Subjection to Christ to render his Church is to Fence and Cultivate its Peace and good Order either by wholsom Laws of their own or by permitting and requiring it when occasion requires to make good Laws for it self and if need be by inforcing 'em with Civil Coercions for so when the Church was either broken by Schisms or corrupted by Errors and disorderly Customs it was always the practice of Christian Kings and Emperors even from the time that they became Christians to restrain and give a check to those Divisions and Disorders either by their own Royal and Imperial Edicts or by convening the Ecclesiastical Governors to Councils there to consult and agree upon such good Laws and expedients as the present necessities of the Church required and because these Laws being grounded upon mere Spiritual Authority could as such be inforced by no other Penalties than Spiritual which by bold and obstinate Offenders were frequently despised and disregarded therefore those holy Kings and Emperours thought themselves obliged as they were the Ministers of Jesus to strengthen and reinforce 'em with temporal Sanctions and Penalties by which means they became the Laws of the Empire as well as of the Church Of all which I have given sufficient Instances and all this was no more than what they were obliged to by vertue of their Subjection to Christ for being subjected to him they are his Viceroys in the World and do Reign and Govern by his Authority and since their Authority is his they must be accountable to him if they do not imploy it for him in Ministring to the necessities of his Church and Kingdom and therefore if when it is in their power to check a prevailing Schism or Corruption in the Church by wholsom Laws and Edicts they refuse or neglect to do it they must doubtless answer to him from whom they received their power and who being himself the Supreme Head of the Church hath constituted 'em its Guardians and Nursing-Fathers III. Another of those Ministries which Princes are obliged to render his Church is to Chasten and Correct the irregular and disorderly Members of it for though there are Spiritual Rods and Corrections which Christ hath solely committed to the Spiritual Government and which if men understood and considered the dire effects and consequences of 'em are sufficient to restrain and keep in awe the most obstinate Offenders yet when men are stupified in sin and do feel nothing but only what pains or pleases their bodies these Spiritual Corrections are insignificant to 'em they being such as make no impression on their corporeal Senses and so when men are hardened in Schism or Heresie to be sure they will despise the Ecclesiastical Rods as being confidently perswaded that they cannot be justly applied to 'em and that where they are applied unjustly they are only so many Spiritual scare-crows that can only threaten but not hurt 'em and therefore in these cases the Secular Powers are obliged by vertue of their Subjection to Jesus to second the Spiritual with the Temporal Rod and to awe such offenders with corporeal corrections as are fearless and insensible of the Censures of the Church And conformable hereunto hath been the constant practice of all good Kings and Emperors even from their first Conversion to Christianity as might easily be demonstrated by innumerable Instances out of Ecclesiastical History for they not only made Laws inforc'd with temporal Penalties for the regulation of the Clergy as well as Laity not only commanded and obliged their Bishops in case of notorious neglect to execute the Church Censures on the Schismatical Heretical and disorderly of both sorts but when they found those Spiritual Executions ineffectual they very often seconded 'em with temporal such as pecuniary mulcts Imprisonments and Banishments and though in the case of error and false belief they were always very tender and gentle yet whenever they found men busily propagating their Errors into Sects and Divisions to the disturbance of the Churches peace they thought themselves obliged to restrain their petulancy with temporal Chastisements And indeed as they are the Vice-roys of our Saviour they are ex officio the conservators of the peace of his Kingdom and stand obliged to exert that Authority he hath devolved upon 'em in the defence of its Unity and good Order which in many cases they can no otherwise do but only by restraining the Schismatical and disorderly with the terror of temporal corrections so that as well in the Church as in the Civil State they are the Ministers of God to us for our good and therefore if we do that which is evil we have just cause to be affraid for they bear not the Sword in vain for they are the Ministers of God Revengers to execute wrath upon them that do evil Rom. 13.14 IV. And lastly Another of those Ministries which Princes are obliged to render to Christ's Church by vertue of their subjection to him is to make good provision for the Decency of its Worship and for the convenient maintenance of its Officers and Ministers to take care that it hath decent and commodious places set apart for the publick Celebration of its Worship and that those places be supplied with such Ornaments and Accommodations as are sutable to those venerable Solemnities that are to be performed in them that so its Worship may not be exposed to contempt by the slovenliness and Barbarity of its outward appendages and this is the clothing of the Church which as it ought not on the one hand to be too Pompous and Gaudy that being naturally apt to distract and Carnalize the minds of its Votaries and to divert their attention from those spiritual exercises wherein the life and soul of its Worship consists so neither ought it on the other hand to be sordid and nasty that being as naturally apt to prejudice and distaste men against it