The Government of the Churches of Christ, Book 6 · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX.
That a Pastor and Teacher, and many other Officers of a particular Church, have the promise of a special Blessing from God. That accordingly they do receive such a special Blessing suited to the Rank, and order of their Office, to give Success in the Execution of it, beyond what a meer Preacher can expect.
Psal. 133. 1, 2, 3.
Keep not thou silence O God: Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For lo, thine Enemies make a Tumult, and they that hate thee, have lift up the Head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy People, and consulted against thy hidden ones.
THere is one thing which I cannot pretermit, but must urge and press it, viz. that every Institution and Office, and order appointed by God, hath answerably to accompany it, and succeed it, a special blessing suited to the nature of it. This is evident from this, Psal. 133. 1, 2, 3. It is common to the New Testament, though spoken of the Assemblies of the Old Testament, either of the lesser Synagogues, or of the General Assemblies at their Feasts, for they were under their High Priests, to whom he does allude, ver. 2. It is like the pretious Oyntment upon the Head, that ran down upon the Beard, even Aaron's Beard, that went down to the skirts of his Garments. Every Member partook of some benefit of the Holy Oyl poured upon Aaron's Head, the chief Officer of those General Assemblies; and it is expresly added of them there, that God commands the Blessing. And this, though an Old Testament instance, may fitly serve for the New, mutatis mutandis. For a particular Church, where the Brethren meet in one foreign, and foreign, with one consent, one heart, one worship, is in it self alone a distinct special Ordinance and Institution of Christ, and he hath promised that where two or three are gathered together in his Name, he will be in the midst amongst them, Matth. 18. 20. And his presence brings all sorts of blessings with it, and there 'tis that God commands a blessing. For that company are the House of God, 1 Tim. 3. 15. The Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the Truth. foreign, the Seat of Truth, a Pillar of Truth, not Architectonically, that supported the Truth, but Phorendically as pillars use to be, with papers pasted on them to declare the Truth. It is an Ordinance to preserve Truth in the World, to hold it forth, as on pillars they used to place their Writings. God is used to bless the small despised Assemblies of Saints gathered together in unity, more then great Councils consisting of Popes and Bishops, and Cardinals. These small Assemblies have been the little creepers in the Chimney, that keep up the fires, which the great Andirons, do not as was Prince Henry's Speech. And a Church, though very small, is yet a Church of the Living God, and (as Mr. Nye once well said) A Church is a thing, that lives, because it has the Living God to dwell in it.
And as God blesseth the Churches that are the Casket, the Sheath, so he blesseth their Officers too that are proper to them (though among Men accounted the lowest) that is, they are Pastors and Teachers in particular Congregations, who are their Preaching Elders.
The Papists plead that it is their Church that keep the Faith and the Truth, and that God had made a promise to lead them into all Truth. But it is the ordinary Officers of the Church, Pastors and Teachers, which the Apostle Paul says do build up the Church, till they come to the unity of the Faith, Ephes. 4. 11, 12, 13. And it is among you he has commanded the blessing, which is demonstrated thus, that Christ when he ascended, gave Gifts unto Men, and scattered them among the Saints, tanquam missilia, As the Roman Emperors did their Donatives among the People, as their Chariots went along. Now what were those Gifts, but the Offices which God Instituted in the Church Universal; First the extraordinary, that ceased before Tertullian's time, as Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist's, and there are no more of them to be found on Earth, only their Writings continue, and make up the New Testament. But who are the lasting Officers of continuance to preserve the Truths, when they were gone, none but Pastors and Teachers, and unto these it has been, that the Faith hath been committed, and by them preserved, and Truth hath been taught, and how long do they last? Till all come to the unity of the Faith of the Son of God: If any point of Faith be erred in, that is not Fundamental; these Pastors and Teachers do restore it unto its primitive Native Splendour. 'Tis there God appoints the Blessing, what ever Men pretend of General Councils; and the reason is, because God still follows his own Institutions with his own Blessing, and there God commands a Blessing. As Christ himself did ascend from the lower parts of the Earth unto that hight, which he has in Heaven, so dothall Truths arise from the lower sort of Ministers; and if General Councils have any Truth among them, it is because it hath ascended first unto unto them, from the inferior lower sort of Ministers, as they in Debasement call them.
