AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST LAY-PREACHING OR THE PREACHERS PLEA In a Discourse answering such Objections which were given to a conscientious friend who for his satisfaction requested a resolution In which Discourse is proved that preaching of the Word is a peculiar Calling to be undertaken by none without a speciall Call and that more is required in such who undertake it than abilities in which likewise other incidentall Questions and Cases concerning the Profession of Preachers are discussed The Lord gave the Word great was the company of those that published it Psal. 68. 11. No man taketh this honour unto himselfe but he that is called of God as was Aaron Heb. 5. 4. LONDON Printed for Andrew Crook Anno 1642. The VVriting occasioning the ensuing Discourse THe places of Scripture underwritten which some doe bring to prove That a man who hath the gift of the spirit and can preach may preach the Gospel of what calling soever he be To prove it lawfull they quote 2 Acts 17 18. from which place they understand that not only they that have been at the University and have gotten learning that they only should be Teachers but they also to whom is given the gift Ergo if I can teach and edifie my breathren and my brethren can teach to edifie me it is lawfull although we be but Tradesmen for the Apostle did labour with his hands and yet a Teacher and many others besides 2 Thes. 3. 8. By way of Reason thus 1. A Teacher is knowne to be called of God by those qualifications and gifts which hee hath received but many of Gods people have the gift to teach and resolve doubts Ergo they are called and therefore bound to teach 2. Every man who hath a gift which is spirituall it is his talent and he who useth not his talent God will take it from him and cloath him with shame and a curse Ergo men are bound to use their gifts And this is the way which we have prescribed 2. Joel 28. 44 Isaiah 3. 1 Cor. 14. 29. 1 Cor. 14. 31 and 33 ver. The Reason is given God is not the author of confusion but of peace which doth prove as they understand that when men can prophesie and doe not it causeth confusion and not peace 11 Numb. 29. Would God all could prophesie 8 Acts 1. compared with the third and fourth verses of that Chapter From which places they understand that any one poore or rich weak or strong if they could teach they became Dispensers The same times are now for the want of publick meanes they were scattered so are we Therefore if God enable us we will take a course in private If men send us to prison God will send prison-comforts 1 Pet. 4. 10 11. As every man hath received a gift so let them administer the same one to another In this thing I desire to be resolved being of my selfe but weak and not able fully to answer it An Answer to the former VVriting I Have seriously pondered the paper and according to your desire have returned an Answer to help you to a satisfaction in those things wherein some have sought to scruple you All which by the assistance of God I have throughly sifted and I hope shall discover what bran was presented by the Objectors in stead of the pure manchet of Gods word The maine assertion in the paper is this A man that hath the gift of the Spirit and can preach may preach the Gospel of what calling soever we be The proofs alledged seeme to prove two things First That any of any Profession may preach being enabled And Secondly That such ought to doe so especially in the want of publique meanes I conceive that the Affirmers of these things doe not understand by this word Preaching and Teaching preaching as it is largely taken for any kinde of notifying and making known the Gospel of Christ or the Oracles of God for then what need this controversie since it is well knowne that there are many wayes thus to doe as namely by Conference so Aquila and Priscilla expounded to Apollos the way of God more perfectly Or by Catechising so Theophilus was instructed that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been catechised so is the originall though in our English transion it is rendred instructed Or by Writing in which respect Solomon is called a Preacher because by his writings he published those truths wherewith the Spirit inspired him Or by reading and so the Prophecy of Ieremiah and the minde of the Lord was made knowne to the Jewes by Barucks reading Yea any other meanes by which the truth is made knowne may in a sense be called Preaching but I think they meane not this generall kinde of Preaching but by Preaching they meane as it is in a restricted sense taken An expounding of Scripture by doctrinall deducing of instructions and conscientiall applications of them to the Hearers by way of dilating or enlargement Or more briefly by Preaching they mean A speaking unto men for exhortation edification and comfort I beleeve they meane this by the word Preaching for so their proofs seeme to prove And therefore I will propose against their phancy of the lawfulnesse for any of any calling being able to preach five Propositions