The Scripture directory for church-officers and people, or, A practical commentary upon the whole…

First, He doth not mean, as if the Officers of the Church were not in their way and place necessary; for then the Apostle in the same tongue should contradict himself, for he saith, We are workers together with God, 2 Cor. 6.1. Yea, this very Epistle might thereby be accounted nothing, because, though Paul wrote the Epistle, yet it is God that giveth the success unto it. They are therefore in themselves the necessary institutions and means of grace. And we are commanded to hear them, to wait on their Ministry, to submit unto them in the Lord. Do not therefore conclude from this, the uselessness and unnecessariness of preaching Gods word. For in other places, when the Scripture speaks absolutely, glorious and absolute effects are attributed unto it; and it's called no less than the Kingdom of Heaven. And if there be so much ado for an outward Kingdom, and earthly greatness, how much rather should this be prized and received?

First, He doth not mean, as if the Officers of the Church were not in their way and place necessary; for then the Apostle in the same tongue should contradict himself, for he saith, We are workers together with God, 2 Cor. 6.1. Yea, this very Epistle might thereby be accounted nothing, because, though Paul wrote the Epistle, yet it is God that giveth the successe unto it. They are therefore in themselves the necessary institutions and means of grace. And we are commanded to hear them, to wait on their Ministry, to submit unto them in the Lord. Do not therefore conclude from this, the uselesnesse and unnecessarinesse of preaching Gods word. For in other places, when the Scripture speaks absolutely, glorious and absolute effects are attributed unto it; and it's called no lesse than the Kingdom of Heaven. And if there be so much ado for an outward Kingdome, and earthly greatnesse, how much rather should this be prized and received?

Secondly, When the Apostle calls the Ministry nothing, the meaning is not, as if it were not sufficient in its kind, to work those things for which it is appointed, otherwise this would reflect upon the wisdom of God. For as in natural things, Frustra est illa potentia, quae nunquam reducitur actum. So in supernaturals also. As we say, the Sun is sufficiently able to enlighten the whole world, yet blind men would never get any good, if the Lord did not open their eyes. So it is here, The Ministry faithfully discharged, is sufficient to enlighten the minds, and convert the hearts of all that hear. No wickedness so powerful, no sin so rooted, but that is able to conquer and remove it; yet unless God mould the heart, and give understanding, they perish in their sins, and take no warning.