Church-Catholike be one in the external accidental form it must needs be integrally and visibly one But I come to Scripture proofs which are the most sure Sect. 2. because they are a divine testimony And first I shall shew you that an Occumenical universal Church was frequently foretold in Scripture Psa 22.27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship be fore him Which comprehends all places all the ends of the earth and all persons that should be converted all the kindreds of the Nations and by worshipping is meant embracing the true religion and performance of religious duties So Psa 72.8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth It is a prophecy concerning Christ in the times of the Gospel where he is set forth by his Kingly office and the extent of his Kingdom is set out to be to the ends of the earth This is his external political Kingdom because it is set out by the external prayers and prayses and gifts that should be tendred unto him by his Subjects and by the judgement peace and flourishing estate that he shall bestow upon them So Psa 86.9 All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy name This is a prophecy like the former So Isa 2.2 3 4. It shall come to passe in the last daies that the mountain of the Lords house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hils and all Nations shall flow unto it and many people shall go and say Come ye let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his waies and we will walk in his paths For out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he shall judge among the Nations and rebuke many people c. Where is set down Christs call of all the Nations and the time of this call in the last daies i. e. the times under the Gospel as the Apostle Act. 2.17 expounds the like phrase in Joel 2.28 And here is the means of the call by the Law out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and the answer to this call All Nations shall flow unto it and there is Christs executing his prophetical office by publike teaching them in his house by his Ambassadours and his Kingly office in judging and rebuking So Isa 25.6 So Daniel 7.14 There was given unto him Christ Dominion and glory and a Kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him And in the New Testament Matt. 28.9 Go teach all Nations baptizing them c. Rom. 15.11 12. Rev. 14.6 But because these places will be turned off with this answer that some of all Nations should embrace the Gospel and be turned unto the Lord not the whole Nations I answer that experience hath proved it true of multitudes of great Nations that wholly did embrace the Gospel and submitted unto it Neither can any of these places be avoided as some plead by the general Kingdom of Christ which is given him over all Nations whereby he is head over all things to the Church Eph. 1.2 For it is clear they are meant of that Kingdom wherein are prayers praises gifts worship service and attendance upon Gods Ordinances flowing unto Christ worshipping before him and glorifying his name as the several texts expresse and these things are proper to the visible Church So also Zech. 14.9 And the Lord shall be King over all the earth in that day shall there be one Lord and his name one which is clearly meant of one religion and way of worship of God in Christ But secondly Sect. 3. I will give you places of Scripture where the word Church is applied both indefinitely and generally which cannot be understood of any particular Churches See first Act. 8.3 Saul made havock of the Church To which may be added that of Gal. 1.13 I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it I shewed before that this must needs be a visible Church for they could not else have been persecuted persecution is a visible opposition of a visible Church And certainly Saul could not discern who were of the invisible company but persecuted promiscuously all that were that way Neither was it a particular Church for this persecution was in Jerusalem and in every Synagogue and it reached to Damascus and even to strange cities Act. 26.11 So that by Church here is meant an indefinite number of visible Churches or Congregations which were in no other community but profession of the same faith and an indefinite is equivalent to a general which axiome although it should not be stretched according to the old rule Omne indefinitum potest esse infinitum it being without limits yet it is true in suo genere it is as large as a general But this we may safely say that by the same reason that the word Church would reach all those Churches it would reach all the Churches in the world Reverend M. Hooker excepteth against these two places and affirms that the word Church is taken here by a Synechdoche for the particular Church of Ierusalem and not all that neither but only such Christians as forsook Moses ceremonial Law and not the Christian Jewish Church Surv. c. 15. p. 269. Because saith he his Commission was to pursue such as he found of that way The answer to this exception will lie in the meaning of these words all that he found of that way whether by that way be meant the forsaking the ceremonial Law or confessing Christ to be the Messiah If the former then Paul would have found but little work in Ierusalem for the Jewish Christians did generally cleave to the ceremonial Law As the Elders told Paul Act. 21.20 Thou seest how many myriads of the Jews do believe and they are all zealous of the Law and therefore he needed not persecute them for neglect thereof for they were zealous therein yea the Apostles themselves observed that in Ierusalem a long time But the persecution was such as that they were all scattered abroad except the Apostles and therefore it was for Christianism that he persecuted them It was to cause them to blaspheme as Paul himself expounds it now though reducing of them to the ceremonial Law had been an errour yet it was not a blasphemy for then the Apostles themselves should have lived in blasphemy Surely it was to cause them to blaspheme the Lord Iesus Christ and deny him to be the Messiah It is most likely that Sauls Commission was according the former decree of the chief Priests Ioh. 9.22 That if any did confesse that he was Christ he should be put out of the Synagogue And this appears by what Ananias saith to Christ concerning Paul Act. 9.14