as an Antidote which when I have discussed I will punctually answer the paper The Propositions considerable are these 1 Preaching or dispensing of the word is a peculiar calling distinct from other callings 2 Not any of another calling ought to dispense the word preachingly till they are thereunto called 3 In the Call to preach more things are required than endowments to preach without which things no man hath a Call to that function 4 Men of other Professions though enabled with spirituall gifts yet are not to undertake preaching till they are thereunto lawfully called 5 Such as take on them that calling after lawfull Call thereunto ought not to intangle themselves in worldly emploiments and follow their wordly calling Of all these I will say something and then come to answer the paper CHAP. I. The first Proposition Preaching of the word that is an expounding or interpreting it thence drawing out Doctrines of instruction and applying them to severall sorts of Hearers gathered together to heare is a peculiar calling distinct from other callings A Calling is a certaine kinde of life ordained and imposed on man by God for the common good Now it is certaine that God hath constituted and appointed some men to spend their dayes in finding out acceptable words even the words of truth that they may the better publish the word of God and fasten it as Masters of the assemblies according to the command given from one shepherd Goe and teach all Nations This truth is evident from two Scriptures to name no more The first place is 10 Rom. 14. How shall they heare without a Preacher And how shall they preach except they be
Professions yet affirm joyntly that they would give themselves continually to prayer and to the Ministry of the word neither would they meddle with a businesse which in its own nature might well have stood with their Ministeriall Function because of some inconveniences in it It is no reason say they that wee should leave the word of God and serve tables S. Paul would have Timothy and in him all Ministers wholly to inure themselves to the paines and whatsoever other hardship accompanies or followes their Ministry and not be busie in secular negotiations Hee takes a similitude from a Souldier who having undertaken military service doth wholly addict himselfe to his Commanders service even so such who undertake Christs service must seek to please Christ by doing his work and therefore must not frame themselves to those employments in which they were enwrapt before Christ chose them to his pecular service The words are very plain Thou therefore endure hardnesse as a good souldier of Christ And again No man that warreth entangleth himselfe with the affairs of this life that hee may please him who hath chosen him to be a souldier And there is good reason why Ministers should wholly intend the Ministeriall employment and no other both because other employments make them unfit to discharge this freely and fully He who enters into this Calling and will secularly be employed is unfit for this Calling even as hee who layes his hand on the Plough and looks back is unfit for the kingdome of God and likewise because any one work which is enjoyned the Ministry is sufficient alone to take up the whole man and his whole time As to name but that one mentioned by S Paul hee is to give attendance to reading and meditation and to give himself wholly to these that his profiting may appear unto all Now this is work enough for a man yea it is set out in Scripture to bee a toylsome and tiresome work much study is a wearinesse to the flesh God compares it to the work of Husbandmen who are in continuall employment either breaking up the fallow or sowing or harrowing or manuring or reaping or gathering into barnes and then renewing again their labours And hee compares the service of the Ministry to Fishing a trade in which is no loitering but labouring not meanly but toughly sometimes all day oft all night and many times for nothing Such yea greater is a Ministers work it is a constant continuall labour he prayes he reads hee marks hee meditates hee writes hee utters the meditation of his heart and when hee hath done hee must return to his daily task and weekly spending being every moment employed save at the times of due intermission till hee hath fully finished his course and the time of departure approaches Preaching is a toylfull work and greater than to speak by an hour-glasse Again it is set out in Scripture to bee an enfeebling work So the Prophet found it I have saith hee spent my strength for nought and in vain And so our blessed Saviour found it who in the prime of his years little past thirty was reckoned by the Jewes to be towards fifty It is supposed by Divines and probably too that hee so spent himselfe in preaching and winning soules that hee seemed to the Jewes to bee much elder than hee was The Ministeriall work well followed makes one weak in strength and old in youth it consumes the lungs wasts the spirits both animall and naturall parches the radicall