Luke x. 16. 1 Theff. iv. 8. v. 2 Cor. x. 19. vili 23. ch. 2 Cor.v.20. Ecclefiaftical Hiftory is full of Instances of the Respect they then paid to their Bishops and Presbyters, by kiffing their Hands, bowing to beg their Bleffing, and all this even in the Times of Perfecution. They gave all imaginable Proof of a fincere and hearty Love to their Perfons, by maintaining them liberally out of their fhipwrecked Fortunes, and chearfully fubmitting to the fevere Difcipline enjoined by them; and all this from a Senfe of that Authority they had received from Chrift, the great Bishop of Souls, and in Purfuance of thofe Precepts of our Saviour and St. Paul have left us in this Matter. When Christianity became the Religion of the Government, great Honours and Revenues were beftowed upon the Clergy, not only for the Support of Religion, but as a Reward for those great Sufferings they had undergone in Defence of the Truth; all Laws that were any Ways prejudical to them were rẻvoked, and new Ones made to fecure to them Refpect and Maintenance; which Advantages, in Progrefs of Time, were increased by the Favour of pious Princes, not only in the Roman Empire, but in all other Nations where Chriftianity prevailed. Q. What Titles of Honour and Respet are given to those who are invefted with the Priesthood under the Gospel? A. The Dignity of their Office is amply difplayed 2 Cor. iv. in the Scriptures, when those that are invested with Tit.. that Character are called the Minifters of Christ, Stewards of the Myfteries of God, to whom he hath committed the Word of Reconciliation, the Glory of Rev.ch.ii. Chrift. Ambaffadors for Chrift in Chrift's Stead, Co-workers with him, Angels of the Churches. And when it is moreover declared, that he that defpifeth them, defpifeth not Man, but God. All which Titles fhew, upon how many Accounts they ftand related, appropriated, and devoted to God himself. ch. iii. Lukex.16. Q. What Q. What is implied in their being Ministers of Christ? A. That they act by Commiffion from him, that they are his Officers and immediate Attendants, his Domeftics, and in a peculiar Manner his Servants. That they are employed in his particular Bufinefs, impowered and authorized to negociate and tranfact for God, and that not only in fome particular Things, but at large in all the outward Adminiftrations of the Covenant of Grace, or of Reconciliation between God and Man. Q. What is implied in their being Stewards of the Mysteries of God? A. That as a Steward is the highest domestic Officer, and Governor of the whole Family, who is to give them their Portion of Meat in due Seafon: fo the Pricfts under the Gofpel are inftituted to difpenfe fpiritual Food for the Nourishment of Chiftians, to feed them with God's holy Word, Cor. ii. and Sacraments, to speak the hidden Wisdom which " God ordained before the World; which is committed to theirCare to preserve entire from being maimed or perverted, as the Sacraments are to be rightly and duly adminiftered. Q. What is implied in their being public Agents and Ambaffadors? A. That they are God's Viceregents and visible Reprefentatives here upon Earth; that they are delegated by him to folicit and maintain a good Correfpondence between God and Man; that they are impowered to adminifter the Word of Reconciliation, to fign and feal Covenants in his Name; upon which Account their Perfons are facred, and all Contempt fhewn to them is an Affront to their Mafter, whofe Character they bear. Q. What is implied in their being the Glory of Chrift, and Co-workers with him? A. That John xvii. A. That they are inftrumental in advancing his Gofpel, whereby Chrift's Name is glorified; that they manage and carry on that glorious Design for which he came into the World, and took upon him our Nature; that they are the Minifters of his fpiritual Kingdom, to whofe Diligence and Fidelity is committed its Prefervation and Enlargement. Q. Why are the Minifters of God called the Clergy? A. Because those who have been peculiarly appropriated to the Service of God, and devoted to wait at the Altar, have always been efteemed God's Lot and Inheritance, which the Word figniNum, viii. fies in the Greek. Thus God fays, the Levite 14. Shall be mine; and our Saviour calls his Apofiles the Gift his Father gave him out of the World. Now though the World at first comprehended the whole Body of the Jewish Nation, and may in the fame Senfe be attributed to the Community of Chriftians, whom God has purchased to himself as a peculiar