the Gospel the twelve Apostles received them immediatly from Christ himself when personally present with them on earth as their Tutor 3. Their seconds Matthias and Paul received them partly by the Ministery of the Church and partly from Christ immediatly Matthias was fitted for the work of the Ministry by Christ when he was personally present on earth Paul by the Spirit of Christ when he was ascended up into Heaven yet so as that the ministery of man was not wholly excluded either their vocation or mission c. Act. 1. 9. chap. c. but 4. The Reformers of the Churches of Christ Timothy Titus the Angels of the seven Churches of Asia c. have ever received them from Christ by the Ministery of the Church or the Officers thereof They have them mostly if not wholly this way for when there are men fit to be made use of in the work of the Gospel Christ ever employs them proportionably he never is in extraordinary wayes but in an extraordinary case t is pure necessity that makes him act by himself alone without means or Instruments 2. They differ in the nature of their Commissions The Commission that the first Preachers and Planters of the Gospel and of Churches by it had shewed was their power to do Miracles Heb. 2.4 This divine Commission they occasionally produced to convince the world of the truth of their mission But the Reformers of the Christian Churches have no such commission 2 Thes 3.8 9. but in stead thereof the Testimonial of approved and most eminent Preachers of the Gospel c. Such a commission Timothy and Titus had from Christ by Paul in his Epistles to them and the Angels of the seven Churches of Asia by John the Apostle in his Epistles to them And all other ordinary Officers of Christ from the Apostles and others in their Epistles to the other Churches respectively Such a commission all their Successors have usually had and still have It s commendably so in these Nations at this day And this is satisfactory and final evidence of an ordinary Minister 3. They differ in the extent of their authority The first Preachers and Planters of the Gospel John the Baptist and Christ might do their work in any part of Judea and the Planters of Churches by the Gospel might do their work in any part of the world but the Reformers of the Churches of Christ are hunted to particular places as Timothy to Ephesus Titus to Crete and the Angels of the seven Churches of Asia to their respective Churches c. Their commission is only to reform those Churches They are there and for that work only and may neither turn to the right hand nor to the left without further order 4. They differ in respect of other maintenance For 1. the first Preachers and Planters of the Gospel were extraordinarily provided for 2. The first Planters of Churches by the Gospel had their maintenance from the members of those Churches out of the common stock which the Church then had Act. 2.44 45 c. 3. In extraordinary cases they were sometimes maintained by their own hand-labour as was Paul Act. 18. but 4. The Reformers of the Churches of Christ have been and are maintained mostly by Tithes Those that have not been or are not thus maintained have been and are maintained by somewhat that is as near as can be equivalent thereunto especially in England almost ever since it was Christian For 1. the Spirit of Christ giving an account of the practice of giving Tithes or a tenth part of all to the Ministers of God with the greatest exactness that can be is so far from stigmatizing that he gives a very fair character of it Luke 18.12 14. Heb. 7. 2. This practice was not founded upon the ceremonial Law but was four hundred and odd years before it Genesis 14.20 and Heb. 7.6 3. Christ hath nowhere repealed but rather established the ancient Laws of God about peoples giving and Ministers receiving of Tithes Levit. 27.30 c. Deut. 14.22 Malac. 3.8 9 10. Luke 11.42 Heb. 7.5 8 9. 4. There 's general equity in such a course what was due to Ministers under the Law is much more due to the Ministers of the Gospel forasmuch as their Ministry is far more excellent 2 Corin. 3. c. 5. The Gospel-spirit hath pointed them out as most due to them and convenient for them 1 Cor. 9. Gal. 6.6 6. Former Magistrates in whose power they were in civil respect in this Nation did accordingly give them to the Ministers successively for ever and it is no small sin to violate so just and pious a will of deceased Magistrates Gal. 3.15 Heb. 9.17 7. There is no other probable way of having and continuing a right Evangelical Ministry and Magistracy throughout this Nation c. Object But we must do as the Apostles did Resp Prove that Universally Object None of the first Reformers were maintained by Tithes Resp It s probably true But 1. want of possession though it may render a mans title suspitious yet it is consistent with the best 2. If it were so that the first Reformers were not maintained by Tithes and be so that some are not yet it neither was nor is because Reforming Ministers have no right to Tithes but either 1. Because they were not Christian Magistrates that would see to the execution of the Laws of Christ and to the doing of Justice according to the Word of God whereby all men might enjoy their rights and properties or 2. Because the Saints enjoyed not liberty to improve their estates but were persecuted and unsetlted or 3. Because in those times they had not whereof