A SERMON BEFORE THE PROVINCIAL SYNOD AT ANTRIM Preached June 1. 1698. BY Mr. JOHN MAC-BRIDE Minister of Belfast Published at the Desire of some Persons then Present Printed in the Year MDCXCVIII Acts XV. 25 26. It seemed good unto us being Assembled with one Accord to send Chosen Men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul Men that have hazarded their Lives for the Name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST AS the Church of Christ since Militant on Earth hath not wanted Foreign Adversaries who have taken crafty Counsels to cut off the Name of Israel from being a Nation so it hath had Intestine Enemies to its Doctrine Worship and Government some privily bringing in Damnable Heresies to over-throw the Faith once delivered to the Saints others corrupting its pure Worship with Superstition and Idolatry and some Imperious and Ungovernable Men subverting its orderly Government by Tyranny and Anarchy By any of which tho' a Form of Godliness may be kept it 's Power is deny'd But we have been faithfully fore-warned that such Offences must come that such as are approved may be made manifest Yet He on whose Shoulders the Government of his Church is laid hath well and wisely provided proper Remedies against all these Evils Watchmen and Rulers who by their mutual Care and Counsels assisted by His Word and Spirit are put in a Capacity to defend this Church Whereof we have a pregnant Instance in this Scripture in which we may see a wise and holy Assembly of Church-Rulers by joint Counsels and Authority Deliberating about and Determining of Ways and Means necessary to preserve the Purity of Doctrine and Worship as well as the Unity and Peace of the Church All which were in manifest hazard while some Men coming down from Judea to Antioch taught the Disciples That unless they were Circumcised and kept the Law of Moses they could not be Saved Whether Cyrinthus was the Ring-Leader of this Party as Epiphanius and Hierom report I determine not but it 's evident from Vers 5. that they were Pharisees The first course taken to remove this Evil we find was Disputing managed by Paul and Barnabas to convince these Gain-sayers but to little effect And therefore secondly The Church of Antioch determined to send Paul and Barnabas with certain others to the Apostles and Elders who were at Jerusalem where appears an Appeal from an Inferiour to a Superiour Judicatory in a Case not determined by the Inferiour Thirdly We have an Account of the Constitution of this Assembly consisting of Apostles and Elders both these resident at Jerusalem and such as were delegated from Antioch Vers 6. Fourthly The Method used to find out and determine this Controverted Truth was A Deliberate free and full debating the matter and Reasoning from Scripture Fifthly After this a clear and final Decision of the Controversie the Apostle James as Moderator of the Assembly summing up the Debate and giving his Sentence to which all consented Sixthly We have here the Synod's Method to make this its Decision effectual where 1. It is Enacted That a Letter be written from the Synod informing those Churches to which it was sent with their final Determination and Judgment 2. It is Enacted That some Persons be Commissionated to carry publish and require Submission to this Decree The Words read contain 1. An Account of the Authority giving this Commission or Employing those Persons to Execute this Act viz. the Apostles Elders and Brethren assembled with one accord 2. The Persons commissionated to wit chosen Men with Paul and Barnabas 3. The ground of sending It seemed good to us 4. The Character and Recommendation of the Persons sent which was their Credentials 1. They were Chosen Men 2. Men who had hazarded their Lives for the Name of Christ From which words thus Explain'd this Proposition may be rationally deduced Doctr. When the Necessity or Benefit of the Church requires it is the Duty of those whom Christ hath cloathed with Authority to Rule it to Assemble with one Accord and make such Acts as may contribute to preserve the Purity and Peace of those Churches over which the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers That the Apostles and Elders did Assemble is here Evident that they did it as their Duty from the pressing Necessities of the Church over which they were set to watch is also evident both its Truth and Peace being in hazard The presence and concurrence of the Holy Ghost granted them the Remarkable Success by GOD's Blessing bestowed on those their Endeavours shews us that they had a Call thereunto and acted in obedience to GOD in it But that this may more fully appear to be not only their Duty but the Duty of all their ordinary Successors I shall first prove secondly