and to create in their minds a loathing and contempt of it Now the furnishing the Church with such decent Places and Ornaments of Worship as do become the grave Solemnities of a spiritual Religion being a matter of Cost and Charge must necessarily belong to the Civil Powers who alone can lay Rates upon the Subject and have the sole Command and disposal of the publick Purse and therefore by vertue of their subjection to Christ they are obliged to take care that such Religious Places and Ornaments be provided as the Decency and convenience of his Worship do require And then as for the Ministers and Officers of his Church they are under the same Obligation to take care that they whose Office it is to serve at the Altar should live upon the Altar and that according to the different stations and degrees wherein they are placed that so they may neither be necessitated for a subsistence to involve themselves in secular affairs and thereby to neglect their spiritual Calling which is Burthen enough of all conscience for any one mans shoulders nor be tempted
to his Church was nothing but what he himself had first received from the Father so that though it was from the Father that the Son had his authority to send the Holy Ghost yet it was from the Son that the Holy Ghost had his Mission immediately And accordingly you may observe that after Christ's departure from this World the Holy Ghost acted immediately under Christ as the supreme Vicegerent of his Kingdom For next and immediately under Christ he Authorized the Bishops and Governours of the Church and constituted them overseers of the flock of Christ Acts 20.28 it was he that chose their Persons and appointed them their Work Acts 13.2 and gave them their several Orders and Directions Acts 15.28 Acts 16.6 in all which it is evident he acted under Christ and still continues to act as his supreme Substitute and Vicegerent and accordingly he is stiled by Tertullian the Vicarious vertue or power as he was the supreme Vicar and Substitute of Christ in mediating for God with Men so that now the Holy Ghost is subordinated to the Son not only by vertue of his procession from him together with the Father but also by vertue of his being purchased and obtained by him of the Father by his meritorious Death and Intercession I proceed III. To shew what it is that this Holy Spirit hath done and still continues doing in order to the effectuating this his Mediation For there are some things which he hath done and now ceases to do and some things which he hath always done and will still continue doing to the end of the World of both which I shall give some brief account in order to the fuller explication of the Ministry of the Holy Ghost under Jesus the great Mediator First therefore there are some things which he hath done and now ceases to do and of this sort were those extraordinary operations he performed in order to the Planting and Propagating Christ's Gospel in the World upon and after that his Miraculous Descent of which we read in Acts 2. For when Christ was departing from his Disciples into Heaven he ordered them to stay at Ierusalem and not to undertake that mighty work of Planting his Gospel through the World till they were endued with power from on high Luke 24.49 which power from on high was no other than that miraculous assistance which upon his Descent the Holy Ghost did afterwards vouchsafe them upon which Order they return to Ierusalem and there continue till the day of Pentecost fasting and praying together in an Upper Room when all of a sudden the Holy Ghost descended upon them in a visible body of bright shining fire and endowed them with all those Heavenly powers which were requisite to qualifie them for the propagation of Christ's Gospel through the World. For as they were to be the first Planters of the Gospel it was requisite First that they should be able to speak the several Languages of those Nations to whom they were to preach Secondly that they should be fully and clearly instructed in the Doctrines which they were to preach Thirdly that they should be able to give the most convincing evidence of the truth and divinity of their Doctrines Fourthly that they should be conducted by Infallible advice through all the emergent difficulties of their Ministry against all which necessities the Holy Ghost abundantly supplied them For First He inspired them with the gift of Languages without which they must have spent a great part of their lives before they could have been capable of preaching the Gospel to the World in learning the several Languages of the several Nations they were to preach to which must have very much retarded the progress of the Gospel And therefore the Holy Ghost upon this his miraculous Descent did in an instant infuse into them the Habit of speaking several Languages insomuch that all of a sudden and without any Rules of Grammar or previous instructions they were heard to speak to the great astonishment of their Auditors in the fifteen several Tongues of fifteen several Nations Acts 2.4 c. And though they were immediately dispersed abroad in the World and some of them into remote Countries whose names perhaps they had never heard of yet still where-ever they came they were inspired with the Language of the Country which they spake as freely as their own Mother Tongue And this was a vast advantage to them in their Ministry because they were not only enabled by it to preach the Gospel to all Nations but were enabled in such a manner as gave a mighty confirmation to their Doctrine For their very gift of speaking being a miraculous effect of divine power was an undeniable demonstration that what they spake was divine Secondly The Holy Ghost fully and clearly instructed them in the Doctrines which they were to preach and this was no more than what was necessary