the house of God That saying of the holy Spirit Act. 2. v. 47. was more peculiarly verified of those times and of that people then of any other times or people The Lord added to the Church daily such as should bee saued This saying includes thus much That all or most of those that professed themselues members of the then visible Church became liue-members of the holy Catholike Church And no wonder for the temptations or dangers which then hindred the Iewes or Gentiles but especially the Iewes from consociating themselues to the then visible Church were more and greater then such as hinder the members of later visible Churches from entring into the Kingdome of heauen or from resolute profession of that doctrine without which no member of any visible Church this day extant vpon earth can enter or be admitted into that one holy and Catholike Church Vntill Bellarmine Valentia Stapleton and some others did trouble the streame or current of Gods Word as much as we haue here said was cleerely represented to the aduersaries of our Church Witnesse that Enchiridion of Christian Institutions set forth by the prouinciall Councell of Colon vpon this Article of the Creede The Author of which Enchiridion were he one or more hauing diuided the Church into triumphant and militant ingenuously grants that the Church militant taken in its proper and strict sense is inuisible saue onely to God He grants withall that some members of the Church militant ita sunt in domo Dei vt ipsi sint Domus Dei they are so in the Church of God as they themselues are the Churches of God that is as we said before they are homogeneall and liue-members of the one holy Catholike and Apostolike Church or pillars and liuing stones so layed by the hand of God that they can neuer be remoued All hee had to say against Lutherans was verùm ad eum modum non oportet accipere Ecclesia vocabulum c. That when Christ commands vs to heare the Church or when the Fathers dispute about the authority of the Church we are not to take the Church militant so strictly as Luther Caluine and their followers somtimes doe to wit for the liue-members of Christs mysticall body All this may be granted we are not the men which they mistake vs for We neuer denied obedience to the visible Church which consists of good and bad which containes in it as well the reprobate as the elect All the difference betwixt vs is about the bounds or the limits of the obedience which wee owe vnto the visible Church Wee say first the present Romish visible Church doth exact greater and more absolute obedience then either Moses or such as sate in Moses chayre then either Christ or his Apostles did exact of their followers whilest hee liued here on earth Secondly wee say that we doe not owe the same measure of obedience to any visible Church now on earth as the primitiue professors and beleeuers did to our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles CHAP. VIII What is required to the constitution of a visible Church Whence the vnitie or pluralitie of visible Churches ariseth What vnitie may be had or expected betweene visible Churches independent one of another for Iurisdiction The diuers acceptions or degrees of the visible Church 1 TO the constitution of a visible Church there is required first externall profession of one and and the same faith Whether the parties making this profession be many or few it skils not Sometimes the father of the family with his sonnes and men-seruants were professors of the Christian faith taught by the Apostles whilest the mothers and the daughters with others of the same family remained in Paganisme and infidelity et é contra Now though the house so diuided were not the Church of God yet was there a visible Church of God or part of such a Church in that house A visible Church distinct from others in place of habitation onely not by diuersitie of faith or discipline For seuerall families of the faithfull were called Churches as being partes similares Homogeneall parts of some more intire or ample visible Church Secondly to the constitution of an intire visible Church there is required besides vnitie of profession or the vnitie of faith professed or of morall Lawes acknowledged an vnitie of Lawes or ordinances iudiciall or an vnity of discipline of astipulation or obligement vnto a peculiar kind of power or authority before vnusuall in other Societies or Corporations 2 Before the Pastors or gouernors of the Church had any commission or coactiue power deriued frō Princes States or Common weales to make Lawes for the Church or for punishing offenders euery member of the visible Church in what Realme or Kingdome soeuer seated did renounce or abiure all vse of such libertie as euery other member of the same Kingdome or common-weale which was no member of the Church did enioy It was not lawfull for one member of the visible Church to implead another in matter of controuersie or wrong before a forraigne Iudge And although this astipulation was not legall that is not authorised by any humane Law or custome yet did it bind them faster then any legall or ciuill bond Dare