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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45328	An apologie for the ministry and its maintenance wherein is set forth the necessity, dignity and efficacy of a gospel-ministry against the Socinians, Swenckfieldians, Weigelians, Anabaptists, Enthusiasts, Familists, Seekers, Quakers, Levellers, Libertines and the rest of that rout ... / by Tho. Hall.	Hall, Thomas, 1610-1665.; Shaw, Samuel, 1635-1696.	1660 (1660)	Wing H425A; ESTC R28055	88,780	120

erroneous state of our English Church a stranger hath set a black mark England saith he in four years is become a Lerna and sink of all errors and sectaries No Countrey from the foundation of the world hath brought forth and brought up so many monstrous births as it hath done Nay in a word take away the Ministry and you take away faith in in God prayer to God and Salvation given by him Rom. 10. 15. 1 Tim. 4. 16. By this men are turned from darknesse to light and from the power of Sathan to God Ier. 23. 22. Luk 1. 16 17. By this Christ hath propagated his Church overthrown the Kingdom of Sathan and the powers of darknesse viz. paganisme idolatry superstition and ignorance Luk 10. 18 19. This stops the blasphemous mouths and cuts out the very tongues of that pestilent generation of Iesuites and Romish agents Therefore when God will hasten the downfall of Anti-Christ he will not doe it by a secular power but by the spirit of his mouth 2. Thes. 2. 8. that is By the power of the Gospell preacht by Ministers not Magistrates by whom also he hath founded true religion kept it upon its Legs when it was founded and restored it when it was fallen To these he hath given that which he hath denyed to the greatest Monarchs of the world the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 16. 19. Ioh. 20. 23. So that what they bind on earth is said to be bound in heaven and what they loose to be loosed also Hence some one not amisse inferrs that a Minister rightly discharging his office hath not only preheminence above all other private persons but even Kings and Princes to which Chrysostome gives his suffrage That the very Angells of God in heaven in this may give place to the Angells of God which are upon earth who although they be themselves in heaven yet have no Keys to open to others Take away this Palladium i. e. come who will and take away our place and nation Behold the disasters and disorders and the omnifarious calamitousnesse of those times wherein Israel was without the knowledg of the true God without a teaching priest and without law 2. Chron. 15. 3. 5. Take away this light ye have nothing but stumbling Ioh. 11. 10. Take away Pastours and ye have men like sheep wandring Take away these guides and ye have all ditches every where filled with the carcasses of the blind that are fallen there Take away this light and let us see what solid comfort innumerable gold uninterrupted prosperity and friendly society will afford Take away this Arke and then shew me the glory of Israel Ignorance and impiety goe together in the Gospell texture Eph. 4. 18 and there is but a letter between Ignorants and Covenant-breakers Rom. 1. 31. If ye would find cruelty search the dark places of the earth for they are full of it Ps. 74. 20. Come see and heare the wise man's whoremonger bewayling himself at last Prov. 5. 13 14. I have not obeyed the voyce of my teachers Behold the root of bitternesse the fountain of his sin Nor inclined mine eare to them that instructed me Hin● illae lacl●ymae her 's the ground of the complaint Wherefore the Lord promiseth faithfull pastors as a great blessing and singular kindnesse I● 30. 20 21. The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction Behold the ●ore But thy teachers shall not be removed into Corners any more thine eys shall see thy teachers Behold the salve Although we suffer hunger and thirst and adversity for tryall and purgation yet if God will be present with us in our teachers who may strengthen the weak cheare the sad refresh the faint and teach us the ways of the Lord our hunger will be as good as plenty our adversity will ou●-shine prosperity and our thirst as waged by the waters of the Sanctuary And on the other hand as hunger and thirst are blessings with the word so is a famine of the word the greatest curse on this side hell though in the midst of plenty and prosperity so is it represented Am. 8. 11. Is. 29. 9. 10. what is the body to the soul no more comparable in value then the cloaths are to the body And so consequently what is the sust●ntation and nourishment of the body to that of the soul Wheat is but chaffe to the bread of life Wine is but water to the droppings of the Sanctuary Honey is but Waxe nay very bitternesse to the word of God Ps. 19. 