and did perform their part in the subsequent part of the Chapter and History of the Acts. Act. 14.23 Act. 6.3 5 6 8 10. Tit. 1.5 Secondly There is a Ministery of Christ which is not so immediate but more mediate and they were such as whom the Apostles in the behalf and by the suffrage or the election of the Churches did ordain and to whom they did delegate the power and authority of Jesus Christ for the work of the Ministery in the Churches And in his Name and power such gifts were bestowed as might fit those persons for the work whereunto they were chosen and ordained Act. 6.6 2 Tim. 1.6 These though it be not to be denied but they are to be accounted the Ministers of Christ because they are indeed his by appointment and institution yet they are such more mediately and the Churches more immediately whose also they are and out of whom and for whose sake they were immediately chosen and appointed while the other Ministery were to travel abroad and to fulfill their Ministery towards the World for which work they were Commissioned Mar. 16.15 Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every creature This distinction is grounded upon these Scriptures 1 Cor. 4.1 Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God 2 Cor. 8.23 If any enquire of these they are the Apostles of the Churches or as we have it translated they are the Messengers of the Churches and the Glory of Christ Philip. 2.25 I suppose it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother but your Apostle If a person do entitle himself a Minister of Christ he must profess himself to be so under one of these two considerations If he be one of the first sort his Call must be immediate from the Bridegroom the Lord Jesus and his gifts and qualifications must be sutable to his work a powerful enabling to go forth to the World If he be one of the later sort his Call must be from the Bridegroom's friends the Apostles or an Apostolical Ministery Act. 14.23 compared with vers 14 of the same Chapter When the Apostles Barnabas and Paul Vers 23 when they i. e. the Apostles had ordained them Elders in every Church Tit. 1.5 For this cause I left thee in Cret that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting and ordaine Elders in every City as I had appointed thee Or else the call of this later sort must be from the Bride her self in whose custody was left the power of all Administrations 1 Cor. 11.2 I praise you brethren that you keep the Ordinances as I delivered them to you And sutable to this Call whether it be by the Bridegroom's friends or by the Bride her self must be the gifts bestowed If Paul do lay hands on Timothy and separate him to the work of the Ministery the Lord confers upon him thereby some gift which he had not before and such a gift to which he is to give attendance Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands 2 Tim. 1.6 If the Church by her Presbytery for so some will have that place to be understood do lay hands on Timothy it is not an empty and bare Ceremony but such an action as wherein God appears conferring by way of gift somewhat which was not before and this likewise is to be attended to Neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by Prophecie with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery Now the Ministery of these times being compared and considered will appear neither called nor qualified according to the Primitive Patterns Friends of the Bridegroom in the first sence they are not as being immediately sent out from him with an Apostolical Mission or Embassage furnished to wooe and win the Nations to represent the person of the Bridegroom and to be as in his stead beseeching men to be friends with God intreating them to be reconciled to him Their want of the heavenly Furniture of power from on high for this work of the Ministery doth evidence the truth hereof Secondly Nor are they called and sent out by the friends of the Bridegroom either by Apostles Evangelists or Prophets who had their Call and Mission from Christ Forasmuch as they acknowledge no such Ministery now extant but say it was temporary and extraordinary though it be not demonstrable from Scripture when the Entail was cut off or such a Ministery to cease according to designation or appointment Thirdly Nor is it so evident as it is imagined that they have a true Visible Call from the Bride her self a true Visible Constituted Church of Christ who hath been her self first espoused to him visibly and Ministerially by some person or persons hereunto deputed and designed as the Church of Corinth was 2 Cor. 11.2 according to the first established visible Order by Faith and Baptism But from a Company of well-minded people who reading the Scriptures and observing what is spoken touching the Ministery its usefulness and necessity judge it also necessary lawful and expedient to chuse out from among themselves or others some such person as they best approve of to go before them and administer to them and this is accounted a true Call to the Ministery Whereas it would be first enquired Where the Scripture doth in any place give power to a people how holy how godly soever to give a true visible Call to the Ministery themselves not first being visibly and Ministerially a constituted Church of Christ and so his Spouse his Wife according to the Primitive Pattern Whose power how far it extends after she is espoused I dispute not but seriously enquire after the actions of power which are performed by any people before they are visibly espoused and consequently impowered thereunto Hence I conceive it is that this being practised the one giving the other accepting the Call of the Ministery without questioning the Power of either it may without offence be said that a Powerless People give Call to a Giftless Ministery for as they have not power so they confer not any who for lack of Gifts study to acquire Arts wherein also having attained they therein exercise themselves the wisdom of God suffering it to be so that they should style themselves Masters of Arts. But in the beginning it was not so For when the gifts of God could not be bought nor sold and consequently not appropriated to the gain or profit of the Possessor then must Humane Arts be invented which darken the Sun and the Air and the gifts of God exploded and called extraordinary because they too much resemble the heavenly Manna of old a food which proved too dry for the growing interest of that time which the most High beholding withheld and suffered not that blessed and heavenly dew to fall But contrariwise suffered them
