be prevailed against but the whole shall not The place is meant of a Church future to be built which Christ then intended to set up which was the Evangelical Catholike Church consisting of Jews and Gentiles as one body and not Catholike as some take it for the Church past present and to come for those already in heaven are out of gunne-shot of assault but it is meant de Ecclesia vivorum de militante de Ecclesia quam Christus erat aedificaturus Object O but this place is meant only of the Church invisible for they that are only visible may be prevailed against Answ It is true that any particular meerly visible member may be prevailed against yet all shall not and even the invisible members which cannot be prevailed against so many as are left in any though never so general and fierce persecution shall remain as visible For Ecclesia nunquam definit esse visibilis Therefore Satan or men shall never so far prevail as to cut off all visible members And though heresies should come that deceive all but the elect which is not supposable yet as long as the Elect are not deceived there remaineth a Church Catholike visible still in their visibility But it cannot be affirmed that all are invisible members that are left or hold out in the hottest persecutions or subtlest heresies strong enlightnings and covictions and struglings of conscience and other by-ends may do much Latent members may not be invisible But the reasons which induce me to think that this text is meant of the Church visible are these two I finde in the context First because this Church is built upon this visible or audible profession that Christ is the sonne of God which Peter made The rock there spoken of is not an indefinite Messiah to come for so the Church from the beginning of the world was built on that work but the profession and doctrine that the Messiah is already come that this Jesus is the Messiah and this Jesus the Messiah is the sonne of God It is the confessing that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh 1 Joh. 4.2 3. And the beleeving that I am he saith Christ Joh. 8.24 And therefore the Jews that believed before in an indefinite Messiah to come were upon their conversion to the Christian faith built upon this rock and by a new Sacrament admitted into this Christian Church as well as the Gentiles Secondly Because Christ immediatly in the next verse affixeth officers to this Church by promising the keys of the Kingdom of heaven unto Peter and not to him only but to the rest also as appears in other places which keys are an Ensign of office in that Church which Christ would build Thirdly Because the admission into this Evangelical Church was upon a visible profession of their belief of this doctrine and a visible receiving of a visible external badg of baptisme Fourthly Because this Church is assaulted by visible adversaries viz. persecutors and hereticks and that visibly and though they shall never wholly prevail against it yet visibly waste great part of it many times And M. Hooker himself acknowledgeth that he doth incline to this judgement of this text viz. that it is the visible Church that is there meant Surv. c. 15. p. 278. Only he objecteth against a reason which I brought of it which was to this purpose If all the visible members should fail then all the invisible must needs fail also for none are invisible in the Church I mean but must be visible also His Objection against this is because an invisible member may be justly excommunicated and so cast out of all the visible Churches in the world and so be no visible member and yet remain an invisible member still for that membership cannot be lost Answ It is very doubtful to me how far excommunication casteth a man out of the visible Church it debars him indeed from the Lords Supper because it is a seal and from familiar intimate society with Gods people because he is an infected member and so doth a notorious sinne though the man be not excommunicated But I conceive it cuts him not off totally from the visible Church For first the seal of baptism remaineth on him and therefore is not iterated at his readmission Secondly he is admitted to hearing the word and prayer and conference with Gods people He is a diseased leprous member under censure shut from the most intimate actual communion until he be cured and cleansed That which is done to him is under consideration of discipline as to a member now diseased in order to cure not as to one that is damned or to one that is under the sinne against the holy Ghost as Julian the Apostate was And if any godly person through weaknesse of judgement concerning Churches not rightly gathered refuse to be baptized as M. Hooker suggesteth he is indeed no compleat member in that regard but he being converted by visible means and making visible profession he is an incompleat visible member of the Church-Catholike Entitive Again Excommunication in 3 Ep. Joh. ver 10. is called casting out of the Church What Church is that It cannot be the invisible Church for all the censures in the world cannot cast a man out of that if once he be in therefore it is the visible Church Then I would know whether a man truly excommunicated in one Church or Congregation is not thereby excommunicated from brotherly fellowship with all Congregations yea and Christians not gathered yet into Congregations Or whether the delivering up to Satan by the Officers of a particular Congregation be only within the bounds of one Congregation or in reference to their members only so that if he remove out of such a circle or circuit of ground to another or from those members to others he be out of Satans bonds again and may communicate there de jure This M. Hooker saith is per Synecdochen generis pro Specie that particular Church where Diotrephes usurped preheminence is understood For when a person is justly excommunicated from the Congregation in which he was it follows of necessity that all that fellowship he might enjoy by vertue of communion of Churches must of that necessity be denied unto him and he justly deprived thereof because in the vertue of his fellowship with one he gained fellowship with others Answ Whether the word Church be there properly or per Synecdochen generis or Synecdochen Integri I shall not now enquire but refer it to a Chapter by it self in which shall be enquired whether the Church-Catholike be a genus or integrum But I question much whether a mans fellowship with one Congregation be the ground whereby he gaineth fellowship and communion with others For then how came the Apostles and Evangelists by right of communion with any Churches seeing they were fixed members of none And how could the 120. and 3000. converted by Peter have right of communion and breaking bread together before
Church-Catholike consist only of the elect redeemed ones called out of the world into a supernatural estate and yet the particular Churches which are similar and constituent parts of it consist of members that are 〈◊〉 of them only Saints in appearance and not in truth yea some whole Churches erring schismatical 〈…〉 maâ—tâ—â— as the particular visible Churches which are the members of the Catholike consist of such must the Church Catholike consist of which is the similar integral And though such as are only Saints in appearance and not in truth are said by M. Norton in his answer to Apollonius p. 87. to be equivocal members of particular Churches yet are they as truly members of the whole as they are of the parts and they are so for true as that their external communion and administrations if any such be Officers are true and valid both in respect of the particular Churches and the Catholike quond 〈◊〉 â—â—â—station And it is his own rule Resp p. 88. Quicquid inest parti inest toti that which is in the part is in the whole And again he saith Ecclesiae Catholica Ecclesiae particulares communicant essentiâ nomine Ecclesiae particulares pro varijs earum rationibus habent se ut partes ut adjuncta Ecclesiae Catholicae Ex naturâ ex ratione sunt ut res 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. similares ut mare appellatur aqua ita qualibet gutta maris appellatur aqua Resp pag. 87. therefore they must needs consist of the same kinde of matter as they are both visible A TABLE Of the chief things contained in this Tractate CHAPTER 1. The explication of the terms of the Question Page 1. Section 1. WHat is meant by Ecclesia or Church It is taken in a civil and theological sense In a theological sense 1 Primarily and properly for the whole company of the elect which is called the Invisible Church 2 2 For the company of visible beleevers 3 For the members as distinct from the Officers of the Church 4 For the Elders or governours of the Church as distinct from the body 3 5 For the faithful in some one family 4 Section 2. What is meant by visible The distinction of the visible and invisible Church opened The difference between visible visum The Churches mentioned in the N. T. were visible Churches 6 An Objection of the absurdity of wicked mens being members of the body of Christ answered by a distinction of Christs body The distinction of the Church into visible and invisible is not exact 8 The invisible members of the Church are also visible What a Church visible is 9 The description vindicated from some objections against it 10 Section 3. What is meant by Catholike universal or oecumenical 11 Four acceptations of the word Catholike and which of them suit the question What the universal visible Church is 12 Diverse descriptions of it and quotations out of Divines both ancient and modern about it 13 What a National Church is 15 Diverse proofs from Scripture for a National Church under the Gospel The description of a particular visible Church given by Gersom Bucerus scanned 17 Mr Cottons description of a visible 18 Four Quaeries about it propounded 1. Whether the matter of it consisteth only of Saints called out of the world 2. Whether every particular visible Church be a mystical body of Christ or but only a part of it seeing Christ hath but one mystical body in the same sense 3. Whether the form of a particular visible Church be a particular Covenant 19 4. Whether all the Ordinances of God can be enjoyed in a particular visible Church 20 Which for some of them seemeth very inconvenient And for others impossible M. Nortons description of a particular Church 22 A Congregational Church standing alone hardly found in the New Testament Section 4. What is meant by prima vel secundaria orta 23 The primity of the Church-Catholike in a threefold respect 24 The difference between this question and M. Parkers Chapter 2. Proofs by Scripture for a Church-Catholike visible 25 Section 1. Our Divines in answer to the Papists mean by Church-Catholike the invisible Church only 26 Yet is there also an external visible Kingdom of Christ as well as an internal and invisible M. Hookers acknowledgement of a political body or Kingdom of Christ on earth 27 D. Ames testimony of a Church-Catholike visible 28 Section 2. Diverse proofs out of the Old Testament for a Church-Catholike visible 29 Section 3. Diverse proofs out of the New Testament for a Church-Catholike visible 31 Act. 8.3 and Gal. 1.13 vindicated Act. 2.47 vindicated 33 1 Cor. 10.32 vindicated 35 Gal. 4.26 opened 37 Eph. 3.10 vindicated 38 Section 4. 1 Cor. 12.28 vindicated 39 Two answers of M. Hookers concerning this text considered 40 Diverse answers to this text by M. Ellis refuted 41 An Objection of M. Hookers about Deacons set in the same Church where Apostles were set answered 51 Section 5. 1 Tim. 3.15 vindicated 53 Diverse texts vindicated where the Church-Catholike is called the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of heaven 55 Mr Hookers answer to those texts considered 1 Cor. 15.24 vindicated 56 Heb. 12.28 vindicated 57 Section 6. 1 Cor. 5.12 vindicated 58 Eph. 4.4 5. vindicated 59 Mat. 16.18 vindicated 60 M. Hookers acknowledgement that this text is meant of the visible Church 61 3. Ep. of John ver 10. vindicated 62 Chapter 3. Proofs by arguments and reason that there is a Church-Catholike visible 64 Section 1. 1 From Gods donation unto Christ of an universal Kingdom 2 From Gods intention in sending Christ and the tenour of Gods exhibition of Christ in his word to the whole world 65 3 From the general preaching and receiving of the Gospel 66 4 From the general Charter whereby the Church is constituted Section 2. 5 From the generality of the Officers of the Church and general donation of the Ministry 67 6 From the general vocation wherewith and general Covenant whereinto all Christians are called 68 7 From the generality of the initial seal admittance and enrowlment 69 8 From the external catholike union between all visible Christians 70 Section 3. 9 From the individual system or body of laws proceeding frrm the same authority whereby the whole is governed 10 From the general external communion intercourse and communication between all Christians 71 11 From the general extension of excommunication 73 12 If there be parts of the Church-Catholike there is a whole Section 4. Many metaphors in Scripture setting forth the whole Church under an unity 74 Chapter 4. That the Church-Catholike visible is one Integral or Totum integrale Section 1. First Negatively that it is not a Genus 77 1 Because a Genus is drawn by mental abstraction of species but the Catholike visible is made up by conjunction or apposition of the several members 2 A Genus hath no existence of its own which the Church-Catholike visible
