and accordingly give to each other the right hand of fellowship m 2 Cor. 4 15. Which Question answered in the Affirmative the said deputed person doth in the Name of the Lord Jesus declare them a Church of Christ As likewise the Elders and Brethren of other Churches there present as they ought to be if they can be had to behold their Faith and Order n Col. 2.5 should also declare that they own and acknowledge them a Church of Christ to their great satisfaction and rejoicing o 2 Thes 1.3 4. 1 Thes 2.13 Then lastly to continue the Work of the Day with some Word of Exhortation and earnest Supplication that God would be pleased to bless this Flock and cause it to grow as also that God would give them a faithful Pastor p Jer. 3.15 Mat. 9.38 with other Ministerial Officers giving thanks to God for this so hopeful a beginning and what he hath graciously done for them q Phil. 4.6 § 6. A Church thus constituted is a true Church and a Body of Christ and tho it s not yet organized with Ministerial Officers yet it wants nothing of the Essence of a Church of Christ a 1 Cor. 12 27. Rev. 1.20 for if a Church ceaseth not to be a Church when it hath lost all its Ministerial Officers and reduced to this state then this Church is an essential Church Besides a Church must be before a Pastor can be because that Relation must arise out of the Church and cannot arise from elsewhere a Church being a Corporation by Charter from Christ but yet though it be a true Church as to its Essence and Being yet it is not compleat as to its well-being b Titus 1.5 in that it is not furnished with all its Priviledges that Christ hath purchased and provided for it having not due instruments for the administration of all Ordinances or execution of the Power committed to it in the most orderly and regular manner c Eph. 4.11 12. § 7. Hence the first subject of the Keys is a Church essential for it s impowered by Commission from Christ to choose its own Ministerial Officers a Act. 14.23 and if they be one or more belonging to other Churches or non-Members they can receive them Members b Act 6.3 Likewise they can admit other Members that desire to join with them Lastly it hath power to admonish or reject any scandalous or any offending Member and that before such a Church hath Elders or Deacons c 1 Cor. 5.7 These are plain from the nature of a Body Corporate § 8. To conclude If in the Gathering a Church any Person offering to join a Member be on any account excepted against his admission ought to be deferred for the present and his Case to have a due hearing and consideration afterward and not to interrupt the further Proceedings of that day a Phil. 2.2.3 Eph. 4.3 CHAP. VI. Of the Extraordinary Ministers of the Churches Christ hath provided for the well-being of his Churches Ministers for the Erection and Planting the First Churches Gospel Constitution offered to the Jews first Extraordinary Ministers who And what their Call Qualifications Work Apostles and Evangelists how differing The first Prophets and Teachers no Ruling Officers Extraordinary Ministers continue not but are ceased § 1. THE Lord Jesus Christ the Great Shepherd a 1 Pet. 5.4 the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession faithful in his own House b Heb. 3.1 2. doth not only build it c ibid. v. 3. but furnish it with all Means of Grace conducing to visible and spiritual exercise of life and Godliness d 2 Pet. 1.3 and having shewed the form of his House to any People taken out from and ashamed of the ways they walked in in their former ignorance e 1 Pet. 1.14 15. separated and set them apart to the Lord in a spiritual Building f Eph. 2.19 22. doth likewise shew them the goings out thereof and the comings in thereof and all the Forms thereof and all the Ordinances thereof and all the Laws thereof and writes it in their sight that they may keep the whole Form thereof and all the Ordinances thereof and do them which is the Law of his House g Eze. 43.11 12. whereby he hath provided for the well-being of his Churches in a fit and suitable Ministry and Ordinances which he gave and dispensed chiefly at his Exaltation h Eph. 4.10 11. and according to his Commission from his Father hath commanded them diligently to observe i Matt. 28.20 § 2. And accordingly at first he provided for his Churches such a Ministry as should be best fitted to the Infant-state of his first Churches after his Ascention a Hos 11.1 3. both for the planting and watering of them b 1 Cor. 3.6 9. therefore Nominates and Ordains the first Ministers as is usual in the like case among Men in his Charter by Name c Mat. 10.2 ch 28.20 Act. 1.2 3 13. giving them more than ordinary Power and qualifying them with more than ordinary Gifts and Graces of his Holy Spirit d Mar. 16.17 18. Act 2.4 whereby they had light and authority e Act. 20.27 to teach and put in practice the whole Mind and Will of Christ in planting governing and furnishing the Churches with their ordinary and appropriate Ministry which was to be stated and standing in them to the end of the World f Mat. 28.19 20. § 3. As the Gospel in its full Light was first by Christ's Ordination to be offered to the Jews a Matt. 10.5 6. Act 13.4 6 who according to Moses were bound to hear Christ and prefer his Person and Ministry before that of Moses b Deut. 18.15 Act 7.37 So the Lord Jesus Christ himself and Apostles made the first offer of a Gospel-Constitution of Churches to them c Act 3.25 26. and placed a Gospel and powerful Ministry in that First and Famous Church at Jerusalem d 1 Cor. 12 28. which in its building precious matter e Is 54.11 1 Pet. 2.5 6. beautiful form and most rich furniture did so out-shine and darken all the Glory of their Worldly Sanctuary and services appertaining thereto f Heb. 9.1 c. that the whole Church Establishment by the Ceremonial Law of Moses the Vail under which Gospel-Mysteries lay obscured g 2 Cor. 3.14 was manifestly removed and done away h ibid. v. 13 14. having not only bin first Nailed to the Cross of Christ i Col. 2.14 but also by another Building k Heb. 9.11 and Ministration l Heb. 8.6 come in the room thereof of much more spiritual Glory and Lustre ecclipsed insomuch that what Moses had made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth m 2 Cor. 3 10 11. Hence the Church of the Jews in regard of all its Mosaical
19. as is usual in the Charters granted by Earthly Kings yea a priority of time seems to be given to Peter as appears by the event on both accounts as to the first Management being the first Apostle that presided in Government c Act. 1.15 in taking in and excluding Church-Members d Act. 2.41 ch 5.1 as we see he was the first that opened by his Doctrine the Door unto Jews and Gentiles but in all this it appears that he was but a Steward to Christ and his Church and that although the present management of them was in Peter and the Apostles yet it was the Church that was the subject of them e Mat. 18.17 § 6. Tho Christ hath wisely provided for his Honour and the well-being of his Churches in that he hath set Elders in his Churches to manage the Keys in an orderly and honourary manner a 1 Cor. 12 28. yet he hath committed the propriety of 'em next to himself and in his own Name unto the Church whether Organized or Essential only as to a spiritual Body corporate which he hath endowed with this Priviledge among others of having and keeping the Keys b Rom. 3.2 Acts 7.37 38. Rev. 3.7 and it appears that the Church as such is the first subject of the Keys under Christ because 1. The End of them is to preserve the being of a Church as well as for its well-being and therefore they must belong to it as soon as the Church becomes essential c 1 Cor. 5.7 12.28 2. As soon as the Church becomes a Body Corporate in Christ the whole Charter for Priviledges belongs to it and therefore all that appertain to its preservation which cannot be without the power of the Keys d 1 Cor. 7.17 12.26 27. 3. Without the use of the Keys they cannot Organize themselves with Elders and Deacons for to let in any Person into Office must be by the use of them e Acts 14.23 4. A Church before it hath Ministerial Officers may admit Members or reject a Scandalous Member for its preservation therefore hath the use of the Keys for embodying into a Church doth not so shut them up that none can either come in to them or be cast out before they have chosen a Pastor f Gal. 5.1 2 Cor. 6.14 15. 5. A Church that hath Elders may be by Providence deprived of them how can they be re-supplied without the use of the Keys especially if they call such as are not of their Body None can be an Officer in a Corporation but he that is incorporated first as a Member g Acts 6.3 Rom. 12.4 6. In proceeding with an offending Member the first degrees thereof are by Members not in Ministerial Office h Mat. 18.15 7. Elders are but Stewards to Christ and his Church for the due management of the Keys they are entrusted with and are accountable to Christ and his Church and are to use them with its consent in all Cases not to make advantage by them to Lord it over God's Heritage by assuming an Arbitrary and Despotick Power to themselves exercising Dominion over the Church-Members Faith instead of being helpers of their Joy i 1 Pet. 5.3 2 Cor. 1.24 1 Cor. 4.1 8. Suppose an Elder there being but one Pastor or other come to fall under just cause of Censure Who must use the Keys in deposing and censuring this offending and incorrigible Elder but the Body of the Church k Col. 4.17 3 John 9. § 7. By what hath bin said it clearly appears the Keys of Government primarily are placed in a Church as a Body Corporate because the disposal of the orderly Management of them to Officers belongs to the Church under Christ and the use of them for their preservation belongs to them before such Ministerial Officers are Ordained by them in that mean time the power of the Keys is exerted by the Church by the hands of the Brethren for tho each Sister is a true Member of this Corporation and accordingly upon that ground should Vote yet Christ having made a particular Exception upon that account that Women may not speak or exercise Authority in the Church a 1 Tim. 2.12 1 Cor. 14.35 therefore whatever passeth in the Church by the Majority of the Brethren is a Church act so that it be done in a Congregation the Sisters present otherwise it s no Church-Meeting b 1 Cor. 14.23 § 8. A Church Organized with Elders useth the Keys Ministerially exerting the power of Christ committed to it in and by the Elders going along with them in an◠explicite consent to all things agreeable to the Order of the Gospel a 1 Pet. 5.3 which power is exercised in the admitting Persons into Church-Fellowship or in debarring of Members from the Communion of the Church b 3 Joh. 10 and in all matters that tend to the one or other § 9. They that are said to be coming into the Church are either such as are not actual Members to this Church but Members of other Churches a Rom. 16.1 Or else they are Non-Members to any Church b 1 Cor. 5.12 And there are some Rules of Order to be observed before admitting and some in Admittance of such of each sort § 10. The Word of God requiring all exactness in Admitting Church-Members least the Childrens Bread be cast to Dogs a Mat. 7.6 15.26 and that the House of God be not made a Den of Thieves b Mat. 21.13 and in order to the future Peace and Purity of the Church The Elders as Stewards who ought to be found faithful c 1 Cor. 4.1 2. when any one propounds him or her self to join in Fellowship ought to make impartial Enquiry into three things 1. To ask the Reason of his Hope d 1 Pet. 3.15 2. What competency of knowledge in the Principal Doctrines of Faith and Order e 1 Tim. 2 4 5. he hath arrived at so far at least as to be fundamentally grounded therein to be able to discern the Lord's Body f 1 Cor. 11 29. 3. Enquiry ought to be made whether his Conversation answer this Profession and adorn the Gospel g Tit. 2.11 12 13 14. § 11. A Person 's giving a reason of his Faith and Hope is his Declaring what he hath Experienced of the Grace of God upon his heart a 1 Pet. 3.15 Psal 66.16 through the Means of Grace that he hath sate under b 2 Cor. 2.15 16. Acts 2.41 26.17 18. and the Operation of the Spirit c John 16.8 9. in the production of his Repentance unto Life and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ d Heb. 6.1 which a true Believer is ready to give an account of e 1 Pet. 3.15 to any one that enquires of him seriously especially to a Church of Christ which he applieth himself unto that is so highly concerned therein for they that
