heed as unto a light that shineth in a darke place untill the day dawne and the day starre arise in your hearts and from hence it is evident that the Scripture is the very word of God which proceedeth out of God by inspiration by instrumentall publishing and writing the same and the written Word being the same proceeding word of God even God declared in writing The Scriptures therefore are the Fountaines of living water and the ground of truth for preaching teaching and instruction exhortation and correction And therefore the Scriptures are to be had in Divine estimation for they containe the divine Word it selfe and the Pastors and teachers thereof being thereunto called of God by a full measure of inspiration are to be esteemed the Messengers and Embassadours of God And this is alwayes to be understood that no man can attaine to the interpretation of the written Word by naturall ingenuitie or humane learning or art or industrie though all be needfull instruments and meanes of knowledge but onely by inspiration of the proceeding Word as ver. 21. 20. 21. so that first ye know this that no prophecie of the Scripturis of any private interpretation For as the prophecie came not in old time by the will of men but holy men of God spake â—â— they were moved by the holy Ghost so must holy then of God speake and interpret the Scriptures as they are moved by the holy Ghost And that we may know the interpretation to be of the holy Ghost being the proceeding Word and hee that indicted the same Word from the Father and the Sonne by inspiration cannot give any other sence or understanding to the written Word then is agreeable to the nature of the Word in the person of the Sonne and of the Father and the Word in the person of the Sonne is the revealed will of God the Father made manifest in the flesh Therefore we may discerne whether the interpretation be of the Spirit of God or no by this Iohn 4. 2. 3. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that confesseth not that Iesus is come in the flesh is not of God For the confession is not an out ward confession of the lips nor an historicall confession of the mind nor a voluntary supposition and opinion of carnall reason but it is the confession of the Spirit of God which declares and manifests to the heart that the Word that is come in the flesh is the very true God as Christ said to know thee and him whom thou hast sent Christ to be the very true God as Peter confessed thou art that Christ that Sonne of God and Christ told him that flesh and blood did not teach him this but his Father revealed it unto him This word of God not having beene after this order knowne and considered hath beene the cause and occasion of much mistake and errours in the Church of God but understanding the Word in the true nature and property of Gods order and manner of working leadeth us by the hand from one gradation to another and stoppeth the mouth of all men that speake against the Scriptures and the holy Spirit For considering the word of God in these gradations we shall evidently perceive and understand that the power and authoritie giuen and committed to the Church is no other thing but the proceeding word of God ministring the begotten Word from the Father manifested in the flesh which ministration is two fold internall by inspiration through hearing of the Word because man is an intellectuall Spirit and therefore a proper Tabernacle for the divine Word to dwell in Also externall ministration because man dwells in an elementary earthly and naturall tabernacle therefore the holy Ghost applyeth himselfe to mans infirmity and doth use in his externall ministration elementary earthy and naturall instruments by which as a meanes and ordinance the proceeding Word and the power thereof is daily communicated unto man both to ingraft him into the Word and to nourish him in the Word unto everlasting life For this manner of externall ministration is necessary for man so long as hee dwelleth in this body or earthly house The instruments which the holy Ghost doth use in the dispensation of the ministeriall Word are either proper as some members of the Church set apart for the worke of the ministery or lesse proper as the signes of the Sacraments I may call those the externall gifts which God gives to his Church for it is said that unto every one of us is given grace or the gifts of the Spirit according to the measure of the gift in Christ For wee may discerne the Church is a compact body knit to the head Christ and consisteth of many members yet in unity of the spirit they are one body and although there be but one Spirit yet are there diversities of gifts diversities of administrations diversities of operations yet all one and the same spirit and these diversities of gifts make diversities of functions So there are many functions in the Church but God worketh all in all But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withall but peculiar gifts without the which the Church cannot at any time be and therefore most proper of which it is said that Christ ascended on high and lead captivity captive and received gifts to give unto men as some to bee Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers Here is to bee observed that the divine power by internall dispensation is given in common to all and every member of the Church so that all have common interest in the word of God and peculiar power thereby to admonish comfort and instruct one another and pray for one another and beare one anothers burdens especially they are all Kings Priests and Prophets in their Families For every Father ought to use the office of an Elder in his house Deut 6. 