PROPOSITION X.

Concerning the Ministry.

As by the Light or Gift of God all true Knowledge in Things spiritual is received and revealed, so by the same, as it is manifested and received in the Heart, by the Strength and Power thereof, every true Minister of the Gospel is ordained, prepared, and supplied in the Work of the Ministry; and by the Leading, Moving, and Drawing hereof ought every Evangelist and Christian Pastor to be led and ordered in his Labour and Work of the Gospel, both as to the Place where, as to the Persons to whom, and as to the Time wherein he is to minister. Moreover they who have this Authority may and ought to preach the Gospel, though without human Commission or Literature; as on the other Hand, they who want the Authority of this divine Gift, however learned, or authorized by the Commission of Men and Churches, are to be esteemed but as Deceivers, and not true Ministers of the Gospel. The Gospel to be preached freely. Mat. 10. 8.Also they who have received this holy and unspotted Gift, as they have freely received it, so are they freely to give it, without Hire or Bargaining, far less to use it as a Trade to get Money by: Yet God hath called any one from their Employment or Trades, by which they acquire their Livelihood, it may be lawful for such, according to the Liberty which they feel given them in the Lord, to receive such Temporals (to wit, what may be needful for them for Meat and Clothing) as are given them freely and cordially by those to whom they have communicated Spirituals.

§. I.

Hitherto I have treated of those Things which relate to the Christian Faith and Christians, as they stand each in his private and particular Condition, and how and by what Means every Man may be a Christian indeed, and so abide. Now I come in order to speak of those Things that relate to Christians, as they are stated in a joint Fellowship and Communion, and come under a visible and outward Society, which Society is called the Church of God, and in Scripture compared to a Body, and therefore named the Body of Christ. The Church of God is the spiritual Body of Christ.As then in the natural Body there be divers Members, all concurring to the common End of preserving and confirming the whole Body, so in this spiritual and mystical Body there are also divers Members, according to the different Measures of Grace and of the Spirit diversly administered unto each Member; and from this Diversity ariseth that Distinction of Persons in the visible Society of Christians, as of Apostles, Pastors, Evangelists, Ministers, &c. That which in this Proposition is proposed, is, What makes or constitutes any a Minister of the Church, what his Qualifications ought to be, and how he ought to behave himself? But because it may seem somewhat preposterous to speak of the distinct Offices of the Church until something be said of the Church in general, though nothing positively be said of it in the Proposition; yet, as here implied, I shall briefly premise something thereof, and then proceed to the particular Members of it.

§. II.

It is not in the least my Design to meddle with those tedious and many Controversies wherewith the Papists and Protestants do tear one another concerning this Thing; but only according to the Truth manifested to me, and revealed in me by the Testimony of the Spirit, according to that Proportion of Wisdom given me, briefly to hold forth as a necessary Introduction both to this Matter of the Ministry and of Worship, which followeth those Things which I, together with my Brethren, do believe concerning the Church.

I.The Etymology of the Word [Greek: ekklêsia: εκκλησια] (the Church) and Signification of it. The Church then, according to the grammatical Signification of the Word, as it is used in the holy Scripture, signifies an Assembly or Gathering of many into one Place; for the Substantive [Greek: ekklêsia: εκκλησια] comes from the Word [Greek: ekkaleô: εκκαλεω] I call out of, and originally from [Greek: kaleô: καλεω] I call; and indeed, as this is the grammatical Sense of the Word, so also it is the real and proper Signification of the Thing, the Church being no other Thing but the Society, Gathering, or Company of such as God hath called out of the World, and worldly Spirit, to walk in his Light and Life. The Church then so defined is to be considered as it comprehends all that are thus called and gathered truly by God, both such as are yet in this inferior World, and such as having already laid down the earthly Tabernacle, are passed into their heavenly Mansions, which together do make up the one Catholick Church, concerning which there is so much Controversy. No Salvation without the Church.Out of which Church we freely acknowledge there can be no Salvation; because under this Church and its Denomination are comprehended all, and as many, of whatsoever Nation, Kindred, Tongue, or People they be, though outwardly Strangers, and remote from those who profess Christ and Christianity in Words, and have the Benefit of the Scriptures, as become obedient to the holy Light and Testimony of God in their Hearts, so as to become sanctified by it, and cleansed from the Evils of their Ways. What the Church is.For this is the Universal or Catholick Spirit, by which many are called from all the four Corners of the Earth, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: By this the secret Life and Virtue of Jesus is conveyed into many that are afar off, even as by the Blood that runs into the Veins and Arteries of the natural Body the Life is conveyed from the Head and Heart unto the extreme Parts. Turks and Jews may become Members of this Church.There may be Members therefore of this Catholick Church both among Heathens, Turks, Jews, and all the several Sorts of Christians, Men and Women of Integrity and Simplicity of Heart, who though blinded in some Things in their Understanding, and perhaps burdened with the Superstitions and Formality of the several Sects in which they are ingrossed, yet being upright in their Hearts before the Lord, chiefly aiming and labouring to be delivered from Iniquity, and loving to follow Righteousness, are by the secret Touches of this holy Light in their Souls enlivened and quickened, thereby secretly united to God, and therethrough become true Members of this Catholick Church. Now the Church in this Respect hath been in Being in all Generations; for God never wanted some such Witnesses for him, though many Times slighted, and not much observed by this World; and therefore this Church, though still in Being, hath been oftentimes as it were invisible, in that it hath not come under the Observations of the Men of this World, being, as saith the Scripture, Jer. iii. 14. One of a City, and two of a Family. And yet though the Church thus considered may be as it were hid from wicked Men, as not then gathered into a visible Fellowship, yea, and not observed even by some that are Members of it, yet may there notwithstanding many belong to it; as when Elias complained he was left alone, 1 Kings xix. 18. God answered unto him, I have reserved to myself seven thousand Men, who have not bowed their Knees to the Image of Baal; whence the Apostle argues, Rom. xi. the Being of a Remnant in his Day.

