because it cannot be seen without an act of the understanding no more may the unity of the Catholick Church be for that reason judged invisible I have already shewed that the adequate notion of visible and invisible in this subject is to be not only the object of the bodily eye or other external sence but also of any humane intuition or certain perception or that which falls under humane cognizance and judgment § 9. The Polity of the Catholick Church THE Catholick Church is not as secular Kingdoms or Commonwealths are autonomical that is having within it self that Power of its own fundamental constitution and of the laws and officers and administrations belonging to it as a Church or spiritual polity but it hath received all these from Christ its Head King and Law giver Indeed as it includes Christ the Head it is in reference to him autonomical but here we consider it as a political Body visible upon earth and abstracted from its Head Nevertheless it hath according to the capacity of its acting that is in its several parts a power of secondary Laws or Canons either to impress the Laws of Christ upon its members or to regulate circumstantials and accidentals in Religion by determining things necessary in genere and not determined of Christ in spâ—câ—â— but left to humane determination The spiritual authority seated in the Church is not seated in the Church as Catholick so as to descend from it by way of derivation and communication to particular Churches but it is immediately seated in the several particular Churches as similar parts of one political Body the Church Catholick The Church Catholick is as one universal or Oecumenical Kingdom having one supream Lord one Body of Lawâ— one Form of Government one way of Enrollment into it and subiects who have freedom throughout the whole extent thereof radically and fundamentally always and actually to be used according to their occasions and capacities but having no Terrene Universal Administrator or Vicegerent personal or collective but several administrators in the several provinces or parts thereof invested with the same kind of authority respecting the whole kingdom radically or fundamentally but to be exercised ordinarily in their own stated limits and occasionally any where else according to a due call and order Wherefore tho it be one political society yet not so as to have one terrestrial vicarious Head personal or collective having legislation and jurisdiction over the whole And indeed no terrestrial Head is capable of the Government and Christ the Supream Head and Lord being powerfully present throughout the whole by his spirit causeth that such a vicarious Head is not wanted Indeed the Apostles as such were universal officers having Apostolick authority not only radically or habitually but actually also over the whole Catholick Church in regard they were divinely inspired and immediately commissioned by Christ under him to erect his Church and to establish his religion even the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government that was to be received by all Christians But this office was but temporary in the nature and formal reason of it and so expired with their persons and was not of the essence or a constitutive part of this society § 10. The Headship of a General Council examined BY Headship over the Church in this inquiry is not meant a dominion and Desporick power over it for the Church hath no Lord but Christ nor soveraign authority over it which is the power of legislation and final decisive judgment by which men stand or fall finally for the Church hath no King but Christ I exclude Headship in any such sence as not fit to come under consideration But the Query is Whether a general Council be supream in that kind of power which resides in the Church and is only ministerial and dispensatory that is whether it hath a supream ministry or Geconomy over the Catholick Church so that all Churches and ministers have their power conveyed to them from the same not as from the Fountain which is Christ alone but as from the first receptacle thereof and are subject to its authoritative regulation and determinations and finally accountable to it for their administrations Who can affirm that an Oecumenical council rightly so named was ever in being The councils that have born that name were conventions of Bishops within the Roman Empire except some very few that were without it and those living near the confines of it Whereupon let it be considered whether the said councils were truly Oecumenical or just representatives of the Catholick Church That which is wont to be said for the affirmative is that no Bishops were excluded from the right of voting therein but from all parts of the world they might come to them as rightful members of them if they would But what if no greater number of Bishops meet upon a summons to a General council than did at the council of Trent May such a convention be called an Oecumenical council because all might come that would when so small a number came as was comparatively nothing to the number of bishops throughout the world Or can the convention of a greater number suppose as many as met in the first Nicene council be justly called a representative of the Catholick Church or carry the sence of it when it bears no more proportion to it Surely it is not their freedom of access but their actual convening at least in a proportionable number that can justly give the denomination And what if the bishops without the limits of the Roman Empire would not come to a General council called by the Mandate of the Roman Emperour especially they that lived in the remoter parts as Ethiopia and India c Were they obliged to come to a general council in case it had been summoned in another especially a remoter Empire or Dominionâ— Moreover what if they could not come which may well be supposed by reason of the restraint of their several Princes or the length of the journey or insuperable difficulties or utter incapacities Tho the most illustrious part of the Catholick Church was contained in the Roman Empire yet an assembly of the bishops thereof could no more make a representative of the Catholick Church than an assembly of the bishops of the other part of the world without them could have done if there had been such an assembly Besides the ancient General councils were usually called in the Eastern parts of the Empire and tho the bishops of those parts might convene in a considerable number yet the number from the Western parts was inconsiderable and as none comparatively to a just proportion Let it be hereupon considered whether the said councils were a just representative and did carry the sence of that part of the Catholick Church that was included in that Empire And in this consideration it is not of little moment to observe what numbers of bishops were ordinarily congregated in the many provincial assemblies and that within
