the which you are called preaching truly the word of God to edifie the Church and that you will not abuse the Doctrine to serve your carnall affections or to please any man living but that you will use it in a sound conscience to serve to his glory and the benefit of his people you do promise also that you will keep the Ecclesiasticall ordinances and the Discipline received in this Church and as your charge is admonish those that fail to acquit your self faithfully without giving any place to hatred favour vengeance or any other carnall affection and in general do that which belongs to a good and faithfull Minister Item you promise to keep and maintain as far as lyeth in you the good and preservation of this estate procure in what possible you can the peace and union thereof and not to consent any manner of way to that which may be contrary and hurtfull to it The brother Mr. Stouppe by his gesture signified his promise and answered yea The Minister said to him God give you the grace to accomplish your promise The Minister being descended from the Pulpit and the brother Stouppe kneeling on a cushion within the inclosure where Ministers and Elders siâ— accompanied with Mr. Calendrin Minister of the Dutch Church of London and with Mr. Cismer minister of the French Church of London having all three their hands on his head his back turned towards the people and his face towards the ministers The minister made this prayer as followeth ALmighty God heavenly Father who after the fall of our first Parents was the first preacher of the Gospel in Paradise unto our said Parents and our Lord Jesus Christ being descended from heaven on earth for our sakes honoured and sanctified the holy ministry in his own person and ascending up into heaven to give gifts to man he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists 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 seeing it hath pleased thee to call our dear brother and thine humble servant prostrated here on his knees before thee to be ordinated and ordained Minister of thy holy word We beseech thee to give him sufficient graces that he may thereby acquit himself vertuously and duly of his charge in this his Ministry and denounce the secret of thy Son that he may manifest it as he ought create in him a new heart in changing his heart into another as thou didst unto Saul being anointed King transform him by the renewing of his mind that he may prove what is that good that acceptable that perfect wil of thine enlighten his understanding from above with the rayes and beams of thy divine light warm him and fill him with the true zeal of thy glory and sincere intention to thy Service open his lips and his mouth shall set forth thy praise guide him in all truth that be walk not deceitfully nor falsifie thy word but that he hold fast the faithfull word which is according to instruction let him not have the spirit of fear and timerousnes but the spirit of strength and of courage let the word be given to him with a doore of utterance and with a covenient boldnesse that he may speak freely as he ought and fear not those that can kill the body and not the soul but rather that he fear thee O God that canst destroy body and soul in hell Let the Tummims and Urims to wit perfection and light be upon him give him grace that in any part of his calling he be not moved nor carried away with ambition or covetousnesse but as a man of God not as he is to thee such an one by creation or redemption onely but as he is a man of God by this particular calling he flee these things and follow after righteousnesse godlinesse faith love patience meeknesse dispel from him the desires of the world which may interlace in his thought and traverse his holy resolution permit not O good God that the world by his allurements and baits or his own flesh by its infirmities have the upper hand but strengthen him by thy holy Spirit that he may be victorious in the midst of assaults by faith that may be his victory that overcometh the world Give him thy grace to preach thy holy word purely to live holily and religiously and marry his holy life with his preaching that he ruine not that with one that which he builds with the other but that he may be an example to the faithfull in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity lest by any means having preached to others he himself should be a cast-away Govern him by thy holy spirit that he attribute nothing to himself but to the vertue of thy holy spirit and acknowledge that it is not Paul that planteth nor Apollo that watereth but it is thou O God that givest the increase give him grace that he may have prudence in his guiding efficacy in his preaching that he admonish the unruly comfort those that are of a low spirit and feeble heart chear up the weak ones that he be of a mild spirit towards all and that he walk in his calling as it is fitting to the glory of thy great name to the advancement of the Kingdome of thy Son our Lord to the edification and consolation of this Church and to the salvation of his own Soul Amen After the Prayer ended the Minister added and said in ordaining and consecrating him the two other Ministers continuing their hands on his head with him IN the name and by the authority of the Almighty God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost at the request of the Consistory of this Church and according to the Commission and charge which hath been given us and we have accepted of We Ministers of Gods word do institute thee John Baptista Stouppe do consecrate thee and confirm thee Minister of the word of God in the Church of God and particularly of this Church we give thee power and authority to preach the word of God to distribute the Sacraments to exercise the Ecclesiasticall discipline conformable to Gods word and to do all the functions that appertain to the man of God and Minister of Gods word And to the end that God ratifie in heaven that which we do here on earth we beseech him who is the God of peace who through the blood of the everlasting covenant hath brought again from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep Heb. 13.20 21. who is our Lord Jesus Christ make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen Paranymphi Then the two Ministers brought back the Minister newly ordained and confirmed to the seat of the Ministers who sat between them both And the Minister ascended the Pulpit made the ordinary prayer but there where it concerned Pastors he interlaced a prayer for the Minister confirmed and among other things concerning the laying on of the hands on his person The prayer ended he caused the Psalm 133. to be sung O how happy a thing it is and joyfull for to see brethren together fast to hold the band of amity c. and that according to the subject concerning the consecration of Aaron and concord then afterward he blessed the people in the prescribed form in the 6. chap. of Numbers The Lord blesse thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee c. Afterwards the Pastours and Elders entred into the Consistory and as James Cephas and John gave the right hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas Gal. 2.9 so the three Pastors gave the right hand of fellowship to Mr. Stouppe their fellow brother with convenient congratulations and holy wishes then the brethren Elders one after another did the like unto him So this Action ended to the contentment of the Church Amen
