r 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
Church is of divine right; for, of those _Governments_, as well as of
_Apostles, Prophets_, and _Teachers_, it is said, _God hath set_ them
_in the Church. God hath set_ them, _hath put, set_--Tremellius out of
the Syriac. Hath _constituted, ordained_--Beza out of the Greek. Now, if
they be set in the Church and God hath set them there, here is a plain
divine right for government in the Church.

Add hereto, 2 Cor. x. 8, "Of our authority, which the Lord hath given to
us for the edification, and not for the destruction of you." Here are
mentioned--1. Church power or authority for government in the Church. 2.
The end of this power--positively, for the edification; negatively, not
for the destruction of the Church. 3. The Author or Fountain of this
authority--the Lord Christ hath given it, dispensed it; there is the
divine right. 4. The proper subjects intrusted with this authority, viz:
the church guides, our authority, which he hath given to us. They are
the receptacle of power for the Church, and the government thereof.
Compare also 1 Thes. v. 12, Matth. xvi. 19, 20, with xviii. 11, and John
xx. 21, 22, 23. In which an