but most properly relateth to the union of an integrum Also it is called a Kingdom as I shewed before The Kingdom of his dear sonne Col. 1.13 The Gospel is called the Gospel of the Kingdom Mat. 4.23 And the word of the Kingdom Mat. 13.19 And such as are only visible members are called the children of the Kingdom Mat. 8.12 And this Kingdom hath a King and Laws and Officers in it now a Kingdom or society is no Genus but an Integral It is also called a Tabernacle Revel 21.3 which was a thing coupled together with tenons sockets loops and taches and so an integral no Genus nor could signifie any It is called also an house or building 1 Tim. 3.15 The Church which is the house of God 1 Cor. 3.9 Ye are Gods building Eph. 2.21 In whom all the building fitly framed together c. which is the Catholike Church visible consisting of Jews and Gentiles built on the visible foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone And a houshold Gal. 6.10 Also it is called a Temple in the fore-cited Eph. 2.21 1 Cor. 3.17 2 Cor. 6.16 Now the Temple was an Integral Also it is called a city and the members thereof Jews and Gentiles are called fellow-citizens Eph. 2.29 Also an army terrible with banners Cant. 6.10 Also it is called a sheepfold a wheat-field a barn-floor a dragge-net a loaf of bread made up of divers grains 1 Cor. 10.17 Now all these and many more appellations have no analogy to a Genus but to an Integrum Therefore the Church-Catholike visible is an Integrum 9. It appears to be an Integral from the words which the Scripture useth to expresse the Church and union of the members of the Church-Catholike together As Act. 2.41 There were added about 3000. souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were put unto them as an encrease now a Genus is not capable of addition by numbers but an Integral only Also Eph. 4.12 The Officers general as well as particular are given to the whole external political body of Christ to use M. Hookers own words for the perfecting of the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad coagmentationem sanctorum It signifyeth properly to make a thing perfect by filling of it up omnibus numeru absolutum reddere or as some render it to set in joint again All the significations agree only to an Integral And for the edifying of the body of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the building up of the body relating to the whole Church This is proper only to an Integral A word also much like this and more significant for the purpose in hand we have Eph. 2.22 In whom also ye are builded together for an habitation of God c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifyeth a knitting together in a building Also vers 21. In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple Here are three words note Integrality First the whole building 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. fitly framed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. groweth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Eph. 4.16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh encrease of the body unto the edfying of it self in love Here are divers words which properly notifie an Integral 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole body 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fitly joyned congruente proportione constructum vel connexum 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compactum compacted 4. by that which every joynt suupplyeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per omnem commissuram suppeditationis vel juncturum subministrationis 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in mensura uninscujusque membri 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 augmentum corporis facit 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in aedificationem sui The like we finde Col. 2.19 From whom all the body by joints and hands having nourishment ministred and knit together encreaseth with the encrease of God The words are most of them the same with the former in the Original There is 1. a whole body 2. joints 3. bands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and nourishment ministred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. knit together 5. encreaseth with encrease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And though much spoken in these places seem to be applicable to the invisible company yet to them as visible receiving edification from their Officers and having visible communion one with another and the Apostle speaks indefinitely of the Church under their Officers without making any difference of kindes of believers Also Act. 17.34 certain men clave unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were glued unto him i e. Paul And in the Old Testament Isa 14 1. The strangers shall be joyned with them Israel and they shall cleave unto the house of Jacob. