Lay-men but our ruling Elders wee utterly deny them to be Lay-men as the word is commonly meant in this controversie but Church-officers set apart to their office by the election of the people and by imposition of hands but if they were Lay-men which they are not yet you see it is no strange or unheard of matter that Churches should be bountifull to the maintenance of sundry sorts of Church Rulers who are meerly Lay-men as their adversaries misconceive these to be yea what were the many Cloysters of Munks and Friers and Nuns in the times of Popery were they Preachers of the Word were they not Lay-men women and yet did the Churches of those times grudge them their maintenance upon pretence of their laity But the world will love his own be there never so many idle Droans or stately Rulers of mans own devising the Church must supply them not only with maintenance but with magnificence but let the Lord appoint ruling Elders according to the simplicity of the Gospel to assist his Ministers in the work of government that they might attend the more to labour in the Word if they shall expect from the Church any maintenance for their works sake Oh! that seemeth a strange matter and unheard of from all antiquity till this present age The second Reason why lay Elders as they miscall them ruling Elders as we with Paul call them are not meant in Pauls Text is because Paul mentioning the Presbyters but once in all his Epistles excludeth all lay Elders from that Presbytery Neglect not saith he the grace which is in thee which was given thee by prophecy with impositions by the hands of the Presbyterie 2 Tim. 4.14 This Christian Presbyterie gave imposition of hands to ordain Ministers but lay Elders had no right to impose hands to that purpose therefore Lay-men were none of this Presbyterie for if the Presbyterie be taken for the company of Elders none were of that company but such as might give imposition of hands or if Presbyterie be taken for the office of an Elder then none might take that function on him but must receive imposition of hands as Timothy did then Lay-men which neither give nor receive imposition of hands are wholly debarred both from the degree and from the society of the Presbyterie that was in Pauls time Our answer consisteth of three points First Lay Elders wee disclaim but ruling Elders though not attending to preaching as they have their election from the people who are the body of the Church so are they ordained set apart from amongst the people by imposition of hands of the officers of the Church who are the Presbyterie the company of Elders for by Presbyterie we conceive cannot be there meant the office of an Elder for hee speaketh of such a Presbytery as laid on hands now it is not the office of an Elder but the company of Elders that lay on hands Answ 2. When it is said no man can give what hee hath not received the light of Nature the law of Moses the Gospel of Christ do all of them make a ready answer for us The law of Nature tels us It is not necessary that they that give should alwayes formally have before-hand received that power which they give it is enough if they have received it virtually For instance a multitude of free people may elect and ordain a King over them and yet none of them had before hand received Kingly power it is enough they have a virtuall power to set up and to submit unto any lawfull forme of government which they see good for themselves in the land The people of Israel to wit some in the name of the rest for all could not at once impose their hands upon the Levites Numb 8.10 and yet they were not Levites themselves nor had received imposition of hands themselves and yet may neverthelesse impose hands upon others In the Gospel of Christ the power of the Keys is given to the Church to Peter not as an Apostle nor as an Elder but as a profest believer in the name of believers and upon occasion of the profession of his faith Mat. 16.16 to 19. whereupon the binding and loosing which is the power of the Keys is attributed to the whole Church Mat. 18.17 18. If then the power of the Keys which is the whole body of Church-power be given to the body of the Church though it be not in their power to exercise their pastorall preaching of the Word and administring of the Sacraments yet it is in their power to elect such whom God hath furnished with gifts among them unto such offices as may dispense all the holy things of God to them and by imposition of hands to dedicate them to God and to the publique service of his Church Now if the whole Church have this power to impose hands upon their officers in their first ordination how can it seem a strange and unheard of thing or an absurd matter that ruling Elders should together with the Pastor and Teachers all of them making up the Presbyterie of the Church impose hands in the name of the Lord and of the Church upon the ordained Answ 3. Besides there be that conceive and that not improbably that in ancient time the children baptized in the Church were not received to the Lords Supper nor into the full fruition of all Church liberties untill that they being grown up to yeers did publikely before the Church professe their faith and ratifie the covenant made for them in Baptisme and so were confirmed as they which is but a small remnant in comparison 300. yeares were spent in the Primitive persecutions whereof wee have few monuments of Antiquitie extant written in that time those wee have speake so of Elders as doe indifferently comprise as well Ruling Elder as Teaching Elders Ignatius his Presbyters whom he stileth the Court of God the Combination of the Apostles of Christ the holy Assembly and Counsellors and Assessors of the Bishops with all these Epithets may as well agree to Ruling Elders as to Preachers The Scripture doth not disdaine to admit Civill Magistrates into the fellowship of Gods Tabernacle Psal 82.1 And why not then the Rulers of his Church For Tertullian his Elders who were Presidents over the Censures of the Church and attained that honour not by Bribes but by approved Testimony Apologetic Chap. 29. what is there in his whole description of them but is compatible to Ruling Elders as well as to Preaching Yea Cyprian who lived in those ancient bloudy but zealous times doth expresly acknowledge Elders that were not Preachers For it evidently appeareth in the fift Epistle of his fourth Booke that he ordained Calinus and Ancellus to be Presbyters of his Church who were no Preachers but readers onely and yet were to be maintained Sportulis communibus that is at the common charge of the Church with the Presbyters and to sit with himselfe in their growne yeares It appeareth also in
