of those congregations to governe that Church joyntly in a Colledge or Presbyterie But before I come to the proof of these particulars it will not be amisse in generall to take notice that all the Churches we read of in the New Testament were Aristocratically and Presbyterially governed and were all dependent upon their severall Presbyteries and that the ordering and managing of that government lay only upon the Presbyterie and was their peculiar who had the power of the Keyes Now Christ gave the Keyes to the Apostles and Presbyters only and whatsoever the Apostles did in ordering and setling the government of the Church they did by Christs command and that order and constitution they set down in the Church was to be perpetuated and continued to the end of the world And the violating of this order and divine constitution was the occasion of the rise and growth of Antichrist and the very cause of all those confusions that the Christian world hath for these many generations been wearied and annoyed with and the occasion of all those Schismes Sects and Heresies the world hath ever swarmed with and the re-establishing and reducing of it to its pristine constitution will be a means not only of removing all scandall and taking away of all division amongst Brethren and be a singular means also of establishing a flourishing governments in Church and State and for the procuring of the blessings of God upon the three Kingdomes but a way also of ruining that Man of Sinne and of making an absolute Reformation through the whole world Let us therefore first take notice what government was established by God in all the Primitive Churches Acts 1 â—â— And when they had ordained them Presbyters for so it is i◠〈◊〉 originall in every Church and had prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord on whom they beleeved Here are two things observable The first that the government of the Church was committed to the Presbyters The second that the Presbyteriall government was that government that was established in every Church for so saith the Holy Ghost when they had ordained them Presbyters in every Church This was Gods ordinance Acts 20.17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the Presbyters of the Church Here we see there were many Presbyters in one Church And Vers 28. Take heed therefore unto your selves saith the Apostle and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Bishops to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood Here as we may observe that in Gods Dialect Presbyters and Bishops were all one so likewise is evident that the Church was committed to their government this Church therefore of Ephesus was under a Presbytery and was to be regulated joyntly by them by a common-counsell of Presbyters And Paul to Titus chap. 1. vers 5. For this cause saith he left I thee in Creet that thou shouldest put in order the things that are wanting and ordaine Presbyters in every City as I appointed thee If any man be blamelesse c. for a Bishop must be blamelesse as the Steward of God c. From this place likewise we may take notice of the parity between Presbyter and Bishop and that the Presbyterian government was that way of ruling that God appointed not in one City only but in every City and that these Presbyters were the Stewards in Gods house which is his Church 1 Tim. 3. and had the government of those Churches in every City laid upon them which they were joyntly to governe and order by the common-counsell of Presbyters And Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy ch 5. v. 17. Let the Presbyters saith he that rule well be counted worthy of double honour especially they who labour in word and doctrine Still we ever observe that the rule and government of the Church was in the Presbyters hands And the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews ch 13.7 Remember saith he them that have the rule over you who have spake unto you the Word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation And vers 17. Obey saith he them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your soules as they that must give an account c. And in vers 24. Salute all them saith he that have the rule over you and all the Saints Here againe he injoynes all the Churches to yeild obedience and to submit themselves unto the government of the Presbyterie shewing them that it is their place to obey and for their Ministers to rule and that so long as they command in the Lord they out of conscience ought to obey them and that for a double reason For they watch saith he for your souls and they must also give an account of their stewardship And in 1 Peter 5 1 2 3. The Presbyters that are among you saith Saint Peter I exhort who am also a Presbyter and a witnesse of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly c. neither as being Lords over Gods heritage but being examples to the flock And Saint James chap. 5. ver 14. Is any among you sick saith he let him call for the Presbyters of the Church He doth not say of the Churches but of the Church So that the Presbyterian government was in every Church and every Church was to submit it self unto the Presbytery And in Acts 15. it is said that Paul and Barnabas went up to the Apostles and Presbyters c. And when they came to Jerusalem they were received of the Church it is not said of the Churches but of the Church and of the Apostles and Presbyters c. and Vers 6. And the Apostles and Presbyters came together to consider of the matter c. and Vers 22. Then pleased it the Apostles and Presbyters with the whole Church c. and wrote Letters by them after this manner The Apostles and Presbyters and Brethren And Acts 21.17 And when we were come to Jerusalem saith Saint Luke the Brethren received us gladly And the day following Paul went in with us in to James and all the Presbyters were present From all which places and many more which might be produced it is most clear and evident that in all Cities there was a Presbytery and that the Presbyters had the power of order namely of preaching and the power of jurisdiction that is of ruling which was ever to be exercised with others and not alone and that consisted in admitting of members and in conventing men before them upon occasion in admonishing if any offended in suspending from the holy Communion till reformation or amendment and if they continued obstinate and incorrigible in excommunicating and casting of them out of the Church and upon repentance in receiving of them in againe and in ordaining of
Presbytery in that sense I take it I am so well assured that it is Gods Ordinance as I am of any point of Religion But as I said before if men may argue afthis way The Presbyters in the Apostles times did miracles and spake with strange tongues and their Scholers and Disciples did the same do you likewise and then we will acknowledge you to be true Presbytters otherwise we will not Thus the Jewes might have argued against all their Prophets as against Isaiah Ieremy Ezekiel c. Moses and Elias fasted forty dayes and forty nights and did many miracles do you so and then we will believe you are true Prophets and sent to us of God otherwise we will not believe you to be true Prophets Yea all the wicked and ungodly men of these times may argue thus also God gave unto his Church Apostles Evangelists Prophets c. and they spake all strange tongues and divers languages and did many miracles but you and your Congregations have neither Apostles Prophets nor Evangelists nor ye have not the gifts of Tongues nor ye can do no Miracle Ergò you are not the true Church The Primitive Christians and the servants of God in those times had the gifts of Tongues and Prophesie and the Holy Ghost came down upon them and they spake by direction from God his infallible truth and Gospell whose speeches were not tied to time and to one speaker but many spake one after another by interpreters as it is at large set down in the 1. of the Corinthians chap. 14. vers 27 28 29 30. c. So that they spake infallible truth by direction from God but you have none in your congregations so miraculously inspired with sundry languages and divers tongues nor ye do not speak infallible truths by direction from God nor you cannot cure diseases nor do miracles Ergò your religion is not the same Religion nor your congregations the true Church shew us these miracles and then we will beleeve you to be the true Church otherwise we may not we dare not acknowledge you to be the true Church Again they may argue thus The Apostles and Primitive Pastors and Teachers preached freely and laboured with their own hands and were helpfull to the necessities of others and were not burthensome and exacting from others and spake ex tempore by direction from God but your Ministers in your Congregations do not preach freely nor labour not with their own hands nor are not helpfull to others necessities but are rather burdensome and exacting from others nor they do no miracles nor speak not immediately by inspiration and ex tempore but by Study and out of their Books and are confined to time and speak not in strange tongues and languages one after another by Interpreters Ergò your ministers are not Gods Ministers nor your Congregations the true Church nor your people true Christians for you want all those things that the Primitive Christians and the Primitive Churches had There is a Pamphlet lately come out and highly esteemed and prised amongst many full of such consequences as these which if they hold good against the Presbyters they may also for ought I know be of equall validity to overthrow not onely all Christian Congregations but indeed all Christian Religion But briefly to answer We look upon the Apostles and Primitive Presbyters as men miraculously and extraordinarily gifted and as wonder-working men for the confirmation of the truth of the Gospell to all succeeding ages and we consider in them and in the Christians of those times something extraordinary and temporary as their working of miracles and speaking of strange tongues and gifts of healing c. And those we conceive were to continue no longer in the Church then for the confirmation of the truth of the Gospel Christ himself proclaiming those blessed that believe without seeing of miracles speaking unto Thomas Iohn 20.29 Because thou hast seen me saith he thou believest blessed are they that have not seen and have believed So that miracles now are not ordinary and we are tied to the written Word But we consider likewise in the Apostles and Primitive Presbyters that that was permanent and to continue in all Ministers and Presbyters in all succeeding ages to the end of the world and that was the power of order and preaching and the power of jurisdiction that is of ruling which is not denied by the most learned of the Independents themselves and this I have proved by the Word of God to be transacted over to all Christian Churches whose Presbyters have that power given unto them neither will the Learned Brethren deny it what so ever the ignorant may do Yea the very name of a Presbytery as I said before if we look through the whole Scripture signifieth a Magistracy or Signiory or Corporation invested with authority of governing and ruling and such a counsell and company of men as upon whom the government under Christ is laid and to be extended so far as their jurisdiction extendeth and as far as by common consent it may make for the good and edification of the Church and for the safety of the same And such was the government of all those Churches of the New Testament which were as so many Committees their limits and bounds prefixed them as at this day all Committees through the Kingdome have in their severall Hundreds Wapentakes and Cities to whom the ordering and government of those places that are under them are committed so that all that is done or transacted must be done by the joynt consent and counsell of the whole Committee not any particular man or any two of them severally considered by themselvs can make an order but that order only is binding which is made by the joynt consent and common agreement of them all or the greatest part of them assembled together Even so all those particular Congregations that are within the compasse and jurisdiction of the severall Presbyteries are to be ordered and governed by the common and joynt counsell of the severall Presbyters or the greater part of them For this was the order the Apostles established appointing in every City a Presbyterie and when they had so ordered the Churches they set them all to their severall imployments the Presbyters to command and all the people and particular assemblies and congregations under them to obey neither is it ever found in the holy Scriptures that the people were joyned with the Presbyters in their commission So that they that oppose this government resist Gods Ordinance And if we looke into all the Epistles writ by the Apostles to the severall Churches we shall finde in them that they enjoyne all the severall congregations to yeild obedience to their Pastors and Rulers over them and signifie unto them that they owe unto them double honour especially such as labour in Word and Doctrine that is they must yeild unto them not only due reverence and subjection and obedience to their counsell and just
