3. Whereas sundry of the duties before mentioned are, as unto the substance of them, required of the members of the church in their
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several stations, without any especial obligation to attend unto them with diligence, to look after them, or power to exercise any authority in the discharge of them, to leave them from under the office-care of the elders is to let confusion and disorder into the church, and gradually to remove the whole advantage of the discipline of Christ; as it is come to pass in many churches already.
It is therefore evident, that neither the purity, nor the order, nor the beauty or glory of the churches of Christ, nor the representation of his own majesty and authority in the government of them, can be long preserved without a multiplication of elders in them, according to the proportion of their respective members, for their rule and guidance. And for want hereof have churches, of old and of late, either degenerated into anarchy and confusion, their self-rule being managed with vain disputes and janglings, unto their division and ruin, or else given up themselves unto the domination of some pre- latical teachers, to rule them at their pleasure, which proved the bane and poison of all the primitive churches ; and they will and must do so in the neglect of this order for the future.
CHAPTER IX.
Of deacons.
The original institution, nature, and use, of the office of deacons in the church, are so well known as that we need not much insist upon them; nor shall I treat of the name, which is common unto any kind of ministry, civil or sacred, but speak of it as it is appro- priated unto that especial work for which this office was ordained.
The remote foundation of it lieth in that of our Saviour, " The poor always ye have with you," John xii. 8. He doth not only foretell that such there should be in the church, but recommends the care of them who should be so unto the church : for he maketh use of the words of the law, Deut. xv. 11, "The poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy." This legal institution, founded in the law of nature, doth the Lord Christ by his authority transfer and translate unto the use of gospel churches among his disciples.
And it may be observed, that at the same instant hypocrisy and avarice began to attempt their advantage on the consideration of this provision for the poor, which they afterward effected unto their safety ; for, on the pretence hereof, Judas immediately condemned an emi- nent duty towards the person of Christ, as containing a cost in it, which might have been better laid out in provision for the poor. The ointment poured on our Saviour he thought might have been " sold
14'4 TRUE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH.
for three hundred peuce" (it may be about forty or fifty pounds^), "and given to the poor." But "this he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag," out of which he could have made a good prey unto himself, John xii. 6. And it may be observed, that although Judas maliciously began this murmuring, yet at last some of the other disciples were too credulous of his insinua- tion, seeing the other evangelists ascribe it to them also. But the same pretence, on the same grounds, in following ages, was turned unto the greatest advantage of hypocrisy and covetousness that ever was in the world : for under this pretence of providing for the poor, the thieves who had got the bag, — that is, the ruling part of the clergy, with the joriests, friars, and monks, who served them, — allowed men in the neglect of the greatest and most important duties of religion towards Christ himself, so as that they would give all that they had to the poor; not that they cared for the poor, but because they were thieves, and had the bag ; by which means they possessed themselves of the greatest part of the wealth of the nations professing Christian religion. This was their compliance with the command of Christ, which they equally made use of in other thiugs.
This foundation of their office was further raised by the preaching of the gospel among the poor. Many of them who first received it were of that state and condition, as the Scripture everywhere testi- fieth : " The poor are evangelized," Matt. xi. 5 ; " God hath chosen the poor," James ii. 5. And so it was in the first ages of the church, when the provision for them was one of the most eminent graces and duties of the church in those days. And this way became the original propagation of the gospel; for it was made manifest thereby that the doctrine and profession of it were not a matter of worldly design or advantage. God also declared therein of how little esteem with him the riches of this world are. And also provision was made for the exercise of the grace of the rich in their supply ; the only way whereby they may glorify God with their substance. And it were well if all churches, and all the members of them, would wisely consider how eminent is this grace, how excellent is this duty, of making provision for the poor, — how much the glory of Christ and honour of the gospel are concerned herein ; for whereas, for the most part, it is looked on as an ordinary work, to be performed transiently and cursorily, scarce deserving any of the time which is allotted unto the church's public service and duties, it is indeed one of the most eminent duties of Christian societies, wherein the principal exercise of the second evangelical grace, namely, love, doth consist.