consider what Assembly this was for kind and quality and then shew of what use it is to us 1. I take it for granted that the Church of Christ is and ought to be an Orderly Society of Reasonable Men and Women and under Laws and Government and therefore is it called a Kingdom whereof Christ is the King and Lawgiver having Men 〈◊〉 Authority under Him enabled to put in Execution His Laws â—â—s call'd a Family Eph. 3.15 whereof He is the Everlasting Father Isa 9.6 a City compactly built all which shew that it consists of Persons Governing and Governed For no sooner do we hear of any Publick Worship but we have it in a Society Cain and Abel meeting to offer Sacrifice and bringing them to be offered by Adam the then High-Priest of his Family Gen. 4. Those who will have Publick Worship Instituted Gen. 4.16 must understand Assemblies of distinct Families associating for no doubt Adam and his House did before this jointly worship the LORD and Nature's Light hath instructed all Nations who have any Worship to perform it in Publick Assemblies 2. It appears that under the Old Testament GOD did require such as He had Authorized to Rule his Church to Assemble for that End as appears from Exod. 24.1 where the LORD said to Moses Come up unto the LORD thou and Aaron Nadab and Abihu and Seventy of the Elders of Israel all which convened to be Witnesses of and concur with the Congregation in their solemn Engaging in Covenant with the LORD as also to be Witnesses of GOD's Glorious Manifesting Himself to Moses and giving him Authority Vers 10. and particularly to Judge and Determine in the Matters of Debate among that People as appears from Vers 14. That GOD constituted such Assemblies Rulers for ordinary appears from Deut. 17.8 9. where in all Cases too difficult for their Inferiour Judicatories the People are commanded to go to that Place which GOD should choose to set His Name there to enquire of the Priests Levites and Judges in those Days and are Commanded also to be Determined by their Sentence Seeing then the People were bound to Attend it 's evident the Priests Levites c. were obliged to Assemble to hear examine
and not to the Community as appears by Matt. 16.19 2. Nor were the Church of Believers all to be heard or could hear as this Church is required 3. This Church might consist of two or three for to so many is the Promise of hearing Prayer made Vers 19. and of Christs presence in the midst of them Vers 20. which is a Promise made to Church-Officers as appears from Matth. 28.20 to encourage them in their Ministry 4. Nor is it a Church of Civil Magistrates as Erastians teach For then 1. The Apostle Paul hath not only not understood his Master but expresly contradicted him for 1 Cor. 6.1 he discharges all Saints to carry their Debates before Judges who were their Enemies such as Heathens and Infidel Jews were at that time Nor is it probable that CHRIST would direct His Disciples in case of private Differences to Jewish or Roman Magistrates His and their profest Enemies 2. If the Civil Magistrate must be here understood Christians had not such a Church for 300 years after Christ and so no Remedy in such Cases 5. The matter appears here to be proper for the Cognizance of an Ecclesiastical Judicature not being such a Crime as was punishable by the Civil Judge or for which Restitution was to be made which is required in case of Injury done but it was an offence which tho' at first private became Scandalous by the Persons Impenitence and declared Rejecting the Admonition of two or three and if CHRIST would have the Church told in case of offending a private Brother and for reconciling them two can we think he provided no Remedy for such as by Scandalous Practices offend the whole Church or appoint means by which such Offenders may be Reconciled to the Church Seeing then there is here a Church Authorized to hear and decide Differences vers 17. cloathed with a Power of Binding and Loosing Vers 18. having a Promise of hearing their Prayers and of His Presence in performing their Duty Vers 19 20. we have cause to believe that this was a Church-Assembly of CHRIST's own Appointment 5. The Apostles ordinary Practice of Assembling as they had occasion informs us That they look'd upon it as their Duty which presupposeth a Law and therefore they are Patterns to us in such Assemblies Upon the Apostacy and Death of Judas one of the Twelve after CHRIST's Ascension we find them Assembled to Elect and Ordain another Apostle in his room Acts 1. Again We find them Assembled to Ordain Deacons Act 6. And in Acts 11. we find them convened and calling the Apostle Peter to an Account for his Converse with the Gentiles But here more remarkably the Church-Guides are Assembled to root out a Heresie