teaching so that every authoritative Church-teacher is a Pastor for the Pastor rules only by the spiritual sword which is the word of God and the discipline which he exercises is no more than than the personal application of Christs word in his name to judg the impenitent and absolve the penitent And every authoritative Teacher in Christs name hath power to make such personal application of the word The Pastoral Office hath its work not only towards those that are within but towards those also that are without to bring them into the Fold As Christ the Prince of Pastors or chief Shepherd doth by virtue of that office not only feed the sheep that are gathered to him but goes out also into the wilderness to seek the lost sheep even so the Ministerial pastors or bishops are by virtue of their office under Christ to seek those that are as yet going astray and to bring them to Christ the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls Thus the name Pastor doth very congruously denote the Ministerial Authority towards the unbelieving and unconverted as well as towards believers and converts Moreover the said Officers are stiled Preachers of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.14 Stewards of the Mysteries of God 1 Cor. 4.1 Ambassadors of Christ that have the Ministry of Reconciliation committed to them 2 Cor. 5.18 20. And these Titles infer an Office and Ministry relating as well to those that are without and to be brought into the Fold as to those that are within and to be kept there and in reference to both sorts it is for the edifying or building of the Church In short the Pastoral Office is a state of Authority and obligation to dispence the Word and Sacraments and disciplinary censures of Christ the Mediator in his name The Ministerial dispensation of the Word differs quoad formale from spiritual instruction reproof exhortation given in a common way of Christian charity or in a special way of Oeconomical or civil Authority being performed by Christs commissioned Officers and Stewards in holy things and separated or devoted thereunto And herein the Ministers as Ambassadors or Heralds according to the tenor of the Gospel do publish and offer the mercies of Christ upon his terms and denounce the threatnings of Christ to those that refuse his Mercies The Sacraments being seals annexed by Christ to the word of his grace and a visible word are also to be dispenced by them to whom the dispensation of the word is committed The disciplinary censures of Authoritative Reproof Suspension and Excommunication of persons convicted of ungodliness and impenitency being a particular and personal application of the threatnings of the Gospel and a declaring and judging of the persons unmeet for fellowship with Christ and his Church are likewise to be administred by the same Officers § 4. The nature of the Spiritual Power residing in the Pastors THE Spiritual Power of Pastors Bishops or Elders is expressed by the Author and Giver of it in these terms viz. The keys of the kingdom of heaven binding and loosing remitting and retaining sins To understand the true import of these terms is to understand the Power enquired of The keys of the kingdom of Heaven signifie the Stewardship of Christs Gospel to dispence to every one a due portion thereof according to his command Binding and loosing is a Ministerial Authority of holding impenitent sinners under the curse and absolving the penitent from it only by the word of Christ generally or personally applied and it may further signifie a Ministerial prohibiting of that which is unlawful and allowing of that which is lawful by the doctrine of Christ And the power of remitting and retaining sins as granted to Ministers is only that of meer Stewards or Dispensers of the Blessing or the Curse that hath proceeded out of the mouth of Christ their Lord and there appears no grant from Christ to his Ministers of other power than what is here expressed or what is implyed in it or by necessary consequence follows from it In reference to the ministerial power a great Scholar distinguisheth between a Vicar and a mere Minister and saith a Vicar doth produce actions of the same kind with him whose Vicar he is his words are actiones congeneres tho less perfectly but a mere minister doth not produce such actions but only such as are serviceable to the action of the principal cause Therefore the name of the same action is properly yet analogically attributed to the Vicar as to the principal as for example to pass sentence but to the minister only tropically as remitting and retaining of sins Indeed the sentence of a vicarious Judg whether just or unjust is decisive or definitive and valid as to matter of legal right till it be reversed by the principal but the action of a Minister for the remitting and retaining of sin is of no force no not for a moment if it be unjust or done as the common expression is errante clave Hereupon it follows that the ministerial power of remitting and retaining sins and of binding and loosing at least as to the conscience is merely declarative that is it hath its force and vertue as it is a true declaration of the mind of Christ in that particular otherwise it is void and of no effect The power of Pastors in the acts aforesaid is but the power of Heralds or Ambassadors and therefore only declarative God and Christ doth by the law of grace absolve or justifie the penitent constitutivè Even before the Pastor pronounceth absolution every penitent is by the covenant of grace justifyed or made righteous Therefore the Pastor doth absolve or justifie him only declarativè For when a man is justified by the law of grace and consequently so esteemed and judged of God what hath his officer or minister afterwards to do in his name but to declare what is already