Ultimum Vale OR The Last FAREWEL of a Minister of the Gospel to a beloved People By MATTHEVV NEVVCOMEN M. A. late Preacher of the Gospel to the Church of Christ at Dedham in Essex Now to the English Church at Leyden in Holland Coelum non Animum Coelum ne Animum Non Animum ne Coelum Heb. 13.7 Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation 2 Pet. 1.12 13. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you alwayes in remembrance of these things though ye know them and be established in the present Truth Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance London Printed in the Year 1663. Ultimum Vale OR The Last Farewel of a Minister of the Gospel to a Beloved People Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified THe blessed Apostle Paul being from all Eternity intended and designed by God to be a glorious President of the Riches and Almightiness of his Pardoning Mercy and Converting Grace as the Apostle tells you 1 Tim. 1.14 God did therefore cause his Grace in the Conversion of Paul not only to abound but to super-abound As it is there expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that was a Blasphemer and was a Persecutor and was Injurious being now by the rich and powerful Grace of God converted to be a Believer to be a Preacher to be a Martyr So the Lord Christ tells him at his first appearing to him as himself records it Acts 26.16 I have appeared to thee to make thee a Minister and a Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non cuivis competit Every Saint of God is not called to such a degree of Honour as to be made a Minister and a Martyr the first day and that of their conversion No more than every King hath the honour to be a King as soon as he comes into the World But this was the exceeding abundant Grace of God towards Paul above all others Paul had now spent about some eighteen years in the painful and laborious discharge of his Ministry though not without some intermixtures of bitter Sufferings Drops of that great Martyrdom whereby he was to close and seal up his Ministry at last and glorifie God And having it now revealed to him that the time was drawing nigh wherein he must be offered up unto the Sacrifice and Service of that Faith which he had so long preached having visited several of the Churches planted by his own Ministry he now makes hast to Jerusalem though he knew that was the place where the Tragedy of his Suffering was to begin v. 22 23. Having therefore for the more expedition determined to slip by Ephesus for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and not to touch or enter there for fear of being too long detained among them and yet not willing Insalutatos praeterire to pass by his Christian Friends and Brethren there without so much as saluting them Therefore from Miletus he sends to Ephesus and calls the Elders of the Church thither to Miletus to him ver 17. Ephesus was the Metropolis the cheif City of the lesser Asia where Paul had spent at several times three years in the preaching of the Gospel and by the blessing of God upon those labours had gathered there a Famous and a Glorious Church unto Jesus Christ and had there as in other Churches Acts 14.23 constituted and ordained Elders to whom he resigned the whole Care and Government of those Churches and that by the direction and appointment of the holy Ghost himself It is observed by many and is indeed very obvious and easy to observe that though here be mention of a Metropolis or chief City Ephesus and mention of a Church in that City The Church of Ephesus yet here is no mention of a Metropolitan Bishop or any Bishop at all as certainly there would have been if there had been a Biship or Superintendant over that Church but the Holy-Ghost plainly tels us that that Church was governed by a Consessus Presbyterorum by a company of Elders who did govern Communi Consilio and all and every one of those Elders were equally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that Jure Divino Not one Bishop and the rest of them Elders of an inferior order To these Elders thus assembled Paul gives his Ultimum Vale in this pathetical parting speech Wherein First He looks back to the course of his Ministry already past among them ver 18.21 Secondly He looks forward to his approaching Suffering and Martyrdom ver 22 23 24. Where he sheweth that he was a Martyr Animo Voto Proposito already Thirdly He tels them this is the last time that ever they shall behold him ver 25. And as Samuel when he was laying down his Office of Magistracy appeals to the People concerning his integrity in the Magistracy 1 Sam. 12.3 So Paul here appeals to these concerning his uprightness and faithfulness in the discharge of the Ministry Happy are those Magistrates and Ministers that when they are leaving their Office and Imployment can make these appeals Fourthly He exhorts them unto a due care First of themselves and then of the Flock committed to them upon a twofold account First because it was the Flock over which the Holy-Ghost had made them Overseeres Secondly Because it is the Flock which God hath purchased by his own Blood ver 28. Fiftly He enforceth this care and diligence further by a prediction of the danger which he saw threatning the Church and the Flock of Christ among them v. 29 30. Sixthly He resumes the Exhortation again and presseth it under another term of Watching and urgeth it by his own example ver 31. Seventhly He fairly and piously takes his leave of them in ver 32. And afterwards propounds his own example again unto them for imitation and so the action concludes on his part with Prayer ver 36. on their parts with Tears ver 37 38. A solemn and sad parting In the words of the 32. vers you have First The Agent I Paul by the appointment of God a Minister once your Minister now no longer like to be your Minister nor a Minister unless in bonds I Paul There is the Agent Secondly We have the Act Commend Our English word commend is ambiguous sometimes it signifies to praise a person or thing so 2 Cor. 3.1 Do we commend our selves or need we as some others Epistles of commendation to you or Letters of commendation from you Sometimes our English word Commend signifieth to resign or deliver up or commit a person or thing to the care or trust of another so Luke 23.46 Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit But in the Original there