10. And so consequently what is a famine of bread or of water to a famine of the word of God which is the most exce●lent food of the most excellent substance in this world even our precious souls 2. This acquaints us with our miserable condition by nature It gives us to understand that we are altogether destitute of the salt of Mortification and Repentance If we were sound and could so preserve our selves what needed we this salt what unsavory filthy stinking corrupt carcases are men till they be seasoned with this heavenly salt Let us therefore bless God for this Seasoner and that he hath caused us to be brought forth and brought within the sound of the glorious Gospell and pray with all earnestness that as God hath out of his mere goodness ordained a Ministry for us that he would preserve it amongst us as he hath set it up so that he would keep it standing whilest the world it self shall stand 3. This acquaints us with the dignity and efficacy of the sacred Ministry of all that serve and minister to Christ his Ambassadours are his chiefest servants and choisest ministers Their ministry is most excellent because they minister to God Heb. 5. 1. and that not in the things pertaining to this life but in the things that respect the Kingdome of God and the everlasting Salvation of men this ministry is called a thing not small Numb 16. 19. ●ay it is called an honour Heb. 5. 4. nay the Prophet puts a beauty with an admiration upon the very feet of the Gospell-ministers Isa. 52. 7. How beautifull are the feet of them that bring good tydings of good that publish salvation how could the beauty of them be exprest more fully than by such an elegant particle of admiration and yet if the beauty of their feet must have an admiration borrowed to express them by what shall we express the beauty of their faces Learn hence what a glorious treasure the Gospell is what a glorious Office the Preaching of it is what glorious and honourable servants the preachers of it they have been a delight to the very Kings of the earth who in token of honour and reverence have called them fathers 2 Kings 6. 21. nay they have not onely spoken reve●●ntly of them but also comfortably to them 2 Chron. 30. 22. and 35. 2. wicked Saul himself could not but reverence holy Samuel 1 Sam. 15. and graceless Herod

22. The Church Triumphant is the Church and the onely Church that needs no ministry ministers or ordinances For God is all this to them Instead of the word of God they read in the God of that Word instead of the representation of Christ in Sacraments they have the enjoyment of him without the help of shadows or types The immediate enjoyment of God in this life without the means is sure then a fancy onely beseeming the heady brains or rather brainless heads of Anabaptists It is the proper Priviledg of the Church Triumphant to serve God immediately without Temple or Ordinances Amongst them it is that Prophes●●s shall fail 1 Cor. 13 8. But in the Church militant they are to be highly esteemed 1 Thes. 5. 20● 7. It appeares by the care of the Apostles for the continuation of their Successors and the perpetuation of a Ministry in the Church Paul commands Titus to ordain Elders and Bishops in 〈◊〉 city describes the persons to be ordained and prescribes rules for the ordaining of them T it 1. 5 6 7 8 c. He command● and cautions Timothy also about the same thing and ●●ds him keep the commands relating to this Ministry till the appearing of the Lord Iesus Christ which Injunction is not onely laid upon Timothy in his own person but upon all the Ministers of Christ that shall be in succession to the end of the world 8. It appeares by that honor reverence and submission which by vertue of the command is due to the Successours of the Apostles 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. Phil. 2. 29. Heb. 13. 17. Which things so long as they are due must needs have and prove Ministers of the Gospel to whom they shall be given And if you take a way them that are over you in the Lord your Messengers them that have the rule over you and that watch for your soules I pray you tell me where will you bestow the high estimation and love the reputation obedience and submission which the great Apostle commands to be given in the fore-quoted Texts 9. It appears by that constant provision that God has made for his Ministers ordering them honourable stipends for their work Gal. 6. 6. 1 Cor. 9. 13 14. 1 Tim. 5. 17 18. which provision is laid up in the store-house of the Gospell not onely for the Apostles sake but all theirs that are Ministers of Christ in succession Now to what purpose should these commands of God remain in the B●ble if there should not be a remainder of Ministers still in the Church God needed not to have provided meat for his Ministers if he had been minded that men should have sewed up their m●uthes Away with the doting crew of Anabaptists then that despising the Word of God and Ministry of that Word and Ministers of that Ministry gape for the downfall of Revelations into their mouths and stare after New Lights Away with them to the Law and the Prophets Why stand ye gazing up into heaven for new discoveries to the Law and to the Testimony If they be not according to this Word it is because your new Lights have no light in them Isa. 8. 