the tenth Epistle of his fourth Booke That he ordained Numiditus a Confessor to be a Presbyter of his Church who was not at first called to be a Preacher Ambrose though he out-lived those times of purer government yet beareth full witnesse to the honorable use of Ruling Elders in the Church before his time For in his Comment on 1 Tim. 15.1 giving a reason why the Apostle would have Elders in yeares honoured even in the healing of their faults he urgeth the honour of old age in all Nation Whence saith he it was that the Synagogue and afterwards the Church had Elders without whose Counsell nothing was done in the Church which by what negligence is growne out of use in the Church I know not unlesse by the sloath of Teachers or rather pride whilest they onely would seeme to be somewhat Against this testimony because it is pregnant sundry exceptions or rather evasions are taken As 1. That the Author of this Testimony was not that ancient Ambrose the famous Bishop of Millaine but some other later of that name Ans And what though yet all men acknowledge this other Ambrose whose Testimony this is to be an ancient learned Writer and therefore his Testimony of the Antiquitie of Ruling Elders is sufficient to silence that charge and brave flourish that Ruling Elders are utterly unknowne and unheard of from all Antiquitie for 1500. yeares A second Exception they give is that Ambrose speaketh not of Elders in Office but in yeares without whose Counsell not without whose authoritie nothing was done in the Church Answ 1. It is evident he speaketh of the Elders in the Church as in the Synagogue now the Elders were Rulers in the Synagogues as appeareth by sundry places in the Gospel 2. That nothing was done without their counsell implyeth that nothing was done without their authoritie as the same phrase of other Ancients imply when they speak of the concurrence of the Councel of Presbyters in Church-government for in that sense speaketh Cyprian to his Presbyters Epistolarum lib. 3. Epist 10. A primordio Episcopatus mei I determined with my self nihil sine consilio vestro sine consensu plebis meâ privatim sententiâ gerere and that not out of courtesie but as the words in the next sentence implies Sicuti honor mutuus poscit And in the same sense Jeromes words to the like purpose implies Authority in such Councels whereby the Presbyters of each Church governed their own Church though otherwise in governing other Churches they imply rather advice then authority his words are before factions and schismes grew in the Church Communi Presbyterorum consilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur Hierome in the 2. Tome of his works and upon Titus A third exception they give is that by Elders are meant preaching Elders whom the Bishops were wont to consult withall in government but now had left it off either by the idlenesse of the learned Teachers who for their own ease gave over meddling with matters pertaining to government or by the pride of the learned Bishops who took all upon themselves that they alone might seem to be somewhat For if you expound Pastorum for the Teachers or Pastors of Parishes only as the Presbyterians do or for Bishops alone as others do I cannot see saith Dr. Downham how the excluding of Seniors and taking the whole burthen and imployment upon themselves could by Ambrose be imputed as a matter of sloth and idlenesse either in the Pastor to exclude lay Elders or in Bishops to exclude learned Presbyters Ans 1. The words of Ambrose do plainly imply not only that consulting with Elders was grown out of use but that the Elders themselves who were wont to be consulted with were grown out of use also for his words be the Synagogue and afterwards the Church had Elders without whose counsell nothing was done in the Church c. which plainly intimateth the Church formerly had such but then hath them not they are obsolete and accordingly consulting with them is obsolete also 2. It is plain these Elders are opposite to Doctors or Teachers or if you will so construe them learned men and therefore these Elders were neither Doctors nor Teachers nor Learned men But to appropriate the name of Doctors or Teachers or Learned men to Bishops only were too great an arrogancy in Bishops and too great an injury to the learned Pastors and Teachers in every age till Antichrist his darknesse overwhelmed all in ignorance as well Bishops as Pastors 3. It may be marvelled why those learned opposites that make this exception should understand Ambrose to attribute it to the idlenesse of the Teachers that for their own ease they gave over meddling in matters appertaining to government when as rather it was the Bishops and their parties idlenesse that they gave over labouring in Word and Doctrine and their pride that they ingrossed all rule and government into their own hands and therefore when they say they cannot see how the excluding of Seniors and the taking of the whole burthen of government upon themselves could by Ambrose be imputed as a matter of sloth and idlenesse either in the Pastors or Bishops surely if men do not willingly shut their eyes they may see and daily experience maketh it palpably evident that they who are most idle in teaching are most busie and proud in government so that the Doctorum desidia aut magis superbia which Ambrose maketh to be the two causes why Seniors in the Church and consulting with them were then both of them grown out of use need no Comment to expound the same but the perpetuall practice of those persons who have from the former ages to this very day usurped all Church-government into their own hands If any man say as some have done that whatsoever this Ambrose saith yet that famous Bishop Ambrose doth utterly disclaim it in his Epistle to Valentinian that any lay Ruler should be Judge of Church-offices and causes let him take for an answer that which hath been often given that we utterly deny those ruling Elders to be Lay-men or lay Judges but part of that Church body which those ancient times called Clerus If it be said againe as also it is that Ambrose calleth his Presbyters Antistites and Vicars of God and such like stiles of high honour let them understand that the least office of rule in the Church of God to a spirituall eye will easily and safely admit as great acknowledgements as these be onely to flesh and blood nothing seemeth divine and high but secular pompe and worldly glory Having thus rescued the Testimony of Ambrose unto Ruling Elders from all Exceptions of any colourable weight made against it Let us adde onely one observation out of Antiquitie which may give some further light to the cause in hand It is well known to all such as are studious of Antiquitie that it was counted a rare and insolent matter for an Elder to preach in the presence of a
worship the Lord Jesus according to all the Ordinances of his house PROPOS 4. We conceive it cannot seeme unreasonable that in the same way by which particular godly persons doe enter into the fellowship of the Libertie of those holy Ordinances which Christ hath appropriated to his Church in the same way it were meet that an whole company of Christians should enter into Church estate for in entring of them into Church estate the Lord calleth as well whole companies as particular persons to enjoy the like liberty of all his holy Ordinances the enjoyment of like libertie requireth preparation thereunto by the like dutie In the times of John the Baptist such as were received into Baptisme they did first make confession of their sinnes and therewith of their repentance and of their faith also in him who was to come after him Matth. 