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exercise that Authority amongst you which I have received from Chrift, to inflict fuch Spiritual Cenfures as I fhall judge you deferve? Will ye return to your Duty by fair Means or not? Thefe Words of St. Paul to the Corinthians, who were a Part of his Charge, very plainly fhew, that he claimed a chief Spiritual Power over them independent on all Powers of the Earth, and that he could allow none to act there as Paftors of that Flock, unless it were as his Friends and Affociates, or as Ministers under him; And that he had Authority to correct fuch as did fo or fided with them with Spiritual Cenfures, fuch as fhould exclude them from the Kingdom of God.

§ XXVIII. After this he fhews them, that this Subordination of one Member or Minister of the Church to another is abfolutely neceflary to preferve the Union of the Body, and that whatever Spiritual Giftsor Graces one Member may have above another, yet this does not give him a new or different Station in the Body of Chrift from what he had before. And this he demonftrates by comparing the Church or Body of Chrift to the natural Body of a Man, saying, (d) As the Body is one and hath many Members, and all the Members of that one Body, being many are one Body, fo alfo is Chrift. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the Body is not one Member, but many. Confequently Chrift, as to his Body the Church, must confift of many Members alfo, and every Member must have its proper Station that it may be useful to the Body. Confider therefore, If, in the Natural Body, the Foot fhall fay, Because I am

(d) 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13, 14.
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not the Hand, I am not of the Body; is it therefore not of the Body? And if the Ear fhall fay, Because I am not the Eye, I am not of the Body, is it therefore not of the Body? If the whole Body were an Eye where were the Hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the Smelling? But now hath God fet the Members, every one of them in the Body, as it hath pleafed him. And if they were all one Member, where were the Body? But now are they many Members, yet but one Body. And the Eye cannot fay unto the Hand, I have no need of thee: Nor again the Head to the Feet, I have no need of you. But God hath tempered the Body together, that there should be no Schifm in the Body, but that the Members Should have the fame Care one for another. And whether one Member faffer, all the Members fuffer with it; or one Member be honoured, all the Members rejoyce with it. Now ye are the Body of Christ and Members in particular. That is all Chriftians, all that are baptized into his Church make one Body, and every fingle Chriftian is a Member of that Body, and helps to make up the whole whatever his Station be. And he that is in the lowest Station of the Church can no more fay he is no Member of it, because he is not higher advanced, than the Foot, because it is the lowest Part of the Body, can fay that it is not of the Body, because it is not the Hand. And as it would be unnatural and monftrous in the Natural Body for the Foot to be placed where the Hand should be, and to perform the Offices of the Hand, and to drive down the Hand into the Place of the Feet; fo it would be as monstrous and unnatural in the Body of Christ, that is in the Church, for any Member of it to execute the Functions not belonging to his proper Station. For this would be to make all one Member, which must deftroy the Body, which neither does nor can confift of one Member, but of many. Not of many huddled together in a Lump, but tempered and difpofed in a due Order for the Ufe and Beauty of the whole.

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He therefore that breaks this Order and puts any Member out of its proper Place makes a Schifm in the Body, and deftroys the Beauty of it, and hinders the Members from performing their proper FunЯions.

§ XXIX. S. Paul having, by this Comparison of the Church to the Natural Body of a Man, fhewn how abfurd and monftrous it is for all Men to fuppofe that they have every one the fame Office in the Church, but that there must be different Stations and different Employments for the feveral Members, or else that it can be no Body, proceeds then to go on, and particularly names the feveral Functions at that time allotted by God to fuch as he had appointed to officiate in his Church, faying, (e) God hath fet fome in his Church, firft Apoftles, Jecondarily Prophets, thirdly Teachers, after that Miracles, then Gifts of Healing, Helps, Governments, Diverfities of Tongues. Are all Apoftles? Are all Prophets? Are all Teachers? Are all Workers of Miracles? Have all the Gifts of Healing? Do all fpeak with Tongues? Do all interpret? But cover earnestly the best Gifts. And yet I fhew unto you a more excellent Way. As if he had faid, It is indeed very commendable in every one to defire the beft Gifts, and to strive to qualify himself for the highest Offices in the Church, yet the Way that I now fhew you, which is to keep your proper Stations in which you are placed till you are regularly called to an higher Office, and not to make a Schifm in the Body of Chrift, which cannot be avoided if all will be Apoftles, all Prophets, all Teachers, &c. is much more excellent than the bare obtaining fuch Gifts. For, as he goes on, (f) Though I speak with the Tongues of

