A Weapon-Salve for the Churchs Wounds, Religious treatise 1 · Part 2 · Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
The second Concession is, That Church-government formally considered, must be administred by Officers of Divine appointment. To that end, the continuance of a Gospel. Ministry fully cleared from all those Arguments, by which positive Lawes are proved immutable. The reason of the appointment of it continues; the dream of a seculum Spiritûs Sancti discussed, first broached by the M…ndicant Friers. Its occasion and unreasonableness shewed. Gods declaring the perpetuity of a Gospel Ministry, Matth. 28. 19. explained. A novell Interpretation largely refuted. The world to come, what. A Ministry necessary for the Churches continuance, Ephes. 4. 12. explained, and vindicated.
SEcondly, That the Government of the Church ought to be§. 1. Administred by Officers of Divine appointment, is another thing I will yield to be of Divine Right▪ but the Church here, I take not in that latitude which I did in the former Concession, but I take it chiefly here for the Members of the Church, as distinct from Officers, as it is taken in Acts 15. 22. So that my meaning is, that there must be a standing perpetuall Ministry in the Church of God, whose care and imployment must be, to oversee and Govern the People of God, and to administer Gospel-Ordinances among them, and this is of Divine and perpetuall Right. That Officers were appointed by Christ in the Church for these ends at first, is evident from the direct affirmation of Scripture, God hath set in the Church, first Apostles, secondly Prophets, thirdly Teachers, &c. 1 Corinth. 12. 28. Eph. 4. 8, 11. and other places to the same purpose. This being then a thing acknowledged, that they were at first of Divine Institution, and so were appointed by a Divine positive Law, which herein determines and restrains the Law of Nature (which doth not prescribe the certain qualifications of the persons to govern this Society, nor the instalment or admission of them into this employment, viz by Ordination.) The only enquiry then left, is, Whether a standing Gospel-ministry be such a positive Law, as is to remain perpetually in the Church, or no? which I shall make appear by those things which I laid down in the entrance of this Treatise, as the Notes whereby to know when positive Laws are unalterable.
The first was, when the same reason of the command continues§ 2. still; and what reason is there why Christ should appoint Officers to rule his Church then, which will not hold now? Did the people of God need Ministers then to be as Stars (as they are call'd in Scripture) to lead them untoRev. 1. 16. Christ, and do they not as well need them now? Had peopleHeb. 13. 7. Heb. 2. 3. need of guides then, when the doctrine of the Gospel was confirmed to them by miracles, and have they not much more now? Must there be some then to oppose gainsayers, and mustTitus 1. 9. 2 Tim. 3. 1. they have an absolute liberty of prophecying now, when it is foretold what times of seduction the last shall be? Must there be some then to rule over their charge, as they that must give an Heb. 13. 17.account, and is not the same required still? Were there some then▪ to reprove, rebuke, exhort, to preach in season, out 2 Tim. 4. 2.of season, and is there not the same necessity of these things still? Was it not enough then, that there were so many in all Churches that had extraordinary gifts of tongues, prophecying, 1 Cor. 14.praying, interpretation of tongues, but besides those there were some Pastors by office, whose duty it was to give attendance 1 Tim. 4. 13.to reading, to be wholly in these things; and now when these extraordinary gifts are ceased, is not there a much greater necessity then there was then, for some to be set apart and wholly designed for this work? Were OrdinancesMatth 28. 18. only then administred by those whom Christ commissioned, and such as derived their authority from them; and what reason is there that men should arrogate and take this imployment upon themselves now? If Christ had so pleased, could he not have left it wholly at liberty for all believers to have gone about preaching the Gospel? or why did he make choice of 12. Apostles chiefly for that work, were it not his Will to have some particularly to dispense the Gospel? and if Christ did then separate some for that work, what Reason is there why that Office should be thrown common now, which Christ himself inclosed by his own appointment?