is no ambiguity the word that signifieth to commend by way of praise is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Luke 16.8 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 8.8 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 5.8 and 16.1 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 3.1 and 5.12 but the word used to signifie commending by way of trust is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Luke 23.46 Acts 14.23 and that is the word here used in the Text I commend you that is I resigne you over I deliver you up I commit you to the Trust of God That is the second thing the Act. The Third thing is the Subject of this Act or the persons thus commended You amplified by their relative compellation Brethren Brethren I commend you to God It is clear that this relates to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus and it is probable that some of the Vulgar some of the Plebs might be there also especially if they understood that Paul now sent for the Elders to take his last leave of them doubless some of the Brethren and Church-Members would willingly put themselves to the trouble of so small a journey to be present at this solemn parting and if you consider well the words of the 20 25 27 verses methinks it is more than probable that there were present upon the place some of Pauls ordinary hearers and ordinary members of the Church as well as the Elders therefore we may safely conclude that this you Brethren includes both Elders and People Brethren I commend you The fourth thing considerable is the Person to whom he doth thus commend these Brethren and that is first to God the Wise the Gracious the Faithful the Almighty God The same God to whom with my Lord and Master Jesus Christ I would commend my spirit if I were now a dying into his hands I commend you I commend you principally and in the first place to God and then secondly and subordinately to the Word of his Grace as a powerful means and nstrument of God unto you Brethren I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace Fiftly You have here the Eulogie of this word which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified which clause may either refer to God I commend you to God who is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified or to the Word of hic Grace I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up c. and so in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is God is able by his Word to build you up and bring you to Heaven Or The Word of God is able to build you up in Grace and bring you to Glory Lastly You have the time when Paul doth thus studiously and solemnly commend the Brethren to God and to the Word of his Grace and that is Now Now that I am departing from you never to see your faces more Now that after my departure grievous Wolves shall enter among you Now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified Which words will afford variety of Observations First For the term of Compellation Brethren This term Brother or Brethren saith Hierom quadrupliciter accipitur is taken four manner of wayes 1. First For those that are born of the same Parents 2. Secondly For those that are of the same Linage though not of the same immediate Parents those whom we call Cousins are usually in Scripture called Brethren and Sisters 3. Thirdly For those of the same Nation 4. Fourthly For those of the same Religion and Profession 5. To which we may add fifthly For those of the same place and co-habitations Thus Lot calls the men of Sodom Brethren Gen. 19.7 6. Sixthly They are called Brethren that are of a like quality and disposition so Prov. 18.9 He that is slothful in his work is Brother to him that is a great waster Here it is used upon no other but upon a Religious Account The Apostle calls these Persons here present Brethren because he and they had one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father therefore Brethren If we suppose this Compellation used to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus then we may reade in it the exceeding great humility and condescension of the blessed Apostle Paul who though he was advanced to an Office and Dignity of highest Eminency of any that ever Christ instituted in his Church even the Office of an Apostle which is another manner of Title and Dignity than that either of Bishop or Arch-Bishop or Patriarch or Cardinal or Pope And though the Apostle sufficiently understood how to magnifie this Office of his when necessity or occasion required it Rom. 11.13 yet so modest and humble is the Apostle that he doth not disdain to give unto a company of poor plain Presbyters or Elders of the Church that were in Office and questionless in Gifts and Graces many degrees inferiour to the Apostle yet I say he doth not disdain to give unto them the title and respect of Brethren So that other Apostle Peter whom the Papists forsooth would fain have to be the Prince of the Apostles and Head of the Church see what modest language he useth to the Elders of the Church 1 Pet. 5.1 The Elders that are among you I exhort who am also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fellow-Elder with your selves One would think it would have sounded better and more like the Prince of the Church to have said We will and require you We Peter by divine dispensation Prince of the Apostles Head of the Church the Vicar of Christ to whom the Keys of Heaven are given WE will and require We charge and command the Elders that are among you to feed the Flock of God This indeed is more according to the language and genius of those that pretend to be the Successors of Peter and of the Apostles But those Primitive and purer times knew no such distance betwixt the Ministers of the Gospel nor no such Lordliness of the one over the other the highest Officer in the Church looking upon the lowest as Brethren and Fellow-Elders These gracious and holy Souls had not yet forgotten the Words of their Lord and Master Luke 22.25 The Kings of the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lord it over them and they that exercise Authority upon them are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benefactors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But as for you it shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the younger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he that is Ruler or Governor among you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Deacon or Minister or Servant The Servants of Christ had not yet forgot these Words of their Lord and