that is that the Apostles daily in the Temple and in every house ceased not to teach preach Jesus Christ. That is to say they preached both publickly and privately and the very places where they preached are set down as in the Temple and in every house So that of necessity there must be severall congregations and assemblies of Believers in Jerusalem according to that in the 2. of the Acts vers the 46. where it said That they continued dayly with one accord in the Temple and breaking of bread from house to house which by all Interpreters is understood the administration of the Lords Supper and that the severall assemblies and congregations were wont usually to meet in private houses is frequent mention in the holy Scriptures as in the 16. of the Romans verse the 5. and in the 1. of the Corinthians chap. 16. vers 19. Col. 4.14 and Saint Paul in the 20. of the Acts vers 20. saith That he kept back nothing that was profitable unto them but taught them publikely and from house to house so that they had their Assemblies as well private as publicke even in the Church of Ephesus where they did partake in all acts of worship and in that Church also they had many Presbyters and yet were but one Church But now I will passe on to the sixth chapter where in the 1 2 3 and 7 verses it is said That in those dayes when the number of Disciples was multiplyed there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widdows were neglected in their dayly ministration Then the twelve called the multitude of the Disciples unto them and said It is not reason that they should leave the Word of God and serve tables Wherefore brethren look you out among you seven men of honest report and full of the holy Ghost and wisdome whom we may appoint over this businesse But we will give our selves continually to prayer and to the ministery of the Word vers 7. And the Word of God increased and the number of the Disciples multiplyed in Ierusalem greatly and a great company of the Priests were obedient unto the faith In the which words we may take notice briefly of these observables The first of the cunning and policy of the Devill who when he cannot by all his wiles and stratagems assault the Church without then he labours to assaile it within as here with civill discords and differences among brethren and in other Churches in all ages even in and from the Apostles times by dissentions in opinions by Sects Schisms Factions and Heresies and by these his wiles and craft he first bringeth in difference in opinion and afterwards diversity of affection and that among brethren and all this he doth that in fine he may bring ruine upon them all And thus he began with the Church of Jerusalem raising a controversie between the Hebrews and the Greeks who complained That their widdows were neglected in the dayly ministration as either that they were not made Deaconesses as the widdows of the Hebrews were or that there was not an equall distribution of the Almes according to the intention of the Church who sold their possessions and goods to that end that they might be parted to all men as every one should have need Acts 2. vers 44 45. chap. 4. v. 35. And this their supposition was the cause of that controversie The second abservable is To whom the differing and dissenting parties did apply themselves and appeal and that was to the Presbytery or Colledge of Apostles not to any one of them particularly but to the twelve as in that difference at Antioch Acts 15. Paul and Barnabas and certain other of the Brethren in the Church of Antioch appealed to the Apostles and Presbyters and in both those differences all the Churches submitted themselves to the Apostles Order and that willingly and this example of the Apostles is the Rule for ordering of all controversies that all the reformed Churches set before them deciding all debates in Religion by the Word of God and according to the president they have laid down unto them by the Apostles and Presbyters in Jerusalem Here I say the whole Presbytery and Colledge of the Apostles determined the businesse neither do we reade that the Assemblies of the Hebrews and Greeks at Ierusalem or the Church of Antioch pretended their own Independent authority though severall Congregations or challenged a power within themselves of choosing their own Officers or determining of differences amongst themselves or pleaded that they had Authority within themselves to make their own Laws by which they would be ordered or that they challenged any such priviledges unto themselves but they all appealed unto the Presbytery at Ierusalem as the supreamest Ecclesiasticall Court and freely submitted themselves to their arbitrament and to the Order they set down as the story specifieth The third observable is the imployment in which the Apostles were all taken up and the effect of it and their imployment is said to be continuing in prayer and the Ministery and preaching of the Word and the effect of this their Ministery was That the Word of God increased and the number of the Disciples multiplyed in Ierusalem greatly and a great company of the Priests were obedient to the faith By all which it is most apparent that such multitudes being dayly added to the Church and where there was such variety of teachers and so many Apostles and all of them taken up in preaching and where there was so many different Nations and such diversities of tongues and languages as was in the Church of Ierusalem they could not all meet together at any one time or in any one place to edification and that they might all communicate in all the Ordinances but of necessity they must be distributed into severall Congregations and Assemblies if they would avoyde confusion and all that I now speak is evident by the very light of Nature and all reason and therefore it followeth That there were many Assemblies and Congregations in Ierusalem and yet all made but one Church and that that Church was Presbyterianly governed But that I may make this truth more evidently yet appear I will first out of the former discourse frame severall Arguments and then go on to the ensuing history And out of all these six chapters I thus argue Where there were eight thousand new converts besides women and children by virtue of some few miracles and Sermons after Christs Resurrection added to the Church of Ierusalem and the society of beleevers besides those that were converted by Iohn the Baptist and Christ and his Apostles Ministery before his sufferings and to the which also there were afterwards great multitudes of Beleevers both of men and women and a great company of the Priests joyned in so much that they kept the very Officers and Souldiers in awe and struck a fear and terrour into them there they could not all meet together in any one
without reference to the Lord Mayor or Aldermen or Common-counsell to determine of all things among their severall Companies and from the which there is no appeale for reliefe though one be never so much injured and damnified by any unjust act and whether these severall Companies and severall Assemblies be each of them a severall Corporation or Magistracy or all of them put together make but one Corporation under one civill Presbytery consisting of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-counsell This I thought fit to propound that every one may the better understand the question Now as this kingdome of England hath its severall Corporations through all Counties and the which Corporations although they have their severall Companies in them yet are all dependent upon a civill Presbytery and Common-counsell and every Company in them makes not a severall Corporation or Magistracy or a severall City but are all dependent upon the Common-counsell or Presbytery for the better ordering and governing of them in all their common affaires and for the redressing of abuses and taking away and removing of common grievances and have their severall appeals to the Common-counsell the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and if they finde no justice there nor satisfaction have their redresse and appeal to some generall Court or some supreame judicature as to the Parliament of the Kingdome who redresse and determine all things according to the lawes and constitutions of the whole Kingdome So in the Kingdome of the Lord Jesus Christ which is his Church all these severall Churches which we reade of in the holy Scripture of the New Testament are so many severall Corporations and Associations all the severall congregations and affemblies as so many severall Companies in them depending upon a Presbyterie or Common-counsell and Colledge of Pastors and Rulers all making up but one Church in every one of their jurisdictions and severall Precincts though they be consistent of never so many severall Assemblies according to the greatnesse of the Cities or Townes wherein they are or according to the severall Hundreds or Divisions assigned to each Presbytery and all these and severall associations to be governed by their severall Presbyteries for the better ordering and preserving of the same to the which every particular man as well as any Assembly or Congregation may have their appeal for the redresse of any abuses or enormities and if they finde themselves wronged there then they have appeals to some other higher Presbytrie or Counsell of Divines for relief and justice and both they and all other of the severall Corporations to be governed and regulated by the lawes and statutes given by Christ himselfe the only Head and King of his Church according only to whose lawes they are to be governed and ruled for the common good and preservation of the whole Church divided into those severall Jurisdictions Corporations or Precincts in imitation as neer now as may be of the Churches of Ierusalem Ephesus Corinth and Galatia c. and whose lawes alone must be the rule for the ordering of all their governement doctrine and manners I have premised this I have now said that all men may the better understand the state of the question and controversie in hand Now then if it shall be made appeare out of the holy Scripture that all the severall Churches we have mention of in the New