any of you saith S. Paul having a matter against another goe to Law before the vniust and not before the Saints Doe ye not know that the Saints shall iudge the world and if the world shall be iudged by you are ye vnworthy to iudge the smallest matters 1 Cor. cap. 6. vers 1 2. But if some member of this visible church had opposed this spirituall authority or reiected this discipline or astipulation what remedie had the Apostles against them In primitiue times euery one that was partaker of the Word of the Sacraments or of spirituall blessings did thereby subiect or oblige himselfe vnto a peculiar kinde of Iudicature or tribunall vnto which no other member of the Common weale or Kingdome which was no participant of the Word or Sacraments was either subiect or obliged And this was the sentence of Excommunication an extraordinarie and peculiar kind of Iudicature which the Apostles exercised by authoritie immediately deriued from Christ not by commission or warrant from Princes or Estates not by the positiue Lawes or ordinances of any Body ciuill or ecclesiasticke I verily as absent in body but present in spirit haue iudged alreadie as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed In the name of our Lord Iesus Christ when yee are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Iesus Christ To deliuer such a one vnto Sathan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saued in the day of the Lord Iesus 1 Cor. cap. 5. v. 3 4 5. That this Apostolicall Iudicature did extend onely to the visible church planted by him that it did extend to all and might be exercised vpon euery actuall member of the same Church is apparant from the
put in diuers places remaine the same without any alteration or diminution of their measure or number the legacy would stand good and the partie vnto whom it is bequeathed would sustaine no losse But if the indiuidualls should be successiuely taken away and others put in their places to make vp the same measure and the same heape for outward fashion and quantity which the Donor did bequeath the legacy were lost if this were done through his default to whom it was bequeathed for the heape is not the same vnlesse the individuals be the same because it hath no forme to giue it distinct being or vnion He that bequeaths a certain measure of corne though dispersed is presumed to haue bequeathed the same corne though afterwards it be made into one heape or è contra Hee that bequeathes an heape of corne is presumed to bequeath euery indiuiduall graine contained in the heape at the time of the bequest though they bee afterward dispersed or put into seueral places before the Donee can come to challenge them But it is not so in a house or ship for if a man should bequeath a ship by legacie which afterwards were dissolued albeit no materiall part were lost yet the legacie were lost because it is not the same body that was bequeathed as hauing lost the forme So the Lawyers say si navis legata dissoluta sit neque materiam neque navem refectam deberi If the ship which is bequeathed by legacie be taken in peeces neither the materialls nor the ship which is made of them is due to the legatee For the materialls were not bequeathed but as vnited into one forme and the forme being lost the indiuiduall bequeathed is lost Though the same materials were made vp againe into the like forme yet could it not be reputed the same ship but another like vnto it But this is to bee vnderstood in case the dissolution bee made simul semel all at once For if a ship bequeathed should before the Donee take possession of it bee successiuely repaired as Theseus his ship was albeit neuer a rib or plank or other materiall did remaine the same yet the form being not dissolued or abolished the ship should bee the same it was For the new materials although numerically or perhaps specifically distinct from the former yet being for vse the same as the former were and holding the same proportion with the whole whereunto they were fitted doe no way dissolue but rather continue the former vnitie or Identitie of forme The same case is cleerer in bodies naturall at least in vegetables As if a master should bequeath a yong tree not of ten yeers grouth vnto his seruant giuing him leaue to cut it downe or to let it stand as long as hee pleased though it should stand threescore yeeres before he cut it downe yet could no man except that it was not the same tree which was bequeathed albeit neuer a materiall part could bee thought to remaine the same it was when the tree was giuen For albeit euery materiall part should successiuely perish yet in as much as others come in their places altogether as capable of animation of nutriment of growth or augmentation as these were which haue perished the tree or vegetable is still the same And although many vegetables de facto retaine some of the same materiall parts which they had at their first plantation yet it is an vndoubted Maxime in true Philosophie that ad identitatem corporis vegetabilis non necessariò requiritur identitas materiae vnto the identitie of a bodie vegetable identitie of