That in general, a special blessing from God is promised to all Assemblies and Institutions, whether of the Old or New Testament is evinced from this one place which I have mentioned, Psal. 133. 1, 2, 3. where a blessing is so emphatically declared, There God commands a blessing, which denotes the intention of God's mind in it. Now to whom and to what is this Superexcellent blessing even eternal life, which is the sum and quintessence of blessings commanded to be bestowed? Under the Old Testament the promise of Eternal Life was then given, Witness, that one Scripture speaking of the Old Testament worship by the twelve Tribes, to which promise (says the Apostle) the twelve Tribes, meaning the Nation of the Godly Jews, hoping to come; served God Day and Night. Their Assemblies were either the General Assemblies or Feasts, at which the High Priest, the greatest Officer of the Old Testament, and the Type of Christ was present, or else the lesser Assemblies of the Synagogues, and all the Order and Institutions belonging to them, and all this blessing was promised to each and every of them. And their Holy Communion together in the General Assemblies, the Psalmist compares unto the pouring down the Holy Oyl upon the Head of the High Priest, and as the Oyl dropt down upon all his Garments, the Skirts, &c. So every particular Member likewise they exhorted to keep the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace. These are the unities of the New Testament, that the Saints are exhorted to live in also, and above all to avoid divisions, they are called to peace in one Body, and every particular Church is called the House of the living God, dwelling together with them to keep them in unity. And Christ's first Institution of a particular Church under the New Testament expresses it on this wise again: I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree upon Earth, &c. Matth. 18. 19. There is unity, and as touching any thing they shall ask of my Father which is in Heaven (says Christ) it shall be done unto them; and then adds the words of Institution, For where two or three are gathered together in my Name, I am in the midst of them. They therefore who are present, receive a participation of the blessings promised, of some of the Holy Oyl poured upon Christ the Head.
2. Secondly, This Scripture though written under the Old Testament, is yet, Mutatis Mutandis, readily Aplicable to the New constituted Assemblies of the Saints under the Gospel, constituted Assemblies of the Saints under the Gospel, and even the Terms and the Language used in the Psalm is fitted to those of the New Testament. As for instance, the word Brethren dwelling together, is the proper cognizance of the community of the Saints Assembled under the New. Those words [dwelling together in unity] is well nigh the same: For they dwell in Churches under Pastors and Teachers, and are instructed till they all come to the unity of Faith and Knowledge of the Son of God. And where Christ's presence is, there is always a blessing; and 'tis also a description of a New Testament Church, (1 Cor. 14. 23.) That 'tis a whole Church, consisting of all its Members met together in one place. There is unity of place. And then, Acts 1. 14. we have an account that they met with one consent, (foreign) to perform the Duties of Worship. And whoever will read the story of the first New Testament Church that God reared in Jerusalem, will find abundantly enough in the story of the first Chapter of the Acts, and in the second Chapter concerning their continuing together in one place, they were all with one accord in one place, (Chap. 2. 1.) and there was fullfilled the Prophecies of Joel, in pouring out the Spirit of God upon them, which inwardly united them together, and Jesus Christ his presence was amongst them, and he being by the Right Hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost was in the midst of them: And he being the High Priest of the New Testament, (Heb. 3. 1.) God hath anointed him, of which anointing we have all participated, Acts 4. ver. 27. nor did they only continue together in the Apostles Fellowship in the Temple, and in Solomon's Porch, in Preaching, in Prayers, and in breaking Bread (as in those Chapters is mentioned) but it grew to such a unity, that the multitude of them that believed, were of one Heart and of one Soul, neither said any one that ought of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things common, and with great power gave the Apostle witnesse of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all, Acts 4. 32, 33. For that time they keep as a day of Thanksgiving, and continual feasting unto the Lord for the Joy they had, that their New King was alive and risen. So as those other words of the Psalmist,-Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is, for Brethren to dwell together in unity, were then verified in such a manner, and with such a joy, as had never been seen afore in the World at any time. Insomuch, as the common Jews that were not Believers, nor of their company beheld and magnified them praising God, and having favour with all the People, Acts 2. 47. Ecce quam invicem diligunt, Behold how they love one another, was the common cry of the Multitude, thus plausibly and happily did this Church begin, and great grace was upon them all, Acts 3. 33. they were joyned or glued together, as the word is. And thus blessed from God, was the first Seat and Pillar of Truth not Architectonical, or a pillar that bore up the Truth, but Phoreneical whereby according to the custom of those times, the Holy Mysteries of God and Christ, were posted to be seen and read of all, and thus much in general to prove that there is a blessing from God in a Gospel Church, truly gathered and constituted by God where Christ is present.