Testament were all particular corporations or associations and governed by a common-counsell of Presbyters or by a Presbyteriall government in each of them and that there were many assemblies and congregations in those severall Churches and all of them had their distinct Officers amongst themselves in the which likewise they had all the acts of worship amongst themselves and did partake in al ordinances of Church-fellowship especially in the preaching of the Word Prayer in the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords Supper and yet made but one Church and were all governed by a common-counsell of Presbyters or by a common Presbyterie within their Precincts then it must of necessity follow that as the Mother-churches were first govern'd all the Daughter-churches to the end of the world must be so govern'd and according to that rule that is set down in the Word of God So then the question in hand between us and our Brethren is Whether there were many Congregations and Assemblies in any of those primitive Churches as in that of Ierusalem the Mother Church and many Elders or Presbyters in that Church and all other Officers and whether all those Congregations and Assemblies were one Church and those Presbyters and Officers all of them Elders and Officers of that one Church and whether all those Congregations and Assemblies were under one Presbytery This I say is the question between us and our Brethren Now then if it can be proved that there were more Beleevers in the Church of Jerusalem then could all meet in one place or in one congregation for all acts of worship and if it can be evidently elucidated that there were severall assemblies and congregations in the Church of Jerusalem and yet so as they made but one church for government then our Brethren must of necessity acknowledge that the church of Jerusalem was govern'd by a common-councell of Presbyters or was presbyterially governed Neither did our Brethren ever yet undertake to prove that in case there were many Assemblies in Jerusalem they had severall and independent presbyteries neither if they should go about to prove could they do it And therefore we may conclude and that with very good reason and warrantable authority that as the Mother-church the Church of Jerusalem in her greatest glory was govern'd so all other Churches must likewise be regulated to the end of the world For out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Ierusalem Isay 2. v. 3. We must have both our Law from thence and our paterne of government And our Brethren doe make the Church of Jerusalem the patern of their proceedings Now that all things may be handled in good order and in a methodicall way I will reduce the whole Disputation concerning the first Question into these four Propositions and prove them in order The first That there were many Congregations and severall Assemâ—â—â—â—â— of Beleevers in the Church of Ierusalem in the which they enjoyed all acts of worship and all the Ordinances amongst themselves and did partake of all acts of Church-followship especially of preaching and in the administration of the Satraments and Prayer and that before the Persecution we reade of Acts 8. v. â— The second That all these Congregations and severall Assemblies made but one Church The third That the Apostles and Elders governed ordered and ruled this Church joyntly and by a Common-counsell and Presbytery The fourth That this Church of Ierusalem and the government of the same is to be a pattern for all severall congregations and assemblies in any City or vicinity to unite into one Church and for the Officers
commands in the Lord. But that they should also afford them the honour of maintenance and take order there be a sufficient and competent yea an honourable allowance for their support and that as they minister to them spirituall food for their soules they should likewise minister unto them all things necessary for the maintenance of them and their Families that they may comfortably and without solicitous care follow their holy imployments and wait upon their severall Ministeries So that the place and imployment of the Presbyters is to teach and rule the people and this is their proper work and peculiarly belongs unto them and the imployment and place of the severall congregations under them is to hear and obey and therefore if the severall congregations do assume unto themselves the power of ruling they take more upon them then by God is allowed them and the Presbyters in yeilding unto it reject their own right and devest themselves of that authority that God hath put into their hands and by so doing in time may not only bring confusion into the Church but to all those Countries where such usurpations are tolerated I cannot but speak my conscience in this point And truly very reason dictates unto a man that they only should have the authority of commanding and ruling over the Churches to whom the power of the Keys is given Now it is given only to the Ministers and Presbyters as we see it in Iohn 20.21 and Matth. 18.15 16 17 18. Where our Saviour Christ established a standing government to be continued to the end of the world the violating and the overthrowing of the which was the cause of all those confusions both in doctrine and manners that is now come upon the world and was the cause not only of the rise but the growth of Antichrist And the reducing of it again into the Church the re-establishing of it will be the confusion of that Man of Sin and of all the Antichristian-brood and be a means of establishing truth and peace through the Christian world But it will not be amisse a little to consider that place in Matth. 18. If thy Brother saith Christ shall trespasse against thee go and tell him of it between thee and him alone if he shall heare thee thou shalt gaine thy brother but if he will not heare thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to heare them then tell it unto the Church but if he neglect to heare the Church let him be to thee as a Heathen man and a Publican Verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven In these words our Saviour Christ has respect unto the order and custome of judicature in those times in censuring mens manners and doctrines which among the Jewes was ordered and administred by an assembly and counsell of learned experienced and judicious men and by a Presbytery Consistory or Colledge of able men for governement chose and selected out of the people for this very purpose by such as could judge and discerne of their abilities the which assembly and company is by Christ himself called a Church because it did represent the Church and in this place Christ did establish the like to be continued in the Christian Church to the end of the world making his Apostles this representative body and their successors all the godly and holy Ministers and Presbyters and gives unto them the same power and Authority to judge and determine of all things belonging unto faith manners that was observed in the Jewish Church in all Ecclesiasticall Discipline For otherwise the Christian Church should be inferior to that of the Jews if they had not the same Priviledges for the censuring of manners and Doctrines and the same power of jurisdiction and ruling that they had Now all power of jurisdiction among the Jews was exercised not by the promiscuous multitude or by the whole Congregation nor by any particular man nor by two or three as the place above specifies but by an Assembly Senate Councell or Presbytery of understanding men assigned to that purpose which our Saviour himself calleth a Church and this government established in the Christian Church are the severall Presbyteries where all things are transacted by common and joynt consent and this was the practise of the Apostles at Jerusalem who did all businesse of publike concernment by common and joynt consent as is manifest in the first chapter of the Acts in chusing of an Apostle in Judas his place And in the sixt chapter in chusing of Deacons and in the 15. chapter in determining the question there in hand all in a Presbyterian way and by common consent And this is that government that God hath commanded to be perpetuateds to the end of the world in these words Whatsoever ye shall binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven So that the Presbyters onely have the power of the keyes and it is their place onely to ordain Ministers and Church Officers whatsoever Authority the people may exercise in the chusing of them as Paul writes unto Timothy and Titus and they onely are to judge and determine and to censure in matters of manners and doctrine and the people are to allow and approve it according to the Word of God Yea the very Synagogues of the Jews which were the same that our Churches are were governed by a Presbytery as our brethren acknowledge called by the name of the Rulers of the Synagogue who governed by joynt and common councell as is evident and manifest in that there were superior and inferior Judges Commanders and Rulers according as their yeares gravity and wisdome made them more eminent then others and venerable to the people as may appear in many places as Acts 18. ver 8. It is said there That Chrispus the chiefe Ruler of the Synagogue beleeved with all his houshould So that if there were a chief Ruler or Judge or a President there must of necessity be a Councell or Segniory of inferiour ones that had Rule and Authority over others as well as he as where there is a chief Justice or Judge there are other Judges joyned with him as all reason perswades and there must needs be a Court of Judicature where all things are transacted by conjoynt and common consent and agreement and so it was in the Synagogues of the Jewes who were subject to and ordered by the determinations and arbitrement of their Rulers and Governours So that the severall Churches or Synagogues under the Jews were in subjection to those Rulers and were governed according as by common councell they ordered And Mat. the 5. vers 22. And behold there came one of the Rulers of the Synagogue whose name was
