, and then how
could he have given them to his apostles, being officers in the Church
really distinct from the magistrate?

3. Because Jesus Christ, in giving the keys of the kingdom, gave not any
one sort, act, part, or piece of the keys severally, but the whole power
of the keys, all the sorts and acts thereof jointly. Therefore it is
said, _I give the keys of the kingdom_--and _whatsoever thou shalt
bind--whatsoever thou shalt loose--whose soever sins ye remit--whose
soever sins ye retain_--Matt. xvi. 19, John xx. 23. So that here is not
only key, but keys given at once, viz. key of doctrine, and the key of
discipline; or the key of order, and the key of jurisdiction; not only
binding or retaining, but loosing or remitting of sins, viz. all acts
together conferred in the keys. Now if Christ gave the keys to the
magistrate, then he gave all the sorts of keys and all the acts thereof
to him: if so, the magistrate may as well preach the word, and dispense
the sacraments, &c., (as Erastus would have him,) as dispense the
censures, &c., (for Christ joined all together in the same commission,
and by what warrant are they disjoined?) and if so, what need of
pastors, teachers, &c.,, in the Church? Let the civil magistrate do all.
It is true, the ruling elder (which was after added) is limited only to
one of the keys, viz. the _key of discipline_, 1 Tim. v. 17; but this
limitation is by the same authority that ordained his office.

4. Because if Christ gave the keys to the civil magistrate as such, then
to every magistrate, whether Jewish, heathenish, or Christian: but not
to the Jewish magistrate; for the sceptre was to depart from him, and
the Jewish polity to be dissolved, and even then was almost extinct. Not
to the heathenish magistrate, for then those might be properly and
formally church governors which were not church members; and if the
heathen magistrate refused to govern the Church, (when there was no
other magistrate on earth,) she must be utterly destitute of all
government, which are grossly absurd. Nor, finally, to the Christian
magistrate, for Christ gave the keys to officers then in being; but at
that time no Christian magistrate was in being in the world. Therefore
the keys were given by Christ to no civil magistrate, as such, at all.

The minor, viz. But all formal power of church government is at least
part of the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven is clear. If we
take church government largely,