which are not actually the Church but in potentiâ and in Gods decree the second sort are militant warring with principalities and powers with flesh world and devil being actually justified and sanctified persons the third sort are triumphant in Heaven having finished their course and are now the spirits of just men made perfect For the fourth which the Papists make viz. Ecclesia dormiens in Purgatory we acknowledge not Secondly The word Church sometimes signifyeth more then the elect viz. the multitude of beleevers whether truly or in shew only So Act. 8.3 Saul made havock of the Church Act. 12.1 Herod stretched out his hands to vex certain of the Church Now it is certain that neither Herod nor Saul knew who were elect but as himself expounded it He persecuted this way unto the death And he desired letters to Damascus that if he found any of that way he might binde them Act. 9.2 So Act. 5.11 Fear came upon all the Church Now it cannot be conceived that they were all elect that feared that judgement of God So 1 Tim. 5.16 Let not the Church be charged with them that it may relieve widows indeed Now we cannot conceive that only the elect gave collection but the whole number of professors which yet are called the Church In Ecclesia plurimi sunt permixti hypocritae qui nihil Christi habent praeter titulum speciem Calvin Institut lib. 4. cap. 1. sect 7. Thirdly The word Church is sometimes taken for the members of the Church as distinct from the officers Act. 15.22 Then pleased it the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church And ver 4. They were received of the Church and of the Apostles and Elders And this was before their convention in the Synod And Act. 14.23 Fourthly The word Church sometimes signifyeth the Governours of the Church to whom of right it belongeth to administer and dispense the censures of the Church Matt. 18.17 If he will not hear them tell it to the Church i. e. the Ministerial Church where Christ seemeth to me to speak of a Church that was in present being among the Jews because he applies his speech to the capacity of the Jews present Let him be to thee as an heathen and Publican who might not have communion with Heathens and would not with Publicans but Christians might eat and drink with both and the same course by analogy was to be taken by Christians when they had Churches set up as it followeth ver 18 19. Whatsoever ye shall binde on earth c. Now we know that matters of complaint were not among the Jews brought unto the Assembly or body of the people but to their Elders and Rulers And the word Kahal which signifieth Ecclesia or Church is frequently used in the Old Testament for a Court of Elders not only Ecclesiastical but even civil See 1 Chron. 13.1 2 4. And 1 Chron. 29.1 10 20. And 2 Chron. 29.28 31 32. And 2 Chron. 30.2 4. called Psal 82.1 The Congregation of the Gods Compare also Num. 35.12 24 25. and Deut. 19.12 with Iosh 20.4 6. By Congregation in one place is expounded Elders in the other Also Exod. 12.3 with v. 21. Deut. 31 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gather me the Elders or make a Church of Elders The same word we finde 1 Kin 8.1 of Solomons assembling the Elders of Israel And 1 Chr. 28.1 of Davids assembling the Elders The Septuagint translate Kahal Ecclesia or Church by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 26.26 His wickednesse shall be shewed before the whole Congregation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Compare also Deu. 23.1 2 3 8. No bastard Ammonite Moabite c. might enter into Kahal the Congregation which is rendred by the best Divines to be Consessus Iudicum the Congregation of Iudges For by Exo. 12.48 49. and Num. 15.14 15. and 9.14 and Lev. 22.18 All strangers upon circumcision were admitted into the Congregation of the people to offer to God as well as Israelites Chap. 1. Demosthenes useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro concione maguntum saith Pasor It is very frequent in the Scripture to speak of executing of judgement and justice and putting away of evil from the Congregation indefinitely by ye and thou as if it were spoken to the whole Congregation which was done by the Elders and Judges only judicially Levit 19.15 35. Deut. 16.19 Ier. 7.5 Amos 5.15 24. Zach. 7.9 16. 1 Câ—â— 5.4 7 12. Fifthly The word Church is sometimes used to signifie the faithful in some one family Philem. 2. c. To the Church in thy house Unlesse those families were the meeting places for the Christians that dwelt about to enjoy the Ordinances of God in because there were no publike meeting-houses built And to this I confesse I incline The second acceptation of the word Church sutes best with this question Sect. 2. The second 〈◊〉 to be opened is what is meant by Visible The Church is distinguished into visible and invisible which yet are not two distinct Churches or species of Churches but it is a distribution of the Subject by the Adjunct viz. a duplici modo communion is externo interno Such as have spiritual communion with Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inwardly are said to be invisible members which are only known to God and not to men having this seal The Lord knoweth who are his Such as have external communion in outward Ordinances 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are called visible members because their communion is visible and apparent I grant the internal communion is invisible but the external is as visible as of any civil society and Gods Ordinances are as visibly administred as justice at the Sessions or Assizes and the profession of Christianity is as visible as the profession of any tratle the general calling to be Christians by profession is as visible as the particular calling and trade of life The inward grace is indeed invisible but the outward administration of the Ordinances and communion in them is visible i. e. perceptible by the senses And this external communion in the Ordinances though it were distributively in the several places where men live which is confessed by all would serve my turn for this question which I have in hâ—â—â— But visible taken in the sense which M. Ellis takes it in in his Vindiciae Catholicae for that which Vno intuitu videtur is seen with one view was not my meaning and therefore to expound it so which he knows I did not is to prevaricate as he chargeth me pag. 59. If visible i. e. that which may be seen and visum that which is seen actually be the same then is not the world visible But when we say the whole world is visible there is required an act of the minde we conceive that all countries are visible as well as our own and if we were there we might see them They cannot be said to be invisible because we see them not actually
latent among the Idolaters who never bowed the knee to Baal nor kissed him and God might own the people for their sakes being the better part though the lesse Secondly though God doth not divorce a Church for all Idolatry yet they deserve it And at last came forth the sentence of Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah against the ten Tribes for it Hos 1.6.9 Thirdly I answer it may be verè Ecclesia as is said of the Church of Rome by some but not vera pura and it was needful for me as near as I could to give a description of a true Church But I will not contend with any about this description you may take a more comprehensive description A visible Church may be described to be a company of those that own or do professe the doctrine of Christ Or such as professe the true Religion The third term to be opened is Sect. 3. Catholike universal or Oecumenical The word Catholike is frequently given to such Churches as hold the true doctrine of the Apostles and in that sense it is the same with Apostolical as it is opposed to heretical and so we finde it frequently used in Eusebius Socrates and Sâ—zomen So Damasus is called Bishop of the Catholike Church at Rome and Aurelius of the Catholike Church at Carthage and Callinicus of the Catholike Church at Peleusium And the Councel of Nice cals the Bishops of the Orthodox Churches Bishops of the Catholike and Apostolical Church And in that sense I suppose M. Ellis intends it in the title of his book which he cals Vindiciae Catholicae a found or Orthodox vindication For if he means by it A general vindication against all that assert a Church-Catholike visible he is mistaken therein also for M. Rutherford hath written professedly of my question in both the branches of it that there is a Church-Catholike visible and that it is the prime Church though I confesse I knew not of it when I printed my Thesis But this signification doth not fully comprehend my meaning of the word Secondly Catholike is taken for an office in the Church next under a Patriarch that was as his Vicar general and is called in Latine Rationalis See Salmas de primat Pap. p 21â— Thirdly Catholike universal or general is taken for a logical second notion abstracted by the minde of man comprehending divers different species under it Fourthly It is taken in the same sense that we use to take Oecumenical that which is or may be all over the world The first and last sense are only pertinent to this Question viz. the Orthodox Church over all the earth and especially this latter and therefore now I have inserted the word Oecumenical into the question And in both these senses Augustine takes it who saith the Church is called Catholike Quia universaliter perfecta est in nullo claudicat per totum orbem diffusa est Aug. de Gen. ad lâ—t cap. 1. We are to know that the Church of God admits of several distinctions from several accidents As in reference to the times wherein the Church hath existed or doth exist it is distributed into the Church under the Old Testament and the Church under the New And this again is distributed into the primitive and successive So in regard of the places where the Church doth exist or persons of whom it consisteth it receiveth the distinction of universal and particular Now in this question universal is meant principally in regard of persons and places and not in regard of time The Church Catholike existing on earth at the same time is compared with particular Churches existing at the same time also What the universal visible Church is The Vniversal visible Church is the whole company of visible beleevers throughout the whole world Now whereas M. Ellis vind p. 52. saith this definition of the Church Catholike reacheth not the subject of my question but contains what is of all hands confessed I answer I aimed at no more in the first part of my question but to prove that there is a Church Catholike visible which he saith is of all hands confessed and then I have as much as I desired namely the subject of my question granted But I will further adde that which M. Ellis thinketh wanting to make it pertinent to this question viz. That this company is one visible Kingdom of Christ on earth The Evangelical Church which is so often called by Christ the Kingdom of heaven several men give several descriptions thereof I shall set down some of their sentences Ecclesia Dei vivi est columna firmamentum veritatis toto orbe terrarum diffâ—â—sa prâ—pter Evangelium quod praedicatur sicut dicit Apostolus in omni creatura quae sub coelo est Aug. Sancta Ecclesia nos sumus sed non sic dico nos quasi ecce qui hic sumus qui me modo auditis sed quot quot sunt Christiani fideles in universo terrarunt orbe quoniam a solis ortu usque ad occasum laudatur nomen Domini Sic se habet Ecclesia Catholica mater nostra Aug. Serm. 99. Adhuc habet Ecclesia quo crescat donec illud impleatur Dominabitur a mari usque ad mare Aug. in Matth. Disseminaâ—a est Ecclesia super omnem terram Iren. lib. 3. cap. 11. Non altera Romana urbis Ecclesia altera totius orbis aestimanda Gallia Bithinia Persis Oriens India omnes barbarae geâ—tes nationes unum Christum adorant unam observant regulam veritatis Si authoritas quaeritur Orbis major est urbe Jerom. ad Evanâ—r Distincti per Orbem Ecclesiarum conventus unam Catholicam faciunt Ecclesiam Beda in 1 Pet. 2. Catholica Ecclesia est illa quae diffusa est per universum orbem Cyril Hierosol Catech. 18. Quum unus sit Deus una fides unus Dei hominum mediator Jesus Christus unicum Ecclesiae caput consequitur necessariò unam quoque esse Ecclesiam Bezae conf fid cap. 5. art 2. Saepe Ecclesiae nomine universam hominum multitudinem in orbe diffusam designamus quae unum se Deum Christum colere profitetur Calv. Iustit l. 4. c. 1. s 7. Est Congregatio omnium per orbem universum qui consentifide Evangelica Bulling Est caetus hominum Christum suum regem sacerdotem prophetum profitentium Keckerm In novo Testamento vocamus Ecclesiam pro omnibus qui Christo nomen dederunt Zuingl Vniversa multitudo Christianorum quae se fidelem censet simul num fidelis populus una Ecclesia dicitur Idem Ecclesia significat totam illam omnium multitudinem qua generatim ex vocatione professione externa astimatur Trelc Ecclesia Catholica ex hominibus unius temporis est Caetus eorum omnium qui doctrinam Evangelij de Jesu Christo in carne jam manifestato per universum mundum profitentur Dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2.5 i. e. mundus ille
