had been sinne for the poor woman to bring a pigeon that was not of ability to bring a lamb For her extreme necessitie had freed her from the law but authoritie she had none to institute one rite in the place of another If we apply these instances to the matter in hand they will not hold For God never forbad a stinted form of prayer never gave commandment that whosoever did offer the sacrifice of prayer should bring a conceived prayer nor by dispensation speciall and peculiar warranted him that wanteth a conceived to bring a book-prayer And if the cases be like I should think the Lord would have prescribed a set form for the weak and feeble Christian as he hath appointed the oblation of the poor woman and not left him to seek up and down he knoweth not where and to bring an humane invention in stead of pure and true worship And if the Lord have determined any set form in that caâ—e then the weak Christian must use that alone and none other Let this distinction passe for currant and what commandment is there which may not be deluded For consonant to these positions we may say Images must not be devised for worship but in some case of necessitie for they may be naturall helps to teach or stirre up affection as well as a book may be a naturall help to supply some defect in prayer The minister must not use wine milk or rose-water as the outward signe in baptisme unlesse it be in some case of necessity as a naturall help to supply the defect of water The midwife must not baptize out of the case of necessity when the minister is at hand but in case of necessity she is a naturall help to supply the defect of a minister The pastour must be apt to teach unlesse it be in case of necessity when an ignorant man is chosen to supply his room A man must not defraud or circumvent his neighbour it is true unlesse it be in case of necessity This also seemeth strange that a book should be a naturall help to supply some defect in case of necessitie and cease to be naturall when voluntarily used as an help and furtherance by him that needeth it not The conclusion of all is this That a stinted publick form of prayer is the breach of no commandment no forbidden invention of man either in the deviser or user in the case of necessity or otherwise CHAP. IIII. It is as lawfull to pray unto God in a form of words devised by others as to sing psalmes to the praise of God in a stinted form of words prescribed by others IF it be lawfull to sing psalmes to the prayse of God in a stinted form of words prescribed by others and devised by man then likewise to pray unto God in a stinted form devised by others For as prayer is an ordinance of God and a branch of his worship so is singing of psalmes to the prayse of God As God hath left no stinted form of prayer for his church whereunto he hath tied all men and all churches no more hath he prescribed any stinted form of singing as necessary for all times and churches in the new Testament As the one must be done with the heart and spirit so the other As in the one the words are devised by men and prescribed by others so in singing of psalmes If the one be the invention of man a strange prayer the similitude of a prayer the other is an invention of man a strange psalme the similitude of a psalme And if a man be disposed to reason against singing of psalmes in a form of words devised by others he might more plausibly argue That in the infancy of the church when God saw a set form of psalmes to be necessarie he inspired holy men to pen holy and divine psalmes which might be of use for that time when such worship was required but in the times of the new Testament no set form of singing is prescribed of God no authoritie is given to the church or ordinary officers to prescribe any set form which might be of use to all churches there is neither precept for nor precedent of any prescript form of singing in the scripture since Christs time all essentiall parts of Gods worship may be performed without it as appeareth by the examples of the primitive churches and seeing God never commanded nor promised to accept any such stinted forms it is a manifest breach of the second commandment These and such like arguments do make as strongly in every point against a stinted form of psalmes as against a prescript form of prayer But I have not read that the singing of psalmes in a prescript form devised by others is unlawfull Singing of psalmes and praying differ many wayes as Many psalmes are for instruction onely and those psalmes which contein prayers are written for our instruction In prayer the minister alone uttereth the words the people adding their Amen in the end but in singing every person in the church pronounceth every word and syllable aloud The psalmes are parts of scriptures wherein God speaketh unto us teaching and instructing us and we our selves and one another mutually Prayers are poured forth in prose psalmes in verse In prayer we beg things necessary for our selves and others in psalmes we praise God for mercies received c. It is vain to examine or alledge these or such like differences because they make nothing to weaken the force of the argument For be the differences never so many in these and other particulars in this they agree that they be parts of worship to be performed according to the will and commandment of God and therefore if a stinted form of prayer be unlawfull because not commanded or ordained of God a stinted form of psalmes not bearing the Lords stamp must come under the same censure unlesse they can plead speciall dispensation for it And if a prescript form of psalmes not commanded of God be allowable and may be used in Gods service a stinted form of prayer is unjustly censured for that reason It is a received rule A Quatenus ad Omne valet argumentum If stinted prayer be unwarrantable because it is not appointed of God a stinted form of singing not commanded must not be used If a prescript form of singing not commanded of God be approveable in his sight for that cause a stinted form of prayer must not be disliked One circumstance that putteth a materiall difference in the thing or person from whence the argument or reason of likenesse is drawn is sufficient to weaken its force but twentie particular differences betwixt the branches of worship weaken not an argument drawn from the agreement of the branches in the common nature of worship Of which sort this is The Anabaptists may put many differences betwixt circumcision and baptisme and yet the argument is good against them Infants of Christian parents ought to be baptized
the due esteem of the great mercy the Lord hath shewed unto his church No particular member of a church may voluntarily break off externall communion with the church or refuse to communicate in the publick service and worship of God unlesse the Lord Jesus go before him therein and be his warrant that is unlesse Christ hath withdrawn the presence of his grace or the party cannot be present without the guilt of hypocrisie or approbation of somewhat that is evil For the members of the visible church must hold fellowship in faith and love not onely one with another but with all other visible churches and all others intirely professing the faith of Christ so farre as they hold communion with Jesus Christ And therefore no member can lawfully break off externall communion with the true church of Christ but in that onely wherein and so farre as it hath broken off fellowship with Christ For where Christ is there is his church and where two or three are met together in his name there is he in the midst among them He is that Prince that is in the midst of his people who goeth in when they go in And when Christ calleth his free voluntaries to assemble in prayer or to partake at his table and promiseth to be present with them to heare their prayers and refresh their souls with grace it is not lawfull for a Christian to withdraw himself But in a congregation where a stinted form is used and that in some respects faulty here or there Christ may be and is present in the midst among them Christians are called to come and may be present without guilt of hypocrisie or approbation of the least evil To leave communion when we be obliged by God to continue in it is no lesse then schisme according to the nature of it Obliged by God we are to hold communion with the true churches of Christ in his true worship and service so farre as it may be without sin and wickednesse on our parts So that though there be some errours or ignorances in the publick administration yet if our belief of some errour or approbation of disorder be not required to that communion it is not lawfull to depart from the society of that church which professeth the saving truth of Christ intirely for substance rightly mainteineth the dispensation of the sacraments soundly calleth upon God in the mediation of Jesus Christ and plentifully enjoyeth the means of grace When corruption and externall communion be so involved that it is simply impossible to leave the corruptions unlesse we leave the externall communion of the church a necessity of separation from that externall communion then lyeth upon us But though errours or corruptions of