20. God hath ordained and established a publick Ministry and forbids the consulting of Diviners Observers of times Enchanters Charmers Witches Wizards Necromancers Deut. 18. 10 11 12. No nor must mens own Fancies lead them their own inventions be set up to give Oracles But in all doubtfull matters consult the Ministers of God vers 15. Is there no light in the Word of God or whether are your eyes out that ye cannot receive it Is that nothing but a dead letter now which in S. Pauls dayes was so quick and spirituall Heb. 4. 12. Is there no God but in the still voice of your spirituall conceivements and Revelations now adayes Well let 's hear what your spirit has to say against our Christ who has bidden ●o and teach and baptise CHAP. V. The Cavills and Fallacies of the Anabaptists Socinians Swend●eldians and Enthusiasts are blown away Obj. 1. THe first harbour of these Libertines Opinion in this thing is pretended to be in Ierem. 1. 34. They ●hall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from ●he l●ast of them even to the greatest of them saith the Lord Therefore such a thing as the Ministry of the Word is needless under the New Testament Answ. 1. Words are not properly Scripture but the sense neither does the Scripture properly consist in the leaves of words but in the root of reason the Word of God is not to be taken formally as it is described by words and syllables but materially as it declares to us the minde and counsell of God we must not stick in the bark for that hath involved the ●apist● and Anabaptists in many Errours 2. If we must needs have so much regard to the letter of the Text it rather takes away Private Instruction then Publick Preaching for God does not say there shall be no publick Preachers but They shall no more t●ach every man his neighbour and every man his brother But neither can we dis●ard private Instructions under the Gospell if S● Paul be a Gospell-man who presseth this duty Coloss. 3. 16. 1 Thes. 5. 11. 3. The Text is a Promise Now Promises must not shoulder out nor overthrow Precepts neither must the means be taken away because the primary cause is laid down and asserted God feeds all it does not follow therefore that tillag● is unnecessary or bread needless ●or by these means God ●eeds us No more does it follow that because God teacheth therefore the ministry of his word is unnecessary for God teacheth by the ministry of his Word 4. The genuine scope of the Text is to shew us that God teacheth his Elect not onely externally by the ministry of his Word but internally by the ministry of his Holy Spi●it Neither does the Prophet speak absolutely simply and inclusively but comparatively as the Holy Ghost frequently speaks Things spoken negatively in Scripture are oft times to be understood comparatively and are not to be expounded so much by not as by not so much which is plain in Hos. 6. 6. Psal. 50. 8. Psal. 51. 16. Iohn 6. 38. Iohn 7. 16. and many other places So that the sum of the Prophets words will easi●y be There shall be a ●uller and clearer knowledg of God in the times of the New Testament then there was in the times of the Old 1. Because under the Old Testame●t Christ was obscurely shadowed out in Types but under the New he is plainly preach'd and shewn openly insomuch that a very boy w●ll ca●echised and instructed doth understand the Gospell concerning Christ beter then many of the Priests of the Law did which is the accomplishment of that Promise Isa. 11. 9. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. 2. Because there are farre more that are

proves that he had right and power to receive maint●nance of the Church to lead about a wife who should also be maintained at a publick Charge that posterity might know this to be lawfull ver 4 5 6. and to shew what a clear right of his own he denied for the Corinthians sake that by this means he might win them to Christ and promote their Salvation He confirms this 1. By an Argument drawn from three Similitudes to wit From the right of Souldiers of Husbandmen and of Shepherds VVho goeth a warfare at his own charges c that is as it is right and fit that Souldiers should live upon their pay the Planter of a vineyard feed upon the fruit of his vines and a Shepherd upon the milk of his flock so is it fit that the Ministers of the Gospel should live of the Gospell of their own vine that is the Church of the milk of their own flock that is of the goods of their own people Let those Souldiers that decry Tythes and the settled stipends of Ministers consider their own case and answer the great Apostles Argument if they can VVho will go to war at his own charges The Interrogation is a vehement Negation No one will souldier it upon such terms For indeed it is an unjust and unreasonable thing that a Souldier should stand in jeopardy daily fight for the common safety against the common enemy and offer his very life as a sacrifice for the lives of the commonalty and not be maintained at a common charge He receiveth therefore wages from his General by a natural and civil right And is it reasonable or just that the Ministers of Gods word should undergo the care of the Churches the great burden of the Ministry and yet live of their own For their pains and labours and sufferings and dangers exceed those of the Souldiery These fight against flesh and blood but they against the world the flesh and the devil 2 Cor. 10. 