People; yet this Title was afterwards confined to narrower Bounds, and diftinguifhed that Tribe which God made Choice of to ftand before him in the Adminiftration of holy Things; and, after the Expiration of that Economy, was accordingly used to denote the Miniftry of the Gospel, and thofe that were invefted with the Priesthood in the Chriftian Church. Q. How do the Minifters of the Chriftian Church derive their Commiffion? A. From our Saviour Jefus Chrift, the great Heb. v. 5. Shepherd and Bithop of our Souls, who glorified not bimfelf to be an High-Prieft; but had his Commiffion from God the Father, and, after his Resurrection, invested his Apoftles with the fame Commiffion his Father had given him. As my Father bath John xx. 21, 22, fent me, even fo fend I you: And he breathed on them, and faid unto them, receive ye the the Holy Ghoji, &c. Which Commiffion evidently contains an Authority of ordaining others, and a Power of transferring that Commiffion upon others, and thofe upon others to the End of the World. And that this did not merely belong to the Perfons of that Apoftles, appears from the Nature of that Promife made, to be with them always, even unto the End of the Mat.. World: Which muft include their Succeffor in the xxviii. 20. Execution of the fame Commiffion. Q. Can the Supreme Civil Magiftrate communicate thefe Spiritual Powers to Church Officers? A. The Nature of thefe Powers being purely fpiritual, and having a Relation to the Souls of Men, can only be conveyed in that Way and Manner Chrift has appointed; who delegated these Powers only to his Apoftles and their Succeffors; and without his exprefs Commiffion no Man ought to take upon himfelf, or communicate to others a Power to fign and feal Covenants in his Name. This Commiffion the Apoftles and their Succeffors exercised in all Places, and even in Oppofition to the Rulers that then were; fo that the Church fubfifted as a diftinct Society from the State for above three hundred Years, when the civil Government was only concerned to fupprefs and deftroy it. Indeed, when the Church received the Benefit of Incorporation and Protection from the State, fhe was content to fuffer fome Limitation. as to the Exercife of thefe Powers, and thought herself fufficiently recompenfed by the Advantages that accrued to her by the Incorporation. Q. Wherein then confifts the Supremacy of Sovereign Magiftrates? A. In ruling all Eftates and Degrees committed to Art. 37. their Charge by God, whether they be Ecclefiaftical or Temporal. In exercifing their Civil Power in Ecclefiaftical Caufes, as well as over Ecclefiaftical Perfons, and in reftraining with the civil Sword the Stubborn Rom. xxiii. 11. Art. 37. ftubborn and evil Doers. So that all Perfons in their Dominions, Spiritual as well as Temporal, are fubject to their Authority; becaufe when Men became Minifters in the Church, they did not ceafe to be Subjects of the State. Every Soul must be subject to the higher Powers, which includes an Apofile, an Evangelift, a Prophet, or whosoever elfe, as St. Chryfoftom obferves upon the Place. But by Virtue of this Supremacy, the miniftring either of God's Word, or of the Sacraments, is not given to Princes, because they are not invested with, nor have a fovereign Disposal of, the Power of Orders. Q. What may we learn from the Dignity of the Priesthood? A. That it is no Diminution to Greatness of Birth, or any perfonal Excellency, to be devoted to the Service of the Altar. That great Purity of Life is required of thofe that are invefted with fuch an honourable Character, whereby they may in fome Measure be qualified to administer in boly Things, and by their Example guide those they inftruct by their Doctrine. That it is an Argument of a very prophane Temper, to contemn those that are owned of God as his Domeftics and immediate Attendants; as his Agents and Ambaffadors, because he that defpifeth them defpifeth Him that fent them; and the Affront put upon them will be interpreted as done to Him from whom they derive their Commiffion. That it is a Dictate of natural Reason to teftify our Reverence to the Deity, and our Affection to Religion, by honouring those who are the chief Minifters of it. That it is the greateft Piece of Prefumption imaginable, to pretend to fign and feal Covenants in God's Name, without receiving any Power and Authority from him in order to that Purpose, That the Attendance at the Altar exempts no Man from the Cognizance of the Civil Powers, but that Spiritual |