3.6 Act. 19.4 5. And in the times of the Apostles Philip received the Eunuch unto Baptisme not untill he had made profession of his Faith in Christ Jesus Acts. 8.37 But now for as much as wee all who are borne in Christian Churches are baptized in our infancy and such as are baptized infants are not admitted to the Lords Table in well ordered Churches till they have approved and in their own persons publickly confirmed that profession of repentance and faith which their parents or others in their stead professed and promised for them at their Baptisme it cannot be thought unreasonable that such a company of godly Christians having been baptized infants should now make the like profession of their repentance before they are admitted into Church estate which others made in the Primitive times before Baptisme and all growne up to ripe yeares are wont publickly to make or at least ought to make before their admittance to the Lords Supper Besides when upon Peters confession of his faith in Christ Jesus Christ said that upon that rock or foundation he would build his Church Mat. 16.16.18 doth he not plainly hold forth that every Christian Church is founded as on Christ so on Christ in this way to wit on Christ believed on by faith and that faith publickly confessed before God and men PROPOS 5. To the erecting of a Church as the presence of Christ is necessary for the acceptance of it so the presence of neighbouring Churches and Brethren is requisite to cry Grace Grace unto it For if Davids advertisement be as it is necessary and of important weight Except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it Psal 127.1 how much more important is it that the Lord who alone buildeth his own Jerusalem Psal 147.2 be sought unto with unfeigned humiliation and fervent prayer for his presence with his people and acceptance of them in such a worke and if the Apostle Paul thought it requisite to communicate with the Apostles at Jerusalem about his Apostolicall doctrine and proceedings partly to prevent suspition of dissent between him and them lest by any meanes he should run in vaine partly to hold forth mutuall communion with them in giving and taking the right hand of fellowship Gal. 2.2.9 How much more requisite will it be for such as goe about to gather together scattered Christians into a Church estate to communicate with the Elders and Brethren of other Churches craving their presence and counsell and communion in so great a work And seeing Christian Magistrates being also Brethren and members of Churches are called of God to be Nursing Fathers unto the Church Isa 49.23 it cannot but encourage them to take the more speciall notice and care of every Church and to provide and assigne convenient allotments of land for the maintenance of each of them when in times of peace they are made acquainted with the persons and proceedings of such as gather into Church-fellowship under the wing of their Government And yet seeing the kingdome of Christ is not of this world nor regulated by the wisdome of this world wee doe not doubt but that a Church may be clearly gathered and rightly ordered though they want opportunitie or omit to acquaint the Magistrates with their proceedings especially when Magistrates are not acquainted with the Lawes of Christs kingdome SECT II. NOw then to apply all these Propositions to our present order and practice in the gathering of a Church thus it is when many Christians are come over into these parts they desire to joyne themselves unto some Church or other according to the second Proposition professing that it was the principall end of their comming to enjoy the presence of the Lord in the libertie and puritie of his Ordinances And if the company of such as come together be so well knowne one to another that they are loath to part company and yet so great that they cannot well joyne in any one Church already established without too much impeachment of their outward estate and livelihood the chiefest part of the lands belonging to each Church being prepossessed by others before them they then take that course which other companies took before them they consider of entring into a Church estate and fellowship amongst themselves And for that end first commending themselves to the Lord they enquire out some one or other of Eminent gifts usually such as have been Preachers of good esteeme in England who may guide and goe along with them in so great an Action and if God see good may afterwards be called to place and Office amongst them And then such whose hearts God toucheth to goe along with them in this worke they often meet together about the things of God and performe some duties of Prayer and spirituall conference together till a sufficient company of them be well satisfied in the spirituall good estate of one another and so have approved themselves to one anothers consciences in the sight of God as living stones fit to be laid in the Lords spirituall Temple which is his Church according to the first Proposition Now because through the grace of Christ our Christian Magistrates are nursing Fathers to the Church and the Churches already established are carried not onely with a pious desire to enlarge the kingdome of Christ but also with brotherly love to such as intend so good a worke those Christians therefore that desire to enter into Church-fellowship together doe acquaint the Governour and some of the neerest Magistrates and those Churches which are next adjoyning to them with their intentions to enter into Church-fellowship and crave the presence of some from amongst them at the day appointed some few weeks after to helpe them with their prayers and with their counsell if need should be in so weightie a businesse as being themselves for the most part lesse experienced in the wayes of Christs Kingdome then those who have gone before them in such a worke as also desiring to approve themselves and their course to the consciences of the Brethren of other Churches that they may more freely give them the right hand
Bishop which was the cause why the good old Bishop Valerius was hardly spoken of for suffering Augustine a Presbyter though a learned Presbyter to preach before him which is said never any African Bishop had allowed before him Now whence should such an offence as was taken against Valerius arise but from translating the silence of Ruling Elders from Preaching in the presence of Pastors and Teachers unto those Presbyters also who were called oft to preach the Word freely and diligently as well as the Bishops themselves But when through corruption of times Bishops claimed to themselves the principall pastorall cure of Soules then it was taken for an offensive matter that Teaching Elders should preach before them as before it was unwonted for Ruling Elders to preach before the Teaching ordinarily Object But there remaines one objection or two which some learned and prudent men have made against the office of Ruling Elders Object 1. It is not credible that the office of Ruling Elders should be of Divine or Apostolicall Institution and no footsteps left of it in any Church of Christ for these many hundred yeares Popery it selfe though it corrupted all Ordinances yet retaineth some footsteps of every Ordinance of Christ though much perverted from the first Institution But there are no footsteps at all of those Ruling Elders extant in any Church but those of Genevah and such as have followed their patterne For though some tell us of Church-Wardens and Vestry men in the Parish Churches of England who assist the Preachers in the governing of the Church yet there is a great difference between them and Ruling Elders For these Church-Wardens and Vestry men are appointed not for assistance to the Ministers in governing the Church but for other purposes As Church-Wardens for keeping the Churches stock and laying it out upon necessary repaires of the place of Gods Worship called the Church and the Vestry being a company of the wisest and richest Parishioners that have been or are to be Church-Wardens are exercised in auditing the accompts of the Church-Wardens and Collectors for the poore And though now and then they are taken up in admonishing an unruly neighbour yet they doe it not by Authoritie as Rulers but by Christian discretion and charitie Answ Wee doe not say that Church-Wardens and Vestry men are the same with Ruling Elders for though they are both chose by the body of the Church yet in the choice the qualifications of Ruling Elders are not attended to nor are they so ordained either with