For what they preached who were the first Planters of the Gospel was to be the standard of truth and falshood to all succeeding Generations and therefore it was highly necessary that they should be fully and clearly instructed in the Doctrine of the Gospel that so their Successors in all Ages might safely relie on their Authority But whilst they were under the Personal Discipline of our Saviour who instructed them by Humane Methods i. e. by proposing his Doctrine to their Ears and through their Mediation to their Vnderstandings it is plain they made but very slow and slender improvements For after all his pains with them they continued very ignorant of some of the most material Articles of Faith and at best they had but gross Apprehensions of the nature of Christ's Kingdom and of the ends and reasons of his Death and were very diffident even of his Resurrection and the reason was that Christ taught them as a man doth a man i. e. by words which are only the audible Images and Representations of things which being liable to misapprehension and oblivion some of them they utterly foâ—got and some of them they grosly misunderstood But when the Spirit came upon them a wondrous Light broke all of a sudden into their Vnderstandings by which they discovered farther into the Gospel Mysteries in an instant than they had done under all our Saviour's teaching For though the Spirit taught them no new Doctrines but did only repeat and explain to them what our Saviour had taught them before for he shall receive of mine saith Christ i. e. of my Doctrine and shall shew or explain it unto you yet it is evident he taught them much more effectually than our Saviour For he spoke not to their Ears but to their Minds and represented things more nakedly and immediately to their understandings he conversed with their spirits even as Spirits do with Spirits without involâ—ing his sense in articulate sounds or material representations but objected it to them in its own naked light and characterized it immediately on their understandings And as he immediately
hence we are said to have boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies that is to draw near by Prayer to God by the Bloud of Iesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh Heb. 10.19 20. And our Saviour himself assures us that whatsoever we shall ask in his name he will do it and again he repeats it If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it John 14.13 14. that is he will procure it for us by joyning his Intercessions with our Prayers for so ver 16. he explains himself I will pray the Father II. The other intent and purpose of his making this Address or Intercession for us to the Father is to obtain of him Power and Authority to bestow on us all those graces and favours which in consideration of his Sacrifice God hath promised us It is not to move the Father to bestow on us the blessings of the New Covenant immediately with his own hand that our Saviour intercedes but to impower himself as Mediator between the Father and us to bestow them upon us according to the terms and conditions upon which they are proposed to us For though it is most certainly true that every good and perfect gift comes down from above even from the Father of Lights yet it is as certain that they come not down to us from the Father immediately but are all derived to us through the hands of the Son who by his continual Intercession obtains continual power and authority of the Father to derive and confer on us all those heavenly gifts So that as the High Priest when he had presented the bloud of the Sacrifice in the Holy of Holies was Authorized by God to bless the people vide 1 Chron. 23.13 even so our blessed Saviour by presenting his meritorious Sacrifice in Heaven and in the vertue thereof interceding for us with the Father is continually authorized by him effectually to bless us i. e. to confer on us the blessings of the New Covenant upon the terms and conditions that they are therein proposed For this power he obtains of God by his perpetual Intercession and hence he is said to be able to save all those to the utmost that come unto God by him seeing he ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 where his power or ability to save us to the utmost i. e. to confer on us all the blessings of the New Covenant is expresly attributed to his ever living to make intercession for us which is a plain Argument that the intent of his Intercession is to move God to authorize him to save us seeing that in answer to his Intercession he is continually impowered and authorized thereunto For it is to be considered that this power and authority and the exercise of it appertains to his Kingly Office which he first arrived to and still continues in by vertue of his Intercession and indeed herein consists the Royalty of his Priesthood in that by interceding for us as Priest in the vertue of his Sacrifice and continuing to do so he first obtained and still continues vested with Kingly Power and Authority to bestow on us those heavenly blessings he intercedes for and it is to this purpose that he intercedes not that the Father would bestow them on us immediately but that he would put and continue it in his power to bestow them as Mediator between the Father and us so that he acquired and holds his Royalty by his Priesthood and that Kingly Power by which he gives us the blessings of the New Covenant God gave and continues to him by way of answer and return to his Priestly Intercession And hence he is said upon his offering one sacrifice for sin for ever i. e. upon the perpetual Oblation of his Sacrifice in Heaven to have sate down on the right hand of God i. e. in the Throne of his Kingly Power and Authority Heb. 10.12 and accordingly Eph. 4.8 we are told that upon his ascending up on high