moisture draines the blood looses the joynts rivells the face and wears the brain They who speak other mens labours and such it seemes there were in the Apostles times count Preaching nothing because they know not experimentally what it means but such who labour in the word and doctrine as the Apostle did will with him acknowledge that in Preaching they spend and are spent and that they sacrifice themselves for their people Lay all this together and seeing the Ministeriall Calling hath in it employment for the whole man and for his whole time and seeing other Callings will distract in fulfilling the Ministery therefore it must be granted That they who undertake this Calling ought not save in the cases mentioned in the Answers to divert from the employments of this Calling being busie in worldly employments and so I conclude this fifth Proposition to be very true namely Such who take on them that Calling after lawfull call thereunto ought not to entangle themselves in worldly employments and follow their worldly Calling CHAP. VI I Now come to discusse the Contents in the Paper Wherein To prove that a man who hath the Gift of the Spirit may preach the Gospel of what Calling soever hee be is quoted Acts 2. 17 18. The words are these It shall come to passe in the last dayes saith God I will poure out my Spirit on all flesh and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophesie and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dreame dreams And on my servants and on my handmaids I will poure out in those dayes of my Spirit and they shall prophesie From which place they understand That not only they that have been at University and have gotten learning that they only should Teach but they also to whom is given the Gift Therefore If I can teach and edifie my Brethren and my brethren can teach to edifie Me It is lawfull although wee be but Tradesmen For the Apostle did labour with his hands and yet a Teacher and many others besides 2. Thess. 3. 8. I answer to all This Though the distinction of learning gotten and learning given or as Scholars speak touching learning obtained by study pains industry and investigation either at University or any other place and learning conferred by inspiration or by any other immediate way of divine donation may be admitted yet the inference thereupon that any of any Calling whatsoever having given learning may preach is unsound Because the very having of learning either acquiredly or inspiredly is not sufficient to authorize preaching without a speciall Call Which as I have proved so this History in the second of Acts confirms for they of whom it speaks had abilities to preach they had been with Christ and hee had breathed on them the holy Ghost yet would they not preach till they had a speciall Call and were authorized thereunto by power from on high according to Christs command The pouring out of the Spirit on them as the History relates was a speciall and publike declaration of their Call that God had chosen them to teach the whole councell of God to plant the Gospel in all Nations and therefore God accordingly endued them extraordinarily with all languages and all infallible sacred knowledge Such then who propose these as a president for Layteachers should doe well to consider these Particulars 1 That inspiration Apostolicall served only for
the planting of the Gospel since God inspires so none and therefore the pretence of having learning given not gotten is a boast of things without their measure and a vaunt of the distribution of gifts on them which God never granted to any but to the first Planters of his Church 2 That they should consider That though any were endued with abilities Apostolicall which I suppose none will arrogate to themselves but such who have no other knowledge than that which puffs up yet such ought not to assume the divine Function untill hee have also with these here the Apostolicall Call If hee should without that Call doe so hee were but an intruder and a false Apostle And therefore Though Thou be able to teach thy Brother and thy Brother Thee yet neither of you ought Ministerially to doe so till thereunto you have as these Apostles a speciall Call So then this History gives no countenance to any though gifted to undertake Preaching uncalled 3 They should ponder That these Apostolike men did nothing in a corner They had no private undertakings for the whole multitude came together saw and heard therefore such who resolve on a private close course of Preaching in secret cannot justifie themselves by these Apostles here Neither yet follow they our Saviours example who spake openly to the world and ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Jewes alwayes resort and in secret said nothing 4 They should consider That these Apostolicall men having by this extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit on them their complete Commission to preach gave themselves wholly to Prayer and to the Ministry of the word And therefore hence cannot be raised a justification for any