the like holy Solemnitie or invested with the same measure of spirituall power nor allowed to continue for life as Ruling Elders are and ought to be But yet such as they be wee may see in them some footsteps and remnants and as it were Rudera of that holy and ancient Ordinance so much as is escaped out of the ruines of Antichristian Apostasie For to say nothing of Chancellors Commissaries and Officialls who are meere Lay Elders and yet administer Church-Government not in one Church onely but in many scores of Churches what other thing soundeth the very name of Church-Wardens Guardiani Ecclesiae but Church-Guardians or Church-Rulers And what is the company of Vestrymen but a kinde of a Consistory Secondly Though by the Sophistry of Satan and of his Vicar the man of sin a great part of this care is transformed from ordering the spirituall body of the Church to take care of the body of the materiall Church or Temple yet what power of Government is left in any Congregation besides Preaching the Word the Church-Wardens and Vestery men doe assist the Ministers in managing the same they observe all scandalous disorders that are found in any of the Church-Ministers or people they admonish the offenders And though they be over-rulers to present all disorders to the Cathedrall Church and the Officers thereof which of right they should complaine of when the offenders are incorrigible onely to their own Congregation yet it is an usuall thing for the Bishop and his Officers to returne such offenders having first paid them their fees to the Minister and Church-Wardens to make acknowledgement of their offences before them and to professe their amendment of which also they must bring a Certificate under the Minister and Church-Wardens hands Yea of our knowledge there be some peculiar priviledged Churches in England exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop and his Officers where the Church-Wardens and Ministers either by themselves or with the consent of the Congregation doe transact all that Government which in other Churches the Bishop and his Officers doe invade and usurpe as to admonish offenders to enjoyne acknowledgement of scandalous offences and to debarre from the Sacraments c. And by this means they represse idlenesse drunkennesse swearing Sabbath-breaking and the like disorders with better successe then other Townes can doe who have the helpe of Major and Justices but not so much spirituall power in the Church but by that power which is still left in some Churches unto their Ministers and Guardians or Rulers it may not obscurely appeare that anciently they did enjoy it amongst themselves before one Church began to Lord it over another Object The other Objection which is made against Ruling Elders is That it is a matter of perilous consequence to set up Rulers in the Church and that by Authoritie from the Word of God when yet the Word hath no where set forth the limits and bounds of their Authoritie Answ The word of God hath clearly enough limited the bounds of a Ruling Elders Calling and the worke of his Rule For since all Ecclesiasticall power is the power of the keyes not of the Sword Matth. 16.19 And the Kingdome of Christ is not of this world Joh. 18.36 It is plaine no Church-Governour may take up the power of the sword to wit Civill Jurisdiction without usurpation The power of the sword is Princely Lordly But the power of the Keys is onely Stewardly and Ministeriall For so it is said the Keys of the House of David to Eliakim Isa 22.22 And he was over the House Ver. 15. Which phrase of being over the House is translated properly Gen. 43.19 Steward of the House Seeing then the Kingdome of Christ is spiritnall and not worldly and the Government of his Kingdome is not Lordly but Stewardly and Ministeriall evident it is that these Ruling Elders in the Church may onely attend to works of spirituall and ministeriall Rule And further because such acts of spirituall Rule as are dispenced in the preaching of the Word the Ruling Elders are not called to attend unto but that worke is left unto Pastors and Teachers Therefore plaine it is that what acts soever of spirituall Rule and Government Christ hath committed to his Church over and above the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments All such acts of Rule are committed to the Ruling Elders and none but such To Instance then in the particular duties of the Ruling Elders Office
of the Apostolicall Churches In the choosing of an Apostle the voices of people went as farre as any humane Suffrages could goe of an hundred and twenty they chose two and presented them before the Lord and his Apostles And because and Apostle was immediately to be called of God out of those two God chose one Act. 1.15.23.26 Act. 14.23 The Apostles are said to have ordained Elders by lifting up of hands to wit of the people as the originall word implieth And the multitude of the Disciples are directed by the Apostles to look out and choose seven Deacons Act. 6.3.15 The practice of succeeding Churches for many yeares after is plaine from Cyprians words Lib. 1. Epist 4. Plebs maxime potestatem habet vel dignos Sacerdotes eligendi vel indignos recusandi Object 2. It is also demanded by what warrant doth a particular Church depute such who are not Presbyters to lay their hands upon Presbyters Were it not more regular and orderly to repaire to some Bishop to receive imposition of hands from him or as the Presbyters in every Church in Crete received imposition of hands from Titus who was left in Crete with Episcopall Authoritie for that very end Tit. 1.5 or rather then take imposition of hands from lay-men as they are called why doe not the Churches rather intreat the Elders of other Churches to supply the defect of their owne Presbytery by the Presbyters of other Churches Ans The warrant by which each particular Church doth depute some of their own body though not Presbyters to lay their hands upon those whom they have chosen to be their Presbyters is grounded upon the Power of the keys which the Lord Jesus Christ who received all fulnesse of Power from the Father hath given to the Church For the power of the keys is the power of opening and shutting binding and loosing Matth. 16.19 And this is given to the whole Church met together in his name Mat. 18.18 Whatsoever saith Christ speaking of the Church yee shall binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever yee shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven which is the whole ministeriall power of the Keys SECT VII Object 1. THe Church is not the first subject and receptacle of all Ecclesiasticall power For though the Church elect a Pastor or other Elder yet the office of a Pastor is from Christ Eph. 4.8 And so is his Authoritie from Christ also And if he have neither his Office nor his Authoritie from the Church how can he be ordained by the imposition of the hands of the Church Answ 1. Though the office of a Pastor in generall be immediately from Christ and the authoritie from him also yet the application of this office and of this authoritie to this elect person is by the Church and therefore the Church hath sufficient and just warrant as to elect and call a Presbyter unto office so to ordaine him to it by imposition of hands They that have Power to elect a King have power also to depute some in their name to set the Crowne upon his head Answ 2. As the Authoritie of the Pastor and other Elders is not from the Church but from Christ so neither is their Office and Authoritie from the Bishop nor from the Presbytery nor from the Classis of Presbyteries If therefore that were a