N01685:62
The presence of Christ with the ministers of the Gospel, opened & applied in…The presence of Christ with the ministers of the Gospel, opened & applyed in…
The presence of Christ with the ministers of the Gospel, opened & applied in a sermon preached at Swampfield, January 1st. 1717[/]18. Being the day of the gathering of the church, and the ordination of the Reverend Joseph Willard their pastor. / By Solomon Stoddard, A.M. & Pastor of Northampton.The presence of Christ with the ministers of the Gospel, opened & applyed in a sermon preached at Swampfield, January 1st. 1717[/]18. Being the day of the gathering of the church, and the ordination of the Reverend Joseph Willard their pastor. / By Solomon Stoddard, A.M. & Pastor of Northampton.
printed by B. Green, 1718
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1. That the government of the Church of Israel was not a popular government. The common sort of People had no judgment in Ecclesiastical causes. Concerning ⟨p. 9⟩either Moral or Ceremonial uncleanness. There is not one tittle in the word of God that Men were either condemned or pardoned by the Vote of the People.
2. That the Priests & Levites were the judges in spiritual causes. 2 Chron. 19.8. He set of the Priests & Levites, and of the chief of the Fathers in Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, & for controversies. And he tells them, v. 11. That Amaziah the chief Priest was over them in all matters of the Lord, and Zebadiah the Ruler of the house of Israel in the Kings matters. And in difficult cases they were to carry their appeal to the place that God should choose; if it were an Ecclesiastical Case to the Priests, and if it were a Civil to the Judge, and there the thing was to be finally issued. Deut. 17. from v. 7. to 12. And in the case of Leprosy, the Man was to be pronounced clean or unclean by the Priest. Lev. 13.3 The Priest shall look upon him & pronounce him unclean. And v. 6. And the Priest shall pronounce him clean. So in the case of an unclean house, Lev. 14.48. Then the Priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. So the Priest was to value the unclean beast that a Man would redeem. Lev. 27.11, 12. He shall present the beast before the Priest, and the Priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad, as thou valuest it who art the Priest so shall it be. And if the judgment in Ecclesiastical causes did belong unto the Ministers of the Jewish Church, there is the like reason that it should belong unto the Ministers of the Christian Church Ministers are now by their Function to perform all spiritual Offices in the Church. It was the Ministers work of old to bless the People, so it is now; it was the Ministers work of old to teach the People, so it is now; it was the Ministers work then to put up Public Prayers, so it