is, of one; besides, he speaks here of the Church in such a latitude as
to comprehend in itself all gifts of the Spirit, all members, and all
officers, both extraordinary and ordinary, which cannot be meant of the
church of Corinth, or any one particular church, but only of that one
general Church on earth. 3. That this general visible Church here meant,
is the Church of Christ now under the New Testament, and not under the
Old Testament; for he mentions here the New Testament officers only,
ver. 28. 4. That in the visible Church now under the New Testament,
there is a government settled; for besides _Apostles, Prophets_, and
_Teachers_, here is mention of another sort of officer distinct from
them all, called, in the abstract, _Governments_, a metaphor from
pilots, mariners, or shipmasters, who by their helm, card, or compass,
cables, and other tacklings, guide, and order, turn and twine the ship
as necessity shall require; so these officers called _Governments_, have
a power of governing and steering the spiritual vessel of the Church;
thus, Beza on this place, says he declares the order of Presbyters, _who
are keepers of discipline and church polity_. For how improperly should
these, or any officers be styled _Governments in the Church_, if they
had not a power of government in the Church settled upon them? Nor can
this be interpreted of the civil magistrate; for, when the Apostle wrote
this, the Church had her government, when yet she had no civil
magistrate to protect her; and when did God ever take this power from
the Church and settle it upon the civil magistrate? Besides, all the
other officers here enumerated are purely ecclesiastical officers; how
groundless then and inconsistent is it under this name of _Governments_
to introduce a foreign power, viz. the political magistrate, into the
list and roll of mere church officers? Finally, the civil magistrate, as
a magistrate, is not so much as a member of the visible Church, (for
then all Pagan magistrates should be members of the Church,) much less a
governor in the Church of Christ. 5. That this government settled in the