2. And if the case, the Sheath, the Cabinet be thus precious to God; then the Gifts which God places in his Cabinet, I mean the Instituted Officers of this Church, which are the Furniture and Ornament of it, are also precious unto God, and ought to be unto us; and that which I insist on, is that each of them have a special blessing from God to accompany them as a Gift from God, and special blessing. And indeed the Officers duly placed and fixed in this Seat of Truth, have been in all Ages since Christ the great Preservers and Restorers of Gospel Truth, and to whom we owe the Glorious Reformation of our Religion.
The Papists make a great plea of the Churches Infallibility and Authority through God's blessing, as they pretend, but when we come to examine what that Church is, that is, the preserver of Truth, they cry up the Higher Clergy (as they call it) of Popes, Patriarks, Bishops, and such like Doctors of the Higher Rank. But it is reported to have been Prince Henry's Speech and Similitude (Eldest Son to King James the first) that being invited to a Merchants House, where a great pair of brass Andirons were; these gaudy appearances of shining brass (says he) are not the pillars that hold up the fire, as your Bishops and Doctors are not, but they are the little creepers of Iron, which bear up the fire: So it is not your Prelates which uphold the Church, but it is your inferior Ministers which take pains in their places that uphold it, and not General Councils, nor the Dignified Clergy. In Eph. 4. 11, 12. it is said of Pastors and Teachers, that they are the only standing Officers of the Church, whom Jesus Christ hath continued in the Ministry, for the edifying the Body of Christ through every Age, which their Succession does run through, till we all come in the Unity of Faith and Knowledge of the Son of God, every such Age by the instructions of these ordinary Ministers preserving the knowledge of Christ, and unity of Faith, Now what is the reason that the People of God should be built up by these means, rather then by pompous Ostentation of Knowledge, but only because indeed God's blessing follows his own Ordination; and Apostles and Evangelists being ceased and gone of the Stage, and only their Writings in the New Testament left, God produces an oral propagating down of these Truths among his Elect, by these ordinary Pastors.
And these and the like blessings, Jesus Christ hath freely bestowed as special Gifts and Donatives of Grace, so as the Gift of them is in it self a singular blessing to any People that enjoys them, and besides God follows the Person with a special blessing and endowment, together with his Gift and Ability, according to the Rank and Order of the Office it self, which is also the gift in that, Eph. 4. before quoted. He rehearseth all sorts of instituted Officers in the Church, whether ordinary or extraordinary, as for Preaching the extraordinary, ver. 11. He gave some Apostles, some Prophets, some Evangelists; These are the twelve Stars about the Church's Head, Rev. 12. 1. wherewith the first Primitive Age was crowned; but they have ever since disappeared, only leaving their Writings, and they ceasing in respect of living, the Christian World began anew, were Children rather then Fathers, there being few Preaching Elders that had Gifts of ability, as may be discerned by their Writings they have left: But the ordinary standing Ministers were Pastors and Teachers, and to them Christ committed the institution of the Church. Now concerning them you may observe two things for our present purpose.
1. They were special gifts of Jesus Christ, and superadded graces out of grace were bestowed on Men, and such as might somewhat exceed the common sort of Believers, being first instructed from the extraordinary, 2 Tim. 2. 2. And the things thou hast heard of me before many Witnesses, the same commit thou to Faithful Men, who shall be able to teach others also.
2. Christ having all power committed unto him in Heaven and Earth, appointed two distinct Offices of Preaching Elders, investing them with his Authority, and in his name, suitably.
