CHAPTER III.
Of the polity, rule, or discipline of the church in general.
I. The things last treated of concern the essence of the church, or the essential constituent parts of it, according unto the appoint-
OF THE POLITY, ETC., OF THE CHURCH IN GENERAL. SI
ment of Christ. It remains, in the next place, that we should treat of it as it is organical, or a body corporate, a s^\vii\xdl\y political society, for the exercise of the powers wherewith it is intrusted by Christ, and the due performance of the duties which he requires. Now, whereas it is brought into this estate by the setting, fixing, or plac- ing officers in it, method would require that we should first treat of them, their nature, names, power, and the ways of coming unto their offices; but whereas all things concerning them are founded in the grant of power unto the church itself, and the institution of polity and rule therein by Jesus Christ, I shall first treat somewhat thereof in general
That which we intend, on various considerations and in divers re- spects, is called the power or authority, the polity, the rule, the government, and the discipline of the church. T1]xq formal nature of it is its authority or power; its polity is skill and wisdom to act that power unto its proper ends; its rule is the actual exercise of that power, according unto that skill and wisdom; its government is the exercise and application of that authority, according unto that skill, towards those that are its proper objects; and it is called its discipline principally with respect unto its end. Yet is it not mate- rial whether these things are thus accurately distinguished; the same thing is intended in them all, which I shall call the rule of the church.
II. The rule of the church is, in general, the exercise of the power or authority of Jesus Christ, given unto it, according unto the laws and directions prescribed by himself, unto its edification. This power in actu primo, or fundamentally, is in the church itself; in actu secundo, or its exercise, in them that are especially called there- unto. Whether that which is now called the rule of the church by some, being a plain secular dominion, have any affinity hereunto, is justly doubted. That it is in itself the acting of the authority of Christ, wherein the power of men is ministerial only, is evident: for, — 1. All this authority in and over the church is vested in him alone; 2. It is over the souls and consciences of men only, which no authority can reach but his, and that as it is his ; whereof we shall treat more afterward.
The sole end of the ministerial exercise of this power and rule, by virtue thereof, unto the church, is the edification of itself, Rom. xv. 1-3; 2 Cor. x. 8, xiii. 10; Eph. iv. 14, 15.
III. This is the especial nature and especial end of all power oTanted by Jesus Christ unto the church, namely, a ministry unto edification, in opposition unto all the ends whei-eunto it hath been abused ; for it hath been so unto the usurpation of a dominion over the persons and consciences of the disciples of Christ, accompanied with secular grandeur, wealth, and power. The Lord Christ never
32 TRUE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH.
made a grant of any authority for any such ends, yea, they are ex- pressly forbidden by him, Luke xxii. 25, 26 ; Matt. xx. 25-28, " Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you : but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant : even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." All the pleas of the Romanists are utterly insufficient to secure their papal domination from this sword of the mouth of the Lord Jesus; for whereas their utmost pretence and defence consists in this, that it is not dominion and power absolutely that is forbidden, but the unlawful, tyrannical, 023pressive exercise of power, such as was in use among the princes of the Gentiles, never was there any dominion in the world, no, not among the Gentiles, more cruel, op- pressive, and bloody than that of the pope's hath been. But it is evident that our Lord Jesus Christ doth not in the least reflect on the rule or government of the kings and princes of the Gentiles, which was good and gracious ; yea, he speaks of them in an especial manner whom their subjects, for their moderate and equal rule, with their usefulness unto their countries, called tlipyirai, or " benefac- tors." Their rule, as unto the kind and administration of it in the kingdoms of the world, he approves of. And such a power or pre- eminence it was, — namely, good and just in itself, not tyrannical and oppressive, — that the two disciples desired in his kingdom; which gave occasion unto this declaration of the nature of his kingdom and the rule thereof For in this power or dominion two things may be considered: — 1. The exercise of it over the persons, goods, and lives of men, by courts, coercive jurisdictions, processes of law, and external force in punishments; 2. The state, grandeur, pre-emi- nence, wealth, exaltation above others, which are necessary unto the maintenance of their authority and power. Both these, in the least participation of them, in the least degree whatever, are forbidden by our Saviour to be admitted in his kingdom, or to have any place therein, on what pretence soever. He will have nothing of lord- ship, domination, pre-eminence in lordly power, in his church. No courts, no coercive jurisdictions, no exercise of any human authority, doth he allow therein; for by these means do the princes of the Gentiles, those that are the benefactors of their countries, rule amonsf them. And this is most evident from what, in opposition hereunto, he prescribes unto his own disciples, the greatest, the best in office, grace, and gifts, namely, a ministry only to be discharged in the way of service. How well this great command and direction of our Lord Jesus Christ hath been, and is, complied withal by those who have taken on them to be rulers in the church is sufficiently known.