the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power Now these are not transient but abiding things so the Ministery which is for the perfecting of the Saints in the sence above expressed was in like nature not onely given for that end but fixed and established by appointment for the same purpose The other branch of this Ministery was To edifie the body of Christ and to build upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chiefe corner-stone Now to apply what hath been spoken to the Ministery which Christ gave for this work as it consists of two branches Viz. Perfecting Edifying These workes are appropriate to two parts of the Ministery The first are called Apostles Prophets Evangelists and precede the Church Matth. 28.19 Mat 16.15 Ephes 2.20 21 22. or are before it having the whole world for their Circuit dealing with them as with the World with the Nations as with the Nations Discipling them preparing and fitting them felling hewing and squaring those stones and that timber that it might be made meet for the building as also laying the foundation even themselves next and in order to the Lord Jesus acknowledging him to be the chiefe corner-stone of the building and the building it self to be Gods 1 Cor. 3.9 10 but themselves labourers therein and wise Master-builders thereon The second are such as being part of the number of those which have been so gathered out of the World and placed into the building by the former Master-builders and by them also appointed to edifie the body i. e. to carry on the building keeping to the foundation furnishing them with Rule and Square and Compass and Line and Plummet and whatever was necessary to compleat this work or make the Man of God perfect All which are comprehended in the holy Scriptures and more collectively in the Epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus And this Ministery are called Pastors and Teachers who are to feed the Church as the former were to breed it these to carry on the building as the other to lay the foundation these to be resident where they were chosen as those to pass on and prepare and fit more materials for the perfecting of the great building the whole House of God Now forasmuch as the number of the Saints are to be perfected and then to be edified and this to be done by a Ministery consisting of Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers and forasmuch as this is made the work of the Ministery so named and numbered as before to be accomplisht not by any one without the other of them not by the Ministery of the Apostles alone or Prophets onely or Evangelists onely much lesse by the Ministery of Pastors and Teachers onely but by these together as making up the Ministery which Christ ascending on high gave and by Ordinance or appointment set and constituted in the Church And seeing the number of the Saints is not perfected but rather as that Scripture saith The whole world lieth in wickedness or in that wicked one and that there are still Nations and Kindreds and Tongues and People to whom the Gospel may be preached and amongst whom Disciples may be made and Churches formed and built upon the true foundation Hence I conclude with my self and refer it to the judgment of him that reads it in answer to the Question That the Ministery which the Lord Jesus appointed to succeed him was for nature and end a breeding and feeding Ministery The one to prepare the Saints and to gather them into a Church as will be endeavoured to be proved in its proper place the other to build on upon the first foundation being first gathered and set thereon And that these are both alike for their end and duration or continuance appeares First Because they together make up but one Ministery Secondly Because they all being the fruits of one Purchase the same necessity remains for the one as for the other so long as any Saints are to be gathered as well as any to be edified these are to continue and that is till we all come to the unity of the Faith c. the Elect of God standing in as much need of the one instrumentally to enlighten and convert them as of the other to edifie and strengthen them being converted For as God when he gave one gave the other also so the Saints may see a necessity for the continuation of the one as well as of the other the former namely Apostles Prophets Evangelists having been some space of time without the later as appears by Acts 14.23 but the later I conceive have never been in truth without the former at least I know not where or when and should be willing to be informed forasmuch as the Foundation must precede the building up of the Superstructure and the Pastoral feeding the Lambs of the Lord Jesus must needs presuppose a Ministerial Breeding to have preceded in those pure and orderly Institutions The third and fourth Questions I shall answer together Quest Whether there be any Pattern of any Visible congregated Church under the Gospel without or before a Ministery or Baptism Or Whether the present Ministery or present Churches may be acknowledged the Ministery and Churches of Christ according to the first Pattern To the first part of the Question this will be answered Answ That it doth not appear in Scripture that any of the first Churches were gathered into their Visible Order without a Ministery preceding or before Baptism If it be otherwise it 's hoped it will be shewed where and when If it be not to be shewed How deeply are they concerned who set up such Churches whereof there is no Pattern in the Word of God! I know it is ordinarily said and accordingly practised that a company of Believers may by mutual consent or agreement become a Church and appoint one to baptize the rest and accordingly chuse their own Officers and proceed to other Administrations and this in the Name of Christ And such a Company of Believers are accounted by themselves and some others a true Visible Church Others say the same thing in other words Now I would argue the case a little touching Believers consenting to become a Church so far as may help to clear the Question in hand When a person desires to joyn himself to some one of the present Churches though the person be never so desirous in himself to be added yet he can but propound his desire of joyning and being admitted This Church considers and judges of this person's Faith and fitness for Fellowship and that in the Name of the Lord and must declare the Lord's consent in the Church's to the receiving such a Person into such a Fellowship before he can be admitted The person's willingness in himself to be joyned makes him not a Member of such a Fellowship he cannot give his own consent and the Church's too but as he is willing to manifest his