3. He, by special Solemnities of his appointment, set and separated them to those Offices with Fasting and Prayer.
4. He gave a special blessing to each office and officer, in the execution of his office, for the People's sake over whom he is placed.
And when he had made up and compounded an Office and Officer, with all these particulars, he then gave them, as a Gift and Donative of meer grace, and has scattered them as Missilia among the People, according to his good pleasure. I call them so, alluding to the name which the Romans gave to the pieces of Gold and Silver which their Emperors ordered to be cast amongst the People. This our Lord Jesus doth from Heaven himself, withal blessing them; for our Lord and Saviour Christ, when he was to ascend to Heaven, in the sight of the five Hundred that were present, (1 Cor. 15. 6.) he then singled out his Apostles and other Ministers, whom he had appointed in his Life-time, and had sent them two and two, Matth. 28. 18, 19, 20. All power is given unto me in Heaven and on Earth, and upon that he founds their Commissions; Go ye therefore and Teach all Nations, Baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For that was spoken only of Ministers, Go and Baptize, &c. which was only proper for Ministers, who are the only Stewards of the Ministries of God, and so of Baptism being a Sacrament and Seal of the Covenant. And Christ also adds this for them, Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the World, Amen. And when he had given them this Authority and Gifts to Teach all Nations, he promises to be with them to the end of the World, and the last thing he did was to bless them, Luke 24. ver. 50, 51. And he lift up his Hands and Blessed them; and it came to pass, whilst he Blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven. And this he did in Analogy to what God did in the first Creation, when he had made the first Man and Woman, Gen. 1. 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitfull and multiply. And thus Christ did in his New Creation of Ministers, whether extraordinary, as in the first times, or ordinary, which are to endure to the end of the World; and upon all inferior or lower Ministers, and on all Officers of his Church, to come; in their several degrees he commands the blessing, which still continues, and we Act, and are Acted in the vertue of it.
Thus I have proved, that Jesus Christ hath himself solemnly blessed these Institutions of the Offices of Preaching Ministers, and that he did it just as he was going to Heaven:
2. I shall now Demonstrate more expresly, that every Ministerial Office hath a blessing to accompany it, according to its Order and Institution, which will yet more confirm, that these two particular Offices we have instanced, of Pastor and Teacher, have certainly the blessing commanded to them, for if every Officer else hath it, then much more these which are very Noble, (Rom. 15. 29.) in their employment and usefulness to Man. If we want this compleatness we shall find we shall fall so much short of the Blessing; but the Apostle says, that he came to the Romans in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel, so we are to take care that we do not miss of some degree of that blessing, which the fullness of the Institution will bring with it.
I proceed to Demonstrate this Truth by a view of particular Offices which God has Instituted, and with them each hath appointed a particular blessing or benefit, or issue, and event thereof.
As for the Old Testament, I will give but one instance, (but to me it is a great one) to evidence the thing in hand, Levit. 9. 23. And Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and came out, and blessed the People, and the Glory of the Lord appeared unto all the People. Yea, when the ordinary Levites and Priests blessed the People, their Voice was heard, 2 Chron. 30. 27. Then the Priests and the Levites arose and blessed the People, and their Voice was heard, and their Prayer came up to his Holy dwelling place, even unto Heaven. And as it had its effect in the Heart of God, so the blessing of the High Priest had a strange and miraculous effect in the Heart of a poor Woman. How much was poor Hannahs Heart loaded, and made unquiet by her fellow-partner Peninnah, Elhanah's other Wife? the story doth pittifully and mournfully set it out, 1 Sam. 1. 6. And her Adversary provoked her sore for to make her fret, and then poor Hannah, (ver. 10:) was in bitterness of Soul, and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore; but when Eli blessed her (saying, (ver. 17.) Go in peace, and the Lord God of Israel grant thee thy Petition, that thou hast asked of him, ver. 18.) then the Woman went her way, and her countenance was no more sad.
In the New Testament (if we examine from the lowest Office of the Church to the highest) there is a peculiar blessing promised according to its Degree, Rank or Order of the Institution.
