51. Chapter III.

Chapter III. Of extraordinary gifts and offices; first, of offices. The spiritual gifts which we address, respect either powers and duties in the church, or else duties only. Gifts that respect powers and duties are of two sorts — or there have been (or are at any time) two sorts of such powers and duties. The first of these was extraordinary, and the latter ordinary. And consequently, the gifts that are subservient to them must also be of two sorts; this must be further clarified.

Wherever power is given by Christ to his churches, and duties are required in the execution of that power for the ends of his spiritual kingdom, to be performed by virtue of this power, there is an office in the church. For an ecclesiastical office is a special power given by Christ to any person or persons for the performance of special duties belonging to the edification of the church in a special manner. And these offices have been of two sorts: first, extraordinary; secondly, ordinary.

Some seem to deny that there was ever any such thing as extraordinary power or extraordinary offices in the church. For they provide successors to all those who are pleaded to have been of that kind, exceeding them in power and rule, however far short they may come of their predecessors in other things. I will not contend about words. I will therefore only inquire as to what it was that constituted those who were officers of Christ in his church, whom we thus call extraordinary. Then, if others can duly lay claim to them, they may be allowed to pass for their successors.

There are four things which constitute an extraordinary officer in the church of God, and consequently, they are required in and constitute an extraordinary office:

1. An extraordinary call to an office, such as no other has or can have, by virtue of any law, order, or constitution whatever.

2. An extraordinary power communicated to persons so called, enabling them to act what they are called to, and in which the essence of any office consists.

3. Extraordinary gifts for the exercise and discharge of that power.

4. Extraordinary employment as to its extent and measure, requiring extraordinary labor, travail, zeal, and self-denial.

All these do and must concur in that office and for those offices which we call extraordinary.

Thus it was with the apostles, prophets, and evangelists at the first, who were all extraordinary teaching officers in the church; and thus it was with all who ever were such, 1 Corinthians 12:28; Eph 4.11.685 Besides these at the first planting of the church, there were persons endowed with extraordinary gifts, such as miracles, healing, and tongues. These did not of themselves constitute them officers, but belonged to the second head of gifts, which concern duties only. However, these gifts were always most eminently bestowed on those who were called to the extraordinary offices mentioned: 1 Corinthians 14:18, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all." Some of them had the same gift, but the apostle had it in a more eminent degree. See Mat 10.8.686 And we may briefly treat in our passage, these several sorts of extraordinary officers:

First. For the apostles, they had a double call, mission, and commission, or a twofold apostleship. Their first call was subservient to the personal ministry of Jesus Christ; for he was a "minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers," Romans 15:8. In the discharge of this personal ministry, it was necessary that he have particular servants and officers under him to prepare his way and work, and to attend him in this. So "he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them out to preach," Mark 3:14. This was the substance of their first call and work — namely, to attend the presence of Christ, and to go out to preach as he ordered them. Hence, in his own person he was, as to his prophetic office, the "minister of the circumcision" according to all the promises;687 and in this he was sent only to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 15:24 Those who were thus to be assistants to him in his special work and ministry (and while they were so), he confined to those same persons and people, expressly prohibiting them from extending their line or measure any further. "Do not go," he says, "into the way of the Gentiles, nor enter into any city of the Samaritans: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," Matthew 10:5. This "rather" was absolutely exclusive of the others during his personal ministry. And afterward it included only the pre-eminence of the Israelites, so that they were to have the gospel offered to them in the first place: "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you," Acts 13:46. And this, it may be, occasioned that difference among them afterward, whether their ministry extended to the Gentiles or not, as we see in Acts 10, 11. But after his resurrection, in that commission by which they were to act, our Savior extended their office and power expressly to "all nations," Matthew 28:19, or to "every creature in all the world," Mark 16:15. And so a man might wonder why that uncertainty about Gentiles would arise. I am persuaded that God allowed it to be, so that the calling of the Gentiles would be more signalized,688 or made more eminent by it. For this was the great "mystery which in other ages was not made known," but "hid in God," namely, "that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ" (that is, of the promise made to Abraham) "by the gospel," Ephesians 3:3; Ephesians 3:5-11. It now being laid open and displayed, and by their hesitation about it, Christ would have it searched into, examined, tried, and proved, so that the faith of the church might never be shaken about it in later ages. And similarly, when God at any time allows differences and doubts to arise in the church about the truth or about his worship, he does it for holy ends, even though for the present we may not be able to discover them. But this ministry of the apostles, with its powers and duties — this apostleship, which extended only to the church of the Jews — ceased at the death of Christ, or at the end of his own personal ministry in this world; nor can I suppose that any pretend to be their successor in this. Who or what specific instruments he will use and employ for the final recovery of that miserable, lost people — whether he will do it by an ordinary or an extraordinary ministry, by miraculous gifts, or by the naked efficacy of the gospel — is known only in his own holy wisdom and counsel. The conjectures of men about these things are vain and fruitless. The promises under the Old Testament for calling the Gentiles were far clearer and more numerous than those which remain concerning the recalling of the Jews. Yet because the manner, way, and all other circumstances, were obscured, the whole of it is called a mystery hid in God from all the former ages of the church. Much more, therefore, may the way and manner of the recalling of the Jews be considered a hidden mystery (as indeed it is), notwithstanding the dreams and conjectures of too many.689 But these same apostles — the same individual persons, only Judas excepted — had another call to that office of apostleship which had a respect to the whole work and interest of Christ in the world. They were now to be made princes in all lands, rulers, leaders in spiritual things of all the inhabitants of the earth, Psa 45.16.690 And to make this call more conspicuous and evident, and also because it includes the institution and nature of the office to which they were called, our blessed Savior proceeds in it by various degrees; for —

1. He gave them a promise of power for their office, or office-power. So he promised them, in the person of Peter, the "keys of the kingdom of heaven," Matthew 16:19; or a power of spiritual binding and loosing of sinners, of remitting or retaining sin, by the doctrine of the gospel, Matthew 18:18; John 20:23.

2. He actually collated691 on them a right to that power, expressed by an outward pledge: John 20:21-23, "Then Jesus said to them again, Peace to you: as my Father has sent me, even so I send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Ghost: if you remit the sins of any, they are remitted to them; and if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." And this communication of the Holy Ghost was such that it gave them a particular right and title to their office, but not a right and power to its exercise.

3. He sealed the commission which they had to discharge their office, as it were, containing the whole warranty they had to enter upon the world, and subdue it to the obedience of the gospel: Matthew 28:18-20, "Go teach, baptize, command." Yet,

4. All these things did not absolutely give them a present power to exercise that office to which they were called — or at least a limitation was put on it for a season. For under all this provision and furnishing, they are commanded to stay at Jerusalem, and not address themselves to the discharge of their office, until that was fulfilled which would give it its completeness and perfection, Acts 1:4; Acts 1:8.

Therefore, it is said that after his ascension into heaven, he "gave some to be apostles," Ephesians 4:8; Ephesians 4:11. Until then, he did not give anyone completely to be apostles. He had previously appointed the office, designated the persons, and given them their commission, with the visible pledge of the power that they would afterward receive. But there still remained the communication of extraordinary gifts to them, to enable them to discharge their office. And this was what they received after the ascension of Christ, on the day of Pentecost, as it is related in Acts 2. And this was so essentially necessary to their office, that the Lord Christ is said in this to give some to be apostles; for without these gifts they were not apostles, nor could they discharge that office to his honor and glory. And these things all concurred to the constitution of this office, with the call of any persons to the discharge of it. The office itself was instituted by Christ; the designation and call of the persons to this office was an immediate act of Christ; so also was their commission and power, and the extraordinary gifts which he endowed them with. And because the Lord Christ is said to give this office and these officers after his ascension — namely, in the communication of the gifts of the Holy Ghost to those officers for the discharge of that office — it is evident that all office-power depends on the communication of gifts, whether extraordinary or ordinary. But where any of these is lacking, there is no apostle, nor any successor of even one apostle. Therefore, when Paul was afterward added to the twelve in the same power and office, he was careful to declare how he received both call, commission, and power immediately from Jesus Christ: "Paul an apostle, not of men, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead," Galatians 1:1. And so, those who pretend to be their successors, if they would speak the truth, must say that they are neither of Jesus Christ nor of God the Father, but of men and by man. However, they neither dare nor will pretend to be so called of God and Christ, as not to be called by the ministry of man — which would evacuate the pretense of succession in this office.