i. e. to present his sacrificed body in heaven he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men which necessarily implies that he had received power and authority from his Father to give them and so Psal. 68.18 whence these words are quoted expresses it He received gifts for men i. e. upon the presenting his Sacrifice as Priest he received of the Father those Gifts for men which by his Kingly power he afterwards distributed among them So that what he gives by his Kingly power he receives by his Priestly and both the gifts which he gives and the authority by which he gives them are the fruits and returns of that perpetual Intercession which he makes by his Sacrifice And that by his Intercession our Saviour hath acquired this Royal power of giving us the blessings of the New Covenant he himself doth plainly enough intimate for thus of the Spirit which is one of those great blessings he tells his Disciples It is expedient for you that I go away i. e. to Heaven to intercede for you for if I go not away the Comforter will not come i. e. he will not come but upon my Intercession but if I depart I will send him unto you namely by that Royal Authority which upon my Intercession I shall receive from the Father Ioh. 16.7 And accordingly St. Peter tells the Jews that Christ being exalted by the right hand of God and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost i. e. upon his Intercession in Heaven he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear i. e. the miraculous vertues of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.33 And so for remission of sins he tells us that he hath the Keys of hell and death Rev. 1.18 i. e. power to bind or loose to pardon or condemn and lastly for eternal life he expresly tells the Church of Laodicea To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me on my Throne even as I have overcome and am sate down with my Father on his Rev. 3.21 By all which it is abundantly evident that Christ hath a Royal power delegated to him from the Father upon his intercession to grant and bestow all the blessings of the New Covenant upon those that comply with its terms and conditions For so all the graces and favours of God are in Scripture said to be derived in by or through Jesus Christ for so Eph. 1.3 God the Father is said to bless us with all spiritual blessings in or through Christ and Rom. 6.23 Eternal life is said to be the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord and we are said to be heirs of God or inheritors of his blessings through Christ Gal. 4.7 which plainly implies that though it is from God the Father originally that all our mercies are derived yet it is through God the Son immediately that they are all derived to us and that whatsoever God
God himself can give us of his mercy and our happiness hath any force in it to oblige us to repent and amend this our Saviour's Intercession you see fairly proposes to us so that if this proposal doth not effectually influence our hope and thereby excite and animate our endeavours it is impossible that any encouragement should ever move or affect us And thus you see in all these several particulars how effectually this way of God's communicating his Favours to us through the Intercession of our Saviour tends to our reformation and amendment what a fruitful Topick of motives it is to induce us to repentance and how pathetically it addresses to every affection in us that is capable of persuasion what awful and reverential thoughts of Almighty God it suggests to our minds to dispose our stubborn Wills to an humble submission to him what a horrible representation it makes of our sins and of God's wrath and indignation against them and what a dreadful alarm it gives to our fear to rouse and awake us out of our sinful security And in a word how powerfully it encourages us to draw near unto God and to make our addresses to him with an humble and generous freedom and what vast assurances it gives to our hope of his gracious intentions towards us if we repent and amend All which considered one would think it were impossible for any man that believes and understands this wonderful method of mercy not to be moved and affected by it and certainly that man who hath obstinacy enough to withstand all its persuasions and finally to defeat and baffle those powerful attempts which it makes to reclaim him is a Creature not to be moved by Reason and Argument For in this he hath conquered the greatest motives of all sorts that can be urged to persuade men and when once he is got beyond the reach of persuasion and no motive of ingenuity or hope or fear can affect him his condition is desperate and his obstinacy incurable Wherefore as we would not finally disappoint this wonderful contrivance of God to reclaim us and thereby render our selves for ever desperate let us at length be persuaded seriously to consider the Motives and Arguments it proposes to us and never to cease urging and pressing them upon our own souls till they have conquered our obstinate Wills and prejudiced Affections and finally captivated us into a free compliance with their powerful persuasions For if through our wilful neglect and inconsideration this mighty project of mercy prove utterly unsuccessful with us it is certain we have sinned our selves past all hope of recovery and it will be in vain to make any farther experiment on us And when we have once baffled this last and most powerful remedy of the divine Goodness what remains but that it should give us up and utterly abandon us to the just desert and dire effects of our own folly and obstinacy SECT VI. Of the Kingly Office of our Saviour WHen I first entred upon this Argument of the particular Offices of our Mediator I proposed to handle them in the same order that he performed and executed them and