just impediment why the Church should not lay hands upon their elect Pastors or Elders because neither their office nor their Authoritie is from the Church then neither may the Bishop nor the Presbytery nor the Classis lay their hands upon them because their office and Authoritie is no more nor so much from them as from the Church nor by this Argument might the Apostles themselves if they were present ordaine Officers because neither the office nor the Authoritie is from the Apostles but from Christ onely Neither will it follow from hence as some object that if the Elders received their ordination from the Church then they should execute their office in the Churches name or that then they may be more or lesse diligent in their office at the Churches appointment or that then the Church hath a Lord-like power over them or that then the Elders must receive their errand from the Church as an Ambassadour doth from him from whom he receiveth his Commission or that then the Church in defect of all Officers may performe all duties of their Officers as to administer Sacraments and the like None of all these things will follow For 1. Most of these Objections doe strike as much against imposition of hands by Bishops or Presbyters 2. Though the Elders doe receive the application of their office and of their power by the Church yet not from the Church or if from the Church ministerially onely as instruments unto Christ So that they cannot choose or ordaine whom they please to what office they please but whom they see the Lord Jesus hath prepared and fitted for them and as it were chosen and ordained to their hands nor may they inlarge or straiten the limits of his office whom they doe elect or ordaine but as the Lord hath prescribed nor can they give him any errand but onely a Charge to looke to the ministery which he hath received from the Lord nor have they any more Lordly power over him then he over them but both ministeriall as they have received from the Lord neither may they administer Sacraments in defect of all Officers because that by appointment from Christ pertaineth onely to such as are called by office to preach the Gospel Mat. 28.19 20. As for mutuall instruction and admission election and ordination of Officers opening of the doores of the Church by admission of members and shutting the same by Church-Censures these things they may doe if need be without Officers yea and if all their Officers were found culpable either in hereticall Doctrine or scandalous crime yet the Church hath lawfull Authoritie to proceed to the censure of them all For they that as a Church might admonish Archippus Col. 4.17 might in case he had not hearkened to their admonition have proceeded against him to Excommunication And they that might so proceed against one of their Officers might in like sort upon like ground proceed against them all which they could not doe if the Church did receive the power of the keys not immediately from Christ but from the Presbyters And yet in such cases our Churches are never wont to proceed but in the presence and with the consent and approbation of other Churches as knowing that in such weightie cases in the multitude of Counsellors there is safetie And as the Church doth not choose any Elders but in the presence and with the approbation of other Churches so neither doth it proceed to the censure of them but with the like grave and solemne assistance Object 2. The Apostles received the power of the keys immediately from Christ Joh. 20.23 And therefore the Church
to one another set-formes of prayer why not set-formes of Homilies and then neither the Apostles nor their successors needed to have left off their imployment in ministring to Tables to attend the ministry of the Word and prayer Acts 6.4 for both are prepared to their hands by the prescriptions of others Whence also it will follow that Ministers shall little need to edifie the Church by their owne gifts received of Christ to that end but may edifie them by the gifts of others Yea Ministers though destitute of ministeriall gifts may be fit for the publick discharge of their duties by the helpe of other mens gifts both in prayer and preaching and so indeed a prescript Liturgie is properly a maintenance to all Idoll dumb Ministers And in this forbearance of prescript prayers as we follow the example of the Church of Israel and of the Apostolicall Churches so wee are not destitute of patterns in this case of those that succeeded them Justin Martyr in his second Apologie for Christians a hundred and fifty yeares after Christ speaketh of the ruler of the Church sending up prayers and praises to God without mentioning any prescript forme according to his power or facultie of prayer or thanksgiving left him by the Apostles or others And Tertullian about 203. yeares after Christ in his Apologie for Christians saith they prayed sine monitore quia de pectore without a prompter because they prayed from their heart Tertull. Apolog. 30. that is as Zeph. on the place expoundeth it they prayed not according to the dictate of the Saints to wit in any forme of words prescribed by them And indeed if in those bloudy times of persecution the Church had any set-forme of Liturgie wherein they had been injoyned a forme of solemne prayers for their Emperour it had been an unskilfull and sinfull neglect both in Justin and Tertullian to omit such publick evidences of their professed loyaltie and devotion to the State SECT V. Object THe second thing in our administration of publick ordinances whereof many require account of us is why in the administration of the Sacraments wee doe not admit the Members of the Churches of England either themselves to the Lords Supper or their children to Baptisme as wee receive the Members of other Churches in this Countrey Answ Let it first be knowne what we doe and then consider upon what ground wee doe it 1. Wee doe not admit the members of other Churches in this Countrey unlesse they bring with them Letters of recommendation from the Churches whence they came or at least unlesse those Churches have made knowne to us their desire that their Members coming occasionally amongst us may be received to the Lords Table with our owne by vertue of communion of Churches 2. Wee doe not admit the Members of other Churches to fellowship of the Lords Table if either the persons themselves or the Churches from whence they came lie under any offence before the Church Now the grounds upon which wee thus walke are these 1. From the power requisite to the administration of the Sacraments viz. to administer a Sacrament is not an act of Christian libertie that every Christian may dispense to whom he please but an act of power which Christ hath given to them who are called to be Ministers of the Word and by them to be dispensed unto the Church whereof the Holy Ghost hath made them over-seers They then over whom wee have no ministeriall power unto them wee may not dispense an act of power but they who are Members of no Church wee have no ministeriall power over them and they who are Members of other Churches not of our own wee have no power over them further then they are recommended to us from their own Churches either by Letters or by word of mouth and such are all the members of the Churches in this Countrey whom wee doe admit to communion with us at the Lords Table But now for our Brethren who come out of England many of them are altogether unknowne to us and those who are well known and it may be also well approved yet they bring no Letters of recommendations to us from those Churches who had interest in them and power over them And