to pay Tithes for ex nihilo nihil fit 3. So soon as these impediments were removed in this Nation It paid Tithes where it had things tithable and where it had not it made up a maintenance for its Ministers as equivalent as could be to that by Tithes and so it justly doth at present Object We are not Church-members nay we do not so much as hear those Ministers that will take Tithes c. Resp The Law of grace of God and of the Nation gives Reforming Ministers the Tithes for their support and maintenance in the execution of their commission 2. By vertue of these Laws they have a right unto them and are rightfully in the possession of them 3. Their right to them or possession of them depends not upon mens Church-membership or hearing of them though the Evangelical delivery of them doth 4. All that have a natural capacity ought to have Reforming Ministers be fit for and enjoy all Ordinances by them administrable to visible Saints and Churches of Christ Rev. 2.7 11 17 c. 5. Where self-love is overcome by love to Christ there will neither be head heart nor hand against maintaining of Ministers by donation and payment of Tithes 6. It s well if our innocent opposers of Ministers maintenance by way of Tithes
R. 2. A company of people met together by the Power of the Civil Magistrate to receive holy things P 3. The place of such meetings 4. A company of Apostates joyned together by a Jesuitical bond to seduce people from the publique Ordinances of Jesus Christ A. Q c. Resp 3. Thirdly This word Ecclesia or Church is very often used by the holy Ghost in Scripture but that which it seemeth good to the most blessed Spirit to call most frequently by this name is a Company of visible Saints joyned together by a special bond for the constant exercise of the Communion of Saints amongst themselves Quest What condition is every Church of Christ in Resp Every Church of Christ is either in a Reformed or in a planted constituted state Quest Is there any difference betwixt a planted and a Reformed Church of Christ Resp Yea Their Agreement is very extensive and emphatical and yet they differ In the discovery whereof these two considerations must be diligently eyed 1. It is one thing to preach the Gospel another thing to plant the Gospel and a third to plant Churches by the Gospel preacht heard and planted As it is one thing for Work-men to work upon those things that are to be the Materials of a Building in a preparatory way another thing for those things to be actually prepared and fit to be put into the Building and a third thing to have all those Materials so fitted joyned together and the building compleated 1 Cor. 3.9 2. Reformation supposeth the building not compleated and yet somewhat done in order thereunto be it more or less sometimes and in some places it finds the Gospel to have been preached only and not planted Sometimes it finds that the Gospel hath been received by some but that those are not united or agreed to walk together in Church-fellowship and so do not constitute a particular Church according to the Gospel sometimes it finds them joyned together but very loosely Sometimts it finds them fast joyned together but under a defect of some particular Officers Sometimes it finds the Church to have been builded and compleated but relapsed degenerated or apostatiz'd less or more as a decayed Building not utterly ruined or not having more of the Devil than of Christ in it though too much This supposed these four things may be concluded 1. A Planted and Reformed Church of Christ agree 1. In their Causes 2. In their Properties 3. In their Practices And 4. In their Priviledges 1. In their Causes and so first in their Efficient causes thus 1. Christ was the Institutor and Ordainer both of the first Planted and of Reformed Churches under the Gospel Mat. 16.18 Rev. cap. 2. 3. 2. Christ and his Officers by his Word and Spirit are the Makers of both the Ministry is before both and none but Ministers by divine Appointment and Commission as Paul Timothy c. are originally ordinarily and equally employed by Christ in either 2. In their matter Visible Saints are the matter whereof both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ are constituted and made 3. In their form Both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ are formed Et in unum coalescunt omnes sancti Ecclesiae by a mutual Consent and Agreement to walk towards God and one another respectively according to Gospel Rules 4. In their ends The end both of the first Planted and our Reformed Churches of Christ is his Glory and his Saints salvation 2. In their Properties Both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ can visibly perform the conditions of the New Covenant and act according to Gospel-Rules of Church Communion 3. In their Practices Both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ do visibly perform the conditions of the New Covenant and walk according to Gospel Rules of Church-Communion 4. They agree in their Priviledges Christ hath given very glorious Priviledges both to his first Planted and to his Reformed Churches Yet 2. They differ But 3. The difference that is betwixt them is but Parallel to the difference that was betwixt the Church at its first Constitution and the Church Reformed under the Law And 4. But accidental 1. In their Order 2. In their Officers 3. In their Matter 4. In their Form 5. In their