6 7. Deut. 4. 9. But for the externall dispensation of the Word the power and efficacy thereof is committed unto peculiar men wherof Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors teachers are in the first ranke and functions and the power and efficacy which is given them is onely the ministration of the Word they have not that absolute power which Christ hath to know who are his from the beginning and to have compassion on whom he would have compassion and to shew mercy on whom hee would show mercy For Christ had not this absolute power as he was the Son of man but as he was the person of God For as he was Man he came not to do his owne will but the will of his Father So likewise when he sent his Apostles and Disciples to teach all Nations he sent them as he was sent of his Father So send I you saith he which was not to doe their owne will nor to teach their owne doctrine but to do his will
but they are placed about their bodyes as it were for furtherance and assistance in their proper place and not to flye withall from place to place These wings therefore signifie Governours and assistants or helpers by whom the ministers are ayded in their function and doe more swiftly and readily afford succour to every part of the Church These wings are full of eyes within These signifie the inward gifts of knowledge which are not placed in so neere a measure to the Throne as the eyes in the body but they are of the same nature of knowledge in divine things to this end they stand as in a watch tower to behold and discerne every ones manners and conversation and to reprove and exhort privately and to helpe the ministers in Censure and Discipline of the Church therefore Paul saith obey your overseers and leaders and yeeld submission unto them for they watch for your soules as those that shall give account These gifts are limited within and under the wings as to meddle onely with that which is committed unto their power 1 Pet. 5. 2. they are not to be strikers or busie-bodies and they are to watch over Christian people onely for what have wee to doe to judge them that are without ◠1 Cor. 5. 12. 13. They that desire to behold the patterne of Gods Church as she is on earth in Christ consider well this vision and reade it seriously as it is more fully expressed by Master Brightmans Exposition upon the fourth chapter of the Revelation This patterne is the perfection of the Church militant as she is in Christ and in the judgement of God the Father who onely knoweth who are his The beauty and glory thereof is not seene with mortall eyes for she is not composed of mortall but immortall seed even begotten of the immortall seed of the word of God 1 Pet. 1. 23. for it is the ministration of God the holy Ghost communicating the knowledge of the Word unto the hearts of the elect which doth beget them anew or regenerate and unite them unto Christ and those are the supernaturall powers the word of God cōmunicated unto man and gathereth them into one head Christ and by a well compact union makes them one Church all communicating of one spirit one faith and in one Lord and Father of all who is above all and in all and through us all blessed for ever Amen How the Word is the divine power of God and the authority committed to the Church WHen wee speake of the word of God consider that the word in essence and property of being is God with God in eternity eternitie it selfe as it is described in the first of Iohns Gospell and though it cannot bee divided in it selfe yet it is to bee distinguished after the personall order of the Trinitie Therefore we may say the Word in the person of the Father is the unbegotten Word in the person of the Sonne it is the begotten Word and in the person of the holy Ghost it is the proceeding Word So that by the proceeding Word all things flow from the Father and the Sonne By the order of this proceeding power the world was made by the word of God As the Psalmist saith Psal. 33. 6. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the hoast of them by the breath of his mouth By this proceeding power of the Word man was made a living soule as Gen. 2. 7. And God breathed in his face the breath of life and the man was a living soule and Ioh. 1. 