4. Some judge that it was a distinct office, but of the same nature and kind with that of the pastor, endowed with all the same powers, but differenced from it with respect unto gifts and a peculiar kind of work allotted unto it. But this opinion hath this seeming disad- vantage, that the difference between them is so small as not to be sufficient to give a distinct denomination of officers or to constitute a distinct office ; and, it may be, such a distinction in gifts will sel- dom appear, so that the church may be guided thereby in the choice of meet persons unto distinct offices.
But Scripture testimony and rule must take place, and I shall briefly examine all these opinions.
The FIRST is. That this is not the name of any officer, nor is a teacher, as such, any officer in the church, but it is used only as a general name for any that teach, on any account, the doctrine of the gospel. I do not, indeed, know of any who have in particular con- tended for this opinion, but I observe that very many expositors take no further notice of them but as such. This seems to me to be most remote from the truth.
It is true, that in the first churches not only some, but all who had received spiritual light in the gifts of knowledge and utterance, did teach and instruct others as they had opportunity, 1 Pet. iv. 8-11. Hence the heathen philosophers, as Celsus in particular, objected to the Christians of old that they suffered sutlers, and weavers, and
OF THE OFFICE OF TEACHERS IN THE CHUKCH. 99
cobblers, to teacli among them ; which they who knew that Paul him- self, their great apostle, wrought at a trade not much better, were not offended at. Of this sort were the disciples mentioned Acts viii. 4; so was Aquila, chap, xviii. 26, and the many prophets in the church of Corinth, 1 Cor. xiv. 29. But, —
1. The name diddsxaXog is not used in the New Testament but for a teacher with authorit}''. The apostle John tells us that didd- ff/caXog is the same with paCCowi, chap. xx. \6, or as it is written, paCQovi,^ Mark x. 51 ; which, in their mixed dialect, was the same with rabbi. And ^1, "'?1, and ^^l^"!, were then in use for the Hebrew i^lV^: of which see Job xxxvi. 22; Isa. xxx. 20. Now, the constant signification of these words is " a master in teaching," " a teacher with authority;" nor is diddaxaXog used in the New Testament but for such a one. And therefore those who are called teachers were such as were set apart unto the office of teaching, and not such as were so called from an occasional work or duty.
2. Teachers are numbered among the officers which Christ hath given unto and set in the church, Eph. iv. 11; 1 Cor. xii. 28: so that originally church-officers were intended by them is beyond con- tradiction.
3. They are mentioned as those who, with otliers, did preside in the church, and join in the public ministrations of it. Acts xiii. 1, 2.
4. They are charged to attend unto the work of teaching ; which none can be but they whose office it is to teach, E,om. xii. 7.
It is therefore undeniable that there is such an office as that of a teacher mentioned in the Scripture.
The SECOND opinion is. That although a teacher he a church- officer, yet no distinct office is intended in that denomination. It is, say they, only another name for a pastor, the office being one and the same, the same persons being both pastors and teachers, or called by these several names, as they have other titles also ascribed unto them.
So it is fallen out, and so it is visual in things of this nature, that men run into extremes; truth pleaseth them not. In the first devi- ation of the church from its primitive institution, there were intro- duced sundry offices to the church that were not of divine institution, borrowed partly of the Jews and partly of the Gentiles ; which issued in the seven orders of the church of Rome. They did not utterly reject any that were of a divine original, but retained some kind of figure, shadow, or image of them ; but they brought in others that were merely of their own invention. In the rejection of this exor- bitancy, some are apt to run into the other extreme; they will deny and reject some of them that have a divine warranty for their original.
' So given in the tcxtus reccptus. Critical editions of the New Testament now give
iaS'o'jvi. — liD.
100 TRUE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH.
Ilowbeit they are not many nor burdensome; yea, they are all such as without the continuation of them, the edification of the church cannot be carried on in a due manner : for unto the beauty and order of the church, in its rule and worship, it is required not only that there be many officers in each chvirch, but also that they be of sundry sorts; all harmony in things natural, political, and ecclesiasti- cal, arising from variety with proportion. And he that shall with calmness and without prejudice consider the whole work that is to be done in churches, with the end of their institution, will be able to understand the necessity of pastors, teachers, ruling-elders, and deacons, for those ends, and no other. And this I hope I shall demon- strate in the consideration of these respective offices, with the duties that belong imto them, as I have considered one of them already. Wherefore, as unto the opinion under present consideration, I say, —