were to snatch the Sinner as a firebrand out of the fire waiting for a well-grounded and tried evidence of his unfeigned Repentance under the Censure the first and great End whereof is the Sinners Salvation not his Destruction c 2 Cor. 2.6 7 8. 2 Cor. 10.8 1 Cor. 5.5 § 12. In case of Sins not so notorious and more privately committed the Churches proceeding must be more gradual by all endeavours in the spirit of meekness to restore such an one to Repentance a Matt. 18 15 16 17 which being obtained there 's no occasion for further proceeding as to Censure § 13. And here Admonition is of great use which is an holy tender and wise Endeavour to convince the offending Party of matter of fact and of the sin of it with the aggravating circumstances attending as also to lead him to his Duty thereupon charging it upon his Conscience in the sight of God with due application of the Word of God which concerns his condition And this belongs not to the Elders in the first and second degrees of proceeding in this Case but to all private Members in their places as matters may concern them and are known unto them more or less a 1 Thes 5.12 Rom. 15.14 2 Thes 5.14 Gal. 6.1 2 Tim. 9.25 Heb. 12.15 § 14. There are three degrees of Admonition a Matt. 18 first by a single Brother or Sister that is first acquainted with the Sin committed The second is upon the non-Repentance of the offending Party whereupon the first Admonisher takes to him one or two more and admonisheth the offender the second time which Admonition taking no effect the Church is to be acquainted with the offence And the Church by the Elders gives a third Admonition which if the Sinner receives not but continues impenitent the Church proceeds to Censure b Ibid. v. 15 16 17. unless the Church see reason to wait longer And it follows from hence 1. That every Church Member tho of private capacity only has somewhat to do in his place as well as the Elders c Heb. 12.15 2. That in case of private offences it is preposterous to publish them or acquaint the Elders therewith before the two lower degrees of Admonition are duely proceeded in and not heard by the Offender 3. That when Matters come to the Elders Ears all private proceedings cease and all things are to be laid before the Church 4. When matters come before the Church the Offendor rejecting the first and second Publick Admonition at most is to be judged incorrigible d Titus 3.10 11. § 15. This great Censure is to be proceeded to in this manner the Question is put by an Elder Whether the Church adjudge the person offending all due means having bin used according to the Rules of Christ to be guilty of matter of fact as charged and remain incorrigible Which being answered in the Affirmative the Judgment is fallen into the Pastor's or Elder 's hand as after the Verdict of a Jury into the hands of the Judge and accordingly he goes on to pass Sentence as the Duty of his place requires And first with much Solemnity after he hath laid open the Sin with several aggravations he shews likewise the Awful Nature of this great Censure and the main End thereof for the Salvation and not the Destruction of the Sinner and accordingly calls upon God for his gracious Presence and Blessing upon this Sacred Ordinance that the great end thereof may be obtained still expressing the deep sence the Church hath of the Fall of this Brother with great Humiliation of the Church with remorse for the Sin thus committed and persisted in Lastly In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ before the Congregation whether the offending Brother be present or withdrawn the Elder cuts off and secludes such an one by Name from the Union and Communion of the Church declaring the said Exclusion carries in it the sense of our Saviour See Mat. 18.17 c. 1 Cor. 5.4 5 6. 2 Thes 3.14 1 Tim. 1.10 in saying He shall be as an Heathen Man and a Publican and the full sense of the Apostle's Charge to the Corinthians to deliver up such an one to Satan c. Which is no more than the putting him out of Communion of the Church the Kingdom of Heaven into the World the Kingdom of Satan for the humbling and breaking of him in the sight and sense of his sins which is all that 's meant by the destruction of the flesh § 16 A Member thus judicially cast out may through the Grace of God blessing this Ordinance be brought to a great sight of his Sin and remorse for it with great longing desires to return to the Communion of the Church again In this Case Christ's Keys are to be used to open the Door and receive the excluded Party into the Church again For after a full proof of the truth of the Sinner's Repentance he is brought by the Elders to make his Publick and Solemn Manifestation of his deep Remorse c. Which acknowledgment being received by the Church with satisfaction and tender compassion towards him he is by an Elder absolved from the aforesaid Censure See Mat. 16.19 18.18 and re-admitted into full Communion with the great joy of the Congregation and Expressions of thankfulness unto God Thus he that was bound is now loosed § 17. Besides this direct way of proceeding against an offending Member there is another much of the like nature which we call indirect because the Church puts not the Party out of its Communion before the Party hath secluded himself and not by any regular way but indirectly and contrary to all Rules of Order For it is when a Church-Member by reason of some offence taken at the Church or some Member thereof not discharging his own Duty withdraws himself and separates from the Communion of the Church A Person having thus Excommunicated himself as it were the Church ought to consider what is their Duty and though a particular Member or more hath usurped to himself the power of the Keys See Rom. 16.17 2 Thes 3.6 the Church ought not to acquiesce therein but maintain that Power which Christ hath committed to it and tho it cannot hinder the inordinateness of a Brother's unruly Passions and ungovernable Temper when God leaves him to it but that he will run away from the Church rend himself off breaking all Order and Covenant Obligations in opposition to all fraternal endeavours to stay him in the place that Christ hath set him in the Church is bound to shew and assert the power of Christ which he hath entrusted it with and judicially shut the Door and turn the Key upon so sinful and disorderly a Departer from them declaring that he having sinfully departed from the Communion of that Congregation he is no longer under its Care and Watch and is not to return to the Communion of the Church as before
Institution seem necessary to be observed 1. That it be administred to the whole Church met together a 1 Cor. 11 20. in one place and not to particular Persons or to the Church in distinct parts it being an Ordinance of Communion of a Body of Christ b ib. 10.16 2. That it be not dispensed to Members that are not capable to discern the Lord's Body or to Examine themselves c 1 Cor. 11 28 29. 3. That each Element be distinctly blessed and apart by it self by calling upon God in Christ for a Blessing d 1 Cor. 11 24 25. 4. That after Consecration the Bread broken is to be delivered with the Words of Distribution directed to the whole Church e Mat. 26.26 27. at once and by them divided among themselves and not carried up and down from Party to Party or from Seat to seat After the pouring out the Wine and blessing it it ought to be dispensed with the words of distribution in like manner to the whole Church f Ibid. and not carried up and down as aforesaid which practises came from the Church of Rome and not from Christ or his Apostles 5. The Posture of Receiving is sitting g Mat. 26.20 as Christ and his Disciples not kneeling or standing because its a Feast and signifies our eating and drinking Spiritually with joy and gladness and though Prayer accompany it wherein may be Praying Gestures as in other Ordinances yet Giving and Receiving here is a distinct Ordinance from Prayer 6. The Pastor of the congregation h Mat. 26.26 is to administer and not the Pastor of another who hath no administring Power out of his own Congregation neither hath Christ ordained any Administrators General to his Churches For the Pastor also to take in a Partner in Administration is Will-Worship and Humane 7. When the Elements are blessed by the Church the People ought not to betake themselves to their secret Prayers as if the Table had not bin blessed already none doth so at their ordinary Festivals § 8. Christ hath not in either of these Seals precisely determined the quantity of either Element to be made use of neither what quantity of Bread and Wine each should take or how much Water should be used in Baptism for our eating and drinking in the Lord's Supper is not to satisfie our natural Hunger and Thirst a 1 Cor. 11 21 22. nor is the Washing with Water in Baptism to put away the outward filth of the flesh b 1 Pet. 3.21 But our Saviour having told us what is spiritually intended and signified it is sufficiently manifest that so much of each Element in both Seals as doth hold forth to us the thing signified is enough tho never so little for Christ hath not brought his Churches in the New Testament under a Mosaick Tutorship so as to bind them up to such quantities and qualities of externals in manner as he did the Church of Old § 9. The Administration of the Seals belongs not to any but Teaching Elders being most appropriate to the Pastoral Office to feed the Flock in this peculiar manner for Christ when a Pastor on Earth administred it and therefore other Pastors whom he substitutes when ascended ought to do it Hence no private Member may be occasionally called thereto by the Church if so it renders Christ's Office needless and precarious Nor no Pastor of another Church may for the Pastor to one Church is no Pastor to another nay he hath no power to Vote and therefore not so much as a private Brother to Administer CHAP. XII Of Admitting Church Members The Ends of the use of the Keys What they are How distinguished The Key of Knowledge Of Government How given to Peter Elders for the due Management but primarily given to the Church Women not to exert Ruling Power The Church with Elders useth the Keys Ministerially Admittances ought to be with Exactness with the giving a reason of their Hope and an account of their Knowledge Their Conversation to be enquired into The Manner of Receiving in The Person received gives up his Children He may not Desert He ought to bring his Children Of Occasional Communion and of receiving recommended or dismist Members § 1. HAVING spoken to the Seals of the New Covenant we come to speak to the other Ordinances of Special Communion which concern the use of the Keys in all matters of Church Government a 1 Cor. 12 28. they being Christ's and committed by him to every Visible Congregation to be used according to his Rules and Directions in his Name b 1 Cor. 5.4 and to his Glory The great ends of which Dispensation of his Headship in this kind are the due increase of his Churches c Isa 9.7 Acts 2. ult and their Peace d Psa 122.7 Heb. 7.2 Zach. 6.13 Joh. 20.21 26. 1 Pet. 1.2 5.14 and Purity e Rev. 2.1 18. Ezek. 43.10 11. Isa 5.2 § 2. The Keys are the Power of Christ a Isa 22.22 Rev. 3.7 which he hath given to every particular Congregation to open and shut it self by b Mat. 16.19 and to do all things that belong thereunto in order unto the said ends it being Christ's House c Heb. 3.6 holy Temple d Eph. 2.21 Garden e Cant. 4.12 Vineyard f Isa 5.1 Walled in Hedged and Enclosed § 3. The Keys of Christ are to be distinguished they are his Keys of Hell and Death or his Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. of the Church His Keys of Hell and Death are the Power by Conquest which he hath obtained over Sin Curse Natural Death and Satan himself a Rev. 1.18 1 Cor. 15.54 55. Mat. 28.20 Heb. 2.14 The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven b Mat. 16.19 are they that he manageth his Visible Churches by and gives a power of opening and shutting a Visible Church by These Keys are that of Knowledge c Luke 11.52 and that of Discipline d Rev. 3.7 § 4. The Key of Knowledge is the Gospel Preached a Lu. 11.52 Mat. 10.7 2 Cor. 2 12 1 Cor. 16.9 the Spirit of Christ working inwardly to open the heart to receive it b Acts 16.14 in this respect this seems to be one of the Keys which our Lord gave to Peter in that he had the Honour of turning the first Key of Conversion after our Lord's Ascention both to Jews c Act. 2.41 and Gentiles d Act. 10.34 11.8 Eph. 3 4 5 6. § 5. The other Key given unto Peter is of Government and Discipline a Isa 9.6 neither of which Keys were given unto him as to a single Person or ruling Head of the Visible Churches neither that of Knowledge nor Government but unto the Church in him tho unto him with the other Apostles as the first Managers thereof their Names being put down in Christ's Charter granted to the Churches b Matt. 28