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 copulabit se 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adhaerebunt All which and many more words in Scripture about the Church shew it to be an integral 10. If the invisible Church be one body of Christ as in the primary sense they are then by the same reason the visible also as visible are one body for the only difference between them as to this purpose is in regard of the manner of communion the one invisibly and inwardly the other visibly in outward Ordinances The invisible are called Christs body in allusion to a natural body more properly the visible in allusion to a political body The invisible Church are only in reference to Christ their head and fellow-invisible members but have no Officers under Christ quà invisible the visible are one in reference to Christ their professed King and his written laws and fellow-visible members and indefinite Officers under Christ The invisible body might with better reason be called a Genus because their unity is only in the head and in one kinde of nature and in spiritual relation to invisible brethren and therefore if they be called one body then much more the visible Church whole union is in King laws the same qualifications and external relation to visible brethren under indefinite Officers M. Hooker takes much pains in Surv. c. 15. to prove that the Church-Catholike visible cannot be an Integral To which I shall answer under the several heads as they come in the Thesis His main Argument is because that an Integrum resulting out of the members is Symbolum effecti and so is in consideration after the members whereof it is constituted and out of which it doth result and so that crosseth the second part or predicate of the Question This I shall refer to the second part of the Question Secondly That it will then require one visible head over it This I shall refer to that Objection in Chap. 5. Sect. 6. Sect. 4. Thirdly That which he objects against the visibility of the Church-Catholike I shall refer to the next Chapter Cha. 5. An Objection may be raised here
it self as being a member of the whole and yet it is not notably vain to say The gift of them by God and his intention in giving them was to the whole though they never meet nor can meet together in this world So is the case of the Ministers also the Ministry is primarily given to the whole body of them and if they could meet together they might exercise the keys together conjunctim a representation or an epitome whereof is in a general councel but because they cannot meet but in parcels where they are seated and have a particular call to give especial attendance therefore they exercise them divisim yet as parts of the whole body of Organs of the Church and there they serve the whole Church and their dispensations have influence into the whole The third danger viz. the trouble and charge of appeals and the tryal of causes by them that can have no personal knowledge of the cause or persons to be tried but by information hath been answered before c. 7. s 9. Sect. 7. His third prejudice is that this opinion is Papal and Anti-Protestant And to prove this he bringeth in Bellarmines description of the Church-Catholike viz. That it is one visible Church or Congregation of men bound together by the profession of the same faith and participation of the same Sacraments under the government of lawful Pastors and especially of that only Vicar of Christ on earth the Pontiffe or Bishop of Rome This latter clause indeed is papal properly and therefore justly rejected by the Protestants But the former part if it be understood of one habitual body or Congregation is not to be accounted Papal because set down by a Papist for then all the Articles of the Creed which they hold as well as we though not on the same ground should be accounted Papal also Where they differ from the Scripture therein they erre and therein only we dissent from them Neither is it Anti-protestant unlesse as he hath stated it Calvins judgement whom he citeth here again I have shewed before and it is opposite to M. Ellis in point of the power of the ministerial office beyond one Congregation which is the very hinge of the question and in the power and use of Synods Chamier indeed makes the Church to be one general or universal yet he makes it to be aggregated of many particular Churches which strongly argues an integrality for no Genus is made by aggregation and he saith it is compounded of infinite particular Churches but no genus is made by composition Omne aggregatum compositum est integrale He makes it also to consist of many parts yea to have partes extra partes which is the Logicians definition of an integral But how all the Kingdoms in the world as he saith to make a parallel with the universal Church may be called one Kingdom in the general except by logical abstraction I understand not Certainly it cannot be by aggregation and composition and by apposition of them as parts of that general Kingdome he speaks of which yet he yieldeth in the Church-Catholike They have not all the same systeme of written Laws authorized by the same authority neither have they indefinite habitual Officers as the Church hath And for Bishop Iewel in his answer to Harding he disputes against the headship of the Pope but denyeth not Christ to be head of the visible Church And though indeed he rightly cals it a new fancy to prove the Pope to be head of the Church from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if there were therefore but one King to rule over the whole world yet he denieth not that Christ rules over the whole Church but cals the Church One Kingdom One body One sheepfold And he citeth for the unity of the Church many sentences out of Cyprian viz. Vna est Ecclesia a Christo per totum mundum in plura membra divisa Item Episcopatus unus Episcoporum concords numerositate diffusus Cyp. l. 4. Ep. 2. Also Ecclesia una est connexa cohaerentium sibi invicem Sacerdotum glutine copulaeta Ep. 9. Quandoâ—oramus non pro uno oramus sed pro toâ—o populo quia totus populus unum sumus Cyp. in Orat. Dominic Again Hanc unitatem firmiter tenere vendicare debemus maximè Episcopi qui in Ecclesia praesidemus ut Episcopatum quoque ipsum unum indivisum probemus Cyp. l. 3. Ep. 13. Et si pastores multi sumus unum tamen gregem pascimus c. Copiosum est Corpus Sacerdotum concordiae mutua glutine atque unitatis vinculo copulatum ut si quis ex collegio nostro haeresim facere gregem Christi lacerare ac vastare tentaverit subveniant caeteri Ibid. So that Jewel was far from restraining the Ministers office or power to