Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

magisterial, some ministerial. Magisterial were the offices of
preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of God to infidels; of
administering the sacraments and divine service; and of teaching the
rules of faith and manners to those that were converted. Ministerial
was the office of deacons, that is, of them that were appointed to the
administration of the secular necessities of the Church, at such
time as they lived upon a common stock of money, raised out of the
voluntary contributions of the faithful.
Amongst the officers Amongst the officer magisterial, the first
and principal were the Apostles, whereof there were at first but
twelve; and these were chosen and constituted by our Saviour
himself; and their office was not only to preach, teach, and
baptize, but also to be martyrs (witnesses of our Saviour's
resurrection). This testimony was the specifical and essential mark
whereby the apostleship was distinguished from other magistracy
ecclesiastical; as being necessary for an Apostle either to have
seen our Saviour after his resurrection or to have conversed with
him before, and seen his works, and other arguments of his divinity,
whereby they might be taken for sufficient witnesses. And therefore at
the election of a new Apostle in the place of Judas Iscariot, St.
Peter saith, "Of these men that have companied with us, all the time
that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the
baptism of John unto that same day that he was taken up from us,
must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection":*
where by this word must is implied a necessary property of an Apostle,
to have companied with the first and prime Apostles in the time that
our Saviour manifested himself in the flesh.
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* Acts, 1. 21, 22
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The first Apostle of those which were not constituted by Christ in
the time he was upon the earth was Matthias, chosen in this manner:
there were assembled together in Jerusalem about one hundred and
twenty Christians.* These appointed two, Joseph the Just and
Matthias,*(2) and caused lots to be drawn; "and the lot fell on
Matthias, and he was numbered with the apostles."*(3) So that here
we see the ordination of this Apostle was the act of the congregation,
and not of St. Peter, nor of the eleven, otherwise than as members
of the assembly.
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* Acts, 1. 15
*(2) Ibid., 1. 23
*(3) Ibid., 1. 26
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After him there was never any other Apostle ordained, but Paul and
Barnabas, which was done, as we read, in this manner: "There were in
the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers; as
Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene,
and Manaen; which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and
Saul. As they ministered unto the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost
said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have
called them. And when they had fasted, and prayed, and laid their
hands on them, they sent them away."*
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* Acts, 13. 1, 2, 3
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By which it is manifest that though they were called by the Holy