§. III.

II.The Definition of the Church of God, as gathered into a visible Fellowship. Secondly, The Church is to be considered as it signifies a certain Number of Persons gathered by God’s Spirit, and by the Testimony of some of his Servants raised up for that End, unto the Belief of the true Principles and Doctrines of the Christian Faith, who through their Hearts being united by the same Love, and their Understandings informed in the same Truths, gather, meet, and assemble together to wait upon God, to worship him, and to bear a joint Testimony for the Truth against Error, suffering for the same, and so becoming through this Fellowship as one Family and Houshold in certain Respects, do each of them watch over, teach, instruct, and care for one another, according to their several Measures and Attainments: Such were the Churches of the primitive Times gathered by the Apostles; whereof we have divers mentioned in the holy Scriptures. And as to the Visibility of the Church in this Respect, there hath been a great Interruption since the Apostles Days, by Reason of the Apostasy, as will hereafter appear.

§. IV.

How to become a Member of that Church.To be a Member then of the Catholick Church, there is Need of the Inward Calling of God by his Light in the Heart, and a being leavened into the Nature and Spirit of it, so as to forsake Unrighteousness, and be turned to Righteousness, and in the Inwardness of the Mind to be cut out of the wild Olive Tree of our own first fallen Nature, and ingrafted into Christ by his Word and Spirit in the Heart. And this may be done in those who are Strangers to the History, (God not having pleased to make them Partakers thereof) as in the fifth and sixth Propositions hath already been proved.

The outward Profession of the Members of the true Church.To be a Member of a particular Church of Christ, as this inward Work is indispensibly necessary, so is also the outward Profession of, and Belief in, Jesus Christ, and those holy Truths delivered by his Spirit in the Scriptures; seeing the Testimony of the Spirit recorded in the Scriptures, doth answer the Testimony of the same Spirit in the Heart, even as Face answereth Face in a Glass. Hence it follows, that the inward Work of Holiness, and forsaking Iniquity, is necessary in every Respect to the being a Member in the Church of Christ; and that the outward Profession is necessary to be a Member of a particular gathered Church, but not to the being a Member of the Catholick Church; yet it is absolutely necessary, where God affords the Opportunity of knowing it: And the outward Testimony is to be believed, where it is presented and revealed; the Sum whereof hath upon other Occasions been already proved.

§. V.

The Members of the Antichristian Church in the Apostasy, their empty Profession.But contrary hereunto, the Devil, that worketh and hath wrought in the Mystery of Iniquity, hath taught his Followers to affirm, That no Man, however holy, is a Member of the Church of Christ without the outward Profession; and unless he be initiated thereinto by some outward Ceremonies. And again, That Men who have this outward Profession, though inwardly unholy, may be Members of the true Church of Christ, yea, and ought to be so esteemed. This is plainly to put Light for Darkness, and Darkness for Light; as if God had a greater Regard to Words than Actions, and were more pleased with vain Professions than with real Holiness: But these Things I have sufficiently refuted heretofore. Only from hence let it be observed, that upon this false and rotten Foundation Antichrist hath built his Babylonish Structure, and the Antichristian Church in the Apostasy hath hereby reared herself up to that Height and Grandeur she hath attained; so as to exalt herself above all that is called God, and sit in the Temple of God as God.

