104f TiiuE natuhe of a gospel church.
of it in all its parts, unto the edification of the church, especially when it is numerous, being impossible for any one man, or it may be more, in the same office, where all are obliged unto an especial at- tendance on one part of it, namely, the word and prayer, it pleased the Lord Christ to appoint such as, in distinct offices, should be asso- ciated with them for the discharge of sundry parts of their duty. So were deacons ordained to take care of the poor and the outward concerns of the church, without any interest in rule or right to teach. So were, as we shall prove, elders ordained to assist and help in rule, without any call to preach or administer the sacraments. And so were teachers appointed to instruct the church and others in the truth, who had no right to rule or the administration of other ordi- nances. And thus, although the whole duty of the edification of the church be still incumbent on the pastors, yet being supplied with assistance to all the parts of it, it may be comfortably discharged by them. And if this order were observed in all churches, not only many inconveniencies would be prevented, but the order and edification of the church greatly promoted.
2. He who is ^:)ec?/imrZ?/ called to he a teacher, with reference unto a distinction from a pastor, may yet at the same time be called to he an elder also; that is, to be a teaching elder. And where there is in any officer a concurrence of both these, — a right unto rule as an elder and power to teach or preach the gospel, — there is the same office and office-power, for the substance of it, as there is in the pastor.
3. On the foregoing supposition, there yet remains a distinction between the office of a pastor and teacher ; — which, as far as light may be taken from their names and distinct ascriptions unto them, con- sists materially in the different gifts which those to be called unto office have received, which the church in their call ought to have re- spect unto; and formally in the peculiar exercise of those gifts in the discharge of their office, according unto the assignation of their especial work unto them, which themselves are to attend unto.
Upon what hath been before discoursed concerning the office of pastors and teachers, it may be inquired whether there may be many of them in a particular church, or whether there ought only to be of one of each sort? And I say, —
1. Take teachers in the third sense, for those who are only so, and have no further interest in office-power, and there is no doubt but that there may be as many of them in any church as are necessary unto its edification, and ought so to be. And a due observation of this institution would prevent the inconvenience of men's preaching con- stantly who are in no office of the church; for although I do grant that those who have once been regularly and solemnly set apart or ordained unto the ministry have the right of constant preaching in-
OF THE OFFICE OF TEACHERS IN THE CHURCH. 105
herent in them, and the duty of it incumbent on them, though they may be separated from those churches wherein and unto whom they were pecuHady ordained, yet for men to give themselves up con- stantly unto the work of teaching by preaching the gospel who never were set apart by the church thereunto, I know not that it can be justified.
2. If there be but one sort of elders mentioned in the Scripture, it is out of all question that there may be many pastors in the same church; for there were many elders in every church, Acts xiv. 23, XX. 17, 28; Phil. i. 1 ; Tit. i. 5: but if there are sundry sorts of elders mentioned in the Scripture, as pastors who peculiarly feed the flock, those teaching elders of whom we have spoken, and those rulers con- cerning whom we shall treat in the next place, then no determina- tion of this inquiry can be taken from the multiplication of them in any church.
3. It is certain that the order very early observed in the church was one pastor, 6 -Trpoeerug, " prseses," quickly called " episcopus," by way of distinction, with many elders assisting in rule and teaching, and deacons ministering in the things of this life, whereby the order of the church was preserved and its authority represented ; yet I will not deny but that in each particular church there may be many pastors with an equality of power, if the edification of the church do require it.
4. It was the alteration of the state of the church from its primi- tive constitution, and deviation from its first order, by an occasional coalescency of many churches into one, by a new form of churches never appointed by Christ, which came not in until after the end of the second century, that gave occasion to corrupt this order into an episcopal pre-eminence, which degenerated more and more into con- fusion under the name of order. And the absolute equality of many pastors in one and the same church is liable unto many inconve- niencies if not diligently watched against.