THE Divine Institution OF Congregational Churches Ministry and Ordinances As has bin Professed by those of that Persuasion Asserted and Proved from the WORD of GOD. Hebrews 8.5 6. Moses was admonished of God saying see that thou make all things according to the Pattern shewed thee in the Mount But he i. e. Christ hath obtained a more excellent Ministry c. Hebrews 3.5 6. Moses verily was faithful in all his i. e. God's House as a Servant c. but Christ as a Son over his own House whose House are we Ezek. 43.11 If they be ashamed of all that they have done shew them the form of the House and the fashion thereof and the goings out thereof and the comings in thereof and all the Ordinances thereof and all the forms thereof i. e. of the Ordinances and all the Laws thereof and write it in their sight that they may keep the whole form thereof and all the Ordinances thereof and do them By Isaac Chauncy M. A. LONDON Printed for Nathanael Hiller at the Princes Arms in Leaden-Hall Street over against St. Mary Ax 1697. TO THE READER ALL True Religion wherein Man can have any access unto God with acceptation must be revealed to him by God For tho Humane Reason and the remaining innate Light in Fallen Man may shew him that there is a God and but one God as it hath done to some of the Heathen Philosophers And that this God is to be served and worshipped by the Intelligent Creatures which he hath made from his Right over them by Creation and Providence and also from the Impression of some Moral Principles yet abiding Rom. 1.20 2.14 15. And so far Natural Religion hath gone of it self by the conduct of the natural light of Reason and Conscience only Yet never any farther and rarely so far such is the lost and deplorable state of Fallen Man But for any Man to pretend to know what God is in his Essence and Subsistence and how this God will be worshipped without Divine Revelation or beyond or otherwise than he hath revealed is the highest and most irrational Presumption in the World that vain Man who would be wise can be Guilty of For if Adam in Eden before the Fall notwithstanding all the perfection of his Creation must have a divine Revelation over and above to direct his right behaviour there in his duty of obedience unto God How much more is such Revelation needful to him and his Apostate Race since the Fall Let them that deny the necessity of Revelation to the knowledge of what God is and how he should be worshipped aright for his Glory and Man's Eternal Welfare if they own the Scriptures to be the Word of God which many such do not therefore not to be Disputed with as Christians but as Heathens and Infidels but read the Scriptures seriously and for the present a few places here noted only consider them well Job 11.6 7 8 9 12. Isa 55.8 9. Deut. 29.29 Rom. 1.21.22 23. ch 11.33 34. 1 Cor. 2.10 11 12 14 16. ch 3.18.19 20. Tho most that profess themselves Christians dare not explicitely deny the truth of what is above asserted yet many of them do practically and interpretatively deny it by measuring the deep things of God and the Mind of the Spirit not by it self comparing spiritual things with spiritual but by their own carnal shallow and fallacious reasonings and imaginations as also by taking up such ways of Worship which he never ordained built wholly or for the most part upon Humane Authority Laws Tradition Interest c. but not on Christ. Such hath bin the abomination since the working of the Mystery of iniquity which hath made all true Religion desolate in the greatest part of the World professing it or pretending thereto Wherefore as to matter and manner of Divine Worship the great thing controverted in the World among the many Ways professed and practised is Who can lay the best Claim to Divine Authority And hence it is that We pretending also to the like claim do here not only declare what we hold in this weighty Point but make our Plea for the best Right to Divine Authority for the worship of God in Congregational Churches Which being the Sum and Design of the ensuing Treatise 't is needless here to insist on And if this appear to be a just Plea it might be enough to lay a sufficient Obligation upon the Minds and Consciences of all such as fear God out of true Love and Loyalty to Jesus Christ to fall in immediately to a chearful compliance therewith in observation of all things which he hath commanded looking upon such a ponderous weight in the ballance of the Sanctuary abundantly enough to weigh down all other opposite Arguments of a lower alloy arising from Prejudice carnal Reason or the Spirit of the World But because such carnal Reasonings ly as stumbling-blocks before many keeping them from a ready embracing the ways of God it may not be amiss to speak something briefly to some of the greatest Objections which are made against the Divine Institutions here laid before the Reader in the following Discourse 1. Some are ready to accuse the Congregational Practice and Principles As not comporting with Civil States and Government and so would render them odious to Princes Answ These are either deeply prejudiced against all the Ways of God or speak evil of such things which they know not For it 's sufficiently known to be the avowed Principle and Practice of such as are of the Congregational Persuasion That there 's no Power but of God and ordained by him and that they ought to be subject to Magistracy for Conscience sake to pay Tribute and give unto Cesar the things that are Cesars Their Lord and Master set himself for their Example in this and hath left it with his Precept upon Record which they dare not but obey 2. Their Principles are diametrically opposite to the assuming or claiming a Power over or share in the Government of the Civil State by virtue of any Ecclesiastical Relation Ministerial or other What they lay claim to of Civil Rights and Priviledges is no more than what is equally due to them with other Subjects 3. As they are bound to believe by the Word of God That they ought not to subject their Consciences to Humane Will or Laws in spiritual things so they believe it belongs not to them to subordinate and subject Magistratick Power and Laws to Church Censures or require them to be Executioners thereof Christ's Government in his Churches being compleat enough within its self to answer all the spiritual ends and purposes thereof for which it was Ordained without the instrumentality of any foreign coercive power whatsoever 4. When Christ first instituted Churches and for many Years after they were to be under Heathen Emperors which shewed 1. That he did not Ordain such a Constitution as was destructive to any Civil Government even the worst 2. That
1 Cor. 3.9 Heb. 3.4.6 9.11 it 's his chosen purchased and peculiar inheritance in the World g Deut. 14.2 Ps 132.13 Tit. 2.14 Psa 135.4 1 Pet. 2.9 God dwells and appears therein in a special and gracious manner h 2 Cor. 6.16 Eph. 2.22 Psal 87.2 it is called by his Name i 2 Chro. 7.14 it is called the Church of the living God k 1 Tim. 3.15 God is therein glorified l Eph. 2.20 21. § 4. Churches therefore are not of humane fabrick or fashion nor to suit the carnal Minds and Interests of Men or States Mens Laws cannot establish Churches they must be built after the Pattern which God hath shewed a Exo. 26.30 Heb. 8.5 it 's not Gods Church which Man builds and is after his inventions b Psa 106.29.39 Matt. 15.6 God never gave Commission to the Pope Ecclesiastick or Civil Powers to institute Churches c Isa 1.12.13 14. 42.8 48.11 and as a Church is of God so the whole form and fashion is of Gods teaching only d Eze. 43.10.11 § 5. Hence it is that the Spirit of God in his Word hath witnessed against and renounced nothing more than false Churches such especially with all their appurtenances of Ordinances Officers and Worship which have apostatized from and forsaken his own Pattern and Institution a Eze. 43.8 and fashioned themselves by their Humane Inventions b Psa 106.29 to answer their own carnal Interests c Hab. 1.26 and corrupt Ends d Isa 1.12 13. Ecclesiastical e Hos 5.1.3 or Civil f 1 King 12.27 wherefore such always are charged with spiritual Whoredoms g Hos 5.3 and treated as Harlots h Hos 2.2 most especially the Catholick Visible that Mother of Harlots with all her spurious brood of Subordinations Hierarchical and Representative two especially are laid before us as the most notorious Harlots That of Jeroboam's i 2 Kings 17.21.22 and that of the Antichristian Apostacy k 2 Thes 4.7 by the latter the World is corrupted to this day she sitting under the Name of the Catholick visible Church with her Offspring ruling over the Kingdoms of the Western World as the Mother of Harlots l Rev. 17.5.18 not only breeding but nursing up all Idolatry Superstition Will-Worship and all departure from the Pattern of Christ which hath bin and is by Papists and un-illuminated or interested Protestants m Rev. 18.2.3 Fathering all her spiritual Cheats whereby both sorts are intoxicated on the Name of Christ whence the Seven Women n Esa 4.1 Churches in the Prophetick Language are said to lay hold on one Man i. e. the Lord Jesus Christ desiring to be called by his Name to take away the reproach of spurious and adulterine Churches but yet feed on their own Institutions and are cloathed with their own righteousness § 6. Pretended Churches of Christ may be discerned to be true or false 1. By the foundation whether on the Person Nature Offices and Word of Christ a 1 Pet. 2.4 Ephe. 2.20 2. By the visible matter whether living Stones b 1 Pet. 2.4 3. By the Form Fashion and Frame according to the order of the Gospel c Heb. 8.5.6 3.3 Mat. 28.20 Ezek. 43.11 Col. 2.5 Hence a Church is no Church of God either of these being altogether wanting or is but a faulty and deficient Church so far as its defective in these as to Faith or Order Wherefore the more the Mystery of iniquity comes to be discovered and the true Woman the Lambs Wife comes out of her Wilderness-State we may expect that the Churches will come to an higher degree of Purity and Order d Isa 1.25 Rev. 19.7 8. § 7. Wherefore to a true Church Christ is all and in all a Eph. 1.22 he being the Head in all respects and hath the Preheminence b Col. 1.18 19. being before all things and above all things the Head of Principalities in Dignity and Dominion worshipped by Angels c Heb. 1.6 Psa 89.27 higher than the Kings of the Earth It hath pleased the Father that there should be a special relation and mutual Fulness between Christ and the Church Christ being so the Head of his Church as he is to none else and as Christ filleth the Church so the Church is the fulness of Christ d 1 Cor. 12 12. Eph. 1.21 22. § 8. This Headship of Christ is divers ways illustrated to us in Scripture by a Natural Man's Head and Body a Col. 1.18 by a Family or Conjugal Head b Eph. 5.23 by a Root or Vegetable Head c John 15.1 Rom. 11.24 by an Head of an artificial Building the Head Corner-Stone d 1 Pet. 2.4.5 