4. in it was life and that life was the light of man not naturall reason but supernaturall light which inlightened nature By this proceeding word Adam was restored after his fall by promising to make the Word the seed of the Woman and to breake the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. for God by the proceeding of the Word saying he will put enmity betwixt Satan whose nature is wicked and evill altogether and the humane generation or seed which Satan had made like himselfe he thereby promiseth that by his proceeding Word he would make his Word the feed of the Woman whereby it should be of a contrary nature to wickednesse of a heavenly pure and holy nature and condition powerfull against Satan Thus by the proceeding Word the word God is made the word of promise and the Promise is made life and thus it comes to passe that the Just shall live by faith By this proceeding word all the Elect of the Father are called are sanctified are washed are inspired and by inspiration are made sonnes of God Kings Priests and Prophets for by inspiration of the proceeding Word God the Word dwelleth in them for in the proceeding Word is both the begotten Word and the unbegotten Word the Father as Christ saith my Father and I are one and the proceeding Spirit is one with the Father and the Sonne so these three are one in themselves and beare record in heaven and they also agree in one by inspiration in the soules of the faithfull or the Church which makes three to beare record on earth as the water of Sanctification and the blood of justification and our spirit enlightned with the Spirit of God it beares witnesse with our spirits that we are the sonnes and servants of God For this cause the faithfull are called the Temple of the living God 2 Cor. 6. 16. as God hath said I will dwell among them and walke there and I will bee their God and they shall bee my people Also know yee not that your body is the temple of the holy Ghost which is in you which yee have from God Ye are not your owne for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in body and in Spirit for they are Gods As the proceeding Word hath proceeded by inspiration to dwell in man which is his internall ministration so he proceedeth by externall ministration to divulge and write the same proceeding Word by the instrumentall pen and voyce of man for mans instruction at first written by his Prophet Moyses and after by the rest of Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists to feed and preserve their holy faith worship of God among the faithfull As Paul witnesseth 2 Tim. 3. 15. 16. Thou hast knowne the holy Scriptures of a child which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus For the whole Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable to teach to convince to correct to instruct in righteousnesse Thus the proceeding Word doth proportion it selfe to mans capacity first it becomes the word of promise in the seed of the woman then the inspirated word to dwell in the mind and also it is the ministeriall Word declared written taught and preached for mans instruction and all is one Word for this cause the Apostle Peter saith we have a most sure word of the Prophets to which yee doe well that yee take
he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men As Ephes 4 11. he gave some to be Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists and some Pastours and Teachers In this place of Scripture he onely setteth forth the principall functions in the Church whereof the first paire as namely Apostles and Evangelists were of immediate calling and appropriated to the time ordained by Christ onely for the propagation and first progression of the Gospell the gifts of prophecie and working of miracles attending the confirmation of their doctrine As the necessitie of those times required and as Christ had promised Marke 16. 17 18. And these signes shall follow them that beleeve in my Name they shall cast out devils they shall speake with new tongues they shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly poyson it shall not hurt them they shall lay their hands on the sicke and they shall recover The second paire are Pastors and Teachers distinguished by their ordination for these were ordained internally by the outward dispensation of hearing the Word preached by the Apostles then externally chosen by the Church as Acts the sixth after consecrated by the Apostles by prayer and laying on of hands of the Apostles and Elders Acts 14. 23. This order of ministers is ordinarie and to continue in the Church unto the comming of our Lord to Judgement Both these paires are but one and the same function and office and have but one and the same Commission which was given by the immediate ordination of Christ to his Apostles For as God the Father sent his beloved Sonne to bee a light unto the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel in declaring unto them the glad tydings of salvation in his death unto the remission of sinnes So Christ sayd to his Disciples As my Father sent me so send I you John 20. 