some kind be not onely tolerated but established mainteined and pressed yet if we can hold communion without approbation of the said errours or corruptions Separation in that case is unjust rash and unadvised because the Lord therein doth not go before us The sin of Separation if unjust is so great and heinous the ill consequences and mischiefs so many and fearfull that all Christians should be well advised neither to lay stumbling-blocks before the feet of others which might occasion their turning aside nor to seek or catch occasions of departure but rather to wait and tarry till they be assured that the Lord goeth before them For the first when the Anabaptists in Helvetia opposed humane inventions as unlawfull they were by publick authority and with common consent abolished And that of Irenaeus is well known Variety of ceremonies commend the unitie of faith For the other part the faithfull have ever tolerated weaknesses and infirmities in each other and abuses in the church so long as the foundation was held and they agreed in the main In the primitive church not onely some persons but whole congregations have doubted of many books of scripture and yet lost not their dignity of true churches of Christ How long did the faithfull wait and bear before they departed or rather were driven by excommunication sword and sire out of Babylon This hath been the judgement of the godly learned in all ages of the church They that for trifling and small causes saith Irenaeus divide the body of Christ c. these can make no reformation of such importance as to countervail the danger of a division When good men tolerate bad men saith Augustine which can do them no spirituall hurt to the intent they may not be separated from those who are spiritually good then there is no necessity to divide unity And in another place These two things reteined will keep such men pure and uncorrupted that is neither doing ill nor approving it Although faith be one funiculus colligantiae yet variety of opinions without pertinacy standeth with unity but nothing is so contrary to the church as schisme and departure This matter I will shut up with the saying of Zaga Bishop of Aethiope and embassador of Prester John It is a miserable thing that Christian strangers should be so sharply reproved as enemies as I have been here and other things which concern not the faith But it should be farre more convenient to support all Christians be they Grcaeians be they Armenians be they Aethiopians be they of any one of the seven Christian churches with charity and love of Christ and to permit them to live and converse amongst other Christian brethren without any injurie because that we are all infants of one baptisme and do hold truly the true faith The conclusion is That the externall communion of the church in publick worship is not to be forsaken for some faults neither fundamentall nor noxious which may be espied in her Liturgie Though the bearing and forbearing not onely of small but even of great sinnes also must be for a time yet it must be but for a time and that is whilest reformation be orderly sought and procured Lev. 19. 17. But what time hath wrought in the church of England all men see growing dayly by the just judgement of God from evil to worse and being never aforetime so impatient either of reformation or other good as at this day Moreover a man must so bear an evil as he be no way accessory unto it by forbearing any means appointed by Christ for the amending of it Errours or faults be of two sorts Some grosse notorious manifest such as a man cannot but see to be amisse unlesse he will shut his eyes against the light and must amend or there can be no hope of salvation Others of quotidian incursion frailty and infirmity ignorance or mere weaknesse such as godly men are not convinced of or if they see them at some times to be amisse yet in ordinary course they be overtaken with them from which the most holy be not altogether free In these latter though Christians must labour the help cure and support of each
Understanding Will are called faculties or power Magistracy Principalities Governments we call powers or authorities which import not only might or power to an action but preeminence jurisdiction authority and government Ecclesiasticall power or administration of government is twofold proper to Christ and communicated to his church The proper government is that which Christ hath reserved onely to himself as not being shut up within any bounds of laws or orders revealed unto the creature but is executed according to his infinite wisdome by the secret hand of his Divine power and that both extraordinarily and ordinarily And this power is Lordly and Regall power absolute and of excellency which is called Power of right Communicated government is that which being limited within the compasse of certain laws and canons of his holy word he hath committed to be outwardly executed by the hand of his ministers and churches designed and appointed thereunto This power is ministeriall onely which consisteth in the outward using of the word sacraments c. and in the politicall guiding of the church concerning both the manners and necessities of all and every of them Though this latter part onely of the communicated government which is the politicall guiding of the church is that discipline which generally all ecclesiasticall writers speak of yet is not that all nor the principall of his authority And though Christ useth it many times as a chariot for his holy word to ride upon to subdue rebellious spirits yet it is neither the chief nor the most ordinary means but the simple preaching of the word is his continuall sword and sceptre whereby he saveth his people and conquereth his enemies beateth down strong holds and judgeth the very thoughts and conceits of the heart And this he doth by his word when it is not assisted by the discipline strictly taken for the word may stand without the discipline so cannot the discipline without the word But this ordinary power of the keyes or government with the execution thereof is not given to the community of the church or whole multitude of the faithfull much lesse to two or three separated from the world and gathered together by covenant so as they be the immediate and first receptacle thereof receiving it from Christ and virtually deriving it to others For no power agreeth to the multitude of the faithfull virtuall or formall but that which is given them of the Lord by his positive law The whole spirituall power for the gathering and government of his church is given to Christ as Mediatour and hath Christ our Lord the King of Saints Saviour of Sion the head of all principality and power the sole authour which he received not of the church but from the Father And if the power of the church be derived from and communicated by Christ unto his church of necessity it must draw its originall from Divine positive law and can agree to none but as it is communicated For although the light of nature teach that God is to be worshipped yet in substantiall things reason teacheth not how this worship of God is to be administred nor the house of God to be governed but in all this we must depend upon the mind and pleasure of Christ the King of his church and Saviour of his body The Apostles had none other authority but what was given them from Christ and the church is to derive all her authority from the same fountain from which the Apostles received theirs But the communicated power of the keyes with the execution thereof Christ hath not given immediately to the whole multitude but to some persons and officers designed and appointed thereunto Peruse the severall passages of scripture wherein the power and authority of preaching the Gospel administration of the sacraments binding and loosing is given unto the church and it is apparent distinct severall persons are spoken of and not the whole community Go teach all nations and baptize them Whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted and Feed my sheep Feed my lambs were these things spoken to the whole community or to speciall persons If Christ gave this power to the community or society I desire to know the date of this commission whether was it universall from the very beginning of the church or took it effect aftect churches were planted and established by the Apostles themselves Not the first for then the Apostles themselves should derive their power from the community and society of the faithfull which they did not but immediately from Christ and that both in respect of gifts and graces their calling it self and designation of their persons What Paul saith of himself That he was an Apostle not of man neither by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father that is true of all the Apostles who were sent of Christ as the Father sent him and are called Apostles of Jesus Christ not onely because they were to preach Christ but because they received their commission from him Not in after-times for then they must shew where Christ committed the power of government first to the Apostles and afterwards to the community of the faithfull for which they can bring no record out of holy