The Decay of the Church.For the particular Churches of Christ, gathered in the Apostles Days, soon after beginning to decay as to the inward Life, came to be overgrown with several Errors, and the Hearts of the Professors of Christianity to be leavened with the old Spirit and Conversation of the World. Yet it pleased God for some Centuries to preserve that Life in many, whom he emboldened with Zeal to stand and suffer for his Name through the ten Persecutions: But these being over, the Meekness, Gentleness, Love, Long-suffering, Goodness, and Temperance of Christianity began to be lost. When Men became Christians by Birth, and not by Conversion, Christianity came to be lost.For after that the Princes of the Earth came to take upon them that Profession, and that it ceased to be a Reproach to be a Christian, but rather became a Means to Preferment; Men became such by Birth and Education, and not by Conversion and Renovation of Spirit: Then there was none so vile, none so wicked, none so profane, who became not a Member of the Church. And the Teachers and Pastors thereof becoming the Companions of Princes, and so being enriched by their Benevolence, and getting vast Treasures and Estates, became puffed up, and as it were drunken with the vain Pomp and Glory of this World: And so marshalled themselves in manifold Orders and Degrees; not without innumerable Contests and Altercations who should have the [79]Precedency. So the Virtue, Life, Substance, and Kernel of Christian Religion came to be lost, and nothing remained but a Shadow and Image; which dead Image, or Carcase of Christianity (to make it take the better with the superstitious Multitude of Heathens that were engrossed in it, not by any inward Conversion of their Hearts, or by becoming less wicked or superstitious, but by a little Change in the Object of their Superstition) not having the inward Ornament and Life of the Spirit, became decked with many outward and visible Orders, and beautified with the Gold, Silver, precious Stones, and the other splendid Ornaments of this perishing World: So that this was no more to be accounted the Christian Religion, and Christian Church, notwithstanding the outward Profession, than the dead Body of a Man is to be accounted a living Man; which, however cunningly embalmed, and adorned with ever so much Gold or Silver, or most precious Stones, or sweet Ointments, is but a dead Body still, without Sense, Life, or Motion. In the Church of Rome are no less Superstitions and Ceremonies introduced, than were either among Jews or Heathens.For that Apostate Church of Rome has introduced no fewer Ceremonies and Superstitions into the Christian Profession, than were either among Jews or Heathens; and that there is and hath been as much, yea, and more Pride, Covetousness, Uncleanness, Luxury, Fornication, Profaneness and Atheism among her Teachers and chief Bishops, than ever was among any Sort of People, none need doubt, that have read their own Authors, to wit, Platina and others.

[79] As was between the Bishop of Rome and the Bishop of Constantinople.

Whether, and what Difference there is betwixt the Protestants and Papists in Superstitions.Now, though Protestants have reformed from her in some of the most gross Points and absurd Doctrines relating to the Church and Ministry, yet (which is to be regretted) they have only lopt off the Branches, but retain and plead earnestly for the same Root, from which these Abuses have sprung. So that even among them, though all that Mass of Superstition, Ceremonies, and Orders be not again established, yet the same Pride, Covetousness and Sensuality is found to have overspread and leavened their Churches and Ministry, and the Life, Power and Virtue of true Religion is lost among them; and the very same Death, Barrenness, Dryness and Emptiness, is found in their Ministry. So that in Effect they differ from Papists but in Form and some Ceremonies; being with them apostatised from the Life and Power the true Primitive Church and her Pastors were in: So that of both it may be said truly (without Breach of Charity) that having only a Form of Godliness (and many of them not so much as that) they are Deniers of, yea, Enemies to, the Power of it. And this proceeds not simply from their not walking answerably to their own Principles, and so degenerating that Way, which also is true; but, which is worse, their laying down to themselves, and adhering to certain Principles, which naturally, as a cursed Root, bring forth these bitter Fruits: These therefore shall afterwards be examined and refuted, as the contrary Positions of Truth in the Proposition are explained and proved.

For as to the Nature and Constitution of a Church[80] (abstract from their Disputes concerning its constant Visibility, Infallibility, and the Primacy of the Church of Rome) the Protestants, as in Practice, so in Principles, differ not from Papists; The Protestant Church how they become Members thereof.for they engross within the Compass of their Church whole Nations, making their Infants Members of it, by sprinkling a little Water upon them; so that there is none so wicked or profane who is not a Fellow-member; no Evidence of Holiness being required to constitute a Member of the Church. Nay, look through the Protestant Nations, and there will no Difference appear in the Lives of the Generality of the One, more than of the Other; he, who ruleth in the Children of Disobedience, reigning in both: Christianity chiefly consists in the Renewing of the Heart.So that the Reformation, through this Defect, is only in holding some less gross Errors in the Notion, but not in having the Heart reformed and renewed, in which mainly the Life of Christianity consisteth.

[80] i. e. National.

§. VI.

A Popish, corrupt Ministry all Evils follow.But the Popish Errors concerning the Ministry, which they have retained, are most of all to be regretted, by which chiefly the Life and Power of Christianity is barred out among them, and they kept in Death, Barrenness and Dryness: There being nothing more hurtful than an Error in this Respect. Like People, like Priest. Hosea 4. 9.For where a false and corrupt Ministry entereth, all Manner of other Evils follow upon it, according to that Scripture Adage, Like People, like Priest: For by their Influence, instead of ministering Life and Righteousness, they minister Death and Iniquity. The whole Backslidings of the Jewish Congregation of old are hereto ascribed: The Leaders of my People have caused them to err. The whole Writings of the Prophets are full of such Complaints; and for this Cause, under the New Testament, we are so often warned and guarded to beware of false Prophets, and false Teachers, &c. What may be thought then, where all, as to this, is out of Order; where both the Foundation, Call, Qualifications, Maintenance, and whole Discipline are different from and opposite to the Ministry of the Primitive Church; yea, and necessarily tend to the Shutting out of a Spiritual Ministry, and the bringing in and establishing of a Carnal? This shall appear by Parts.