There can be no possible Reason imagined, why a Gospel-Ministry§. 3. should not continue still, unless it be that Fanatick pretence of a Seculum Spiritus Sancti, a Dispensation of the Spirit, which shall evacuate the use of all means of Instruction, and the use of all Gospel-Ordinances; which pretence is not so Novell as most imagine it to be; for setting aside the Montanistical spirit in the Primitive Times, which acted upon Principles much of the same Nature with these we now speak of: The first rise of this Ignis fatuus was from the bogs of Popery, viz. from the Orders of the Dominicans and Franciscans, about the middle of the twelfth Century. For no sooner did the Pauperes de Lugduno, or the Waldenses appear, making use of the Word of God to confute the whole Army of Popish Traditions, but they finding themselves worsted at every turn while they disputed that ground, found out a Stratagem whereby to recover their own Credit, and to beat their adversaries quite out of the field. Which was, that the Gospel which they adhered to so much, was now out of date, and insteadMatthaeus Paris. hist. Angl. in Hen. 3. A. 1257. p. 939. Ed. Vatsi…i Cap. 8. apud Balaeum. App de vit. Pontif. p. 480. of that they broached another Gospel out of the Writings of the Abbot Ioachim, and Cyrils visions, which they blasphemously named Evangelium Spiritus Sancti, Evangelium Novum, and Evangelium Aeternum, as Gulielmus de Sancto Amore, their great Antagonist, relates in his Book de periculis noviss. temporum, purposely designed against the Impostures of the Mendicant Friers, who then like Locusts, rose in multitudes with their shaven crowns out of the bottomless pit. This Gospel of the Spirit they so much magnified above the Gospel of Christ, that the same Author relates these words of theirs concerning it; Quod comparatum ad Evangelium Christi, tanto plus perfectionis ac dignitatis habet, quantum Sol ad Lunam comparatus, aut ad nucleum testa; that it exceeded it as much as the kernell doth the shell, or the Light of the Sun doth that of the Moon. We see then from what quarter of the World this new Light began to rise: but so much for this digression. To the thing it self.
If there be such a dispensation of the Spirit which takes§. 4. away the use of Ministry and Ordinances, it did either commence from the time of the effusion of the Spirit upon the Apostles, or some time since. Not then; for even of those who had the most large portion of the Spirit poured upon them, we read that they continued in all Gospel ordinances, Acts 2. 42, and among the chief, foreign, under the Apostles Ministry, it may be better rendred than in the Apostles Doctrine: And which is most observable, the Prophecy of Ioel about the Spirit, is then said to be fulfilled, Acts 2. 17. Besides, if either that place of Ioel, or that of Ieremy, cited Heb. 8. 11. or the Unction of the Spirit, 1 John 2. 20, 27. did take away the use of preaching, how did the Apostles themselves understand their meaning, when they were so diligent in preaching and instructing others: Iohn writes to those, to try the Spirits, of whom he saith, They have an 1 Joh. 4. 1. 1 Joh. 2. 20.Unction to know all things: and those to whom the Apostle writes, that they need not teach every one his Neighbour; of them he saith, that they had need to be taught the first principles of the Heb. 5. 12.Oracles of God. And even in that very Chapter where he seems to say, they that are under the New Covenant, need not be taught, he brings that very Speech in as an argument, that the old dispensation of the Law was done away: And so goes about to teach, when he seems to take away the use of it. These Speeches then must not be understood in their absolute and literal sense, but with a reflection upon, and comparison with, the state of things in the times wherein those Prophecies were utter'd: For God to heighten the Jews apprehensions of the great blessings of the Gospel, doth setCalvin. in Joel. 2. 28. them forth under a kind of Hyperbolical expressions, that the dull capacity of the Jews might at least apprehend the just weight and magnitude of them, which they would not otherwise have done. So in that place of Ieremy, God to makeJer. 31. 