scripture The ministers and guides of the church are immediately of Jesus Christ from whom immediately they derive their power and authority by whom they are set over their charge in whose name they must execute their office unto whom they must give an account and whose ministers they are Take heed to your selves and to the whole flock over which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers the Apostle speaketh unto the Presbyters of Ephesus and saith they were appointed overseers of the holy Ghost that they might govern the church of God They were chosen and ordained of men and so by immediety of person were not of God but their gifts office and authority was immediately of God In conferring those offices God useth the ministery of men but the office or authority it self is not from men but from God alone God onely in regard of authority doth ever apply all power ecclesiasticall unto every particular person his sole authority doth all in it though sometimes as in ordinary callings the ministery of others doth concurre When Christ ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men some to be Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastours and teachers The Pastourship is the gift of Christ no lesse then the Apostleship and that the more because it is perpetuall in the church Every Pastour is not immediately called but the office and order of Pastours is immediately from Christ and not from the church The person is not immediate but the calling or vocation and so the order and authority and all the jurisdiction But if the calling order and authority be immediately from Christ then it is not
that agreeth to the whole community and not to the officers alone Moreover the power of excommunication is an essentiall property one of the keyes of the kingdome and as necessary as the power to receive in members without which a church cannot be gathered or consist Every society consisting of two or three believers met together to pray is not that church which hath power to excommunicate for then in many Christian congregations and in divers families there should be many churches invested with this authority No one example can be alledged out of scripture or ecclesiasticall story of the ancient church in which the multitude of the faithfull no guides or officers moderating the action did lawfully excommunicate or judge as the Apostle speaketh any member of the society No promise can be shewed in holy writ wherein any such authority is bequeathed to two or three private believers disciples or brethren The sentence of excommunication is to be concluded and denounced by men met together in the name of Christ that is by the commandment and authority of Christ and with the power of Christ but it will never be proved that Christ hath authorized two or three Christian people without officers or guides to meet in his name and by his power to denounce that grave and fearfull sentence The church to whom this power perteineth is an assembly gathered in the name and by the power of Christ for such a purpose which agreeth to them onely who have received power from Christ to do that service and not to every society nor to every one in any complete society of believers And thus the words of our Saviour must be expounded if they have such reference to the precedent matter But they may contein a reason drawn from the lesse to the greater thus If Christ be present with two or three gathered together in his name to ask things agreeable to his will he will much more confirm in heaven whatsoever his officers and servants assembled in his name shall determine and conclude and what sentence they shall denounce upon mature deliberation according to his will If we speak of complete churches such as the Apostles planted it hath power of excommunication which is one part of the power of the keyes but the execution of that power is not essentiall to the church either constitutively or consecutively It is neither the matter nor form of the church nor that which doth necessarily flow from them as an inseparable property The moderate use of excommunication is necessary to the well-being of a church but there may be a true church where there is no discipline of excommunication and where that censure is not put in practice He may be a good physitian who never used section a good chirurgian who hath no saw and the body sound which never suffered the cutting off of a member The conclusion is That all spirituall power is immediately derived from Christ to be exercised by his direction and appointment for the good and benefit of the whole church The power of preaching the word authoritatively and administration of the sacraments perteineth to the Pastours and Teachers onely which power they have received from Christ must exercise for the edification of the flock The power of excommunication formaliter exsecutivè is proper to the company or assembly of guides and rulers in the church derived from Christ to be exercised as Christ shall go before them but with the notice of and due regard had unto the whole society CHAP. XIII An examination of sundry positions laid down by M r Jacob in his Exposition of the second commandement tending to Separation TO know the true sense and meaning the just scope and purpose of the second commandment is of continuall and necessary use and rightly conceived might be a means of unity and peace amongst brethren in matters of worship In this regard M r Jacob as he saith compiled a brief exposition of that commandment and with a mind desirous to maintein and keep the people of God within the bounds of truth and peace I purpose a brief plain and modest examination of his exposition in some particulars concerning the speciall object of the commandment and positions taken by some to be just grounds of Separation By the second commandment we stand bound to embrace all the instituted holy doctrines means and ordinances both inward and outward appointed of God to bring us life to believe that we have to bring us to eternall life a Mediatour and Saviour given us and that he is a Priest Prophet and King These things are not in the first but in the second commandment although they be inward actions of the mind and inward worship This is a private conceit affirmed without ground or reason to support it crosse to the commandment and M r Jacob himself Contrary to the commandment for the first commandment enjoyneth us to take the true Jehovah to be our God as in covenant he hath bound himself unto his Israel But God is not our God in covenant but in and through a Mediatour And therefore the first commandment bindeth us to take the true God in and through a Mediatour that is Jesus Christ to be our God M r Jacob holdeth the tables of the law to be the Lords testimony and convenant wherein all duties whatsoever even the Evangelicall as faith hope and repentance are commanded But in the covenant of grace in what commandment the Lord hath bound us to know believe hope or call upon him in the same he hath obliged us to know him in Christ to believe in him through Christ and to call upon him in and through a Mediatour For God in Christ or God and Christ is the object of Christian religion and since the fall of Adam there is no throne erected unto which man can come no way prepared no liberty granted for man to come no good successe to be expected but in the name of a Mediatour It is impossible to conceive how Christians should believe that God is or that he is a rewarder of them that seek him diligently but according to his covenant of mercy how they should believe in his free grace and mercy for the remission of sinnes but in and through Jesus Christ our onely Saviour The selfsame precept which bindeth Christians to take the true God to be their God King Father Judge and Saviour bindeth them also to take Jesus Christ to be their sole Mediatour Redeemer Saviour King and Priest and Prophet Not to believe in or worship Jesus Christ is a breach of the first commandment so the profession of Turcisme is against the first commandment To believe in or pray unto Angels or Saints departed as mediatours is a breach of the first commandment All honour and service whatsoever inward or outward which is due unto God by virtue of the first commandment it must be done unto God in and through Jesus Christ
