a Blessing upon the expedition they were now about to be imployed in So our Annotator upon the Rhemists interprets it which we might suspect done out of too much heat of contention and that because They had expounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second verse Saying of Mass He would needs find fault too with their construing Imposition of hands in the next verse Giving of orders but that we find the same opinion in some of the Romanists too all of them grounding it upon St. Pauls assertion in the beginning of his Epistle to the Galatians chap. 1. v. the 1. Paul an Apostle not of men neither by man but by Jesus Christ For answer to which it is confess'd not only that Paul had an Immediate calling from God but also that such a Mission was altogether as essential to the Apostleship as to the Prophets in the Old Testament But this Calling or Sending was nothing else properly but the Designation and Appointment of fit persons which while the High-Priest of the New-Covenant was present with them had perhaps annex'd unto it their Inauguration Both however were received immediately from him After his Ascension this latter must needs be left in the hands of the Church Nor doth it any way blemish their Prerogative above the after-Fathers of the Church to own Ordination By man since their Master had vouchsaf'd to receive the sacrament of Baptism from one who he himself had pronounced less than the least of these Prophetical Ordainers So then our Apostle was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 receiving his authority from Men nor is any Presbyter For all are sent by the Holy Ghost neither was he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 designed or chosen by man to this Ministery as all ordinary Pastors are but he might nevertheless be ordained by man and so to omit late Interpreters St. Chrysostom tells us he was in his Homily upon my text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as having no authority to exercise his Apostleship to which he was called by special Direction from the Holy Ghost till he was ordained to it by the laying on of hands So that there is no reason why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text urged should be any more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 1. to Timothy by the commandment of God or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in almost all the rest of his Epistles by the will of God Nor is it worth the while for them to urge the Letter of the Syriack translation which renders it Not of the sons of man nor by the hand of the son of man for it follows but by the hand of Jesus Christ which is enough methinks to make them forsake the argument and look better into the Propriety of the Language It seems then not improbable that all Apostles after Christs Ascension into Heaven received their Apostleship by Imposition of hands from the Church That Timothy had his office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the designation of the Spirit is not to be denied 1 Tim. 4.14 But yet that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the laying on of hands is clear from the same place and more expresly and particularly from another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the laying on of my hands 2 Tim. 1.6 And do we not read that Timothy was plac'd at Ephesus as Titus was left at Grete to ordain others after the same manner Tit. 1.5 Even Matthias himself of whose choice we find mention without any of his Ordination For though our English in translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was numbred with make the text seem to imply him sufficiently instated in his Apostolate by having the lot fallen upon him yet the Original will better bear Erasmus's Cooptatus est or Beza's Communibus calculis allectus after which implying only a Nomination might well follow a solemn Admission though we have no mention of it in this sacred History Here you see we have an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Holy Ghost for Barnabas and Saul the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them at the second verse Which to say was no more than send away Barnabas and Saul to Cyprus betrayes so much Ignorance in the use of that expression in both Testaments that I think it cannot find much entertainment with any Person of Reason This Separation therefore was nothing else but their Ordination and the conferring that power upon them which the Holy Ghost now call'd them to by an External Extraordinary Call and afterwards ratified by an Internal Ordinary Calling at their laying on of hands upon them And so I come to the First part of my text which represents unto us their Commission and that first from the Holy Ghost expresly given us in these words Being sent forth by the Holy Ghost This is the first particular namely that the Holy Ghost is the Superintendent or the Unction they receiving their Commission from him That by the Holy Ghosts sending is rather to be understood his Inward giving them that Power which their Ordination intituled them unto than either his Extraordinary Calling of them before mentioned in the second verse or the Secret Instinct of the Spirit directing them whither they should go though both expositions have their throngs of Assertors I am for my part induced to think because the former Interpretation seems to impose a needless repetition upon the text the latter besides that this Cyprus whither they went was Barnabas's own Countrey as appears plainly at the latter end of the 4. chap. so that he might in all probability be carried thither by his own Affection hath none or very few Parallels in this History or elsewhere either Historical or Grammatical For first how many Journeys of S. Paul and others do we here meet withall without the least mention of the Holy Ghosts sending it being sufficiently known and elsewhere to be collected that they were directed by him in almost all their undertakings And then secondly The spirit of Prophesie except where in general those Extraordinary gifts are express'd in one as St. John 7.39 and the like is not usually called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but barely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the Holy Ghost but the Spirit as you may see in the 11 19 20 and 21. chap. of this book to name no more whereas this power of Orders is styled the holy Ghost in that very form which the greatest part of the Western Church hath taken up from our Saviours own mouth And in the 20. of this book v. 28. the Presbyters which were ordained by the Apostles are charged by S. Paul at Miletus to take heed unto the Flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers These had no Extraordinary Mission as our Apostle here and yet They were sent by the Holy Ghost and therefore why not These in the same sense For In the 2. v. they were sent by him upon his Immediate choice and
