Acts 6

Malchus's ear cut, restituit. 2. Clarity and splendor: the bodies of the saints shall have a graceful majesty in them; they shall be like Stephen, whose face shined as if it had been the face of an angel (Acts 6:15). Indeed they shall be made like Christ's glorious body (Philipp…

An intelligent Christian can [in non-Latin alphabet], convince gainsayers. This wisdom of the serpent was eminently in Stephen (Acts 6:9). There arose certain of the Synagogue, disputing with Stephen, and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

Fourthly, looke to their discipline, and you may see the Apostles, prophets, evangelists, presbyters, pastors, teachers, first, teaching; secondly, exhorting; thirdly, ruling: and all by, first, preaching, secondly, writing, thirdly, private conference, fourthly, good examples:…

Quest. 17. Which are the principal institutions of the Gospel to be observed in the worship of God? Answ. (1.) The calling, gathering and setling of Churches with their Officers, as the seat and subject of all other solemn instituted worship. (2.) Prayer with thanksgiving. (3.)…

(4.) They differ also in the gifts which were suited to their several distinct works and employments. (1) Matthew 10:2; Luke 10:1; Galatians 1:1; Acts 1:26; Acts 6:3; Acts 14:23. (2) John 20:21, 22, 23; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 2:20; Revelation 21:14; Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5, 7.

Quest. 33. What are the Deacons of the Church? Answ. Approved men chosen by the Church to take care for the necessities of the poor belonging thereunto, and other outward occasions of the whole Church, by the collection, keeping, and distribution of the alms, and other supplies…

Q. How must officers be put into their places? A. All of them by solemn prayer to God, and with imposition of hands upon elders and deacons, and in the ordaining of elders with fasting also (Acts 6:6; 1 Timothy 4:14; 5:22; Hebrews 6:2; Acts 14:26).

And this in the Church is twofold: (1) Of especial office; (2) of common love and charity. The rise, occasion and institution of an especial office or ministry towards the poor is at large declared, Acts 6, and mentioned afterwards by our Apostle as an abiding ordinance (Romans…

And this was the occasion of the death of the first martyr of Jesus Christ under the accusation of blasphemy, which by the Law was to be punished with death. For this they made their charge against Stephen, that he spake blasphemous words against Moses, (whom they put in the fir…

This was the sign of the communication of healing virtue from the Lord Christ by their Ministry. Thirdly, Imposition of hands was used in the setting apart of persons to the office and work of the Ministry (1 Timothy 4:14; chapter 5:22; Acts 6:6); the Rite herein was derived fro…

This was that which enraged them, to the blood of the Church, which they were guilty of, after the murder of the Head thereof. For they fell on Stephen under pretence he had said that Jesus of Nazareth should destroy the customs which Moses delivered (Acts 6:14). And this also p…

Of no other use is that dead and lazy kind of preaching wherewith some satisfy themselves and would force others to be contented. The Apostles when this work was committed to them, would not be diverted from a constant attendance to it, by any other duty, much less any other occ…

Yet it is not impossible with God to make such a one deny himself, and that whatever in him exalts itself against Christ, should be brought in captivity to the obedience of Christ. Among all that were converted by the ministry of the Apostles, I wonder most at the conversion of…

The second Commandment forbids taking up ways and forms of worship from idolaters, and it must needs be a great encouragement and hardening to the Papists, that their Mass is the foundation of our worship. 4. It undermines that great ordinance of the ministry, the principal duti…

The truth whereof may appear by two reasons: First, because all Christians have power and right, jure divino, to choose their own officers to whom they commit their souls (Acts 6 & 1 & 14:23), where the word [in non-Latin alphabet] imports choosing by election: and so the word i…

He was judged and sentenced by those, that is by the Pastors and Elders of Corinth, howbeit the execution and final act of that high censure was to be with the consent and in the presence of the Congregation. Thirdly, it is objected that Matthias was chosen by the whole number o…