1. A Deacon is esteemed the lowest Office, but the discharging of it well hath a special incouragement, in comparison of what other common Christians have, 1 Tim. 3. 13. For they that have used the Office of a Deacon well, purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the Faith that is in Christ Jesus. A good degree, that is, they obtain, as a reward to themselves, an Estimation above the Rank of ordinary Believers in the Faith, and great boldness thereupon. And in ver. 11. Likewise the Women foreign, viz. Deaconesses (so Grotius renders it, and not Wives) who were to tend the Sick, must be Grave, Sober, Faithful in all things, and Christ will be faithful to them to Reward them according to their deservings. Thus it is in the lowest Offices in the Church: If we ascend to the highest, which was the order of Apostles in the Church, there were several things concurred in an Apostle, as to have been conversant with Christ during the time of his walking upon Earth, and then to have been eye-witnesses of his Resurrection after his Death, but the principal eminent thing that had the blessing to convert Souls whereever they came, and had the great success in that their Ministry, was, by vertue of the very office it self. For when our Saviour Christ sent out his Twelve Apostles, he furnished them with two things.
1. With the matter which they should Preach. They were directed to Preach the Kingdom of God, and so to work upon Mens Souls.
2. Christ furnished them with Authority and Power extraordinary, (Matth. 10. 1.) to Heal the Sick, cleanse the Leper, &c. Now this is my assertion, that it twas not only the Gift of Ability to Preach, but the Authority and Power which they were invested with, wherein lay their Apostleship and their universal commission to go over all, or to any Nation, and Preach the Gospel with Success. In the vertue of this Office it was, that the blessing did accompany them where-ever they went, and from thence it was, that God wrought so with them as he did. It was by vertue of the Office it self which he had placed them in, and invironed them about with the power of God. What says Paul, (Gal. 2. 6, 7.) concerning his own and Peter's Apostleship? That when they saw, by different experiences, and by conference of us together, the various working of God in the Ministry by me and by them, they knew that the Gospel of uncircumcision was committed to me, as the Gospel of Circumcision was to Peter. Now this arose not from the different Abilities of Peter and Paul, but from the various Commission and Success that their Office and Apostleship had in it from God: It was not that Paul was more abundantly laborious in the Ministry then them all. That his Gospel ran like Wildfire upon seared Trees in a torrid Zone, Rom. c. 15. ver. 19. Through mighty Signs and Wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum (that is all along as far as Hungary) I have fully preached the Gospel. And it was not the knowledge of his own Ability he presumed on; but the Authority God had put him into by his Office, and he, in a Holy kind of Ambition in doing this, scorned to build upon another's Foundation, as in ver. 20. Yea, so have I strived to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, least I should build upon another Man's Foundation.
And it was chiefly the conscience of that Office of Apostleship which God had placed him in, and that Success to an Admiration that God accompanyed him with, which did thrust out that Holy Beast of his, 1 Cor. 15. 10. But I laboured more abundantly then they all, yet not I, but the Grace of God that was with me. And this I boldly interpret, that he speaks it not of the Grace of God that was in himself, but of the Grace of God that was with him, and so speaks of his Office which God had put him into, as in ver. 9. For I am the least of the Apostles, that am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of Christ. But by the Grace of God, I am what I am. He speaks not of the Grace he received at his conversion to Christianity, but of that of his Apostleship, which I speak not to provoke to pains, that is unreasonable, but to shew that the Success ever he had from God in it, provoked him unto it. It was not the Grace of his conversion he thanked God for, but that of his Apostleship, as in 1 Tim. from ver. 12. to 18. I was a persecutor and a blasphemer, and yet he put me into the Ministry, &c. He seems to thank God for that, in the first and chief place, and Rom. 11. 13. For I speak to you Gentiles, in as much as I am an Apostle of the Gentiles, I magnifie mine Office.