sin which accordingly he did as many places testifie So although the same Apostle when he was at first called had not an express Command touching Baptism as the Eleven had in so many words yet nevertheless he wanted not sufficient Authority for to baptize those whom he did baptize without degrading this Ordinance and making of it inferiour to Preaching as this Objection would infer from the Apostle's speech when he saith Christ sent me not to baptize but to evangelize Which inference being inforced as a consequence needs a proof from Scripture before it can impose belief upon any person Object Object When Christ gave power and authority to the eleven Disciples to teach all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and holy Spirit he added Matth. 28.20 Lo I am with you all the days even unto the end of the world How is this Scripture fulfilled if there be not a Ministery continued to the end of the world Answ Answ This command of Christ to his Apostles and this promise of his presence with them to the end of the world must be considered as being made to those eleven individual persons or else with such others as were to succeed them in that work of Ministery teaching the Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things whatsoever Christ had commanded them First If it respecteth the Eleven onely then there must be another understanding of those words The end of the world then is most commonly received for according to the common acceptation of the end of the world taking it for the utmost and extremest part of time so it could not be applied to the Apostles personally who lived not to see the end of the world in that sence according to that Scripture Zech. 1.5 Your fathers where are they the Prophets do they live forever Secondly If it respect a Succession of Ministery it must be either an Apostolical National Ministery for breeding the Church or a Pastoral Congregational Ministery for feeding the Church or both Now that this Succession of Ministery in both or either of these kindes is not so visible as it 's commonly judged hath been already proved and needs not again be repeated Nor doth it hence follow that any imputation of unfaithfulness should be fixed upon the most righteous God as if he must needs be rendered unrighteous unless there be a continuation of Ministery either Apostolical or Pastoral because that he hath said that they teaching the Nations to observe whatsoever he had commanded c. lo he was with them all the days to the end of the world And that this may the more clearly appear consider what is spoken touching Eli and his house in 2 Sam. 2.30 to the end I said that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever i. e. in the Priesthood Exod. 28.1 41 43. Exod. 40.13 14 15. But now the Lord saith Be it far from me for them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed God had promised Aaron and his seed after him and that by a Statute for ever the execution of the Priests office Exod. 40.15 yet there was implied in this promise this condition that they should continue to honour God in that Administration And though this was not exprest it was ever understood as is evident de facto in the case of Nadab and Abihu Levit. 10. who for offering with strange fire which the Lord commanded them not were devoured by fire from the Lord. Levit. 10.3 And Moses said This is that the Lord said I will be sanctified in all them that come nigh me and before all the people will I be glorified And Aaron held his peace The like manner of God's proceedings doth appear in express terms in the case of Eli and his sons in the place before alleadged though God had said touching him and his father's house that they should walk before him for ever 1 Sam. 2.30 and yet doth there say Behold I will cut off thine arm and the arm of thy fathers house And the man of thine which I shall not cut off from my altar shall be to consume thine eyes and to grieve thy heart And he that is left in thy house shall say Put me I pray thee into one of the Priests offices that I may eat a piece of bread Which was accordingly fulfilled in the next Chapter and in 1 Kings 2.27 The Lord gives the reason of this seeming-contradiction why he should say of Eli and of his father's house that they should walk before him in the Priesthood for ever and yet doth also declare and accordingly accomplish that the Continuation or Succession shall be cut off as it was from the posterity of Eli and likewise from the line of Aaron before the time of the expiration of the Mosaical dispensation The reason of this the Lord expresseth in these words But now be it far from me for them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Though with respect to the Eternal condition of believers the foundation of God stands sure having this seal The Lord knows who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 and that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 and though neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor any other creature shall be able to separate a believer from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. ult forasmuch as the Father which gave them to Christ is greater then all and none shall be able to pluck them out of the Fathers hands Joh. 10.28 29. nay sin it self shall not be able to have dominion over them Rom. 6.14 Rom. 7.25 26. Yet with respect to any External condition which may befal them how eminently-glorious soever it may be and what promise soever may be made unto it yet the Equity of this condition is implied if not expressed that the person to whom such promise of External blessing or presence is made are engaged to walk with God to be found honouring of God c. Upon this is the Entail to be reckoned and God no longer can in faith be expected to perform his part then such a person or people are found faithful with God on their part He that honours me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 31 c. 1 Chron. 28.7 9 If thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever Which forsaking and casting off are expounded in Psal 89.30 31 32 33 34 If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgements I will visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail And in 2
