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THE

KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

XXXI. LORD'S DAY.

Matt. xvi. 19. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoevor thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.

Q. 83. What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?

A. The preaching of the holy gospel, and Christian discipline, or excommunication out of the Christian church; by these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers, and shut against unbelievers.

Q. 84. How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preach ing of the holy gospel?

A. Thus; when according to the command of Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to all and every believer, that whenever they receive the promise of the gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven them of God, for the sake of Christ's merits: and on the contrary, when it is declared and testified to all unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent, that they stand exposed to the wrath of God, and eternal condemnation, so long as they are unconverted: according to which testimony of the gospel, God will judge them, both in this, and the life to come.

Q. 85. How is the kingdom of heaven shut and opened by Christian discipline?

A. Thus; When according to the command of Christ, those who under the name of Christians maintain doctrines or practices inconsistent therewith, will not after having been often brotherly admonished, renounce their errours and wicked course of life, are complained of to the church, or to those who are thereunto appointed by the church and if they despise their admonition, are by them forbid the use of the sacraments; whereby they are excluded from the Christian church, and by God himself from the kingdom of Christ; and when they promise and show real amendment, are again received as members of Christ and his church.

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HEN the signs of the Lord's supper were about to be distributed in the primitive church, the deacon cried, "The holy things are for them who are holy." The holy are indeed the only proper persons to partake of that which is holy, and they only can use it in a holy manner, as it ought to be used, while the unholy profane whatsoever is holy: "Unto the pure all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled, and unbelieving, is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled," saith Paul, Titus i. 15. No uncircumcised person, nor any who was unclean by a dead carcase, might eat of the holy passover under the Old Testament. No man had liberty to minister in holy things, until he was first sanctified for that purpose; yea, to the end that no unholy person might enter into the tabernacle or temple, door-keepers were appointed, who re moved the unclean therefrom. The priests were appointed censors of uncleanness, to distinguish between persons and things that were clean and unclean, that nothing which was unclean might appear be fore the Lord. These things were enjoined indeed until the time of reformation, and are now abolished; but the Lord doth not therefore choose that things, which are more essentially holy, should be administered to the unholy: no, they may be dispensed only to the holy, and they must be withholden from the unholy: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again, and rend you," saith the Saviour to the apostles, Matt. vii. 6. He hath therefore given to his ministers the power of the keys, that they may admit none but the holy into his kingdom, and may shut out the unholy, according to our text. The instructor, having taught in the foregoing Lord's day, that the holy supper was instituted only

for the holy, showeth also that the church must shut out by the keys of the kingdom of heaven those who give public evidence of their anholiness. The instructor having proposed this in general, explains it at large in this Lord's day by two particulars; he shows, 1. What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Q. 83. II. How they must be used, Q. 84, 85.

1. By the kingdom of heaven the scripture understands often, and thus also in the text, the church of the Lord, of which he speaks in the 18th verse; for Jesus Christ, the King, is the Lord from heaven, who hath made that Jerusalem his throne, to which his heavenly subjects, the believers, the saints of the high places, have access, to obtain there by their heavenly prayers, the heavenly benefits of righteousness, peace and joy through the Holy Ghost, of the heavenly King, in order to serve him according to his heavenly laws, and by means of this kingdom to inherit a still higher kingdom of heaven.

This heavenly kingdom is shut against the sinner: the Lord sent him out of Paradise in his father Adam; but when the Lord God erects this kingdom on earth for his Son, he opens an access to it for the elect sinner, that his Son may have the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. He hath therefore given to the ministers of his kingdom the keys of that kingdom; they are certainly not material, but, according to the nature of the church, heavenly keys, a heavenly and ecclesiastical power to rule the church, to open it to the penitent, and to shut it against the impenitent; as in the affairs of a house, when we intrust the management of a house to a person, we deliver to him for that end the keys of the house, that he may admit into it all those who belong to it, and may open all the hidden treasures of it, and that he may shut all strangers out of it, and lock up all the goods of it. Thus also the power to govern the state is expressed by keys; when the Lord appointed "Eliakim treasurer and steward of the palace, committing the government into his hands," he said, "I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open;" Isaiah xxii. 15, 20-22. Therefore the keys of the kingdom of heaven are the power to govern that kingdom, even the church. This power is either the supreme power, which the Father hath given to his Son alone: for God hath put all things under his feet, and hath given him to be the head over all things to the church," according to Eph. i. 22. He hath the keys of hell and of death," and " he hath," more than Eliakim, "the key of David: for he opens, and no man

shuts, and he shuts and no man opens," Rev. i. 18. iii. 7, or a power subordinate to him, and ministerial, which his ministers receive of him, agreeably to what he saith in the text.

