Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	government_n	king_n	kingdom_n	6,632	5	5.9933	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86681	The essence and unitie of the Church Catholike visible, and the prioritie thereof in regard of particular churches discussed. / By Samuel Hudson minister of the Gospell.	Hudson, Samuel, 17th cent.	1645 (1645)	Wing H3265; Thomason E271_19; ESTC R212195	42,476	56

also yet it followes not that there is any such inherent right in every town or family all over the world and that therefore particular towns and familyes in England are debarred of an inherent priviledge belonging to them because necessity may put such an independency on some in an extraordinary case As by Shipwrack or being cast into some Iland not inhabited It is fit that a visible Church Catholike here on earth should Object 3 have a visible head over them that so the body and head may be of the same nature This is the maine argument of the Pontificians for the supremacy of the Pope Answ and that wich made our Divines deny them a Church Catholike visible But to the argument I answer that the Church hath a head of the same nature consisting of body and soule who sometimes lived in this kingdome of grace in the dayes of his flesh and did visibly partake in externall ordinances though indeed now he be ascended into his kingdome of glory yet ceaseth not to be a man as we are though glorifyed and ceaseth not to rule and govern his Church here below for it is an everlasting kingdome Isa 9.7 As when King Iames was translated from Scotland to England and lived here he did not cease to be King of Scotland so neither doth Christ cease to be the head of his Church though he be translated to his other kingdome of glory and as for a vicar or deputy here below it is not needfull We confesse the government of the Church in regard of the head is absolutely monarchicall but in regard of the officers it is Aristocraticall Object 4 Yea but the Church-Catholike cannot be visible because it wanteth a proper existence of its own and existeth only in the existence of particular Churches on the members thereof this objection is somewhat like a former onely there the existence was said to be in the Species here in the members Answ So we may say of every aggregative body A heape of stones existeth only in the existence of particular stones the whole element of water existeth only in particular dropps By this objection you may deny particular visible Churches because they exist not but in particular families and particular families exist not but in particular members but as I said before if the parts do exist the existence of the whole resulteth thereof An army existeth not but in the severall brigades and regiments and they are billeted in distant places and yet having one Generall the same lawes martial the same cause the same enemies though they should never be drawn up together into one body yet are one army So is the Church Catholike one though it never meet bodily because the union is not corporeall but an unity of profession of chief governour of lawes Spirit way and hope Yea the existence of it will the more appeare because it hath priviledges belonging thereunto which particulars have not or but in part and at second hand as shall be shewed in the second question Object 5 But that which you call the Church Catholike visible may by persecutions warres heresies be brought into a very little roome and haply to one congregation or a few persons Answ It is possible yet all the essence Priviledges of the Church Catholike visible are contracted and reserved therein and from them conveyed and derived to those whom they shall convert and so shal dilate it self again And while the Church is but one cōgregation that hath the notion of the Church Catholike more properly then of a particular Church Yea though it be but in one family as it was in the Arke in the dayes of Noah Second Question I come now to handle the predicate of my Question which I may well call a second question and that is Which of these two Churches is Prima and which Orta Before I answer I desire you to remember that the comparison is not between the Invisible and the visible Church but between Churches of the same kinde viz. The Catholike visible and the particular visible Churches And then I answer I conceive the Church Catholike is Prima and the particular Churches are Ortae For First all the names that are in Scripture given unto the Argument 1 Church visible agree primarily to the Church Catholike secondarily to particular Congregations As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are first considered as called out from Idols and devoted to be the Lords people before we can be considered of this or that Congregation And for priority of time we know they were given to the people of the Jewes before ever any Congregationall Churches had existence Acts 7.38 The Church in the wildernesse And the Jewes are frequently called the Lords people So the Church is called the House of the Living God 1 Tim. 3.15 And the ground and pillar of truth The Citie of God Isai 1.21 Gods vineyard John 15.1 wherein branches in Christ bearing no fruit are cut off * John 10.16 Christs Sheepfold a Matth. 3.12 Barn-floore b Matth. 13.37 38. Drag not Wheat-field Kingdome of Heaven a great house wherein were vessels even of dishonour 2 Tim. 2.20 These names cannot be limited to or impropriated by any particular Congregation but are first true of the whole Church and of every particular Church as a part thereof I must here remember you againe of that saying of Dr Ames in his Medulla Congregationes particulares sunt quasi partes similares Ecclesiae Catholicae atque adeo nomen naturam ejus participant Where he grants the Church Catholike to have the first right to the name and nature of a Church and the particulars only by participation Secondly that is the primary Church to which the Promises Argument 2 and Priviledges of the Church doe primarily belong but the Promises and Priviledges of the Church doe primarily belong to the Church Catholike Therefore c. The minor I prove because the first Evangelicall Promise that ever was made in the world was to Adam and Eve representing all mankinde and therefore consequently the whole Church of God This was before there was any division or distinction made of Churches into Jew and Gentile Nationall or Congregationall Againe the maine commission for gathering the Evangelicall Church was generall Goe teach all nations and baptize them in the Name of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost And this was before any divisions or subdivisions were appointed and they were secondarily brought in for order and better edification and being parts of the whole receive particular distinction from the places where they lived and other particularities They all retaine the generall forme and essentiall difference from heathens and among themselves as parts of a similar body are distinguished but by accidentall differences And that Promise that the gates of hell shall never prevaile against the Church is primarily given to the Church Catholike visible here on earth for that in Heaven is not assailed by the