appointment In the text they were sent by him upon his Bestowing that Power which the Prophets at Antioch bid them receive at their laying on of hands So then from the Holy Ghost comes all Power to exercise any sacred Ministerial Office in the Church of God This was the chiefest business of God the Father and God the Sons breathing forth or sending down the Holy Ghost from Heaven to qualify and make some fit for the performance of Church-work with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his gifts according to their several stations and capacities for when Christ gave the gifts of the Holy Ghost to men Ephes 4.8 He gave some Apostles some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery verse the 11 And as a learned observer says very well All the reason in the world that he should have a special hand in giving where himself is to be received Receive ye the Holy Ghost Joh. 20.22 Whosoever therefore undertakes this Warfare for so the work of the Levites is often call'd in the book of Numbers without a Commission from him viz. the Holy Ghost though he make pretence of never so plausible Intentions is but a Traytor to the Holy Ghost and can look for no better thanks than Uzzah had for his Officious Prophanation For though there be mention here of Apostles only receiving the Holy Ghost 't is evident they receiv'd not this Gift as Apostles but as entring into an Ecclesiastical Ministery else why did they impart the same afterwards to Bishops and Presbyters which St. Pauls History and Writings do abundantly witness The text then doth as nearly concern Us at present in the Christian Church as if Paul and Barnabas had been now ordained Priests So that I may without offence I hope to the scope of the History take a view of it especially as it represents us with the Priests Ordination the chief business of this present solemnity And that we may be the better ascertain'd that it is the Holy Ghost who gives this Power let us enquire so far as we may what the Power is and how distinguished from other Gifts of the Holy Ghost who thus commissions Not to run too far backwards but to begin with the Apostles themselves You may observe in the Gospel that the Holy Ghost is twice promised by our Saviour to his Apostles once under the promise of the Keys in the 16 of St. Matthew v. the 18. about two years before his Passion afterwards under the promise of a Comforter or as the learned Grotius translates it an Advocate Luke 24.49 after his Resurrection though ye shall find the same Promise made unto them and often repeated the Day before his Passion in the 14 15 and 16. chapters of St. John and some moneths before that to all Beleevers St. John 7.38 and yet sooner to his Apostles in the 10. of St. Mat. v. the 20 The Former of these was performed after his Resurrection S. John 20.22 when he said unto them Receive ye the holy Ghost whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained The Latter was performed upon the day of Pentecost as appears in the second of the Acts of the Apostles when the holy Ghost came down from Heaven in the shape of cloven fiery Tongues which came as it were in a windy rushing Chariot and sate upon each of them yea and inspired them with the Gift of Tongues verse 1 2 3 c. Now Both these gifts had a Power annex'd unto them With the First was a Power of the Keys The Other was a Power from on high a Power of conviction by Miracles When the Comforter is come he shall convince the world of Sin of Righteousness of Judgment St. John 16.8 A Power of Answering for themselves without taking thought before hand When they should be brought before Governours for the name and the cause of Christ St. Mat. 10.18 19 20. And a Power of knowledge of the truth St. John 14.26 The Comforter which is the holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things You shall find a third Power given by Christ to his Apostles immediately upon having created them Apostles a power of Miracles St. Mat. 10.1 He gave them Power against unclean Spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of Sickness and all manner of Disease There is Lastly another sort of Gifts of the Holy Ghost which though they were always in the Church of God yet Now first came under that name And those are such as the Apostle reckons up in the 12 of his Epistle to the Rom. v. the 8. He that giveth let him do it with simplicity He that ruleth with diligence He that sheweth mercy with cheerfulness Together with several other graces which he reckons up and calls Gifts in the 6. verse Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us and Fruit of the Spirit in his 5. to the Gal. v. the 22. That these Ghostly Gifts of the fourth kind of Sanctifying Graces are perpetually to be enjoyed by the faithful is confess'd on all hands That the Power of Miracles which the Apostles exercised while Christ was upon the Earth was a Gift Extraordinary and not to out-last their own times will be easily admitted among us and the same of that which was given at the Feast of Pentecost excepting that part of it mentioned in the 14. of St. John The Gift of knowledge which we must warily distinguish what it was in the Apostles and what in the succeeding Church They had in its Fulness they were taught all things by it but after ages had only that Proportion which seemed good to the Author and Disposer of it For Should we leave this wholly among the Extraordinary Gifts of the Apostles we had quite relinquishd our interest in the Comforter and should have no more reason to look for him at our Veni Creator than to expect the mighty rushing Wind or the Sound from Heaven or the Cloven Tongues as of Fire The controversie then lies in the Gift first named which is the same we enquire after some making it the same with Sanctifying Grace some the same with Grace Enabling for the Performance which I take to be nothing else but that Gift of Knowledge under the second kind of Graces mentioned and of these some there are in our own Church I mean who think it nothing inferiour to that which the Apostles had A plain Infallibility The rest confound it with that Gift of the Comforter as it belongs to the Universal Church They that think it the same with Sanctifying Grace to say no more must needs forget that Judas Iscariot in whom was little or no sign rather of Sanctifying Grace when he betrayed his Master was one of the twelve and if we may draw any parallel from the Law that Caiaphas the High Priest prophesied St.