Jairus here was a speciall Ecce added to take notice that a great man and one in authority came unto Christ and that in a publick way and one of the Rulers of the Syn gogue So that we may observe the people in every Synagogue were governed and commanded by their Rulers and they were to yeeld obedience unto them and were not joyned with them in Commission but stood to their determination as all men use to do in Courts of Judicature that appeal unto them for justice And this custome and manner of government was transacted over to the Christian Churches and those that were called Rulers among them are among Christians sometimes called Presbyters sometimes Guides sometimes Rulers and by Christ himself and by his Apostles are appointed over all Christian Churches as so many corporations to which all the Assemblies and Congregations under them and committed to their charge are to yeeld obedience and submission in whatsoever they command in the Lord and according to his blessed Word for that must be the rule both of their commanding and of the peoples obeying And this Presbyterian government is that manner and way of ruling all Assemblies and particular Congregations under it that God hath appointed in his Church to be continued to the end of the world the which whosoever resisteth resisteth the Ordinance of God And this shall suffice to have spoken in generall in way of proof That all Churches we have mention of under the New Testament were Aristocratically and Presbyterially governed that is were under the Government of a colledge or Assembly of Presbyters And now I come to prove in order the four Propositions or conclusions I undertook to make good The first was That there were many Congregations and severall Assemblies in the Church of Jerusalem in the which they had all acts of worship and did partake of all Ordinances and of Church-fellowship and that before the persecution we read of Acts 8. and under the persecution and after the persecution And for the proof of this Proposition and every branch of it I will first produce such places of Scripture as make for the manifestation of the truth and from thence frame and form my Arguments Mat. 3. ver 1 2 5 6. In those dayes came John the Baptist preaching in the wildernesse of Judaea and saying Repent ye for the Kingdome of heaven is at hand Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judaea and all the Region round about Jordan and were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins The Baptisme of Iohn as all the learned know was the same with that of the Apostles for he preached the Baptisme of Repentance for the Remission of sins and Baptized all that came to him into Iesus Christ saying unto the People That they should beleeve on him which should come after him that is on Christ Iesus Act. 19. ver 4. He had his Commission also from God as well as the Apostles and Baptized Christ himself he preached also the Gospell and the Kingdome of the Messiah as well as the Apostles and had many honourable Testimonies from Christ himself as That he was the greatest Prophet that ever was born of woman and That he was a bright shining light and That he was his witnesse and many other Encomiums and praises did Christ give of him to ratifie his Authority and to shew that he was sent of God and that he was that Elias that was to come before the Messiah And all the people owned and took him for a man sent of God and Ierusalem went out to him and all the Region round about and were Baptized of him In these words we finde that the people of Ierusalem were all turned Christians and made members of the Christian Church and were beleevers For which way soever the word Ierusalem be taken it signifieth a numberlesse multitude of men or an innumerable company For if we consider Ierusalem at this time she was a most populous City the Historians that write of that age relate that she had sometimes in her no lesse then eleven or twelve hundred thousand but let it be taken that there were but six hundred thousand inhabitants it is a vast multitude and yet seldome was there lesse inhabitants in Jerusalem if any beliefe may be had to Historians for at that time it was one of the Metropolis Cities of the world and the glory of Nations and the joy of the whole Earth and besides there was then great expectation as we may reade Luke 19.11 That the Kingdome of God should immediately appear and all the Jewes out of all Nations where they were scattered now repaired to Jerusalem and returned into their own countrey expecting the Messiah So that at this time we cannot conceive but that there were infinites of people in Jerusalem and it is said That Jerusalem went out and was baptised by Iohn By Jerusalem here metonimycally the place is taken for the people Now when it is said that a City goeth out it is to be understood either of the whole people Man Woman and Childe old and young with all the inhabitants as many times it happens in great Earth quakes or some Pestilence or Inundation that all the Inhabitants are forced to leave a City and to seek some other habitation but we cannot conceive the going out of Jerusalem to Iohn Baptist in this large sense and expression so that in this place it must be taken Synecdochically and we are to understand a great part or a chief part for the whole as when a City is said to entertaine a King or to go out to meet a King here it is to be understood principally of the chief Officers as the Lord Mayor Aldermen and the Common-counsell and all their severall Companies and chiefe Captaines and Commanders with all their magnificence so that in this notion the common people and the ordinary Citizens are not thought on or at least are not numbred As when JESUS was born in Bethlehem and the Wise Men came to Jerusalem to enquire where they should finde him that was born King of the Jewes that they might worship him for they had seen his Star it is said That when Herod heard these things He and all Ierusalem was troubled with him Here by all Jerusalem is to be understood all the chief Officers and Courtiers for the common people were glad of it for that was the day they had long looked for and rejoyced at but Herod being an Usurper and a Tyrant and all his Nobles Peers and Great men being confederate with him and adjutors in his usurpation and tyranny and conceiving that Christ was an earthly Monarch and that after the manner of the Kings of the Earth he would not only pull down the Usurper but likewise call all them in question as guilty of High Treason and cut them off as complicers and abettors this made them tremble and fear and because it was the generall fear of all the great men in Ierusalem and
that time met together were capable of an Apostleship and such as were the most eminent of all Christs followers and such as were best instructed in Christian Religion as having been bred up in the doctrine of Saint Iohn the Baptist and under the Ministery of Christ himself the Prophet of his Church and therefore they were the Teachers of the Church and people who were their flock which they all fed in common And from thence it argueth that the multitude of Believers in Jerusalem was not only a distinct company from them but that it was exceedingly great and numerous that had so many Pastors and Teachers over them for if they had been but so small a company as is here mentioned and that the whole Church had consisted but of sixscore names then the Pastors exceed the number of the flock which is not only absurd to think but against the evident truth of the holy Scriptures which relate unto us multitudes upon multitudes that were daily converted by the ministery of Iohn the Baptist and of Christ and his Apostles and added unto the Church before this their meeting So that by this I have now said it is most clear and evident that all or most of these were the most eminent Ministers of the Gospell and the Presbytery of the Church But in this that our Brethren do acknowledge that this assembly here spake of were the Church it makes as much against them and greatly for us for it is manifest from the Text that they were the Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel and in that they give them the name and title of the Church it followeth that the representative body and Presbytery is a Church and that to them only belongs the power and authority of the Keyes according to that of our Saviour in Matth. 18.17 18. Tell it unto the Church c. and whatsoever ye binde on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven By which words all authority is put into the true Ministers hands so that they only have the power and authority of ordaining Pastors and Presbyters among themselves as Paul sufficiently declares in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus and that they have not only the title of the Church but a Charter and Warrant also granted unto them of ruling and governing the Church and of ordaining Church-officers and that by joynt and common consent among themselves without the help and assistance of the people and congregations under them which by God were never joyned in commission with them And howsoever Paul in the 1. of the Corinthians chap. 6. For the taking away the scandall in going to Law before unbeleevers gave them liberty to make choyce of some that were least esteemed in the Church for the deciding of their controversies yet that did not authorize them to make choyce of all other Church Officers for he limits them to go no farther then to the choyce of such as are of least esteem And howsoever likewise the Apostles in the 6. of the Acts to free themselves from all impediments that they might the better attend upon their Ministeries and that without interruption they might Preach the Gospell gave them liberty to chuse their Decons and Deconesses yet they prescribe the Rule by which they shall chuse them and keep the authority of ordaining them still in their own hands Look you out among you say they men of honest report full of the holy Ghost and wisedome whom we may appoint over this businesse and when they had chose such saith the Scripture They put them before the Apostles and when they had prayed they layd their hands on them So that howsoever they gave unto them a Liberty to chuse yet it was with limitation not an absolute liberty for if they had chose men that had not been of approved honesty well gifted and wise and qualified as they appointed it was arbitrary in the Apostles to reject their choise for they keep the power of Ordination still in their own hands and to them it did belong to ratifie their Election so that the people had not the power of Ordination then nor have not to this day no not of the meanest Deacon or Deaconesse that belongs onely unto the Presbytery much lesse have they power of ordaining Presbyters Indeed for the deciding of controversies and differences they have a liberty given them of making choise of some petty men amongst them and that they may do without the Presbytery but they have no power of Ordination Neither did I ever yet read in the Sacred Scriptures that the people or Congregation had any hand at all in choosing of Ministers and Presbyters neither were they fit for that imployment for it is one thing to judge of a mans externall carriage and manners and another thing of his sufficiency for his indowments and abilities of learning and that men of learning and knowledge onely can do and the Sons of the Prophets and it is in speciall given in charge to the Presbyters and Ministers as it is manifest in the Epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus 1 Tim. 4.14 Tit. 1. And they onely know how rightly to examine them in the knowledge of the tongues and Sciences and such Arts as are requisite besides the knowledge of the holy Scriptures all which are little enough for the making of a Minister compleat and fit for that Sacred imployment And all the Primitive Churches in the Apostles times willingly submitted themselves to what the Presbytery then did and assented to their choyce as in the 14. of the Acts vers 23. it appeareth But I say in that our brethren do acknowledge this company this hundred and twenty names to be a Church and in that it is also sufficiently manifest that they are considered in a distinct notion from the people which also in the holy Scriptures when they are joyned with their Ministers are called a Church as is frequently to be seen through the acts of the Apostles and in that it doth abundantly appear by what hath formerly been spoken and will yet in the following discourse be farther elucidated that there were many congregations and Assemblies of beleevers in the Church of Ierusalem and that they were all governed by the joynt consent and Common Councell of the Apostles and Presbyters to whom the Apostles themselves were subject who were sent this way and that way by their direction and to whom they were to give an account of their Ministry as we see in divers places in the Acts and were ordered by them what they should do and also made their appeals unto the Apostles and Presbyters in any businesse of common concerement I say in all these respects it is evident that the Church of Ierusalem consisted of many Congregations and Assemblies and was yet but one Church and that governed by a Presbyterian Government and by a Common Councell of Ministers to whose order all the severall Congregations