accordingly as he began with his Prophetick Office of which his whole life was a continued Ministry so I have treated of this Office in the first place and as from his Prophetick he proceeded to his Priestly Office one part of which he executed on the Cross where he offered himself a Sacrifice for the sins of the World and the other upon his Ascension into Heaven where he presented and still continues to present his Sacrifice to the Father by way of intercession for us so I proceeded in the next place to treat of his Priesthood in both the parts of it and now in the last place in pursuit of the same order I proceed to his Regal or Kingly Office which was the last he entered upon after he had finished his Prophecy offered his Sacrifice and presented it to his Father in Heaven For so in Scripture the Regality of Christ is always spoken of as successive to both his Prophetick and Priestly Office and as the fruit and reward of his faithful discharge and execution of them So Phil. 2.8 9 10. it was because he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross that God highly exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth And Rom. 14.9 the Apostle tells us that it was for this end that Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living and accordingly the Angels in St. Iohn's Vision attribute his advancement to his Regal dignity to the merit of his Death and Sacrifice Rev. 5.12 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing And hence his sitting at the right hand of God which is the great Scripture-Metaphor by which his Regal Authority is expressed of the sense and meaning of which Pearson's Exposition of the Creed p. 277 278 279. is mentioned as the fruit and consequence of his Death and Intercession So Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins i. e. by dying for us on Earth and presenting his Sacrifice in Heaven he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high and Heb. 10.12 But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sate down on the right hand of God and so also 1 Pet. 3.22 we are told that it was upon his going into Heaven i. e. to present his Sacrifice to his Father there that he was advanced to the right hand of God and that Angels and Authorities and Powers were made subject to him For his going into Heaven was a Priestly Act corresponding to the Priest's going into the Holy of Holies to present his Sacrifice to God there so that Christ's first arrival into Heaven and presenting his Sacrifice there is the beginning and commencement of his Intercession in answer to which he first received of his Father that Royal Power and Authority which he exercises both in Heaven and Earth and it is by vertue of the continuance of that his Priestly Intercession that this his Royal power is continued and perpetuated to him So that as he is a Royal Priest i. e. a Priest invested with Regal power to bestow the blessings he intercedes for so he is a Sacerdotal King i. e. a King that holds his Regal power in the right and virtue of his Priestly Intercession For it is by the continuance of his Intercession that he obttains the continuance of his Royal Authority to bestow those blessings on us which he intercedes for So that as Christ intercedes in the vertue of his Sacrifice so he rules in the vertue of his Intercession And accordingly you find in
essentially due to their Sovereignty and whatsoever the Laws and Customs of Nations had before determined to be their Right but also by acknowledging before Pilate the Right of the Civil Tribunal to call him to account Ioh. 19.1 where he confesses that the Power by which Pilate arraigned him was given him from above and by reprehending S. Peter for endeavouring by force to rescue him out of the hands of the Civil Powers Put up thy Sword saith he into his place for all that take the sword shall perish by the sword Matth. 26.52 in which words it was far from his intention to prohibite the use of the Sword either to Governours who as S. Paul tells us bear not the Sword in vain or to private persons in their own lawful defence for he commands his own Disciples to buy them swords to defend themselves against Robbers and lawless Cut-throats who as Iosephus tells did very much abound in those days Luke 22.36 but all that he intended was to forbid drawing the Sword against lawful Authority in any case whatsoever though it were for the defence and security of his own person for this was S. Peter's case who in the defence of his Saviour resisted the High Priests Officers who came armed with a lawful Authority to seize and apprehend him in which our Saviour plainly owns himself accountable to the Civil Authority of his Country for if he had not been so it could be no fault in S. Peter to endeavour to rescue him from its Ministers and if Christ himself while he was upon Earth were subject to the Civil Authority what an high piece of arrogance is it for those who are at most but his Vicars and Ministers to claim or pretend an exemption And if it were so great a fault in S. Peter to draw his Sword against lawful Authority though it were in the defence of his Saviours Person then doubtless it is no less a fault in his Successors to pretend a Right from S. Peter to draw their Swords against Sovereign Princes though it be in the defence of their Saviours Religion And as our Saviour owned himself subject and accountable to the Civil Tribunal so S. Paul's injunction is universal Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers and surely every Soul must include the whole body of the Clergy as well as of the Laity unless we can produce some clear and express exception to the contrary and as the Command extends universally to all so doth the reason of it also for the Powers that are are ordained of God and if we must be subject to them because