if you would not have the whole work of Grace in your souls decay and run to ruine If any of your now have a house in building and had laid the foundation begun to rear up the building and so let it stand by contented that your work-man should finish at his leasure when he could spare time when he had nothing else to do Would not all the world condemn you as very improvident men and negligent of your own concernments O that men were but as wise for their souls as they are for the world O why should you neglect your souls why should you suffer the building of Grace which God hath begun to rear up in your souls to decay and run to ruine as it will certainly do for Non progredi est regredi Not to go forward is to go backward O therfore be adding daily and doing something in your souls daily Could the Heathen Painter be so intent and industrious upon his trade of Painting that he could say Nulla dies sine lineâ and all that he might excell in that Art And shall not Christians be more intent upon and more industrious in their attendance to the work of Grace in their souls shall any day pass them without something done for their edification and for the carrying on of the work of Grace in their hearts unto more perfection O far be it far be it from every true Christan You Brethren building up your selves in your most holy Faith and praying alwayes in the Holy-Ghost keep your selves in the Love of God But you will say How shall we do that What can we do towards the building up of our selves Why the following Doctrines will tell you that the next whereof is this That the best of Christians have need of the Word of God for their edification and building up Therefore the Apostle here commends even the Elders of Ephesus who were themselves Officers of Christ and Builders in the Church of Christ the Apostle commends them to the Word of Grace so the Apostle exhorts Timothy 1 Tim. 4.13 Till I come give attendance to Reading to Exhortation to Doctrine Give attendance to reading to reading what certainly the holy Scriptures the Word of God Timothy was one that had known the Scriptures of a Child 2 Tim. 3.15 and that had received extraordinary Gifts of the holy Ghost by the laying on of the Apostles hands 2 Tim. 1.6 that was an Evangelist a Preacher of the Gospel to the Gentiles yet even this Timothy though thus qualified gifted and imployed must still give attendance to reading not only reade now then a chapter but give attendance to reading if he means to build up others or to be himself built up in Grace and Holiness So that you see the best of Christans have need of the Word of God for their building up and edification That this was the design and scope of God in causing his Word to be committed to writing is clear in 2 Tim. 3.16 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration from God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works There is the end why all Scripture was given that the man of God may be built up unto perfection And that this is the end why Christ hath instituted in his Church a publick Ministry for the opening and applying of these Scriptures is clear out of Ephes 4.11 12. And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Now if the infinite Wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ did not know that the best of his Servants would need his Word for their edification and building up He would never have committed his Word first to writing and afterwards have appointed a continual preaching of it in his Church in season and out of season as a means properly subservient to their edification We may conclude therefore That the best of Christians have need of the Word for their edification and building up And this first condemns the Impiety of the Pope I say of the Pope rather than of the Papists for the poor People suffer under this Impiety of the Pope and his Clergy who deprive their Laity as they call them of the use and benefit of the Scriptures making it a Capital crime for any of them to have the Scriptures in any common or ordinary language Italian French Spanish or the like Satan himself could never have invented a more speedy and effectual way for the destroying of souls that this is They pretend indeed for this wickedness of theirs reverence to the Scriptures and care of souls they would not they say have the Scriptures polluted and prophaned by being made common and handled with unwashed and unholy hands therefore they suffer none to deal with the Scriptures but men in holy Orders and they are afraid lest by putting the Scriptures into vulgar hands they should but put a knife into the hand of a child or mad-man wherewith to wound and destroy themselves wresting the Scriptures to their own destruction But O how foolish is the wisdom of man when it would exalt it self above the Wisdom of God! Did not God know how to provide for the Honour and Majesty of his Sacred Word and for the good and well-fare of poor Souls if the Word were exposed to the view and use of the meanest and lowest of People Why then were the Scriptures of the Old Testament written to the Church of the Jews in the Hebrew tongue which every man woman and child spake and understood and why where the Scriptures of the New-Testament written to the Churches of the Gentiles in the Greek tongue which was the proper and maternal language of most of the Churches we reade of in the New-Testament and generally understood by all to whom the Gospel was at first preached and what mean all those Commandments both in the Old New Testament for reading meditating and searching the Scriptures and those promises of Blessing to them that so do made and given promiscuously unto all if all may not yea ought not to reade the Scriptures And why did the Apostles guided by the Spirit of God direct and intitle their Epistles not to Bishops and Church Officers only but even to the whole Church the Plebs and all if the Plebs might not reade the Scriptures And why doth John write his Canonical Epistle to the Elect Lady and to Gaius a private Christian if Ladies and private Christians might not reade Canonical Scripture And why do Chrysostom Hierom Austin and others of the glorious Lights of the antient Church so vehemently exhort their People and Auditors to the reading and study of the Scriptures had these men no care of the Honour of the Scriptures or the good of the Soul Apage Away with these pretences