31. them understand how much the knowledge of the Gospel exceeded that under the Law, doth as it were set it down in this Hyperbolicall way, that it will exceed it as much, as one that needs no teaching at all, doth one that is yet but in his rudiments of learning. So that the place doth not deny the use of teaching under the Gospel, but because Teaching doth commonly suppose ignorance, to shew the great measure of knowledge, he doth it in that way, as though the knowledge should be so great, that men should not need be taught in such a way of Rudiments as the Jews were, viz by Types and Ceremonies, and such things. We see then no such dispensation was in the Apostles times; for the same Apostle after this in Chapt. 10. 25. bids them not to forsake the Assembling themselves together as some did; Wherefore were these Assemblies, but for Instruction? and in the lastHeb. 10. 25. Chapter, bids them obey their Rulers. What need Rulers, if no need of Teaching? But so sensless a dream will be too muchHeb. 13. 7. honour'd with any longer confutation. In the Apostles times then, there was no such dispensation of the Spirit, which did take away the use of Ministry and Ordinances. If it be expected since their times, I would know whence it appears, that any have a greater measure of the Spirit then was poured out in the Apostles times; for then the Ministry was joyned with the Spirit: and what Prophecies are fulfilled now, which were not then? Or if they pretend to a Doctrine distinct from, and above what the Apostles taught, let them produce their evidences, and work those miracles which may induce men to believe them: Or let them shew what obligation any have to believe pretended new Revelations, without a power of miracles, attesting that those Revelations come from God? Or whereon men must build their faith, if it be left to the dictates of a pretended Spirit of Revelation? Or what way is left to discern the good Spirit from the bad, in its actings upon mens minds, if the Word of God be not our Rule still? Or how God is said to have spoken in the last dayes by his Son, if aHeb. 1. 1. further speaking be yet expected? For the Gospel-dispensation is therefore called the Last dayes, because no other is to be expected: Times being differenced in Scripture according to Gods wayes of revealing himself to men. But so much for this.
The second way whereby to know when Positive Lawes are§. 5. unalterable, is when God hath declared that such Lawes shall bind still. Two wayes whereby God doth express his own Will concerning the perpetuity of an Office founded on his own Institution. First, if such things be the work belonging to it, which are of necessary and perpetual use. Secondly, if God hath promised to assist them in it perpetually, in the doing of their work. First, the Object of the Ministerial Office are such things which are of necessary and perpetual use; I mean the Administration of Gospel-Ordinances. viz. the Word and Sacraments, which were appointed by Christ for a perpetual Use. The Word as a means of Conversion and Edification; the Sacraments not onelyonly as notes of distinction of Professors of the true faith from others, but as Seals to confirm the Truth of the Covenant on Gods part towards us, and as Instruments to convey the blessings sealed in the Covenant to the hearts of Believers. Now the very Nature of these things doth imply their perpetuity and continuance in the world, as long as there shall be any Church of God in it. For these things are not typi rerum futurarum, only Ceremonies to represent somthing to come, but they are symbola rerum invisibilium, signs to represent to our Senses things invisible in their own Nature: and between these two there is a great difference, as to the perpetuity of them: For Types of things as to come, must of necessity expire when the thing typified appears; but representation of invisible things cannot expire on that account, because the thing represented as invisible, cannot be supposed to be made visible, and so to evacuate the use of the Signes which represents them to us. Types represent a thing which is at present invisible; but under the Notion of it as future. Symbols represent a thing at present invisible, but as present; and therefore Symbols are designed by Gods Institution for a perpetuall help to the weakness of our Faith. And therefore the Lords Supper is appointed to set forth the Lords 1 Cor. 11: 26.Death, till he come: whereby the continuance of it in the Church of God is necessarily implied. Now then, if these things which are the proper object of the Ministerial Function be of a perpetual Nature; when these things are declared to be of an abiding Nature, it necessarily follows, that that Function to which it belongs to administer these things, must be of a perpetual Nature.