Lay-men continuing so to preach the word The History affords these irrefutable collections Butthe Objectors inference no wayes results out of the quoted words namely That any of any Calling who hath gifts may preach My reason is Because they mention the gifts of the Spirit poured on some whom God prohibits to preach as on women Your daughters and my handmaids saith the Text shall prophesie and yet God permits not such to teach Therefore for the clearing of this place from the absurd collection wee must explaine these words And they shall prophesie Know then These were Joels words but are here alledged by S. Peter to satisfie the multitude who were confounded seeing the cloven tongues like fire sitting on the Disciples heads and hearing them speak in their own tongues the wonderfull works of God Hee tells them that now Joels Prophesie is fulfilled namely I will poure out c. After hee tells them that Jesus Christ being exalted to Gods right hand hath shed forth this which they now saw and heard which they saw in the tongues and their speaking of Gods wonderfull works This is the briefe relation of the Story which makes much for the understanding of the quoted Scripture Wherein we may observe 1. That in the day of Pentecost God poured out of his Spirit in great measure both on men and women who were with one accord in one place 2. That these were thereby enabled to prophesie And 3. Their prophesying was no more but both a cleare understanding of former Prophesies as appears by S. Peters applying this and two more and also a praising Gods as his and the others speaking of Gods wonderfull works shewes So then these words Your sons and your daughters shall prophesie and again My servants and my handmaids shall prophesie imply only thus much These your sons and your daughters which are my servants and my handmaids shall have of my Spirit bestowed on them whereby they shall understand the former Prophesies touching the Kingdome of God and the Mystery of Salvation Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit I take this Paraphrase is the genuine meaning both of Joel and Peter and best shewes how both the sons and daughters of God are said to prophesie in the last dayes It would be therefore shewed plainly and without wresting the words how the conceit that any of any Calling having gifts may preach can bee grounded on them The words speak of such a kind of prophesying wherein both men and women may have a part and that is no other than either a clear understanding of Gods mysteries formerly vailed in dark Prophesies but now explained and known since the Spirits descent according to these Prophesies of the Gospels time Isai. 11. 9 Jerem. 31. 34. Joh. 6. 45. or else it is a lauding and praising of God for his wonderfull works One of these or rather both is the prophesying meant in this place and so both sons and daughters may prophesie But that kind of prophesying which consists in interpreting Scripture thence deducing Doctrinall and Practicall Conclusions for the instruction of others I am sure cannot bee meant in this place because in that kind of prophesying the daughters of God have no part nor fellowship with the sons of God for God hath excluded them as hath been shewed Let this suffice for answer to the quotation in Acts 2. 17. 18. CHAP. VII TO that which is added That Trade smen may preach because the Apostle did labour with his hands and yet a Teacher and many others besides 2 Thes. 3. 8. I answer 1. It followes not because the Apostle or any other having a Call to teach did in some cases labour with their hands therefore that such who are Tradesmen having no calling thereunto should preach I think this consequence cannot possibly be made good 2 I answer All which can be collected for imitation from the Apostles labouring with his hands is That a Minister in some cases there being thereby no impediment to his preaching or other Ministeriall duties may voluntarily use any lawfull Art or Calling manuall or mentall to supply his necessities The causes why S. Paul laboured with his hands are recorded in Scripture to be these First Hee would not be burdensome The penury of the Thessalonians was such they being poor Artificers that they could not conveniently contribute towards S. Pauls reliefe Besides that little which they had was liable to be preyed upon by their Persecuters therefore the Apostle in compassion remitted his right and rather than hee would burthen them hee wrought with his hands And for this cause the Ministers of the Waldenses did work to sustaine themselves because they found that the exacting of due maintenance which yet they might have took was burthensome to the Church being for their poverty termed the poor men of Lions which men yet professed that they were sorry that they had not sufficient staied livings for their Ministers whereby they might have more time to their studies and greater opportunity to instruct them with necessary doctrine and knowledge Secondly S. Paul wrought with his hands because hee would avoyd appearing