and hence it appears That Christ is such a Head as represents the whole Body and transacts all things for it e Isa 42.6 Heb. 10.9 10. That Christ is the vital Head of his Church the Spring and Fountain from whence all Life and Motion flows f John 1.14.16 Col. 2.3 He is the Head Corner-Stone the strength and support of all the Building g Psa 118.22 He is the Conjugal Head and Saviour of the Body h Eph. 5.15 of whom all the Family is named i Eph. 3.25 And lastly Christ is set forth by these similitudes and otherwise unto to us as a graciously ruling and governing Head unto his Church set on this holy Hill k Psalm 2. the Throne of David l Luke 1.32 he is the Political Head the Apostle and High-Priest of our Profession m Heb. 3.1 § 9. As Christ stands in relation to the Church as the Head so the Church is related to Christ as the Body a Col. 1.18.24 Eph. 1.23 being in that respect his fulness Christ and his Church making one Mystically b 1 Cor. 12.12 The Body of Christ in Scripture is variously taken 1. It is taken for the substance of the Mystery of Christ typified and shadowed forth by the Ceremonial Law c Col. 2.17 2. It is taken for the Humane Nature of Christ wherein he lived and suffered here d Rom. 7.4 Heb. 10.5.10 3. It 's used for the Sacramental or Symbolick Body of Christ e Luke 22.19 4. It 's taken for a Church or People embodied or incorporated in Christ Jesus and is his Political Body f Eph. 5.23 Col. 1.18 5. It 's used in a proper sense for the very Body of Christ separate and distinct from his Soul g Mat. 27.58 It is the fourth Acceptation that we are here concerned in § 10. A Church of God as to the most general consideration is the Body of Christ in a Spiritual and Political acceptation of a Body a Col. 1.24 in which respect it 's compared to a Family and City and Candlestick 1. It is a Company congregated not one or two in the Body are many Members
b 1 Cor. 12 12. Rev. 1.20 2. It 's a Company of Men not of Angels for Angels are no where called a Church tho a Company c Heb. 12.22 but they surround the Church d Rev. 5.11 and consort in their Adorations with the Church The Angels were not Redeemed by Christ's Blood neither of the Nature of the Head and therefore not the Body of Christ as the Church is e Heb. 2.16 3. It 's a spiritual Company in contra-distinction to humane and civil Societies or Companies gathered together occasionally or statedly f Act 19.39 4. It 's separated from the World all the World is not a Church but it 's called and separated out of the World g John 17.10 15.19 2 Cor. 6.17 as Christ the Head is separate h Heb. 7.26 2 Pet. 2.20 Deut. 14.2 Titus 2.14 so must the Body be 5. They are not a company of scattered Sheep but gathered into a Fold i John 10.16 Stones not lying here and there but brought into a building k 1 Pet. 2.4.5 6. They are embodied or incorporated with the Corner-Stone and to one another and as Members are knit to the Head and one another l 2 Thes 2.1 Eph. 4.16 Ps 122 3. 1 Thes 1 1. Hence Union to Christ the Head and to one another is essentially necessary to the Church of God m John 15 to which Union is requisite cutting off from the old Stock and Implantation into the new n Rom. 11.24 connection knitting and coalition of Head and Members together Members to the Head and they to one another o Eph. 2.21 and lastly an aptitude order and fitness to each other to compleat the whole in usefulness and comeliness p 1 Cor. 12 11 12 13. Eph. 4.16 2.21 § 11. Hence it plainly appears what a Church of God is in the general Nature thereof It is a spiritual company of men separated from the world a 2 Cor. 6.17 congregated and incorporated in Christ Jesus b 1 Cor. 12.12 Congregation is a Genus to Church it 's a spiritual Congregatiion and there is no Church but is so in some sense or other the words in the Old and New Testament always signifie so Cohel and Ecclesia But Congregation seems to be a remoter Genus than Corporation for every Congregation is not incorporated neither is every incorporated Congregation a spiritual Body c Acts 19.39 and therefore a Church but every Church is a Congregation incorporated by the Union afore-mentioned and it 's for the end of him whose it is viz. his Glory in communion with him and of one Member with another CHAP. II. Of the Catholick Church A Church defined A Spiritual Corporation how distinguisht Corporation what How belonging to Christ What Persons a Church is made up of How Membership comes Communion Distribution of Church The Catholick Church Catholick Vnion Communion It s not the Subject of Ordinances No Catholick Visible Church § 1. FROM what hath bin said in the former Chapter it appears that a Church is thus defined viz. That it is a Spiritual Corporation or Body of Christ a Eph. 1.23 Col. 1.24 1 Pet. 2.9 the Head to which many select persons b Tit. 2.14 separated from the World c 2 Cor. 6.16 17. are gathered d 2 The. 2.1 and united e Eph. 5.23 30. and accordingly fitly joined one to another f ch 4.16 for holy Communion in the Lord g 1 John 1.3 § 2. Corporation or a Political Body is the next common Nature to a Church and not Congregation or Assembly for Congregation is either occasional a Act 19.39 41. or fixed and stated by incorporation and this either civil or spiritual a civil is nothing appertaining to our present concern but the spiritual is for a Civil is that which belongs to a Secular or Republican State but spiritual is that that belongs to a Spiritual or Ecclesiastick State b 1 Cor. 10 4. Gal. 6.1 Matth. 7.6 1 Cor. 7.32 33. hence spiritual here is not confin'd to the sence of invisibility but is meant of that which is of a heavenly sacred and supernatural Nature c 1 Cor. 15.40 Heb. 8.5 9.23 1. Pet. 2.5 wherefore a spiritual Corporation or Body Politick is either mystical and invisible or visible professed and manifest to the World § 3. A Corporation is a Community constituted by Law or Charter granted by a Supream Power whereby it is invested with Priviledges and a Governing Power regulated by and subordinated to the Honour and Interest of the said supream Power such are Kingdoms Cities Housholds or Families or any number of persons bound together in any sociable Bond is a Society of this Nature whether implicite or explicite of these the Conjugal is the least though the first and most ancient yea the most honourable of all Civil Societies being the Root from whence they spring wherefore the Relation between Christ and his Church is represented thus to us by the Spirit of God in a most lively manner a Eph. 5.31 32. § 4. The Government Liberties and Priviledges of the Church are given as by Charter to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Father a Psa 2.6 Mat. 28.18 ch 2.6 the administration of which Power by him is either internal and immediate by his Spirit in the hearts of his People and according to the measure of Grace given to every one and of the same nature in the whole Body b Col. 3.15 Rom. 8.9 2 Cor. 3.8 17. Gal. 5.16.18.25 1 Pet. 1.2.22 of Christ c Rom. 12.3 1 John 3.24 and is universal and invisible or Christ administers more externally visibly and mediately in particular visible Bodies Politick by his Word instituted Officers and Ordinances for the sake and edifying of his Universal Church d Eph. 4.12 § 5. Every Church of Christ is made of select Persons and separated from the World a 1 Pet. 2.9 Tit. 2.14 2 Cor. 6.16.17 either by Effectual Calling and thereby become Members of the Mystical Body of Christ b Eph. 4.4 1 Cor. 12.12 or by a visible Profession and Confederation and thereby become Members of the visible particular Churches c 2 Cor. 7.13 § 6. A People may be gathered together yea to Christ so as to hear him or his Messengers a Act 13.43 Matt. 13.2 and not thereby become Members of the Body of Christ under any consideration But they must be so gathered to Christ the Head as to come into the bond of the Covenant b Eze. 20.37 Col. 2.19 1 Cor. 6.17 either by receiving Christ by Faith and thereby restipulating personally to the Covenant of Grace and so joining to the Lord. Or it is when a Person doth upon his Profession actually covenant with a particular Church by the first he becomes a Member of the Mystical Body c Col. 3.11 and by the second of a
particular Congregation d Act. 2.41 § 7. The end of Church-Union is Communion which is with Christ the Head and one another a 1 Joh. 1.3 This is in the Spirit b Phil. 2.1 and belongs to the whole Catholick Body or it is expressed by a visible communion in the Ordinances administred in particular Bodies and is the Communion of particular Churches c Act. 2.43 1 Cor. 10.16 § 8 According therefore to the Dispensation of the Fulness of Christs Headship a Joh. 1.16 Eph. 1.19 3.7 Col. 1.19 20. internally and mystically by his Spirit b John 14.26 16.13 14 15. or externally and ministerially as the Apostle and High-Priest of our Profession c Heb. 3.1 8.6 10.1 12.23 Eph. 4.12 The Church and Body of Christ hath its standing mystical and invisible or instituted and visible § 9. The Catholick Church is the Mystical Body of Christ made up of all saved ones Militant and Triumphant a Heb. 12.23 24. Eph. 3.15 united together in one Spirit b 1 Cor. 6.17 for communion therein accordingly c Phil. 2.1 Or It is all the Company of saved ones Militant and Triumphant embodied in Christ Jesus d Ro. 12.5 1 Cor. 12.12 It is called the Mystical Body from that hidden standing which it hath in Christ e Col. 3.3 1 Pet. 3.4 Psal 83.3 every Member being undiscernably as to Men united to Christ and one another f 1 Cor. 12 13. Eph. 4.3 and have communion in the Mystery of God of the Father and of Christ they all eat and drink the same spiritual Meat and Drink g 1 Cor. 10 3 4. whence the matter and form of this Body being not infallibly known to any on Earth h 2 Tim. 2.19 either the particular Members Militant or Triumphant or their bond of Union or their Heavenly communion in the Spirit this Church is fitly called the Mystical Body of Christ to distinguish it from all other considerations of a Church and hence it hath these distinguishing Properties 1. Invisibility as to Men a Heb. 12.22 23. 2. Universality as containing all saved ones on Earth and in Heaven b Eph. 1.10 3.15 3. Perpetuity as to particular Members union and communion their Names being all written in Heaven c Heb. 12.22 23. Luk. 10.20 § 10. The Catholick Union is that whereby a person being cut off from his corrupt standing in the old Adam a Ro. 11.24 he is created b Eph. 2.10 and implanted in Christ Jesus c Ro. 11.24 for righteousness and life d 1 Cor. 1.30 Eph. 4.24 personally restipulating by Faith to the Covenant of Grace made in Christ Jesus e Gal. 3.22 26.29 such an one becomes vitally f Gal. 2.20 conjugally and federally united to Christ the Head g Eph. 4.23 5.23 Jer. 31.33 32.40 Rom. 12.5 and therefore consequentially and really is a Member of the whole Body of Christ and of every part being so united to the Head h Eph. 1.23 § 11. Catholick Communion of Saints is that which is also invisible a Phil. 2.1 and is not only of the Saints Militant one with another but of the Militant and Triumphant in one body b Heb. 12.22 23. and consists in a coparticipation of the fulness of the Grace of God in Christ c Joh. 1.16 being all Elected Redeemed and Sanctified in him d Eph. 1.4 5 6. gradually here e Phi. 3.13 and perfectly conformed to him hereafter f Heb. 12.23 all partakers of the same Spirit in the measure of each one g 1 Cor. 12 4.11 blessed with the same spiritual Blessings for kind h Eph. 1.3 growing up under the same means of Grace for substance i Eph. 4.15 As likewise it consists in the exercise of the same Faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ and Love towards one another k Eph. 6.23 2 Cor. 4.13 1 Joh. 4.7 11 12 2 Tim. 1 13 Coloss 2.2 with all the fruits of both as the matter may require whereby there is always a mutual Heart-Communion at least between all the Saints on Earth l Col. 1.4 and they are come to an actual Communion as well as Union with the glorified Spirits of Just Men made Perfect m Heb. 12.22 c. according to their respective degrees of attainment n Ro. 12.3 more or less whereby they arrive at last in due season to such a determined degree of Sanctity which is their prepared fitness and stature in Christ for the inheritance of the Saints in Light o Col. 1.12 Eph. 4.13 being changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory by the Spirit of the Lord p 2 Cor. 3.18 § 12. The Catholick Church as such is not the subject of Officers or Ordinances nor it being not visible can be Christ never instituted any Officers whose Power was of an universal extent except the Apostles and them only in visible Churches nor any Ordinances for a Catholick visible Communion in which all the Saints living in the same Age were to assemble and meet together a 1 Cor. 11 20. for the visibility of a Church is always in some Assembly But the Catholick Church tho it be not as hath been said hath many things peculiar to it wherein it hath its preheminence above all visible Churches In that therein the Administration of Grace and Dispensation of the Rule and Government of Christ is immediately by his Spirit b 2 Cor. 3.3.8 Gal. 5.25 Eph. 3.16 Gal. 6.18 2 Tim. 4.22 1 Pet. 1.2.22 1 Joh. 3.24 2. In that there are many saved ones in this Church that were never Members of any visible Church c 1 Pet. 1.1 3. That all the saved ones of any visible Church belong to this Church d Rev. 13.8 Heb. 12.27 4. That the Institution of visible Churches and Ordinances is for the sake of this Church e Eph. 4.11 12. 