2 An Expojition of the Epift!e ------~~~~~~ ~ Apol\les are therefore entitled the fouttdatiou the Church is built on, Ephe{ 2,20, Serm.l. which Office accordmgly had many extraordmary Pnv!ledges annexed to Jt, fuit– v-v""'-.1 ed (as all the CaUilzgs by God, and his In!htutions, are) to aruin that end, which was fo extraordinary : As namely tmtimited11e{s of Comm1.ffio11 to teach a/INatio11s, Mattb. z8. •9· They likewife had an ltifa/Jibilityapdunerrmg– (•J ""·" 11e[s, whether in their Preaching (.• ), or inWriti11g (b), which was abfo- ,g. lutely nece!fary for them to have? feeing they were to lay the Foundauon to all <1 1 ) "If '3· Ages, I Cor. ~· IO. Although m their perfonal walkmgs they might err, as ~.~:P~',e't,h Peter did, Gal. 2. II. And further, they bad Authorityand Jurijdtffioncorn– there verr" mitted to them, as Elders in any Church, where Providence fuould call them, ••eerher.J 2 Cor. "· z8. together with Authority and Power therein, 2 Cor. 4• 21. and I'lht/Jo2o1Jo *As therehe urged, that they had heard. 2 Cor. IO. 8. And . Thirdly, This our Apol\le had this fpecial Grace and Honour from God vouch· fafed him above moll of the Apollles, to be particularly moved and in– fpired by the Holy Gholl, the Confcience of his own duty concurring, to edifie not only the prefent Churches then extant, but to write Epillles to leave them to the Ages to come, which every Apoflle did not; and there were none that did write any part of Scripture, but as, and when they were moved by the Holy Gho!l, asPeter tells us, 2 Pet. I. 21. As 110 Prophejie came i11 the 0/dTtme, i.e. under the Old Te!lament, by the wiP of ma11: but holy mm Jpake, and fo by like reafon wrote M they were movtd 6y the Holy Ghojl; and thus 'tis under the New as well as under the Old. But God was pleafed to ufe this man to la– bour more than they all. We owe the third part of the New Tellament to him : Jnfomuch , as he wrote Epiflles to fome by fpecial and perfonal Infpiration, whom he never faw in the llefh, as theColoffialls. And this practice of affixing hi< Name and Office to his Epi!lles, as well as the Epi!lles themfelves, is greatly to be heeded by usthatdocomeinafterAges. Excepting that tot~e He6rews for a fJ?ecial Reafon, .n~t fetting down his Office of Apofile, wh1ch m two or three Ept!lles, where tt IS lefs needed, IS omitted alfo. It is to be heeded, I fay, by us in after Ages, for it has this inllruction in it, (which was his fcope of doing it) that as the matter of them did bind and oblige thofe whom he wrote to, fo all Saints in after Ages to r.ome, for they do Inherit thefe and other Apoflles Writings, to own them, and embrace them, and toobferve what is written in them, as of a Divine Authority, the Word of God, as well as of man, and as intended to all Saints and Faithful in Chri!l Je– fus, as well as thofe at Ephef.u. As thofe Jn!lances declare, that the Epiftle that was writ to the ChurchofColoffu;-, Pau/commands to be read to the Church of Laodicea. The Infcription likewife to the Church at Corinth commands the fame ; To the Chtm!J of Cori11th, with a/J that call 011 the Name of the Lord, 6oth thfirs andours, I Cor. 1. 1. l . Know therefore, that when you read any Epi!lle, the whole weight of their .Apo!lolical Spirit and Authority in them is to fall upon all our Confciences and Spirits; as it did on theirs,unto thefe purpofes,both to a!fure our hearts of the un– erring truth of every tittle of them, and their word in their writings to be as true as God is true, 2 Cor. I. q, 18. As alfo to receive all their Injunctions, and commands therein, as coming with the fame Apo!lolical Authority, that it did to thofe to whom they were by name written ; and as immediately war• ranting us in all thofe practices, which their living commands did put them up– on; Inaword, to fpeakinthewordsofthe Apoflle to the Thejjalonians, To t'tctivethem a/J M the Word of God, even as if we had heard themoutofPaurs own mouth, *which work as effectually in you that believe, as it did in them. So that as in thefe their writings we enjoy thefe Apoflles Minillry, and fuall tq the end of the World, Matth. 28. ult. and are therefore faid to believe through their word, .1oh. I 7,20. In like manner their ordinary Directions to Believers to any duty belonging to them, to become Churches, or jorn themfelves to Churches; or elfe to Churches how to demean themfelves, left us in their Epi• files, or the Ads of the Apo!lles recorded, have the fame Authority to bind us, ast~ey didthem, and he gives the fame warrants and commands to us, which thetr Perfons, by living voice, did to thofe Saints in their Times; which their very Commiffion, Matth, 28. 19. holds forth to us, Go and trarh thrm to o6jfr'lJI
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