Besides whom, there were yet more multitudes added (Acts 5:14). And after that also, we read of a further multiplication of the Disciples (Acts 6:1), by occasion whereof the seven Deacons were chosen and ordained: which makes some to conjecture, that there were seven congregatio…

It is not a little burthensome to the thought of sober and learned men, to consider how frequently, causelesly, absurdly in the midst of discourses quite of another nature, and tendncy, the Author of those Epistles (or some body for him) breaks in upon the commendation of Church…

The ninth section, wherein he attempts the proof of this assertion, is as followeth. Ad hanc imaginem, Apostolo[illegible] Ecclesias ubique disponendas curasse, & in omnbus plantationibus su[illegible], minorum ab [illegible]m[illegible]ioribus civitatibus dependentiam & subordi…

That those, who are to be taken into office and power in the Church, had need first to be tried and approved, is granted. And this work the Apostles give to the multitude of the Church, Acts 6, where yet after the people's election, and the Apostles' approbation, and the trial o…

In this we should delight and grow as the chiefest knowledge (Jeremiah 9:23, 24). Here is forbidden, first atheism, to persuade our heart there is no such true God in heaven (Psalm 14:1; Exodus 5:2); mockers of him and his works (2 Peter 3:4, 5, etc.); those that oppose themselv…

And some of them to labor also in the word, one by teaching, another by exhorting, some to attend to manners, watching over the people, to admonish them, to comfort them, to pray with them when they be in distress, etc., to join with the others in the rest of the governing of th…

Proposition 2. Conviction turned to malice, becomes a devil; the Pharisees convinced, go on against heaven, and the operation of the Holy Ghost. And the Jews saw the face of Stephen, as it had been the face of an Angel (Acts 6:15). Yet Acts 7:57-58, they run on him, and stone hi…

So here: it is God that justifies, and Christ that died — they are both of them set forth as the foundation of a believer's confidence. So elsewhere, faith is called a believing on him (namely God) that justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5), and a believing on Christ (Acts 6). Ther…

1. It must be granted that this shining of Christ's countenance as the sun while he prayed was extraordinary, and a dispensation peculiar to the Son of God; so also was the shining of Moses' face while he conversed with God in the mount (Exodus 34:29-30), and for ordinary Christ…

So Matthew 25:44: "When saw we you hungry, etc., and did not minister to you?" The name of deacons is derived hence, as they served tables or provided meat for the poor (Acts 6:2). So Luke 10:40: "My sister has left me, [illegible], to serve alone," meaning, to prepare provision…

In these words the Apostle dos iterate the conclusion propounded in the sixt verse, as also in the ninth verse immediately going before; that we should doe the good we can, while we have time; and withall he dos illustrate it both by the obiect to whome we must doe good, and by…

What? Have you forgotten, brethren, that the Apostles ordained the Deacons, Acts 6:6. by Prayer and imposition of hands? That the Apostle Paul laid his hands on Timothy?

5. The promise annexed to it (Ecclesiastes 11:1; Proverbs 19:17; Deuteronomy 15:10; Matthew 10:4, 2). The way whereby it is to be done, is by appointing some (Acts 6) to take what is voluntarily distributed by the brethren, according as God has blessed them; on the first day of…

Sometimes it denotes any matter or thing, be it good or evil; as Matthew 5:11, 12, 36. 18:16. Mark 9:22. Luke 1:37. 2:15, 18, 34. A word of blessing by providence (Matthew 4:4); any word spoken (Matthew 26:75. 27:14. Luke 9:45); of promise (Luke 1:38); and [〈 in non-Latin alphab…

In this Apologie of Christ, for his behauiour towards the Law; obserue, what malice some of the Iewes, especially the Scribes and Pharises, bare unto him: for Christ was the Author of the Law, and yet they maliciously suspect and charge him with the abrogation therof; so as he i…

These Greeks were foreign Jews and proselytes, as is evident by their coming to worship at the feast of the Passover. The Jews that lived abroad among the Greeks, and spoke their language, were called Greeks or Hellenists: so they are called Grecians, Acts 6:1. These Grecians he…

Now the Holy Spirit, the Comforter dwells in the children of God not personally, though he be said to dwell in them, and to speak in them. 1. In the habit and divine power, given to them to confess Christ before men (Matthew 10:19; Acts 4:8), or in preaching, working of miracles…

O no; I laboured more abundantly; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Acts 6:10, And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which Steven spoke. He says not they were not able to resist and dispute against the sinful man Steven.