§. VII.

Quest. 1.That then which comes first to be questioned in this Matter, is concerning the Call of a Minister; to wit, What maketh, or how cometh a Man to be, a Minister, Pastor, or Teacher in the Church of Christ?

Answ.The Call of a Minister and wherein it consisteth. We answer; By the inward Power and Virtue of the Spirit of God. For, as saith our Proposition, Having received the true Knowledge of Things spiritual by the Spirit of God, without which they cannot be known, and being by the same in Measure purified and sanctified, he comes thereby to be called and moved to minister to others; being able to speak, from a living Experience, of what he himself is a Witness; and therefore knowing the Terror of the Lord, he is fit to persuade Men, &c. 2 Cor. v. 11. and his Words and Ministry, proceeding from the inward Power and Virtue, reach to the Heart of his Hearers, and make them approve of him, and be subject unto him. Object.Our Adversaries are forced to confess, that this were indeed desirable and best; but this they will not have to be absolutely necessary. I shall first prove the Necessity of it, and then shew how much they err in that which they make more necessary than this divine and heavenly Call.

Arg.1. The Necessity of an inward Call to make a Man a Christian. First, That which is necessary to make a Man a Christian, so as without it he cannot be truly one, must be much more necessary to make a Man a Minister of Christianity; seeing the one is a Degree above the other, and has it included in it: Nothing less than he that supposeth a Master, supposeth him first to have attained the Knowledge and Capacity of a Scholar. They that are not Christians, cannot be Teachers and Ministers among Christians.

But this inward Call, Power and Virtue of the Spirit of God, is necessary to make a Man a Christian; as we have abundantly proved before in the second Proposition, according to these Scriptures, He that hath not the Spirit of Christ, is none of his. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, are the Sons of God:

Therefore this Call, Moving and Drawing of the Spirit, must be much more necessary to make a Man a Minister.

2. The Ministry of the Spirit requires the Operation and Testimony of the Spirit.Secondly, All Ministers of the New Testament ought to be Ministers of the Spirit, and not of the Letter, according to that of 2 Cor. iii. 6. and as the old Latin hath it, Not by the Letter, but by the Spirit: But how can a Man be a Minister of the Spirit, who is not inwardly called by it, and who looks not upon the Operation and Testimony of the Spirit as essential to his Call? As he could not be a Minister of the Letter who had thence no Ground for his Call, yea, who was altogether a Stranger to and unacquainted with it, so neither can he be a Minister of the Spirit who is a Stranger to it, and unacquainted with the Motions thereof, and knows it not to draw, act, and move him, and go before him in the Work of the Ministry. I would willingly know, how those that take upon them to be Ministers (as they suppose) of the Gospel, merely from an outward Vocation, without so much as being any ways sensible of the Work of the Spirit, or any inward Call therefrom, can either satisfy themselves or others that they are Ministers of the Spirit, or wherein they differ from the Ministers of the Letter? For,

3. Under the Law the People needed not to doubt, who should be Priests and Ministers.Thirdly, If this inward Call, or Testimony of the Spirit, were not essential and necessary to a Minister, then the Ministry of the New Testament would not only be no ways preferable to, but in divers Respects far worse than that of the Law. For under the Law there was a certain Tribe allotted for the Ministry, and of that Tribe certain Families set apart for the Priesthood and other Offices, by the immediate Command of God to Moses; so that the People needed not be in any Doubt who should be Priests and Ministers of the holy Things: Yea, and besides this, God called forth, by the immediate Testimony of his Spirit, several at divers Times to teach, instruct, and reprove his People, as Samuel, Nathan, Elias, Elisha, Jeremiah, Amos, and many more of the Prophets: But now under the New Covenant, where the Ministry ought to be more spiritual, the Way more certain, and the Access more easy unto the Lord, our Adversaries, by denying the Necessity of this inward and spiritual Vocation, make it quite otherways. For there being now no certain Family or Tribe to which the Ministry is limited, we are left in Uncertainty, to choose and have Pastors at a Venture, without any certain Assent of the Will of God; having neither an outward Rule nor Certainty in this Affair to walk by: For that the Scripture cannot give any certain Rule in this Matter, hath in the third Proposition concerning it been already shewn.

4. Christ the Door.Fourthly, Christ proclaims them all [81]Thieves and Robbers, that enter not by him the Door into the Sheepfold, but climb up some other Way; whom the Sheep ought not to hear: But such as come in without the Call, Movings, and Leadings of the Spirit of Christ, wherewith he leads his Children into all Truth, come in certainly not by Christ, who is the Door, but some other Way, and therefore are not true Shepherds.

[81] John 10. 1.

§. VIII.

Succession pleaded by the false Church from Christ and his Apostles.To all this they object the Succession of the Church; alleging, That since Christ gave a Call to his Apostles and Disciples, they have conveyed that Call to their Successors, having Power to ordain Pastors and Teachers; by which Power the Authority of ordaining and making Ministers and Pastors is successively conveyed to us; so that such, who are ordained and called by the Pastors of the Church, are therefore true and lawful Ministers; and others, who are not so called, are to be accounted but Intruders. Hereunto also some Protestants add a Necessity, though they make it not a Thing essential; That besides this Calling of the Church, every one, being called, ought to have the inward Call of the Spirit, inclining him so chosen to his Work: But this they say is subjective and not objective; of which before.