Especially if we consider in the second place, that Christ§. 6. hath promised to be with them continually in the administration of these things: For that, notwithstanding the dust lately thrown upon it, we have a clear place, Matth. 28. 19. Go teach and baptize, &c. Loe I am with you alwayes to the end of the World. If foreign, did not signifie perpetuity, yet certainly the latter words do; for how could Christ be with the Apostles themselves personally to the end of the World? It must be therefore with them, and all that succeed them in the Office of Teaching and Baptizing, to the Worlds end: For that I assert to be the meaning of foreign. I insist not barely on the signification of the word foreign, either as to its supposed Etymology, or as it Answers the Hebrew foreign knowing how fallible the Arguments drawn from thence are, when in the Dispute of the Eternity of the Law of Moses with the Jewes, it is confessed that foreign relates onelyonly to a long continuance of Time. But however, I suppose that it will hardly be found in Scripture, that either foreign or foreign doth barely relate to the time of Life of any individuall persons, especially, if absolutely put as it is here. One great signification of foreign in the New Testament (which we are to inquire into, and not how it is used among Greek Authours) is that wherein foreign is taken for the world its selfPhilolog. Sacr. de Hebr. N. T. cap. 2. which Vorstius reckons among the Hebraisms of the New Test. in which sense the Jewes call God foreign and great persons foreign Magnates mundi in which Sense, in the New Testament, the Devil is called foreign. Ioh. 12. 31.—14. 31. and foreign, 2 Cor. 4. 4. And so God is said to create foreign, the worlds, Heb. 1. 2.—11. 3. If we take it in this Sense, Christs promise must of necessity relate to the dissolution of the Fabrick of the World, and that he would be with his Servants in the Gospel, till all things be dissolved. Against this it is pleaded, that the foreign here relates to the destruction of Ierusalem, and that foreign implies the state of things under the Law, which would continue till Ierusalem were destroyed, from which time a new foreign would commence. But to this I answer, first; I absolutely deny, that foreign, doth ever in Scripture relate to the destruction of the Jewish State. This will be best made out by a particular view of the places wherein this Phrase occurres. The first time we meet with this phrase is in Matth. 13. where we have it thrice, ver. 39. foreign: Now can any be so senslesse, as to imagine that the Harvest wherein the Tares shall be gathered, and cast into unquenchable fire, when the Angels are said to be the Reapers, and to gather out of Christs Kingdome every thing that offends, should be attributed to the destruction of Ierusalem? and so ver. 40. and ver. 49. where the same phrase expresseth the same time, foreign, where the Antecedents and Consequents fully Declare, what the time there is meant, which is the general Judgement of the world. The onelyonly place pleaded for this sense, is Matthew 24. 3. where the Disciples inquire of Christ what should be the sign, foreign, where granting, that the former Christs coming may respect his coming to alter the present state of things, according to the Jewes apprehension of the Messias; yet I deny that the latter doth, but it respects the generall Destruction of the World, consequent upon that alteration: For the Jewes not onelyonly expected an alteration of the present state of things among them, but a consequent Destruction of the World, after the coming of the Messias, according to that speech of theirs cited by Doctor Lightfoot. foreign This World shall be Horae hebr. in Matth. 24. 3. p. 262.destroyed for a 1000. years, and after that foreign there should be the State of Eternity. So that the Disciples, speaking in the Sense of the Jewes, doe not onelyonly inquire of the signs of his altering the present state of things among them, but likewise of the Destruction of the whole World too. Accordingly it is observable, that throughout that Chapter, our Saviour intermixeth his answers to these 2 Questions. Sometimes speaking in reference to the Jewish State, as it is plain he doth, verse 15, 16. and so on; and when he saith, that this Generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled, ver. 34. But then it is as evident, that some places must relate to the destruction of the World, as when he saith, Of that day and hour knoweth no Man, no not the Angels of Heaven, but the Father onelyonly, ver. 36. which will appear more plainly, by comparing it with Mark 13. 