one Congregation or from denying the authority of Synods and Councels And for M. Rutherford in his Due right of Presbytery I marvel M. Ellis should cite him who is professedly point black against him and hath handled both parts of my question and concludes them affirmatively Due Right of Presbyteries p. 55. c. and 418. Now whose fault is it to cite authors for him that are known to be against him Sect. 8. I come now to view his greater Artillery as he cals it and his first argument is because saith he the Scriptures Christ and his Apostles are silent and speak nothing of one Catholike visible Church yea I may adde and all men else as he hath stated it But for Scripture-proofs I referre the Reader to what I said formerly and now have added Chap. 2. But my proofs from Scripture he was pleased to runne over in vind pag. 42. in 7. lines without any answer to the particulars His second argument is from the institution of Christ because saith he the keys of government were given first and fully entirely and immediatly to the particular Congregation and this he proves from the Church of the Jews to which all Church-power was given first and fully but this was saith he a particular Church not the universal unlesse by accident because there was no other Church-state in the world at that time And though he grants it to be a Type of the Church of the New Testament yet not as Catholike but as Congregational as it self was or else as mystical Vind. pag. 21. Answ It cannot be denied but there were some things peculiar to the Church of the Jews as typical Ordinances and a typical high Priest and that it was bounded within certain limits and they were bound to meet in their males three times yearly which pertain not to the Evangelical Church But in that one Church there were particular Assemblies for ordinary worship and extraordinary also and for acts of government and they had particular Officers and Ecclesiastical rulers over them and there were appeaâ—s reserved to the great Councel at Jerusalem and so it could not be a type of a
suasive that is no more then a few private men may do yea one man or woman may counsel advise and perswade By M. Ellis's opinion Councels and Synods being void of all authority are but as a company of private Christians met together to advise one with another how to act in their own Congregations where only saith he they are in office it may be an act of those that are in office but not as Officers so that in that act they are to be considered as private members who by such consultation take or give private advice how to act as officers where they are Officers Which is no otherwise then if in these times of trouble and danger a company of peti-constables should meet occasionally or by appointment together at a market-town and there consult together how to act most commodiously and uniformly in their several Parishes in the pressing of Souldiers or gathering Assessements or a company of Mayors of several Corparations should meet by appointment at London and there advise together how to order their several Corporations So that a Synod whether Provincial National or Oecumenical can have no power to summon any heretick or scandalous person and if any such should voluntarily come before them or be brought before them by the civil Magistrate that should before their faces blaspheme the whole Trinity or be convicted of Sodomy yea though any of their own members should curse God himself or be convicted of a present act of whoredom or of sorcery they have no power to censure him Ecclesiastically but fraternally admonish him and send him back to his own Congregation to be censured and they themselves only go thither as witnesses against him because they are there by this opinion out of office and all censures belong to the particular Elderships as particular But suppose now this heretick or scandalous person being departed haply from the Congregation where formerly he lived or that Congregation being dissolved be a fixed member of no Congregation as ten thousands of visible Christians i. e. that have received the doctrine of Christ and are under the seal of Baptism may be if particular Churches consist only of such as can give evidence of the work of true grace in themselves shall he remain an entitive member of Christs visible kingdom a gangreened limb a rebel and traitour under the name and notion of a subject and infect the rest of the body and there be no remedy Sect. 4. But as the subject matters that Synods have to deal with are of three sorts so their power and the acts of it which they put forth are of three 〈◊〉 likewise First they are to act in reference to matters of faith i. e. doctrines to be beleeved and embraced and of divine worship i. e. duties of worship to be performed unto God not to coin or frame or adde any new articles of faith or new acts of worship or alter any that God hath instituted but to explain prove and apply those Articles of faith and rules of worship laid down in the word and to confute and declare against the contrary errours heresies and corruptions and the power they exert herein is called dogmatical Secondly they are to act in reference to external order and polity in matters prudential and circumstantial which are determinable by the true light of nature right reason and general rules in the Scripture ◠to set things in order that all things may be done uniformly decently and in order and the power they exert herein is called diatactical Thirdly they are to act in reference to errour heresie schism obstinacy contempt and scandal and to represse them and to censure such persons as are guilty of any of them and are referred over to them and the power they exert herein is called critical This is none other power then the particular Elderships in their several Congregations or Classes may exert in their sphear and precincts with submission to the superiour assemblies and all must be according to the word of God As in