Secondly. to the office described, there furthermore belong the measure and extent of its power objectively, and the power itself intensively or subjectively. For the First, the object of apostolic power was twofold:

1. The world that was to be converted;

2. The churches gathered of those who were converted, whether Jews or Gentiles.

1. For the first, their commission extended to all the world; and every apostle had the right, power, and authority to "preach the gospel to every creature under heaven," as he had opportunity to do so, Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Romans 10:14-18. Now, it was impossible for any one person to pass through the whole world in the pursuit of this right and power. And for that reason, our Lord had ordained twelve to that purpose, so that the work might be more effectively carried on by their endeavors. And therefore, it is highly probable that, by agreement, they distributed the nations into certain lots and portions, which they singly took upon themselves to instruct. So there was an agreement between Paul on the one hand with Barnabas — and Peter, James, and John, on the other — that Paul and Barnabas should go to the Gentiles, and the others take more special care of the Jews, Gal 2.7-9.692 And the same apostle afterward designed, in order to avoid the line or allotment of others, to preach the gospel where the people were not allotted to the special charge of any other, 2Cor 10.16.693 Yet this was not so appointed that their power was limited by it, or that any of them came short in his apostolic power in any other place in the world, as well as that in which, for convenience, he particularly exercised his ministry. For the power of every one of them still equally extended to all nations, even though they could not always exercise it in all places alike. Nor did that express agreement between Paul and Peter, about the Gentiles and the Circumcision, discharge them of their duty, so that the one would have more regard to the Gentiles, or the other to the Circumcision. Nor did it limit their power or bound their apostolic authority; it only directed the exercise of it as to its principal intention and design. Therefore, as to the right and authority of preaching the gospel and converting persons to the faith, the whole world fell equally under the care of every apostle, and it was in their commission — even though they applied themselves to the discharge of this work in particular, according to their own wisdom and choice, under the guidance and disposal of the providence of God.

I will not deny that it is the duty of every Christian, and much more of every minister of the gospel, to promote the knowledge of Christ to all mankind, as they have opportunities and advantages to do so. Yet I must say that if there are any who pretend to be successors of the apostles, as to the extent of their office-power to all nations — notwithstanding whatever they may pretend about such an agreement to take a portion accommodated to their ease and interest, while so many nations of the earth lie unattempted as to the preaching of the gospel — they will one day be found transgressors of their own profession, and will be dealt with accordingly.

2. By the preaching of the gospel, persons were called out of the world, converted, and upon that, were gathered into holy societies or churches, for the celebration of gospel-worship and their own mutual edification. All these churches, wherever they were called and planted in the whole world, were equally under the authority of every apostle. Where any church was called and planted by any particular apostle, there was a special relation between him and them, and so a special mutual care and love; nor could it be otherwise. So the apostle Paul pleads a special interest in the Corinthians and others, to whom he had been a spiritual father in their conversion, and the instrument of forming Christ in them.694

It is probable, therefore, that each one took care, in special manner, of those churches which were of their own particular calling and planting. Yet no limitation of the apostolic power ensued from this. Every apostle still had the care of all the churches on him, and had apostolic authority in every church in the world equally, which he might exercise as occasion required. Thus Paul affirms that the "care of all the churches came upon him daily," 2 Corinthians 11:28. And it was the crime of Diotrephes, for which he is branded, that he opposed the apostolic power of John in that church where probably he was the teacher, 3 John 1.9-10.695 What power over all churches, or what authority in all churches, some may now fancy or claim for themselves, I do not know; but it could be wished that men would reckon this: that care and labor are as extensive in this case as power and authority.

