N02341:330
Ratio disciplinae fratrum Nov-Anglorum. A faithful account of the discipline professed and practised; in…
Ratio disciplinae fratrum Nov-Anglorum. A faithful account of the discipline professed and practised; in the churches of New-England. : With interspersed and instructive reflections on the discipline of the primitive churches. : [Seven lines from Ezekiel]
Boston: printed for S. Gerrish, 1726
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.
ARTICLE VII. The other Ecclesiastical OFFICERS for the Assistance of the PASTORS.
ARTICLE VII. The other Ecclesiastical OFFICERS for the Assistence of the PASTORS.
§. 1. IF the Pastors were to be considered, as originally entrusted, with the whole Ca•e of the Churches, and their Interests, yet the Pity and Favour of our SAVIOUR has been expressed, in his joining of other Officers unto them, for their Assistance in it.
§. 1. IF the Pastors were to be considered, as originally entrusted, with the whole Ca•e of the Churches, and their Interests, yet the Pity and Favour of our SAVIOUR has been expressed, in his joining of other Officers unto them, for their Assistence in it.
There has been much thought about the Office of those called, RULING-ELDERS, to assist the Pastors, in the Inspection and Government of the Churches.
We may not altogether give that Report about the New English, which Deacon Hilary, a Writer of the Ivth Century gives about the Primitive Churches. Ecclesia, ut Synagoga, Seniores habuit, quorum sine Consilio, nihil agebatur in Ecclesia, quod, qua Negligentia obsoleverit, nescio; nisi forte Doctorum Desidia, aut magu Superbia, dumb solely volunt aliquid videri. But this may be reported, That because the Office has not been well understood, (and these Elders have not been considered as given to the Pastors merely for Helps, as the Levites were to the Priests of old) nor have those few Churches that have maintained it, conformed unto what is practised (of a Biennial, or Triennial Choice, and this in a good Number too,) in the other Churches of the Reformation; it is now generally laid aside. There are few Churches, but what are, as many of the Primitive, at their first planting were, in the Condition mentioned by Tertullian; Ubi Ecclesiastici Ordinis non est Consessus, Sacerdos est ibi solus.