done in law As for the saying of Dominus expectat servum that is before God justifies the penitent believer who is ready to submit to all his terms he stays for the sentence of absolution to be pronounced by the Minister I confess I understand not its consistence with the Covenant of Grace Wherefore the pastoral sentence of absolution doth confer no new right nor doth it perfect the right already given by the law of Christ but it doth authoritatively declare that right and strengthen the assurance and comfort the conscience of the penitent The pastoral binding of the impenitent is not the adding of a further curse or obligation to divine vengeance but merely a solemn declaration of the curse already past upon the sinner by the law of Christ But as the solemn declaration of the Kings pardon to repenting rebels and the denunciation of vengeance to the obstinate by an authorized officer according to the law doth strengthen the assurance of the conditional mercy and increase the guilt of continuing in rebellion and more forcibly press to obedience so the like declarative acts
continued till the end of all things It is also ascertained that there shall be at least the essentials of a Church-state or Church organical as some express it consisting of a part governing and a part governed always continued somewhere upon earth For Christs promise is to be with his Apostles in the executing of their Ministry always to the end of the world and it must be understood of them not barely considered as persons but as his commissioned Officers including their successors not in the Apostolical and Temporary but in the ordinary and perpetual Authority which they had in common with Pastors Bishops or Presbyters And Eph. 4.11 shews that the Ministry is to endure till the whole Mystical body of Christ be compleated But the promise doth not import that any particular Church or any particular combination of Churches in one frame of Ecclesiastical Polity how ample or illustrious soever shall be perpetuated by an uninterrupted succession of Pastors and secured from a total defection and rejection either from a Church state or from Christianity it self If any particular church or any one larger part of the Catholick church hath been preserved from the Apostles days till now when others have been extinct it is by the good pleasure of God whose ways and counsels are wise and holy yet unsearchable and past finding out Nor doth the promise import that the true church shall be perpetually conspicuous tho it be perpetually visible for in some Ages it may be more obscure in others more apparent It is granted by that party that much insists upon the conspicuousness of their church as a city on a hill That in the time of Antichrist the church shall scarcely be discerned Now in such a state it may be said to be tho not absolutely yet comparatively invisible that is being compared with what it is when more conspicuously Visible Nor doth it import that any particular church or any most ample and illustrious part of the Catholick church shall perpetually abide in the Apostolick purity of doctrine worship and government but that it may depart from it and fall into most enormous errors and practises in the said points and yet may not lose the essentials of Christian doctrine and church-state The Scripture foretels of a great falling away and a lasting defection in the Christian church and a long continued predominancy of an Antichristian state therein Nay for ought can be cogently inferred from the aforesaid promise the said defection might have been so universal as to leave no part of the Catholick church divided from the Apostatical or Antichristian state and party by a different external church-polity but the sound and sincere part of the Church may truckle under it and be included in its external frame and keep themselves from being destroyed by it some of them discerning and shunning the bainful doctrine and practise and others that are infected with it holding the truth predominantly in their hearts and lives and so tho not speculatively yet practically prevailing against the wicked errours If in all times there have been some societies of Christians that did not fall away in the great defection nor incorporate with the antichristian state but were by themselves in a severed church-state yet Christ hath not promised that there shall be notice thereof throughout all Christendom in the times when the said societies were in being nor that histories should be written thereof for the knowledg of after ages Howbeit we have sufficient notice by credible history that there have been many ample christian churches throughout all ages that were not incorporated with the antichristian state and that did dissent from their great enormities in Doctrine Worship and Government also that many Worthies living in the midst of that great apostacy did during the whole time thereof successively bear witness for the truth against it and that for a great part of the time huge multitudes also living in the midst of the said apostacy separated from it and were embodied into churches of another constitution more conformable to the Primitive Christianity § 13. The frame of the particular Churches mentioned in Scripture AS we find in Scripture one Catholick church related as one Kingdom Family Flock Spouse and Body to Christ as its only King Master Shepherd Husband and Head so we find particular churches as so many political societies distinct from each other yet all compacted together as parts of that one ample Society the Catholick church as the church at Antioch Acts 13.1 the church at Jerusalem Acts 11.22 Acts 15.4 the church at Cesarea Acts 18.22 the church at Cenchrea Rom. 10.1 the church at Corinth 1 Cor. 1.2 the churches of Galatia Gal. 1.2 the church of the Thessalonians 1 Thes 1.1 the church at Babylon 1 Pet. 5 13. and the seven churches in Asia Apoc. 1. 2. viz. of Ephesus Smyrna Pergamos Thyatyra Sardis Thiladelphia and Laodicea We likewise find that the Christians of a city o◠lesser precinct made one church as the church at Corinth the church at Cenchrea c. but the Christians of a Region or a larger circuit made many churches as the churches of Asia the churches of Galatiae We find also that each of these particular churches did consist of a part governing and a part governed and consequently were political Societies Every church had their proper Elder or Elders Acts. 4.23 which Elders were the same with Bishops Acts 20.28 Tit. 1.5 7. 