(e) 1 Cor. xii. 28, 29, 30, 31.

(f) 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

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Men and of Angels, and have not Charity, (that is, as is evident from what goes before, do not preferve the Unity of the Church or Body of Christ, by keeping to my proper Station in it, but ufurp another's Office, or fupport and affift or joyn my self to those that do) I am become as founding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal. And though I have the Gift of Prophecy, and understand all Myfteries and all Knowledge, and though I have all Faith, so that I could remove Mountains, and have not Charity (do not preferve that due Subordination of one Member to another in the Chriftian Church) I am nothing. And though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor, and though I give my Body to be burned, and die a Martyr for the Chriftian Faith, and have not Charity, but difunite the Church by Schif matical Communion, it profiteth me nothing. Charity fuffereth Long and is kind, Charity envyeth not, Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, (He that refolves to preserve the Unity of the Church will bear any wrong or Injury rather than make a Schifm, and return Good for Evil, he will not be envious to fee another advanced above him, he will not over-value himself, or be guilty of any Infolence towards his Superiors or any elfe,) doth not behave itself unfeemly, feeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no Evil. Rejoyceth not in Iniquity, but rejoyceth in the Truth. Beareth all Things, believeth all things, hopeth all Things, endureth all Things. He that makes the Unity of the Church his main Care and Concern will do nothing unbecoming a Member of Christ's Body, nothing which may tend to injure that Body or any Member of it, but will ftudy to do and bear every Thing for Chrift and his Church's Sake. Charity never faileth, but whether there be Prophecies, they fhall fail, whether there be Tongues they fhall ceafe, whether there be Knowledge it shall vanish away. This Unity of the Church, this Communion of Saints, or of all the true Members of Christ's Body fhall

never have End: When all the Gifts and Graces before-mentioned fhall cease, this shall continue to everlafting Ages.

§ XXX. Thus did S. Paul vindicate his own Power and Authority over the Corinthians, fhewing them, that if they withdrew their Obedience from him to fet up opposite Paftors independent on him, they must and would entirely deprive themselves of all the Benefits of Chriftianity: For to fet up other chief Spiritual Governors in Oppofition to him who was their proper Spiritual Father in Chrift, would be like putting the Feet of the Natural Body into the Place of the Hands, or the Ears into the Place of the Eyes, which must make a Schifm in the Body; and that fo doing they would break the Band of Charity, and fo render all their Gifts and Graces, all their Spiritual Functions and Miniftrations, nay even their Faith and Sufferings, even Martyrdom itself, of no Value. Which plainly fhews, that he did not fuppofe the People could, at their Pleasure, remove one Apostle, Bishop or Paftor, and put another in his Place; but on the contrary he lets them know, that if they did fo they would become Schifmaticks, and deftitute of that Charity which was neceffary to make them ac ceptable to God, and without which nothing could make them acceptable.

§ XXXI. And if the People could not depofe one Bishop or chief Spiritual Governor, and fet up another in Oppofition to him, or in his Stead, as S. Paul has fo plainly taught us, it is certain the Civil Magiftrate cannot do it; for as to Spiritual Power or Authority he is but one of the People and a Subject of the Church. His Civil Power indeed may be exercised over Spiritual Perfons alfo where the Church needs his Protection and Affiftance against outward Force; but the Apoftolical or Epifcopal

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