5. All adult Persons that are admitted to Membership in a particular visible Church ought to be such as are supposed by their Profession to be Members of this Mystical Body f 1 Thes 1.1 2 ep 2.1 Col. 1.2 6. That of all Churches this shall never be dissolved or one person lost out of it g Mat. 16.18 Psalm 125.1 John 10.28 29. 7. That as this Church is sometimes preserved and fed without instituted Ministry and Ordinances as the Jewish Church in Babylon and the Gospel-Church in the spiritual Babylonish Wilderness h Rev. 12.6 so it shall be most Glorious without them when it hath arrived at its perfect fulness i Rev. 19.8 9. 8. There is no false or superfluous Member in this Church tho many in others some it may be in the best k Eph. 5.27 Col. 1.21 22. Rev. 14.4 9. Death separates from other Churches but not from this l Rom. 8.35 38. 10. The Glorified Saints
belong to this and not to other m Heb. 12.23 § 13. The Catholick Church is but one onely a Eph. 4.4.5 1 Cor. 12.12 and it cannot be visible as Catholick for the greatest part are not seen by us being Saints in Heaven b Eph. 1.10 3.15 Elect Infants and many not known by Profession and if Men apply Catholick to the Professors of Christianity living at the same time upon the Earth and call them the Catholick Visible Church it is a mistaken Appellation for they are neither a Visible Church nor Catholick Not a Visible Church because 1. Christ hath instituted none such 2. They are never seen in coetu or in a Congregation as a Visible Church is nor can be till the last Day c Mat. 13.41 3. Christ never gave Ordinances for such a Communion 4. All these are not under any visible bond of Confederation together which is the form of a Visible Church Profession is no Bond but a proper requisite only thereto 5. Christ never instituted such a Church Ministry but what were set in a particular Church and exercised in such The Apostles Christ's extraordinary Ministers were first set in the Church at Jerusalem d Eph. 4.11 1 Cor. 12.28 and were first Officers there and tho their Commission reached to the Planting and Governing other Churches that should succeed yet they exercised not their Ministry or Apostolick Power to any supposed Catholick Church Visible nor wrote to such but gathered particular Churches out of the World and in them settled a distinct Ministry and Ordinances peculiar to each wherein they exercised their own power as far as necessary for their Settlement and Edification Again there is no Catholick Visible Church for 1. If there be there is two Catholick Churches which is a contradiction and contrary to that Creed called the Apostles 2. All visible Professors if a Church cannot be Catholick because they are not all the Members of Christ on Earth and they that profess at large at least are not Members of Christ many if not most of them 3. It is not a Catholick Church because it 's not a Body-Corporate in any visible manner nor are capable of answering the ends of such in Government Order or Priviledges 4. If there be a Catholick visible Church it 's rational there should be a Catholick visible Pastor and from these Principles arose the Pope and the Papal Jurisdiction established throughout the professing World In the first Ages after Christ each particular Church called it self Catholick from the Profession of that Doctrine which was called the Catholick Faith because received by all the Churches Afterward the Word Catholick was applied to a supposed Universal Visible Church and became not only serviceable to the rising of the Mystery of Iniquity but a great Foundation of the Antichristian Fabrick which was afterward built thereon with all the Ecclesiastical Tyranny and Papal Superstitious Pomp imaginable The Protestants that have cast off the Universal Pastorship of one and will not endure a Catholick single Pastor do most of them retain the Notion of an Universal Visible Church as also of divers Catholick Pastors dividing that Catholocy which they will not allow the Pope among themselves each one exercising the Office and Power of a Catholick visible Pastor where-ever he comes having bin ordained by a Presbytery of a Catholick Constitution to a Catholick Pastorship to the Catholick Church To conclude Our best Protestants in opposition to the Papists have still denied the being of a Catholick Visible Church amongst whom was Famous Dr. Whitaker whose Arguments upon this Question against Duraeus are Quoted by Mr. Hooker in his Survey ch 15. p. 265. Our Savoy Confession allows the Name but denies the Nature Ch. 26. § 2. Institution of Churches § 6. for it saith it s not entrusted with the Administration of any Ordinances nor hath any Officers to Rule and Govern as such and what a kind of Visible Church is that that is neither the subject of Ordinances or Officers Mr. Hooker saith Church is the Genus of all particular Churches but a Visible Church in the generical consideration can no more be found existing out of individual particular Churches than a Man can be found existing under the generical consideration of Man out of individual Men. But that a totum aggregatum of all Churches in this World can be made and be a visible Church he denies upon Learned and convincing Reasons which will stand their Ground against all contradiction To whom for brevity sake we refer the Reader where also he evinceth that there 's no Catholick Visible Church considered as a totum Representativum i. e. as a Representative Church in all the Pastors that there cannot be a Catholick Visible Representative Church and that there is no such thing as a Representative Church of any kind of greater or lesser extent § 14. What the Scripture speaks of a Church is either of a Church in general and indefinitely belongs to any or of a Church in Specie either Catholick and invisible or particular and visible but saith nothing of a Catholick Visible CHAP. III. Of a Congregational Church in General Of Christ's Dispensation as Head A visible Church defined Revealed Worship exercis'd first in Families then in Instituted Churches The Foundation of visible Churches laid in Abraham's Covenant Two parts thereof The Church of Israel First Essential then Organized The difference between the Mosaical and Gospel Oeconomy The Church of Israel Congregational § 1. THE Lord Jesus Christ exerts his Headship not only by the more immediate Administration of his Spirit a 1 Cor. 2.11 12. 12.4 7.13 Eph. 4.3 7. internally in the hearts of his People whereby he constitutes his Mystical and Catholick Body but also as the Apostle and High-Priest of our Profession b Heb. 3.1.2 6. by external Means of Grace Constituting and Ordaining particular visible Churches and in them Ministry and Ordinances suited to the State and respective Ages of the World c Heb. 9.1.8.10 Deut. 29.1 for the filling up and edification of his Mystical Body d Eph. 4.12 13. and blesseth such accordingly to his great Glory and good of his Chosen e Eph. 3.21 Ps 106.45 Exo. 20.24 Deut. 4.8 § 2. A Visible Church is a Particular Assembly of Professing Believers a 1 Cor. 1.2 visibly embodied in Christ b 1 Cor. 12.27 for a stated and holy Communion c Act 9.31 in one place d 1 Cor. 11 20. with God and one another in all instituted Ordinances e Act 2.42 appertaining to themselves and their immediate seed f Act. 2.39 Isa 61.9 65.23 Eph. 6.4 for God's Glory in Christ g Eph. 3.21 and their mutual Edification h 1 Cor. 14 5.12.26 § 3. God's External Worship by Revealed Religion was first celebrated in Adam's Family a Gen. 4.3 4. and continued in the Families of the Faithful till the time of Abraham
and the same thing c Acts 20 17 28. in relation to a Church of Christ and are mostly taken indifferently for any Ruling and Teaching Minister as may be shewed by Classick Authors in Civil respects and by Scripture Language An Elder is an ordinary standing Minister in a Church The Apostles were Elders d 1 Pet. 5.1 and executed Elders places both in Teaching and Ruling where-ever they came but all Elders were not Apostles nor could they exert Apostolick Power Elders being Men of ordinary use in a Church of Christ and must continue e Acts 14.23 An Elder primarily signifies an old Man f ib. 2.17 but applied to an Office of Eldership in Church or State he is fitly called a Presbyter or Alderman in our Language i. e. Elderman Such there were in the Church and State of the Jews g Exo. 12.21 and are in the Churches under the Gospel h Act 14.23 A Bishop is an Overseer of a Charge and may be without Rule Among the Grecians an Attick Magistrate Clark of the Market or Commissary of an Army was called a Bishop but the Scripture useth it for a Ministerial Charge Teaching and Ruling one or both Ruling at least § 4. The Elders of a Church are Pastor or Adjuvant in the Pastoral Charge under Christ The Pastor is an Elder of a visible and particular Church Chosen and Ordained to the Office of Feeding the Flock by the Word Sacraments and Government a 1 Pet. 5.2 3. Eph. 4.11 Act. 20.38 The Office Charge and business of a Pastor is as a Shepherd to his Flock to Feed Guide and Fold So Christ is the great Pastor b John 10 11 16. and the first to the Gospel-Church c Mat. 26.26 31. And as he is the Chief Pastor d 1 Pet. 5.4 so is he the great President and Example to all the Pastors of particular Churches in all things wherein he is to be followed in the Exercise of their Pastoral relation e John 13.15 as also the Guidance of his Spirit and Direction of his Word f Mat. 28.20 with all his holy Institutions are to be diligently observed for to him it is that they must give account g Heb. 13.17 of this their great Stewardship h 1 Cor. 4.1 2. § 5. The Ministerial Charge as to Administration of things of the most spiritual Nature in a Visible Church is contained in the Pastoral Relation and where God gives ability to perform it fully to the edification of the Church One may perform it duly a 2 Cor. 12.19 Eph. 4.12 But in case of bodily infirmity or greatness of the Congregation if he is not able through the first to bear the whole Work of Teaching and Exhorting or for the other reason he is not able to go through the governing Work Christ hath provided Helps and Assistance for him a Teacher in his Teaching work and a ruling Elder to aid and assist in Ruling b 1 Tim. 5.17 § 6. He that is called and ordained of Christ by the Church to concur with the Pastor in the Teaching Work to the furthering the Churches Edification is called a Teacher and waits on that Service helping also in Ruling with the Pastor a Rom. 12.7 1 Cor. 12.28 1 Tim. 3.1 2. Eph. 4.11 12. Tit. 1.9 1 Pet. 4.10 11. § 7. He that is Called and Ordained of Christ by the Church to concur with the Pastor in diligently rulling is required to wait on that Work especially for the Edification of the Church and is called a Ruling-Elder and is Ordained in the same manner with a Teaching-Elder a 1 Tim. 3.1 Rom. 12.8 1 Tim. 5.17 § 8. He that ministers to the external concern of the Church serving Tables for the support of the Worship of God and relief of the Poor is a Deacon a Acts 6.2 4.35 compar'd with ch 6. Neh. 13.13 there may be one or more as the concerns of the Church are and there may be Women-helps in some Cases necessary called Deaconesses b Rom. 16.1 12.8 1 Tim. 5.9 10. The Deacon's Charge is the true and faithful disposal of the Churches Stock and Contributions and to the Church they are accountable c 1 Cor. 4.2 1 Tim. 3.8 9 10. 