4. 1 Tim. 1. 18. 2 Tim. 2 3. This then is the Apostles Argument Souldiers do not war at their own charges The Ministers of the Gospel are Souldiers Therefore ought not they to war at their own charges 2. The Apostle having put to flight the souldiers that declame and rayle against the setled and honourable maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel he comes to stop the murmuring mouths of Husbandmen sowers plowers threshers shepherds and men of that mold Against these he argues thus They that plant and dress a Vine it is fit that they should tast of the grapes thereof as it is said that Noah planted a Vineyard and drank of the wine of it and Prov. 27. 18. VVhose keepeth the fig tree shall eat of the fruit thereof But the Ministers of Christ plant and dress Christs Vineyard therefore it is fit that they should live of the fruit thereof So also it may be argued from Shepheards feeding upon the milk of their flocks As much as if the Apostle had said look but unto humane equity and common customs of men in things of farre lesser and lighter moment and conclude how just it is that the Ministers of the Gospel should live of the Gospel 3. The Apostle sets upon these sacrilegious persons with stronger Arguments Arguments fetch'd from Divine Authority For although the cause which he pleads be a most just cause yet he knew how subtil and crafty worldly wit is to reply especially in a money-matter therefore by a Prolepsis he meets an Objection ver 8. where he proves that he doth not onely confirm his Position by humane Arguments and Examples but by the Law of God also Say I these as a man Do I fortifie my cause with humane reason and examples onely Or saith not the ●aw the same also Yes Deut. 25. 4. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox when he treadeth out the corne He uses an Argument from the less to the greater If it were not lawfull to deny maintenance to an unreasonable creature much less to a man if not to an Oxe treading then not to a Minister ●oyling For Gods chief care in this Law was not for oxen he look'd at a further end even at us who are typical oxen toyling in the Lords field treading in his barnes Therefore convenient maintenance must not be denied us lest we faint in the work 4. He argues from the less to the greater again From the example of Plowmen and Threshers ver 10. If the Plower ploweth and the Thresher thresheth in hope to wit of his wages and that he shall partake of his crop and of his threshing then a Minister of the Gospell may exspect a Salary fruit of his labours of which he and his may live comfortably But the Antecedent is true saies the Apostle therefore the Consequent is true also 5. The Apostle argues vers 11. from natural right and commutative Justice which commands to give like for like much more then small things for great Now who doubts but that spiritual things do much excell carnall heavenly things excell earthly eternal things excell fading flitting perishing transitory vani●ies For by how much the soul excells the body by so much does the Word the food of this soul outgoe corporal maintenance Oh ingratefull wret●h then whoever grudges to administer to him carnal things who preaches unto him the eternal Gospel and is an instrument to convey unto him the fruits of the same Gospel preacht to wit Faith Regeneration and Life Eternal Now these things saith the Apostle we have sowed therefore it is meet we should reap For Whosoever do sow unto us spiritual good things to them we ought chearfully to administer of our temporalls Rom. 15 27. But the Ministers of the Gospell sow spiritual things Therefore ought we cheerfully to administer unto them of our temporalls 6. The Apostle argues from Example ver 12. If the true Apostles receive maintenance of you why should not I and Barnabas who have preached the Gospell to you as well as they 2. If the false Apostles and Seducers who devour you receive things necessary then why may not we who propagate the Gospel of Christ If stipends be given to the bad why not much rather to the good 7. He argues verse 13. from the Testimony of the Law from the Example of the Levites under the Old Testament and from the Ordination of God under the New These things are not Antichristian devices as the do●ing Anabaptists dream but Divine Decrees and Ordinations as will appear if we frame an Argument thus If the Ministers of God under the Old Testament were maintained of the publick then are they so to be maintained under the New But Ministers under the Old Testament were maintained of the publick Therefore ought the Ministers under the New to be so maintained The Antecedent appears Numb 18. 8. to 13. Deut. 12. 6. 14. 22. 18. 1. Lev. 2. 3 10. 5. 13. 7. 7 8 9 10 14 32. 10. 13. 27. 30 31. Numb 3.