Answ.As to what is subjoined of the inward Call of the Spirit, in that they make it not essential to a true Call, but a Supererogation as it were, it sheweth how little they set by it: Since those they admit to the Ministry are not so much as questioned in their Trials, whether they have this or not. Yet, in that it hath been often mentioned, especially by the Primitive Protestants in their Treatises on this Subject, it sheweth how much they were secretly convinced in their Minds, that this inward Call of the Spirit was most excellent, and preferable to any other; The Call of the Spirit preferred to any other by Primitive Protestants.and therefore in the most noble and heroic Acts of the Reformation, they laid Claim unto it; so that many of the Primitive Protestants did not scruple both to despise and disown this outward[82] Call, when urged by the Papists against them. Modern Protestants denying the Call of the Spirit.But now Protestants, having gone from the Testimony of the Spirit, plead for the same Succession; and being pressed (by those whom God now raiseth up by his Spirit to reform those Abuses that are among them) with the Example of their Forefathers Practice against Rome, they are not at all ashamed utterly to deny that their Fathers were called to their Work by the inward and immediate Vocation of the Spirit; clothing themselves with that Call, which they say their Forefathers had, as Pastors of the Roman Church. For thus (not to go further) affirmeth Nicolaus Arnoldus,[83] in a Pamphlet written against the same Propositions, called, A Theologick Exercitation, Sect. 40. averring, That they pretended not to an immediate Act of the Holy Spirit; but reformed by the Virtue of the ordinary Vocation which they had in the Church, as it then was, to wit, that of Rome, &c.

[82] Succession.

[83] Who gives himself out Doctor and Professor of Sacred Theology at Franequer.

§. IX.

Absurdities Protestants fall into, by deriving their Ministry through the Church of Rome.Many Absurdities do Protestants fall into, by deriving their Ministry thus through the Church of Rome. As, First, They must acknowledge her to be a true Church of Christ, though only erroneous in some Things; which contradicts their Forefathers so frequently, and yet truly, calling her Antichrist. Secondly, They must needs acknowledge, that the Priests and Bishops of the Romish Church are true Ministers and Pastors of the Church of Christ, as to the essential Part; else they could not be fit Subjects for that Power and Authority to have resided in; neither could they have been Vessels capable to receive that Power, and again transmit it to their Successors. Thirdly, It would follow from this, that the Priests and Bishops of the Romish Church are yet really true Pastors and Teachers: For if Protestant Ministers have no Authority but what they received from them, and since the Church of Rome is the same she was at that Time of the Reformation in Doctrine and Manners, and she has the same Power now she had then, and if the Power lie in the Succession, then these Priests of the Romish Church now, which derive their Ordination from those Bishops that ordained the first Reformers, have the same Authority which the Successors of the Reformed have, and consequently are no less Ministers of the Church than they are. But how will this agree with that Opinion which the Primitive Protestants had of the Romish Priests and Clergy, to whom Luther did not only deny any Power or Authority, but contrary-wise affirmed, That it was wickedly done of them, to assume to themselves only this Authority to teach, and be Priests and Ministers, &c. Luther affirmed, that a Woman might be a Preacher.For he himself affirmed, That every good Christian (not only Men, but even Women also) is a Preacher.

§. X.