uniting themselves in covenant should be reputed the onely visible and ministeriall church independent from whom the officers should as their servants derive their authority This kind or form of a visible church is so farre from being the onely lawfull and allowed form of a church in scripture as if we speak of a church complete in respect of the inward substance and externall order furnished for all duties and offices required of the church it is not so much as warranted in scripture To the constitution of a visible distinct society or church there is required First an intire profession of one and the same faith and holynesse intire in all fundamentall articles of faith to be believed as necessary to salvation and main precepts and morall laws for practice to be acknowledged A lively operative faith maketh a man a true member of the church invisible and the profession of faith and holynesse a member of the church visible Profession of Divine verities revealed in Christ whom onely the companies and societies of Christians acknowledge to be the Sonne of God and Saviour of the world doth distinguish Christians from Jews The intire profession of faith according to the rule left by Christ and his first disciples and scholars the holy apostles doth separate the multitude of night-believing Christians which is the sound part of the Christian church from all seduced hereticall combinations Secondly there is required an union and communion in the true worship of God and ordinances belonging thereunto appointed of God himself sc prayer administration of the sacraments and dispensation of the word But the time may fall out that the preaching of the word may be omitted and reading or meditation may possesse the place thereof nay mere desire conjoyned with manifold sighs So the administration of the sacraments may be left off as it was in the church of the Israelites for the space of fourty yeares in the wildernesse But though the being of a church is not absolutely destroyed by the want or omission of these exercises for a time yet they are actions necessary to the well-being of a church and such as flow from the very nature of a church if they be not hindred Thirdly there must be subjection to lawfull guides officers or pastours appointed authorized and sanctified to lead and direct the flock in the happy wayes of eternall life Companies of believers were gathered before elders were ordained amongst them and the church may continue when guides are wanting as in case they be taken away by death persecution banishment but it is not complete or perfect without them neither can it hold communion in many ordinances of worship nor execute many offices which belong to the church consisting of all its parts Fourthly to the making up of an intire visible distinct society orders laws and discipline is required for the perventing of abuses and scandals the preservation of the holy things of God from contempt the recovery of them that fall and suppression of prophanenesse Discipline is needfull in every society without which it cannot long continue but all things will run into confusion It is necessary the members of the church should live Christianly otherwise the profession of faith and administration of the holy things of God must needs be polluted Discipline put for the censures hath no practice but in an united body or church which must needs have a being before it can exercise its power But the excercise of that power in a body complete is necessary not simply to the being but to the well-being of the whole As a city so the church cannot be without those things which belong to the necessary being thereof but it may be without those that belong unto her safety alone though not so well Fifthly the members of a visible church must hold fellowship in faith and love not onely one with another but with all other visible churches and all others intirely professing the faith of Christ and walking in holynesse so farre as they hold communion with Jesus Christ For all visible churches though distinct societies be sisters one in profession fundamentall laws and ordinances and should be one in hearty love and affection And no particular church can be called or be the true church of Christ but as it holdeth union with the catholick From the relation whereby Christ is referred to his members these things flow sc That Christ doth expound to them his word for the food of eternall life and doth hang seals to his word whereby he doth confirm and ratifie it From the relation whereby the members of Christ are referred to him their Head these things flow That whosoever would be accounted for true members of Jesus Christ they must acknowledge and receive that food and those seals appointed by Divine institution If the faithfull must assemble to heare the word of God call upon his name and receive the sacraments then there must be some to preach the word administer the sacraments and blesse in the name of the Lord and that by authority from God If they must receive the word and avouch themselves to be the people of God then they must walk before him in holynesse and maintein the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace If the temple of God must be kept from pollution and the holy things of God from contempt then there must be authority communicated from Christ to censure such as offend to repell the notorious to comfort the afflicted and receive the penitent If all promiscuously may not meddle with the dispensation of the holy things of God to that purpose then there must be order for their election and admission into that office and for the execution thereof being admitted thereunto Where all these things are to be found purely the church is excellent for degree pure and famous Where any of these are wanting or impure the church is so much defective or impure though it may be pure in comparison of others Wheresoever we see the word of God truly taught and professed in points fundamentall and the sacraments for substance rightly administred there is the true church of Christ though the health and soundnesse of it may be crazed by many errours in doctrine corruptions in the worship of God and evils in the life and manners of men Profession of the true faith alone in matters fundamentall and holy prayer with exhortation to obedience is a mark of the true church though the sacraments upon occasion be not there administred so that they be not neglected upon any contempt or erroneous conceit of their not being necessary Where most of these notes are wanting or impure the church is of lesse account in dignity excellency and credit coming short of others according to the degrees of impurity in the marks the deficiency of some marks and the nature of the marks themselves in which the impurity is As impurity in doctrine or administration of the sacraments is worse then disorder in matter of
government onely Therefore to the full complete constitution of a visible church many things are required and that of divers kinds in themselves and of divers degrees of necessity all which cannot be referred to the second commandment but many and they most necessary to the first some to the third some to all And though in things essentiall and unchangeable belonging to the being of the church and matters positive determined by God nothing must be done besides the rule yet in things not determined concerning externall order and the better exercise of that authority which Christ hath committed to his servants some things are permitted to the wisdome of the church according to the generall rules of scripture And if the church holding the true faith as it hath formerly been said shall exceed or fall short in some particulars for such superfluity or defect she is not to be rejected as no true visible church of Christ Every church-ministery made and devised by the policy of men and not instituted of God is against the second commandment c. And all offices and ministeries in the church which are found in the scripture as instituted by God are in the affirmative part of this second commandment The church-ministery in respect of the main and substantiall duties belonging thereunto doth pertein to the second commandment in part not wholly or onely but in respect of things circumstantiall annexed to the ministery it belongeth not to the second commandment And if we consult scripture that is a new or devised ministery which for substance of the office is not of God be the outward calling never so orderly or legall and that ministery is not new or devised which for the substance of the office is of God though the entrance was disordered in the person admininistring many things be amisse and in the execution many defects or superfluities If a minister orderly chosen and ordained shall preach false and corrupt doctrine in points fundamentall or administer false sacraments his ministery is new devised false notwithstanding his lawfull entrance If a minister enter unlawfully either by the tumult of the people partiality of the overseers or corruption of patrones if he preach Christ crucified soundly and rightly administer the sacraments his ministery is true and of God though his entrance be of men If a minister preach sound doctrine in the main though mixed with some errours and administer the holy sacraments though with some superstitious rites his ministery is not to be esteemed new or devised for these weaknesses If some things humane be mixed with Divine a sound Christian must separate the one from the other and not cast away what is of God as a nullity fruitlesse unprofitable defiled because somewhat of men is annexed unto them In the body we can distinguish betwixt the substance and the sicknesse which cleaveth unto it betwixt the substance of a part and member and some bunch or swelling which is a deformity but destroyeth not the nature of that part or member Which of the prophets doth not cry out against the pride oppression covetousnesse tyranny of the priests in the time of the law Their offices were bought and sold they themselves