the natural body God hath set several senses to act upon the several sensible objects visible audible tactile c. and several faculties in reference to truth and falshood good and evil to discern and embrace the one and avoid the other so in the body Ecclesiastical hath he set several powers in the organs thereof to act diversly according to the occurrent objects and incidents in the Church both in the particular Congregations for the good of them and in greater parts of the body for the good of them and in the whole if convenible for the good of that but because remote parts cannot meet personally and generally in all their Officers therefore that trouble and confusion is avoided by delegation of particular elected choice officers and is but occasionally and pro tempore A ground and pattern of a Synod is laid down Act. 15. and 16. which is acknowledged to be a Synod and warrant for a Synod by reverend M. Cotton in his keys of the kingdom of heaven cha 6. And is called an Oecumenical Councel by Chamier in Panstrat Tom. 2. lib. 10. cap. 8. sect 2. and Whitak cont qu. 6. And generally by our Protestant Divines And is abundantly proved and explained by the London Ministers in their Jus Divinum par 2. chap 14. and 15. to which I referre the reader for satisfaction The occasion of that Synod was an errour broached at Antioch and neighbour-Churches to enforce the observation of the ceremonial Law by all Christians and this was promoted by lying as if they were sent by the Apostles and Elders at Ierusalem to preach this doctrine Hereby the Churches were much troubled and in danger to be subverted in their souls This could not be suppressed by the disputes of Barnabas and Paul hereupon the Elders of Antioch decreed and ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Paul and Barnabas and some others should go up to the Apostles and Elders at Ierusalem about this question and they submitted to this order there was an authoritative mission and probably members were also sent from Syria and Cilicia for they were involved in the same danger by the same persons Act. 15.23 24 41. But if there were delegates but from two Churches it will justifie delegates from ten or twenty And as the Church of Antioch did not send Paul and Barnabas as extraordinary and infallible and authentical Oracles of God as M. Cotton noteth for then what need the advice and help of Elders that were below them being but ordinary and particular Officers of Ierusalem But as wise and holy guides of the Church who might not only relieve them by some wise counsel and holy order but also set a precedent to succeeding ages how errours and dissentions in Churches might be removed and healed And with Paul and Barnabas they joyned others messengers in the same commission So when this Synod was met the Apostles acted not by their Apostolical infallible transcendent
extraordinary Officers yet with habitual power of office And although Bishop Pastor Elder and Minister doe carry a reference to some particular place wherein by the polity of the Church such Officers are set yet have they a more general relation extending to the whole Church-Catholike as hath been shewed before Paul an Apostle cals himself a Teacher and Preacher 2 Tim. 1.11 Peter also and John the Apostles call themselves Presbyters 1 Pet. 5.1 2 Ep. Joh. 1. and 3 Ep. Joh. 1. We finde also Ministers are in Scripture spoken of under a general notion They are called Ministers of the word Luk. 1.2 and Ministers of God 2 Cor. 6.4 and Ministers of Christ 1 Cor. 4.1 and Ministers of the New Testament 2 Cor. 3.6 and Ministers of the Gospel 1 Thes 3.2 and Ministers of the Lord Ephes 6.21 Where the Ministerial Office is set down by the reference thereof to the Authour that employeth them and the subject about which they are employed and not the object persons unto whom they ministred They are not called Ministers of the people as if they carried their keys and were their stewards but their Teachers Rulers Pastours Overseers Fathers or Ministers for them Col. 1.7 Indeed the Apostle saith they are your servants for Christs sake 2 Cor. 4.5 As the Gentlemen that serve a Noble man serve the meanest that are invited to his table but therein they do service to their Lord. And the Angels themselves by whose names Ministers are called in 2. and 3. of Revelation they are ministring spirits sent out for the good of the Elect but it is in subjection and obedience to God and not to them And if a Minister of this or that Congregation be not a Minister of the Church-Catholike visible then he is no Minister out of his own Congregation and therefore cannot preach or administer any Sacrament as a Minister out of his own Congregation yea if any members of another Congregation should come and hear a Minister preach in his own Congregation he could not preach to them nor they hear him as a Minister but only as a gifted brother And though he may pray and beseech his own flock as an Ambassadour of Christ to be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5.20 yet he cannot say so to any other except he be an Ambassadour in office unto others also And if he be a Minister to one member besides his own Congregation then is he so indefinitely to all by the same reason But if he deliver the word as a Minister to his own Congregation only then the same word which is delivered at the same time by the same man is delivered by vertue of the Ministerial office to some and to others ex officio charitatis generali only as a gifted brother And if this be granted which is absurd yet a greater absurdity will follow viz. that if he administer the Lords Supper to any members of another Congregation he must do that also as a gifted brother and as a private person whereas a private person out of office hath nothing to doe to administer the seals of the Covenant as is confessed by all except a few Anabaptists of late on purpose as I conceive to avoid this argument And yet this communion