the Faith and Salvation of the Corinthians but that this particular direction to the Church of Corinth may be of larger use and service to the Church of Christ in general 't is most rational and consentaneous to the whole scope and tenure of the Gospel to affirm that all those who according to the Canons of Christ and the Apostles are consecrated to the same imployment are invested with the same Authority and Office implicitely included in the expression of the Apostle and therefore as justly styled Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Gospel as Paul or Apollos or Cephas were And if particular Commission be necessary to constitute the Offices of the holy Order the Negative holds as infallibly true as the Affirmative that no person may presume to administer any Office appropriate to this sacred Function but those who are Legally called to and Canonically invested with it for the Gospel almost as oft as occasion is offered to make mention of the Ministers and dispensers of it plainly intimates that the Master of our Religion designs a separation of persons from secular employments to officiate in the Ministry and Preaching of the Gospel as in 1 Cor. 12. The Apostle resembles the Church to a Body which is constituted of several Members and every one designed to serve in its proper place for the benefit and advantage of the whole that the foot cannot usurp the Office of the Head nor the Arm exercise the Authority of the Brain but every one discharge its proper Function that there be no Schism nor Division in the body in proportion to which similitude the state of Christ's mystical body is to be understood in which every the meanest Christian is a Member in particular but every Member cannot dispose and regulate the affairs of the whole For are all Apostles are all Prophets are all Teachers do all speak with Tongues do all Interpret Vers 29.30 Shall the foot say Unless I am head I will not be of the Body Or the ear say Because I am not the eye I am not sufficiently honored If the whole Body were an eye where were the hearing And if every Member were the Head where were the Body But God hath set the Members every one in the Body as it hath pleased him Vers 16 17 18. First Apostles Secondarily Prophets Thirdly Teachers Vers 28. And that this distinction should remain in the Church to the end of the World is confidently conffirmed by the Apostle Ephes 4.11 12 13. Wherein he declares that the Officers of the Church therein mentioned to be given for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the Body of Christ c. Which Phrases must of necessity denote their continuance in the Church till the number of Gods Elect are accomplished and the state of Christs mystical Body perfectly compleated and for this reason St. Paul justifies his special designation to the Apostleship 1 Tim. 2.7 And St. Peter exhorts his Presbyters to continual diligence in their imployment as their proper and necessary duty 1 Pet. 5.1 2. And inded if we search into the ancient Records of the World or consider the account which Modern Historians have privately collected and publickly presented to us the most learned and faithfull among them do confidently assure us that never any Nation in the World made a publick profession of Religion but the Governours thereof solemnly appointed a separation of Persons whose constant employment it should be to Solemnize and Celebrate the Mysteries thereof and Moses in transcribing the History of the Church of God both before and after the Floud and under the admistration of the Law hath recorded the observation of the same custom in those several forms of Church-government thus Enoch and Noah were Preachers of Righteousness to the old World Abraham and the succeeding Patriarchs were Kings and Priests in their respective Families and duly administred the affairs of Religion to their several charges And when God erected his Theocratical Government over the Jews whom he had chosen for his own People he commanded Aaron and his Sons to be set apart for the Priests Office that they might wait at the Altar of the Lord and Minister to the People in Holy things which was appointed a Statute unto him and to his Seed after him for evermore Exod. 28.1 43. And if the Christian Religion must be denyed this honour and no such Custom observed in the Church of Christ this strange innovation must be grounded upon one or both of these reasons either that it contains matters of less value and concernment to Christians than the Religion of other Nations to the Proselytes of it Or else that they are so plain easie in all and every particular Doctrine that the meanest understanding can comprehend their most intimous sence and meaning and 't is impossible for the most illiterate to be deceived in his judgment concerning them These are the fairest pretences that can be alledged against the necessary distinction of the Ministerial Office yet their weakness is apparent at the first view and their absurdity so gross that it may palpably be felt For the Gospel of Christ is so far from deserving this reproach and contempt that it contains matters of the greatest moment and importance for Man to know such as are the excellency of the Divine Nature the state and condition of mans Soul and that incomparable Method contrived by the Divine Wisdom for mans eternal happiness comprehends matters of the most universal Satisfaction to the minds of men and propounds the duties of a Practical Religion which are most agreeable to the Divine Nature to require and most reasonable for Mankind to observe in all which respects it infinitely transcends all the Platforms of Religion entertain'd in the World and even the worship of the Jews themselves and though those Practical points which are essentially necessary to mans Salvation are extremely suitable to the dictates of right reason and delivered with the greatest perspicuity and clearness imaginable yet it discourseth concerning points of Faith of the greatest depth and mysteriousness which are altogether inconceiveable and incomprehensible and do exceed the apprehensions of any created Being such are the Eternal purposes and decrees of God the Doctrine of the Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God with other Doctrines of like affinity scattered up and down the Gospel for so St. Peter tell us That in the Epistles of St. Paul are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable so wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 What can be spoken of such infinite importance What can be delivered of so tremendous consequence as the Christian Religion And shall not the