21 22. The power and authority committed unto them by this commission is the breath of life out of the mouth of Christ proceeding from the Father and the Sonne as it is said Man lives not by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Therefore he breathed on them and said Receive ye the holy Ghost For the word which Christ spake or breathed out of his mouth hee affirmed to be spirit and life saying John 6. The flesh profiteth nothing but the word that I speake is spirit and life The substance of this Commission is mandatory Matt. 28. 19. Goe teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost The doctrinall part of their commission is teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and Marke 26. 15. hath it in these words Preach the Gospell to every creature Now the summe of the doctrine which Christ taught is set downe more plainly by St. Luke 24. 44. These are the words that I spake unto you whilst I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law and the Prophets and in the Psalmes concerning mee And he who was spirit life and light opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures and said Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and rise from the dead the third day And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem And after this manner doe the Pastors and Ministers blesse teach and sanctifie the people Thus Christ by preaching and teaching unto them the word of God out of his mouth he opened their understandings in the Scriptures and thereby they received the holy Ghost for this is Christs manner of breathing upon them Iohn 20. when hee said receive yee the holy Ghost But in Luke he saith Behold I send the promise of my Father upon you Which is to say I will send a visible token of the Spirit upon you or the efficacie of the Spirit upon you Therefore he sayd Tarry yee in the Citie of Ierusalem untill you bee endued with power from on high Not but that they had received the holy Ghost before but not the manifestation and evident power thereof as afterwards it did fall upon them in the similitude of fiery cloven tongues Acts 2. The fruites and operative effects of ministration of the Spirit is set forth Iohn 2. 23. Whose soever sinnes ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sinnes ye retaine they are retained For this is the power and efficacie of the ministeriall Word as hath beene formerly showne which floweth from the absolute power of Christ which was given unto him of the Father as he affirmed to his Disciples Matt. 28. 18. All power is given me in heaven and in Earth And this ministration of the Gospell is that key of David committed unto Christ by which he should open and no man shut and should shut and no man should open And in the 16. of Matthew 16 17. 18. ver. it is evident that this power of the keyes is onely the power of the Gospell of Christ or rather as Peter confessed the Lord Jesus to bee that Christ that Sonne of the living God which he received not by the intelligence of flesh and blood but by Revelation from God the Father this power changeth the whole corrupt nature of man and gives him another denomination or qualitie making him a strong and immoveable rock turning Peter to Petra Thus after this manner is the revelation and power of the Word given in generall to every one that receiveth the knowledge of Christ to beleeve that he is that Christ that Sonne of the living God God himselfe against this rocke the gates of hell the powers and principalities of darknesse and worldly Governours cannot prevaile But the particular and publicke ministration thereof is committed to the Pastors and teachers of the Church of God by whose ministration and publicke dispensation of the Word the hearts and consciences of men are opened and shut bound and loosed every day as Lydia and others in the Acts in which the Word becomes the savour of life unto some and the savour of death unto others And this ministeriall power is also given unto them for divine censure and publicke correction to roote out abominable and unsufferable vices in the Church and Congregations as shall be shewed in his proper place Of the nominations under the Law and under the Gospell Under the Law it is undeniable that the Ministers and Governours of the Church were called Priests Levites and Elders Also in the Christian Church leaving out the extraordinary functions of Apostles and Evangelists they are called Pastors Teachers Helpers and Governours As these rankes are expressed in the 1 Cor. 12. 28. Of helpers wee reade they were added to the Christian Church in the sixth of the Acts whose office seemes to be in the place of the Levites as they are called Deacons And