Where the word Church cannot signifie the Elect only nor any particular Congregation or Kingdom but indefinitely it reacheth the whole body though in never so remote parts M. Hooker excepteth against this proof because saith he the Church here spoken of is contra-distinct to the Jews and therefore cannot comprehend the whole company of beleevers through the whole world because some beleevers were of the Jews Surv. c. 15. p. 270. Answ It is true I finde Beza in his large notes upon the place interpreting the Jews here spoken of to be the beleeving Jews and the Gentiles to be the beleeving Gentiles Partibus subijcit totum But then he crosseth M. Hooker in making the Church an integrum and Jews and Gentiles to be the integrant parts Yet he adds as the more probable meaning Nisi malimus istud Iudais Graecis de extrancis intelligere quorum etiam nobis sit habenda ratio c. And all others that I have met withall interpret the words of the unbeleeving Jews and Gentiles in opposition to Christians Or else of the beleeving Jews and Gentiles making one Church but most in the first sense So Calvin Iudaeos Gentes nominat non tantum quia duobus illis generibus constabat Dei Ecclesia sed ut doceat nos omnibus etiam alionis esse debitores ut eos si fieri potest lucrifaciamus So Paraeus on the vers Also Amb. Thomas Aqu. Goran and the English Annotations on the place And the reason divers of them render is because the unbeleeving Jews abhorting Idols might be beat off from Christ by seeing Christians eating things sacrificed to Idols which is the particular offence here mentioned by the Apostle and the unbeleeving Gentiles might be confirmed in their Idolatry thereby and the beleevers both of Jews and Gentiles take offence at it Again saith M. Hooker that Church is here meant whom a man may offend by his practice in the particulars mentioned but he cannot offend the whole company of believers through the whole world because a scandal must be seen or known certainly c. Answ All indefinite negative precepts as against murder adultery theft c. as they are general for the time binding semper ad semper so concerning place and persons though no one man is ever like to have opportunity or possibility to commit them in every place and upon every person So is this prohibition Some might give offence in one place some in another and some one in many places in those travelling times and the whole was liable to offence though haply not by one man and therefore the object is set down indefinitely to comprehend the whole Yea the word comprizeth not the Church Entitive but Organical and combined for they may so be offended and we are not to affront or offend them the greater the part of the whole body is and the more compleated the greater respect is to be had to it that we give no offence thereunto Also Gal. 4.26 But Ierusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all By Ierusalem is meant a Church because it is that which brings forth children to God which sometime may be desolate and in sorrow because of the paucity and dispersion of them sometime is bidden to rejoyce for the multitude and prosperity of them as vers 27. It â—s also an Evangelical Church freed from the ceremonies of the Law because it is called Ierusalem answering to Ierusalem that was in Pauls time and was in bondage with her children vers 25. i. e. to the Church of the Jews that were under the ceremonial Law and would not forsake it which was soon after destroied The Apostle changeth the manner of this speech from the person of Sarah who was the type of the Evangelical Covenant to Ierusalem which is the Church wherein the Evangelical doctrine and Covenant is preached and this Ierusalem is the seed of Sarah i. e. the Evangelical Church is the seed and offspring of the Evangelical Covenant This Evangelical Church is called Ierusalem and Sion in Heb. 12.22 which text is parallel to this and Rev. 21.1 2. the New Ierusalem The legal ceremonial service did beget all under it to an external bondage and brought them up under bondage especially hypocrites which were not led by the Law to Christ but rather hindred from him they were in external and internal bondage It cannot be the Church Triumphant for that is not the mother of the Church militant that hath no Orrdinances to beget children And though it be called Ierusalem which is above yet that is meant because it hath its Original from heaven as Rev. 21. the New Jerusalem is said to come down from heaven and we are said to be begotten from above 2. Because their conversation is in heaven Phil. 3.20 3. Because they shall in the end be brought thither It cannot be the invisible Church as so considered but must be a visible organical Church because it doth no otherwise become a mother of children but by the use of Ordinances and keys committed to her It is by the preaching of the word that children are begotten in her womb the seed is the word and by the same word as milk and the use of the Sacraments they are nourished in their mothers house and as a mother she educates and rules them by discipline And this cannot be a particular Church but must be the general because the Apostle saith it is the mother of us all the Apostle puts in himself and all beleevers And the 27 vers makes it more plain because the Apostle confirms and explains himself by a quotation out of Isa 54. f. 2 3. which sheweth the calling in of the Gentiles to be of this Church And thus all the protestant Expositours that I have met with expound it Calvin on the place saith Caelestem vocat non qua calo sit inclusa non quae sit quaerenda extra mundum est enim diffusa Ecclesia per totum orbem in terra peregrinatur Luther also saith This heavenly Ierusalem which is above is the Church i. e. the faithful dispersed throughout the whole world which have one and the same Gospel faith Christ holy Ghost and Sacraments It is the Church which is now in the world and not the Triumphant Church To be the mother of us all it is necessary that this our mother should be on earth among men as also her generation is This spiritual Jerusalem which took her beginning in corporeal Jerusalem hath not any certain place but is dispersed throughout the whole world This free mother is the Church it self the spouse of Christ of whom we are all gendred So Musculus Perkins Baldwin and Bullinger Loquitur de Ecclesia in terris ex omnibus gentibus collecta It is another body which is correspondent to Sarah viz. the Christian Church Beza and Calvin on Hebr. 12.22 a text parallel to this hath these words Caelestem Ierusalem intelligit
any one will serve the turn to batter it down it matters not it seems what become of the rest He parallels this place with Eph. 4.4 5. And saith that one body or Church here and there spoken of is meant in the same sense that One faith One Baptism is viz. one in kinde and as there are many single faiths hopes baptisms though one in kinde so there is one body in kinde but many singular bodies vind p. 34. But M. Ellis might have seen that if he had run his parallel a little further he had run over shoes and boots too For there it is said that there is One Spirit one Lord Jesus one God and Father not in kinde but in number and why may not the Church in which there is one individual doctrine of faith and body of laws and into which there is one manner of inrowlment by baptism and in which only there is hope of salvation be one numerically also especially considering that as the head the Lord Jesus Christ is one in number so his body the Church can be but one in number also For Christ hath not more bodies in the same respect then one But even his granting of a mystical onenesse in Essence drives him to grant willingly that this doth imply an union visible also as much as may stand with the institution of Christ and the edification of the Church p. 34. And I think the Presbyterians desire no more Also he saith the Church is one as the worship and government is one viz. for nature and kinde in the substantials of it or that general platform of it Mat. 18. c. but as the Church is not one visible policy or corporation in number so neither in outward government of it vind 35. Answ The Presbyterians do acknowledge many distinct particular corporations of particular Churches exercising government actually and constantly by their own Officers But as this onenesse in kinde of worship and government giveth every private Christian whose constant actual exercise of publike worship is in one Congregation an habitual right to worship God and communicate in any though never so far remote Congregation if occasion serve and makes him liable to reproofs and suspension there if there be known cause why shall not the Officers also whose constant actual exercise is but in one Congregation have the like priviledge to exercise their office in any remote Congregation upon an occasion or call to it But there were two Objections vind p. 35. which played so hard upon him that they beat him from that battery and therefore he betakes himself to another mounted much higher I grant saith he the Apostle speaks of the Church whether visible or invisible universal or particular but not of it in these respects but mystically and totally as comprehending those in heaven also and this sense I will stick unto pag. 35. Now in this body or this Church as Eph. 36. or in this family in heaven and earth as vers 15 He hath set some Apostles some Pastors Though they have exercise of their functions only in that part which is on earth and in that part of it on earth which is visibles yet they are placed in the whole pag. 36. But here M. Ellis grants more then was desired I fear this opinion will prove but a novel opinion and he will have but few fellows to stand by him in managing this piece of battery For as it expresly crosseth D. Ames before-cited who saith the Church-Catholike is one in regard of its external and accidental state and not internal and essential so it crosseth himself who holdeth that the Officers of a particular Church are Officers only in their severall Churches vind p. 8. therefore not set in the Church Triumphant Certainly there they are where they were set but they are in the Church visible militant only the Church Triumphant hath no Officers This opinion will make all the Ministers notable Non-residents who never come at the place where they were set all their life time It were a happy turn for the Ministers if they were all placed in the Church Triumphant as well as militant I am sure many of them will never come there The Saints in heaven have no hand in the election of Officers here below which by his arguing they ought to have as well as the Church-Catholike in the election of every particular Officer vind p. 40. The Church in heaven have neither word Sacraments nor discipline which are counted the notes of the Church where the Ministery is placed The Ministers preach not to them pray not with them have no external communion with