worship as all men acknowledge And by evident Arguments it may be proved that they never administred the Sacraments in the Temple those discriminating and distinguishing Ordinances of the Christian Church as all the most Orthodox Interpreters gather from the ensuing words where it is said They continued dayly with one accord in the Temple but when they speake of the Administration of the Lords Supper it is expressed in these words and breaking of bread from house to house which is interpreted by all Divines of Sacramentall bread which phrase and manner of speaking is usually so expounded by all the Learned upon Acts the 20. vers the 7. And our Brethren do not deny this And it is well known that the Primitive Christians had their meetings and assemblies in private houses as by the many places is manifest which I cited but a little before Besides the Sacrament of breaking bread is no Temple-ordinance and therefore could not be administred in the Temple with the safety of the Christians and Believers for if they were so highly displeased with the Apostles for preaching Jesus and the Resurrection in the Temple as it appeareth Act. 4.2 They would not have suffered them to have administred the Sacraments there And if Paul was so assaulted Acts 21.28 for being but supposed to have brought Greeks into the Temple what would these men have done if one should have brought in a new Ordinance and a new worship and service and that so contrary to their legall rights Surely the Jewes would never have suffered it neither do the Brethren contend for this Now it is well known that in the Primitive Church if not every day yet every first day of the Week at least they met together to break bread that is to receive the holy Sacrament which never was without preaching as we see in Act. 20.7 and in the places above quoted in which it is said they daily brake bread together and that in severall and particular houses and that of necessity must be for a few houses could not have held so many thousands as all reason will dictate and if they were or could be contained under one roof yet they must be forced to be in diverse and severall chambers or roomes So that what is done and spoke in the one the other knowes nothing of it so that they are still severall congregations as under the roof of Pauls there are diverse meeting-places where Men may partake in all Ordinances and they are called severall Churches and they that meet there severall congregations though under one roof for the distinction of the places under one covert makes alwayes a distinct assembly as it is daily seen in the severall Committes at Westminster where every Committee of both Houses have their severall rooms and equall authority and are yet all but one Parliament though distributed into so many severall assemblies So here they had severall assemblies and that in severall houses as is declared and reason it self without any testimony of holy Scripture will perswade this for the Apostles they all preached and that daily and they must have severall rooms to preach in to avoide confusion for all things in the Church must be done in order and they must have severall auditories or assemblies or else they should preach to the wals so that if the Apostles would all preach and the people all heare of necessity they must be distributed into severall congregations assemblies to avoid disorder and that there were severall congregations and severall assemblies the places above specified do declare and tell us So that there is no man that resolves not to oppose all truth that is contrary to his received opinion but may evidently perceive that there were many congregations and assemblies in the Church of Jerusalem and yet they all made but one Church and were govern'd by one Presbytery as the many Committees in both Houses are in divers rooms and make divers assemblies and have equall power and authority among themselves and yet they all make but one Parliament and all those severall Committes are govern'd by the joynt consent of the Great Civill Presbytery of the Kingdome which is all the Parliament and all this without confusion yea with most excellent order and decency Having thus evidently proved that there were many congregations in the Church of Jerusalem before the Persecution I will now by Gods assistance make good that there were also many assemblies under the Persecution and after the Persecution and this I do the rather undertake because some of the Brethren have said That howsoever it could be proved that before the Persecution there were many severall assemblies yet by reason of the dispersion of the Believers the Church of Jerusalem was so wasted and scattered that there were no more left then could all meet in one congregation And were it so that after the scattering of the Believers and Christians in Jerusalem it could never be evinced and made good that there were more then could meet altogether in one place yet all this were nothing for the enervating of the Argument for we must ever look upon the first constitution and Government of the Church and what it was Originally and by Divine constitution and not what it was accidentally and through persecution and oppression and by the violence of men for Governments of Churches are often changed from their primordiall State through many casualties as it happened often in the Church of the Jews and therefore in all Reformations things are to be reduced to the first rule and originall pattern and we are not to look upon them as by occasion they vary or change through the injury of the times And therefore if we look into the Church of Jerusalem as she was in her youth and in her most flourishing age we shall finde her consisting of divers Congregations and many assemblies and all them governed by a Common Councell and joynt consent of a Presbytery which must be the pattern of all Church Government to the end of the world if we will in our Reformation conform our selves to Gods Ordinance and to the first constitution But because I say they think it so difficult a thing to prove many Congregations in Jerusalem after the persecution I will now God-willing make it evident and not onely after the persecution but even in and under the persecution and I will do it first out of that very place our brethren bring against us and by which they labour to evince the contrary the place is in the 8. of the Acts verse 1 2 4. In these words And at that time there was a great persecution against the Church which was at Ierusalem and they were all scattered abroad through the Regions of Iudea and Samaria except the Apostles verse 3. As for Saul he made havock of the Church entring into every house and haling men and women committed them to prison Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word From
been sufficiently proved that there were many Congregations in the Church of Jerusalem I report my selfe to any that have not the pearl of prejudice in the eye of their judgement and this shall suffise to have spoke for the proofe of my first assertion The second now followes viz. That all these Congregations and severall Assemblies made but one Church And for proofe of this I shall not need to use many words or any great dispute for the brethren themselves acknowledge that all the beleevers in Jerusalem were all members of that Church and they accord further that it was but one Church and it is manifest out of the holy Scripture for it is said they that were converted were added to the Church and therefore members of it and that they continued in the Churches communion and in the Apostles doctrine and put their estates in the Churches common treasury and chose Officers for the Church all this I say our brethren do acknowledge and take this fellowship of these members for a patterne of ordinary Church communion and therefore this my second assertion is without controversie it being in expresse words set downe in the 2 3 4 5 6. Chapters of the Acts and many more places of the same story and consented to by the Brethren I now come to prove my third assertion viz. That the Apostles and Presbyters governed ordered and ruled this Church consisting of many Congregations and Assemblies by a Common-councell and Presbytery Which is also evident by the places following Act. 11. And in those daies there came Prophets from Jerusalem to Antioch and there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth through all the world which came to passe in the daies of Claudius Caesar then the Disciples every man according to his ability determined to send reliefe unto the brethren that dwelt in Judea which also they did and sent it to the Presbyters by the hands of Barnabas and Saul Here in these last words we see that the Presbyters and none but the Presbyters received the almes for it is said they sent it to the Presbyters by the hands of Barnabas and Saul which sufficiently proveth that the Presbyters in all Churches were the men in government as who had the ordering and authority of appointing unto the Deacons how they should distribute those moneys that they might be best improved and disposed of which is an act of government as all men that know what belongs unto government will acknowledge Now should it be granted that these Presbyters here spoken of were the Presbyters of Judea which notwithstanding is not specified but only the distressed brethren in Judea yet had it been in expresse words set down that the almes had been sent to the Presbytery of Judea the Presbytery of Jerusalem must necessarily have been included in it as being the Metropolis of Judea and it was an ordinary thing for the Churches abroad and particularly that of Antioch to send to the Apostles and Presbyters of Jerusalem as we may see Act. 11. ver 22. and Act. 15. And by all probability Paul and Barnabas brought these almes to the Presbyters of Jerusalem for he in the fifteenth Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans maketh mention of a contribution that was made in Macedonia and Achaia for the poore Saints in Jerusalem whether the Apostle saies he was going to minister unto them and desireth the Romans to pray for him that he may be delivered from the unbeleeving Jewes and that his service for Jerusalem might be accepted of the Saints which by the learned Interpreters is generally taken that Paul speaketh of this time and that they were then sent from Jerusalem to Antioch But howsoever it should be understood that these almes were sent to the Presbyters in Judea yet these two conclusions necessarily result from it The first that this expression comprehends also the Presbyters of Jerusalem as being the chiefe City of Iudea The second that the Presbyters in all Churches were the men to whom the government and ordering of businesses was committed and in whose hands the power and authority lay of disposing of the very charity and bounty of the brethren to all the necessitated Disciples within their jurisdictions and who gave directions to the Deacons how they should be distributed to the best emolument and benefit of the poore and according to the intention of these benefactors which as it is an act of Government and that a principall one so of necessity the Presbyters must then meet together that by their joint and common consent and counsell all things may be rightly ordered But in the chap. 15. v. 2.4.6.22 the Presbyters of Ierusalem by name are expressed and in chap. 16. and in Act. 21. v. 17 18. in these words Then they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certaine other of them should go up to Ierusalem unto the Apostles and Presbyters about this question and they were received of the Church and of the Apostles and Presbyters to whom they declared all things that God had