and to prevent a Schism arising in the Church of Antioch And this leads me to consider what kind or sort of Assembly this was That CHRIST and His Apostles framed the Government of the Christian Church according to the Model of the Jewish is generally asserted and believed and may safely be allowed but for this Reason neither to preserve the Ceremonial nor Judicial Laws but because the Government of that Church for its substance was agreeable to the Light and Law of Nature and so was Divine and Imitable as being Irreversible Now it 's generally held that the Jews had three sorts of Assemblies or Church-Rulers and all agreeable to the Light of Nature 1. As they had their Synagogues or Parochial Congregations for ordinary Moral Worship so these Synagogues had their Rulers Acts 13.15 And 't is probable as is reported that in every City where were ten wise Men as there was supposed to be in every place where was a Synagogue that they did all jointly concur for Ruling the Affairs of the Synagogue and so made a Parochial Consistory which did exercise Discipline on Scandalous Offenders even to casting them sometimes out of the Synagogues Now the common Light of Nature thus far directed all sorts of smaller Societies whether Politick or Ecclesiastick to compose all particular and more private differences within themselves and to decide small and easie Cases by small Judicatories for that end appointed according to the Maxime Frustra fit per plura c. 'T is in vain to trouble greater Assemblies in what can be as conveniently ordered by lesser ones So Jethro's Reason taught him to give that good Counsel to Moses That certain Inferiour Judges might determine smaller Matters reserving harder Cases for his own Audience Exod. 18.22 26. And this became a Law Deut. 17. 2. As there were many Portions called Thousands in Israel Micah 5.2 so these Thousands had their Government and a Consistory composed of Twenty Three one of these being in every City where were one hundred and twenty Families and this is that as many say which was called by CHRIST the Judgment Matth. 5.22 and was made up of Fourteen of the Tribe of Levi and Seven others of the Elders of the City which also appears agreeable to the Light of Nature For as particular Persons may stand in need of Government and Order so particular Congregations living contiguously which as they may be injurious to one another so they may be helpful to one another And where matters occur of common Concern to the lesser Neighbouring Societies suppose in a larger City the same Reason will allow and require the Rulers of that City to associate for Government that requir'd those of a Village to meet And so the Rule will hold good in this Quod omnes languit c. What is of Common Concernment ought to be Treated of by All Concerned and this is supposed to be called the Presbytery Acts 22.5 which was a Society or Assembly distinct from the Sanhedrim and such an Assembly of Elders seems to have been at Jerusalem Acts 11.30 21.18 3. The third sort of Assembly was their Sanhedrim consisting of Seventy Elders with their Nassi or President which was their Supreme Judicatory If some alledge These were Civil Judicatories they 'll find themselves mistaken for tho' they did concern themselves in some matters Civil yet they also had their Ecclesiastical Judicatories acting by Divine Laws in matters Ecclesiastick For tho' now it hold true That Ecclesia est in Reipublica The Church is in the Commonwealth and not the Commonwealth in the Church yet this will not hold good of the Jews who were called to be a Church before they were framed into a State and so the State came into the Church and not the Church into the State To accommodate this to our purpose It 's evident that this Assembly was neither of the former Two but an Assembly of the Rulers of two Presbyteries to wit of Jerusalem and Antioch and so that which we call a Synod whose Qualities come next to be considered 1. It is to be enquired Whether it was an Extraordinary Assembly acting by Extraordinary and Apostolick Call and Authority or an Ordinary Assembly acting by an Ordinary Call and Ordinary Church-Power To
