things present and things to come These beasts each one of them hath sixe wings placed round about them and full of eyes within the wings these wings are not for that use that the wings are to the beasts in Ezechiel two to hide the face and two to flye and two to â—ide their 〈◊〉 but they are placed about their bodyes as it were for 〈…〉 erance and assistance in their proper place and not to flye withall from place to place These 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ings therefore signifie Governours and assistants or 〈…〉 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 readâ— it seriously as it is more fully expressed by Master Brightmans Exposition upon the fourth chapter of the Revelation This patternâ— 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 comunicated â—nto 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 VVord 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 in 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 procceding 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 seed 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 pâ—sse 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 yeare 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
and suppose me to be a terrestriall Hierarchie to bee governed by positive lawes traditions Decrees and Canons of men which cannot search the reines of the heart nor cure the soule nor lead her into blisse Therefore I request you to take into your consideration the heavie burdens grievous to bee borne which the Scribes and Pharisees of Rome who pretended to sit in Moyses seat have laid upon my shoulders the Episcopall 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 forbeare 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 untwisted 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
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 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 he needfull instruments and meanes of knowledge but onely by inspiration of the proceeding Word as ver. 2. 1. 20. 21. so that fast ye know this that no prophecie of the Scripture is of any private interpretation For as the prophecie came not in old time by the will of men but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost so must holy men 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 outward 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 under standing 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 twofold 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 〈◊〉 and the same spirit and these diversities or 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 gift◠to give unto men as some to bee Apostles some Prophets 〈◊〉 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 instructions 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 useth 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
causing the light of his truth to shine evident without vaile or vizard notwithstanding he neither altered nor abolished the order of ministration nor the manner of government but established the same by his owne example and the practise of his Apostles And therefore he said that Christ when he ascended on high 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 〈◊〉 of their doctrine As the necessitie of those time 〈◊〉 and as Christ had promised Marke 16. 17 18. And thâ—se signes shall follow them that beleeve in my Name they shall 〈◊〉 devils they shall speake with new tongues they shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly person it shall 〈…〉 them they shall lay their hands on the sickâ— and they shall 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 Acts the sixth after consecrated by the Apostles by prayer and laying 〈◊〉 of â—â—nds 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 〈◊〉 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 smites 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 sloweth 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 heauen 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 favour 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
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 as he did his Fathers will and to teach his doctrine which he taught them as his Father taught him so by the Word they are to do and teach but nothing beside the Word or without the Word More at large of this in the Treatise of Discipline Thus we see the word of life is God in the person of the Father the unbegotten Word in the Sonne the begotten Word and the incarnate Word In the person of the Spirit it is the proceeding Word and the ministeriall Word and this ministeriall Word is the power and the authority committed to the Church So the Ministers cannot doe any thing but by the power of the Word and this Word is Christ who abideth with them and with the whole Church alwayes unto the end of the world So Christ is the chiefe and they are his servants and embassadours Of the third Subsistence of the Church Government and Discipline AS Divine worship cannot bee wiâ—hout the divine power of the ministeriall Word from whence it extracts both the nutriment and efficacie so neither worship nor the Divine Word can be without order government and discipline whereby the whole spirituall body the Church is preserved in spirituall health and blessednesse shining in spirituall decencie and divine beauty As Psal. 45. 13. 14. The Kings daughter is all glorious within And her heavenly glory is most excellently set forth in Canticles 6. 