I desire you to correct and curb swearing, lying, drinking, Sabbath-breaking, and idle spending of the Lord's day in absence from the church, as far as your authority reaches in that parish. I hear a man is to be forced into the place to which I have God's right; I know you shou…

Sir, I recommend you to the thoughts of death, and how you would wish your soul to be when you shall lie cold, blue, ill-smelling clay. For any hireling to be intruded, I being the king's prisoner cannot say much, but as God's minister I desire you to read Acts 2:15-16 to the en…

Besides, let a man consider what he does in these services that immediately concern the Lord himself. If a man shall study much, and pray little; if a man shall spend all his time in his calling about worldly business, and little time for duties to build up himself in knowledge,…

Holy Stephen, the first Martyr, took up somewhat of glory by anticipation before he died. For when he was brought to his trial before the Council, all that sat therein looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as the face of an Angel (Acts 6:15). He had his transfiguration, accor…

The face of Moses shone (Exodus 34:30), and he was the meekest of all the men on earth. The face of Stephen shone (Acts 6:15), and he it was, who in the midst of a shower of stones, so meekly submitted, and prayed for his persecutors. The face of our Lord Jesus shone in his tran…

Hence when our Savior promises the Spirit to his disciples to be present with them for the conviction of the world, he tells them he will give them a mouth and wisdom which their adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist, Luke 21:15. Concerning which, in the accomplishm…

A nation may be said to be converted, from the professed subjection to the Gospel of so many in it, as may give demonstration to the whole; but the way of worship for those so converted, is peculiarly instituted. It is said moreover, that the several congregations in one city, a…

For says David, who had so much acquaintance, When I shall have learned. The professors of the Christian Religion were primitively called Disciples or Learners (Acts 6:2 [illegible]), The multitude of the Disciples; there seems to be the true definition of a Church, the genus an…

If so, then some must have a gift, either to prepare set forms of Psalms aforehand for every Sabbath day; or at least a gift, upon the present occasion, suddenly to invent and utter a Psalm fit for the present Sabbath from week to week: neither of both which are easy to be belie…

Let our application go so well guarded and fenced against all exceptions and cavils that a sinner may not be able to rescue himself or make an escape by carnal reason. As (Acts 6:10), it's said they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. (Matthew 22…

Live as kings; let the majesty of holiness appear in your faces. Those who looked on Stephen saw his face as it had been the face of an angel (Acts 6:15). A kind of angelic brightness was seen in his face.

This is faith, when a man comes in that case to set his faith aworke, that it may set him the right way that he is to goe in, which way he is to turne. And so, put the case that GOD brings you to such a case, that you are in danger of prison in danger of death, in danger of the…

So the Priests, Prophets, and People in taking Jeremiah and saying he shall surely die, and that he is worthy to die, they pretend not to pass sentence upon enquiring by Vrim, but upon his prophesying in the name of the Lord, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall…

Obj. 1. Then shall Gospel-obedience be of less worth than law-obedience, which flows not from grace, which Christ has merited by his death? Ans. It's not denied, but it is obedience, so the Scripture (Hebrews 5:9; Romans 1:5; Romans 6:17; Romans 16:19; 2 Corinthians 10:5; 1 Pete…

And if any other were among them, whom our Savior prayed for, they might be converted afterwards. Neither were the Rulers, without the compass of the fruits of this prayer, for a great company of the Priests were obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7). So that nothing can possibly be…

Holy Stephen, the first martyr, took up something of glory by anticipation before he died. For when he was brought to his trial before the council, all who sat there, looking intently at him, saw his face as the face of an angel (Acts 6:15). He had his transfiguration, according…