they rule by God's Authority then it is certain there are none that are subject to God but are under the force and obligation of this Reason And then he goes on Whosoever resisteth the Power of whatsoever Degree or Order of men he be resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation and if according to the Law of our Saviour it be a damnable sin for any person or persons whatsoever to resist the Civil Authority then it is a plain case that our Saviour hath not at all depressed the Sovereignty of the Secular Powers by subjecting it to any Superiour Tribunal but hath left it as absolute and unaccountable as ever it was before it was subjected to his Empire And thus having proved that Sovereign Princes are not devested of any natural Right of their Sovereignty by their subjection to the Mediatorial Scepter of our Saviour I proceed in the Second place To shew what those Ministries are which they are obliged to render to our Saviour by vertue of this their subjection to him In general it is foretold that upon their Subjection to Christ they should become nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers to his Church Isa. 49.23 that is that they should tenderly cherish protect and defend it and liberally minister to it whatsoever is necessary for its support and preservation and to be sure Christ expects of them that they should accomplish this Prediction by doing all those good Offices to his Church which the relation of a foster Father or Mother imports For when God Predicts any good thing of men it is plain that he would have them be what he foretels they shall be so that in this case the Prophesie carries Precept in it and doth not only signifie what shall be but also what ought to be When therefore God Prophesies of Kings that they shall be nursing Fathers to his Church he doth as well declare what they should be as what they shall be and so he foretels of them and commands them in the same breath If therefore we would know what those Ministries are which Christ now requires Sovereign Powers to render to his Church our best way will be to inquire what those Duties are which are implied in the relation of a foster Father to his foster Child Now the Duties of this Relation may be all of them comprehended under these four particulars First To protect and defend it against harms and injuries Secondly To Cultivate its manners with good Precepts and Counsels Thirdly To correct and chasten its faults and irregularities Fourthly To supply it with decent Raiment and convenient Sustenance answerable to which Sovereign Powers being constituted by our Saviour the foster Fathers of his Church are by vertue of this Relation obliged I. To protect and defend it in the Profession and exercise of the true Religion II. To fence and Cultivate its peace and good Order either by wholesom Laws of their own or by permitting and requiring it to make good Laws for it self and if need be inforcing them with Civil Coercions III. To chasten and correct the irregular and disorderly members of it IV. To make provision for the Decency of its Worship and for the convenient Maintenance of its Officers and Ministers which answers to the decent Raiment and convenient Sustenance with which the Foster-Father is oblig'd to supply his Foster-Child These Particulars I shall but very briefly insist on it being none of my Province to instruct Princes and Governors I. One of those Ministries which Princes by virtue of their Subjection to Christ are obliged to render to his Church is to Protect and Defend her in the Profession and Exercise of the true Religion that is not only to permit her openly to Profess the true Religion and to perform the publick Offices of it without disturbance or interruption but also to fence her with legal securities and guard her with the Temporal Sword against the power and malice of such as would disturb and persecute her and therefore Sovereign Powers are concerned above all things impartially to inquire and studiously to examine what the true Religion is lest being imposed upon by false pretences they misemploy that Power in the Patronage of Error which was given 'em for the Protection of the Truth II. Another of those Ministries which Princes are obliged by virtue of their
so to feed and to rule are of the same significancy in Psalmâ—8 â—8 72 and Philo tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that the name of Shepherds implyed Ruling and Governing Power so they who were sent and Commission'd by our Saviour are stil'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishops and Overseers or Shepherds in the Flock to feed the Church of God Acts 20.28 and they are elsewhere commanded to feed the Flock of God and to take the oversight thereof 1 Pet. 5.2 And as they are called the Shepherds of Christs Flock so they are also the Stewards of his Family and as such they are constituted by him the Rulers of his Houshold to give them their portion of meat in due Season Luke 12.42 and elsewhere they are called Governments or Governors the Abstract as it is very usual in Scripture being put for the Concrete 1 Cor. 12.28 and their Authority is said to be given from the Lord 2 Cor. 10.8 and they aâ—e said to be our Rulers in the Lord i. e. by the Lords Commission and Authority 1 Thes. 5.12 and as such they are commanded to Rule with diligence Rom. 12.8 from all which it is abundantly evident that the Church of Christ is a formed Society subsisting of it self distinct from all other Societies under a distinct Rule and Government But this I shall make yet more fully appear when I come to treat of the several Ministries which the Governors of the Church of Christ are obliged to render him I proceed therefore at present to the Second thing proposed which was to inquire into the nature of this Government in what