matter is not necessarily required But of this point by Gods assistance more at large in the Article of the Resurrection 7 Answerably to these degrees of vnion betweene materials or corporall substances of which some are vnited onely in place others by forme artificiall or truly Physicall there bee as many degrees of vnion betweene multitudes assemblies or companies of men Men assembled in a market place at some match of sport or merry meeting are one multitude not one bodie and for this reason being once dissolued remaine no more the same companie as hauing no other bond of vnitie besides vicinity of place or vnion meerely locall As no man would say the same companie that met at a horserace this or the last yeere shall meet the same againe the next yeere At least such companies cannot bee the same they were vnlesse the indiuidualls remaine the very same But Societies Corporations or Bodies civill herein resemble bodies naturall that albeit every particular or indiuidual person that met in their common Hall or place of assembly this day bee dead within 20. yeeres following yet the Companie or Corporation shal ramaine still the same it was In this sense it is said that although all men are mortall yet corporations consisting of mortall men are immortall because their lawes ordinances are perpetuall The vnitie of proportion or subordination to the same Lawes is sufficient to continue the vnitie or identitie of the Societie or Corporation albeit the parties subordinate doe alter change or perish Againe Bodies ciuill or societies corporate exceede not onely other assemblies of men which resemble heapes or congests but euen artificiall or naturall bodies in this that the vnion of Bodies ciuill is not dissolued by dissolution of vnion locall or of continuitie or contiguitie The Companie of Stationers for example after euery man hath repaired to his owne home remaines the same it was at their meeting in their common Hall because the vnion or bond of euery member to the same Lawes and ordinances still remaines the same or because there still remaines the same power or authoritie in their principall Gouernours to call them together againe And in this point they resemble those naturall bodies which being resolued into fume or vapour their fumes or vapours may be recollected againe into the same bodie without any lesse of substance or quantitie As an Alchymist would bate but little or nothing in selling the fume or vapour of Quicksiluer for Quicksiluer it selfe So then vnitie of Lawes and ordinances is the life the soule and spirit of euery corporation or body ciuill Oath or other obligements to the obseruation of the same Lawes or to the maintenance of priuiledges bestowed vpon the societie are as the nerues or arteries by which motion is conueyed from the head or principall members to euery inferiour or particular member of the same Societie Thus we haue found the genus proximum of a Church considered in generall CHAP. III. Of the nature and properties of the Church taken in its principall sense How it is differenced from other Bodies ciuill Of the peculiar vnitie which it hath EVery Church in what vsuall sense soeuer it be taken is a societie or body politique Euery societie or body politique is not a Church Euery member of the militant Church is ordinarily a member of the Christian Common-weale or Kingdome wherein he liues Et
desperate a madnesse as for a passenger to leape into the Sea because hee knew the ship wherein he sayled and the company with whom he must necessarily conuerse were deepely infected with a deadly pestilence And thus to doe were a desperate pranke vnlesse the partie aduenturing had very great skill in swimming and were withall within ken of some comfortable shore or harbour All this may seeme to make for our Aduersaries or at least against our forefathers which were sometimes members of the visible Romish Church but did either voluntarily separate themselues from it or suffer themselues to be thrust out of it when as they might haue retained communion with it so they would haue imbraced their doctrine Besides the danger of separation from it both they and we haue felt the seuerest strokes of the spirituall sword of excommunication which the Gouernours of the Romish Church could reach vs. 5 The branches of the maine controversie betwixt that Church and ours are two The first whether the reasons which moued our forefathers to depart from that Church or not to imbrace her doctrines were iust and necessary The second Whether our forefathers being howsoeuer separated from it had commission full power and iust authority from God to vnite themselues into a true visible Church whether they did rightly pursue such warrant or commission as they had and whether they and we haue beene and are a true visible Church The iust and necessary reasons for which men whether few or many may and ought to separate themselues from any visible Church are in generall two The first because they are vrged or constrained to professe or beleeue some points of doctrine or to aduenture vpon some practices which are contrary to the