End 6. In their Properties 7. In their Practices And 8. In their Priviledges Mat. 16.18 1 Cor. 3.11 Gal. 1.6 7 8 9. Quest What difference is there in their Order Resp 1. Christ in the first Planting of his Churches proceeded as it were in an Analytical Order he made the Gospel so successfull that thousands were converted at a time and made as it were one Catholick visible Church by joyning themselves voluntarily to the Lord and to the Apostles then altogether at Jerusalem out of which as out of a Fountain there issued at it were particular Churches Resp Christ in the Reforming of his Churches proceeds as it were in a Synthetical Order He first moulds particular persons into particular Churches and then those particular Churches into one Catholick Church Sensu Amesiano Medul lib. 1. cap. 31.32 Quest Wherein do the first Planters and Reformers of the Churches of Christ differ Resp They agree in the Essentials of the Ministery as 1. the Spirit of Christ hath furnisht both of them invisibly at the least with gifts and graces proportionable to the work whereunto he hath appointed them in the times and places wherein they live For eminency in gifts and graces is as necessary for all Church-Officers as sincerity in them is for all Church-members and therefore God sends none to Church-work but those that appear to their Judges to be such though they be not all of them equally qualified 2. They are both of them called and sent Licensed and commanded by Christ to be his Vicegerents and chief Ministers about soul and Church affairs on earth Heb. 5.4 3. Both of them have the same commission for the substance and body of it both of them may by the special Law of Christ dispence the Mysteries of God or preach administer Sacraments and govern according to his Word 4. Both of them may providentially be suspended as to the exercise of these Acts which are properly Ministerial but not ex humana libertate arbitrio proprio 5. Both of them have a right by Divine grant to a comfortable maintenance that may free them from being necessitated to work with their own hands and encourage them and put them into a capacity of attending wholly upon the execution of their Commission 1 Cor. 9 to the end 2 Tim. 2.4 Resp They differ accidentally and circumstantially in the extra-essentials of the Ministery As 1. in the manner of their receiving of their gifts graces vocation mission and commission For 1. the first Preachers and Planters of the Gospel John the Baptist and Christ had them all immediatly from the Spirit without any humane Instrumentality 2. The first Fathers and Planters of Churches by
trade not with the man of sin in the depths of Satan to take away the tenth at least of them as well as from them Quest Wherein doth the matter of a Reformed Church and the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel differ Resp Matter is that of which a thing is made and doth exist 2. Visible Saints are the matter of all true Churches of God 3. Being visibly in covenant with God hath ever been the critical Badge of visible Saints All those and those only are to be esteemed and used as visible Saints and Gods peculiar that God hath made a promise of himself unto and taken into covenant with himself 4. The terms upon which God hath made over himself to mankind are very various He promised himself upon one condition to man in the state of innocency upon another to him when faln upon a third to Abraham c. upon a fourth to Moses c. upon a fifth to those adult persons that lived under the Gospel and upon a sixth to their children respectively during their minority 5. The difference betwixt the matter of the Church and Churches of God at one time and at another is grounded upon his various administration of his covenant or his promising and applying himself to mankind upon various terms and conditions 6. Upon this account the matter of a Reformed Church and the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel do differ For 1. Before Christ came in the flesh God had freely tyed himself to his people by an external Covenant of grace or promise of himself unto them 2. In the beginning of the Gospel God altered that and made a new Will Testament or Covenant 3. The whole world thereupon was as it were dissolved and void of visible Saints both Jews and Gentiles were for a time deserted by God for he was not visibly obliged to mankind in that pinch of time none of those that were his peculiar people before could now challenge a particular Interest in him by vertue of his ancient Promise to Abraham though often confirmed in a solemn manner now indefinitely in force during that Dispensation or untill they do personally accept of the new covenant or Gods promise of himself upon new conditions Mar. 1. 4. The world lying in this miserable condition God tendered himself again unto it in his new Instrument or covenant of Peace and Reconciliation by the publike Ministry of John the Baptist Christ and his Apostles and their assistants and successors 5. Many Adult persons did thereupon accept of him accordingly 6. All Adult persons that accepted of him accordingly together with their children were restored to their visible Interest in God again or vested with an Interest in God by vertue of his free grant promise or covenant which as before only and solely gives a right unto himself and to the glorious things of the Gospel 7. Those visible Saints were the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel 8. Most of those visible Saints did visibly apostatize from their acceptance of God upon those new Terms 9. To those visible Saints so apostatized God still tendered himself by his Ministers but upon higher terms Apoc. 2. 