them watch not over them neither admonish nor censure them not perform any part of their ministerial office to them Nay the Officers are not so much as placed in the invisible Church on earth for as invisible it hath no Officers but as visible only It is true they are set for the good of the invisible Church and for the perfecting of the Triumphant but they are set only in the visible and they are altogether visible and many of them only visible and yet are true Ministers Are the gifts of tongues and of healing and Deacons set in the whole Church Triumphant as well as Militant Are all that are baptized into one body baptized into the Triumphant as well as militant I think you will not say so But how are we flown from a particular visible congregational Church to the Triumphant on a sudden from one extream to another Remember that of the Poet Ne si dimissior ibis Vnda graves pennas si celsior ignis adurat Inter utrumque vola Medio tutissimus ibis It is clear the Apostle speaks of that body wherein is suffering and rejoycing one with another But Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel acknowledgeth us not It is contrary to reâ—â—on it self that the Officers reckoned up in 1 Cor. 12.28 and Eph. 4.11 should be set in the Church essentially taken for discipline is not essential to the Church but for the â—inâ—esse or well being of it Considering also that by those Officers the Church becometh political It were a paradox to say that a King Judges Justices and Sherifs and Laws c. are given to a Kingdom essentially and not as it is a poâ—â—â—iâ— for they are the very formalis ratio and sinews of the politie thereof without which it might indeed have an essence but no politie Our brethren for Congregational Churches hold that there may be a Church entitive or essential before they choose any Officer else they were in no capacity to choose them how then can Officers aggree to them essentially But it is contrary to sense to say they are set in the Church Triumphant But fearing that he cannot keep this battery he retreats to a third and that is a double one In the general he saith should I grant which I do not that the Apostle is to be understood of the Church on earth yet
acknowledgeth Primarily therefore these canons concern the whole Church The manner also of the Apostles speech is to be attended he doth not say the Churches houses pillars grounds to be ordered pari rattoni but in the singular number house church pillar ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if there were but one Church one house whereof Ephesus was but one room and that already furnished one seat one large pillar that hath the same truth written on every side of it which holdeth it forth unto others both Jews and Gentiles within the Church and without more forensi And as Timothy being an Evangelist conversed with many Churches so it is like did the members of the Church of Ephesus The English Annotations on this place are these As the Catholike Church is as it were the whole house of God so every particular Church as this of Ephesus was in which Timothy resided was a part thereof and by a Synecdoche totius may be called the house of God c. The words also of the following verse will lend us some light Great is the mystery of goâ—linesse God manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles beleeved on in the world received up into glory This is the truth supported by this seat and holden forth by this pillar Doth this concern Ephesus solely or particularly or primarily Is there not a larger subject expressed viz. Gentiles and the believing world All these are the family and houshold of God Eph. 2.19 and 3.15 Again it is the Catholike visible Church that is so often in Scripture called the Kingdom of God Mat. 4.26 30. And the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 13.24 31 33 47. Christ cals them not Kingdoms but the Kingdom And compares this Kingdom to a field of wheat mingled with tares This must be the Church visible in this world because it is where the sower ordinarily soweth his seed visibly and audibly vers 8. which is the preaching of the word And because here are good and bad wheat and tares and the tares visibly discerned after the wheat And it is the Catholike Church for Christ himself expounds it so the field is the world not of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also Joh. 3.16 and 17.11 15. And this must be the Christian world for the other is a field of tares only where there could be no danger of plucking up of wheat because none grew there They shall fever the wicked from among the just And in this field particular Churches are but as particular ridges enjoying the same tillage seed fencing watering It is a barn floor with wheat and chaffe It is a draw net gathering together good and bad It is a marriage where wise and foolish virgins some had oil and some only lamps of profession It is a feast where some had wedding garments some had none Now these things cannot be spoken solely or primarily of any particular Congregation but they agree to the Church-Catholike visible this Kingdom is here spoken of as one and to particular Churches as parts thereof and this is also an organical body therefore called a Kingdom Here are servants sowing and viewing this field proffering to weed it And this weeding must be by Ecclesiastical censures not the civil sword they were not so void of reason as to go ask whether they should kill all the world besides the godly with a civil sword then these tares must be members of the Church else they were not capable to be cast out if never in Here were fishermen officers that cast this net and servants that invited these guests every where in high waies and hedges Luk. 14.23 indefinitely without respect of Countrey or Town That which is objected against this by M. Hooker is that the Kingdom of heaven beside other significations as the Kingdom of glory c. it doth by a metonymy imply the word of the Kingdom and the dispensation and administration of the Gospel in the Churches and the special things appertaining thereunto And citeth these parables for that sense Answ I deny not the several significations of those words the Kingdom of heaven in â—everal places But they cannot signifie so in the fore-ceited places For it is said the Angels shall gather out of his Christs Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them c. can this be meant of the word or Gospel Is there any thing that offends therein or doth iniquity that shall be cast c. Is there any tares any chaff any rubbish there Or can it be meant of the dispensation thereof Should sinful or erroneous dispensations of Gods Ordinances be suffered to the end of the world for fear of plucking up good dispensations Why do we then endeavour a reformation Doth not Paul say false teachers mouths must be stopped and wisheth such cut off It is clear the texts speak of a Kingdom consisting of persons the tares chaffe rubbish foolish virgins and evil guests are the children of the wicked one man that offend and doe iniquity that shall be gathered out of Christs Kingdom therefore they were in it And the wheat good fish wise virgins and good guests are the children of the Kingdom without respect to any particularities of Town or Countrey much lesse of any Congregation And when we say Thy Kingdom come we pray not only for the conversion of the elect nor only for the coming of the Kingdom of glory but also for the Church-Catholike visible that it might be enlarged and have freedom and purity of Ordinances which are things that concern it as a visible organical Kingdom because the dispensations thereof are by Officers Again in 1 Cor. 15.24 it is said Then shall Christ deliver up the Kingdom to God his Father This is not the natural or essential Kingdom which he hath with the Father and holy Ghost as God for that he shall never deliver up Neither is it the Kingdom of grace which he by his Spirit exerciseth in the hearts of the Elect for that shall continue for ever and be more perfect in heaven For the Kingdom of grace here and of glory afterward differ only gradis communionis as Ames tels us here the degree is imperfect then it shall be perfect both in graces and joyes But it is the Kingdom exercised in the visible Church-Catholike in the Ordinances of worship and discipline wherein our communion is mediate with God which shall then cease For as the Evangelical external service and manner of communion with God thrust out the legal and ceremonial so shall the heavenly immediate thrust out the Evangelical But this Kingdom saith M. Hooker cannot be the Catholike visible Church because that consisting of sound-hearted Christians and false-hearted hypocrites these are not delivered up into the hand of the Father that he might be all in all to them Surv. p. 276. Answ I do not conceive by Kingdom to be meant the children of the Kingdom but the
societies in the beginning of it in the Apostles daies as I shewed before and that not as Entitive only but under the general Officers with whom they did communicate in doctrine fellowship breaking of bread and praier 2. Because the several and singular Churches do constitute and make up the Oecumenical as members of it now membrum integrum sunt relata A genus hath no members The particular Churches are integrant to the whole and the whole results out of them Hence Salmasius hath this passage Vniversum Ecclesiae corpus in majora membra divisum Apparat. 285. Every particular Congragation contains part of the matter and part of the form of the whole I mean with Ames in respect of the external state of it But a Genus hath no external state Quod habet partes extra partes est Tetum integrale sed Ecclesia universalis visibilis habet partes extra partes Ergo. The mayor is the very definition of totum integrale The minor is clear for the particular Churches are different one from another sitis ordine singulae suâ praediâ—ae sunt quantitate non se invicem permeant They are not only distinct in consideration but in existence and exist one besides another as Towns in a Kingdom 3. Nay it appears further to be an integral because it is made up not only of the particular Congregations but of individual Christians not only such as are particular members of particular Congregations but such as are not members of any particular Congregation as I suppose all Christians are not fixed members nor can be as I could give divers instances as in regard of habitation perigrination banishment want of opportunity scrupulosity If such be not members of the Church-Catholike because not fixed then the Apostles themselves and Evangelists were none for they were not fixed but we finde that they were not only members but officers and so related to the body as organical A Corporation or City consisteth not only of streets wards and companies but of persons within their liberties though dwelling alone Now if the Church-Catholike be a genus it cannot be abstracted from them both if it be abstracted from particular Congregations and so be a genus of societies and polities then it doth not contain such as are not in any societies or polities if it be abstracted from them as particular unfixed members then it is no genus of particular Churches for they are none nor of any But as the Church is an integrum it may be made up of both and result out of both 4. That which hath inherent accidents and adjuncts existing in it as its own that is an integral for a genus is not capable of them But the Church-Catholike visible hath accidents inhaering adhaering and betiding unto it and existing in it Therefore it is an integral The major is undeniable The minor appeareth by instance Beauty strength offensive defensive purity terriblenesse with banners viz. of discipline conspicuity order visibility c. are accidents that may and sometimes have been and some of them are still existing in the whole Church as belonging to the whole therefore it is an integral Again That which is capable of being majus and minus i. e. is sometimes greater and sometimes lesse in extent that is an integral but so is the Church-Catholike or Oecumenical The consequence is clear because a Genus can neither be greater or lesse then it ever was Animal was as great a Genus when there were but two men and a few beasts in the world as it is now there are many millions for the greatnesse of the genus is not measured by continuous or discreet quantity but the nearer Ens it is and the further from Individuals the greater the Genus is i. e. the more comprehensive and the further remote