rule of faith or Law of God and are either ex specie or ex gradu cumulo either for their specificall quality or for their burthen or number so hereticall and deadly that they necessarily induce a separation from the holy and Catholike faith without which the Church can neither be holy nor Catholike The second in case they are vtterly depriued of freedome of conscience in professing what they inwardly beleeue or bee bereft of some other meanes either altogether necessarie or most expedient to saluation both which may be had in some other visible Church In this later case that rule of our Apostle giuen vnto seruants is true Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called Art thou called being a seruant Care not for it but if thou mayest be made free vse it rather For hee that is called in the Lord being a seruant is the Lords freeman Likewise also he that is called being free is Christs seruant Ye are bought with a price bee not ye the seruants of men 1 Cor. 7.20 21 22 23. Although we were perswaded that wee could communicate with such a Church without evident danger of damnation yet in as much as we cannot so communicate with it vpon any better termes then legall seruants or bondslaues doe with their Masters we are bound in conscience and religious discretion when lawfull occasions and opportunities are offred to vse our libertie and to seeke our freedome rather then to liue in bondage CHAP. XV. That our Forefathers separation from the Romish Church was most lawfull and iust both in respect of Prince and State and in respect of euery priuate person which feared God or sought to retaine the holy Catholike and Apostolike Faith 1 WHen we debate the lawfulnesse of our Forefathers separation from the Romish Church we meane the then Romish Church as visible Now vnto the constitution of an entire and compleat visible Church there is required First an vnity of faith and doctrine Secondly an vnitie of discipline or coactiue Lawes but especially an vnitie of subordination to one independent Iudicature Vnity in points of faith and doctrine is more essentiall to the Church as it is holy and Catholike that is as it is Orthodoxall Vnity of Lawes or discipline or of independent Iudicature is more essentiall and more necessary to the Church as visible Hence as wee said before there be as many distinct visible Churches as there be independent Iudicatures or supreame Tribunalls Ecclesiasticke Vnto a Catholike Church or vnto a Church visibly Catholike such as the Romanists beleeue their Church to be both kinds of vnity are necessary Whether this vnitie of discipline full power of Iurisdiction or independent Iudicature be seated in one person or more that is whether the forme of ecclesiasticall gouernment be Aristocraticall or Monarchicall is in our Diuinity all one The vnitie or conformitie may be as compleat and perfect the one way as the other But the Romanists the English Priests and Iesuits doe not onely hold this vnity of independent Iudicature to be necessary to the constitution of the visible Catholike Church but that it must of necessity be radically in one person to wit in the Pope on whom as vpon the head and fountaine the vnity of the Holy Catholike visible Church doth depend and for this reason they put his Holinesse in the definition of the Holy Catholike Church as you heard before out of Cardinall Bellarmine and the Author of the Antidote So that the Popes supremacie hath the same place in the whole visible Church as euery summum genus in his proper predicament As nothing can bee truly said to be in the predicament vnlesse it participate the nature or definition of the summum genus so none by this doctrine can be a true member of the holy Church vnlesse he be subordinate to the Pope Or as no man can come to the Father but by the Sonne so none can come vnto the sonne but by this Holy Father the Pope Euery one must be visibly vnited vnto him and to his Lawes before he can be mystically or spiritually vnited vnto Christ Howbeit by putting the Pope in the definition of the Holy Catholike Church with intention thereby to exclude vs from it who denie his authority they intangle and fetter themselues in another point of great consequence betwixt vs them of which aduantage we shall make some better vse hereafter The summe of our present dispute is this As professing of vnitie with the Romish Church in all points of faith which that Church teacheth doth necessarily induce a disunion or separation from the holy Catholike Faith and Church so the acknowledgment of such subordination as is required vnto the head of it in matters of discipline or iurisdiction induceth flat rebellion or high treason against all free States or Kingdomes Christian 2 The reasons which moued our forefathers to forsake the visible Romish church or to suffer themselues to be forsaken by it and withhold vs from returning to iâ— were and are in two respects most necessarie and iust Iust they were and are necessary First on the behalfe of euery priuate man that had or hath a care of conscience and Religion Secondly on behalfe of Prince and