Chron. 7.16 17 18 19 20 21 22 may be seen at large the Covenant God made with Solomon touching the Temple and its continuance For now have I chosen and sanctified this house that my Name may be there for ever and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually And as for thee if thou wilt walk before me as David thy father walked and do according to all I command thee then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom according as I have covenanted with David thy father But if ye turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you and go and serve other gods and worship them then I will pluck them up by the roots and this house will I cast out of my sight and make it to be a Proverb and a by-word among all nations The same thing is declared by the Lord to Asa in 2 Chron. 15.2 Hear ye me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin the Lord is with you while ye be with him if ye seek him he will be found of you but if you for sake him he will forsake you Which thing the Lord did accomplish to a tittle as to their external enjoyments both as concerning their Land their Temple and all their outward glory Now from the preceding passages of the Scripture it doth appear that the Lord when he made any promise of an external concernment or consideration it did alwayes import that man was bound as well on his part to a holy and faithful and obedient walking with God as he was to expect a faithful performance on Gods part of the thing promised and that a neglect on mans part did necessarily infer a disobligement on Gods part The Lord is with you while you are with him but if you forsake him he will forsake you 2 Chron. 15.2 Or as to Eli He that honoureth me I will honour but he that dispiseth me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 Nor doth it seem to have been his minde of Old onely as under that dispensation but in the very place mentioned Matth. 28. vers the last besides the equity of the thing that very Scripture holds forth no less then what hath been already propounded For there as he promiseth to be with them all the dayes to the end of the world so he commanded that they should continue teaching the nations to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded them For he saith not Teach the nations to observe all things but teaching which being a Participle of the present tense signifieth the doing and continuance in doing the thing which is commanded and whereunto the promise of his presence is annexed So that if Christ did promise his presence with a Ministery to the end of the world it was with them teaching the nations to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded them or with such a Ministery as did teach and baptize the nations and continue teaching them to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded them But if that Ministery in stead of teaching the nations whatsoever Christ commanded should either cease to teach the nations at all or teach them that which Christ commanded them not or should teach them to observe the precepts of men in stead of the commandments of Christ the continuance of the presence of Christ with such a Ministery is not to be concluded upon as if it were entailed upon it by this Scripture But rather that equity of God held forth in the former Scriptures is to take place here Him that honoureth me I will honour but he that dispiseth me shall be lightly esteeemed And this is not onely true with respect to the Nations Ministery or the Ministery appointed by Christ to teach and baptize the nations but also touching the Ministery in the Churches That if they also continue not in the Doctrine of Christ or shall not continue teaching to observe all things what Christ hath commanded them His presence is not obliged to to be with them neither Rev. 2. vers 1 compared with the fifth the truth of this to be extended both to Church and Ministery as of old to the Priesthood and the Temple and no unrighteousness to be fixed upon God neither then nor now for suffering them to be eclipsed or discontinued Forasmuch as they ceased to honour God no wonder if God cease to honour them with his presence and when they began to dispise him he also lightly esteemed of them And this hath been the condition of the Christian Churches and Ministery and so it 's like to be until the day of the Restauration It 's also to be remembred that a people by their misusing of a mercy or blessing may draw upon themselves a discontinuance of that blessiing or mercy for a season which may not extend so far as to an annihilation or extirpation thereof but that it may have its possibility of restauration and in due time its real accomplishment It 's said touching the Land of Canaan Gen. 17.8 I will give to thee and thy seed after thee the land of thy sojourning all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession Gen. 48.4 Yet it is not unknown how this promise which seemes to be made to them absolutely hath by their sinnings and transgressions against God at all times not been performed but that people have been spewed out even by their own Land according as it was intimated to them by Moses Levit. 18.28 That the land spew not you out also when you defile it as it spewed out the nations that were before you Levit. 20.22 Which thing he also accomplished according to his word by Ieremiah Chap. 7.15 16 19 and many other places which had its particular fulfilling in their several Captivities under Hoshea Salmaneser and Zedekiah But though they were deprived of their possessions for a time yet not of their right of inheritance that was theirs still and accordingly after their land had fulfilled her Sabbaths and they had continued in their banished condition according to their time appointed seventy years they were returned into their own land as it is called according to the Word of the Lord. So was it touching their Temple-state God had said 2 King 9.3 I have hallowed this house which thou hast built to put my Name there for ever and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually 2 Chron. 7.16 Now as the extent or duration of this Temple and its worship was to expire in the fulness of time as all other legal Ministrations were in the appearing of the Lord Jesus and the substituting of the Christian Church and Ministery yet before this time was fully come wherein the Veil of the Temple was to be rent and Moses to be buried as to his Administration I say Before this time was accomplished this Temple and its Worship fell under a Discontinuance and Disuse by reason of the sins of the Priests and People according as the Lord had said in 2 Chron.