besides wee know that those who have been members of any parish Church in England when once they remove their dwelling out of that Parish they are accounted as no longer members of that Church so that they come over to us as members of no particular Church at all either in old England or in new and so they are under the power of no Church either there or here how then can wee dispense an act of power to them over whom wee have no power at all either commended to us by themselves or by the Churches from whence they came Would it be thought reasonable in case that any of our Country-men comming over to us should fall into drunkennesse or whoredome or other scandalous crimes if the Church where he sojourneth amongst should proceed to excommunicate him for the same were it not an act Coram non judice might he not demand justly by what authoritie we cast him out of our Communion who was never yet entred into our Communion This may therefore yeeld us a just defence They over whom we have no power to censure in any case by Excommunication to them wee have no power to dispense the Communion but so it is we have no power to censure any of our Congregation though never so scandalous by excommunicating unlesse they first commend themselves to our fellowship Therefore neither have wee power till then to receive them into our communion 2. A second ground of their practise wee take from the nature of the Sacraments which though they be seales of the righteousnesse of faith Rom. 4.11 yet not to all the faithfull as such but as they are confederate and joyned together in some particular visible Church None may ordinarily dispense a Sacrament of the new Testament but a Minister of a visible Church nor may he dispense it to any but to the members of a visible Church In the old Testament none were partakers either of the Passeover or of Circumcision unlesse they were either Israelites borne or Proselytes to the Church of Israel Job and his three friends and Elihu with them though all of them righteous by faith and all of the stocke and kindred of Abraham yet wee read of none of them to be circumcised nor is it credible they were for had they been Circumcised they would not have kept so deep silence of it throughout all their conference with Job as they doe especially having so often occasion to urge the pollution of nature from the birth whereof Circumcision had been a most pertinent and pregnant evidence to convince the same And wherefore were they not all circumcised being all of them righteous by faith but onely because they had not opportunitie to joyne themselves to the house of Israel to
And then if Gods mercy to a thousand Generations may fetch in the Children of Excommunicate persons the same promise may fetch in all Turks and Infidels at this day wee dare not therefore improve the large extension of Gods mercy so farre as to give a thousand Generations right and title to the Covenant of God with his Church and to incourage the Ministers of the Gospel to set the seales of the Covenant thereunto The true meaning of the promise wee take to be That God out of his abundant grace and rich mercy may and doth extend thoughts of redeeming and converting grace and mercy unto thousand Generations But he never allowed his Church any warrant to receive into their Covenant and Communion the Children of godly parents who lived a thousand yeare agoe much lesse a thousand Generations Nay rather the Text is plaine that the holinesse of the children dependeth upon the faith of the next immediate parents or of one of them at least 1 Cor. 7.14 to wit such faith as denominateth them Christian-beleevers in opposition to Pagan Infidels and that holinesse of the children to such parents is called Federall which receiveth them into the Covenant and to the seales of it Object Lastly it is objected that children borne in fornication have right to Baptisme and why not then the children of Excommunicate parents The wickednesse of parents ought not to prejudice the children in things that pertaine to their salvation Answ The wickednesse of the Parent doth not prejudice the Election or Redemption or the faith of the childe Jephta a bastard is yet reckoned up in the Catalogue of Beleevers Heb. 11.32 But yet in the old Testament a Bastard was not admitted to come into the Congregation of the Lord to his tenth Generation Deut. 23.2 and that could not but prejudice all the base-borne children of Israel and that in the things which pertaine to their salvation And though God sheweth greater grace to them in the dayes of the Gospel yet greater grace cannot by proportion of any rules of the Gospel be expected for them from the Church then this that notwithstanding the sinne of their parents they may be received into the Congregation of the Lord and so unto Baptisme either when their parents repent and acknowledge their sin before the Lord and his Church or when themselves are able to make a better profession of better things in their owne persons It is generally knowne that our best Divines doe not allow the Baptisme of Bastards sine sponsoribus But whether they consider Sponsores as witnesses as some doe who fetch allowance of witnesses from Isa 8.2 3 4. or whether they consider them as Sureties the holy Scripture gives no warrant for either in such a case The place in Isaiah giveth no foothold for Witnesses in Baptisme The Prophet called not Vriah for a witnesse of the Circumcision of his childe but of the conception of a man-childe yet unbegotten and of the Prophecy of such events as were to fall out during the infancy of the childe nor was it meet the Prophet should honour so wicked a time-server as Vriah was to be a witnesse of the Circumcision of his childe though the more prophane and idolatrous he was the more fit and faithfull a witnesse of a miraculous prediction to the conviction of an incredulous King and people And as for Sureties the Covenant is not intayled to Sureties to such as for whom they undertake but to faithfull parents pertaining to the family of the Church and to their seed It is true indeed there is a large promise to Abraham stretching the Covenant to his seed not onely to the children of his owne body and to his proselyte servants but also to all that were borne in his house or bought with money Gen. 17.12 13. which happily may grant so much libertie to a Christian Sponsor that if a stranger or wicked man should give him his childe from his infancy to be brought up as his owne it may be baptized as his owne But that is the utmost bounds of libertie in this case And very doubtfull it is whether the promise pertaine onely to the children of Proselytes either strangers or borne in the house But wee know not any ground at all to allow a faithfull man libertie to entitle another mans childe to Baptisme onely upon a pretence of his owne promise to have an eye to his education unlesse the childe be either borne in his house or resigned to him to be brought up as his owne CHAP. V. Touching the Dispensation of the Censures of the Church SECT I. WEE proceed not to Censure but in case of knowne offence and such offence as cannot be healed without Censure Two sorts of offences there be some private between Brother and Brother some publick and notorious being knowne to the whole Church or at least to many And of them some are more grosse and hainous some lesse If the offence be private between Brother and Brother the Brother offended is to follow the Rule of Christ Mat. 18.15 16 17. That is first to goe and tell him of his fault or as the word signifieth Convince him of his fault and to admonish him of it privately So that