By the way, Mr. Parker, in his Ecclesiastical policy, has a controversy with the Bishops about this, viz. to which of Christ's Offices Ministers owe their Original for the Ministry. They say they hold it from him as Priest, chiefly for their Honour, but the Apostle Paul Attributes it to his being King. He is the great Soveraign that works all things, and does all things, and yet he is invisible, which is his glory, and so Jesus Christ founds it on his Kingly Office; All power in Heaven and on Earth is given to me, (says he) and so go and Teach all Nations, &c. Matth. 28. 18, 19, 20. But here, the wonder may be, that the priviledge of being put into the Ministry, should be called by him Grace, but the Apostle has prevented us in our wonder at it, in Rom. 1. 5. By whom we have received Grace and Apostleship for obedience to the Faith among all Nations, for his Name. Which he accordingly urges them unto, upon every occasion, according as we have received Grace (says he) we exhort you, &c. Now, would you think it, he stiles every standing Office in the Church a Grace, or the Grace of God, in like manner as he had done the Apostleship, Eph. 3. 7. Whereof I was made a Minister according to the Gift of the Grace of God given unto me, by the effectual working of his power. In like manner he calls every particular Office, in the Church instituted, a Grace from God, Rom. 12. 4. 6. For as we have many Members in one Body, and all Members have not the same Office. Having Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given to us. And then he Enumerates the standing Instituted Offices as Pastor, and so downwards to the very Tenders of the Sick. He that sheweth Mercy (says he) let him do it with chearfulness. And as he calls these Offices Gifts, so he calls it Grace to be so called into such Offices, even as he had called the Apostleship the Gift of Grace unto himself, and so there is in their proportion the like blessing and obligation.
It is strange that all that perfect Holiness, that Adam had afore his fall, should be called the Image of God; and yet it arose not to the Dignity and Stile of being called Grace, which denotes something Supernatural above the due of Creation.
Because in Rom. 12. 6, 7. two standing Offices are in common named Prophecying and Teaching, in distinction from the lower Offices, I shall upon the occasion thereof argue the point in hand; namely, that the two Preaching Elders being made Officers, and their calling being to Prophecy that they have a special blessing promised answerably to their Institution. To explain which more distinctly, we may and must know, that Prophecying in the Language of Paul's Epistles, is used to express the Preaching of Members who are not Officers, and yet have Gifts fit to Edifie the Church, which the Apostle therefore allows, (1 Cor. 14.) but so as this kind of Prophecying was not to hinder the Church from having standing Elders of Preaching, for that other kind of exercise of Prophecying from the Members is to be voluntary, and occasional as the Spirit of God supplies them with new matter. But Jesus Christ Head of the Church, thought not fit to leave his Church to such an uncertain slender provision only. But as he is Rich in Mercy, so he would have his Word to dwell richly and plentifully in his House, and has therefore appointed Officers that should Preach, in Season, and out of Season, that should give themselves wholy up to these things, to make it their work and business to seek to find out pleasant words, as of Solomon it's said, Eccles. 12. 10. Now our Lord Jesus Christ our Founder is a great King, and will have his Children Nobly Educated by Men, whose Office it is to tend them as Princes have; yea, he has appointed and set Tutors over every Faculty of his People, Teachers to inform their understandings, Pastors and Exhorters to deal with their Wills and Affections, and those lower than they, to take care about their Bodies for Sickness or Poverty. This is a Faithful saying, he that desires the Office of a Bishop, desireth a good Work: And of these the Apostle says, They are worthy of double Honour, 1 Tim. 5. 17. To whom doth he speak it? But to these other mentioned that are out of Office, who are to have but single Honour in comparison of those other, who are the Stars in Christ's right Hand, firm and fixed in their Orbs.
And here it will not be improper, nor impertinent to shew the procedure and degrees, but especially the outward course and means, that God took to bring the Apostle Paul's Apostleship to this perfection and height of consummation. But especially it is for us to consider the outward means and course God took therein.