The pretended Succession of Papists and Protestants explained.But against this vain Succession, as asserted either by the Papists or Protestants as a necessary Thing to the Call of a Minister, I answer; That such as plead for it, as a sufficient or necessary Thing to the Call of a Minister, do thereby sufficiently declare their Ignorance of the Nature of Christianity, and how much they are Strangers to the Life and Power of a Christian Ministry, which is not entailed to Succession, as an outward Inheritance; and herein, as hath been often before observed, they not only make the Gospel not better than the Law, but even far short of it. For Jesus Christ, as he regardeth not any distinct particular Family or Nation in the gathering of his Children; but only such as are joined to and leavened with his own pure and righteous Seed, so neither regards he a bare outward Succession, where his pure, immaculate, and righteous Life is wanting; for that were all one. He took not the Nations into the New Covenant, that he might suffer them to fall into the old Errors of the Jews, or to approve them in their Errors, but that he might gather unto himself a pure People out of the Earth. Now this was the great Error of the Jews, to think they were the Church and People of God, because they could derive their outward Succession from Abraham; The Jews Error of Abraham’s outward Succession.whereby they reckoned themselves the Children of God, as being the Offspring of Abraham, who was the Father of the Faithful. But how severely doth the Scripture rebuke this vain and frivolous Pretence? Telling them, That God is able of the Stones to raise Children unto Abraham; and that not the outward Seed, but those that were found in the Faith of Abraham, are the true Children of faithful Abraham. Far less then can this Pretence hold among Christians, seeing Christ rejects all outward Affinity of that Kind: [84]These, saith he, are my Mother, Brethren and Sisters, who do the Will of my Father which is in Heaven: And again; He looked round about him, and said, Who shall do the Will of God, these, saith he, are my Brethren. So then, such as do not the Commands of Christ, are not found clothed with his Righteousness, are not his Disciples; and that which a Man hath not, he cannot give to another: And it is clear, that no Man nor Church, though truly called of God, and as such having the Authority of a Church and Minister, can any longer retain that Authority, than they retain the Power, Life, and Righteousness of Christianity; for the Form is entailed to the Power and Substance, and not the Substance to the Form. The Form of Godliness is entailed to the Power and Substance, and not the Substance to the Form.So that when a Man ceaseth inwardly in his Heart to be a Christian (where his Christianity must lie) by turning to Satan, and becoming a Reprobate, he is no more a Christian, though he retain the Name and Form, than a dead Man is a Man, though he hath the Image and Representation of one, or than the Picture or Statue of a Man is a Man: And though a dead Man may serve to a Painter to retain some imperfect Representation of the Man, that once was alive, and so one Picture may serve to make another by, yet none of those can serve to make a true living Man again, neither can they convey the Life and Spirit of the Man; it must be God, that made the Man at first, that alone can revive him. Succession interrupted.As Death then makes such Interruption of an outward natural Succession, that no Art nor outward Form can uphold, and as a dead Man, after he is dead, can have no Issue, neither can dead Images of Men make living Men: So that it is the Living that are only capable to succeed one another; and such as die, so soon as they die cease to succeed, or to transmit Succession. So it is in spiritual Things; it is the Life of Christianity, taking Place in the Heart, that makes a Christian; The Living Members make the Church: Life lost, the Church is ceased.and so it is a Number of such, being alive, joined together in the Life of Christianity, that make a Church of Christ; and it is all those that are thus alive and quickened, considered together, that make the Catholick Church of Christ: Therefore when this Life ceaseth in one, then that one ceaseth to be a Christian; and all Power, Virtue, and Authority, which he had as a Christian, ceaseth with it; so that if he hath been a Minister or Teacher, he ceaseth to be so any more: And though he retain the Form, and hold to the Authority in Words, yet that signifies no more, nor is it of any more real Virtue and Authority, than the mere Image of a dead Man. Judas fell from his Ministry by Transgression.And as this is most agreeable to Reason, so it is to the Scripture’s Testimony; for it is said of Judas, Acts i. 25. That Judas fell from his Ministry and Apostleship by Transgression; so his Transgression caused him to cease to be an Apostle any more: Whereas, had the Apostleship been entailed to his Person, so that Transgression could not cause him to lose it, until he had been formally degraded by the Church (which Judas never was so long as he lived) Judas had been as really an Apostle, after he betrayed Christ, as before. And as it is of one, so of many, yea, of a whole Church: For seeing nothing makes a Man truly a Christian, but the Life of Christianity inwardly ruling in his Heart; so nothing makes a Church, but the gathering of several true Christians into one Body. Now where all these Members lose this Life, there the Church ceaseth to be, though they still uphold the Form, and retain the Name: For when that which made them a Church, and for which they were a Church, ceaseth, then they cease also to be a Church: And therefore the Spirit, speaking to the Church of Laodicea, because of her Lukewarmness, Rev. iii. 16. threateneth to spue her out of his Mouth. The Lukewarmness of the Church of Laodicea.Now, suppose the Church of Laodicea had continued in that Lukewarmness, and had come under that Condemnation and Judgment, though she had retained the Name and Form of a Church, and had had her Pastors and Ministers, as no Doubt she had at that Time, yet surely she had been no true Church of Christ, nor had the Authority of her Pastors and Teachers been to be regarded, because of an outward Succession, though perhaps some of them had it immediately from the Apostles. From all which I infer, That since the Authority of the Christian Church and her Pastors is always united, and never separated from the inward Power, Virtue, and righteous Life of Christianity; where this ceaseth, that ceaseth also. But our Adversaries acknowledge, That many, if not most of those, by and through whom they derive this Authority, were altogether destitute of this Life and Virtue of Christianity: Therefore they could neither receive, have, nor transmit any Christian Authority.

[84] Mat. 12. 48. &c. Mark 3. 33. &c.

Object.But if it be objected, That though the Generality of the Bishops and Priests of the Church of Rome, during the Apostasy, were such wicked Men; yet Protestants affirm, and thou thyself seemest to acknowledge, that there were some good Men among them, whom the Lord regarded, and who were true Members of the Catholick Church of Christ; might not they then have transmitted this Authority?

Answ.The Protestants plead for a Succession inherent. I answer, This saith nothing; in respect Protestants do not at all lay Claim to their Ministry, as transmitted to them by a direct Line of good Men; which they can never shew, nor yet pretend to: But generally place this Succession as inherent in the whole Pastors of the Apostate Church. Neither do they plead their Call to be good and valid, because they can derive it through a Line of good Men, separate and observably distinguishable from the rest of the Bishops and Clergy of the Romish Church; but they derive it as an Authority residing in the Whole: For they think it Heresy, to judge that the Quality or Condition of the Administrator doth any Ways invalidate or prejudice his Work.

