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Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
And as they should keep their foot, so also he adds, "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few;" Eccles. v. 1, 2. Three things the Holy Ghost exhorteth to in this text. The one is, That we look to our feet, and not be forward to crowd into God's presence.
Here we have a list of the ordinary officers of Christ, one body, the church. Here is the teacher: he that teacheth. Here is the pastor: he that exhorteth. Here is the deacon: he that giveth. And here is another officer distinct from all them, he that ruleth. His description attests, that ruling is, if not his only, yet his principal work.
Sect. 14. Those who speak out more plainly than Bishop Lindsey, do here object to us, that reverence is due to the sacrament, and that we ourselves do reverence it when we sit uncovered at the receiving of it. But Didoclavius doth well distinguish betwixt veneration and adoration, because in civility we use to be uncovered, even to inferiors and equals, for the regard which we bear to them, yet do we not worship them as we worship the king, on our knees. As, then, in civility, there is a respect and reverence different from adoration, so it is in religion also. Yea, Bellarmine himself distinguisheth the reverence which is due to holy things from adoration. Paybody and Dr Burges will by no means admit this distinction betwixt veneration and adoration. But since neither of them hath alleged any reason against it, I hope they will be weighed down by the authority of the Archbishop of Spalato, and the Bishop of Edinburgh, both of whom agree to this distinction. So, then, we give no adoration at all to the sacrament, because neither by any outward or inward action do we perform any worship for the honour of the same. Burges himself hath noted to us, that the first Nicene council exhorteth that men should not be humiliter intenti to the things before them. We neither submit our minds nor humble our bodies to the sacrament, yet do we render to it veneration, forasmuch as we esteem highly of it, as a most holy thing, and meddle reverently with it, without all contempt or unworthy usage. Res profecto inanimatae, saith the Archbishop of Spalato, sint sacrae quantum placet, alium honorem
The second word We have recorded on the second leaf of Paradise is the following: "The Pen of the Divine Expounder exhorteth, at this moment, the manifestations of authority and the sources of power, namely the kings and rulers of the earth—may God assist them—and enjoineth them to uphold the cause of religion, and to cleave unto it.
The rule by which men are proved new creatures: The word of faith, and the moral precept. Wherefore Paul exhorteth the Ephesians not to walk, 'as other Gentiles, in the vanity of their mind'; seeing they had received Christ, and had 'heard him, and had been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. That they would put off the old man; what is that?
By these words more is implied than expressed; for this awaking of Noah, not only informeth us of natural awaking from sleep, but of his spiritual awaking from his sin. He awoke from his wine. As "Ely said to Hannah, How long wilt thou be drunken? By which words he exhorteth to repentance.
This grace given, or this office given of grace, is branched out, first, into two general heads, viz. prophecy and ministry, ver. 6, 7. Then these generals are subdivided into the special offices contained under them, viz.: Under prophecy the teacher, he that teacheth; and the pastor, he that exhorteth; under ministry the deacon, he that distributeth; and the ruling elder, he that ruleth.
For the words "Doe this," are the words not onely of him that Commandeth; but also of him that giveth Counsell; and of him that Exhorteth; and yet there are but few, that see not, that these are very different things; or that cannot distinguish between them, when they perceive who it is that speaketh, and to whom the Speech is directed, and upon what occasion.
I. The first argument for the divine right of the ruling elder in the Church of Christ, shall be drawn from Rom. xii. 6-8: "Having, then, gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence," &c.
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