Secondly. Again, the power of this extraordinary office may be considered subjectively as to what it was; that is, intensively or formally. And this, in one word, was all the power that the Lord Christ has given or thought fit to make use of for the edification of the church. I will give a brief description of it in a few general instances:

1. It was a power of administering all the ordinances of Christ in the way and manner of his appointment. Every apostle in all places had power to preach the word, to administer the sacraments, to ordain elders, and to do whatever else belonged to the worship of the gospel. But they did not yet have power to do any of these things in any other way than as the Lord Christ had appointed them to be done. They could not baptize anyone except believers and their seed, Acts 8:36-38; Acts 16:15. They could not administer the Lord’s supper to anyone except the church, and in the church, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. They could not ordain elders except by the allowance and election of the people, Acts 14:23. Those indeed who pretend to be their successors, plead for such a right, in themselves, to some if not all gospel administrations. In this way they may take liberty to dispose of them at their pleasure, by their sole authority, without any regard to the rule of all holy duties in particular.

2. It was a power to execute all the laws of Christ, with the penalties annexed to their disobedience. "We have," says the apostle, "a readiness with which to revenge all disobedience," 2 Corinthians 10:6. And this principally consisted in the power of excommunication, or the judiciary excision of any person or persons from the society of the faithful and visible body of Christ in the world. Now, although this power was absolutely in each apostle towards all offenders in every church — which is why Paul affirms that he had personally "delivered Hymeneus and Alexander to Satan," 1 Timothy 1:20 —they did not exercise this power without the concurrence and consent of the church from which an offender was to be cut off. This is because that was the mind of Christ, and what the nature of the ordinance required, 1Cor 5.3-5.696