He that is first himself perswaded shall better perswade others and no one can prescribe so good Remedies as he that by experience knowes what is hurtfull It is the part of a faithfull Pastor to weep with himself before he call for the tears of others and to grieve more inwardly than in an expression He that would have my teares Must weep himself or else I 'le think he jeers That voyce pierceth the heart of the Hearers most effectually which the life of the Preacher commands For that Preacher loses his Authority whose words are not interpreted by his works Nay as Austine well observes A life unsuitable to the Doctrine is of a soul-killing ●urtherous nature VVhat a monstrous prodigious sight saies Bernard to Eugenius lib. 2. de Consider is a high degree and a low spirit a sacred Profession aud an execrable practice a laborious tongue and a lazy hand much leaves and no fruit a grave countenance and a light carriage great authority and no stability to look like a man and speak like a childe against such the Apostle thunders Rom. 2. 1 21. Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy self c. Such derogate from the weight of their Doctrine they de●troy with their works what they build with their words they dedicate their tongues to God and devote their soules to the Devil VVhat is profound Science good for saies Dr. Staughton in Foelicit ult saeculi p. 91 92 93. without a pure conscience an Oratours tongue without an Angels life but to make up a Statue like unto Nebuchadnezzar ' s whose golden head ended in earthen feet as though it were for the present to be crowned and shortly to be broken in pieces or a toad with a jewel perhaps in the head but certainly poysonous all over the body which is more hatefull for the o●e than precious for the other let Eloquence therefore sit in the lips but let grace also give strength to Eloquence Let us therefore imitate our Master who was mighty in deed and word Luke 24. 19. who began first to do and then to teach Act. 1. 1. Himself was first meek and pure and peaceable and then he began to teach Blessed are the poor in heart the pure in heart the peaceable Matth. 5. As Iohn the Baptist was all voice so the all of a Minister ought to preach his eating drinking travailing entertaining clothing life and language should all breathe out holiness whatever he does or saies should instruct his flock Ezra the servant of the Lord was indeed a Scribe instructed unto the kingdome of heaven for he first prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord and to do it and then to teach in Israel statutes and judgements Ezra 7. 10. Lo the right way to attain to an excellent faculty of teaching 1. Prepare not the head onely but the heart also 2. Seek with all care and diligence viz. by hearing reading learning meditating praying 3. What must be sought not Civil Lawes not humane Statutes not scholastical niceties but s●ek the Law of the Lord converse in this meditate of it peruse it day and night He that will be a good Preacher must labour to be a good Textuist for Scripture is the best Interpreter of Scripture 4. For what end first that we may do it then that we may teach it Let us labour to be as Glasses in which the representations of all verture and grace may appear yea if we do and teach we shall be called that is we shall be great in the kingdome of heaven Mat. 5. 19. Such an one was holy Basil whose words were thunder and his works lightening He preaches saies Nazianzen with a lively voyc● who preacheth with life and voice making good his Doctrine and his Life the one by the other One and the same Apostle tells us that Ministers should not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divide and rightly distribute the word of truth 2. Tim. 2. 15. but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel Gal. 2. 14. All our Nazarites should be purer than snow whiter than milk Lam. 4. 7. like unto Absalom in a more spiritual beauty in whom from the crown of the head to the sole of his foot was no blemish 1 S●m 14. 25. For if those that had any blemish upon them were forbidden the Priests Office under the Law Lev. 21. 17. c. how shall they whose mouthes hearts hands are full of sin and filthiness be admitted or accepted under the Gospel Wherefore let every Preacher teach by words and works by life and Language It is an easie thing to speak but a hard to performe easie to teach in words but preaching with the life is the life of Preaching for words make not such an impression upon the soul as works do A fighting Captain encourages his souldiers more then a prating coward The Apostle therefore will that Bishops be blameless Tit. 1. 7. unreproveable without scandall not without sinne As were Samuel Ieremiah Daniel Paul Zachary 1 Sam. 12. 3. ●erem 15. 10. Da● 6. 5. Act. 20. 23. Luke 1. 6. such were Bucer Bradford Latimer Hooper c. such ought we to be that evil men may be able to speak no evil of us without lying Tit. 2. 8. For he may truly be said to be unblameable not who is never blamed but who is not blameworthy Neither does the Apostle call for men devoid of all fa●lings such are not men but Angels such are members of the Church Triumphant not the Militant Many men as Austine well observes live without complaint or scandall but none without sin 2. Let a Pastor feed his people ministerialy by voice and sound Doctrine The bare Reading of the Scriptures seldom conduces much to Conversion the word preached by an Applicatory Voice hath some kinde of secret energy in it and being se●t from the Minister as from the mouth of God himself into the ears of the Audito●s it carries a great authority with it and fastens better upon their souls It is requisite that a Minister of the Gospel carry upon hi● breast both the Urim and the Thu●min have both the light of Doctrine and Integrity of life The servant of the Lord should be apt to teach 2 Tim. 2. 24. which aptitude denotes both a proneness and a fitness he should have both a will to communicate and a faculty of communicateing that which he knowes This sayes even the Councell of Trent is the p●imary office of a Bishop therefore Paul being now at the door of death adjures Timothy to preach the Gospel in every opportunity with all impor●unity 2. Tim. 4. 1 2. to instruct first himself and then others 1 Tim. 4. 13 c. Take heed to the self that thou compose thy behaviour according to the holy rule and to thy Doctrine that thou teach others Blinde Watchmen and dumb dogs are the worst of creatures Isa. 56. 10. If a dog whose office it is to watch to