them when he pleaseth or that the Faith or Conversion which ownes not such a Ministery to have a share in it's working must therefore not be true because not so wrought or effected as the Objection holds it forth Diligent searching the Scripture To what hath been spoken might be added the consideration of the Faith of those men of Berea Act. 17.11 12 which attributes very much to their daily searching the Scriptures whether the things they heard of Paul and Silas were so and it 's said Therefore many of them believed No doubt Paul and Silas preached to these as they had before to those of Thessalonica Vers 3 But these were more noble then the former in that they searched the Scriptures which Paul and Silas urged to see whether the thing alleadged were so therefore many of them believed As also the evangelizing of the scattered brethren and the blessed successe that ensued thereupon who though they were so far from being Ministerially sent out that they were sent after by the Churches at Jerusalem when tidings had come to their eares how the hand of the Lord was with them Act. 1.19 20 21 22 yet their labour of Love and work in that particular was accepted and many were turned to the Lord thereby By all which it doth appear that although Faith came by hearing and hearing by the Word of God yet it doth not appear that Faith cannot be true or that none can be said to believe who have not so heard viz. By such a preaching and sending as that Scripture in Rom. 10.14 15 holds forth and as this Objection would enforce But on the contrary rather that although the Lord Jesus did institute and appoint some certaine persons chosen and deputed to the work of the Ministery for the ends and during the time mentioned in the fourth of the Ephesians to which men were to give attendance as to the meanes appointed of God for those ends yet he was not bound so to work by those instruments and by none other as if that whatsoever he wrought otherwise or by other meanes must be invalidated because it was not so effected as the instances before alleadged will with clearness and no less comfort evince Therefore this consideration now presented will be so far from weakning that it will adde much comfort and strength to the Faith of the mourners of Sion and the waiters for the hope of Israel while they behold that the most High hath placed such footsteps amongst his blessed Oracles of Truth the Scriptures that may stay from wandering and preserve from fainting their wearied Spirits as in other things so also in this that their Faith and Hope may be found in God and they no way enforced to build upon the wisdome of men that would be esteemed the Ministers and Messengers of Christ in stead of those that once were so And may serve as a good help till better do appear to free the minde and spirit of some that are sincere from that Bull or Comination which hath taken hold of them enforcing it self upon the Conscience not to dare to question the present Ministery lest they be necessitated to question their own Faith also though this questioning extends it self no farther then to try it by the rules of the Word a thing so frequently commanded by God himself And the impartial exercise whereof though it might prevaile with some to see their present loss and that they are not what they have taken themselves to be and abate much of the present confidence which most men have yet would it not at all take off the ground of their consolation nor the exercise of their gratious abilities in searching the Scriptures as touching the present Truth as the men of Berea did nor of communicating their gratious experiences as that good woman of Samaria did or those honest-hearted brethren of the dispersion nor of holding forth a holy harmless and chaste Conversation winning and instrumentally saving those who possibly may not be won by the Word themselves mean while being found faithful witnesses to Truth so far as they have attained and waiters for that grace which is to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ 2 Thess 4.5 Now the Lord direct our hearts into the love of God and into a patient waiting for Christ forasmuch as unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto Salvation therefore in patience let us possess our souls knowing that the time is coming yea hastning wherein the blinde shall see the lame shall leap and the stammering tongue be unloosed In the mean time Let Brotherly love continue FINIS