An Exact ENQVIRY AFTER Ancient Truths Both in Scripture and Fathers Touching The subsistence of the Church of God Digested into Three Parts VIZ. I. True Worship II. Dominion or Divine Jurisdiction III. Discipline reduced from our Father Adams time through all Ages to these present Times Very usefull for these Times By W Fenwick Utter-Barrester of Grays-Inne London Printed for Edw Husbands and Lawrence Blaiklock and are to be sold at their shops in the Middle Temple Temple-Bar To the Right Honorable Algernon Earl of Northumberland Lord Percy Lucy Poynings Fitzpain Brian and Latimer Lord high Admirall of ENGLAND Knight of the most Noble order of the Garter and one of His Majesties most Honorable Privy-councell Right Honorable THe unworthy oppressed Author hath not long since groaned under the severe censure of the late high Commission for the insuing speculations which now he adventures to present unto your Honour hoping for a candid acceptance and interpretation of his poor indeavours for the good of Zion Had not the rising Sun of an auspicious Parliament dispelled those clouds of oppresion and tyranny that menaced a drowning both to me and them they had been choked in their embrio and never injoyed the happinesse they have now attained in your Honorable aspect Pardon most noble Lord the inforced presumption of the distressed Author which implores and hopes for your honorable Patronage and humbly praying for the daily increase of your Honours health and eternall happinesse remains Your Honours most humble most devoted Servant William Fenwick The Errata PAge 1. line 27 for more read most l. 28. for right r. light Pag. 2. l. 29. for 2 r. of Line 34. for posterity r. prosperity Pag. 4. l. 24. for endeavours r. endnes The second Treatise p. 2. l. 33. for the r. thy for of r. unto Pag. 18. l. 3. for he r. the Pag. 10 l. 21 for in r. from Pag. 11. l. 28. for what r. with Pag. 15. l. 1. for Angelicall r. Euangelicall P. 20. l. 9. for penitent r. impenitent Pag. 23. lin 6. for A r. As. for of r. to Pag. 25. l. 9. read are first Pag. 54. l. 14. read omitted Pag. 55. l. 9. read it is that l. 29. reade All And thus ZIONS REQVEST To her Honourable and welbeloved Sonnes now happily assembled in the long and much-desired Parliament of England RIght deare and well-beloved of God your Father in my Lord by whom you are begotten and borne and welbeloved of me not begot of mortall or carnall seed but of the immortall seed of the Word neither borne nor brought forth of the mandane wombe of Rome nor sprong from the native bowels of my humanitie but I bore you and brought you forth of my celestiall wombe the eternall councell of God and I have nourished and brought you up in the royall City of divine Salomon my Lord and your God and Saviour My sonnes heare your Fathers instruction and forsake not your mothers teaching for they shall be a comely ornament unto your head and as chalnes to your necke You have seene with your eyes and heard with your eares how the strumpet of Babell hath boasted her selfe against me and with her impudent face affirmed her selfe to be Queene of heaven and earth deluding the world with outward apparantes whereby many are mistaken by her outward glory supposing her to be my selfe But I desire you my most honourable and deare children to conceive of me aright and be not deceived with vaine and glorious showes and worldly pompe For my glory is internall and heavenly more splendent then the pure gold of more curious embroderers which no eye can see but that Divine eye of right which is given you of your Father For I testifie unto you that I am not to be considered by the pompe and glory of the world nor yet by the wisedome of the wise man or by the nature of flesh and blood for those are not heavenly but earthly sensuall and divelish and doe not cannot nor will not please God but conceive you me to be heavenly spirituall and divine such as your Father hath described me to be A mountaine even Mount Zion a City the City of the living God the celestiall Jerusalem filled with the societie of innumerable Angels and the assembly of the first borne which are written in heaven and with the presence of God in Trinitie sitting upon the Throne Judge of all and with the unity and communion of the spirits of just and perfect men made perfect with that individuall union which they have with Jesus the Mediatour of the New Testament and with the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things then that of Abel even the remission of sinnes to the imputation of righteousnesse for justification of sinners for he came to save sinners by drawing sinners to repentance And I pray you shake of all carnall apprehensions of mee and conceive me to be really such in nature and condition as my Lord hath revealed me by the mouth of his blessed servant Peter 1 Pet. 2. affirming mee to bee a spirituall house or temple 1 Pet. 2. 