of members of other Congregations is frequent among our brethren for Congregational Churches Neither can this be answered that it is done by vertue of commnion of Churches except there be a communion of offices and Officers and so every Minister be an indefinite habitual Officer and a Minister of the Church-Catholike And if a Minister hath an indefinite office and can administer the seals of the Covenant to strangers in his own Congregation in his own meeting-house then any where else in any other meeting-house for no man will say his Ministerial office is circumscribed by or tyed unto the fabrick of his own meeting-house or any especial influence or authority afforded him in the execution of his Ministerial function by the presence of his own Congregation He whose office is limited within and stands wholly in relation to a particular place is out of office when he is out of that place as a Mayor of a Corporation and a Constable of a Parish but so is not a Minister he is no private man as soon as he is out of his meeting-house or the limits of his Congregation And though indeed he be more peculiarly their Pastour or Bishop one that hath the oversight of them in the Lord in a more immediate especial manner actually yet this extends to all places whereever he or they shall come by occasion though never so far from their dwellings but so is not a Mayor or Constable And besides this particular relation he hath an indefinite office he is a Minister in general to all others and may exert his power of office to them as God giveth occasion and they give him a call without taking a new especial relation to them but so cannot a Mayor or Constable though they were entreated to use their office out of their limits because they are onely particular Officers See this more fully in Chap. 6. Sect. 4. and 5. Suppose a Ministers flock by mortality or the sword should be dissolved extinct and cease indeed he ceaseth to be their Pastor because the correlative faileth but he ceaseth not to be a Minister of the Gospel A King or Mayor haply cease to be so any longer if his Kingdom or Corporation should sink or be swallowed up because there is no Catholike Kingdom or Corporation whereof they were Officers but the office of the Minister ceaseth not because he was an Officer of the Church-Catholike which correlative sinketh not but still his power in actu primo to dispense all the Ordinances of Christ which a single Officer can perform remaineth only his call ad actum secundum sive exercitum pro hic nunc which is appointed by the polity of the Church for order ceaseth because they are cut off that gave him a call thereto An Objection against this I finde made by those two Reverend Ministers M. A. and M. S. in their Defence p. 208. It is to this purpose If Ordination of a Minister be an indeleble character like Baptism and ceaseth not when his particular relation to a Congregation ceaseth why then should not a ruling-Elder or Deacon remain an Elder or Deacon in the Church though their particular relations cease Answ 1. If you please to cast your eye back to the answer of an Objection of M. Hookers that is like to this Ch. 2. Sect. 4. it may afford some light to the answering of this Objection to which I referre you being loth to repeat the same again 2. I premise also that for ought I can finde both ruling-Elders and Deacons should continue in their offices as long as they lived if the Congregations or Presbyterial Churches which chose them be not dissolved or if they be not ejected by censure 3. I deny not but that
It is that the Apostle presseth Eph. 4.3 4. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace for there is one body and one spirit c. This spiritual unity is that which Christ so earnestly and often prayed for in that short praier Joh. 17.21 23. That they may be one as we are one that they all may be one that they also may be one in us that they may be made perfect in one And this was Pauls prayer Rom 15.5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus that ye may with one minde and one mouth glorifie God c. And this was Pauls earnest request 1 Cor. 1.10 Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that you be perfectly joyned together in the same minde and the same judgement And again 2 Cor. 13.11 It is one of the last things he concludes his Epistle with Finally brethren farewel be perfect be of good comfort be of one minde live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you And Phil. 1.27 He presseth it as the only thing he desired of them Only let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit with one minde striving together for the faith of the Gospel Certainly unity of judgement is of more importance then we are aware of else the Apostle would not presse it with such solemn adjurations and entreaties so often as he doth Yea when there were but two men that differed in opinion as it is conceived the Apostle thought it beseeming Apostolical gravity and the holy Ghost judged it meet for a piece of canonical Scripture to take notice of it and compose it Phil. 4.2 I beseech Evodias and beseech Syntiche that they be of the same minde in the Lord Though it might seem but womens brabbles yet we know how great a matter a little fire kindleth a little strife and errour will encrease to more ungodlinesse Consider we that there is but one truth and that is of God and God is truth and error is of the devil Consider that the understanding is the highest and foremost faculty of the soul it is as the forehorse in the teem the leading faculty and as that is enformed so the will and conscience and affections must needs work and follow that and if that be led into errour it must necessarily misleade the whole man Consider that a chief part of the image of God in man consisteth in knowledge and so is upon the understanding which by errour is defaced Remember the solemn caveats given by the Apostle Rom. 16.17 I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and