Masse for which they can haue no true assurance or warrant from God or his Lawes but onely rely vpon the supposed infallibilitie of this Church which notwithstanding may be manifestly conuinced of grosse and stupid heresie in the doctrine of â—ransubstantiation But because the doctrine is ex specie hereticall and the practice deadly I shall reserue the refutation of both the explication of the ancient and orthodoxall opinions concerning the manner of Christs presence in the Sacrament or communication of his body and blood vnto a peculiar Treatise 13 Generally the more dangerous or deadly any practice doth seeme to bee whilest wee compare it with the ordinary common rule of mans actions the more euidently it ought to appeare vnto him that vndertakes it by what speciall rule or warrant it is exempted from the common rule or generall prohibition of other facts and practices in nature and appearance like it If a Iudge should charge the Sheriffe or other inferiour officer to see execution done vpon some malefactor it were no wisedome for the inferior Officer to aduenture vpon the Iudges command vnlesse hee knew that the Iudge had speciall commission and warrant from the King to sentence him to death and that hee had legally so sentenced him Yet would it be a point of ill manners and indiscretion for an inferior Iustice or officer to require the like speciall warrant or expresse rule of Law for whipping a vagrant person or putting some idle fellow in the stocks The Iudges word or command might in this case be a suffâ—cient warrant especially to one not skilfull in the Lawes nor too scrupulous in yeelding obedience to such as are skilfull in them It is nicitie ill manners and indiscretion to exact an expresse rule of scripture or faith for standing at the Creed for kneeling at the Lords board for vsing the Cap and Surplice In these cases consent of the Church or tradition will suffice so there be not any expresse Law or commandement to the contrary He that exacts in these points as expresse rules of faith or warrant of scripture for his obedieÌ„ce to ecclesiasticall authority as hee would or as euery man ought to doe for aduenturing vpon worshipping of Images inuocation of Saints or the like hath made his braine or fancy the chiefe seat or mansion of his Religion which should bee seated in the heart To runne thus farre in seeming opposition to the Romanist is not truly to oppose him but to meet with him in the point of disobedience to Gods Lawes The one by disobeying the Church in these cases wherein it hath authority to command obedience disobeyes those Lawes or mandates of God which giue the Church authority to make Lawes in things indifferent neither expresly forbidden nor commanded by the Law of God The other by vowing absolute blinde obedience to the Church disobey Gods particular and expresse Lawes euen the most fundamentall Lawes of pâ—ety and religion the lawes of nature and of Nations 14 To kill a priuate man without warrant of authority is a heynous and fearefull sinne but farre more hainous to kill a Prince or to raise tumults in a State or incense the multitude to take armes against their soueraigne Lord yet vpon these and worse practices will any well catechized Romanist aduenture without any further warrant then the Churches command or approbation which hee beleeues to bee infallible But that the Church hath absolute infallibility and full power to command his conscience or authorize his action in these cases what speciall warrant hath hee from God or his Lawes The best they bring is this Tu es Petrus super hanc petraÌ„ aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke will I build my Church But doth this place either proue Peter to be the Rocke on which the church is built or the Popes to be Peters perpetual successors in that confession which Peter then vttered which was the rocke indeed on which Christs Church is built and which did make Peter to be such a rocke or liuing stone as hee was in the house of God I could bee content to try this issue with any Iesuit whether he could by better probabilitie from this Text inferre that the Pope is Peters successor in the infallibility of holy doctrine then I shall inferre from another Text following in the same Chapter that the Pope is the first borne of Sathan perpetually obnoxious to the check which our Sauiour gaue vnto Peter Get thee behind me Sathan thou art an offence vnto me for thou sauourest not the things that bee of God but those that bee of men Matt. 16.23 This was but a friendly checke of Peter but will proue the iudiciall censure of the Pope and his Disciples vnlesse they recant this wicked doctrine Our Sauiour bestowed the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Rocke vpon the sonne of Iona as the Iesuits will haue it in the former place whilest hee vttered that worthy confession Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God By faithfull adherence to this confession hee became a liuing stone a part of the foundation of Christs Church the first in order of twelue But nominis omen habuit hee did best brooke this name after our