they might be saved Consider thou Jonas the type of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore also of his Church thou seest him swallowed up by the Whale thou seest him devoured and thou hast some reason to believe it at the onely word at the twinckling of the eye of the Lord this monster vomits out Jonah upon the dry land a Herald ordained to go from thence to preach unto the Ninivites to a people aliens from the Church and dost thou find it strange that this poore Church which Popery as it were swallowed up God willing it having foretold it heretofore maugre her power and malice she hath vomited it up again and rendered it in our dayes and for to preach the Gospel more gloriously yea and that to our selves So then we bring that which the Apostles have brought have delivered unto us and have taught us and therefore let us retain and maintain these Doctrines And let us reject all false irregular and erroneous doctrines which have too much the vogue and sway in these Countreys For England that was heretofore a Paradise even as the Garden of the Lord is alas become a Bochim a valley of tears an Aceldama a field of blood a Golgotha and Mount of Calvary a Charnel of skulls a common sinke and sewer of all sorts of Heresies and that there are here among us as many or more sects and opinions than there are among all the reformed Churches in Europe There is a place near London named the Isle of dogs but alas how many kinds of dogs are there in this Island of England The sacred Scripture compares divers kinds of persons to dogs the a Mat. 7.6 prophane persons b Phil. 3.2 the Schismaticks c Isa 56.10 mercenary Pastors d Ps 22.17 the persecutors the Apostates and especially those may be called dogs that do bark against the Deity of God or the Trinity of persons e 2 Pet. 2.22 as Arrius Sabellian Servetus Socinus and other blasphemous Hereticks Such an one was Lucian a dog in condition who for his impiety was devoured by dogs Such an one was Julian the Apostata who being struck with an unknown dart casted up his blood with his hand towards heaven crying aloud Thou hast overcome O Galilean thou hast overcome The Arminians and Socinians do agree together in many errors that a man may say of them as of old as of Plato and of Philo either Philo doth Platonise or Plato doth Philonise So either the Arminians do Socinianise or the Socinians do Arminianise in divers points as concerning Predestination original Sin the unperseverance of Saints touching the kingdom of Christ universal grace the Sacrament of Baptisme of the holy Supper of the Lord and divers other things among other points concerning the Son of God saving that the Son of God cannot rightfully truly be called Jehovah God of himself and by himself that the arguments taken from the works of the creation from the attributes of eternity frō the name of Jehovah c. are not sufficient to prove the Deity of the Son of God that Christ is named the Son of God in respect of his marvellous conception his anointing his resurrection ascention his sitting at the right hand of God is it not that which the Catechism of the Socinian Churches in Poland and in Lithuania doth teach affirming that there is but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only true God that that man Jesus of Nazareth born of the Virgin is not God c. A book full full of blafhemies against the son of God a book that hath been reimprinted in England without the knowledge of the superior powers A book which deserues to be burnt and it is said it hath been the Printers and furtherers thereof worthy to be punished but O Lord how long we read a notable example in the Ecclesiasticall history Amphilochius an orthodox Bishop in Licaonia made a request unto the Emperour Theodosius to be pleased to make a decree for the banishment of the Arrians out of his Empire but the Emperours rejected it as an unjust and cruell request and which could not be executed without danger Now the Bishop thought on a way how the Emperour might be moved to consent to his request He came one day with other Bishops to the imperiall Court Theodor l. 5 c. 16. at the time that the Emperour Theodosius sat on his throne and Arcadius his son sitting on his side newly designed Emperour with him to congratulate them which the Bishops did and did congratulate both the Emperour and his son Arcadius but Amphilochius did bow to the Emperour Theodosius with all reverence and humility but he did it not to his son Arcadius the Emperour thought he did not do reverence to his son either because he saw him not or by forgetfulnesse shews him his son and adviseth him to salute and honour him but Amphilochius told him He that honours the Father honoureth the son the Emperour taking this act this fact to heart with a kind of indignation replyed unto him He that dishonoureth the Son dishonoureth the Father and commands those about him to cause him to avoid the Court. Amphilochius having that which he desired to attain unto his aim and end cryed out O Emperour doest thou take so to heart the contempt of thy sonne dost thou think that in dishonouring thy son I dishonour thee and dost thou not think that in dishonouring the son of God thou dost not dishonor God the Father remember that God hates those that dishonor his Son doth he not say f Josh 5.23 that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father he that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him The Emperor was so much moved with this answer admiring the wise boldnes of the old man that he descended his throne embraced the Bishop confessed he had told the truth asked of him pardon and made an Edict banishing the Arrians out of his Empire And certes Saint John saith g 1 John 2.23 Whosoever denyeth the Son the same hath not the Father but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also Whosoever therefore preacheth another Gospel another Jesus another Spirit is accursed and if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 O that these Blasphemers that sin against God the Father in sinning against God the Son either in regard of his person or of his divine or humane nature or of his offices were suppressed in England For how can we be said to honour God the Father if we permit that God the Son be dishonoured 2. The Ministers of the Gospel ought and are to preach the Gospel not onely in regard of the Doctrine but also in respect of a holy conversation of life edifying the Church of God as well with the one hand as with the other by the preaching of