3. Their whole power was spiritual, and not carnal. It respected the souls, minds, and consciences of men alone as its object, not their bodies, goods, or liberties in this world. Those extraordinary instances of Ananias and Sapphira in their sudden death, or of Elymas in his blindness,697 were only miraculous operations of God in testifying against their sin, and did not proceed from any apostolic power in the discharge of their office. But there now is a kind of power which has devoured all other displays of church authority— namely, the power to fine, punish, imprison, banish, kill and destroy men and women; these are Christians, believers, persons of an unblamable, useful conduct. And this is done with the worst of carnal weapons, and savage cruelty of mind. As the apostles were never entrusted with this sort of power, nor anything of the kind, they sufficiently manifested how their holy souls abhorred the thoughts of such antichristian power and practices — though in others, the mystery of iniquity began to work in their days.698 The ministry of the seventy was in like manner temporary. The Lord Christ sent them out "two by two before his face into every city and place where he himself would come," Luke 10:1-3; that is, it was subservient and commensurate to his own personal ministry in the flesh. These are commonly called evangelists from the general nature of their work; but they were not those extraordinary officers who came later in the Christian church, under that title and appellation. But there was some analogy and proportion between the one and the other. For these first seventy seem to have had an inferior work, and subordinate to that of the twelve in their ministry to the church of the Jews during the time of the Lord Christ’s converse among them. So too, those evangelists who were appointed afterward, were subordinate to the twelve in their evangelical apostleship. And as these seventy were immediately called to their employment by the Lord Jesus, and their work being extraordinary, they were also endowed with extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, Luk 10.9, 17, 19.699 In the gospel church-state there were evangelists also, as mentioned in Ephesians 4:11; Acts 21:8; 2 Timothy 4:5 — gospellers, preachers of the gospel, distinct from the ordinary teachers of the churches. These things, I confess, are only obscurely delivered concerning this sort of men in Scripture, their office not being designed for continuance. Probably the institution of it was passed on from the temporary ministry of the seventy, mentioned before. It is uncertain and improbable that the same persons continued in their first office, as the apostles did (though it is not improbable that some of them might be called to this office) — just as Philip, Timothy, and Titus, were evangelists who were not of that first number. Their special call is not mentioned, nor is their number anywhere intimated. That their call was extraordinary, is apparent from this: that no rules are given or prescribed anywhere about their choice or ordination; no qualification for their persons is expressed; nor is any direction given to the church as to its future proceeding about them — no more than there is about new or other apostles. They seem to have been called by the apostles, by the direction of a spirit of prophecy or by an immediate revelation from Christ. So it is said of Timothy, who is expressly called an evangelist, 2 Timothy 4:5, that he received that gift "by prophecy," 1 Timothy 4:14; that is, he received the gift of the office — as when Christ ascended, he "gave gifts to men, some to be evangelists," Ephesians 4:8; Ephesians 4:11. For in this way, the Holy Ghost designed men for extraordinary offices and employments, Acts 13.1-3.700 And when they were so designed by prophecy, or immediate revelation from Christ by the Holy Ghost, then the church in compliance with this, both "prayed for them" and "laid their hands on them." So when the Holy Ghost had revealed his choosing of Paul and Barnabas for a special work, the prophets and teachers of the church of Antioch (where they were then) "fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them," thus sending them away, Acts 13:3. And when Timothy was called to be an evangelist by special revelation or prophecy, the apostle laid his hands on him, by which he received the Holy Ghost in his extraordinary gifts: "The gift of God, which is in you by the laying on of my hands," 2 Timothy 1:6. And because it was usual for him to join others with himself in those epistles which he wrote by immediate divine inspiration, so in this act of laying his hands on an evangelist, as a sign of the communication of extraordinary gifts, he joined the ordinary presbytery of the church with him, those who were present in the place where he was called. It is evident, therefore, that both their call and their gifts were extraordinary, and therefore, so also was their office. For although men who have only an ordinary call to office may have extraordinary gifts (and many had these in primitive times); and although some might have extraordinary gifts who were never called to office at all — as with some of those who spoke with tongues and worked miracles — yet where there is a concurrence of an extraordinary call and extraordinary gifts, the office is extraordinary. The power that these officers in the church were entrusted with was extraordinary; for this is a certain consequence of an extraordinary call and extraordinary gifts. And this power respected all churches in the world equally; and indeed, all persons, as the apostles also respected. But because their ministry was subordinate to that of the apostles, they were guided by them as to the particular places in which they were to exercise their power and discharge their office for a season. This is evident from Paul’s disposing of Titus as to his work and time, Tit 1.5, 3.12.701 Yet their power at no time depended on their relation to any particular place or church; nor were they ever ordained to any one place or see 702 more than another. But the extent of their employment was in every way as large as that of the apostles, both as to the world and as to the churches. Only, in their present particular disposing of themselves, it is probable that they were under the guidance of the apostles for the most part — although for their special employment, they sometimes had particular revelations and directions from the Spirit, or by the ministry of angels, as Philip had, Acts 8.26.703 And as for their work, it may be reduced to three heads:

1. To preach the gospel in all places and to all persons, as they had occasion. So Philip went down to Samaria and "preached Christ," Acts 8:5. And when the apostle Paul charges Timothy to "do the work of an evangelist," 2 Timothy 4:5, he prescribes "preaching the word in season and out of season," verse 2. And because this was incumbent in like manner on the ordinary teachers of every church, the teaching of these evangelists differed from theirs in two things:

(1.) In the extent of their work, which as we showed before, was equal to that of the apostles; because ordinary bishops, pastors, or teachers, were to feed, teach, and take care only of the special flocks which they were set over, Acts 20:17; Acts 20:28; 1Pet 5.2.704 (2.) They were obliged to labor in their work in a more than ordinary manner, as it would seem from 2Tim 4.2, 5.705

2. The second part of their work was to confirm the doctrine of the gospel by miraculous operations, as occasion required. So Philip the evangelist worked many miracles of various sorts at Samaria, in confirmation of the doctrine which he taught, Acts 8:6-7; Acts 8:13. And, in like manner, there is no question that the rest of the evangelists had the power or gift of miraculous operations, to be exercised as occasion required, and as they were guided by the Holy Ghost.