This vain and pretended Succession not only militates against, and fights with the very manifest Purpose and Intent of Christ in the gathering and calling of his Church, but makes him (so to speak) more blind and less prudent than natural Men are in conveying and establishing their outward Inheritances. An Estate void of Heirship devolves to the Prince, none claims it, but whom he sees meet to give it: So the Heirship of Life is enjoyed from Christ, the true Heir.For where an Estate is entailed to a certain Name and Family, when that Family weareth out, and there is no lawful Successor found of it, that can make a just Title appear, as being really of Blood and Affinity to the Family; it is not lawful for any one of another Race or Blood, because he assumes the Name or Arms of that Family, to possess the Estate, and claim the Superiorities and Privileges of the Family: But by the Law of Nations the Inheritance devolves into the Prince, as being Ultimus Hæres; and so he giveth it again immediately to whom he sees meet, and makes them bear the Name and Arms of the Family, who then are entitled to the Privileges and Revenues thereof. So in like Manner, the true Name and Title of a Christian, by which he hath Right to the heavenly Inheritance, and is a Member of Jesus Christ, is inward Righteousness and Holiness, and the Mind redeemed from the Vanities, Lusts, and Iniquities of this World; and a Gathering or Company, made up of such Members, makes a Church. Where this is lost, the Title is lost; and so the true Seed, to which the Promise is, and to which the Inheritance is due, becomes extinguished in them, and they become dead as to it: And so it retires, and devolves itself again into Christ, who is the righteous Heir of Life; and he gives the Title and true Right again immediately to whom it pleaseth him, even to as many as being turned to his pure Light in their Consciences, come again to walk in his righteous and innocent Life, and so become true Members of his Body, which is the Church. So the Authority, Power and Heirship are not annexed to Persons, as they bear the mere Names, or retain a Form, holding the bare Shell or Shadow of Christianity; but the Promise is to Christ, and to the Seed, in whom the Authority is inherent, and in as many as are one with him, and united unto him by Purity and Holiness, and by the inward Renovation and Regeneration of their Minds.

Moreover, this pretended Succession is contrary to Scripture Definitions, and the Nature of the Church of Christ, and of the true Members. I. The House of God is no polluted Nest; no Atheist nor Pretender can rest there.For, First, The Church is the House of God, the Pillar and Ground of Truth, 1 Tim. iii. 15. But according to this Doctrine, the House of God is a polluted Nest of all Sort of Wickedness and Abominations, made up of the most ugly, defiled, and perverse Stones that are in the Earth; where the Devil rules in all Manner of Unrighteousness. For so our Adversaries confess, and History informs, the Church of Rome to have been, as some of their Historians acknowledge; and if that be truly the House of God, what may we call the House of Satan? Or may we call it therefore the House of God, notwithstanding all this Impiety, because they had a bare Form, and that vitiated many Ways also; and because they pretended to the Name of Christianity, though they were Antichristian, Devilish, and Atheistical in their whole Practice and Spirit, and also in many of their Principles? Would not this infer yet a greater Absurdity, as if they had been something to be accounted of, because of their Hypocrisy and Deceit, and false Pretences? Whereas the Scripture looks upon that as an Aggravation of Guilt, and calls it Blasphemy, Rev. ii. 9. Of two wicked Men, he is most to be abhorred, who covereth his Wickedness with a vain Pretence of God and Righteousness: Even so these abominable Beasts, and fearful Monsters, who looked upon themselves to be Bishops in the Apostate Church, were never a Whit the better, that they falsely pretended to be the Successors of the holy Apostles; unless to lie be commendable, and that Hypocrisy be the Way to Heaven. Yea, were not this to fall into that Evil condemned among the Jews, Jer. vii. 4. Trust ye not in lying Words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these; throughly amend your Ways, &c. as if such outward Names and Things were the Thing the Lord regarded, and not inward Holiness? Or can that then be the Pillar and Ground of Truth, which is the very Sink and Pit of Wickedness, from which so much Error, Superstition, Idolatry, and all Abomination spring? Can there be any Thing more contrary both to Scripture and Reason?