hands Christ hath placed it now the two main Rival forms of Church Government pretending to divine Institution are the Presbyterial and Episcopal the Presbyterial is that which is seated in an equality or parity of Church Officers the Episcopal is that which is placed in a superior order of Church Officers called Bishops to whom the other Orders of Presbyters and Deacons are subject and subordinate the latter of which I shall endeavour to prove is the true form of Government instituted by our Saviour and that First from the Institution of our Saviour Secondly From the practice of the Holy Apostles Thirdly From the punctual conformity of the Primitive Church to both Fourthly From our Saviours declared allowance and approbation of the Primitive practice in this matter I. That the Government of the Church of Christ is Episcopal is evident from the Institution of our Saviour who in his life-time instituted two distinct Orders of Ecclesiastical Ministers the one superiour to the other viz. that of the twelve Apostles and that of the seventy or seventy two Disciples for that these two were of distinct Orders is evident from their being always distinguished from one another and mentioned apart by different names and in different Ranks and Classes for to what purpose should the Scripture mention the twelve and the seventy so distinctly as it every where doth if there were not some distinction in their Office and Employment for in Luke 6.13 we are told that Christ called unto him his Disciples and of them he chose twelve whom also be named Apostles and Mark 3.13 14. it is said that he called unto him whom he would that is of his Disciples and ordained twelve that they should be with him and that he might send 'em forth to Preach and what less can this imply than that the twelve were separated by this Call and Ordination of Christ to some distinct Office and Employment from the rest of the Disciples And that the Office of the twelve was superiour to that of the seventy is evident not only from their being still placed first in the Catalogues of Ecclesiastical Officers see Eph. 4.11 1 Cor. 12.28 in the latter of which we are told that God constituted in the Church first Apostles wherein the Primary is attributed to the Apostolical Office and not only from the particular care which Christ took of these twelve above the rest of his Disciples both in praying for and instructing them of which there are a great many notorious instances in the Gospels but also from hence that their immediate Successors were for the most part Chosen out of the seventy for so Simeon the Son of Cleophas succeeded S. Iames at Ierusalem Philip S. Paul at Caesarea Clement S. Peter at Rome and divers others of the seventy according to Dorotheus Eusebius and others of the Fathers succeeded the Apostles after their death in the Government of their several Churches and Matthias who as Eusebius Epiphanius and S. Ierom affirm was one of the seventy that was Chosen and Ordained by the other Apostles to succeed Iudas in the Apostolate Acts 1.26 from whence it is evident that the Apostles were superiour to the seventy otherwise it would have been no advancement to the seventy to succeed 'em for all that Superiority which they acquired by their Succession must necessarily be inherent in the Apostles before they succeeded 'em else how can they be said to succeed 'em in it and if we suppose 'em to be equal with the Apostles in Office before they succeeded 'em it is nonsense to say they succeeded 'em for how can a man be said to succeed another in any Office who is actually vested with the same Office before he succeeds him If therefore the seventy received no more power after the Apostles than they had under 'em they were as much Apostles before they succeeded 'em as after but if they did receive more power then the Apostles to whom they succeeded had more power than they before they received it and consequently were their Superâ—ours because a man can receive no more power by succeeding another in any Office than he to whom he succeeds had before by vertue of the same Office. By all which it is most evident that by the Institution of our Saviour the Apostles were superiour to the seventy and yet it is as evident that the seventy were Ecclesiastical Ministers as well as they for in Luke 10.1 we are told that after these things the Lord appointed other seventy also and sent 'em two and two before his face that is to Preach his Gospel and that by this Mission of his they were authorized to be the Ministers of Religion is evident from what he tells 'em Verse 16. he that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me from whence it is plain that they were his Authorized Ministers even as he was Gods because as the despising of him was a despising of God by whom he was sent so the despising of them was a despising of Christ by whom they were sent and accordingly by vertue of this Mission we find 'em acting as Authorized Ministers of the Gospel for so Ananias who was one of 'em Baptized Saul Acts 9.18 and Philip who was another Preached and Baptized at Samaria Acts 8.5