from Ens and the nearer the Individuals the lesse the Genus is i. e. the lesse comprehensive But the Oecumenical Church is measured by quantity continuous in regard of place wherein it is and discrete in regard of number of the Churches and members thereof sometimes the bounds thereof are enlarged and sometimes streightned There is an augmentation by addition of members a diminution by substraction and the whole resulteth out of the aggregation of the parts not by local contiguity alwaies but by political Ecclesiastical habitual consociation and union in the same external profession subjection and fraternity Again that totum which is mutable and fluxile is an integral for a Genus is immutable constant permanent aeternae veritatis But the Church Oecumenical is very mutable and fluxile sometime flourishing sometime under persecution sometimes conspicuous sometimes it may be latenâ— sometimes more pure sometimes more corrupt sometimes it hath more beauty and strength and sometimes lesse and though this be in the parts and members the particular Churches yet it may be in the whole and the beauty and strength of the parts of a natural or civil body is the beauty and strength of the whole man City Kingdom every member hath his own beauty and strength and out of them all resulteth the beauty and strength of the whole Again That totum which is measured by time and place is an integral for Genus which is a notion is capable of neither of them but so is the Church Oecumenical Hence we divide the Church into primitive and successive From the time of John the Baptist the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence Mat. 11.12 Sometime the Church hath been planted in the Eastern parts of the world and now is more Westerly and is in likelihood still going more Westward We use to limit the Church within the pale thereof though potentially in regard of permission and haply promise it may be actually over the whole earth Amplitudo vetustas sunt accidentia Ecclesiae visibilis See Cameron de conspic Ecclesiae 5. That Totum whereinto there is admission Sect. 3. wherein there is nutrition and edification and out of which there is ejection that is an integral But there is admission into the Church-Catholike visible by Baptism nutrition and edification by the other external Ordinances and ejection out of it by excommunication Therefore it is an Integral For a Genus is capable of none of these Indeed if you consider this society in reference to other societies or religions it is a distinct kinde in regard of the Authour laws qualifications of members but in reference unto its members it is an integral If this be all that is meant by totum genericum existens it may passe without any dammage to this question So the several companies in London are distinct from other companies yet in reference to their own members they are integrals and in reference to the whole they are parts 6. That society which hath not only a head or governour in heaven of the same nature as man but Officers on earth which are indefinitely and habitually Officers to the whole that is an integral
together by laws under one government it is otherwise the distance of place hinders not the integrality of the whole and though it cannot be seen uno intuitu by the same man at once unlesse by way of representation as in a Parliament or Common-Councel as M. Ellis saith nor yet be perceived to be one without some act of the understanding yet this maketh not the City or Empire invisible He confesseth the Church-Catholike to be visible in respect of the several parts and places where they dwell but this saith he is to prevaricate and to prove that which is not in question But he might remember that I took visible in the explication of the terms of the question to be meant in regard of visible communion in holy Ordinances â—hough the persons never congregate into one place to be seen with one mans eye but in opposition to inward invisible communion Let him grant but such a visibility of the Church-Catholike as was in any of the four Monarchies or a civil kingdom which yet are seen but in their several parts and places and I contend for no more I suppose no particular Congregation was ever seen together in all the members thereof uno inâ—uitu and yet is visibly one in regard of the particular confederation and usual meeting of most of the members Is not England a visible Kingdom though seen but in the parts of it was it not visible before there was a Parliament to represent it or doth it cease to be visible in the intervals of Parliaments The visibility of it consisteth in the visibility of the Persons Corporations Places Laws Government So is the case of the Church-Catholike whose Persons Places Laws which are the visible bond and government are as external and visible as those of the Kingdom i. e. lyable to sense and perceivable by sense though not actually seen by the same man at once I desire it might be noted that the Church-Catholike which our Divines speak of in their disputes against the Papists is not this Church-Catholike which we have now in hand but that is the whole Church or company of the elect both past present and to come It is the Church taken in the first sense in the explication of the terms of the Question not the external political mixed Church or kingdom of Christ Neither doth that Church agree with this but only nominally and equivocally in that it is called by the same name but it is not the same in nature or sense and therefore should that and this be used in a syllogism there would be 4 terms For that Church is neither external nor visible nor existent nor organical it hath no Officers it is no polity it is not that which M. Hooker cals Tâ—tum genericum existens for many of them are already in heaven and the spirits of just men made perfect many not yet born many not yet converted Now to make that the Genus of the visible external political Churches of Christ were as absurd as to make the vessels of gold to be the Genus of the silver brazen pewter wooden stony and earthen vessels of a house or a marble building to be the Genus of all the buildings of other stones brick and timber And therefore to dispute from that to this is not ad idem I suppose that neither M. Hooker nor M. Ellis meant that Church no more then I. If the genus comprehend only invisible members the species should be only of invisible members also The genus is of the same nature or predicament with the species and all that is common to all the species is found in the genus and fetched from thence There is nothing in man but it is in animal except the specifical form whereby he differs from a brute and nothing in animal but it is in man except its totality or generality whereby it comprehends man and brute If homo and brutum be visible living substances they received it from animal The genus giveth essence to the species and is symbolum causae materialis but the Church of the Elect giveth not essence nor matter to the visible Church for there are many members of this which are not invisible neither are the elect members of this quà invisible but quà existent and visible The visible and invisible Church are contra distinct branches of a distribution ex adjunctis vel 〈◊〉 communionis therefore the one cannot be the genus of the other for then genus and species should not be of the same general predication or denomination but the invisible should be genus of the visible one branch be genus of the other which is contrary to all Logick The invisibility of this genus ariseth not from a separation of the invisible members from the visible or the sheep from the goats but ariseth from a mental abstraction it is the invisibility of a notion not of the persons It is not by culling out such as have invisible grace and leaving the rest for that which is so culled out is not comprehensive of them both The Genus drawn by logical mental abstraction from the most corporeal visible substances is as invisible quà genus as a genus of incorporeal invisible substances Either that Church-Catholike which our Divines speak of is the Genus of particular visible Churches or it is not If it be then it must be an external visible polity in general notion which must comprehend all the external visible Ecclesiastical Polities on earth and so hypocrites as well as the elect The species consist of such matter and therefore so must the genus in the notion I mean but that they deny of their Church-Catholike visible If it be not then it is not the Church-Catholike which M. Hooker and M. Ellis intend for they intend a general Church which comprehends in notion all the visible Churches under it And therefore they differ from our Divines in their meaning of the Church-Catholike as much as I do And so joyn not nor concur with our Divines in the same subject neither is it adidem Now if we make the Church-Catholike an abstract general notion comprehending all particular Churches under it as a genus then we make Christs visible external Kingdom on earth only a logical non-existing notion and the particular Congregations to be the several species of the kingdom of Jesus Christ all comprehended under one logical comprehensive notion and the particular Covenant or confederation of such or such a company between themselves should constitute a kingdom of Jesus Christ And so when a man removes from one Congregation into another he should remove out of one species into another and in the interim be quite out of the kingdom of Christ because he is out of all the species of Christs kingdom and a particular member cannot exist under this genus for it is a genus of Congregations quà Congregations and not of single persons And then it will follow that many a visible beleever
one key shorter then the other It is granted also here that Councels have to do with matters of common right and joint concernment And thereby the necessity of Synods and Councels will follow seeing there are things of common right to many Churches and may be to all And this will necessarily require that they should be furnished with authority to transact those affairs of common concernment and that is as much as the Presbyterians contend for in the behalf of Synods No State saith he can take my wife from me or dispose of my children in marriage this is of peculiar right so in Churches Answ No more can the Elders of the particular Congregation nor the civil Officers of the particular Town But the civil Officers or State can dispose of mens children and good according to Law for the good and defence of the whole notwithstanding a mans peculiar right So the peculiar rights of persons and Congregations must be subservient and give way to the good of the whole or the greater part And though a master of a family ought not to yield up his family-government over wife children and servants to rule them in common with other Masters of families as M. A. and M. S. note in their Def. p. 110. yet if he abuse his government over them the wronged persons either wife children or servants may be relieved by the Magistrate who yet hath no constant actual hand in the family-government And whereas he saith all the Christians in England would be loth to stand bound to the determinations of 2. or 3. sent in their names to a general Councel I answer by retortion so would a Congregation or our Nobility and Gentry be loth to stand bound by the censures of two or three Elders in a particular Congregation without relief But it is pretended by M. Ellis to be new also relatively in reference to the Protestant Divines Calvin is brought in here vind p. 13 It is true Calvin saith Instit lib 4. cap. 1. sect 3. Ad amplexandam Ecclesiae unitatem nihil opus est Ecclesiam ipsam oculis cernere vel manibus palpare quin potius eo quod in fide sit◠est But his meaning i◠we cannot distinguish the elect from the reprobate by sense referring it to what he had spoken in the former Section Soli Deo permittenda est cognitio suae Ecclesia sect 2. Deus mirabiliter Ecclesiam suam quasi in latebris servat But here M. Ellis cites a man for him who is directly against him For Calvin makes the Ministry of man which God useth in governing the Church to be the chief sinew whereby the faithful cohere together in one body Inst l. 4. c. 3. s 2. where also he dilates upon Eph. 4.4 c. and saith it is meant of the Church militant only And in sect 7. he saith though the Minister be tied to the particular Congregation yet he may not only help other Churches but may be removed to other Churches of the publike utility require it And for Councels he saith l. 