5. built and compact of living stones made a spirituall house a holy priesthood to offer up spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ who is my foundation that living stone on whom I am built though hee be disallowed of men yet chosen of God and precious Neither suppose me to bee a politique body composed of a temporall head or soveraigne Monarchy or a Nationall and positive lawes and customes which though they bee ordained of God yet in substance they are humane inventions and traditions of men nor consisting of civill and humane Magistrates endewed with morall gifts and vertues for the externall government power and posteritie of humane societies politiquely and wisely providing for the defects of depraved nature and preventing the dammage danger and ruine which the malice of Satan and the corrupt nature of man would draw upon the societies of men in their terrestriall abode Though I bee sometimes called a Kingdome in respect of my eternall King the Lord of Lords and King of Kings and of his divine spirituall power and heavenly dominion which never shall have end Yet am I never anywhere in Scripture described to bee a temporall or earthly Kingdome But on the contrary my Lord did plainly affirme and teach that his kingdome was not of this world and prohibited the subjects of his kingdome to take dominion and government upon them one over another nor set up a Hierarchie among them as the Princes and Lords of the world did whose manner is to thirst after preheminence and dominion but that in his divine kingdome hee that would be the greatest should be the least and hee that should be found to take most diligent labour and paines in ministration of his divine Word and food of life should bee esteemed a faithfull servant to his Lord and Master But consider me as I am the minister and dispensator
grievous to bee borne which the Scribes and Pharisees of Rome who pretended to fit in Moyses seat have laid upon my shoulders the Episeopall waight whereof you my sonnes have heretofore borne with much griefe whilst they advanced themselves to the chiefe seates and most eminent dignities loving to be reputed great and excellent Rabbies even above you the naturall Peeres and Potentates of State And now I conclude and doe offer unto your sacred considerations the holy Sinode of the Apostles set forth for a perfect patterne of all Counsells and Ecclesiasticall causes In the fifteenth of the Acts where you may observe that Synode consisted of the Apostles Elders and Brethren Their consultation was according to the rule of the written Word there conclusion and sentence was thus It seemed good to the holy Ghost and to us to lay no more burden upon you then these things necessarie That is that yee abstaine from things offered to Idols and blood which includes all Ceremoniall inventions and bloudy sacrifices and prohibits from that which is strangled with all crueltie and oppression and from fornication which imports uncleane conversation and lusts which if yee forheare yee shall doe well And though I here claime of you the honour of being your Mother being the body of Christ and Church of God in whom you also have the honour and prerogative to be the sonnes of God yet touching my earthly habitation and abode I am under your Dominion and tuition whom my Lord hath placed over me for my peace and prosperity on earth And that through Soveraigne power and authority which he hath ordained over all men to the end you may give his Gospell a free passage and be nursing and protecting Fathers of mee in your Common-wealth that your Father may give you and your King a blessing of welfare and happy being in my Lord Christ in whom all Nations are blessed and blessed is that Nation whose God is the Lord A Breviate of the ensuing second Treatise THe subsistence of the Church of God composed of a threefold cord 1. Worship 2. Dominion 3. Discipline In the Tractate of worship are declared 1. The nature of Divine worship 2. The nature of acceptable obedience 3. How this worship corresponds with the nature of God 4. The manner of publike worship from Adam till Moyses 5. The Service used by the Patriarkes 6. The same continued in the Nationall Church 7. The service used in the Synagogues 8. The same observed by the Apostles 9. The testimony of the Fathers 10. An amplification and undeniable reasons for the puritie of Gods word and worship In the Tractate of dominion or divine jurisdiction 1. Of the first gradation of this Dominion 2. How Christ ordaines his Vice-royes on earth 3. Difference betwixt Regall and divine power 4. The Glasse of Kings 5. How Divine power is derived unto man from the Father by the Word through the spirit 6. How the Word is the Divine power of God and the authority committed to the Church In the Tractate of Government and Discipline 1. Of the calling of Ministers 2. The manner of their ordination 3. The orders and degrees of Pastours and their 4. Denominations under the Law and Gospell 5. Of Discipline and censures 6. Of Excommunication The subsistence of the Church of God THe subsistence of Gods Church is composed of a threefold thred which cannot easily be broken 1. The first is spirituall and divine worship worship 2. Spirituall and divine Jurisdiction or Jure Divino dominion 3. Spirituall and divine discipline or government discipline I call this threefold cord of grace Divine and Spirituall because the universall Minister of Gods dispensation of all saving grace is the holy Spirit the third person of the Trinitie These are correlative