1 Pet. 4.10 § 9. A Church which hath a Pastor and Deacon is fully Organized the Church requiring no more to Edification The Pastoral Office containing in it all the Teaching and Ruling Charge and the Deacons all that concern the Care of the Church as to Externals CHAP. VIII Of a Call to a Church Ministry How a Church is regularly furnisht by Call and Ordination A Call immediate or mediate What each is How a Church comes to a Call And how made The consummation thereof no Ordination A Person called being not a Member ought to be joined to the Church calling him before Ordination None can or ought to be Ordained to the Catholick Visible Church § 1. A Church of Christ comes to be regularly furnished with a Ministry for its Edification by a due Call a Heb. 5.4 of such as are qualified thereto and Ordination of them A Church Calls when after waiting upon God for Directions b Phil. 4.6 Mat. 9.38 and coming to be acquainted with the Grace and Ministerial Gifts of a person or persons which having tryed c 1 Joh 4.1 1 Tim. 3.10 they are inclined to apprehend him or them suitable for them the Church gives him or them a solemn invitation to a Ministerial Charge § 2. A Call to a Ministerial Charge or Work is either immediately by God himself in a more than usual way or manner a Gal. 1.1.12 1 Tim. 1.1 or mediate by the Church of God and every one that undertakes such holy service must have one of these two Calls or else God sends him not b Rom. 10.15 The immediate Call is when God doth qualifie and call a Person to a Ministerial Service without the instrumentality of Men or Churches and such was the Call of the Prophets and Apostles whose Call was their Ordination and Infallible § 3. A Mediate Call is that which Christ makes by the instrumentality of a Church walking after Christ's commands a 1 Pet. 5.2 2 John 6. but is not infallible but eventually may not answer the Churches end in Calling because the Person called may not be suitable or for some reasons may refuse to submit thereto Hence God answers a Churches Call by sending to them a Person fit and willing whereby it most times proves happy and successful b Jer. 3.15 Mat. 9.37 38. § 4. The Church having wisely and duly debated the whole matter with all secrecy and keeping things within the Church and asked counsel of God and Neighbour Churches so far as may be needful and come to some result among themselves all if possible agreeing without strife and murmuring a Phil. 2.3 8. 1 Pet. 3.8 or
at least if any not so well satisfied do consent to acquiesce in the mind of the Church the Call is agreed upon but by such only who are actual Members not by Members of other Churches that communicate upon recommendation only § 5. The consummation of the said Call is made by the free acceptance of the Person called a 1 Pet. 5.2 but such Call and Acceptance though necessary as Preliminaries do not constitute a Person in a Ministerial Office any more than a private Contract doth constitute Man and Wife but Marriage by a Publick Covenant before sufficient Witness So that the Person Called is not constituted in Office without Ordination which is a Publick and solemn setting him apart § 6. If the Person called be not a Member where he is to take his Church-Charge he ought now upon the said Call and Acceptance to join as an actual Member to the Church a Act. 6.3 1 Cor. 5.12 For to constitute a non-Member in Office is contrary to all the Rules of any Corporate Society § 7. A Person may not be Ordained a Pastor or Church-Officer at large or before he be called to a particular Congregation For relates and cor-relates are co-essential to each other and have reciprocal relative affections Ordination also is a solemn recognition of a Contract before made which is done in the Call Moreover to make a Pastor before a People call him is to make a Pastor to no body and to Ordain a Pastor upon supposal some People will choose him makes him not only precarious but null ipso facto for being Ordained upon a supposed futurition makes his present Ordination void not being a capable subject till called to a Relation And if it be said Such an one is Ordained Pastor to the Catholick visible Church Then 1. Why did not that Church call him 2. Why may not Deacons be Ordained to the Catholick visible Church 3. If he be Ordained Pastor to the Catholick how can he be Pastor to a particular Church unless he become a general and particular Pastor a double Pastor which is absurd 4. What power have a few Pastors or Churches to Ordain any Man to be Pastor to the Catholick Church as much power as an incorporated People or the Mayors of several Corporations meeting together have to appoint a common Mayor to all Corporations or to make one another so CHAP. IX Of Ordination Of the meaning of the Word How our Translators use the Word Whether the Imposition of Hands be peculiar to Church Ministers Whether Teaching Elders only can Ordain Laying on of Hands of Antiquity and of what uses Divers Opinions about it Arguments Answered 1 2 3 4. Concluded that it 's an obsolete Rite and Nine Arguments for it How Ordination ought to be performed How a Deacon's Ordination may be repeated The Ordination of a meer Preaching Minister to Conversion § 1. ORdination is an English Word almost Latine and coming of it by which our Translators render Words in both Originals of very divers significations But their use of the Word may be reduced for the most part to these two General significations 1. To the sence of pre-ordination of things or persons and so Ordination is destination 2. It 's taken for an actual constitution of a thing or person in a state or relation that either is designed unto 1. By enacting a Isa 30.33 Act. 13.38 10.42 Ephes 2.10 1 Pet. 1.20 Jer. 1.5 Laws for this or that thing or person which is called an Ordinance b 1 Cor. 7.17 Act. 16 14. Ps 81.5 1 Chro. 9.22 Gal. 3.19 and is a Conjugate to Ordination because ordained or 2. By constituting instating or enstalling a Person in a Charge or Office c Mar. 3.14 Act 1.22 2 Chr. 11.15 2 King 23.5 Titus 1.5 Heb. 5.1 8.3 which is most properly Ordination in that sence as we are here concern'd in it being the publick and solemn enstating or installing a person in an Office or Charge committed to him to which he was duly before called and which he hath accepted § 2. But when Ordination according to its usage in the Old or New Testament is applied unto Men it signifies only the instating any one actually in a Place or Charge that he is designed or called to Again in all the places where our Translators make such use of the Word there is not the least mention of Imposition of Hands tho the Word rendred ordaining a Act 14.23 signifies the lifting up of hands by way of Suffrage in Election of Officers § 3. It 's thought generally that Imposition of Hands is only an honourary and peculiar Ceremony to the Ordination of Teaching Elders and sacred to them alone But if the said Imposition be a thing essential to Ordination as such it must belong to all Church-Ministers ordained as to Ruling Elders and Deacons because likewise the greatest Plea that can be made for laying on of Hands on ordinary Church-Ministers must be taken from the Ordination of Deacons a Acts 6. whereas indeed we have not one instance of laying on of Hands on ordinary Teaching Elders in the whole New Testament tho we read of the ordaining them b Act 14.23 § 4. Again it 's an Error commonly received that Ordination performed by that supposed sacred Rite is only to be administred by Teaching Elders whether of the same Church or of other Churches and is an authoritative act of such But this must needs be a great mistake upon all accounts for the Elders of one Church cannot perform an Authoritative Act in another it being a great Usurpation a 1 Pet. 4.15 and the Elders of one Church having no power to Vote in another which the meanest Brother hath therefore how little power hath a foreign Elder to ordain or lay on hands in the said Church If it appertain to Elders only sure to the Elders of that Church in which the Ordination is and to those to whom Authoritative Acts do belong and not to the Elders of another Church and Corporation any more than the enstalling the Mayor of one Corporation appertains to an Authoritative Act of the Mayor of another But it may be truly said That Ordination of Elders is oftner in Churches that have no Elders at all than in such that want one and that have others surviving Who then must Ordain a Pastor called to a Pastoral Charge and lay Hands upon him Ans Who should do it but the Church that called him b Acts 14.23 Who should put him into his Charge but Christ by them for it 's Christ invests any person with a Church Ministerial Office by the Church where he hath placed his Name c Deu. 14.23 16.6.11 which is his Presence and Authority He is the servant of Christ to his Church and is its Propriety and therefore as called so to be Elected and Installed by it Obj. But may the Church having no Elders lay Hands on him Ans
Either the Church must do it or it must not be done at all and if it be necessary to be done the Church must do it being an Authoritative Act Foreign Ministers have no power to do it it 's so in Civil Corporations every Jurisdiction is distinct in it self The power is in the Church to lay on Hands if allow'd as necessary by some Brethren delegated and appointed thereto and it stands with the greatest reason that they that have a lawful right to Call and Choose have the true Right of ordaining and not they who have no power to Choose or Call Besides while laying on of Hands was in use extraordinary Gifts being indifferently bestowed as God pleased it was performed indifferently by God's Appointment as Ananias an eminent old Christian d Act. 9.14 17. was sent to lay Hands on Saul and likewise the Prophets and Teachers in the Church that was at Antioch it appears not that they were Elders there were appointed by God to lay Hands on Paul and Barnabas tho at another time Philip an Evangelist could not lay Hands on them that were converted by his Ministry confirm'd by his Miracles and baptiz'd by him but he having not power to convey the Gifts of the Holy Ghost by laying on of Hands Peter and John came to Samaria for that end and purpose e Acts 8.15 16 17. Whence it appears Philip being an Evangelist and an extraordinary Minister having not the power of bestowing the Gifts of the Holy Ghost tho he had them and wrought Miracles and therefore did not lay on Hands tho he baptized that this Ceremony was used according to the Dispensation as God pleased of the Gift of bestowing the Gifts of the Holy Ghost neither confined by any Institution to Elders or Brethren and therefore one or other laid on Hands as this Gift was by God bestowed f 1 Cor. 12.7 to 11. And therefore it need not be any objection That they that Ordain others by laying on of Hands must be in the same Office and superiour to the person ordained and hence Brethren cannot ordain a Pastor For we Reply That the Church is supream to any or all the Ministers thereof they being but ministring Servants thereto that supposing laying on of Hands be Ordination the delegated Brethren that administer the Rite do it in the Name of Christ and representing the Church it 's needless the Persons applying should be in office themselves superiour as the Apostles or equal as ordinary Elders it 's enough that they are impower'd by Christ and his Church to this service at this time But the whole reason of this practice being ceased the Rite it self is also ceased as above-said for no extraordinary nor ordinary Gifts are now conveyed by laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery or of Brethren neither is the Person so enstalled any better qualified for his place either made honester or abler by a spirit of Government or any more furnisht with Gifts and Graces any more than a secular Magistrate Mayor or others is by the Ceremonies of his Instalment § 5. This Ceremony of laying on of Hands was of great Antiquity and variously applied for quite contrary ends according to the Case it was conjoined with by Divine Command or Humane Usage It was used in Prophetick Blessings a Gen. 48.14 and it was used in solemn Exsecrations b Lev. 24.14 and execution of high Criminals in charging Sin on the Sacrifice c Ib. 4.15 6.21 in constituting Representatives of the People and then the People laid hands d Numb 8.12 After the coming of Christ e Mat. 19.10 11. Christ used it variously he laid his Hands on the Head in Blessing Both Christ and his Apostles laid on Hands in Healing f Mar. 6.5 ch 16.18 Luk. 13.13 Acts 28.8 and used it indifferently that or Vnction as equivalent Rites g Isa 5.14 It is also used both in the Old and New Testament h Num. 27 23. 