II. Christ is the Head, his Body undefiled. Secondly, The Church is defined to be the Kingdom of the dear Son of God, into which the Saints are translated, being delivered from the Power of Darkness. It is called the Body of Christ, which from him by Joints and Bands having Nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the Increase of God, Col. ii. 19. But can such Members, such a Gathering as we have demonstrated that Church and Members to be, among whom they allege their pretended Authority to have been preserved, and through which they derive their Call; can such, I say, be the Body of Christ, or Members thereof? Or is Christ the Head of such a corrupt, dead, dark, abominable stinking Carcase? If so, then might we not as well affirm against the Apostle, 2 Cor. vi. 14. What Fellowship hath Christ with Belial?That Righteousness hath Fellowship with Unrighteousness, that Light hath Communion with Darkness, that Christ hath Concord with Belial, that a Believer hath Part with an Infidel, and that the Temple of God hath Agreement with Idols? Moreover no Man is called the Temple of God, nor of the Holy Ghost, but as his Vessel is purified, and so be fitted and prepared for God to dwell in; and many thus fitted by Christ become his Body, in and among whom he dwells and walks, according as it is written, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my People. It is therefore that we may become the Temple of Christ and People of God, that the Apostle in the following Verse exhorts, saying out of the Prophet, [85]Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean Thing, and I will receive you; and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. But to what Purpose is all this Exhortation? And why should we separate from the Unclean, if a mere outward Profession and Name be enough to make the true Church; and if the Unclean and Polluted were both the Church and lawful Successors of the Apostles, inheriting their Authority, and transmitting it to others? Yea, how can the Church be the Kingdom of the Son of God, as contra-distinguished from the Kingdom and Power of Darkness? And what Need, yea, what Possibility of being translated out of the one into the other, if those that make up the Kingdom and Power of Darkness be real Members of the true Church of Christ; and not simply Members only, but the very Pastors and Teachers of it? But how do they increase in the Increase of God, and receive spiritual Nourishment from Christ the Head, that are Enemies of him in their Hearts by wicked Works, and openly go into Perdition? Priests frivolous Distinction of Enemies to God by Practice, and Members of his Church by Office.Verily as no metaphysical and nice Distinctions, that though they were practically as to their own private States Enemies to God and Christ, and so Servants of Satan; yet they were, by Virtue of their Office, Members and Ministers of the Church, and so able to transmit the Succession; I say, as such invented and frivolous Distinctions will not please the Lord God, neither will he be deluded by such, nor make up the glorious Body of his Church with such mere outside hypocritical Shews, nor be beholden to such painted Sepulchres to be Members of his Body, which is found, pure, and undefiled, and therefore he needs not such false and corrupt Members to make up the Defects of it; so neither will such Distinctions satisfy truly tender and Christian Consciences; especially considering the Apostle is so far from desiring us to regard this, that we are expresly commanded to turn away from such as have a Form of Godliness, but deny the Power of it. For we may well object against these, as the poor Man did against the proud Prelate, that went about to cover his vain and unchristian-like Sumptuousness, by distinguishing that it was not as Bishop but as Prince he had all that Splendor. The Answer of a poor Rustick to a proud Prelate.To which the poor Rustic wisely is said to have answered, When the Prince goeth to Hell, what shall become of the Prelate? And indeed this were to suppose the Body of Christ to be defective, and that to fill up these defective Places, he puts counterfeit and dead Stuff instead of real living Members; like such as lose their Eyes, Arms, or Legs, who make counterfeit ones of Wood or Glass instead of them. But we cannot think so of Christ, neither can we believe, for the Reasons above adduced, that either we are to account, or that Christ doth account, any Man or Men a Whit the more Members of his Body, because though they be really wicked, they hypocritically and deceitfully clothe themselves with his Name, and pretend to it; for this is contrary to his own Doctrine, where he saith expresly, John xv. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, &c. That he is the Vine, and his Disciples are the Branches; that except they abide in him, they cannot bear Fruit; and if they be unfruitful, they shall be cast forth as a Branch, and wither. A withered Branch can draw no Nourishment, so has no Life nor Virtue.Now I suppose these cut and withered Branches are no more true Branches nor Members of the Vine; they can no more draw Sap nor Nourishment from it, after that they are cut off, and so have no more Virtue, Sap, nor Life: What have they then to boast or glory of any Authority, seeing they want that Life, Virtue, and Nourishment from which all Authority comes? So such Members of Christ as are become dead to him through Unrighteousness, and so derive no more Virtue nor Life from him, are cut off by their Sins, and wither, and have no longer any true or real Authority, and their boasting of any is but an Aggravation of their Iniquity by Hypocrisy and Deceit. But further, would not this make Christ’s Body a mere Shadow and Phantasm? Yea, would it not make him the Head of a lifeless, rotten, stinking Carcase, having only some little outward false Shew, while inwardly full of Rottenness and Dirt? A living Head upon a lifeless Body, what a Monster would that be?And what a Monster would these Men make of Christ’s Body, by assigning it a real, pure, living, quick Head, full of Virtue and Life, and yet tied to such a dead lifeless Body as we have already described these Members to be, which they allege to have been the Church of Christ? Again, the Members of the Church of Christ are specified by this Definition, to wit, as being the sanctified in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. i. 2. But this Notion of Succession supposeth not only some unsanctified Members to be of the Church of Christ, but even the Whole to consist of unsanctified Members; yea, that such as were professed Necromancers and open Servants of Satan were the true Successors of the Apostles, and in whom the Apostolick Authority resided, these being the Vessels through whom this Succession is transmitted; though many of them, as all Protestants and also some Papists confess, attained these Offices in the (so called) Church not only by such Means as Simon Magus sought it, but by much worse, even by Witchcraft, Traditions, Money, Treachery, and Murder, which Platina himself confesseth[86] of divers Bishops of Rome.