subsistences in the Church of God so depending one upon another that they cannot be separated or untwisled without either some defect or dismembring of the Church in her selfe or utter dissolving of her in essence and nature to be any true Church Also without these distinct subsistences in the Church she cannot exercise the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit nor the functions and offices ordained of God for ministration of the Word For this cause I call them subsistences in the essence of the Church like unto the subsistences of the Trinitie in the essence of God himselfe Of Spirituall and Diuine worship The Worship which God requires must bee such as is agreeable to his owne nature and the good pleasure of his owne will therefore true divine worship is tyed to the prescript commandement of God and not to the devising invention of man therefore to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken is better then the fat of Rammes The nature of acceptable Obedience It is a supernaturall and filiall worke of God internally and spiritually wrought seated and invested by Gods Spirit into the intellect making man a new creature created in Christ Jesus unto good workes which God hath ordained that he should walke in them being renewed in the spirit of the mind to offer himselfe unto God a living sacrifice in an understanding worshipping of God This worship and sacrifice is described by the Prophet David to be a broken and contrite spirit called a well-pleasing sacrifice to God presenting a sin-offering as Psal. 51 17. also in the 116 it is called the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving How this Worship is correspondent to the nature of God The Lord doth shew it in the fourth of John 23. and 24. saying the true worshippers shall worship God in spirit and truth that is in the Spirit of sanctification dwelling in the mind helping our infirmities with sighes and groanes which cannot be exprest and in the truth of his Word dwelling in us in all wisedome and spirituall understanding such as these the Father requireth should worship him because God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth and not in the ignorance of the mind nor in the invention and will-worship of man For this cause the Psalmist saith in the 51. 6. Thou O Lord lovest truth in the inward affections and in the 50. Psalme he saith Offer to God the sacrifice of praise and pay the vowes of the most high and call upon God for the Lord loveth truth in the inward parts This is the pure and simple worship of God without the glory and beautie of outward Ceremonies agreeing with the simple pure essence and nature of God himselfe Consider wel Pauls Caveat in the Coloss. 2 8. 18. 20 21 22 23. warning all men to beware of humane wisedome and deceitfull inventions and traditions according to the Rudiments of the world and not after Christ the outward shew of holinesse which puffes up mens hearts with selfe-conceit being burthened with traditions which having a glorious shew of holinesse of wisedome and voluntary religion wherein men are out of measure superstitious in zeale not
him debarred from the holy Communion of the Supper of the Lord and continue him upon the stoole of repentance with much exhortation patience and long forbearing till they convince him or otherwise separate him from the Congregation for a time if after hee continue in his foulenesse of sinne then hee is againe called to the Congregation and admonished which if then it take no effect her is excommunicated by laying on of the hands of all the Elders after that hee is accounted as an enemie or as Paul saith Anathema to the Church and wholly and finally given over to Satan according to the words of our Saviour the 18. Matth. 18. Whomsoever yee bind on earth shall bee bound in heaven and whom yee shall loose on earth shall bee loosed in heaven Judge I pray you if all the politicke wits in the world could ever have devised such a pure and subtile discipline as should spie into the inward secrets of the thoughts and intentions of the heart and should purge the conscience and should cut off the consuming cankers and rotten members from the body of the Church What Romish Apothecary could ever have composed such a soule-saving medicine Observe how the holy Spirit hath commanded this discipline to bee alwayes practized in the Church When Achans covetousnesse troubled the Congregation by moving Gods wrath against them a diligent search was commanded to bee made and being found out Achan and his house were cut off Josh. 7. And also if there bee a scorner or contentious person saith Solomon cast out the scorner and so strife will goe out and so contention shall cease Also Rom. 16. 17. 18. Now saith Paul I beseech you brethren marke them diligently which cause division and offences contrary to the doctrine which yee have learned and avoid them And more plainly in the 2 Thess. 36. 