the plaister may be no broader then the sore private admonition is most sutable to a private fault and expresseth both the wisdome and love of the Brother who in so doing both healeth and covereth the offence at once If the offender take the admonition in good part as taking part with the admonition against his owne sinne the Brother hath wonne and gained him both to God and himselfe to God by repentance to himselfe by this experiment of his brotherly love But if the offender heare not his Brother but takes part with his sinne against the admonition he then taketh one or two more with him such as in wisdome he thinketh to be most fit to prevaile with him that so by the mouth of two or three his word of admonition may be established or if the offender heare them not his word of accusation to the Church may be established And they coming to the offender and acquaint him with the cause of their coming to bring him to the sight of his sinne which they understand is committed by him they first call upon the name of Christ to be present with them in this dutie according to his promise Mat. 18.19 20. where he hath said he will be present with any two or three that are met together in his name to aske of him for it is upon this occasion and this chiefly upon which the promise is made And the brother offended laieth open the offence before them and declareth how ill the labour of his love was accepted before and desireth their helpe to assist him in the conviction of the offender If they can prevaile with him to acknowledge his offence and to be humbled for it the soule of the offender is healed thanks are given to God and
demerit as exposeth him to the just censure of Excommunication But if a member be importunately desirous to remove wholly from the Church where he is unto another and yet the grounds of his removall favour of nothing but levitie or covetousnesse or schisme or the like according to their Covenant of brotherly love and faithfulnesse the brethren of his own Church labour to convince him of his sinfull weaknesse herein to disswade him from his purpose to which counsell God usually toweth his heart to stoop and submit But if after all their disswasions they shall see the bent of his spirit unremovably set upon removall in such a case if his sinne be not apparent and his danger imminent they use indulgence towards him as not willing to make the Church of God a prison to any man But when men thus depart God usually followeth them with a bitter curse either taking away their lives from them or blasting them with povertie or exposing them to scandall where they come or in entertaining them with such restlesse agitations that they are driven to repent of their former rashnesse and many times to desire to returne to the Church from which they had broken away SECT III. OUr third way of communion with other Churches is by way of Consultation whereof wee have given some touch before as 1. In time of the gathering of a Church the Brethren who desire to enter into Church-estate doe give notice to all the Churches about them and desire the presence of their Elders and of such other Brethren as they shall see meete to send to helpe them with their counsell in discovering the spirits and competent gifts of such members as should joyne with them in that worke And further to give counsell and direction in the ordering of that day as hath been shewed above 2. In the choice and ordination of Officers one Church is wont to send to all the rest about them for such Elders and Brethren as may give counsell and direction to their proceedings and approbation of the same as the matter shall require as hath been formerly delivered 3. In case of difference of judgement amongst the Brethren of a Church in the administration of Church-Censure and the like to prevent all suspition of partialitie or prejudice the Church is sometimes occasioned to send to the neighbour-Churches one or more for the assistance of some of their Elders and Brethren to helpe them with their counsell in discovering and judging of the causes depending amongst them who giving advice according to the Word doe by the blessings of Christ heale jealousies and compose differences and settle peace and love amongst them and this also hath been mentioned before 4. In doubtfull cases arising in the Church whether of judgement or practice where yet no difference hath risen but all or most are uncertaine what were fit to be done as whether a childe may be baptized by right of his Grand-fathers Covenant or the like the Church doth sometimes send Letters or Messengers to crave the counsell of other Churches who deliberate by considering and arguing the matter and agree upon what they conceive most agreeable to the Word each Church sendeth their judgements and their reasons either by Elders or by Messengers to the Church that sent to them SECT IV. A Fourth way of our communion with other Churches is by way of Congregation or gathering together many Churches or the messengers of many Churches to examine and discusse either some corrupt opinions or suspicious practices which being scattered and found in many Churches at once cannot well be healed in any one alone In which case the Elders of the Churches desirous to maintain verity and unity of judgement in matters of doctrine and integrity of life throughout all the Churches do both acquaint our Magistrates being nursing fathers to the Church with the necessary occasions and ends of a generall and a solemn assembly and do also solicit the Churches to send some fit persons at such a time to such a Church where the assembly be most seasonably held to consider and discern of the matter in question and agitation The assembly being met in the name of Christ and his presence called for by humble and earnest prayer the matters to be discussed and cleered are propounded by some or other of the Elders of that Church where we meet or by some other appointed by them and consented to by the assembly When the matters are propounded the Elders do declare their judgements of the points in order one after another together with their reasons from the Word at which time it is free for any man present and all may be present if they will as well the Messengers of the Churches as others after leave orderly craved or obtained to propound their doubts without offence whence disputation doth arise as in Act. 15.7 till all parties be either satisfied or convinced and so the matters in controversie are cleared and this course is taken for the clearing of all the points remaining which may seem to some not so fully cleared and agreed upon and the nature of them such as may admit further discussion yea and difference of apprehension without disunion of affection or disturbance of the Churches peace yet for satisfaction of Gods people the mean while in such things each man is left to his Christian liberty So farre as they are all come they judge and mind one thing If any be otherwise minded who in simplicity of heart seeketh the truth and in meeknesse of wisdome and love holdeth forth the same we hope God will in time reveale the same unto him in the mean time all agreeing in this one not to condemn nor to despise one another in differences of weaknesse according to the Apostles rule Rom. 14.2 3 4. SECT V. A Fifth way of communion with other Churches is by contribution or communication in yeelding supply to one anothers wants for according to the ancient president in the Primitive Churches if any of our Brethren should fall into such decay as not to be able to supply their onw necessities in outward things amongst themselves we should take it our bounden duty to minister to their wants according to our abilities Act. 11.29 30. Rom. 15.25 26. Hitherto the Lord hath been pleased out of his all-sufficient goodnesse so to supply us all each Church within it self as that we have had scarce any occasion never but once to exercise our mutuall love and liberality to one another in this kind but if need should require we consider afore-hand what mutuall help God requireth of us from one towards another in such a case Also if any of our Churches do want some fit members to imploy in some publike office amongst them and shall make known their want to some other Church who may abound in such blessings as sometimes the Church at Antioch had four or five Prophets among them Act. 13.1 when others wanted the Church that aboundeth in such helps