blessed or fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple And Eph. 4.14 That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every winde of doctrine by the slieght of men and cunning craftinesse or after the methods of errour whereby they lie in wait to deceive Christ himself tels us that false Prophets shall come that shall deceive if it were possible the very elect Behold I have told you before Mat. 20.30 31. And Paul tels us Of your selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them Therefore watch Act. 20.30 31. Therefore hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me saith Paul 2 Tim. 1.13 They that coin new words and new strange expressions to amaze the people it is a sign as Calvin tels us that they have some new opinion upon the Anvil O let us labour to be of one heart seeing we are all but one body and have but one head and one spirit and because we are all brethren children of the same heavenly Father This is that which God hath promised his people Ezek. 11.19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you And we finde Christ inculcating this exhortation Joh. 13.34 A new Commandement I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love another By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another Joh. 13.34 35. Again This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you Joh. 15.12 and vers 17. These things I command you that you love one another And this I finde practised Act. 4.31 And the multitude of them that beleeved were of one heart and one soul And this Paul exhorteth to Rom. 12.10 Be kindely affectioned one to another with brotherly love in honour preferring one another And we finde the unity both of judgement and heart exhorted unto 1 Pet. 3.8 Finally be ye all of one minde having compassion one of another love as brethren be pitiful be courteous Division is the devils musick but that which makes the devil laugh should make us cry O what a solemn obsecration is that of Paul Phil. 2.1 2. If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye may be like minded having the same love bring of one accord of one minde O that we might labour to be of one way also This is that which God promised his people Jer. 32.39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them and of their children after them And Zep. 3.9 Then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord with one consent or one shoulder And this was the blessing that God gave Hezekiah in his people 2 Chron. 30.12 Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to doe the commandment of the King and of the Princes by the word of the Lord. Certainly there is but one rule for doctrine worship discipline And as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and on all the Israel of God Gal. 6.16 And this is the Apostles exhortation Roman 15.6 That ye may with one minde and one mouth glorifie God Yea though we be not of the same judgement in every thing yet as it is Philip. 3.16 Whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us minde the same things And this unity in way is that which we have sworn unto and covenanted in our late National League and Covenant in the first branch of it That we shall endeavour to bring the Churches of God in the three Kingdomes of England Scotland and Ireland to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in Religion Confession of Faith Form of Church-government Directory for Worship and Catechizing That we and our posterity after us may as brethren live together in faith and love and that the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us And we shall all be forsworn if we endeavour it not All the members of the same body natural agree to goe the same way Yea the strength health and beauty of the body natural consisteth in the fast knitting of all the members together to each other and to the head and the luxation thereof is dangerous so and much more it is in a body politick or Ecclesiastical And though the divisions in our civil estate be very sad and might deserve tears of bloud to bewail them yet I look upon the divisions in the Church as a matter of more sad and doleful consequence and I fear but wish I might be mistaken that when the breaches of the Common-wealth shall be closed the breaches in the Church may grow wider and the differences rise higher and such errours are sown among us as will not be plucked up again in our age which having seized upon the understandings and consciences of men cannot be composed by commands nor clubbed down by force Only here is my comfort that though our condition is such that we know not what to ask yet God is wise and knows what to bestow And this is my hope herein that he which found a way to reconcile God and man when they were at enmity can finde way to reconcile man and man though they be at difference Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great shepheard of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every good work to doe his will working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen * ⎠* FINIS