4. c. 9. s 1. That he reverenced the ancient Councels ex animo and wisheth all other men did so And saith the promise in Mat. 18.20 where two or three are gathered together in my name c. as it reacheth to particular Assemblies so also to a general Councel Sect. 2. And he giveth to Councels power dogmatical and saith there is no better remedy against errours as I cited the words upon the like occasion before Nullum est melius remedium c. and also Dialactick power c. 10. s 27. in making constitutions according to the general rules 1 Cor. 14.40 and jurisdiction c. 11. not only doctrinal binding and loosing but disciplinary by inflicting censures s 2. and c. 12. s 22. sheweth the ancient manner of yearly Synods and of appeals if any were wronged by their Bishops and not only the relief of the wronged person but the deposition of the Bishop or suspension for a time from communion And he saith that alwaies before one Synod ended the time and place for another was set and then complains that these things were now out of date So that Calvin was not against an habitual unity of the whole Church nor against the exerting of the Ministerial power beyond the particular Congregation or exerting it conjunctim in Synods and Councels Chamier also hath been alledged for it before And the difference is vast between the Church-Catholike visible which our Divines deny 〈◊〉 this as hath been shewed before Chap. 5. Sect. 4. M. Ellis's second just or rather unjust prejudice is from the dangerous consequences of this opinion But indeed they flow from his ill stating of the Question and not from the Tenet it self To the first viz. a necessity of universal and general Officers and some one above the rest to whom the particular Churches may have continual recourse hath been answered before Cha. 7. Sect. 6. To the second viz. the necessity of a continual standing Court Sect. 6. hath been already answered Cha. 7. Sect. 10. The suiting of the Church too much to worldly policy occasioneth this scruple And yet we see that Parliaments and Diets civil are not standing continual Courts no more need Councels Ecclesiastical be And whereas he saith it were notably vain to imagine that Christ hath committed the government of his Church first and chiefly to that body that should not meet six times in sixteen hundred years nay never I answer that I never affirmed a general Councel to be the first subject of the keys nor the London-Ministers that I can finde nor Apollonius that I remember But the Church-Officers in general in opposition to the caetus fidelium or the civil Magistrate c. A general Councel is but occasional yet is it Reverend and August and of more large extent by reason of the general delegation then any other meeting and is full of authority for the exerting of all Ecclesiastical power of the keys as I conceive The gift of the keys was primarily to the whole body of Officers or Organs of the Church respectively as their Offices were capable of them and as they were given to the Apostles together so they may he exercised together And secondarily to the particular Ministers or Officers as being a part of that body And though the power habitually considered be indefinite yet the constant actual exercise thereof is in their particular Congregations or Classes The Ordinances of God for the enjoyment and use of them were given to the whole visible Church for the conversion and edification of the Elect and if they could meet together as the Israelites did in the wildernesse and the Saints for ought I know shall in heaven they might partake of them together as their rightful portion but because they cannot meet but in parcels therefore they have right to enjoy them divisim by vertue of that general gift to the whole which every Congregation or parcel appropriates to
aggregation and combination as M. Hooker understands me for the particular Congregations must exist before they can be combined and aggregated Neither do I 〈◊〉 in regard of operation for now the Church is constituted and divided into particular combinations the particular Churches are first in their ordinary operations And yet the Evangelical Church did put forth operations at first before any such divisions and without any reference to them But positively I mean the Church-Catholike is before the particular 1. Intentione divinâ in Gods intention as Nature intends first the whole man and not any part of man although the parts are in some sense before the whole in consideration for the whole is made up of them 2. Institutione divinâ in regard of Gods institution God did first institute the whole by one Charter Covenant and systeme of Laws and the particular Congregations secondarily for convenient communication of persons and transactions of businesse Go teach all Nations was the first Commission after Christs resurrection 3. Donatione divinâ for the Ordinances and priviledges of the Church were first given to the whole and secondarily to the particular Congregations as the priviledges of any Kingdom and Corporation are 4. The Church-Catholike is prior dignitate in dignity a Kingdom is of more dignity and honour then any particular town and a city then any street or ward The whole hath more dignity then any part Yea and I may say also in authority for the authority of the whole is greater in divers respects then of the parts 5. Perfectione for the perfection of the whole is made up of the perfection of the parts a whole Kingdom of the parts of it and any whole comprizeth the perfection of the parts of it a particular street or ward is an imperfect incompleat thing and not consistent alone but as a part in reference to the whole and as a member in reference to the whole body The particulars may have the perfection of parts and some be more perfect then others but the whole is most perfect and the perfections of the parts concurre in the perfection of the whole 6. Entitivè or essentialiter the Church-Entitive is before the Organical for the organical is made up of the members of the Church Entitive and the Church-Entitive affords materials to the Church-organical And in this respect the particular Churches are properly ortae arising out of the Entitive and so also is the whole Church-organical for it ariseth out of the combination of the particular Congregations and both it and they consist only of members of the Church Entitive And herein I consent unto M. Parker in this sense but not that the habitual power of Elders should arise from the particular Congregations to act in Synods but only in regard of their evocation and exciting of their power to act in reference to them pro hic nunc 7. Causalitate efficientis Ministerialis For the Church-Catholike already converted is a means of converting more unto them as opportunity is afforded and of admitting ministerially into the Church-Catholike both entitive first and then organical both private members and also Officers into their habitual office 8. Cognitione sive noscibilitate perfectâ For though this or that Congregation be proprior ad sensum and so notior respectu nostri which is cognitione confusâ yet the Church-Catholike is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noscibilior simpliciter Distincta enim cognitio sequitur ordinem naturae in se in mente benè dispositâ As universalia sunt notiora minus universalibus species infima individâ—â—â— The Kingdom of England as a Kingdom is propius ad 〈◊〉 and so noscibilius distinctâ ratione but particular towns are propiora ad sensum The notion of an English man comes first upon a subject of this Kingdom before of a Suffolk man A man may have knowledge of England as a Kingdom and be well skilled in the polity laws and priviledges thereof and yet by sense have but little or no knowledge of particular Towns so a man may know much of the Church as Christs Kingdom and be well skilled in the Laws Ordinances and priviledges thereof and yet know but few particular Churches So that the priority of the Church-Catholike visible in respect of the particulars is like the priority of a Kingdom to the parts of it or of a Corporation in respect of the parts of it which is not meant in a mathematical or techtonical consideration for so the particular buildings are prima and the whole city ortae yet so M. Hooker understood me in his acute arguing about integrale Surv. pag. 255. But in regard of intention institution donation of priviledges dignity perfection essence instrumental efficiency and perfect cognition of it There is also a difference between ortum secundarium for every ortum is secundarium but every secundarium is not ortum But I principally meant secundarium or secundary yet in regard the particular Churches arise and spring out of the Church-Entitive and are converted and admitted ministerially by the Church-Catholike already in being they may truly be said to be ortae and the Catholike prima First Sect. 2. All the names that are in the Scripture given unto the Church-visible agree primarily to the Church-Catholike and 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 We know they were given even to the Jews before ever any Congregational Evangelical Churches had existence Act. 7.38 The Church in the wildernesse And the Jews 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 Gods vineyard Joh. 15.1 Wherein branches in Christ bearing no fruit are cut off Christs sheepfold Joh. 10.16 Barn-floor Mat. 3.12 Drag-net Wheat-field Kingdom of heaven Mat. 13.37 38. A great house wherein are vessels even of dishonour 2 Tim. 2.20 These names cannot be limited or appropriated to any particular Congregation but are first true of the whole Church and of every particular Church as a part thereof Congregationes particulares sunt quasi partes similares Ecclesiae Catholicae atque adeò nomen naturam ejus participant Ames med l. 1. c. 32. s 4. 2. That is the primary Church to which the Covenant Promises Laws and Priviledges of the Church do primarily belong but the Covenant Promises Laws and Priviledges do primarily belong to the Church-Catholike Therefore c. The minor I prove because the Covenant of grace and salvation by Christ and the first Evangelical 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 National or Congregational Again the main commission for gathering
the Evangelical Church was Go teach all Nations and baptize them in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost Mat. 28. And this was before any divisions or subdivisions were appointed and they were secondarily brought in for order and convenient administration of Ordinances and communication of members and transaction of businesse and they being similar parts of the whole receive their particular distinctions from external accidental and adventitious particularities as the places where they exist the particular Officers set over them their purity or impurity eminency or obscurity multitude or paucity zeal or remisnesse antiquity or late constitution c. They all retain the general essential form and difference from heathens and among themselves as parts of a similar body are distinguished but by accidental differences And that promise that the gates of hell shall never prevail against the Church is primarily given to the Church-Catholike visible have 〈◊〉 For that in heaven is not assailed by the gates of hell but only that on earth And though it may seem to be applicable to the invisible only yet to those as visible for so they are assailed by persecutions and heresies Again He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved Mar. 16. This doth primarily belong to the Church Catholike and that a visible Church because capable of Baptism and though it be applicable to every member of any particular Congregation yet not as being a member of that particular society or confederation but as being in the general Covenant and so a member of the Church Catholike to which that promise was made Yea look over all the promises in the New Testament and you shall finde them under in general without the least respect or reference to the particular confederations or Congregations wherein the beleevers lived In any similar body as water the accidents doe not primarily pertain to this or that particular drop and secondarily to the whole but first to the whole and secondarily to this or that drop So the promises and priviledges of the Church do not primarily belong to this or that particular Church and secondarily to the Catholike but first to the Catholike and secondarily to this or that particular Congregation or person as being a member thereof The Laws also are