done with them and how that there rose up certaine of the Sect of the Pharises which believed saying that it was needfull to circumcize them and to command them to keep the law of Moses and the Apostles and Presbyters came together to consider of this matter c. ver 22. Then pleased it the Apostles and Presbyters with the whole Church c. and chap. 16. v. 4. And as they went through the Cities they delivered them the Decrees to keep that were ordained of the Apostles and Presbyters which were at Ierusalem c. and chap. 21 v. 17 18. And when we were come to Ierusalem the Brethren received us gladly and the day following Paul went in with us unto Iames and all the Presbyters were present and v. 25. As touching the Gentiles which believe we have written and concluded say the Presbyters that they observe no such thing Out of all which places before I frame my arguments to prove that the Church of Ierusalem consisting of many Congregations and assemblies was governed by a Presbytery that is by the joint consent common councell of the Apostles Presbyters which made but a grand Presbytery I shall desire all men to consider that howsoever the Apostles in the places above specified are differenced by that title from the Presbyters yet in all acts of government performed by them in the Church of Ierusalem they were for the substance of them ordinary acts such as Presbyters daily performe and therfore answerably the Apostles themselves are in them to be considered as presbyters that is men governing in an ordinary way as such as had received the keys which is the power of jurisdiction therefore were in their ordinary imployment though at other times in their severall ministries and going from Nation to Nation to preach as Christs extraordinary Ambassadours 2 Cor. 5. they used superlative authority and I am induced
seeme to contend for the liberty of the people they plainely overthrow it for they grant that the Apostles left the Presbyters and people to the exercise of that right belonged unto them in all Churches the right therefore of the keyes of government and jurisdiction belongeth properly unto the Presbyters in every Church who are the Officers and Magistrates appointed by God himselfe for that purpose Act. 20. ver 28. and therefore when the Apostles writ to the Church of Corinth to excommunicate that incestuous person although his Epistle be directed to the whole Church yet the Presbyters in that Church onely executed that act of government which of right belonged unto them though the people also assented unto it even as we see dayly and experience teacheth us in all well ordered Corporations when the King or Counsell writes unto any City ot Corporation though their mandats be directed to the whole City or Corporation for the raising either of men or moneyes or about any other imployment of publike concernment the Majors Aldermen and Common-Councell and the Officers under them onely manage the businesse for that is their right and place and the people under them do yeeld obedience and submit themselves to what they order and command and intermeddle not in that imployment as knowing very well it is their right and place onely to obey And even so it was in the Church of Corinth the Presbyters onely exercised the government and ordered all according to the Apostles injunction and the people assented unto it and submitted themselves to the order and the mistaking of that place and many more hath been the cause of so much confusion in the Church at this time when not onely the men in every assembly but the very women in many of the new Congregations as Members challenge a power and right both in the electing of Church Officers and of admitting of Members and of casting out and excommunicating which before these our times was never heard of in the world when as the right of jurisdiction and of the keyes as I have often proved peculiarly belongeth unto the Presbyters and the people neither men nor women ought to intermeddle with it for if they should in short time it would overthrow all government in Church and State and bring confusion into the world But I conceive the cause of so grosse a mistake of that place concerning the excommunicating of the incestuous person arose from this that they looke upon the Church of Corinth and the other churches spoken of in the New Testament not as corporations as they were indeed but as on their now sucking independent new Congregations and Assemblies such as many of those be whereas those severall Churches are to be considered under another notion as consisting of many Congregations as that of the Church of Ierusalem united into one Church or body in the severall Corporations and each of them governed by a Common-councell of Presbyters and by the joint consent of three severall Presbyters all these severall congregations making but one Church though never so much daily increased and keeping still the name and denomination of such a Church either from the place city country or nation or severall language as the Church of the Iewes the Greeke Church the Latine church or from the Cities as the church of Ierusalem of Ephesus Rome c. though they consisted of never so many Congregations and Assemblies they ever kept the name of unity and were accounted but one Church in their severall places as at this day the Church of Geneva though it consist of many Congregations is counted but one Church as it is so that I say the conceiving of the Church of Corinth and those seven churches in Asia under the notion of one of their congregations caused through this mistake that great confusion that is now in the church and was the originall cause of the opinion of Indepency when notwithstanding it is manifest that those very churches were not Independent but made their appeale to the apostles and presbyters at Ierusalem upon all occasions as that of Antioch and it is said that the Apostles and presbyters came together to consider of that matter which meeting of the Apostles and presbyters for Synodicall acts of government is no weake proofe of meeting for presbyteriall acts of government unlesse men will suppose that they who were carefull to assist other churches did neglect their owne churches committed to their peculiar charge and take no course of governing them Yea Act 15.2 it doth most certainly prove a presbyteriall government in Ierusalem out of the which place I thus argue Where the Apostles and Presbyters did governe and many congregations were by them ordered and governed yet so that all these congregations were one church there was a presbyteriall government but in the church of Ierusalem the Apostles and Presbyters did governe and many congregations were by them governed yet so that all these congregations were one church ergo in the church of Jerusalem there was a Presbyterian government all which is sufficiently manifest out of the places above specified and from all the former discourse For in the 21. chapter it is asserted that there were many ten thousands of beleevers in Jerusalem which could not all be contayned in a few places but must of necetssity be distributed into many and severall congregations and assemblies all which notwithstanding make but one church as is evident Act. 8. ver 1. and many other places the which congregations could not be one politique ministeriall church except onely because they were united under one Presbyteriall government and therefore of necessity the Church of Jerusalem must be aristocrattically and presbyterially governed yea the very mentioning so often of the Presbyters meeting together proves that they met together about acts of government from which I thus argue That Scripture which proves a Presbytery in Jerusalem or an association of Presbyters in that church proves that the presbyters of the church of Ierusalem did meet together for acts of governement and did really governe that church But the places above coted prove a presbytry in Ierusalem or an association of presbyters in that church ergo they prove that they did meet together for acts of government and did really governe that church and that the church of Jerusalem consisting of many congregations was presbyterially governed For the major the Brethren cannot deny it for the very name of presbytery signifieth a company or common-councell of rulers governours and magistrates now all men know that governouts in common cannot do their duty but must of necessity neglect the worke committed to them if they do not meet together for acts of government Neither can they deny the minor unlesse they will deny the Scripture for that expresly declareth that James and the Presbyters met together and our Brethren take their warrant from that place for the Presbyters meeting apart from the multitude to consult and to prepare matters Yea
churches and among beleevers and brethren and that upon groundlesse pretences The second quere is whether for the making of any man or woman a member of the church it be requisite or necessary to the beleeving and being baptized that they should walk some dayes weeks moneths perhaps years with them that they may have experience of their conversation before they can be admitted and after that a confession of their faith should be publikely made before the congregation and the evidences of their conversion as the time when the place where the occasion how they were converted should likewise openly be produced for satisfaction to the church before they can be admitted to be members and if any either men or women shall except against their evidence that then they are not to be admitted this is the second quere The third is whether for making any man or woman a member or an officer of a church the consent of the whole congregation or the greater part of them besides the Presbyters and Ministers be requisite The fourth quere is whether for the admission of any one into church-fellowship communion a private solemn covenant be requisite or necessary for the making of any one a member the neglect or refusall of the which makes them incapable of their membership and admission There is no question between us and the brethren about a publike covenant for we have presidents of that in holy Scripture in all publike reformations The fifth quere is whether the women and people as well as the Presbiters and Ministers have the power of the Keyes and whether the women have all their voices in the church both for election and reprobation of members and officers as well as the men and whether the consent of all the women or the greatest part of them be requisite for the making of any one a Member or Officer so that if they gainsay it being the greater number or allow of it the most voices carry the businesse this is the fifth quere the practice of the which as of all the former the brethren in some of their congregations hold for orthodox and think all these things required of any that offer themselves to be a member The last quere is whether the practice and preaching of all these things and the gathering of churches after this manner be to set up Christ as King upon his Throne and whether churches and assemblies thus congregated be the onely true churches and in the which onely Christ rules and reignes as King and all other that are not moulded up after this fashion be no true congregated churches and in the which Christ is not set up as King upon his Throne which is the opinion of the brethren as will afterward appeare If I have failed in any thing in stating the question or in any of these Queres the brethren must pardon me for I speake according to the practice of some of their congregations and according to the doctrine many of them teach not onely in their owne assemblies but in every Pulpit through the Kingdome where they come as I shall be able to prove And therefore if I have been mistaken in any thing they may blame their owne practice and teachers and thank themselves also that in the space of almost two yeers though it has been againe and again desired at their hands they have not so much as set down the modell of their government and what they would have with all the appertainances belonging unto it that all the world might be out of doubt What therefore I find practised amongst some of the most zealous of them and the most approved for integrity and what I shall be able to prove that I have without any spirit of bitternesse specified But now I shall set downe Gods method and the Apostles practice in gathering of churches and the manner they used in making Members in every church and compare it with the method our brethren the Independents use in gathering of their congregations that all men may the better discerne truth from errour and may all be undeceived in this businesse of so great concernment And I will first begin with Christs Commission given to his Apostles and in them to all Ministers and then consider the practice of John the Baptist and of all the Apostles and Ministers in the primitive church and the order that God himselfe used for the gathering of those that belong unto his election and for the congregating of the lost sheep of the house of Israel into the fold of Jesus Christ who is that great Shepheard and Bishop of our soules and I conceive that Gods order and the Apostles practice is rather to be followed than any other new-found way But to begin with Christs commission to his Apostles Matth. 