power or by immediate inspiration as in the penning of the Scripture but the matters were carried on in an ordinary Synodal way by disputes and discourses they deliberated about the true state of the question and the remedy thereof and after deliberation and disputes they decisively conclude and determine the matter and put forth all the three fore-named power First they exert their dogmatick power in confuting of the heresie and in vindication of the truth of justification by faith without the works of the law and their critical power in branding the false teachers with the infamous brand of troublers of the Church and subverters of souls and of belyâ—rs of the Apostles and Elders of Ierusalem and their diamctick power in ordering and framing practical rules or constitutions for the healing of the scandal They passed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 16.4 they imposed them for they are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 15.28 29. yet were not all the things they imposed necessary in themselves as abstaining from things strangled and from bloud they are called necessary not intrinsecally for then they are so to us but for that time because those things were so odious to the Jews who could not be so suddenly brought from all ceremonies It is true our Divines in their writings against the Papists do cry down the infallibility of Councels and the over-high esteem they had of them and the injurious and sinful decrees of their Popish Councels but they honour the general Councels and account Synods an Ordinance of God Calv. Inst lib. 4. cap. 9. sect 13. saith Nos certè libenter concedimus siqua de dogmate incidat disceptatio nullum esse nec melius nec certius remedium quà m si verorum Episcoporum Synodus conveniat ubi controversum dogma excutiatur Multò enim plus ponderis habebit ejusmodi definitio in quam communiter Ecclesiarum pastores invocato Christi Spiritu consenserint quà m c. Whitak de consilijs cap. 2. not only alloweth but commendeth Synods and Councels from the necessity and utility of them and marvelleth that Nazianzâ—n should say he never saw a good end of a Synod alledging the good end and profit of the Councel of Nice And citeth Augustine in Ep. 118. Conciliorum in Ecclesia Dei saluberrimam authoritatem esse And addeth further Etsi Concilia non sunt simpliciter absolutè necessaria tamen multùm conferunâ— valdè utilia sunt idque propter multas causas And then reckons up the causes And divideth Synods in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And bringeth Act. 15. for an example and warrant of them And Chamier in his Panstrat tom 2. lib. 10. cap. 8. De omnium toto orbe Ecclesiarum politia sheweth the lawfulnesse and use of Synods And lib. 5. saith Ad Synodos convocatos fuisse atque admissos omnes Episcopos nemo dubitat sedisseque judices suo jure prout fieri solet in Aristocratia And M. Parker in Polit. Eccl. l. 3. p. 355. saith Fundatur haec progressio a Presbyerio ad Classem a Classi ad Synodum in instituto Christi Mat. 18.17 ex proportione And p. 123. he foundeth them upon the same Scripture Per gradationem ratiocinandi a little after he saith they follow from that place per sequelam ratiocinandi per consequentiam Innumerable might be the citations of Protestant Divines in this kinde It is confest Sect. 5. that particular Churches are endued with the power of discipline within themselves if the matter doth particularly and peculiarly concern themselves and none others or if there be no others that can joyn with them they may do much alone but that case is extraordinary It is confest also that every single Congregation is equal in power to any other single Congregation considered as a Church only one may be greater and purer then another and furnished with more and more able officers And therefore how one sister Church by its single power can non-communion another that is of equal power with it I know not for it is a censure and no lesse then a vertuâ—â— excommunication and the other Church hath as much power to non-communion them and so there is a principle laid of perpetual and frequent division and splitting asunder of Christâ— political body and kingdom Such a principle in a Common-wealth between Town and Town in civil affairs would be very dangerous and bring deadly feuds and civil wars and at last ruine to the whole And though there be a subordination of particular Churches to greater Assemblies yet it is not absolute and arbitrary but in the Lord also it is a coordination because the Officers of the particular Congregations are there and help to constitute the â—lasses or if it be a Synod they are vertually there by their delegates or Commissioners as the Counties and Corporations are in a Parliament The subordination of particular Congregations to greater Assemblies consisting so of members taken out of the particular Congregations and the authoritative power and Ecclesiastical jurisdiction of those greater Assemblies over them appears because we see the Church of Antioch was subordinate to the Synod at Jerusalem Act. 15. Also Christs direction to deal with an offending brother Mat. 18. ascends by degrees from private adâ—onition to admonition before two or three and from them if he amend not to the Church but what if the greater number of a Church or suppose a whole Church offend by the same rule of proportion they are to be brought before a higher Assembly else no remedy can be had for offending Congregations as well as offending persons But neighbour-Congregations or particular persons may be offended by a neighbour Church and there is no reason that that Church should be partee and judge also in their own case and therefore it is requisite that there should be a greater combined Assembly to complain unto And as the unity of the whole visible Church and political Kingdom of Christ requires this as the London-Ministers have well noted wherein all things are to be managed as between members and fellow-subjects and the greater part in coordination to rule the lesse in the Lord and the whole the parts so also there is the same necessity of Synods as of Classical combinations and otherwise there will be irremediable difficulties Also we may observe the like subordination and appeals in the Jewish Church the several Synagogues were subordinate to the great Assembly at Ierusalem and had their appeals thither in greater causes Deut. 17.8 12. 2. Chron. 19.8 11. Exo. 18.22 26. And this could not be a ceremonial Law for it did typifie nothing The appeals were not to the high Priest typifying Christ but to their highest Court and though it were judicial to them yet the equity of it remains and so far as it was grounded on common right it is moral Now the like difficulties and dangers that occasioned that Law then remain still as great among