WHY PASTOR'S NEED ELDERS..... By Dr Philip Ryken

John Selden was a leading layman, churchman, and scholar who served as a member of the Westminster Assembly. His notable achievements include establishing the core 17th century collection of books for Oxford's Bodleian Library. Selden had this to say about why pastors need the assistance of elders in conducting the business of the church:"There must be some laymen in the Synod to overlook the clergy, lest they spoil the civil work, just as when the good woman puts a cat into the milkhouse to kill a mouse she sends her maid to look after the cat, lest the cat should eat up the milk.