Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/154

150 themselves, lest any one, through lust or inadvertence, should allow offences against order: and this may be best effected by an appointment of superior and inferior governors, who shall be subject to the laws of subordination. Governors in matters ecclesiastic, or such as relate to men's concerns with heaven, are called Priests, Ministers, or Preachers; and their office is called the Priesthood or Ministry. But governors in civil matters, or such as relate to men's concerns with the world, are called Magistrates; and their chief, where such a form of government prevails, is called a King, or an Emperor. With respect to the office of priests, they are to teach men the way to heaven, and likewise to lead them therein: they are to teach them according to the doctrine of their church from the Word, and to lead them to live according to such doctrine. Such priests as inculcate truths, and thereby lead their flocks to the good of life, and so to the Lord, are the good shepherds: but such priests, as only teach, but do not lead to the good of life, and so to the Lord, are the evil shepherds.

Priests ought not to claim to themselves any power over the souls of men, because they know not the state of man's interiors: much less ought they to claim the power of opening and shutting heaven, as that power belongs to the Lord alone. Dignity and honour are due to priests, on account of the sanctity of their office: but a wise priest ascribes all such honour to the Lord, from whom all sanctity proceeds, and not to himself: whereas an unwise priest applies it to himself, and thus takes it away from the Lord. They who ascribe honour to themselves, on account of the sanctity of their office, prefer honour and wealth to the salvation of souls; but they