CHAPTER IV.
The officers of the church.
The church is considered either as it is essential, with respect unto its nature and being, or as it is organical, with respect unto its order.'
The constituent causes and parts of the church, as unto its essence and being, are its institution, matter, and form, whereof we have treated.
Its order as it is organical is founded in that communication of power unto it from Christ which was insisted on in the foregoing chapter.
The organizing of a church is the placing or implanting in it those officers which the Lord Jesus Christ hath appointed to act and ex- ercise his authority therein. For the rule and government of the church are the exertion of the authority of Christ in the hands of them unto whom it is committed, that is, the officers of it ; not that all officers are called to rule, but that none are called to rule that are not so.
The officers of the church in general are of two sorts, " bishops and deacons," Phil. i. 1 ; and their work is distributed into " pro- phecy and ministry," Rom. xii. 6, 7.
The bishops or elders are of two sorts: — 1. Such as have autho- rity to teach and administer the sacraments, which is commonly called the j^ower of order; and also of riding, which is called a power of jurisdiction, corruptly: and, 2. Some have only poiver for rule; of which sort there are some in all the churches in the world.
Those of the first sort are distinguished into pastors and teachers.
The distinction between the elders themselves is not like that be- tween elders and deacons, which is as unto the whole kind or nature of the office, but only with respect unto work and order, whereof we shall treat distinctly.
The first sort of officers in the church are bisho})s or elders, con- cerning whom there have been mighty contentions in the late ages of the church. The principles we have hitherto proceeded on discharge us from any especial interest or concernment in this controversy; for if there be no church of divine or apostolical constitution, none in
THE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 43
being in the second or third century, but only a particular congrega- tion, the foundation of that contest, which is aljout pre-eminence and power iu the same person over many churches, falls to the ground.
Indeed, strife about power, superiority, and jurisdiction over one another, amongst those who pretend to be ministers of the gospel, is full of scandal. It started early iu the church, was extinguished by the Lord Christ in his apostles, rebuked by the apostles in all others, Matt, xviii. 1-4, xxiii. 8-11 ; Luke xxii, 24-26; 1 Pet. v. 1-5 ; 2 John 9, 10; yet, through the pride, ambition, and avarice of men, it hath grown to be the stain and shame of the church in most ages: for neither the sense of the authority of Chri.st forbidding such ambitious designings, nor the proposal of his own example in this particular case, nor the experience of their own insufficiency for the least part of the work of the gospel ministry, have been able to restrain the minds of men from coveting after and contending for a prerogative in church-power over others; for though this ambition, and all the fruits or rewards of it, are laid under a severe interdict by our Lord Jesus Christ, yet Vv'hen men (like Achan) saw "the wedge of gold and the goodly Babylonish garment" that they thought to be in power, domination, and wealth, they coveted them and took them, to the great disturbance of the church of God.
If men would but a little seriously consider what there is in that care of souls, even of all them over whom they pretend church power, rule, or jurisdiction, and what it is to give an account concerning them before the judgnient-seat of Christ, it may be it would abate of their earnestness in contendino; for the enlargement of their cures.
The claim of episcopacy, as consisting in a rank of persons distinct from the office of presbyters, is managed with great variety. It is not agreed whether they are distinct in order above them, or only as unto a certain desrree amonsf them of the same order. It is not determined what doth constitute that pretended distinct order, nor wherein that degree of pre-eminence in the same order doth con- sist, nor what basis it stands upon. It is not agreed whether this order of bishops hath any church-power appropriated unto it, so as to be acted singly by themselves alone, without the concurrence of the presbyters, or how far that concurrence is necessary in all acts of church order or power. There are no bounds or limits of the dioceses Avhich they claim the rule in and over, as churches whereunto they are peculiarly related, derived either from divine institution or tradition, or general rules of reason respecting both or either of them, or from the consideration of gifts and abihtics, or any thing else wherein church-order or edification is concerned. Those who plead for diocesan episcopacy will not proceed any farther but only that there is, and ought to be, a superiority in bishops over presbyters in order or degree; but whether this must be over pres-