rewarded accordingly with the Government of ten Cities ver 16 17. the other had been faithful though not altogether so diligent and by his one pound had gained five and accordingly he is made Lord of five Cities ver 18 19. By which he plainly declares that by so much as we fall short of those improvements we might have made in Piety and Vertue so much he will substract from our furure reward So that the sense of the Law of perfection is this as you would not incur the forfeiture of some degrees of your happiness in the other life be sure you imploy your utmost diligence in this to improve your selves in every grace and vertue of Religion II. There is the Law of sincerity which requires the being and Reality of all Christian Graces and vertues in us together with the proper Acts and Exercises of them as we have opportunity and doth no farther forbid those gradual defects of them which are within our possibility to supply than as they are the effects of our gross continued and wilful neglect and so inconsistent with sincerity Now the Reality of these Christian Vertues in us consists in the universal and prevailing consent and resolution of our Wills to regulate our practice by them so as not wilfully to admit of any thing that is contrary to them upon any occasion or temptation whatsoever and so long as this resolution continues firm and prevails in our practice we are just in the eye and judgment of this Law of sincerity though we do not always exert it to the utmost of our possibility He therefore who hath so submitted his Will to God as to be throughly resolved without any reserve to obey him and not to do any thing that is contrary to his Will either against knowledge or through affected ignorance or inconsideration hath in this resolution the real being of all Christian vertues in him and so long as this holds he stands uncondemned in the judgment of the Law of sincerity But though this resolution includes in it the being and reality of all Christian vertue yet doth it not include the utmost possibility of it nor doth it at all follow that because I am sincerely resolved to conduct my life by the Laws of Piety and Vertue therefore I must be in all respects as Pious and Vertuous as it is possible for me to be considering my present state and circumstances I may be sincerely resolved and yet not be always equally diligent and active I may now be exceeding vigilant and watchful and what I am now I may always be if I always exert the utmost of my possibility yet it may so happen anon that though I am sincerely resolved still I may be more remiss supine and inadvertent and in this posture a temptation may surprize me before I am aware and hurry me into an action against which I am firmly resolved And there is no doubt but even the best of men might have beâ—n much better than they are had they always 〈…〉 their possibilities and applied themseâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 their utmost skill and diligence to the methods and Ministries of improvement Now though not to exert our utmost power in the avoidance of evil and the improvement of our selves in vertue and goodness is doubtless a sin yet it is only a sin against the Law of perfection the Penalty of which is only deprivation of some degree of our future reward but so long as we keep up a prevailing resolution in our Wills to govern our 〈◊〉 by the Laws of Piety and Vertue we stand â—â—ear in the eye of the Law of sincerity the Penalty of which is no less than everlasting Exile from the presence of God into the dark and horrible Regions of endless misery and despair only this proviso it admits that if after we have sinned against it we reassume our good Resolution and heartily repent and amend we shall be released from the obligation to this dreadful Penalty and be restored to that happy state of grace and favour from whence we fell by our transgression So that the great difference between the Law of Perfection and the Law of Sincerity is this that the penalty of the later is much more severe but the duty of the former much more comprehensive Having thus given this brief account of our Saviours Legislation and Laws I proceed to the II. Of those Regal Acts which Christ hath performed in his Kingdom once for all and that is his Mission of the Holy Spirit to subdue Mens minds to the Obedience of his Laws and to govern them by them For so the Apostle makes the Mission of the Spirit to succeed the Triumphal progress of our Saviour to his Coronation in Heaven Eph. 4.8 He ascended up on high he led captivity captive he gave gifts unto Men where by the gifts which he gave we are to understand the Holy Spirit and in him all those extraordinary Gifts which he poured out upon his Church on the day of Pentecost for so Acts 2.33 S. Peter makes the effusion of the Spirit by Christ to be the consequence of his advancement to his universal Royalty therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear Now the end for which he sent his Spirit was to supply his room when he went from earth and in his absence to preside as his Vicegerent in his Kingdom below Since therefore this blessed Spirit acts as our Saviours Agent whatsoever he doth that our Saviour doth by him So that all those operations he performs in order to the subduing us to the obedience of Christ and to the governing of us when we are subdued are truly the operations of Christ himself It is he that conquers and governs us by his Spirit our hearts are the Territories which Christ invades by him and his inspirations are the victorious Arms by which Christ conquers and subdues them Our Wills are the Thrones on which Christ sits and rules and governs by him and his holy suggestions are the awful powers by which Christ himself commands our obedience But what it is that this blessed Spirit doth and hath done in order to the subduing Men to Christs Laws and governing them by them hath been already shewn at large and therefore of this I shall need say no more at present III. And lastly therefore another of those Regal Acts which Christ hath once for all performed in his Heavenly Kingdom is his erecting in it an external Polity and Government What this Polity is and what are the functions of it hath been shewn at large and it is as well by this external Government as by the internal Ministry of his Spirit that Christ now rules his Kingdom for in all just and lawful things the lawful Governours of his Church do act by his Commission and Authority as being substituted by him the visible representatives of his