despised knowledge opposed the prophets of the Lord strengthened the hands of the wicked and were enemies to all piety and yet their ministery was not false and devised for the main substance of it It is objected by the rigidest Separatists with great confidence That to communicate in a false ministery is certainly a breach of the second commandment For what do they else but set up an idole yea and bow down unto it which serve God in and by a devised ministery But if first they would consider what a false or devised ministery is and then what it is to communicate in the worship of God with them they would soon forsake this fort wherein they trust For the ministery may be true and of God when the election is disordered and the person unmeet and the execution maimed If this be not granted there was neither church nor sacrament nor ministery in the world for many hundred yeares yea if every superfluity or defect make a nullity of the ministery they that think themselves the onely ministers will be found none at all because they derive their authority from the community of the faithfull it may be two or three onely united in covenant which hath none authority to communicate it as hath been proved before For so we may reason as they do That is no ministery which is derived from them and executed in their name who have none authority to give it What is it to communicate in a false ministery Is it to communicate in the worship of God with them whose calling is not in every respect appointed and approved of God I might entreat them to look to their own standing before they accuse others and justifie their own calling before they seek to draw others from the communion of the church upon such pretenses But if that be their meaning the proposition is weak it can neither stand alone nor be underset with any props For when the prophets prophesied lies and the priests bare rule by their means was their ministery true or false When the priests were dumb dogs that could not bark and greedy dogs that could never have enough was their ministery true or false When the priests bought and sold doves in the temple or took upon them to provide doves and such like things for them that were to offer was their ministery true or false When the scribes and Pharisees corrupted the law by false glosses taught for doctrine mens precepts made the commandment of God of none effect by their traditions and set themselves against Jesus Christ was their ministery true or false If true then an ignorant idole prophane idle ministery which despiseth knowledge opposeth godlinesse prophaneth the holy things of God corrupteth the law polluteth his worship strengtheneth the hands of the wicked leadeth the blind out of the way may be a true and lawfull ministery If false then to communicate in a false ministery is not a breach of the second commandment For the true prophets forbad not the people to heare the priests nor our Saviour his followers to communicate with the scribes and Pharisees in the worship of God He charged them to beware of their leaven to let them alone because they were the blind leaders of the blind but he never laid his commandment upon the faithfull not to communicate with them in the worship of God And therefore to communicate with ministers no better then Pharisees in the true worship of God is neither a vain worship nor an abetting of the party in his sin nor to rebell against the Lord nor to commit spirituall whoredome but on the contrary it is to worship God aright to reverence his ordinances to relie upon his grace to hearken unto his voice and submit unto
particular sinnes against the law of God the state of man by nature and the condition of the Saints and of the church as also to think upon the works of Gods providence and how he is pleased to deal with his people in all places 2. The better to stirre up confidence and affection and to furnish himself with words and matter it is not unlawfull nor unprofitable to reade the prayers of the godly registred in holy scripture or published in other godly books to observe the matter of their prayer their ferventnesse in praying and the arguments wherewith they pressed their suits and contended for audience 3. After a man hath collected matter for prayer by meditation and reading he may studie to digest it into due order and method and to expresse his requests in fit and decent speech and the same so conceived he may utter as a prayer according as occasion shall offer it self The reason may be thus contracted If the Spirit of God doth work by means and stir up good desires but giveth not abilitie to expresse our desires in fitting significant words 〈◊〉 it is lawfull for us to use all godly means to stirr up the graces of God in us and premediate how we may utter our requests in such form and manner as may best serve for our quickning and the edification of others And if the use of a premeditated form of words in prayer do not stint the Spirit in a sinfull manner a set form of prayer cannot be condemned as injurious to the Spirit The Spirit of God is the onely sufficient help which God giveth us to help our infirmities in the time of prayer Rom. 8. 26. Gal. 4. 6. Zech. 12. 10. We confesse most willingly that prayer is not a work of nature wit or learning but of the Spirit of grace True desire or abilitie to pray is not bred in us by nature nor procured and gotten by our study and industry but proceedeth onely from the holy Ghost as the authour and efficient and this is proved by the places quoted But ability to pray standeth in the lifting up of the soul unto God not in the ample expression of our desires according to the various occasions in fit words and pressing them with forcible arguments Prayer is the immediate work of the Spirit But no text of scripture doth in such sense make the holy Ghost the authour of prayer or helper of our infirmities as that it should be unlawfull to make use of outward means to furnish the soul with matter stirre up the graces of God in the heart and blow the coals of the spirit For then we must not reade the scriptures nor other godly books we may not meditate or conferre the better to fit us for prayer Peradventure it will be said the Spirit of God is our onely helper in the time of prayer so that at other times we may use helps to stirre up the graces of the Spirit but not in the time of prayer And if this distinction be found in scripture or by sound reason may be deduced out of scripture we must hearken unto it but if it be of our selves whiles we pleade against the devises of men we maintein devises The Spirit of grace is at all times the sole mover and enabler of us to pray and the use of lawfull helps and such as suite with the nature of prayer are at no time unlawfull As it is fit to meditate and reade before we pray so in prayer it is lawfull to kneel lift up the eyes and hands use the help of the voyce and the benefit of a Christian friend to stirre up affection Therefore for the lawfulnesse of book-prayer we may dispute thus If it be lawfull to use externall helps in time of prayer the better to stirre up affection then book-prayer is not to be condemned for this that the Spirit of God is the onely or sufficient help that God giveth to help our infirmities in the time of prayer But it is lawfull to use externall helps in time of prayer The Spirit alone either immediately or by means sanctified and ordained by himself maketh requests for us yea it is by the immediate teachings and suggestions of the Spirit that all our requests must be put up no other helps are mentioned or can be collected in the present action of prayer I will not stand to enquire how these things can agree together what is meant by the immediate teachings of the Spirit or how the Spirit maketh requests either immediately or by means The Spirit alone and that immediately is the authour of prayer but by means he ministreth varietie of matter order and words But what are we to understand by means sanctified and ordained by himself If means ordained by speciall institution it is too strait and hard to conceive what they be If means allowed by God as those whereby we may furnish our selves with words and matter for prayer as reading godly books conference meditation on the works of God c. a stinted form of prayer is a means sanctified And here I desire it may be noted in what sense a form of prayer is called a means or furtherance not as a means or form of worship properly so called but as in fit words and phrases it presenteth to our minds or memories what we ought to beg agreeable to the word of God as the frame of words and matter kept in memory may be called and is reputed a stinted form A stinted form of prayer quencheth the Spirit It is a quenching of the Spirit to reade another mans prayer upon a book That quencheth the Spirit which is as water to cool or allay or exstinguish the heat of that holy fire which cannot be imputed to a set form of prayer either by authoritie of scripture or sound reason Reading godly books is an exercise profitable to stirre up the graces of Gods Spirit in us were it not a wonder if reading a godly prayer should produce the contrary effect As in the ministery of the word the corruption of mans heart and the hainousnesse of sinne may more lively and fully be discovered for his humiliation then he is able of himself to set it forth so in prayer penned by a goldy andwell experienced Christian the case of a distressed soul may more pithily and amply be deciphred and anatomized then he of himself is able to lay it open And in such case to deny this lawfull help is to take away a crutch from the lame and bread from the hungry In the very act of prayer it is lawfull to use outward helps whereby we may be enabled to pray better and shall it not be lawfull for a burdened soul perplexed with doubtings overwhelmed with bitter anguish to use the help of a book that he might the better unfold and lay open his misery into the bosome of his loving Father The ample and particular laying open of our necessities doth ease the