32. Where the Son is excluded from knowing that hour too; But how can any say, that the Son did not know the time of the Destruction of Ierusalem, which he himself foretold when it should be? And those words Heaven and Earth shall pass away, ver. 35. seem to be our Saviours Transition to the Answer of the other Question, about the final destruction of all things. However that be, as we see no reason at all why foreign, should onelyonly respect the subversion of the Jewish State: But supposing it should, yet there is far less reason why it should be so meant, in the place whose sense we are inquiring into. For if by Christs coming to destroy Ierusalem, the old Sate and Dispensation should be taken away, we must suppose a new state …nder the messias to begin from thence. And how Rationall doth this sound, that Christ should promise his peculiar Presence with his own Apostles, whom he imployed in erecting the Gospel State, onelyonly till the Old Jewish State be subverted; but his Promise not at all to extend to that Time, wherein the State of the Kingdome of the Messias should be set up in stead of it: And how could any of the Apostles, for example, Saint Iohn, who survived the Destruction of Ierusalem, expect Christs Presence with him, by vertue of this Promise, if it extended no further then to the Destruction of the Jewish State? Besides, it is a meer groundlesse fancy, and favours of the Jewish apprehensions of the State of the Messias Kingdome, to imagine that the Temporall State of Ierusalem must be first subverted before that foreign or Dispensation of things was at an end. For the Jewish State and Dispensation did not lie in the Iewish Polity, but in Obligation to the Law of Moses, which expired together with Christ. And so the Gospel-tate, which is called the Kingdome of Heaven, and the Regeneration, beganMatth. 19. 28. upon Christs Resurrection and Ascension, when he was solemnly (as it were) inaugurated in his Mediatory Kingdome. And presently after sends down his Vice-Roy upon the day of Pentecost, in the effusion of the Spirit upon the Apostles, makingActs 2. 11 good his Promise of the Paracle…e to supply his absence: Whereby the Apostles were more signally impowered for the advancing of the Gospel state.
The foreign then of the Gospel commenceth from Christs§. 7. Resurrection, and to this foreign I am very inclinable to think that our Saviour hath reference in these words, when he saith, he will be with his Disciples to the end of that foreign, if we take it for a state of things, or the Gospel-dispensation; that is, as long as the Evangelical Church shall continue: For that in Scripture is sometime called The World to come, and thatHeb. 2. …. Lightfoot Horae. Hebr. in Matth. 12. 32. p. 173. Heb. 6. 5. Phrase among the Jews of foreign the world to come, is set to express the times of the Messias; and it may be the Apostle may referr to this, when he speaks of Apostales tasting foreign, that is, the force and energy of the Gospel preached; whence the Kingdom of God is said to be not foreign, but foreign, not in word, but in power, which is the foreign, spoken of by the Apostle elsewhere,1. Cor. 4. 20. the powerfull demonstration of the Spirit accompanying the preaching of the Gospel. When Christ is called by the Prophet foreign the everlasting Father, the Septuagint renders it by foreign, and so the Vulgar, Latin.1 Cor. 24. Pater futuri saeculi, the Father of the World to Come: that is, the Gospel State, and to this sense Christ is said to beIsai. 9. 5. Heb. 9. 11. made an High Priest, foreign, and the Law to be a shadow foreign, of good things which should be under the new state of the Gospel. And which is more plain to theHeb. 10. 1. purpose, the Apostle expresseth what was come to passe inEph. 2. 7. the dayes of the Gospel, foreign, in the Ages to come, where the very word foreign is used to this sense. AndMatth 12. 32. according to this importance of the word foreign, some very probably interpret that place of our Saviour concerning the sin against the Holy Ghost, that it should not be forgiven foreign, neither in the present D Reynolds on Hosea 14. 3.state of the Iewish Church, wherein there is no sacrifice of expiation for contumacious sinners, but they that despised Moses Law dyed without mercy; so neither shall there be, any under the World to come, that is the dispensation of Gospel Grace, any pardonHeb 10. 26, 27, 28. proclaimed to any such sinners who …ample under foot the blood of the Covenant, and offer despight to the Spirit of grace. Thus we see how properly the word foreign may agree here to the Gospel-State, and so Christs promise of his Presence doth imply the perpetuity of that Office as long as the Evangelical state shall remain, which will be to the Worlds end.
