N01685:71
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.
A. The meaning is, Tell it to the Ecclesiastical authority, in distinction from the Civil. Paul finds great fault with the Christians at Corinth for going to Law with their Brethren. 1 Cor. 6.6. Brother goeth to law with Brother. In case of Offences, Christ would not have them Prosecute their Brethren at the Law, or avenge themselves privately; but seek to heal them. & accordingly bring them to the authority of the Church His design is not to teach them in whose hands the Church authority lies, but to teach them the way of the recovery of their Brethren. When ⟨p. 14⟩Christ spake these words there was no Church in being, but the Jewish Church, wherein the Elders did Rule: and this was no new Institution, but a duty all along in the time of the Jewish Church: it was only a reviving of an old Law.
It is no ways strange that he should call the Rulers of the Chuch, the Church. Congregational Men must acknowledge that it is not the whole Church that is intended, but only them that have some share in the government. The Sisters do as much belong to the body of the Church as the Brethren. But besides, it is frequent in Scripture, to call the Elders of the Congregation, the Congregation. Numb. 26.24, 25. Then the Congregation shall judge between the slayer & the avenger of blood, and the Congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the Congregation shall restore him to the City of his refuge. The Elders represent the Congregation, and surely it is as proper to call the Elders of the Church, the Church, as to call the Elders of the Congregation, the Congregation.
It is no ways strange that he should call the Rulers of the Chuch, the Church. Congregational Men must acknowledge that it is not the whole Church that is intended, but only them that have some share in the government. The Sisters do as much belong to the body of the Church as the Brethren. But besides, it is frequent in Scripture, to call the Elders of the Congregation, the Congregation.