as whether we say I baptize or as the Greek church Be thou baptized c. is not of like necessitie neverthelesse we may and do constantly use this form I baptize c. without addition or variation at any time Our argument from these places is this If a set form of blessing thanksgiving salutaion and administration of baptisme be lawfull to be used ordinarily without addition or variation then a stinted form of prayer to be used ordinarily without addition or alteration is not unlawfull But a prescript form of blessing thanksgiving salutation and administration of baptisme to be used ordinarily without addition or alteration is not unlawfull There is apparent difference betwixt prayer and blessing For prayer is expressed from men to God but blessing is pronounced from God to men Prayer may be performed by one equall to another by an inferiour to a superiour yea by a man to himself but blessing is alwayes from the greater to the lesse And Solomon used a different gesture in praying and in blessing the people Let prayer and blessing differ in these and other particulars as many as they please in this they agree that they are both parts or branches of worship And if a stinted form be disallowed in the one it is unlawfull in the other if it be a devise of man to be condemned in the one it cannot be approved in the other And therefore seeing a prescript form of blessing is lawfull a stinted form of prayer is not to be condemned Moses did not prescribe unto the priests a form of words whereunto they must be tyed in blessing of the people but onely gave them a rule of direction according to which they should blesse them For otherwise the priests had sinned whensoever pronouncing the blessing they had used other words And the particle Thus So or In this manner denoteth the form or similitude of the things whereof there is mention c. It is a troublesome thing that these ministers thus urge the letter of the scriptures as if the question were not about their sense and interpretation which they should prove to be for their stinted service c. but the question is whether Moses tyed and stinted the priests to that form of words in blessing the people The like they say of the form of baptisme It sufficeth that these forms of blessing prayer and thanksgiving and administration of baptisme might or may be used though in conscience neither the priests then nor we at this day are necessarily tyed unto them in so many precise words For the lawfull not the necessary use of a prescript form of prayer or Liturgie is now in question which is proved by the places above rehearsed and not gainsaid at all by this answer For if the Saints in former times might pray unto or praise the Lord in a stinted form of words invented by themselves or indited by others as we find they might and did if the preiests might use a stinted form of words in blessing the people whereunto they were not tyed if Christians may salute one another in this stinted form of words Peace be unto you The Lord be with you The Lord blesse thee though they be not tyed thereunto nor can reach every particular comprehended in those short sentences recorded in scripture then a stinted form of prayer or blessing in words invented by themselves or indited by others is lawfull to us for in that particular the ground and reason is common to them and us Apply this answer to the reason That the priest might use that form without variation but was not tyed unto it That we may use the Lords prayer without alteration and the form of baptisme without addition and diminution but are not necessarily obliged to use the very words and syllables precisely and I know not how they should tye the knot faster For is not this in plain terms to confesse That an arbitrarie stinted form is lawfull but not necessary If God had commanded a form it onely had been necessary if God had determined one precise form that onely and none other had been lawfull but seeing he hath commanded none determined none precisely but left us free to use those recorded in scripture or some others in the selfsame or other words a stinted form is apparently warranted of God though not commanded It followeth not that a prescript form devised by man is lawfull because a form prescribed of God is good Moses was a prophet and had an immediate commission from God for what he appointed in the house of God which the imposers of the Liturgie cannot plead Christs ordinance can make the writings of the Apostles a rule of faith can men make another scripture c. A form prescribed and determined by God is not onely lawfull and good but necessary and onely lawfull as it is prescribed which prerogative no form devised or prescribed by man can participate But when God is pleased to give a form for direction onely and neither to command it precisely nor to determine it as the onely allowable for words and syllables in that case this reason is good That seeing the forms set down in scripture may lawfully be used though not prescribed therefore a stinted form is not unlawfull And thus we conclude from these passages of holy writ The stinted forms of blessing prayer thanksgiving and baptizing set down in scripture are lawfull to be used though not prescribed of God as necessary therefore a stinted form of prayer is not unlawfull For that form of words which is neither determined nor commanded of God as necessary but left at liberty to be used or not that is not in point of conscience absolutely more lawfull then another sound and grave If no form of words be determined or commanded any form just and good one as well as another is free in conscience Gods commandment maketh a thing necessary his determination maketh it onely and none other lawfull but a form not tying to the words precisely but given for direction onely doth authorize any other for matter the same and different onely in words or phrase of speech Every stinted form of prayer or blessing c. not prescribed of God or ordained of him is an humane devise though the matter be good and the words be gathered out of the scripture because whatsoever is not from heaven is of men what is not of God by his institution prescribed or appointed that our brethren conclude to be humane But no prescript form of blessing prayer or praise c. is appointed of God and commanded as necessary to be used of all or any man at all times as they confesse and labour to convince Therefore it necessarily followeth That if one godly form of prayer or blessing may constantly be used another for matter the same though different in phrase of
other by all means lawfull yet they must bear one with another not for a time onely but continually For such are the ignorances and frailties of all men that if they bear not one with another of necessity they must break off all society one with another If all that dissent in opinion in any circumstances of religion if all that be judged too remisse or over-zealous or if every one that is waspish rash stiff in his own opinion or laboureth under such like infirmity must be cut off I know not where we shall find a church upon earth Besides it is one thing to bear with faults for a season when we have power in our hands to reform them another to hold communion with the church in the worship of God where such abuses are continued Such as have power in their hands to reform should tolerate abuses for a time onely sc untill there be opportunity of reformation But such as have not power in their hands to redresse abuses may and ought to hold communion with the church of God in the publick worship of God notwithstanding such abuses continued for the continuance of such corruptions is not the sin of him who hath used all good means for their removall but cannot obtein it The Lord never gave commandment to his people to depart from and forsake his ordinances because such as ought did not reform but maintein abuses in his sanctuary If they abode still in that corrupt society and joyned in the publick worship of God because they had not authority to redresse them then it followeth that communion in Gods ordinances is not sin to them who mislike the corruptions that are allowed and practiced pray desire and by all other good means seek reformation but break not off society because the Lord hath given them no authority so to do goeth not before them therein they should