3. They were employed in settling and completing those churches whose foundations were laid by the apostles. Because they had the great work upon them of "preaching the gospel to all nations," they could not continue long or reside in any one place or church. And yet when persons were newly converted to the faith, and disposed only into an imperfect order, without any special and particular officers, guides, or rulers of their own, it was not safe leaving them to themselves, lest they be too much at a loss as to gospel order and worship.

Therefore, in those places where any churches were planted but not completed, and the design of the apostles would not allow them to continue any longer there, they left these evangelists among them for a season, who had power by virtue of their office, to dispose of things in the churches until they came to completeness and perfection. When this end was attained, and the churches were settled under ordinary elders of their own, the evangelists moved to other places as they were directed or disposed. These things are evident from the instructions given by Paul to Timothy and Titus, which all respect this order.

There are some who plead for the continuance of this office — some in express terms and under the same name; others plead for successors to them, at least in that part of their work which consists in power over many churches. Some say that bishops succeed to the apostles, and presbyters succeed to those evangelists; but this is scarcely defensible in any tolerable manner by them whose interest it is to defend it. For Timothy, whom they would claim to be a bishop, is expressly called an evangelist. What is pleaded with most probability for their continuance, is the necessity of the work in which they were employed, in the rule and settlement of the churches. But the truth is, if their whole work as described before is consulted, then just as none can perform some parts of it, so it may be that few would earnestly press to participate in their office. For to preach the word continually and do it with particular labor and travail, to move up and down [the world] as the necessity of the edification of the churches requires, doing nothing in those churches except according to the rule and appointment of Christ — these are things that not many will earnestly covet to be engaged in. But there is an apprehension that there was something more than ordinary power belonging to this office — that those who enjoyed it were not always obliged to labor in any particular church, but they had the rule of many churches committed to them. Now, because this power is apt to draw other desirable things to it, or carry them along with it, this is what some pretend to succeed to. Though they are neither called like them, nor gifted like them, nor labor like them, nor have the same object of their employment, much less the same power of extraordinary operations as they did, yet as to the rule over various churches, they must be their successors! I will therefore briefly do these two things:

1. Show that there are no such officers as these evangelists continued by the will of Christ in the ordinary state and course of the church;

2. Show that there is no need for their continuance from any work that is applied to them.

1. And thus, —

(1.) The things that are essential to the office of an evangelist are unattainable at present for the church; for where no command, no rule, no authority, no directions, are given for calling any officer, that office must cease, as does the office of the apostles, who could not be called except by Jesus Christ.

What is required for the call of an evangelist was declared before; and unless it can be manifested, either by institution or example, how anyone may otherwise be called to that office, no such office can be continued — for none will now pretend to a call by prophecy or immediate revelation, and the evangelists of old had no other call. Nor is there the least mention in the Scripture of the call or appointment of anyone to be an ecclesiastical officer in an ordinary stated church,706 except with relation to that church of which he was to be an officer. But an evangelist, as such, was not especially related to any one church more than another — though, as with the apostles themselves, they might for a time attend to the work in one place or church more than another. Therefore, without a call from the Holy Ghost, either immediately by prophecy and revelation, or by the direction of persons who are infallibly inspired, as the apostles were, none can be called to be evangelists, nor yet succeed them under any other name in that office. Therefore, the primitive church after the apostles’ time never once took it upon themselves to constitute or ordain an evangelist, knowing it was something beyond their rule and out of their power. Men may invade an office when they please; but unless they are called to it, they must account for their usurpation. As for those who have erected an office in the church, or an episcopacy, principally if not solely out of what is ascribed to these evangelists — namely, to Timothy and Titus — their claim may be attended to when they lay the least pretense to the whole of what is ascribed to those two. But "doing the work of an evangelist" is what few men care for or delight in. It is only their power and authority, in a new kind of managery,707 that many would willingly possess.