3. 10. All and only those Adult persons that accepted of him accordingly together with their children having alwayes been legally in them and one with them by the fundamental Laws of God were confirmed in or restored to their visible Interest in God again 11. All and only those visible Saints are the matter of Reformed Churches under the Gospel So that the difference betwixt the matter of Reformed Churches and the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel lies mainly in these two points Conclu 1. Adult persons who were the first and greatest part of the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel were not under the new Gospel-covenant during their minority But adult persons who also were and are the first and major part of the matter of Reformed Churches under the Gospel either were interested in the new covenant during their Infancy or rejected together with their parents for their non-improvement of the means of Grace ordained by Christ Conclu 2. Adult persons who are the first and greatest part of the matter of Reformed Churches under the Gospel or the body and Representative of it are both more extensive and more intensive in the performance of the conditions of the new covenant then the Adult matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel was Object But our Antiministerialists say that none can be in Covenant with God during their minority Resp It may be so It s very probable that they do hold that babes can have no interest in God by promise c. and if so it is the fountain of all their visible extravagancies and is it self fed by these and other hellish atheistical and antichristian opinions and principles of darkness 1. That they may make the light within them their Suprema Lex 2. That God cannot make a Law without mans consent 3. That to esteem of and use any one as legally in another is unjust and illegal 4. That Infants are utterly uncapable of free grace c. Object Our Antiministerialists are so far from requiring more of Adult persons who are the only matter of their Churches Sensu praedicto than was required of adult persons that were the matter of the first constituted Churches under the Gospel inclusively that they do not require so much Resp Through-conformity to the Gospel is not consistent e ther with their principles or designs 2. Christ hath not sent them either to plant his Churches or reform them and therefore it is no wonder if they go not the way to either 3. They are so far from being Primi perturbatae collapsaeque Ecclesiae restauratores mensuraque reliquorum that their practice is no President nor their work no Rule to Reforming Ministers in the least 4. What ever may be said de regulis regulatis Christs seven Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia are the Supreme Regula regulans of all Church-reformation under the Gospel 5. In those Epistles such matter of Reformed Churches of Christ is required as is before mentioned Quest What difference is there betwixt the form of a Reformed Church and the form of the first planted Churches under the Gospel Resp A Form is an internal cause by which a thing is what it is 2. The mutual consent and agreement of visible Saints to walk towards God and one another respectively according to the Rules of Gods Word is the form of all the true Churches of God 3. God according to the good pleasure of his Will and the variety of his Saints conditions did successively give several Rules of Church-communion 4. The difference that there is betwixt the form of the Church and Churches of God at one time and at another is grounded upon that variety of Divine Dispensation 5. Upon this account there is a difference
He hath given them vast instruction how to do it And 4. What do they import save Reformation 3. As it is the great glory of God to Institute and plant Churches for the Edification of his people that his special presence may be amongst them before their apostacy c. So it is the greatest glory of Christ to reform his Churches that his Presence may continue amongst them after their apostacy and defection c. For 1. Herein he delivers them from the great removeable evils that are on earth And 2. Gives them the most glorious things that are on earth communicable de quibus infra 4. It is the most incomparable state of man on earth In a Thoughly-Reformed state after Christian Apostacy the Saints and Churches of Christ are in the greatest glory that ever they will be in on earth When this Dispensation is ended that in Heaven will immediatly succeed it and continue for ever Quest But who is it that makes such a Preservation the end of his Reformation Resp If we may Judge of mens ends by their actings men of such a spirit are very rare 2. The grand enquiry is not about mens ends but Gods 3. God doth not make mans life his Law 4. In the Reformation of Christian Churches its evident that he aymes at their Preservation inclusively whether men do or not 5. Men ought to use Gods means for Gods ends It s both their duty honour and safety 6. It proceeds from want of Grace in those that do not