The Remonstrants deny that the church hath such a power, distinct from the civil power; for seeing that the church would not suffer them, on account of their doctrine, they sought their help in the gates, and in order to flatter the magistrates, they surrendered the power of the church to them, and said that all the power of the church depended upon the higher powers, that the rules of the church ought to be enacted by the magistrates or in virtue of their authority over her, and that they ought therefore also to appoint and depose the ministers of the church; but the reformed church opposed this doctrine, and said that the church possessed such a ministerial power, distinct from the power of the magistrates, to govern herself, to elect her ministers and rulers according to the word of God, and when they conducted themselves amiss in doctrine or life, to reject them.

That the church possesses such a power, distinct from the civil power of the magistrates, appears (a) from the text, in which Christ, as king of Zion, commits the power of the keys, not to the magistrates, but to his apostles only. (b) Under the Old Testament the power of the church was distinct from the civil power : "Amariah the chief priest was ruler in all the matters of the Lord; and Zebadiah in all the matters of the king," 2 Chron. xix. 8, 11. When Uzziah undertook to perform the work of a priest, he incurred the displeasure of the Lord, 2. Chron. xxvi. 16-21. It is true, the godly kings exercised sometimes a considerable jurisdiction in the affairs of the church, but many of them were also prophets, and thus also ecclesiastical persons, who had an extraordinary revelation for this purpose: moreover, those kings did not take upon themselves that jurisdiction in the affairs of the church, except in times of uncommon declension, in order to reform the church, which is now still the duty of the magistrates: but it doth not follow therefrom, that the magistrates have a sovereign power over the church, any more than it follows, that ecclesiastical persons have a sovereign power over the state, because Jehoiada in his time reformed, and restored the state, 2 Chron. xi. and because priests also sat in the great Sanhedrim, which judged in all legal and capital cases. (c) Paul teacheth us still more clearly the power of the church when he saith, 2 Cor. x. 8, "Though I should boast somewhat more of our power, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your des struction, I should not be ashamed." The church hath then a power, VOL. II.

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not from the magistrates, but from the Lord. The same apostle saith that he should use sharpness according to that power,” 2 Cor. xii. 10. (d) The Lord himself hath ordained certain officers in his church, which therefore intimateth a power to govern the church, as of ministers and stewards" 1 Cor. iv. 1, "governments," 1 Cor. xii. 23, ambassadours" 2 Cor v. 20, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers," Eph. iv. 11. "overseers," 1 Thess. v. 14, "rulers, watchmen," Heb. xiii 17, "bishops, stewards of God," Tit. i. 7 (e) Doth not even the nature of the case teach this? the power of the magistrates relates only to the kingdom of nature, but the power of the church relates to the kingdom of grace, the power of the magistrates extends only to the bodily condition of the citizens; but that of the church to the spiritual condition of her members; the power of the magistrates is a lordly power, but that of the church is a ministerial power, not under the magistrates, but under Christ, 1 Cor. iv. 1. The office of the magistrate can be administered by a heathen, but no ecclesiastical office can be so administered.

It is of no avail to say that all magistrates have not a power over the church, but only the Christian magistrates; for Christianity belongs not to the nature of the magistracy, since otherwise no heathen could administer that office, contrary to Rom. xiii. 1—6.

Moreover, the power and government of the church doth not effect a kingdom within a kingdom, the power of the church subverting that of the magistrate; for then family government, which is distinct from civil government, would also be contrary to the government of the magistrates.

But they say, "kings are," according to Isaiah xlix. 23, "nursing fathers, and their queens nursing mothers of the church." Have they therefore any Lordship over the church? if so, then the wives of the magistrates have also such an authority. Is nursing the church, exercising authority over her? the passage alledged doth not surely assert this, but only that the great men of the world should be favourable to the church, not by exercising authority over ber, but by submitting themselves willingly to her. The original hath not lords, but only nurses, and it is added, "They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet." This hath but little resemblance to power, authority, and lordship over the church.

We do not however agree with the Papists, who have introduced a lordly power into the church, not only in ecclesiastical, but also in civil matters, in an antichristian manner; yea, they do not allow

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