21. verse 19.20 Goe yee therefore saith Christ and teach all Nations baptizing them In the Name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I command you and lo I am with you even to the end of the world Amen And in the 16. of Mark verse 15 16. He saith unto them Goe yee into all the world and preach the Gospell unto every creature He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved but he that beleeveth not shall be damned And in the 26. of the Acts Saint Paul after he had declared the manner of his conversion to King Agrippa he likewise made knowne unto him the commission he had received from Christ Jesus in the words following verse 15 16 17 18 19 20. And I said who art thou Lord and he said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest but rise and stand upon thy feet for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a Minister and a Witnesse both of these things which thou hast seene and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to turne them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgivenesse of sinnes and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith which is in me whereupon I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision but shewed first unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem and through all the coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turne to God and doe works meet for repentance Out of these severall places from the commission of Christ given to his blessed Apostles and to all Ministers and preachers of the Gospel to the end of the world here observe these things First that their bounds and limits were set them how farre they should goe in their teaching all Nations and beyond which they might not passe and they were these that they should teach no other things but what Christ commanded them and appeared to them in and for the which they had his word and warrant and so long
of ordaining of Officers it is no where extant in Gods Word But that the women should have a voyce in the Church either for receiving in or casting out of members or officers or should have any thing to doe with Peters Keys it is against the law of God and nature For Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinths 14. makes it one of the marks of confusion in any Church where women have their voyces saying God is not the Author of confusion but of peace as in all the churches of the Saints and in the next verse following in expresse words saith Let your women keep silence in churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are comanded to be under obedience as also saith the law and if they wil learn any thing let them ask their husbands at home for it is a shame for women to speake in the church And what S. Paul writ to this Church of Corinth he writ to all Churches and proclaims that what he writ to them were the commandements of the Lord ver 37. so that God had commanded that the women should not speak in the Church and sayth that it is a shame they should and yet in these our dayes and in many of the new congregations they have their voyces in choosing of officers and admitting of members and have all of them Peters Keys as their Girdle and make learned parts of speech in the congregation and dispute questions and debate of matters and give their reasons con pro as it is credibly reported and others of them set forth and print learned Treatises in polemicall divinity with great applause and admiration of the Independent Ministers who cite their authority and quote them in their writings as classicall authors to the shame of the Nation and ludibry of Religion and howsoever there is not any that shall more honour the truly vertuous and pious of that sex than my selfe yet I must confesse when I see how farre they become transgressors of the law of God do those things that the holy Apostle hath not onely forbidden but proclaimed a shame I cannot but exceedingly blame them those Ministers that allow of and approve of such rebellion against God and nature And as if it had been the special care in the Apostle to prevent this evill of womens intermedling in matters of the Church he foreseeing the confusion that would be brought in upon it In his first Epistle to Timothy and in him to all Ministers to whom the government of the Church was committed he gives him direction how to behave himselfe in the house of God which is the church of the living God in cap. 2. ver 11.12 he saith Let the women learne in silence with all subjection for I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurpe authority over the man but to be in silence for Adam was first made then Eve and Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression c. Here the Apostle again and agun twice in these few words enjoyns them silence in the church and imposes upon them subjection and obedience I suffer not saith he a woman to teach or to usurpe authority over the man but to be in silence and he giveth his reasons of this his command because saith he Adam was first made not by the woman nor of the woman but the contrary and therfore she may usurpe no authority over the masculine sex especially in Gods matters and shee is to be the disciple if the man and not the man her schollar and therefore that superiority that the God of order had established upon the man in the first creation he doth now re-establish upon him againe in his holy Word after all things through sinne had been disordered and confused and commands the woman to be both subject and silent especially in the Church Another reason of this his command is because the woman was first in the transgression and was the cause of Adams fall as he accuses her and her disputing and voycing of it then brought confusion upon all mankind and for this her so doing S. Paul concludes for ever hereafter that she ought to hold her peace be in subjection to her husband and ought to learne in silence at home but more especially in the Church for if they come to voyce it once again in the Church as Eve brought confusion upon mankind by her disputation and reasons so these with their loquacity and babble and confusion of voyces will bring in a new Babel into the Church and State as they have prettily well already begun to doe Saint Paul saith I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurpe authority over the man but to be in silence Here the Apostle as in the place above cited out of the Cor. chap. 14. commands them silence and permits them not to speak and expresly forbids them to usurpe authority over the man that is the virill sex Now I appeale unto any understanding creature whether or no to make large parts of speech in the Church as many of them upon occasions doe and dispute and give their reasons con pro be not to speak in the Church and whether to have their voyces in either admitting of members or officers or in the casting of them out be not to usurpe authority over the man for all the world knowes that they that have the power in their hands of either admitting of any into the fellowship or communion of the Church or of hindring their comming in or have their voyces for the casting of them out when they are received exercise and usurpe authority over those they so deale with and therefore they doe against the expresse prohibition of the Apostles and all those women that have usurped this authority and all those Ministers that have permitted them so to doe or tanght this doctrine unto them are all guilty of great contumacy against God and ought seriously to repent for this their temerity and rebellion and it will be the immortall honour of those women that have not intermedled if there be not some speedy course taken by authority to forbid such disorder we may promise nothing to the Church and whole Kingdome but confusion It has ever been observed that Hermaphrodite counsels in any Kingdome or country when women that are subjects intermeddle in government and matters of state that that Kingdome and country is very crased and not far from ruine and destruction and we need not look into many ages or countries for presidents of this kind if hermaphrodite counsels in Kingdoms has ever been so fatall unto them what may any man think in time will become of this Church and Kingdome when the women have gotten Peters Keys at their girdle and have their voyces in many congregations and a power of ordering and disposing of things in Church affaires certainly nothing but confusion can be expected for this their doing is