Sauiours resurrection A little after the vttering of the former confession when out of his kind nature as wee would tearme it but certainly our of a carnall imagination as the Spirit would censure it he sought to disswade his master from suffering death and so to hinder him from dissoluing the works of Sathan and ouerthrowing his Kingdome our Sauiour calls him Sathan as if he had said Peter thou counsellest me to that very thing whereunto Satan himselfe so I would giue him audience would perswade me with more Rhetorick then thou hast What if I should say That all the Popes are Peters successors and that so much may bee proued out of this 16 chapter of S. Matthew will it therefore follow that none of them are Antichrists or Sonnes of Satan No distingue tempora concordabunt scripturae distinction of times is the reconciliation of scriptures The first and ancient Popes were Peters successors in the former confession all or most of them liuing stones in the house of God The later Popes are Peters successors in counselling Christs Church to vndertake those practices in Christs name wherunto the Deuill doth alwayes counsell men by internall suggestions of the flesh Peters temporary infirmity is become their hereditary heresie Certainly their succession in Peters chaire doth no more argue theÌ„ to be his successours in the stability of faith than succession in Moses chaire proues the Scribes and Pharises to haue beene Moses true Disciples or theÌ„ the Iewes lineall descent from Abraham proues then to be Abrahams childreÌ„ The Analogie of faith will warrant this doctrine for conclusion That these later Popes and their followers are of their father the Deuill for they goe about to murther Kings and Princes which
of the Romish Court did beare a great sway throughout most Realmes in Christendome before Luthers time Besides the Body of the Cleargie or Church representatiue many Potentates some through ignorance others for hope of gaine or aduantage against their aduersaries did adhere vnto it This faction or combination doth in proportion answer to the clod or concrescence of Heterogeneals in the emblematicall congest before mentioned For there was no true vnion betwixt them in matters of faith On the other side againe it cannot be denyed but that many in euery Kingdome before Luther did vtterly detest the tyranny of the Court of Rome many as well of their Cleargie as of their Layetie did in heart and affection wish a reformation as well of the Ecclesiasticall Gouernment as of the doctrine professed and practised in their Church The States Princes or priuate men thus affected answer in proportion to the seuerall pieces of homogeneall and richer metall in the former heape or congest All that Luther all that the Christian Princes which followed him did intend or vndertake was first to dissolue the clod or breake the faction of the Romish Church or Court spread through their Kingdomes Secondly to refine and purifie themselues and their adherents from the drosse and soile which they had taken by their adherence vnto or vicinitie with the Romish Church Lastly to vnite themselues thus refined and purified in matters of faith and doctrine into a new forme of gouernment Ecclesiastike independent on the tribunall or Court of Rome 5 So then it is false which our Aduersaries obiect that Luther did take vpon him to make a new Church For this supposeth a plantation of new faith or doctrine neuer planted before in which the life and soule of the true Church consists Whereas they say we had no Church before his time it is true onely secundùm quid Their meaning can be no other but this Wee had no visible Church altogether seuered and distinct from theirs and this againe is true onely in respect of those times wherein the Kings of England or Emperours of Germanie did submit themselues and their Subiects vnto the Iurisdiction of the Court of Rome Albeit this submission being wrought for the most part through violence or deuillish policie doth not argue our fore-Elders to haue been parts or members of the Church of Rome from which they were seuered in heart and affection and seuered in forme of gouernment de iure though not de facto In the times of diuers Kings the Church of England was seuered de iure et de facto from the visible Romish Church So likewise were diuers Churches in Germany But for Chronologie or matter of historie I must referre them to another place The question is much what the same as if they should aske vs Where was King Henry the seuenths Kingdome where were his Subiects where was your Common-weale whilest Richard the third did call Parliaments and sway the Scepter of this Kingdome The Kingdome of Henry the seuenth and of his Successors or the English Common-weale was in the same place then as now it is The deposition of the Tyrant the dissolution of the tyranny and the reducing of English Subiects to their true allegeance did worke no essentiall alteration in the Common-weale or Kingdome but onely a reformation of the gouernment and reducement of it to the fundamentall lawes of this Land No more did the reiection of the