walk by their own light and not by Gods commandment nor the approved examples of the Saints recorded in scripture For one or a few private Christians to break off society with the church in prayer or participation of the sacraments because they are administred in a stinted Liturgie or the corruptions pretended therein is a greater disorder and corruption then any they can alledge in the Liturgie concerning prayer or administration of the sacraments because in so weighty businesse they challenge that authority which Christ never committed to them and go directly crosse to the order established by our Saviour Christ But of that more at large in the chapters following CHAP. X. It is lawfull to communicate in a mixt congregation where ignorant and prophane persons be admitted to the sacrament THis is made an exception against communicating in our assemblies that we are a mixt congregation and that ignorant and prophane persons are admitted unto the Lords table To trie the weight of this reason the better we must remember that sinners which may come into question are either secret that is not of publick note though one or other perhaps the minister himself may know them in their course scandalous or else notorious such as are commonly defamed and known for evil by evidence of fact and course if not juridicé The first sort sin in coming prophanely unto the Lords ordinances and they pollute the holy things of God unto their own destruction if they come without repentance and purpose of amendment But they are not to be repelled if they offer themselves because though one know them to have sinned thus and thus it is unknown to others and so the sin is private and not openly known Christ knew Judas his fetches yet he suffered him and though his treason was hidden and there were no witnesses of his intendment yet his theft was acted and not purposed onely De secretis non judicat ecclesia Et privata scelera non habent vindictam When it is not notorious and manifest that such a man hath lost his right to the sacrament it ought not to be denied unto him in the face of the congregation otherwise liberty should be granted to wicked ministers to punish with this punishment whomsoever they please The law of God in all ecclesiasticall and civil punishments requireth either confession by the party of the fault which is committed or else proof by witnesses Augustine tom 9. lib. De medicin poen cap. 3. is clear of this opinion Nos à communione quenquam prohibere non possumus nisi aut spontè confessum aut in aliquo judicio ecclesiastico vel seculari nominatum atque convictum as he is cited by the glosse ad 1. Cor. 5. and by Aquinas in the place above mentioned It is requisite for the common good and convenient order both of church and common-wealth that all common favours which are publickly to be disposed and distributed according to the dignity of private persons should be dispensed by publick ministers designed thereunto not according to the private knowledge of this or that man neither of that minister but according to a publick and notorious cogniscance And whosoever doth by his offense against God lose his right and interest to the holy things of God he must lose it in the face of the church before it can be denied him in the face of the congregation And he is to be judged as in all other cases not by any man 's nor by any ministers private knowledge but according to proofs and allegations For the common good necessarily requireth that such publick actions of this nature should be regulated by a kind of publick and not private knowledge which once admitted into judicature would soon fill up the church and state with a world of scandals injuries and inconveniences Grosse notorious scandalous sinners should be excluded from the sacrament but yet according to the order and appointment of the Lord. Cast not pearls before swine give not holy things to dogs Therefore the primitive church about to administer the Deacon cryed out against flagitious persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with which the charge in our Liturgie well suteth Amongst the heathen some were accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were admitted into the entrance but not into the temple Whence among the Latines they are called profane because they stood before but might not enter the temple Hence also was that question amongst the Heathen in their services 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Who is here to which it was answered of the assembly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Many and good Hence that of Callimachus in hymnis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Virgil expresseth thus Procul ô procul este profani Conclamat vates And amongst the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are thought to have their name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is because they did restrain ar drive the profane from them And if the heathen had such care of their idolatrous services that they
scandalous in that case is not free and voluntary upon mine owne head but necessary in respect of duty enjoyned of God through the enforcing law of meeting the Lord in his holy ordinances and preserving the unitie of the spirit in the bond of peace and love If therefore the life be corrupt not from corrupt doctrine but contrary to the doctrine received we must do as the prophets and holy servants of God did in those corrupt times pray mourn exhort reprove threaten give good example but we must not depart or separate from the society where Christ is present by his grace and holy ordinances If because some members of the body be broken lame or diseased the rest that are sound should forsake the unitie of the body that were to destroy the whole and not to strengthen it utterly to overthrow not to seek its recovery One contagious sinner let alone not punished not reclaimed may infect the whole congregation and therefore every member must look warily to his own soul that he take no harm by such bad example and do his endeavour that such incorrigible persons be cast out of the assembly But the ordinances of grace are not defiled to the worthy receiver by the presence of such as should be censured nor must he withdraw himself from the holy things of God because such as ought not are suffered to partake so long as Christ is pleased to bear with their manners and to continue amongst them for their refreshing who in truth of heart draw nigh unto him If a brother be a fornicatour the Apostle exhorteth us not to eat with him Which place doth not onely forbid private and voluntary familiarity but religious also and that both publick and private Neither is there any reason whether we respect the glory of God or our own safety or the avoiding of offense in others or the shaming of the parties why we should avoid civil cōmunion with any and yet hold religious communion with them Neither is voluntary society to be opposed to religious for no society is so voluntary as that which is religious All civil and private society or commerce with a delinquent brother is not forbidden but familiar onely The Apostle teacheth not Christians to be uncivil but to abstein from familiarity with such that they might be ashamed For to eat bread together is a token of love and friendship in phrase of scripture not to partake of or be shut from the table a signe of familiaritie broken off But there is not the same reason of breaking off private familiarity with an offender and separating from the Lords ordinances if he be admitted whether respect be had to the glory of God our owne safety the avoiding of offense or the good of the party fallen For in coming to Gods ordinance we have communion with Christ principally who hath called us thither is there present by his grace and Spirit to blesse his ordinance and with the faithfull who are there met together at Gods commandment in the name and by the authority of Jesus Christ With the wicked we have no communion unlesse it be externall and by accident because they are not or cannot be cast out Internall and essentiall communion we have with Christ and the faithfull onely externall with the wicked Our communion with Christ and his faithfull people is not free and voluntary but necessary enjoyned by God not left to our will or pleasure Our communion with the wicked in the ordinances is unwilling on our part suffered not affected if we knew how to hinder it lawfully God requireth our attendance upon him in his holy ordinances and to joyn with his voluntaries assembled where he is present in the midst among them if we cannot appear before him as duty bindeth but we must have outward communion with the wicked which should be expelled but cannot be kept back by us in this case our communion with God is free and voluntary but our communion with the wicked is suffered onely or held in respect of the will and commandment of God who requireth that service at our hands And if civil commerce with the wicked be not unlawfull when it is necessary why should externall communion in matters of religion defile when it cannot be avoyded but the worship of the most High must be neglected God is not