The third thing, whereby to know when positive institutions§. 8. are unalterable, is, when they are necessary to the being, succession, and continuance of the Church of God. Now this yields a further evidence of the perpetuity of Officers in the Church of God, seeing the Church its self cannot be preserved without the Government; and there can be no Government without some to Rule the members of the Church of God, and to take care for a due administration of Churchpriviledges, and to inflict censures upon offenders, which is the power they are invested in by the same authority which was the ground of their institution at first. It is not conceivable how any Society, as the Church is, can be preserved without the continuance of Church-Officers among them. As long as the Body of Christ must be edified, there must be some foreign, fitted for the work of the Ministry, which is appointed in order to that end; For that I suppose is the Apostles meaning in Ephes. 4. 12. foreign. following the Complutensian copy, leaving out the comma between foreign and foreign, which makes as though it were a distinct thing from the former; whereas the Original carryes the sense on; for otherwise it should have been foreign, &c. and those who follow the ordinary reading, are much at a loss how to explain that foreign coming in so in the midst without dependance upon the former. Therefore the vulg. Latin best renders it, ad consummationem sanctorum ad opus ministerii; for the compleating of the Saints for the work of the ministry, in order to the building up of the body of Christ; and to this purpose Musculus informs us, the German version renders it. And so we understand the enumeration in the verse before of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Eph. 4. 11Pastors and Teachers, not for the persons themselves, but for the gifts of those persons, the office of Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors, &c. which is most suitable to the foreign in the eighth verse. He gave gifts to men; now these gifts, saith he, Christ gave to men foreign, for the fitting the Saints for the work of the Ministry. Not as a late Democratical Writer would perswade us, as though all the Saints were thereby fitted for this Work of the Ministry; (for that the Apostle excludes by the former enumeration); for, are all the Saints fitted for Apostles? are all Prophets, are all Evangelists, are all Pastors and Teachers? as the Apostle1 Cor. 12. 29, 8, 9, 10, 11. himself elsewhere argues. And in the 8 v. of that chapter, he particularly mentions the several gifts qualifying men for several usefull employments in the Church of God, the Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will. Therefore it cannot be that all the Saints are hereby fitted for this Work; but God hath scattered these gifts among the Saints, that those who have them might be fitted, foreign, because God would not leave his Church without persons qualified for the service of himself in the work of the Ministry, in order to the building up of the Body of Christ. And by the foreign, here may be meant no other then those he speaks of in the chapter before, when he speaks of the Revelation made foreign,Eph. 3. 5. to his holy Apostles and Prophets, and so God gave these gifts for the fiitting the holy Apostles, &c. for the work of the Ministry. It cannot be meant of all, so as to destroy a peculiar function of the Ministry; for Gods very giving these gifts to some and not to others, is an evidence that the function is peculiar. For else had the gifts been common to all, every Saint had been an Apostle, every believer a Pastor, and Teacher, and then where had the People been that must have been ruled and governed? So that this very place doth strongly assert both the peculiarity of the Function, from the peculiarity of gifts in order to fitting men for it; and the perpetuity of the Function from the end of it, the building up of the Body of Christ. Thus I have now asserted the perpetual divine Right of a Gospel-Ministry, not only for teaching the Word, but administration of Ordinances, and governing the Church as a Society: which work belongs to none but such as are appointed for it, who are the same with the dispencers of the Word, as appears from the titles of foreign, Governours, Rulers, Pastors, all which necessarily imply aHeb. 13. 7, 17. 1 Tim. 5. 17. Eph. 4. 11. Governing power, which having been largely proved by others, and yeelded by me, I pass over.