1 Tim. 4.14 as significant of the Conveyance of great and extraordinary Gifts to persons that God would qualifie to great Service tho not in relation to any Office in the Church i Acts 8.18 or at the enstalling eminent Leaders in Office to his People shewing God's furnishing them with extraordinary qualifications of Grace or Government at least and often both k Acts 6.6 13.2 3. Neither was this Rite or that of Unction inseparably annex'd to any of these ends or uses under the Old or New Testament Extraordinary Church-Officers were Ordained without them by Election l Act 1.23 26. Matt. 10.5 Joh. 20.22 and Extraordinary Gifts were conveyed and Miracles wrought both by Christ and his Apostles without the use of either m Acts 2.1 c. though we find not that this Ceremony was used in the New Testament by the Apostles or the next followers of them but upon the account of furnishing the subject on whom Hands were laid with extraordinary Gifts of the Goly Ghost n 1 Tim. 4.14 § 6. It is pleaded for the continuance of this Rite in Churches by some very irrationally that its essential to Ordination of Gospel-Ministers By others not as Essential so as the not having it makes it null but as necessary to the Authority and Honour of the Ministry Others look upon it as indifferent doing neither good nor harm and that Ordination is never the worse if it hath it not nor never the better if it hath it but it is only harmlesly annexed Lastly There are others think that it is obsolete like the brazen Serpent in Hezekiah's days that had no healing vertue in it a meer piece of Brass Such a thing now do many truly take Imposition of Hands to be We shall insist upon the proof of this last especially which being done all the other will fall of their own accord or by necessary consequence § 7. The Arguments used for the continuance of the use of the Rite of Imposition of Hands in the Churches are 1. The laying Hands on the Deaons by the Apostles Ans All acts of the Apostles were not Presidential to others The Apostles laid their Hands on the Deacons not so much as such but as Persons to be furnished with an Extraordinary Spirit as appeared afterward by two especially that were called forth to most Eminent Service for Christ one viz. Stephen to set his Seal to the Truth of Christ by his Bloud in giving one of the most Eminent Testimonies thereto living and dying and the first after Christ's Ascention a Acts 7. The other Philip was an Eminent Evangelist who Planted the Gospel and Churches in Samaria was brought miraculously to the Eunuch and Preached Christ unto him who although he was searching the Scriptures yet knew not that the Messiah was come till Philip opened the Prophet Isaias to him b Acts 8. They that insist on this Plea ought to be as zealous for the formal Ordination of
Congregation to which he is joined and hath given up his Children with himself to the Lord so he is obliged to perform his Promise a Jos 24.15 in bringing his Infant-Seed to Christ in the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith b Rom. 4.11 Mark 10.13 and in after educating and bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord c Eph. 6.4 Josh 4.6.22 as to Domestick Instruction And lastly to bring them to the Means of Grace in the Church where he had given up himself and them to the Lord at his Admission d Ps 147.13 115.13 14. 128.1 3 5 6. § 17. As they that be non-Members are admitted Members of a Visible Church so they that are Members of one Congregation are sometimes received to the Communion of another either occasionally and transiently by vertue of Communion of Churches for a time by Recommendation or they are received into full Communion and become actual Members which is by Dismission a Ro. 16.1 2 Cor. 3.1 But the Pastor may not admit a Member of another Church to occasional Communion at the Lord's Supper without acquainting the Church therewith and having their consent § 18. A Church is not bound to admit all to their Communion that claim by vertue of Membership to another Church for if any one of the Congregation excepts against such an one that offers himself they ought first to hear the Grounds of Exception against the Party himself or against the Church from whence he came notwithstanding any Commendation that he brings a 1 Cor. 10 31. 2 Cor. 6.3 And if any one brings a Dismission without a Commendation the thing it self carries in it grounds of suspicion that he is an offending Brother and therefore not suddenly to be admitted till further Enquiry be made § 19. If the Church-Member offering himself was of a late Church now scattered and dissolved such an one well known may be admitted to occasional Communion but cannot be dismissed to them therefore if he desire to be admitted into full Communion he must be admitted as a Non-Member § 20. Sometimes it is so that a Church denies to give a Dismission when asked if so the Church to which he desires to be dismissed his complaint being made to it ought to send Messengers to that Church desiring satisfactory reasons for the said Refusal and if it plainly appear that it be from a perverse Spirit and no just Reason given but that the said Brother be detained to his manifest wrong and injury and Christ having not made Churches Prisons such an one may be received as a Non-Member a 2 Cor. 1.24 § 21. A Church-Member dismist with Commendation against whom there 's no particular exception nor against the Church from whence he is sent hath his Dismission read before the Church and is received by Suffrage according to the tenor of the Covenant he made with the other Church from whence he came and if any desire that he should declare the Reason of his Hope he should be ready to do it a 1 Pet. 3.15 CHAP. XIII Of Church-Members Departure from Communion A distinct Vse of the Keys belongs to every Church A Member may not depart at his own pleasure A Members Translation from Church to Church by Recommendation and Dismission A Church may deny Dismission in some Cases What is to be done when unreasonably denied The Keys in tendency to Exclusion Excommunication direct or indirect Direct what Reasons for Direct ought to be great When matter of Fact is notorious and scandalous how When â—ffences aâ—â— private how Admonition what What degrees of it Of Absolution Excommunication indirect Of Suspension § 1. AS the Keys are used in admitting Persons to Communion so in their departure from the Communion of a particular Church And it is either in matters relating to the translating a Member from one Church to another or in such matters as tend to his Exclusion from all Church-Communion This and the former use of the Keys necessarily depend on the Nature of a particular Congregation For if there be but one Catholick Visible Church and all other Congregations but so many parts it cannot ly in the power of any part to make one a Member or no Member of the whole the whole of any Corporation being not at the disposition of any minor part But here every particular Church being a whole House a Acts 15.22 1 Cor. 14 23. Ro. 16.23 a distinct Body Politick there can be no regular Admission of Members or departure of any from Communion no not from one Church to another without a Church act both of the one and the other in the use of the Keys § 2. A Member therefore of a Visible Church may not at his own pleasure depart from the Communion of the Church to which he is joined to non-Communion with any Church nor to the Communion of another Church without the leave of that Church whereof he is a Member a Gal. 5.13 1 Pet. 2.16 For 1. A Church is a Corporation Priviledged with Rules of Admittance and Demittance which are to be observed b Rom. 12.4 5. 2. Such Departure is rude and dishonourable to any stated Society c 1 Cor. 15 33. 14.40 Phi. 2.3 3. If Members have this liberty Why not Ministerial Officers also d John 10 10 17. 4. Such Departure is fatal and destructive to a Church for the same liberty one may take all may take e ib. 6.67 5. It 's Covenant breaking for every Church Member Covenants to the contrary f Isa 44.5 6. It tends to destroy totally the Relation between the Elders and the People g Mat. 9.36 7. It 's a Member's Usurpation of and stealing the Keys h Amos 6.13 2 Sa. 19.3 8. It 's Schism in the highest degree 9. There is as much reason for coming in at pleasure as going out at pleasure k Rev. 3.7 Mat. 7.12 10. i 1 Cor. 11 18. 1 Cor. 12.25 It 's a High Contempt of Christ and his Government l Jude 19. 11. It 's a grieving-offence to some and a sinning-Offence unto others m Rom. 16 17. 12. It breaks the staff of Beauty and the staff of Bonds n Zach. 11.10 14. 13. It tends to Anarchy And what Communion hath Christ with Belial o Mal. 1.6 1 Thes 4.8 Luk. 10.16 2 Cor. 6.16 14. It destroys what a Man hath formerly built p Ga. 2.18 15 It exposeth the Churches and ways of Christ to the highest Scorn and Contempt q 2 Pet. 2.2 16. Such a Deserter is a felo de se and doth Disfranchise and Excommunicate himself r Hos 13.9 § 3. The Translation of a Member of a Church is when he goes from the Communion of one Church to the Communion of another occasionally or in order to abide He goes Occasionally only when he obtains a Recommendation being a Testimonial under the