Romish Churches vsurped authority in matters spirituall induce any substantiall alteration in the English Church but a reformation or reduction of it vnto the fundamental constitutions of the Primitiue Church But to returne to our former illustration This argument You had no visible Church before Luthers time ergo you had no true Church is no better than this There was no Plate or Bullion in the forementioned heape or congest before the Refiner did his part ergo there was no true gold or siluer For as euery part of gold is gold and euery part of siluer is siluer but euery part of a wedge or plate is not a wedge or plate so euery member of the true Church of God is himself a true Church and Temple of God yet is not euery part or member of the true visible or Catholike Church a true visible or Catholike Church Or as 8. or 10. pieces of gold into which an Angell may be broken though they remain for waight for value for substance the same they were yet can they not be said to be the same Angel because they want the vnity of that artificial form into which they were made so likewise although there were ten thousand in this Kingdome before Luthers time all true members of Gods Holy and Catholike Church yet could they not be properly said one visible Church so long as they wanted that vnitie of discipline or independent gouernment which we haue for the most part since inioyed 6 Now as any kinde of metall made vp into a wedge or other artificiall forme is lesse subiect to putrifaction soile or canker then it was whilest it lay scattered in seuerall fragments or pieces so the vnion of Christian Professors into one visible Church is a good meanes for preseruing euery particular member specially nouices in faith from such errours heresies or other temptations as if they had beene left alone or scattered would indanger their faith And yet againe as the perfection or puritie of gold aboue other metals is best proued in that it doth not so easily take soile or rust though it lye scattered in little pieces amongst other baser metals or other bodies apt to taint or putrifie so the true members of Christs Church or Body are best discerned best approued by liuing vpright in points of faith in the midst of a peruerse or crooked generation or by continuing vndefiled in the bosome of a polluted visible Church out of which they may not they cannot at their pleasure depart but are to exspect the call or summons of Gods speciall prouidence 7 So then whether we had for these sixe hundred yeeres a visible Church distinct from the visible Romish Church or no is not pertinent to the maine point in question for they fasly assume wee iustly deny that men are saued by being actuall or professed members of the visible Church or that our vnion with the present visible Church is a natiue degree or part of our vnion with the Holy Catholike Church whereof Noahs Arke was the type We say the former vnion is auaileable to the latter onely ex accidente in as much as the present visible Church doth by doctrine and discipline draw vs to a conformitie in points of faith and other meanes necessary vnto saluation with the ancient Catholike and Primitiue Church This did not the visible Romish Church for diuers hundred yeeres before Luthers time but on the contrary she did discompose or misfashion them from all true conformitie with the ancient Catholike Church Howbeit euen in the midnight of
superstition and palpable darkenesse which had ouerspread the visible Romish Church there were within it though not of it many visible members of the Holy Catholike Church men by so much more true and liuely members of the Holy Catholike Church or Body of Christ by how much they were lesse true and actuall members of the visible Romish Church that is by how much their adherence vnto the Romish Church representatiue or to the authority of the Court of Rome was lesse firme or none as in a generall plague when euery city and towne throughout the whole Kingdome is infected they are most safe which haue solitarie dwellings in the country and haue least commerce with port townes or markets Such adherence to the visible or representatiue Church of Rome as the Iesuites and others now challenge doth as we haue often said induce a separation from the Holy Catholike Church and is more deadly to the soule then to be bed-fellow to one sicke of the pestilence is to the body CHAP. XVII That men may be visible members of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church and yet no actuall members of any present visible Church 1 THe two principall points whereon we pitch may bee comprised in these two propositions the first A man may be a true liue-member of the holy Catholike Church albeit he hath no vnion or commerce with any member of the Churches visible And this proposition is cleere from that point formerly discussed how farre it was true of the visible Church extra ecclesiam non est salus Out of the Church there is no saluation The second A man may be a true and visible member of the Holy Catholike Church and yet be no actual member of any visible Church The truth of this