spirit wee crave leave to beare witnesse to them and with them That if the Lord be pleased to prosper his worke amongst them it is possible to reduce the estate of the Congregations in England to such a reformation as is sutable to the patterne revealed in the Gospel according to the way of Primitive simplicitie described above Foure things wee observe in the estate of the Churches in England which make way for Reformations amongst them First The efficient instruments of their first plantation which were either Apostles or Apostolicall men whether Philip or Joseph of Arimathea or Simon Zelotes as any of our Countrymen may reade in Mr. Foxes booke of Acts and Monuments in the beginning of it next after the story of the ten Primitive Persecutions out of Gildas Tertullian Origen Beda Nicephorus Which being so wee cannot but conceive the Churches in England were rightly gathered and planted according to the Rule of the Gospel and all the corruptions found in them since have sprung from Popish Apostasie in succeeding ages and from want of through and perfect purging out of that leaven in the late times of Reformation in the dayes of our Fathers So that all the worke now is not to make them Churches which were none before but to reduce and restore them to their Primitive Institution Secondly The publick Service-booke acknowledgeth That in the Primitive Church there was a godly Discipline That notorious sinners were put to open penance and punished in this world that both their soules might be saved in the day of the Lord and others admonished by their example might be the more afraid to offend Which godly Discipline is a thing saith the Booke much to be desired that it might be restored againe See the beginning of the Comminations against sinners It is therefore acknowledged by the very state of the Churches of England that the present estate of Church discipline is not perfect but defective and swerving from the Primitive godly discipline Thirdly In the publick Rubrick before the Catechisme it is ordered That when children come to yeares of discretion and have learned what others promised for them in Baptisme they should then themselves with their own mouth and with their own consent openly before the Church ratifie and confirme the same And also promise that by the grace of God they will evermore endeavour themselves faithfully to observe and keep such things as by their own mouth and confession they have assented to Which course the Booke in a few words after acknowledgeth to be agreeable with the usage of the Church of times past That children coming to perfect age having been instructed in Christian Religion should openly professe their own faith and promise to be obedient to the will of God Which direction if it were as duly observed as it is expresly ordered doth plainly hold forth that the Church of England as they call it doth not acknowledge any to be confirmed members of the Church and so unfit to partake of the Lords Supper till they have expresly confessed their faith openly before the Church and promised obedience to the will of God Which if it be seriously done and not perfunctorily is somewhat of like nature with our receiving of members into the Church and joyning them by Covenant Fourthly In the Exhortation before the Communion the Minister is directed to denounce unto the people That if any of them be a blasphemer of God an hinderer or slanderer of his Word an adulterer or be in malice or envie or in any other grievous crime they should bewaile their sinnes and not come to that holy Table lest after the taking of that Sacrament the Devill enter into them as he entered into Judas c. Which plainly argueth they would allow no scandalous person to partake in the Communion of the Lords Table All these things presupposed really performed and seriously attended to might open a doore to sundry passages of a more full and perfect Reformation SECT II. Tendering certain Propositions tending to the Reformation of the Churches in England Propos 1. WHere godly Ministers be already planted in any Congregations let them with due encouragement from the State call the people to solemne humiliation before the Lord for their own sins those of their fathers they have imitated So did Ezra and Nehemiah with the Levites and Priests and upon the like occasions Nehem. 9.2.2 3 4. Ezra 10.1 2.9 10. For though the Parliament the whole Kingdome have protested and Covenanted Reformation for the time to come yet they have cause also to be humbled and that throughly for the time past 2. Let such of the people as are of good knowledge in the wayes of God and of approved conversation take up that course which the Service-book as hath been said giveth an hint of Renue their Covenant formerly made in Baptisme professing their faith and repentance and promising Reformation of life not onely in their private conversation but also in their publick Communion in the Church of God yeelding professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ in the fellowship of all his holy Ordinances 3. Let no Minister that loves the Lord Jesus better then his own belly stand upon his advocation from his Patron but rather expect his vocation from his people 4. For this end let every Patron restore his jus patronatus to the Church Or if it seeme too hard a thing for them to part so freely with their freehold though they ought freely to give unto Christ who have received freely from him the Parliament may be pleased to give them a competent part of the revenues of the Benefice as they call it and annex it to their own private inheritance reserving so much to the use of the Church as may strengthen their hands in a sufficient maintenance of their Ministery for though things dedicated to sacred use cannot be alienated or diverted to private use without sacriledge yet that holdeth in such things as are so dedicated to sacred use as that the Lord accepteth as sacred to himselfe But God no where in the new Testament hath expressed his acceptance or allowance of lands dedicated to the ministery but onely to the service of the whole Church and then for the Churches service they may be disposed of by their consent as sometimes the Kings and Princes of Israel gave away the treasures of the Temple to save themselves from captivitie 2 King 18.15 16. 5. The people having called or chosen their Minister one or more unto office in a day of humiliation let them in the presence of the Ministers of other Churches depute some of the gravest and godly members of the Church to lay their hands upon him with prayer over him in the name of the Lord setting him apart to that office The whole Congregation are said to anoint Zadok to the office of an high Priest as well as Solomon to be King 1 Chron. 29.22 Which is a sacred right as Imposition of hands and this