and is not commendable in the least 7. It concerns us to take heed of being led by ungodly guides Object There be other means to preserve the Churches of Christ Resp 1. Whatever our ends be Gods way to them is the best 2. God hath prescribed Reformation as the way to the Preservation of Churches Leviticus 26.23 c. 3. The Experience of all Ages testifies and convinceth that it is so and the only soveraign Antidote against desolation 4. It s compounded of all the saving Spirituals that are in the World 5. Those other wayes and means are but of humane Invention 6. They are used by Worldly Wise men or carnal Polititians 7. It is not to be expected by Christians that Christ will by them secure his Churches from ruin and desolation but that 8. Where Christian Reformation is not practised mens Ecclesiastical and Spiritual if not their civil and temporal estates and Interests will languish and come to nothing notwithstanding Leviticus 26. c. Wherefore 9. Prudens O tale Caveto Object I see no necessity at all of preserving of Christian Churches Resp 1. The Instituted Churches of Christ are scituated directly in our way to the full fruition of God in Heaven according to Scriptures 2. The continuance of them is absolutely necessary for all those that travel thither 3. They that are travelling to Heaven do discover this necessity 4. The Gospel is hid from all the rest 2 Corin. 4.3 5. The Objection savours very strongly of Atheism and Antiscripturism unbelief and Antichristianism and therefore 6. Those whose spirits appear to be fraught with it must be left to the Judgement of God For 1. Contra negantem principia non est disputandum 2. The Apostle Paul desires the Church to pray for himself and his assistants and successors that they may be delivered from men of such a spirit 2 Thessal 1.1.3.1 2. 3. He commands his Successors in the Ministry 1. To withdraw from such 1 Timothy 6.5 2. To rebuke them sharply Titus 1.13 3. To reject such an one Titus 3.10 4. To turn away from such 2. Tim. 3.5 4. He charges the Churches 1. To let them be anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 2. To avoid them Romans 16.17 3. To let them be accursed Gal. 1.8 9. 5. He himself did actually Excommunicate such 1 Timothy 1. 19 20. 6. The Apostle John adviseth the Saints 1. That they receive not such an one into their houses 2. That they bid him not God-speed 2 John 10. 7. Le ts not trust our own hearts in the Gospel Quest What difference is there betwixt the Properties of Reformed Churches and the Properties of the first planted Churches under the Gospel Resp 1. In general Properties properly are beings that are not of but follow or flow from the essences of their first and next Subjects 2. All Properties are Proportionable to the Essences from which they flow 3. In particular 1. The Churches of God are Essentially the most glorious things in the world and therefore 2. They have the most glorious Properties that are in the world Yet 3. The Essentials of the Churches of God having been sometimes more sometimes less glorious the Properties of them have accordingly been sometimes more sometimes less glorious 4. More particularly 1. The Churches Work and necessity being very various And 2. Greater in times of Reformation than at the first Plantation of Churches God communicated himself to them accordingly So that 5. The Essences of Reformed Churches being more glorious than the Essences of the first Planted Churches under the Gospel The Properties of Reformed Churches are also more glorious than the Properties of the first Planted Churches under the Gospel to instance 1. The members of the first Planted Churches could give much but the members of Reformed Churches can give more for a visible Interest in God They can give more glorious Evidences of their saving conversion and Union with Christ 1. They can make a more express profession of their assent to the truth of the Gospel in general 2. They can extend that profession more particulary to the grand Fundamentals of the Gospel The Messiah is come by owning of it distinctly in the parts thereof 3. They can exert more Acts of Faith and Repentance 4. They can engage themselves more gloriously to continue therein and to walk in all other things also according to the Scriptures and not otherwise 2. The first Planted Churches under the Gospel could walk according to Gospel Rules of Church-Communion but Reformed Churches can conform to them more compleatly and exactly 1. They can glorifie God more 2. They can edifie one another more And 3. They can contribute more towards the Salvation of those that are without Whether they be Infidels Heathen Or Christian Scattered Saints Unreformed Churches or Sauable Apostates 1. By the Doctrinal and practical holding forth of the Word of Life 2. By defending of it And 3. By offending the enemies thereof Such Power is most properly proper to Reformed Churches under the Gospel Quest What difference is there betwixt the practises of the Reformed Churches and the practises of the first Planted Churches under the Gospel Resp As all Properties are proportionable to the Essences so all practises are proportionable to the Properties from which they flow and therefore 1. The Practises of Reformed Churches are the most glorious practises in the World 2 In particular 1. The Members of the Reformed Churches of Christ give most for a visible