10. Wee command you brethren in the Name of Christ that yee withdraw your selves from every brother that walkes inordinately and not after the instructions which yee received of us And in the foureteenth verse he saith If any man obey not your saying note him by a letter and have no company with him that hee may bee ashamed yet account him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother But if he come to the last degree Excommunion then saith our Lord Christ let him be anathema But if you would see the Apostles practice in this discipline See 1 Cor. 5. chap. 4 and 5. verses Paul having certaine intelligence that there was odious fornication among them hee writ thus unto them When yee are gathered together and my spirit in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that such a one I say by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ bee delivered unto Sathan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may bee saved in the day of the Lord Jesus And out of this text make a profitable observation that Paul will not have Excommunication though but in the second degree executed in any private manner but by the publicke assembly gathered together neither doth hee allow it to be done in any name but in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ Neither doth hee attribute the power either to himselfe or the Church but onely to the Lord Jesus Now and lastly I must conclude with the last part of Discipline that is Synodicall assemblies which are of three degrees The first is particular to every Congregation which consists of the Pastors the Deacons and the Elders of that Church whose customes is the best reformed Churches to meet once a weeke or as need requires to take an account of all things that concerne the duties of the Elders and the Church-revenues the Pastor being their chiefe guide Those things about which they chiefly busie themselves are first to catalogue the Professors of their Congregation their Catechuminists distinguished from those that are thought fit to be admitted to the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ their Baptized their penitents their Excommunicates their number of Elders and Deacons Pastors and Teachers one or two as the place requires In this their assembly they consider the spirituall estate and condition of the flocke examine the revenues of the Church and the necessities of the poore and what things soever they find meet to edification The Pastor exhorting the Elders to diligence care and zeale in the worke of the Lord the Deacons to honesty compasson and a good conscience The second order of Synodes is in the reformed Churches called the assemblies of the Presbyteries held monethly or quarterly under which they comprehend the Pastors and Church Elders for every Pastor brings with him two or three Elders after the quantity of the Congregation and this Synode is a company of Pastors and Elders of a shire or wapontake In these Assemblies they examine the spirituall condition of every parish take view of their order diligence doctrine and manners as well the doctrine and manners of the Pastors and Elders as of the younger people And there they proceed to such further order and censure as by the holy Scriptures they are taught And in these Synodes all errours in opinion heresies and Schismes that are found noysome to the Congregation are reproved and the parties exhorted and admonished In these their Synodes they alwayes from time to time choose one President to guide the affaires and thus they avoyd that preheminence which Episcopacie greedily hunts after The third degree is the superlative assembly of Presbyteries which is either Nationall or Provinciall which in some Churches are held yearely or otherwise as occasions fit over which the prince and Soveraigne is the Principall Elder and the Presbyters and Elders appoint one Pastor for the time President of the assembly who moderates and guides the affaires The matters handled in this Synode are a generall review of both the former Synods and specially to take care of the preservation of the puritie of Doctrine and suppressing of Heretickes and errours and all misdemeanours and Schismes in the Church And whatsoever is done in any of these Synods is certified from one to another and through the Nationall Church of all their most materiall censures which may concerne them in generall wherby the Church is preserved in a sweet and pleasant decorum unitie puritie and peace The unerrable patterne of these Synods is taken from the practise of the Apostles Acts 15. shewing by what rules of temperance and wisedome they ought to judge and give sentence taking the Scripture for their rule the holy Ghost for their guide not laying any burden on the Church by Lawes Decrees or Canons as I have before spoken And this Divine rule and patterne was kept and observed throughout all the Primitive times till the great Councell of Nice as by the Chronography of Socrates scholast. may be observed yet the earthly glory of Babel hath so long dazeled the eyes of most men that they call the truth novelty But if men were of a