is it reason to consider of the Safety and Reasonableness of trusting Church-Power in the hand of single Persons who tho' they thrust themselves into Civil Assemblies are seldom known to assemble as the Apostles and Elders did at Jerusalem 5. It is the Duty of Christian People under the Care of such Assemblies Reverently to Esteem and Dutifully to Regard their Lawful Constitutions So the Churches to which this Decree came rejoyced for the Consolation they had thereby Acts 15.31 As it 's a People's Mercy to have Government so none but Presumptuous and Self-will'd Persons will despise it and profane Men whose Immoralities make them justly obnoxious to their Censures 6. Having such an Excellent Example as this let us imitate them in ours and particularly in these things First In their Unanimity They were Assembled with one Accord they acted with one Accord let us do so also Their Unanimity appeared 1. In that they were Acted by the same holy Spirit on which they depended vers 28. 2. They walked by the same Rule Phillip 4.16 Let us do so also They had divers Apprehensions and Expressions about the Rule much Disputing and Debating not to confound but to find out Truth to convince Gain-sayers And therefore none should be offended at our Debates when managed with Moderation in order to Confirm Truth or Refute Error or find out proper Expedients for our Work The Matter about which Persons with whom and our own Infirmities occasion these Debates We have no Intuitive Knowledge but only Discussive and therefore must dig for Wisdom as for hidden Treasure 3. Let us with them mind the same thing Philip. 3.16 The Churches Preservation and Edification Truth Peace and Pure Gospel-Ordinances was all they Contended for and Aimed at not as sometimes they had Contended who should be Greatest Mark 9.34 By this Unanimity we shall Beautify and Fortifie our Assembly gain Respect to our Persons and Acts. Secondly Let us imitate them in the Ground and Reason of their Conclusions They determined nothing but what seemed Good to the Holy Ghost as well as them and this is best known by the Word of GOD. Let the things be necessary Vers 28. No burdensome Ceremony this they delivered the Church from as a Yoke which neither they nor their Forefathers were able to bear for rigid imposing of Things Unnecessary makes Church-Constitutions Contemptible and the Contrivers and Imposers of such needless Burdens as Imperious and Tyrannical 4. Let us with them what we have on due Deliberation Enacted Execute with all prudent Expedition A Flame was begun in the Church they presently sent to quench it Delays in this kind may prove dangerous 5. Let every Member of the Assembly as they did maintain the Credit and Authority of the Assembly by a chearful Submission and Obedience to its Appointments Paul Barnabas Judas and Silas tho' chief Men did not decline but Reverence the Authority of this Assembly by undertaking a Toilsome and hazardous Work Nature's Light teacheth us that the several Parts of a Politick Body as well as the Natural are to be subject and serviceable to the Whole and why not also in Church-Assemblies 6. Let us imitate their Spiritual Prudence in the chusing and sending Men to the Work that are fit for it They sent chosen Men c. As GOD hath intrusted us we cannot be Faithful to Him or those with whom He hath trusted us unless we employ fit Persons And therefore 1. Let us be careful to lay hands suddenly upon no Man that we be neither Partakers with them of their Sins nor Authors of Plagues to others but such as are faithful able and apt to teach let such be chosen at first 2 Tim. 2.2 We injure the present and betray the after-Generation if we do otherwise 2. Seeing there be diversity of Gifts we ought to make proper and suitable Application of those to Places and Work so is done here They sent Chosen Men. Nature hath taught every Mechanick not to use his Tools promiscuously GOD hath instructed the Plowman to Discretion not to thresh Fitches with a Threshing Instrument neither is a Cart-Wheel turned about upon the Cummin but the Fitches are beaten out with a Staff and the Cummin with a Rod Isa 28.27 28. This cometh from the LORD who is Wonderful in Counsel and Excellent in Working Neither a Mans own Desires or Inclinations nor partial Respect to Persons should guide us in this but Experience of a just Proportion betwixt their Gifts and the Work should direct us For mis-application of Persons to Places hath been of very ill consequence to the Church 7. The choicest Persons in our Assemblies are not to think themselves too good to serve the Church of CHRIST but when call'd are to go on her Errands chearfully as these Chosen Men here do Men ought not to seek only Ease Honour and Advantage but are call'd to Labour in the Vineyard and the Great Shepherd will provide them their Reward 8. Such Persons may be safely Trusted with the Important Interest of the Church who have given proof of their hazarding their Lives for the Name of CHRIST Men Deny'd to Themselves their Ease and Advantage Men of Courage who dare Engage in Difficulties such Men will have a Native Care for it Having therefore the SPIRIT promised to be our Guide the Word of GOD given to be our Rule and so Excellent a Pattern as this Assembly Let us follow our Guide according to the Rule after so Holy an Example FINIS