First, The Foundation of his Apostleship was founded upon Christ's calling him in so extraordinary a manner, who Prophecyed of him aforehand, that he was a chosen Vessel, and that he would send him as a Witness of him among the Gentiles, so at his conversion. Then for three years he lived in Arabia, during which time (as Bishop Ʋsher happily conjectures) God took an occasion to make known his whole Gospel to him, both in the Center and Circumference of all the Truths of it, and their coherence one with another. And tho' God was able speedily to Reveal, yet Paul was to take all in, and that required time. Now after God had filled and furnished Paul's Heart and Head, with all kind of matter to inable him to Preach, after this you read of his Preaching up and down to the Jews, but unknown by face to them, Gal. 1. 22. and then he went to Tarshish his own City, from whence Barnabas fetched him, and brought him to Antioch. And there it was that Paul received an outward Mission and Commission, to be an Apostle to the Gentiles. And it was by the ordinary course and means of laying on of Hands, with Fasting and Prayer, for him, which is an Example for our Encouragement in our being put into rhe Ministry, to receive a blessing in the use of that ordinary means. The Story is, Acts 13. The Elders of the Church at Antioch being met, and having fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work, whereunto I have called them: And when they bad fasted and prayed, and laid their Hands on them, they sent them away.
Now Paul Writing to the Romans, Citizens of the Head City of the Gentiles, refers, (Rom. 1. 1.) to the words of this Story, and to that mission of him Recorded in that Story in using the very words, as glorying in that Stile which he counted the Foundation of his Apostleship among the Gentiles. Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them, says the Holy Ghost, Acts 13. separated unto the Gospel of God (says the Apostle, Rom. 1. 1.) We have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the Faith among all Nations for his Name. And from thence in the rest of the Epistle, and in this Epistle to the Corinths, he urgeth obedience to his Apostolical Authority, in such words as those, according as we have received Grace, viz. Grace of Apostleship, as he interprets it, do so and so, as we have commanded. This is frequent too in the Epistles to the Corinthians, and in this to the Romans, Rom. 11. 13. For I speak to you Gentiles, in as much as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I magnifie mine Office, Eph. 3. 3. whereof, viz. of the Gospel I was made a Minister, according to the Gift of the Grace of God given unto me, by the effectual working of his power. It was to the Authority of his Office he ascribed the Efficacy and Success of his Ministry. And tho' the Offices of Pastor and Teacher hath not the Authority, as that of an Apostle, nor the call so extraordinary, yet despise not the day of small things; for they are the blessed Ordinances of God, and shall have their due Efficacy upon the Hearts and Heads of those exercised therein, and it is there God commands the blessing.
And by the way the Separation to the work of the Ministry is ascribed to the Holy Ghost, who is the executive power of the Trinity: And therefore it is said, Acts 20. Feed the Flock, over whom the Holy Ghost has made you Overseers; and the Apostle says, 1 Cor. 12. 1, 2, 3. Now concerning Spiritual Gifts, Brethren, I would not have you ignorant, ye know that ye were Gentiles, carryed away unto these dumb Idols, even as ye were led; wherefore I give you to understand, that no Man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed, and that no Man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. The Apostle convinces them, that those Spiritual Gifts and Offices which were among them, were meerly Gifts out of Grace, tho' a common Grace to ungodly Men, to the Rebellious also. He convinces them by this, that they were Supernatural, for till my Ministry and the Gospel came among you (says he) you were far enough from such Gifts. Ye know that you were Gentiles carryed away unto these dumb Idols, even as you were led. And therefore if you have any knowledge of Christ, it must be from the Spirit, as an Heavenly Agent, that is come upon you all. The knowledge of, and assent to Jesus as the Lord, must be from the Holy Ghost, you have it not by Nature, you were led after dumb Idols. These Gifts are all Supernatural, and from a Divine Agent, and in that respect they are called Graces, and a Gift. But then the making a Man a Minister, and putting him into the Divine Office, whether of Pastor or Teacher, is no less then a work of all the three Persons, and not of the Holy Ghost only. There is a conjunction of all three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, blessing, and laying on of Hands, as it were, upon a Minister ordained, 1 Cor. 12. 4, 5, 6. Now there are diversities of Gifts; but the same Spirit. And there are differences of Administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of Operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. There you have all the three Persons, the Gifts of a Minister are from the Spirit, the Administration, i. e. the Offices wherein a Man Administers, as from Christ as a Lord, the Operations, the powerfull Success that works upon Mens Hearts by them, is from God the Father; you see your calling, Brethren, as the Apostle speaks in another case, I mean you Brethren of the Ministry, learn to follow your callings and your Authority. When Christ laid his Hand upon John, Rev. 1. how did it revive him, and put life into him. All three Persons in the Work, do lay on their Hands. We count it a great concurrent dispensation of God, that each Person in the Trinity should share the works of our Salvation among them, and it is a wonderful thing to bless them for it: But seldom have the three Persons concurred in one Action. When Christ was Baptized, and God himself Proclaimed, thou art my Son, there were all the three Persons. The Father was heard by speaking himself immediately, the Holy Ghost was descending as a dove upon Christ, and the Son of God was himself in the water. And here is another foreign an appearance of God, three in Persons at the Ordination of a Minister.
