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To keep the Officers of the Church in subordination to the whole Church or community;* 1.1 and not to suffer them to get head over it: seeing the very nature of ruling the Church, is not Dominion, but Service. We reade, Act. 11. 2. that when Peter had preached in
the house of Cornelius,* 1.2 a Gentile or Heathen, the Church of the circumcision, to whom Peter was Minister, contended with him, that he went in to men uncircumcised, and did eate with them (for as yet they knew not that the Gentiles were to be called) And Peter was fain to give an account to them of the whole matter, and to shew them, that he was warned of God in a Vision, to do so, &c. And this was a sign, that Peter was a servant of the Church, and in subordination to it, and no Lord over it. And after, vers. 22. when the Church at Jerusalem heard, that the Grecians at Antioch had received the Gospel, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to for∣ward and perfect the Work. And also the Church at Antioch sent forth Paul and Barnabas, to the work of the Ministry in divers Towns and Countries. All which are an evident sign, that the Church was above the Officers, and not the Officers above the Church.
Now this also will preserve peace in the Church, to keep the Officers in their proper place, and to let them remain as servants in the Church, which Christ hath commanded; and not to let them grow up to be Lords and Masters, which Christ (knowing the evil and inconvenience thereof) hath forbidden. For if the Officers get above the Church, though they be never so good, they are master∣ful and troublesome; and though never so bad, yet will they get a party in the Church for themselves, and so work disturbance; but if the Church remain as it ought, above the Officers, it quits them when they grow evil and unruly, and chooses better in their stead, and so preserves union. Whereas fixed and unmoveable Officers, when they do degenerate, are the causes of all disturbances and con∣fusions, both in Church and State.
The true Church keeps its Officers in subordination to it self.
Regendae Ec∣clesiae ratio, n••n imperium est, sed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.