(2.) The evangelists we read of had extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, without which they could not warrantably undertake their office. We have manifested this before. Now, these extraordinary gifts — differing not only in degree but in kind from all those of the ordinary ministry of the church — are not pretended to by any at present; and if any were to make such a pretense, it would be an easy matter to convince them of their folly. But without these gifts, men must content themselves with those offices in the church which are stated with respect to every particular congregation, Acts 14:23; Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5; 1 Peter 5:1-2; Phi 1.1.708

Some, indeed, do not seem satisfied to derive their claim from Timothy and Titus as evangelists, nor from the bishops that were ordained by them or described to them. But because those bishops were none other than elders of particular churches — as evident beyond a modest denial, from Acts 20:28; Php 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1-2; 1 Timothy 3:8; Titus 1:5-9 — so certainly they cannot be of both sorts, the one being apparently superior to the other. If they are such bishops as Titus and Timothy ordained, it is well enough known what their office, work, and duty is; and if they were such as these men pretend Timothy and Titus were, then they must show it in the same call, gifts, and employment, as those two had. For —

(3.) There are not any now who pretend to their principal employment by virtue of office, nor can they do so. For it is certain that the principal work of the evangelists was to go up and down, from one place and nation to another, to preach the gospel to Jews and Gentiles who were as yet unconverted; and their commission for this purpose was as large and extensive as that of the apostles. But who will now empower anyone to this? What church, what persons, have received authority to ordain anyone to be such an evangelist? Or what rules or directions are given as to their qualifications, power, or duty, or how they should be ordained? It is true, those who are ordained ministers of the gospel, and also others who are the disciples of Christ, may and ought to preach the gospel to unconverted persons and nations as they have opportunity; and they are particularly guided by the providence of God. But it cannot be proved that any church or person has power or authority to ordain a person to this office and work.

2. Lastly. The continuance of the employment of this office, as to settling newly planted churches, is in no way necessary. For every church, being planted and settled, is entrusted with power for its own preservation and continuance in due order, according to the mind of Christ. And it is enabled to do all those things in itself, which at first were done under the guidance of the evangelists; nor can any one instance be given in which they are defective. And where any church was called and gathered in the name of Christ, which had some things still lacking for its perfection and complete order — which the evangelists were to finish and settle — they did it only in and by the power of the church itself, only presiding over and directing the things that were to be done. And if any churches, through their own default, have lost that order and power which they were once established in, just as they will never lack power in themselves to recover their pristine estate and condition if they attend to their duty to rule according to that purpose, so this would prove a necessity to raise up new evangelists, of a new extraordinary ministry, on the defection of churches, rather than prove a necessity for their continuance in a church that is rightly stated and settled.

Besides these evangelists there were also prophets, who had a temporary, extraordinary ministry in the church. Their grant from Christ, or their institution in the church, is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:28, and Ephesians 4:11; and the exercise of their ministry is declared in Acts 13.1-2.709 But the terms prophets and prophecy are used variously in the New Testament: —

1. Sometimes an extraordinary office and extraordinary gifts are signified by them;

2. Sometimes extraordinary gifts only;

3. Sometimes an ordinary office with ordinary gifts, and sometimes ordinary gifts only. And the use of the word may be reduced everywhere to one of these heads:

1. In the places mentioned, extraordinary officers endowed with extraordinary gifts are intended; for they are said to be "set in the church," and are placed in the second rank of officers, next to the apostles, "first apostles, secondarily prophets," 1 Corinthians 12:28, and between apostles and evangelists, in Ephesians 4:11. Two things are ascribed to them:

(1.) They received immediate revelations and directions from the Holy Ghost in things that belonged to the present duty of the church. It was to them that the Holy Ghost revealed his mind, and gave commands concerning the separation of Barnabas and Saul to their work, Acts 13:2.