10. Who is shee that looketh forth as the morning faire as the Moone pure as the Sunne terrible as an army with banners Without externall pompe temporall confusion or humane policy for God hateth nothing more in the government of his Church and in his worship then pompe and policy and loveth nothing more then to have his Church excell in meeknesse holinesse and simplicity like himselfe as hee saith Bee ye holy for I am holy And learne of me for I am meeke and lowly And he exalteth the humble and meeke but the proud he sends empty away When we speake of the Church it is to bee considered in what sence we take the Church for the Church of God is in a twofold aspect to be apprehended one as she is in a mysticall union the body of Christ the Spouse of Christ the Lambe the Bride in this sence shee is spirituall pure and holy without spot without wrinkle his undefiled The other as she dwelleth in her naturall humanitie and abideth here on earth wherein shee is invironed with manifold temptations infirmities and afflictions fighting against the world the flesh and the divell and in this condition she is elementary naturall and visible Therefore God in his wisedome and goodnesse to man hath ordained externall dispensation thereby to communicate the holy and invisible mysteries of his Word to man through visible instruments elementary and naturall proper for mans capacity and nature lest naturall infirmities should become an excuse that God should not speake unto man For this cause God doth minister the mighty power of his Word by the weake and simple voyce of man Teaching man by letters syllables words and sentences divine truth and making evident to the mind and sences of man by elementary signes tropes and allegories and so demonstrating inscrutable mysteries and divine secrets of grace power and glory The first beames of the glorious gospell of Christ which Paul calls the Image of the living God that shines unto man is the publike and visible ministration whose glory compared with the glorious ministration of the law 2 Cor. 3. 7 which none was able to behold and live which made mountaines tremble and the Israelites excuse themselves is farre more exceeding glorious which we all are able to behold with open face shining through the vaile of Christs humanitie wherein as in a glasse or Crystall wee see the glory of God in the love of the Father and are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord And the thing that is ministred is the glorious gospell of Christ which is the doctrine of Christ or the mystery of the Father and it carrieth alwayes this Character with it to know it to be the true doctrine of God It giveth all glory to God the Father by Christ and it glorifies Christ through the Spirit for Christ saith that which is the Fathers is mine therefore the Spirit shall take of mine and give it you Outward ministration is called the face and countenance of God Therefore the Prophet David saith O Lord God of hoasts turne us againe and make thy face to shine upon us and wee shall be saved It was Davids delight and his whole hearts desire Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I require that I may dwell in the temple of the Lord all my dayes to behold the beauty of the Lord and to visit his temple The first ordination of this ministration was instituted and practised by God himselfe in Paradise preaching unto Adam in a created voyce in the coole of the day and by that meeke voyce Gods presence was knowne unto man I heard thy voyce and was afraid The voyce or word of God for it is a significant voyce making it selfe to be understood howsoever God useth weake and despised instruments to expresse himselfe to mans capacity yet his voyce is mighty as in the 29. Psal Reade the whole Psalme For the voyce of the Lord is powerfull the voyce of the Lord is full of Majesty And as Paul describes it it is mighty in operation and sharper then any two edged sword piercing through even to the dividing of the soule and the spirit and of the joynts and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart For this cause preaching is called the power of God unto salvation But if the glorious beauty and power of Gods ministration seeme weake and foolish unto some men because it is ministred by the voyce of man and the weake sigâ—es of the Sacraments being of no strength not beauty in themselves It is because the glorious Gospell is hid unto them that perish and becomes the savour of death unto death because the God of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that beleeve not lest the light of the glorious Gospell of Jesus Christ should shine unto them These riches are sent unto us of God from the Father of lights by the Sonne of the fulnesse of all rich gracâ— through the spirit the over-flowing waters of life and blessednesse and we have it in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may appeare to be of God and not of man and those that are 〈◊〉 of God are
wished rather to die than to live Therefore God ordained these kind of Elders to be an assistance in his publicke ministration that as Moyses among the Jewes and Paul in the Church of God planted the Word in publicke So these might be as Apollo's to water it in private and that by their vigilancie and diligence in every place of the Congregation they might be ready to suppresse by divine instruction exhortation and admonition out of the word of God Murmurings grudgings contentions strife cursings railings and all soâ—â— of inordinate walkings This was the private and particular duty of these sorts of Elders by the power of the Word to kill the Cockatrice in the egge and to pull up the weeds of sinne by the roots For this cause they are described in the fourth of the Revelation to be the wings of the foure beasts placed round about their bodyes full of eyes within for they are knit unto the Ministers in a peculiar and inseparable neerenesse and their discerning operation is not to extend beyond the bounds of the Professors of the Church for as Paul saith what have wee to doe with those that are without These sortâ— of Elders are so necessarily annexed to the publicke ministration of the Word as that the Church cannot be without them but that by the want thereof she doth expose her selfe to all kind of dangers externall and internall like a bird without wings Therefore Christ tooke not away this kind of Elders but rather established them in their function and office both in private and publicke as in the 18. of Matth. 