the word and by good example For otherwise the Pastor will ruine the Church of God more by his bad life than he will edifie it by his wholesome Doctrine He will destroy that which he hath built and will pluck up with one hand that which he hath planted with the other for the people look as much or more to his life and conversation than to his preaching He that preacheth well and lives ill is like the statue of Mercury who shews the way unto others but doth not bow one step he resembles the Scribes and Pharisees that sent the wise men of the East that came to adore Jesus Christ to Bethlehem but stirred not from their houses they are like unto the Comedian who crying with a loud voice O heaven shewed with his finger the earth which the principall Magistrate beholding could not fit longer in his place but rose and withdrew himself from the company in a fury saying this man hath made a solecisme with his hand So they that have Heaven at their tongues end and the earth at their fingers end speak false and bad Divinity whereas they might avoid such an incongruous irregularity and make a congruity between the tongue and the hand if they did as they speak and lived as they preach They are like to those that built the Ark of Noah but did not enter into it and were not saved so that those who build the Church of God by their preaching but are not of the Church by faith which worketh by good deeds shall not be saved They will say in the last day of Judgement to Jesus Christ the Soveraign Judge i Mat. 7.22 23 Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name done many wonderfull works but the Judge will say unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity k Psal 50.16 18. k Ps 50 16 18 What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing when thou sawest a thief thou consendest with him and hast been partaker with adulterers Origen being excommunicated for offering Incense on the altar and so denying covertly Jesus Christ requested by some to expound unto the people a a passage of Scripture fell by Gods providence on these 16 17 18 verses of this 50. Psalm shut up the book not able not willing to expound that place and wept and all the people wept with him l Rom. 2.21 22 23 24. Thou which teachest another teachest thou not thy self thou that preachest a man should not steal doest thou steal thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery doest thou commit adultery thou that abhorest Idols doest thou commit Sacriledge thou that makest thy boast of the Law through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God for the name of the Lord is blasphemed amomg the Gentiles through you And therefore let us endeavour to marry our preaching with our life lest that by any means having preached to others we our selves should be cast away and reprobates 1 Cor. 9.27 Let us build the Church of God with the one and the other hand m 1 Tim. 4-13 12.14 Let us give attendance to reading to exhortation to Doctrine and be also patterns of the believers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity and that in consideration of the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery as it is in the 19. verse of that same Chapter We intend not to discourse here of the Imposition or of the laying on of the hands upon the sacrifices upon particular persons in blessing them or in healing them and such like things But we say that the Imposition or the laying on of the hands is not a naked ceremony as some suppose as if it were of no efficacy or on the other side as if it did imprint an indelible character which cannot be blotted out as the Papists say or in breathing on persons as the Bishops do and saying to them Receive ye the Holy Ghost they received the Holy Ghost as Christ in breathing on the Apostles and saying Receive ye the Holy Ghost they received the Holy Ghost or as the Apostles in laying the hands on some who received the extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost as it was in the time of the Primitive Church when God did inrich his Church with that miraculous gift when those that had received the Imposition of hands did speak strange languages c. No such matter but the laying on of the hands which we that are Ministers have received and which our dear brother here present is to receive doth signifie other things For it signifies that the Minister is not sent by himself no man imposeth hands on himself Aaron himself hath been chosen n Heb. 5.4 For no man taketh this Honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron So also Christ glorified not himself but was called and truly o Rom. 10.17 14 15. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent p Jer. 23.21 I have not sent these Prophets yet they ran I have not spoken to them yet they prophesied The laying on of hands therefore signifies a sending The Holy Ghost said q Acts 13.2 3. separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them and when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them they sent them away So Moses r Num. 27.22 23. laid his hands upon his servant and successour Joshua before all the Congregation and gave him a charge as the Lord commanded him Besides it signifies the power and authority given unto him to preach that receives the laying on of hands authority according to the power that is given by Jesus Christ not to destruction but to edification the laying on of the hands doth also signifie that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights Jam. 1.17 that God gives necessary and convenient gifts to the discharge of the Minister in his Ministry Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things and he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers c. The laying on of the hands therefore doth shew that God governs the Ministry and guides his Ministers by his hand and his Church by the hand of his Ministers t Ps 77.20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron It declares the hand of God and his help that he will be with his servants in all things and every where will preserve them in all dangers and against all kind of evils u 1 Kin. 18 46. The hand of the Lord was on Elijah he girded up his