by Christ nor any of his Apostles for they themselves confesse it is a new way and a new-borne truth and a new light and therefore not the doctrine of Christ and therefore such novelties are not to be entertained nor imbraced nor the teachers of them if we will be obedient to Apostolicall precepts I desire therefore those of the Independent brethren to produce any one testimony or any one president out of the Word of God where these things following are taught or have been practiced First that although men and women beleeve and are baptized they are not yet to be admitted as joyned members till they have walked some time in fellowship with the church for approbation of their conversation this is the first thing I desire of the brethren either a precept or an example for this in Gods Word The second where it is commanded that those that beleeve and are baptized should not be admitted as members of the church without a publike confession of their faith before the church The third where it is enjoyned that to their faith and baptisme they should bring in the evidences of the truth of their conversion before they can be capable of their membership The fourth where it is commanded that they should enter into a solemne and private covenant before they can be admitted to Church-fellowship The fifth where it is imposed upon those that beleeve and are baptized that they should not be received into the church without the consent of the congregation Sixthly where it is commanded that the Ministers of the Gospel shall run about from their own places and charges into the sheepfolds of their fellow-shepheards and separate and pick out all their best sheep and bring them into their owne folds and debarre them from all church-fellowship and communicating with the other beleevers in Gods holy Ordinances and Sacraments or where ever it is commanded that the preachers of the gospel shall gather beleeving christians from amongst beleeving christians separate them from the other sheep into Independent congregations and shall proclaim all that are not thus molded up after this new modell to be people out of covenant and to have no right to the seales of the new covenant neither they nor their children though beleevers All these things I desire the brethren by evident places of the holy Scripture to make good and to confirme or by any president or example to declare to have been practiced either by Christ or his blessed Apostles for I looke for a law from Christ the King of his church who was as faithful in the house of God as Moses was and hath not left the ordering and disposing of his church to the will of men but has commanded the church to heare his voyce who is the great Pastor and Bishop of our souls and the teacher of his church his Word therefore I look for for a warrant for the ratifying of all these doctrines and I have good ground and reason to demand of them a warrant and authority out of Gods Word for what they both teach and practice for we are taught by Christ the onely Prophet of his church that they that serve God after the precepts of men offer him a vaine worship and it stands with all good reason that if all humane traditions though of never so ancient standing and of never so long antiquity were all cast out of the church because they had no footing or ground in Gods Word that all novelties or new inventions of men which notwithstanding are imposed upon the people as the wayes of God should be abrogated and nullified and cast out of the church It is recorded in holy writ Joshua 9. that the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and the people of Israel under pretence that they came from a farre country and for proofe of that they produced their mouldy bread and their tattered boots their old shooes and they taking what they said pro confesso and not consulting with the mouth of the Lord as it is fully related in that chapter were deceived by them and entred into a League with their enemies And thus the Papists and Prelats for these many hundred yeers have deluded the world under pretence of their mouldy antiquities tattered ragges of traditions and in all this time they prevailed to mislead the poore people because they consulted not with the mouth of God nor examined things by the Word of God and the holy Scripture as the noble Bereans did Now whatsoever was written was written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the world are come and therefore as it was the errour of the Israelites that they received things barely upon report without consulting with the mouth of God and as it was the honour and praise of those noble Bereans that they searched the Scriptures to see whether the preaching of Paul were according to the holy Scripture so if we shall receive these new borne truths these new lights these new wayes without consulting with the living Oracles we shall offend as the Israelites did in beleeving the Gibeonites upon their words and shall degenerate and be unlike to those the renowned Bereans who would not receive Paul's doctrine though an Apostle without searching the Scriptures whether things were so or no as he taught them and surely now much more ought we to try all things by the Word in these erroneous times whosoever they be that preach them unto us and if they be not evidently proved unto us out of the Scriptures we may not admit of them for it will be not onely a sinne but for our immortall shame to be deluded with novelties much more than it was our ancestors disgrace to be deceived by pretended antiquities And therefore it is the duty of every christian seriously to consider with themselves that these are matters of God and concerne no lesse than our eternall welfare and in that regard we may not call mens wayes Gods wayes but we are to seek for the old wayes Jer. 6. we are to examine Christs and his holy Apostles wayes in gathering of churches and making of members and if we find no footstep in all Gods Word of these new wayes we ought to relinquish them and turne againe into the pathes that God has commanded us to walk in wherein we shall be sure to find rest for our soules and comfort in life and death and it will be no disgrace to any to be undeceived for they are deceived and that greatly and dangerously that thinke or beleeve that any men mortall can shew or teach a better way to Heaven or set downe a better way of converting soules and of gathering of churches and making of members and of setting up Christ as King upon his Throne than that which Christ himselfe and his blessed Apostles have taught and set downe to all posterity and from the which rule we ought not to swerve though an Angel from Heaven should teach us otherwise Gal. 1. ver 8 9.
against the expresse command of God who is the God of order and injoynes the contrary yea it is not onely against the law of God but against the very law of nature and the practice of all Nations for never was it yet heard of in any well governed city or common wealth or Kingdome that women that were subjects had their voyces in choosing officers or Burgesses or making of freemen or disfranchising of them or were permitted so much as to sit in counsell with them much lesse to rule and give lawes to others out of their owne houses And therefore as it is a thing odious to God and man and that which is a shame to that sex it ought to be cast out of all wel-governed Churches and States and as the women ought to know their places so ought all men that are under obedience to learne their duty and not to take upon them that which God never gave unto them as to have their voyce either in making of members in Churches or casting of them out or of ordaining of officers or of imposing lawes upon others either of making publike confessions before the Congregations or of producing evidences of their conversion or that they should walk with them some time that they might behold their conversation or of imposing a covenant upon any that shall be admitted for all rule and government in the Church is put into the hands of the Presbiters and does not belong unto the people or multitude neither may the Presbiters usurpe authority but they also must exercise it onely according to the commission given unto them by Christ they may not transgresse it or goe beyond it in the least thing and therefore when many of the brethren call for a publike confession of mens faith to be made in their new Congregation and the evidences of their conversion to be produced and impose a covenant upon them before they admit them to be members of their Church as if they had lived before in infidelity Who notwithstanding were knowne to be holy and godly Christians and as true beleevers as any that now live in the world and think them onely Christians and beleevers that doe as they would have them and count of others that will not conforme themselves to their customes and novelties but as the off-scowring and refuse and no Christians I say it is an intolerable usurpation and a thing that was yet never before practised in the world in any Church either Jewish or Christian till these dayes and therefore they goe beyond their commission in so doing for God in his commssion to his Apostles and all Ministers bids them admit of all that come in and beleeve and are baptized he quencheth not the smoaking flax nor breaketh the bruised reed now then when they know thousands in this Kingdome that doe beleeve and are men of unblamable lives and such as would lay downe their lives for the faith once delivered unto the Saints and are baptized what have they to doe to lord it over them and to hinder them from communicating in the Ordinances and to be admitted into Church-fellowship with them or to debarre them from the communion of the Saints Me thinks the vision to Saint Peter in the tenth of the Acts should teach such men their duty When God said unto Peter rise kill and eat Peter said not so Lord for I have never eaten any thing that is common and uncleane and the voyce said what God hath cleansed call not thou common And this saith the Scripture was done thrice that by the mouth of two or three Witnesses this truth might be confirmed to Peter and all other Ministers not to call those people common prophane and uncleane and to count them but rubbish whom God hath graced with the gifts of his holy Spirit and hath sanctified and such as beleeve in Jesus Christ and are baptized as well as themselves and such as stood to the truth when they durst not shew their faces but ran from the Cause and deserted it or at least temporized and such as if the like occasions were offered would manifest unto the world by Gods assistance that their lives and all they have should not be deere unto them for the testimony of Jesus and yet such as these must be debarred from the communion in their assemblies unlesse they will conforme to their new-borne traditions for these are no traditions of the Elders but of the younger and if Christ in his time sharply reproved those that brake the Commandements of God through the traditions of men and deeply reproved the Ministers in those dayes for teaching the people to preferre the traditions of the Elders before the commandements of God and for teaching them the feare of God after the precepts of men What shall we think those Ministers will have to answer at the dreadfull day of judgement when they set up their traditions in the Church of God and preferre them before the Commandements of God and what can any man think of the condition of that people that account of such novelties as the Oracles of God and violate the law of Love and make rents and scismes in the seamelesse garment of the Church through these traditions Surely whatsoever they may promise to themselves their condition is very dangerous for our Saviour saith Woe be to those by whom offences come Matthew 18. and whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that beleeve in me it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea And whether this be not to transgresse the Commandements of God through their traditions and to offend those little ones that beleeve in Christ when they will not receive such into the communion and fellowship of the Church as beleeve and are baptized but count them as aliens and strangers yea infidels and rubbish I referre my selfe to any that is but of ordinary understanding For Gods command unto all Ministers was that they should admit all such into the Church as beleeved and were baptized upon their desiring it without any confession either private or publike or entring into any covenant Now this command of God they transgresse by their traditions and keepe out many thousands of beleevers through the Kingdome as unholy and as having no right to the Ordinances because forsooth they will not obey their new-born lawes and traditions for where did ever God command that no beleevers should be admitted into the Church except they made a publike confession of their faith and walked some time in fellowship amongst them and then give in the evidences of their conversion and entred into a private covenant and gave the Church satisfaction Or where was it ever practised by any of the primitive Christians either by those that were converted by Peters Sermon and the other Apostless or by Paul's preaching was Lidia when God opened her heart to beleeve Pauls preaching admitted into the Church upon