Which notion is confirmed and backed by our Apostle, in naming two of the Persons, the Father, and the Son, as Authors of the Instituted Officers of a Church, Gal. 1. 1. Paul an Apostle not of Men, neither by Man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the Dead. There is two of them, the Will of the Father, and Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, the third Person, you have in Acts 13. as expresly named, to be a Founder of this Work; Separate me Paul, for the Work I have appointed.
And from hence you may learn, what Holy, Holy, Holy, Ground it is, that an Instituted Officer of the New Testament stands upon, which Mr. Baynes in his Diocesan Tryal hath firmly asserted, and it sets right, and corrects the brownist Error at their first setting out, who looked on their Ministers but as Servants of the Church, and Instituted by the Church only, which is but of Human Institution, (Gal. 1. 1.) and so they chose them anew, to officiate in their several turns, remaining but Brethren still. But Mr. Baynes makes them the immediate Servants of Christ, who is the Institutor of them.
And from hence I assert, that a Minister is a Servant of Christ to the Church, to do his work to the Church as occasion is. Before his call unto the Ministry, he was as Gold in the Bulloyn fit for, and capable of the Ministry; and the Church in Christ's Name chooses him, and Sets upon him the Seal of a Sacred Separation of him unto Christ. And in Christ's Name he acts toward them, Independently on them, till he shall forfeit himself and his calling, by deserving to be Excommunicated.
And hence I assert also, that they are not only Ministers to that Church which calls them, but Preach as Ministers, and with a Ministerial blessing accompanying them, whereever they are called to Preach. And herein doth A singly called, though Gifted Man, fall short of that blessing which accompanies a Minister, rightly separated unto an Office of Ministery in a Church. There were some in the Church either of Antioch or Jerusalem, that were called principal Brethren, yet only Brethren, tho' the word Principal is annexed. And it is an ordinary Stile in the Epistles, when the Apostle speaks of the Brethren in a Church, who are chiefly such, he Stiles them one of you; yea, tho' they be acknowledged by the Apostles to have been helpful to them: Whereas when they have been separated to the Ministry, either as Pastor or Teacher of the Church, Paul gives the Honourable Title of unto you (speaking of that Church.) A Faithful Minister, and under that Title he sets out Epaphras to the Colossians, who was Minister to their Church; yea, and hence it comes to pass, that when ever they Preach to any either called or to be called, they may be said to Preach as Ministers to them. When (Ephes. 4. 12.) their ordinary Pastors and Teachers are said to be in the work of the Ministry, they are said to be in it not only for the edifying the Body of Christ, that is already his Body; but foreign, for the joynting in, as Members of the Body, such as are yet unconverted and out of joynt, and loose from them, tho' Elect, and if they be Ministers (as 'tis there expresly said) to the joynting of them in, then they are Ministers before conversion, to them, whom to convert, blesses them as Ministers. And what other is the reason, why those who have been fixed Ministers to a People, and by Persecution are driven out, have that allowance too given to them by Christ, who says, Mat. 10. 23. If they persecute you in one City, fly unto another. For Jesus Christ is not a loser thereby; but he follows on his blessing of them for Conversion unto a new People: For why? They carry their Ministry along with them, and Preach as Ministers to whomever they Preach, for they Preach foreign, for the joynting of them in. Know therefore that your Ministry or being Ministers, doth not stand on your own feet, but on Christ's feet, in whose Hand these Stars are for their further Motion, Guidance, and Protection, and Blessing on them.