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A50212 The judgment of several eminent divines of the congregational vvay concerning a pastors power occasionally to exert ministerial acts in another church besides that which is his own particular flock. Mather, Increase, 1639-1723. 1692 (1692) Wing M1223; ESTC R41439 6,067 16

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Ministerial Acts in other Congregations besides those where they are fixed See Mr. Foxes Martyrol Vol. 1. p. 57. 4. Eminent Men amongst those of the Congregational way have been for the Affirmative in the Question before us Indeed Rigid Separatists Mr. Canne and such like Brownists have stiffly maintained that a Pastor may not Exert an Official Act except among his own peculiar Flock But they that are truly Congregational have declared themselves to be otherwise perswaded That the First Elders in New-England were of this Judgment I conclude from their Platform of Discipline chap. 15. Sect. 4. Their words are these The Members of one Church occasionally coming unto another we willingly admit them to partake of the Lords Table it being the Seal of our Communion not only with Christ nor only with Members of our own Church but also with all the Churches of the Saints in which regard we refuse not to Baptize their Children presented to us if either their own Minister be Absent or such a fruit of Holy Fellowship be desired with us In like case such Churches as are furnished with more Ministers than one do willingly afford one of their own Ministers to supply the place of an absent or sick Minister of another Church for a needful Season That Platform of Church Discipline was in a peculiar manner the Composure of the Reverend Mr. Richard Mather the Famous Teacher of the Church at Dorchester in New England That he was for the Affirmative in the Question before us is manifest from what yet remains and is to be seen written with his own Hand The Renowned Mr. Thomas Hooker of Hartford in New-England desired that some of the Ministers in the Massachusetts-Bay and particularly Mr. Mather would communicate to him their Apprehensions concerning this Position viz. The Entreaty of one Congregation does not give an Officer of another Congregation Power of Office to Administer Seals to their Assembly Mr. Mathers Answer in a Letter Dated Nov. 6. 1645. was in the following words 1. It seems an Officer of a Church may lawfully Dispense Seals in another Church at their Entreaty and Request The Reason is because there is a Communion between Churches as Sisters by vertue of which they are to take care and do for one another as each ones occasion and necessity may require Cant. 8.8 We have a Little Sister and she has no Breasts what shall we do for her Now if Churches must do Offices of Love and Helpfulness to one another as each ones Occasions shall need they must also afford their Help in this particular of Lending their Officers to Minister the Seals in their Assemblies This particular will follow from the General aforementioned unless there be some particular Command from God prohibiting the same 2. By this Communion of Churches it is lawful for a Pastor upon the Request of a Member of another Church to Administer the Seals to that Member being present when the Pastor is Administring to his own Church And if this be lawful why not the other also If Christians may hold Communion one with another in the Works and Duties of each others Members Receiving the Sacraments why not also in the Works and Duties of each others Ministers Dispensing the same For as the Minister stands in special Relation to his own Church as a Minister so a Member stands in special Relation to his own Church as a Member If therefore the Member may be received into Communion in another Church for a time or for one Act as a Member and yet his Memberly Relation to his own Church not be violated thereby it seems as rational also that a Minister of one Church may in like sort be received into Communion in another Church for a time or for one Act as a Minister and yet his Ministerial or Pastoral Relation to his own Church not be violated thereby for it is hard to conceive how such an act of the Minister should be prejudicial to his Relation to his own Church as a Minister any more than the Act of the Member be prejudicial to his Relation as a Member Besides in the one case a Minister doth what he doth only at the Request of one Member but in other there is the Request of the whole Church And if the one may be done by the Request of one which is the less why not the other at the Request of the whole Church and which is greater If it be say'd in the one Case a Ministers own Church is present but not in the other The Answer is 1. That the Members Church had as much need to be present when the Member doth the Duty of a Member in Receiving the Seals as the Ministers Church be present when he does the Ministers Duty in Dispensing the same If therefore a Member may do an Act and Work of a Member in the absence of the Church whereto he belongs why may not the Minister also do an Act and Work of his Office as a Minister in the absence of that Church whereto he most peculiarly is a Minister I do not yet perceive how the presence of the Ministers Church is requisite in the one case any more than the presence of the Church in the other 2. I want a good Reason for this that this Act of the Minister to Members of another Church should be lawful in his own Churches presence and unlawful in their absence If consent be requisite that may be had though they be not corporally present at all But if the thing be unlawful in his Churches absence it is not for ought I know his Churches presence that will warrant or excuse him therein no though his Church were all present and though the Act he now doth to others be to no more but only to one Member of another Church Thus Mr. Mather in his Letter to Mr. Hooker Mr. Norton who was many Years an Eminent Teacher of the Church in Ipswich and after that at Boston his Answer to Apollonius is by Hornbeck and Others Esteemed the most Learned Book that has been Published in defence of Congregational Principles Now in that Book Pag. 80. 81 82. he affirms that tho' a Pastor cannot Authoritatively perform the Ministerial Acts of his Office in another Church as he may in his own nevertheless that Charitatively he may do it Provided that the Exercise thereof be duely qualified that is to say that the Church where he does Minister shall request him to perform Ministerial Acts among them and that the Church be necessitated to that request which is the case saith he of an Inorganick Church with respect to the Administring of Sacraments The exercise of Ministerial Power thus qualifyed is no way repugnant to the Liberty or Summity of a particular Church Mr. Thomas Shepard the first Pastor of the Church at Cambridge in New England and Mr. John Allyn Pastor of the Church at Dedham in their defence of the Nine Positions Printed in the Year 1648 in answer to Mr. Ball