(2.) They foretold things to come, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, in which the duty or edification of the church was concerned. So Agabus the prophet foretold the famine in the days of Claudius Cæsar. Upon this prophecy, provision was made for "the poor saints at Jerusalem," so that they might not suffer by it, Acts 11:28-30. And the same person afterward prophesied of the bonds and sufferings of Paul at Jerusalem, Acts 21:10-11. And it being of the highest concern to the church, it seems the same thing was revealed to the prophets in most churches. For so Paul himself gives an account of it: "And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will befall me there, save what the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me," Acts 20:22-23 — that is, in all the cities he passed through where there were churches planted and prophets in them. The churches then stood in need of these things for their confirmation, direction, and comfort. And therefore, I suppose, most of them were supplied with such officers for a season — that is, while they were needful. And though prophets were expressly affirmed to be "set in the church," and placed between the apostles and the evangelists, no one that I know of, pretends a succession to this office. All grant that prophets were extraordinary, because their gift and work were extraordinary; so too were those of evangelists. But there is no mention of the power and rule of those prophets, or else undoubtedly we would have had successors provided for them, on one pretense or other!

2. Sometimes this expression intends an extraordinary gift, without an office. So it is said that Philip the evangelist "had four daughters, virgins, who prophesied," Acts 21:9. It is not said that they were prophetesses, as there were some under the Old Testament;710 only that "they prophesied;" that is, they occasionally had revelations from the Holy Ghost for the use of the church. For to prophesy is nothing but to declare hidden and secret things by virtue of immediate revelation, of whatever nature they may be; and so the word is commonly used in Matthew 26:68; Luk 22.64.711 So an extraordinary gift without an office is expressed in Acts 19:6 : "When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied." Their prophesying, which was their declaration of spiritual things by immediate revelation, was of the same nature as speaking with tongues; both were extraordinary gifts and operations of the Holy Ghost. Miracles, healings, and tongues were of this sort, which God set for a time in the church. They did not constitute distinct officers in the church, but they were only various persons in each church who were endowed with these extraordinary gifts for its edification. And therefore they are placed after teachers, comprising both, which were the principal sort of the ordinary, continuing officers of the church, 1Cor 12.28.712 I consider those prophets mentioned in 1Cor 14.29-33,713 to be of this sort. For it is evident from the context, that they were neither stated officers in the churches, nor the brethren of the church promiscuously,714 but those who had received a special extraordinary gift. See verses 30, 31.

3. Again, an ordinary office with ordinary gifts is intended by this expression: Romans 12:6, "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us; if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith." Prophecy here can intend nothing but teaching or preaching in the exposition and application of the word. For an external rule is given to it: it must be done according to the "proportion of faith," or the sound doctrine of faith revealed in the Scripture. This ever was, and will ever continue to be, the work and duty of the ordinary teachers of the church. They are enabled for this by the gifts of Christ, which they receive by the Holy Ghost, Eph 4.7;715 we will see more of this afterward. And hence also, those who are not called to office, but who have received a gift enabling them to declare the mind of God in the Scripture, for the edification of others, may be said to "prophesy."

I thought it fitting to interpose these things, with a brief description of those officers which the Lord Jesus Christ granted to his church for a season (at its first planting and establishment), with what belonged to their office, and the necessity of their work. For the bestowal of these gifts on the church, and their whole furnishing with spiritual gifts, was the immediate work of the Holy Ghost, which is what we are declaring. And with this, it was my design to manifest how vain the pretense is of some, to a kind of succession to these officers, by those who have neither an extraordinary call, nor extraordinary gifts, nor extraordinary employment, but are only pleased to assume an extraordinary power for themselves over the churches and disciples of Christ. It is such a power that neither evangelists, nor prophets, nor apostles, ever claimed or made use of. But this matter of power is fuel in itself for the proud, ambitious minds of Diotrephists.716 As it is now circumstanced, with other advantages, it is useful to the corrupt lusts of men. And therefore, it is no wonder that power is pretended to and greedily reached after, by those who really have neither a call to the ministry, nor gifts for it, nor who employ themselves in it. The original glory and honor of the churches, in a special manner, consisted in these extraordinary officers and their gifts; it was by them, that the edification of the churches was carried on and perfected. And therefore, by an empty pretense to their power, without their order and spirit, the churches have been stained, and deformed, and brought to destruction. But we must return to the consideration of extraordinary spiritual gifts, which is the special work before us.