later proposition may be proued by many instances of most ages since the Church whether vnder the Law or Gospell became visible For this present it shall suffice to explicate the meaning of it according to my former promise and to confirme the truth of it so explicated by one or two pregnant instances Albeit most of the termes in this proposition or distinction contained haue beene explicated before in two inquiries the one what was required to the constitution of the Holy Catholike Church The other what was required to the constitution of a visible Church To what was then said I will adde onely thus much That the Church may bee termed Catholike either in the prime sense or as we then sayd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in a secondary analogicall sense The Catholike Church in the prime sense consists only of such men as are actuall and indissoluble members of Christs mysticall body or of such as haue the Catholike Faith not onely sowne in their braines or vnderstanding but throughly rooted in their hearts In a secondary Analogicall sense Euery present visible Church which holdeth the Holy Catholike faith without which no man can bee saued pure and vndefiled with the traditions or inuentions of men may bee termed an Holy Catholike Church When we say a man may be a visible mēber of the holy Catholike Church and yet no actuall member of any present visible Church we take the catholike Church in the later or secondary sense that is for a Church wherein no point of faith or doctrine is maintained or allowed which is not consonant and homogeneall to the Catholike primitiue faith deliuered by Christ his Apostles Who are indissoluble members of Christs bodie is onely visible or known to him Many thousands are and haue been true mēbers of it which are haue been altogether inuisible to vs. But who they be which professe the vnity of that faith which the Apostles taught and without which no man can bee saued is visible and knowne to all such as either heare them professe it viua voce or can read and vnderstand their profession of it giuen in writing 2 The truth of the second proposition may easily be manifested hence in as much as the vnion betweene the members of any Church as visible consists in the vnity of discipline or iurisdictiō or of lawes iudiciall or ceremoniall whereas the vnion of the Church as holy and Catholike formally consists in the vnitie of faith or doctrine or of Lawes and Mysteries internally spirituall and morall It is cleare that the former vnion may be dissolued without the dissolution of the latter as the latter likewise in some cases may be dissolued without dissolution of the former As for example a man may be cut off by excōmunication or exile from all commerce with the present visible Church wherein hee was bred and borne and yet not thereby cut off from the Holy Catholike orthodoxall Church Againe a man by heresie or impious opinions whether voluntarily and secretly imbraced by him or thrust vpon him by the visible Church which hath authority of Iurisdiction ouer him may separate himselfe from the Holy Catholike Church and yet still remaine an actuall member a deare sonne of the visible Church in whose bosome he is willing to liue Euery visible Church whose Lawes are ratified by Soueraigne Authority and whose Gouernours are armed with power coactiue may cut off any particular member besides the head from which all power coactiue is deriued Suppose one or two or more be actually cut off by excommunication exile or the like censure not onely from publike communion in the Church but from all ciuill commerce with his neighbours yet if I know that hee was so cut off either vpon mis-information or mistake of his Iudges as if he had held some grieuous heresies which as appeares to mee hee did not or that the Church Gouernors out of ignorance spleene or faction or other sinister respects which I may not in particular examine did condemne these opinions held by him for hereticall or schismaticall which are in themselues and to my knowledge orthodoxall and truly Catholike hee is to mee and to others which know his meaning a visible member of the Holy Catholike Church though no more a member of the visible Church wherein he did and we yet remaine And albeit I haue no power to rescind the visible Churches decree or authoritatiuely to pronounce him a Catholike whom they to whom the cognizance of such causes belongs haue condemned for an hereticke and albeit I may not admit him to publike prayers or to communion at the Sacraments as being interdicted by authoritie yet I may and ought still to retaine that communion with him which in this Creed we beleeue to be betwixt all true members of Christs body or professors of the Holy Catholike faith that is the Communion of Saints such a Communion as is betwixt the members of the Church triumphant and the liuing members of Christs body militant or rather such as is betweene the orthodoxall professors of the English or other reformed Churches I am bound to pray for him and he for me that we may continue stedfast in the faith which we haue receiued