dishonoured on our part when we obey his commandments the godly cannot justly be offended with that communion which God hath established and ratifieth with his own speciall presence there is no danger in spirituall communion with Christ and his faithfull people if we come to the ordinances in affiance fear humblenesse of mind c. as we ought And as for the wicked they can take no encouragement if according to our place and office we exhort admonish rebuke and tell them plainly of the danger of their sin or if any be hardned thereby his bloud shall be upon his own head We have received commandment from God to exhort admonish rebuke watch over one another according to our place and calling but to excommunicate our selves because such as should be cut off are suffered or to withdraw our selves from the ordinances and to depart from Christ because such as hate to be reformed take the covenant into their mouthes or to usurp power to censure and excommunicate which God hath not put into our hands these things are neither commanded nor allowed of God The wicked usurp in that they intrude unto the Lords table and the faithfull usurp if without authoritie they take upon them to expell the wicked or depart themselves And if we search the scripture and move onely as the Lord is pleased to go before us we shall not find that a few private Christians have authority in this case to do either And hence appeareth an apparent difference betwixt externall communion with wicked men in the exercises of religion and private familiaritie For familiarity is merely arbitrary not enjoyned but forbidden affected not admitted onely in case of necessity or necessary attendance nor suffered onely that we might have fellowship with Christ and his Saints in his ordinances of worship nor by accident onely as we cannot expell them or withdraw our selves by the Lords leave and approbation Draw this argument then into form and it runneth thus It is not lawfull to have private needlesse arbitrary familiarity with ungodly men who are called brethren therefore it is not lawfull to repair to the ordinances of grace when the Lord calleth nor there to have communion with Christ and his faithfull people because the wicked are permitted to be present when yet we have neither power to repell them nor leave of Christ to depart our selves How loose this consequence is who doth not see A little leaven leaveneth the vvhole lump One scandalous sinner not reclaimed or cast out polluteth the whole congregation And men must not be blamed if they dare not dip
first subject from whom it cometh to the officers As the power of seeing is not onely given intuitu hominis as the end of it and the totum to whom it agreeth but is in homine as the first subject from whom it cometh to the eye The Apostles and other governours were given of Christ for the church as for the end and all their authority was given unto them for the church as for the whole but the authority it self was immediately derived from Christ and is not in the church as the immediate subject thereof The authority of the Apostles and other guides was for the church given for the good of the whole society and so may be called the authority of the church but the authority is not immediately in the church as the subject nor derived from the church but from Christ the King of the church The authority of governours is given of Christ for a gift to the church but not for a gift absolute that it may reside in the power of the whole church to whom it is given but for a conditionall gift that it may be communicated to the governours themselves for the edification of the whole It is one thing then to ask for what end or whose use the keyes are given another to whom To every one is given the declaration of the spirit for profit that is the good of the church But was this gift given to the community of the faithfull first and immediately No by gift and possession it was given to some but for use and profit it was publick As the Saints are not priests onely for themselves but for their brethren for whom they offer up the spirituall sacrifices of prayer and thanksgiving so neither are they kings for themselves alone but for their brethren also having the power of Christ whereby to judge them 1. Cor. 5. 4 12. the keyes of the kingdome to bind and loose them Matth. 16. 19. in the order of him prescribed The order of kings is the highest order or estate in the church but the order of Saints is the order of kings and we are kings as we are Saints not as we are officers Exod. 19. 6. 1. Pet. 2. 9. Rev. 1. 6. Christ maketh every believer a king priest and prophet to teach exhort reprove comfort offer up spirituall sacrifices of prayer and praise and to guide and govern in the wayes of godlinesse But this belongeth not to the spirituall ministeriall power and authority which Christ hath given for the conservation and government of his church For every Christian man and woman is made a king priest and prophet unto God to perform all offices required in that relation but the spirituall power of government with the execution thereof is not committed to every believer in particular nor to any one The officers of Christ do neither feed and teach as prophets nor govern as kings nor offer sacrifices as priests The word it self teaching and feeding is one thing which floweth from Christ as Prophet the administration of the word whence also floweth the act of governing is from Christ as King It is from internall communion with Christ that the sound sincere faithfull and they onely are made spirituall kings and priests unto God but it is from Christ as King governing externally as be beareth the similitude of a politicall head that his servants do feed rule and censure in his name They onely are made true kings and priests unto God who have received from Christ the life of grace but they have received authority from Christ to do service in his church who have not received life of grace nor are made kings or priests unto God The Kingdome Priesthood or Prophesie of Christ doth make no man politically either priest or king or prophet for then all believers should exercise the office of politicall priests kings and prophets in the church which is opposite to the nature of Christs kingdome Christ according to his Person is neither externall King nor Pastour but doth govern his church externally by pastours and ministers yet not as by kings or priests politicall but as servants onely Pastours and teachers are but officers in the church and in no kingly authority by participation of Christs kingly office neither are they as civill governours though the Lords servants yet the peoples lords and masters But it is one thing to be a spirituall king or priest unto God another to be a pastour or teacher in Gods church for that is common to all Christians this peculiar unto them that have received authority of function from Christ The Saints therefore as spirituall kings have not received power from Christ by function or authority to censure their brethren or externally to rule or govern but this belongeth to them who are designed of Christ the King unto this office Every Christian woman may exhort or reprove without any designement of the church is every woman made a prophet externally in the church Is power to administer the sacraments and authoritatively to censure offenders se autoritate muneris not officii generalis or charitatis committed to every member of the society because every believer may exhort and admonish not onely his brother of the same or another society but even them that are without By the keyes of the kingdome power and jurisdiction is noted and not the bare duty of instruction or admonition The power of the keyes is given by Christ as the King of his church as is evident by the generall institution of ecclesiasticall politie and the particular narration of politie instituted but that every Christian was sent forth with authority and commission we never read And if this reason be of any force every believer man or woman is of equall authority to the Apostles in matters of ecclesiasticall government because the order of saints is the order of kings and that is the highest which is directly corsse to the holy scripture and the order appointed by Christ the King and Head of his church They that have received Christ have received the power of Christ and his whole power for Christ and his power are not divided nor one part of his power from another But every company or communion of faithfull people have received Christ John 1. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Isa 9. 6. and with him power and right to enjoy him though all the world be against it in all the means by which he doth communicate himself unto his church This objection is not to be understood of the essentially Divine power of Christ which is proper to him as the Sonne of God nor of the uncommunicated power of Christ given to him as Mediatour nor of that communion and fellowship which every sincere Christian and faithfull soul hath with him in his death and resurrection but of the communicated power of Christ which he hath given to his church or certain officers in the church for the