given to the whole Church primarily as the Laws of England are to the whole Kingdom primarily and to the particular divisionâ— secondarily and all are bound to obedience not as Suffolk or Essex men but as Subjects of this Kingdom So the Laws of Christ binde every particular Church but not because in such a particular Covenant or confederation but because Subjects of Christs visible Kingdom The like may be said of the priviledges of the Church Two main priviledges of the Church are federal holinesse of the children of visible beleevers and right to the Ordinances on for â—â—llcclesia Now neither of both these betide any primarily as a member of a particular Congregation but as a member of the Church-Catholike For federal or covenant-holinesse whereby the children of visible beleevers are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it betideth no mans children because the parents are of this or that or any Congregation but because of the Church-Catholike yea though but entitive if under the seal of Baptism This I prove thus That which should have been though the particular relation to a particular Congregation had never been and which continueth when the particular relation ceaseth that is not a proper priviledge of that relation but such is federal-holinesse in regard of relation to any particular Congregation Therefore c. Suppose those baptized by John Baptist or by Christs Disciples before there were any particular distinctions should have had any children or the Eunuch if he were an Eunuck by office only and not in body baptized by Philip who went immediatly home into his own countrey or Cornelius and his friends baptized in Peters command should not their children 〈◊〉 Suppose â— Church dissolved by war the Minister and people slaiâ—â—ick dying by some raging pestilence and some women left with childe and haply they carried away captive should not their children be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the particular relation is extinct Do not those women remain members of the Church But they cease to remain members of that particular Church or Integral for that inceased Therefore of the Church-Catholike or of none Are thereto he accounted without in the Apostles sense Are visible be leevest not yet joined in Church-order or fellowship by a particular Covenant to be accounted without Or is a Congregation deprived of Elders by death land in that interval 〈◊〉 of Word Sacraments and discipline to be accounted 〈…〉 joyning of a company of private Christians together without Officers before they be organized that gives them their right primarily to the Ordinances I fear too 〈…〉 to that particular conjunction and covenient 〈…〉 weight laid upon it which is a very accidental 〈…〉 to Ordinances and enters not into it 〈…〉 and extinguishible without the least impeaching of the right to Ordinances If the reason whereupon the Apostle saith the Church of Corinth was not to judge them that were without was because they were not within the Church of Corinth and so not under their particular 〈…〉 or judgement this holdeth true of them that be of another society or Congregation desiring to be admitted to the Sacrament as well as of such as are no set members desires to be received to the Lords Supper And so all 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉 society are without unto another See M. 〈…〉 But by fornicators of this world whom the Apostle pointeth into by the title of being without 1 Cor. 10.11 he means such as had not received the Covenant of grace such as 〈…〉 the Common-wealth of Israel strangers from the 〈…〉 of promise having no hope and without God in the world 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 right to the Ordinances it ariseth from the general Covenant 〈…〉 priviledge primarily belonging to visible beleevers though in no particular consociation the admission into the particular Congregation only affords an opportunity because thereby a particular Minister hath taken the charge of him and must administer the Ordinances to him which any other Minister may do upon occasion For Baptism it cannot be a priviledge of the particular Covenant for if a Pagan be converted he must be baptized before he can be admitted a member of the particular Congregation and this must be by some Minister Therefore baptism is a priviledge of the Church-Entitive and a Minister can yea and must sometimes exert his power of office not only beyond his own Congregation even into others but beyond the Church organical into the Church-Entitive to set Christs seal there And for the children of visible beleevers though born never so farre from the place where the particular Minister liveth which hath the actual care of his parents be it by sea or by land any Minister may administer Baptism to them because they are
Middleburgh and Strasburgh and other places yet because it maketh most for edification and order to have them fixed I shall think they were until the contrary shall be proved but however they ruled in common in the exercise of discipline which is the Ordinance which our brethren are most unwilling to grant should be exercised out of the particular Congregation Sect. 5. Seventhly That Church to which every Christian first bears relation and which relation continueth last and cannot be broken by him without sin is the first Church but such is the Church-Catholike visible Therefore c. The major is undenyable The minor appears because none can be admitted into a particular Congregation except he be judged first of the Church-Catholike and that not meerly Entitive but under the seal of the Covenant administred by some Officer and so stands bound to submit himself to all Christs Ordinances and Officers by one of which he receives his admission So again though he change his habitation never so often bear relation to never so many particular Congregations one after another yet in all those the general relation holdeth stil he is still a baptized visible member of the Church-Catholike and therefore to be received whereever he cometh into any particular Congregation Yea in the interim after his breaking off from one Congregation and placing in another he retains the general relation and baptism and is not an heathen or infidel he is not one without in the Apostles phrase Yea suppose a man should be a Traveller Merchant or Factor and setled in no particular Congregation yet being a Christian he is a member of the Church-Catholike yea and if he breach any errours or live inordinately he shall be accountable to the Church where he for the present resides or such crimes are committed and be liable to their censure as being a member of the Church-Catholike And this appears because the Church of Ephesus is commended Rev. 2.2 for trying strangers that came among them under the notion of Apostles and found them lyars and so would not receive them And our brethren undertake to inflict the sentence of Non-communion for so they call it a sentence of Non-communion denounced Apollog Nar. pag. 18. and 19. against strangers yea whole Churches but how it will stand with some other principles of theirs I know nor if it be a sentence denounced it is a censure and so an act of discipline exercised against those out of their particular confederation which in my apprehension is but changing an old warranted censure of the Church into a new and doubtful one but both seem to agree in the general nature of a sentence or censure Surely hereticks and false teachers are not to be left to the Magistrate only but to be referred to Ecclesiastical trial for those things come not under the cognizance of the civil Magistrate properly or he may be an heathen and will not regard an heretick nor can judge of him Act. 18.15 And if every kingdom will try murther treason or any foul crime committed in the same though by a stranger or alien because the crimes are against their laws and sovereign though their Laws pertain not to the countrey where the forreigner was born and dwelleth then much more shall every Church try those members of the Church-Catholike residing among them for their crimes or false doctrines seeing they have all the same sovereign head the same Laws and are all one habitual body Again It is no sinne for a man to remove from one Congregation to another as oft as occasion or conveniency require but for a man to remove out of the Church-Catholike either Entitive by disclaiming the doctrine and faith of Christ or organical by refusing to joyn to any Christian society or to be under and submit unto any Church-discipline is a great sinne and apostacy No man is accounted a schismatick for removing from one Congregation to another but he that shall separate himself from all Church-communion and shall rend himself from the Church-Catholike he is a schismatick he is an Apostate And therefore the several sects though they pretend because of wants or blemishes to rend from the Church of England or Scotland c. yet not from the Church-Catholike by no means because they know that were a sin Eightly That Church from which the particular Churches spring and to which they are as an additament and encrease that is the prime Church but that is the Church-Catholike Therefore c. The major is clear of it self The minor appears because they are the instrument to convert the rest and bring them into the same kingdom of Christ with themselves Act. 2.47 God added to the Church daily such as should be saved That little handful to which the Catholike charter was first given leavened the whole world and brought them in as an addition to themselves They were to be witnesses in Jerusalem and then in Iudaea and to the ends of the earth Act. 1.8 For the Law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem Isa 2.3 The Lord shall send the red of his strength out of Zion Psal 110.2 It was with the Church then as was said of the river of Eden Gen. 2.10 A river went out of Eden to water the garden and from thence it was parted into four heads So the water of life flowed from Zion into the four quarters of the world As there is no creek but hath its rise from and continuity with the Main and receives influence from it so there is no particular Church but hath his first rise and ministerial influence from the Church-Catholike and received the Gospel and priviledges of it from thence ministerially God cals no Evangelical Churches by inspiration only but by the ministry of those that are members of the Church-Catholike or some part of it God would not have Cornelius instructed by an Angel though he could have done it but by Peter a Minister of the Church-Evangelical and likewise the Eunuch by Philip. So that the Church-Catholike is as the Sea and particular Churches as so many creeks or arms receiving a tincture and season of her waters The Church-Catholike is as the tree Christ as the root the particular Churches as branches as Cyprian makes the comparison Shee is the mother and they as daughters born of her and receiving from her ministerially both nature and priviledges Gal. 4.26 Paul indeed was called extraordinarily from heaven by Christ himself the head of the Church and not by an Angel that he might be or some conceive a type of the second call of the Jews who as some hold shall be so called as he was by the appearing of the sign of the Son of man and therefore that Church is said to come down from God out of heaven Rev. 21.2 10. And the ground of this type they take from 1 Tim. 1.16 For this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all