John 11. v. 49 50. and 18 14. They would easily confess that it is too possible there may be more employed in the Building of Gods Ark the Church than shall be preserved in it To them who imagine an Infallibility of the Spirit accompanying all true Ordination and dare call them Lay-men which arrive not at the same perfection of knowledge which they dream themselves Masters of when indeed to differ from them in any one fond opinion is enough to fetch us under this Censure the woful experience of their too fruitful Errors is a sufficient answer And Lastly that Holy Orders consist in being qualified in some measure with abilities fit for the Execution of them hath not any Authority so far as I can find from holy Writ For although God do require this Ability in every one in some more in some less yet he hath not pass'd any promise to tye it to the Churches Ordination for the Comforter is no otherwise promised than other Graces of special Favour upon condition of our receiving them And we have too sad experience that we do often Grieve and Quench this Holy Spirit of God in our Understanding as well as in our Conscience Whatsoever therefore it is it must needs be an Accession to the Priesthood and we are to acknowledge God the Author of a double Blessing when he provides Bezaliels and Aboliabs for the work of this his Spiritual Tabernacle Whereas he hath then promised this Power of Orders to all that enter upon his more Immediate service when he directed the Apostles to lay us down that pattern of Ordination It being a Gift of perpetual Necessity in the Church which if at any time it were denyed would open a gap to confusion in the Dispensation or Administration of holy things which can in no wise proceed from the God of Order and Decorum It remains that the Gift of the Holy Ghost in Ordination is nothing else but that Authority and Right the Ordained have in the Administration of Divine Mysteries That Gift whereby the Priest not to speak here of the Bishops Power hath a kind of property in Dispensing Gods holy written word and Sacraments in Offering up the publick prayers of the Congregation for them and in Pronouncing Gods sentence of pardon or condemnation upon them And this is properly our Inward Calling Those other gifts of Grace and Knowledge such as Arts and Languages and Virtues which may precede our Ordination as they are Motives to any man so qualified to offer himself to the Church of Gods service are an Invitation and in that sense an Inward Calling As they do enable any man for the performance of his Duty they are not a warrantable Calling but a Blessing and do not confer any Right upon him to the Priesthood but only strengthen his hands in the Discharge of it Were this rightly considered the world would not be so full of mistakes concerning the Call to the Function But do we not now rather wonder that the Holy Ghost reserves not this so great a Gift in his own hands than that he owns the Donation of it It is a Power over the Consciences over the Souls of men That by which our Saviour differences God himself from the most Potent upon earth at the 10. of St. Mat. Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul And can Man confer this Power of his own authority No 'T is the Lord of the Harvest that must send these Labourers into his Vineyard and he never sends them into it by a False Key through a Back Dore over the Wall or in at a Window But hath given Order and Power to his Church to let them in by a solemn Consecration of them to his Service And so I am fallen upon The second particular or second part of their Commission Their External Commission for what they undertake given them by the laying on of hands They on whom the Prophets had layed their hands They were sent forth by the holy Ghost In the days of old there were three sorts of Persons that were Anointed The King The Priest and the Prophet who though they were designed and Appointed by God had yet some External Ceremonious actions performed towards them by Man And thus in the New Testament though the Holy Ghost be the Unction yet there is no way for it to be applied but by the Laying on of hands Which Imposition of hands is here put for all the ceremonies of Ordination as Preaching afterwards for the Apostles Office by a kind of Synechdoche a part being being put for the whole and is much us'd in Holy Scripture The more essential ceremony is the form of words used with it Receive the holy Ghost c. So that that late observation of the use of Imposition of hands upon Lay-men for Election into their Office had better have been spared than published to be layed open as it is to the giddy mis-interpretation of troublesome unsetled times and quarrelsome irreconcileable Spirits For What if the same were there used which was long enough ago confess'd Is therefore a Presbyter and an Elder of the same Sanhedrim all one both equally consecrated and set apart from the People These will be the collections of some readers Whereas if the Author had but mentioned the Forms of our Ordination as he hath done those of the Jews it had been an easie matter for every one to see some difference between Sit tibi facultas Judicandi and Accipe Spiritum Sanctum And those two Ceremonies some of the Church of Rome cited by Franciscus de Sancta Clara upon our 36. Article acknowledge sufficient for Ordination reckoning Unction to be but a mistake of the Greek Fathers expressions by understanding Material where they meant Spiritual All excepting some Sycophants of the Court of Rome that affirm the Pope can make a Priest by a Priest nay though never so far distant by saying only Esto sacerdos count them necessary chiefly in respect of the Apostles practise which in things not depending upon circumstances variable stands for a Law to their Successors but then withall perhaps in as much as it is scarce possible for the Church to express in fewer signs her Commission without which we can have no assurance of the Holy Ghosts Having in the beginning of this discourse shewed that Barnabas and Saul and others were manumi'zd by the Church even in those very times wherein the Holy Ghost was shed forth in an ample measure and that Men have always had to do in giving Commissions to all such as are to execute any office in the Church I might from hence press the necessity of a calling from the Church which Calvine himself urges from this place in the 4. book the 3. ch the 14 Section of his Institutes in these words Sic Paulum quoque Singulari praerogativâ Dominus per seipsum designavit ut Disciplinâ Ecclesiasticae Vocation is interim uteretur But since this