concedimus and therefore he must grant the generall Church to which those particulars belong to be of the same kinde Object 1 All that can be said against the former consequence as I guesse is that though the particular Churches have existence yet the generall hath none but only a notionall essence and exist only in the particulars as Animalitie existeth not by it selfe but in homine Bruto Answ Answer here were some colour in this objection if you consider the Church Catholike onely as a genus and the particular as species yet not enough to amount to a deniall of a Church Catholike visible no more then any Logician denyeth Animal because there is no such creature but in homine bruto But the proper notion of the Church Catholike and particular is of integrum membra And so as I said before Ames in his medulla taketh it Congregationes illae particulares sunt quasi partes similares Ecclesiae Catholicae atque adeo nomen naturam ejus participant And then the argument standeth thus Vbi omnes partes existunt simul compacta ibi totum existit sed omnes partes Ecclesiae Catholicae visibilis existunt simul compacta Therefore The minor 〈◊〉 proved Eph. 4.16 From whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplyeth c. This place is spoken of the Church militant because organicall and organicall because the officers are there reckoned up and Catholike because it is the Church to which Apostles Prophets and Evangelists are given They have the same Lord the same law the same spirit and have influence by love sympathy and prayer into the wellfare one of another For my part I conceive the Church Catholike to be Totum integrale and the particular Churches to be similares partes and so members thereof and parcels thereof as the Jewish Synagogues * Jam. 2 2. 2 Thes 2.1 Heb. 10.25 Tilenus in thes part 1. disp 14. Theft 3. were of the Jewish Church though with some more priviledge for both Sacraments c. and that every particular Church partaketh of part of the matter and part of the form of the whole And these parts are limited and distinguished from others by civill and prudentiall limits for convenience of meeting and maintenance and transacting of businesse and that every Christian is a member of the Church in whose limits he dwels being only in the generall Covenant of Baptisme And this membership is either divolved on him by Gods disposing providence by reason of his birth or cohabitation there or voluntarily assumed by his voluntary removall into that place allotted out by civill prudence for such a particular society to enjoy the Ordinances of God conveniently together For he knew the Minister and members before he came in or might have done at least if he had pleased and it is at his choice to remove out again if he dislike either officers or members But of any Christian mans or womans dwelling in any City or Towne where there was a Church and not to be a member of that Church or to be a member of another Church in another town or city and reside in his own but per accidens as some doe distinguish hath neither example nor warrant in the Scripture But seemeth to me to imply an unchurching those places from whence they are gathered As a man that comes to dwell in a towne shall thereby be a member of it and ruled by the officers thereof in civill affaires and if he like it not he may remove and if they have any thing justly against him they may punish or restraine remove him so it is in the administration of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction And as the limits of the particular seas and their names are from the shoares and lands they are bounded by though a heterogeneall body so may particular Churches well be bounded by civill prudentiall limits though they seeme heterogeneall We find frequently in Scripture The Church which was in Jerusalem Antioch Corinth Ephesus Yea Cenchrea a port town some 8. miles from Corinth gave name to the Church therein Object 2 If they be all one Church it is necessary they should all meet sometimes together Answ It is no more necessary then that all in a kingdome or empire should meet sometimes it is enough that they are under the same King and governed by the same lawes and inspired by the same Spirit and walke in the same wayes and tend to the same end and fare the better for one anothers prayers and rejoyce in the welfare and mourne for the ill fare one of another and help one another as they have opportunity And yet we reade that many times the Church Catholike visible hath met in generall Councels by their delegates or commissioners as a ministeriall Church Catholike which in former times of the Church under Christian Emperours was frequent and there is no intrinfical let in the Church that they do not meet so still but only extrinsicall and extraneous by reason of the divisions among the civill Governors but even in our dayes a great part of this great body hath met in the Synod of Dort by commissioners Dr Whitakers and Apollonius acknowledge the meeting Act. 1. to be a generall Councell The members were the Apostles who were Pastours of the Church Catholike and Brethren out of Galilee and Jerusalem The worke was to elect an Apostle who was to be a Pastour of the universall Church and they that undertake and dispatch a busines which concernes the teaching and government of the whole Church must represent the whole Church Catholike Yet there is so much power given to every Presbyteriall Church at least as may uphold it selfe and exercise the discipline of the Church for the being and well being of it ordinarily Yet so as it is a part of the Church Catholike into which also the censures there past have influence as shall be shewed more afterwards And on some great occasions there may be cause to fetch help further as Cranmer appeald to a generall councell But if that extensive power cannot be had as now it is very difficult then must that particular nationall provinciall or Presbyteriall Church rest in that intensive power that remaines within its owne limits Yea even in a congregationall Church if it stand so as it cannot combine with neighbours or have recourse unto them it must be so but that is an extraordinary case and so not to be regulated by ordinary rules And in such cases also all civill power must rest in one congregation as if it were in a wildernes where there were no neighbour townes or cities to which it might be joined yet it followeth not that it must be so in England or any other kingdome where there are counties shires cities great townes or a Parliament Yea I know not but a particular family may yea must be in such an extraordinary case Independent both in Ecclesiasticall and civill matters