15. 16. 17. If thy brother trespasse goe and tell him his fault betweene thee and him alone if hee heare thee thou hast woâ—ne thy brother If he heare thee not take yet with thee one or two that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be â—oâ—firmed And if he will not vouchsafe to heare them then tell the Church Which is to make the offence and the offender knowne to the Congregation the Elders acquainting the Pastor the Pastor acquainting the Congregation they all joyne in publicke censure and discipline Paul hath some rules which pertaine to private admonition for it ought to be done in all gravitie prudence and in much love Galat. 6. 1. If a man bee fallen by occasion into any sinne yee which are spirituall restore such a one with the spirit of meeknesse considering thy selfe lest thou also bee tempted Beare one anothers burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ The Elders ought to excell in brotherly love and wisedome and to use their exhortations with much temperance as Paul hath set before them in another place 1 Tim. 5. 1. Rebuke not an Elder but exhort him as a father and the younger men as brethren The elder women as mothers and the younger as sisters with all purenesse And there is another particular dutie which pertaines to these Elders as also to the Pastors and Ministers which is to visit the sicke and those that are burthened or troubled in conscience as Iames saith If any be sicke let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray for him and anoynt him with oyle in the name of the Lord For oyle is an embleme of the holy Ghost which by comfortable exhortations out of the word of God with prayer is like oyle unto the bones or as wine that glads the heart Such refreshment are the Elders to the sicke for the prayer of faith shall save the sicke and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sinne it shall be forgiven him And for this cause there is a mutuall confession among Christians when any thing doth vehemently oppresse the conscience therefore saith James confesse your faults one to another and pray one for another that yee may be healed for the prayer of a righteous man availeth much if it be fervent Of Discipline and censure Now I come to the second part of government which consisteth also in these three functions The first sort is called promiscuously Pastors Teachers Bishops for they have received the gift of one and the same spirit according to the measure of Christ as Ephes. 4. For the gathering together of the Saints for the worke of the ministery and for the edification of the body of Christ untill wee all meet together in the unitie of faith and knowledge of the Sonne of God unto a perfect Man and unto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ The second sort is Deacons The third is called by a generall name in common to them and the Pastors Teachers and Bishops which is the name of Elders for that in their publicke execution of Discipline they are joyntly united so that though the Pastor have the leading voyce and precedencie yet he is not to execute nor pronounce sentence in the Church without the Elders nor yet to ordaine either Deacons Elders or Pastors without their counsell and the generall consent of the Church so that the Pastors Teachers and Bishops are not to beare the burthen alone it would bee too heavy for them as it was for Moyses if they bore the like conscience to God as Moyses did and if it were too heavy a burden for one man in those dayes when the Church was but one Nation and but one Congregation and had but one Tabernacle How must it not now needs be a farre greater weight when the Church is many Nations farre and wide dispersed and many distinct Congregations But notwithstanding the Elders be joyned in one power with the Pastors and Bishops so that nothing ought to bee done without them the Pastors have this preheminence that the worke both of Discipline censure and ordination of Elders Pastors and Deacons is attributed unto them as most proper to their function For this cause Paul tells Titus in his Epistle cap. 1. that he left him in Crete that hee should continue to redresse things that remained and ordaine Elders in every Citie as saith he I appointed thee And Acts the 14 23. And when they ordained them Elders by election in every Church and prayed and fasted they commended them to the Lord in whom they beleeved For neither divine censure nor ordination could be done without them neither would the Apostles nor Pastors of the primitive times for the space of two hundred and fifty yeares either censure or ordaine any Elders Pastors or Deacons without the Election and counsell of the Church and Elders But a little after these times when pride began to creepe into the hearts of the Pastors Teachers and Bishops and that the zeale and care of the Elders grew cold and negligent as Cyprian Bishop oâ—Carthage lib. 4. speaking of the cause of the then present peâ—secutions among other things saith What plagueâ— what sâ—ripes doe we not 〈◊〉 when no not the Confessours and Elders do◠〈◊〉 Disciplineâ— And from this degrâ—â— of luke-warmnesse it came to be