Corporations and yet this hinders not the power of Parliaments or Officers called thereto to dispense justice to divers Counties yea to the whole Kingdom and to relieve such as are wronged in their particular associations Suppose an Apostle should have preached in a city and converted but a few haply most or all of them women as it was Pauls lot to preach to a company of women Act. 16.13 so that they could not be brought into an Organical Congregation could it be conceived that they though baptized were still without And were not their children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if any of them should miscarry in their judgements or practices had Paul nothing to doe to censure them because they were not congregated and combined by a particular Covenant in a Church-way as some term it but remain unfixed members of the Church-Catholike If they be liable to censure then doth discipline belong to the Church-Catholike primarily Nay let that be supposed for illustration sake which Paul Gal. 1.8 supposeth of himself that he or any of the Apostles should have apostatized and either preached another Messias or lived scandalously or proved a persecutour had Christ left the Church no key to binde him because he was a general Officer and a fixed member of no particular Congregation might not the rest of the Apostles excommunicate him then that censure would be Catholike without respect to any particular Congregation The Ordinances of Discipline were first given to the Church-Catholike because the keys were first given to the Apostles who were general Pastours and therefore the keys are Catholike Also the censures past in one Congregation reach the whole Church-Catholike visible and are binding to the whole and their absolution reacheth as far and â—ets the person into an habitual right to communicate any where again as hath been shewed before That which belongeth to every part of a similar body that primarily belongs to the whole but Discipline belongeth to every part of the Church-Catholike which is a similar body and therefore it primarily belongs to the whole If the keys be not Catholike then this inconvenience will follow that a visible beleever obtaining baptism before he be a fixed member may either through pretence of scrupulosity or perigrination factorship or frequent removing or refusal to joyn with any particular Congregation though never so heretical or scandalous shall thereby escape all censures because the keys are only particular and no body can inflict any censure upon him and yet being a visible member under the seal of the covenant shall converse with other Christians and haply upon his habitual right hear the Word or haply be admitted to the Lords table Which is as if a Subject of England because he will be a fixed inhabitant in no Town but wandring up and down drinking thieving and whoring thereby should escape all civil censures It is common to all polities that every County Corporation or division that have power to administer justice according to the â—ane of the policy shall apprehend malefactors within their 〈◊〉 whereever the malefactor hath his constant dwelling and either punish them themselves or turn them over to such aâ— are called to administer justice to the whole and otherwise outrages cannot be avoided or punished which are committed by men in places remote from their dwellings The like power must be allowed in Christs Ecclesiastical policy that the visible members of Christs Church may either be censured by the particular Church in whose limits they offend or be sent to the Church to which they belong which the offended Church hath no power by civil compulsion to do or that Church i◠〈◊〉 the off haply in another Countrey or haply they belong to none or else there must be a combined Eldership that may censure such persons Though civil limits be appointed for cohabitation of the members of particular Congregations and for maintenance of their Ministers and providing for the poor and 〈◊〉 essential to the Church but the members are to be accounted as members of that Congregation every where and the 〈…〉 in travel with any of their Congregation ought to watch over them and admonish them as their Elders and they to obey there whereever they become which sheweth that external limits bound not the Ministerial power as it doth the civil power of a Maâ—or or Constable yet there must be some kinde of proportion holden with civil polities for the censuring of wandring Christians else may hereticks and scandalous Christians come from forreign parts and do much hurt and yet avoid all censures Sect. 3. Thirdly Christs Offices are first intended for and executed on the Church-Catholike here below He is a King Priest and 〈◊〉 primarily in respect of the whole and but secondarily in respect of a particular Congregation or member Gods aim in redemnation was to redeem the whole primarily and secondarily the particulars God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne c. i. e. not the Jew only but the Gentile also And so in the application of that redemption as Christ is a Priest be reconcileth and intercedeth for all the elect as a Prophet he teacheth all as a King he ruleth all primarily and particulars secondarily So is it also in Christs external Kingdom as well as his internal As an earthly King is indeed King of Thomas and John c. but not primarily but secondarily as they are members of his Kingdom And the natural head is indeed head to the little finger and toe but not primarily but as they are parts of the whole body whereof it is head so Christ is a mystical head of the whole Church primarily and secondarily of the particular parts contained in and under the whole Fourthly The signs that difference the true Church from a false do not primarily belong to a particular Congregation but to the Church-Catholike visible viz. Profession of the true faith administration of Gods true Ordinances for therein the whole Church agree and is thereby distinguished from those that are without not from those that are within These are no notes to know this or that particular Church by from another for they are common to the universal Church they distinguish them not among themselves but from the general common opposite the heathen or the grosse heretick A man being led into a vault where were the skuls of many dead men and understanding that Alexanders skull was there desired his guide to shew him that his guide told him it was that skull with the hollow eye-holes and grisly nose and futures crossing the brampan and when the man replyed that they had all so yea saith his guide there is no difference between Kings and other mens skuls when they are dead So if any man should ask which is the Church of Ipswich Deâ—ham c. it were a folly to say it is the Church where the word of God is preached and Sacraments administred and that professe Jesus to be crucified
dead and buried risen again and ascended into heaven c. for so do all the Church-Catholike but we must give other notes to distinguish any of them for these are not distinctive because common That which is primary to any thing is distinctive to that thing but that which is secondary and common is not distinctive from other particulars of the like kinde or from other parts of a similar integral Fifthly All the members of the particular Churches are members of the Church-Catholike yea that relation belongs first unto them If they be born within the pale of the Church they have federal holinesse and are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not because members of this or that Congregation but because born of parents within the general external Covenant and so within the Church-Catholike If they be converted from heathens they are not first converted into this or that particular Church but converted first into the Church-Catholike and then secondarily admitted members of this or that particular Congregation after they be baptized A man may dwell it one City and hear the word of God by accident in another city and thereby be converted but he is not converted to be a member of the Church where he was converted but into the Church-Catholike So that particular Congregations are made up of members of the Catholike and therefore most properly in that sense are said to be Ortae For such a convert may joyn himself after his conversion to what Congregation he pleaseth to inhabit among If a man comes into a Parish that is an heathen he is not a member of that particular Church though he shall be a civil member of the Town because be is not a member of the Church-Catholike but if he be a Christian then he is a member of that particular Church where he resideth or fit so to be and ought not to be denied admission or communion if no just exception lieth against him though he had never been a member of any other Congregation The particular companies in London are made up only of free-men that are joyned together in some particular body or society belonging to such or such a Hall now the first notion that comes upon any such persons or companies is that they are free-men of London and secondarily that they are distinct from other free-men by being of this or that particular company belonging to such a Hall So it is for all Churches first of all the members are conceived to be free of the Church-Catholike and secondarily distinct by their societies in this or that particular Assembly And though haply this similitude holdeth not in every thing as the not removing from one company to another and being received in there because he is a free-man yet it is free for any Christ to change his particular relation from one Congregation to another because he is a Christian and takes not up his first freedom into a particular Congregation or company but into the Catholike They are made members of the whole body and kingdom of Christ by conversion to the faith and initiated by the Sacrament of Baptism but are secondarily made members of a particular Congregation by cohabitation or consociation He that is free of one Corporation may not thereupon remove to another and set up his trade as a free-man there because they are constituted by several charters but the whole Church-Catholike hath but one charter and by that a Christian is free in any Ecclesiastical Corporation whereever he please to inhabit and may not by them be inhibited As he that was free of Rome was free whereever he became in all the Romane Empire Suppose a man had abundance of sheep as Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Job who had 14000. and these sheep had all one brand of the owners upon them and these sheep were divided into several flocks unister several shepheards in several sheep-walks of the same owners according to his appointment the primary consideration of any of these sheep or flocks is not that they are under such a keeper in such a sheep-walk but the first consideration of them is they are such a mans sheep bearing his brand and fed by his servants on his ground and then the more particular and secondary consideration and notion is that they are under such a particular shepheard in such a walk And the like may be said in a civil respect the first consideration of a man is that he is an English man and so a subject of this kingdom and the secondary that he is a Suffolk man or an Ipswich man So the first consideration in a spiritual respect of a man or a Congregation is that they are the Lords people that they belong to Christ and are his subjects born or converted to him fed and nourished and ruled by his Ordinances and Officers and then the particular secondary notion is that they are fed and ruled by such Elders in such a place or society It is an usual similitude on all hands to compare the Church to the Sea or Ocean which though it be one yet as it washeth upon this or that Countrey receiveth the name and distinction of the Germane Spanish Irish or British Seas And so when it puts in at any creek because it is continuous with the Sea we call it the Sea And we say the sea comes up at Harwich Ipswich Mâ—â—itras Colchoster now it were absurd for any man to think that the particular Seas were the prime Seas and the main is Mâ—râ—secundarinus or ortum Or because the name Sea iâ— indâ—â—â—ed to this or that arm or Creek that therefore that should monopolize the name Sea to it self that there should be no Sea but such Creeks or that any such Creeks should arrogate the came and priviledges of the Sea first to themselves and leave them but secondarily to the main So it is for particular Congregations which have the name and priviledges of the Church indulged to them as second or third hand because they are members and similar parts of the whole to usurp and challenge the name and priviledges given by God to the Church-Catholike primarily to themselves and leave them secondarily to the Church-Catholike Sect. 4. Sixthly The Ministers are primarily Ministers of the Church-Catholike secondarily of this or that particular flock or Congregation and therefore the Catholike is the prime Church And this appears thus That Church to which the donation of the Ministry was first made is the first subject thereof but that was the Church-Catholike Therefore c. For proof hereof see Mat. 28.19 and 1 Cor. 12.28 29. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers Now this Church was the Church-Catholike and not any particular Congregation for it is the Church to which God gave Apostles Note also from hence that the same Church to which God gave Apostles and Prophets to the same he gave Teachers also though not with general actual power as to the