till he hath given satisfaction to the Church § 18. Some speak much of and practice a Censure of Suspension when an offending Brother is forbid by the Church to come to its Communion in the Lord's Supper till it appear whether he be guilty or no of the Sin charged on him Our Lord Jesus Christ hath given no such Rule to Churches to walk by For till a Brother is fully Convict before the Church the Church hath no power to deprive him of any Church-Priviledges that belong to him by reason of his Membership and while the Church is in the way of its Duty it is not guilty of the Sin of a particular Member Hence Brethren sin greatly in withdrawing from a Church's Communion because a Brother or more lyeth under the charge of some Sin which they have not yet convinced him of before the Church either for the matter or Nature of the thing till both which is done in the Judgment of the Church he is not Convict nor can be excluded from Ordinances but being Convict and incorrigible he is fully ripe for the Censure of Excommunication and there is no room for Suspension therefore Suspension before Conviction is unjust and Suspension after is needless and comes short of Christ's Institution But if to gratifie some through weakness startled at the presence of a suspected un-convict Person at the Lord's Supper who is under the Church's dealing in order to Conviction the suspected Brother will forbear Communion it is to be lookt on as an act of his own but no Censure of the Church CHAP. XIV Of Communion of Churches That there is Communion between Churches Some things incommunicable in Churches Some communicable and what Wherein Communion of Churches consists In Cases of Difficulties and Differences what is to be done § 1. VIsible Communion is of Members in particular in a Visible Church a Body Politick or Corporate which we have spoken unto It remains that something be spoken of the Communion of those Bodies viz. Churches between whom there is a Visible Communion And it is such a common participation of visible Priviledges of the Means of Grace in the instituted Ordinances of Christ and a mutual Communication of benefits as occasion may serve as is between co-ordinate Bodies Politick without infringement of their particular and appropriate Priviledges limited to and bounded within themselves only § 2. The Priviledges of a particular Church are to be considered in Communion of Churches as incommunicable and as communicable They that are incommunicable are such as one Church cannot hand over to or communicate to another without breaking the Charter and overthrowing their own Constitution and they are such as these 1. A Church chooseth its own Elders and Deacons but cannot choose either for another Church 2. Such Ministerial Officers being chosen the relation stands firm between them in the Church which chose them and they are not Elders or Deacons to another Church the Pastor and Deacon to the Church at Coloss are not Pastor and Deacon to the Church of Ephesus 3. The doing of any Act which is inseparably distinguishing to that Office Relation in the execution thereof cannot be communicated or carried from Church to Church As for Example the Administration of Seals or use of the Keys are such acts therefore a Minister to one Church cannot dispence them in another because they are performed by vertue of his Office that is limited to one Church nor can he transfer his relation or the proper Adjuncts thereof 4. There is also a peculiar Corporation-Relation and Priviledge that a Brother hath in the Church of which he is a Member and can have neither in any other where he is not an actual Member as Membership in stated Fellowship under the Watch and Government of the said Church this he hath no where else Likewise he can Vote and give his Suffrage in any Church acts which he cannot do elsewhere Wherefore one Church cannot have Communion with another in choosing or ordaining Elders or Deacons any further than to look on and be Eye-Witnesses of what they do nor in admitting or casting out of Members 5. There can be no Communion by way of mixing or conjoining powers as there cannot be of transferring any more than the Corporation of Bristol and Glocester can mix and conjoin their Juridical Power § 3. But there are some things wherein Communion of Churches according to the Nature of them doth consist as in Natural Bodies there are things and actions wherein they can communicate to each other so far as is consistent with their Nature to commix or conjoin but there are some things wherein its impossible they should as in Sensation or in the use of the Senses we may hear see taste c. with one another but cannot transfer our Hearing Tasting Smelling or Seeing to one another So in Bodies Politick there are some things we can enjoy or participate of together and can communicate to each other but there are others that we cannot So it is in the Communion of Churches 1. We may benefit by each others Gifts and Graces the exercise whereof are separable from any particular Relation that any one hath to a Church Such things belong to general Communion as to Expound Preach and Pray c. These the Pastor of one Congregation may exercise in another without any consideration of his Pastoral Relation only as one that is Gifted for such Services to common advantage 2. There is Communion in counsel and advice and such there was between the Church of Jerusalem and that at Antioch a Acts 15. 3. There is Communion between Churches in giving and in receiving b Phil. 4.15 4. There is Communion in respect of Members so as one may recommend or dismiss Members to another but this cannot be in Officers one Church cannot dismiss an Elder or Deacon as such to another Whatever Office a Man bears in a Church it 's so in all Civil Corporations he cannot be dismist with his Office but only as to his Membership The Mayor of Glocester may be transferred to Bristol and taken in a common Member but cannot be transferred as Mayor to the Mayoralty of Bristol no not for one Sessions Day or Hour 5. They may communicate with each other as to fraternal Entertainments in spiritual Feasts so far as to give each other the right hand of Fellowship as to the Members of true Churches of Christ and hence the Members of one Church as occasion is do partake in Ordinances with another so far as Office-Relation is not concern'd So the Member of one Congregation partakes in the Lord's Supper with another or brings his Child to be there baptized where the Pastor is administring in his proper Place and Relation But the Pastor cannot come and administer either Seal in a Congregation to which he hath no Pastoral Relation nor can be owned in any Pastoral act there The Pastor himself may receive in a Neighbouring Church as a Brother
of another Congregation but not as a Pastor much less can he administer there as a Pastor It 's one thing to communicate as a private Member and another thing to dispense as a Ministerial Officer A Member of the Corporation of one City yea the Mayor himself may be received with much welcome as an approved Member of a Neighbouring Corporation at Festival Entertainments but must not sit on the Bench there to do any act of Office out of his Place and out of his Power whether the Mayor or chief Magistrate be alive or dead So whether the Pastor of a Church be alive or dead the Pastor to another Church hath nothing to do there as a Pastor § 4. In Cases of Difficulties and Differences arising in Churches many Churches holding Communion together may by their Elders and Messengers meet together to consult and advise about the said Matters and report to the respective Churches Howbeit these Assemblies as such are not trusted with any coercive Power or Jurisdiction over the Churches to impose their determinations on them or their Officers Besides these occasional Assemblies and Councils there are not instituted by Christ any stated Synods in a fixed Combination of Churches or Officers in lesser or greater Assemblies nor are there any Synods appointed by Christ by way of Subordination to one another CHAP. XV. Of Maintenance of Ministers Christ appointed the Support of Ordinances and Ministry That Ministers are to be maintained proved from Christ's Mission of the Disciples And by the Doctrine of the Apostle Paul § 1. CHRIST Jesus in his infinite Wisdom having instituted Churches and external Ministers and Ordinances in those Churches hath also appointed such outward ways and means for the support thereof as is necessarily conducible to his Honour and Interest in his established Worship in the World and therefore hath ordained Churches should minister of their Temporals to the upholding and maintaining of Spirituals both Ordinances and Ministry § 2. The Subject which we shall chiefly speak to now with much brevity is To prove that those Ministers who labour in the Word and Doctrine ought to be maintained in a competent manner by the Churches or People that partake of their labours so far at least as they are able And it appears § 3.1 In that Christ when he Ordained and sent forth his first Preachers of the Gospel chargeth them not to go forth at their own Charges both the Seventy a Luke 10.3 4 5. and the Twelve b Mat. 10.10 Luke 9.1 3 4. to make no Provision for themselves either Food Raiment or Money but into whatever House they went there to stay Eating Drinking and Lodging and if they were not welcome and freely entertained they were to shake off the dust of their feet against them in detestation of them and he gives them likewise to understand that he sent them not about as Common Beggars but that there was Moral Justice in it that they should be maintained by the People to whom they Preached for the Workman is worthy of his Meat c Mat. 10.10 nay he tells them how dangerous it shall be to those that refuse them to save their Charges It shall be more tolerable for Sodom c. d Ibid. v. 14 15. § 4.2 The Apostle Paul insists much upon it as a Duty that he saw the Churches were backward enough to in his day and would be more afterward For He Argues from the Law of Nature and common Justice Thou shalt not muzzle the Ox c a 1 Tim. 5.18 It 's an unnatural thing to starve the labouring Ox and not suffer him to take now and then a Mouthful of the Corn he treadeth out Again he argues from common Justice The Day Labourer by the Rules of Commutative Justice is to have his Hire Again he argues from the less to the greater Doth God take care for the poor dumb Oxen b 1 Cor. 9.9 and doth he not take care for his labouring Ministers And he tells us this was the Moral sence of Moses his Law not to muzzle the Ox c c Deut. 25.4 1 Cor. 9 10. Again he argues from the reasonable expectation of all labourers in worldly Affairs he instanceth in the Souldier that goes not a Warfare at his own Charges The Planter of a Vineyard expects Fruit thereof The Shepherd that feeds the Flock expects to eat of the Milk and the Plowman and Thresher d 1 Cor. 9.7 10. If all these reasonably expect outward subsistance from their labours Why should not he that labours in the Word and Doctrine Again the Apostle argues by way of comparison of Temporal and Spiritual things together shewing that spiritual things are much more worth than carnal And hence saith If we sow to you spiritual things is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things e 1 Cor. 9.11 Rom. 15.27 Again he removes an Objection that they would be apt to make from his own Example and saith That although he took nothing of them for some special reasons yet he assured them that he had power to do it as well as others f 1 Cor. 9.4 5. implying that other Apostles did take Maintenance He Argues also from the practice under the Law by God's Appointment That they which did minister about Holy Things liv'd on the Temple and Altar and that God hath not taken less care of his Ministers about Holy Things in the days of the Gospel but hath made Maintenance of Ministers an Ordinance He hath Ordained That they that Preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel g Ibid. v. 13 14. You will say Where did Christ Ordain it It is enough if we be told so by an Inspired Man but it is easie to see that he Ordained so at his first Mission of Gospel-Preachers the Twelve and the Seventy Obj. Paul took nothing of the Corinthians Ans He tells us why Upon the account of the Corinthians and False Teachers That he would not be cut off from his Triumph upon this account to stop their Mouths but yet he saith he robbed other Churches i. e. he took more of them than otherwise he would have done even what he should have had of the Corinthians taking Wages of them to do the Corinthians service h 2 Cor. 11.8 § 5. It may be Enquired In what Proportion the Maintenance of a Minister ought to be The Apostle calls it Wages and therefore 't is the sence of our Saviour and the Apostle too That it should be a comfortable Provision for themselves and Families according to that Way and Degree of Living which the generality of sober People have to whom they Preach the Apostle telling us Let him that is taught in the Word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things a Gal. 6.6 Obj. But it may be said How much of all good things I will give little enough Ans The Apostle in the context says enough to stop Mens Mouths here b Ibid. v 4. Let every Man prove his own Work c. immediately after the Text mentioned c Ib. v. 7.8 Be not deceived God is not mocked c. Object You will say It seems to be a low and Mean Thing for a Preacher of the Gospel to take Maintenance Ans Is any Ordinance of Christ low and Mean Doth he Ordain Low and Mean Things And why did Christ himself take Maintenance rather than provide for himself Miraculously d Luke 8.3 Much more might be said but this will be enough to any one that hath any deference for the Authority of the Scriptures FINIS