1 Pet. 5.1 2. and they were constitutive parts of those churches considered as Political Societies We find also that these Elders or Bishops did personally superintend or oversee all the Flock or every member of the church over which they did preside Acts 20 28 29. 1 Thes 5.12 Heb. 13.17 This appears further by their particular work expresly mentioned in Scripture to be personally performed towards all viz. to be the ordinary Teachers of all Heb. 13 7. 1 Thes 5.12 13. to admonish all that were unruly and to rebuke them openly 1 Tim. 5.20 Tit. 1.10 to visit and pray with the sick and all the sick were to send for them to that end James 5.14 and no grant from Christ to discharge the same by Substitutes or Delegates can be found § 14. The Form of a particular Church considered FROM the premises it is evident That all particular churches mentioned in the New Testament were so constituted as that all the members thereof were capable of personal communion in worshipping God if not always at once together yet by turns at least and of living under the present personal superintendency of their proper Elder or Elders Bishop or Bishops Whether to be embodied or associated for personal communion in worship and for personal superintendency of the Pastors over all the members be the true formal or essential constitution of particular churches by divine right I leave to consideration But this is evident that all those churches that the Scripture takes notice of were so constituted and that
neglect of other duties The Excess is more rare in natural than in instituted or positive Worship To be too religious is in some respect to be irreligious it is sometimes Sacrilegious in robbing God of his due in other kinds and at all times it wants the formal nature of True Religion Superstition is either positive in forbidden acts of Worship or negative in religious abstainings from things not forbidden as some distinguish But I conceive that in this latter kind the formale of Superstition lyes not in a negation or meer not doing but in a certain observance about not doing and a conscientious nolition § 2. Of Idolatry in general IDolatry is a species of Superstition being an excess in the object of Worship It is the giving of Worship that is proper to God to that which is not God An Idol in its most proper sence is an Image that is the likeness or resemblance of any Being more especially that which is made for the resemblance of the true or a false God It also signifies whatsoever Being visible or invisible yea or figment of the brain that is worshipped as God Moreover an Idol is not onely that which besides the true God is avowed for God but also that which hath any part or kind of Divine Honour given to it for it is thereby made interpretative another God If any incommunicable Attribute of God be given to another as Omniscience or to be the searcher of hearts that other is made another God though not simply yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or so far Idolatry may be committed by such as own no more gods than the onely living and true God for though they do not acknowledge more Gods than one yet they may give his incommunicable honour to that which they confess to be no God To pray to any Creature for that benefit which God onely can do for us as to give Rain or fair Weather is Divine Worship and Idolatry §. 3. Of Latria and Dulia AS for the famous distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we will consider it first according to the Words then according to the Sence that is given thereof by those that use it As for the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not used onely for worship given to God Deut. 28.48 Levit. 23.7 Nor is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used onely for worship given to Creatures Acts 20.19 Rom. 12.11 1 Thes 1.9 Latria is a Word that generally signifies all Service and dulia signifies Service in a stricter way to wit of those that are not sui juris but absolutely at the disposing of him whom they serve As for the sense of this distinction given by the Users Latria is that worship whereby the object is acknowledged to be the first beginning and the ultimate end of all and dulia is that wherein the object is not acknowledged so to be This their way of distinguishing doth not make two kinds of worship either in the outward acts which are the same in latria and dulia even among the Papists except Sacrifice onely or in the Internal acts of the Will to wit Love Fear Trust c. which may be the same in both and through Superstition may be greater in their dulia than latria but onely in an intellectual apprehension which the vulgar are not apt to mind Moreover when the object is not apprehended to be the first Cause and last End that is the Supreme God nothing hinders but it may have that kind of Worship given to it which is due to him onely as to Pray to it to Swear by it to burn Incense to dedicate Temples and Altars and to make Vows to it The Worship which Cornelius was about to give to Peter and which John was about to give to the Angel from a transport of Mind was more than was due to Creatures yet Cornelius did not think Peter nor John the Angel to be the first Cause and last End Nor did the Devil move our Saviour so to acknowledge him when he would have had him fall down and Worship him yet he rejected his motion as seeking the worship due to God onely yea and that which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 4.8 §. 4. Of Idolatry serious and dissembled SErious Idolatry is when the mind gives the honour due to God or any part thereof to a Being that is not God and when the using of the External signs of that honour proceeds from the intention of the mind to honour it thereby In all serious or undissembled Idolatry there is ignorance or error about the object or the act of Worship First about the object either the thing worshipped is taken to be God when it is not God or it is taken to have some Attribute of God which it hath not or to injoy some Prerogative of God which it doth not In the Two later cases the thing is worshipped though not simply yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God Secondly About the act of Worship 1. When the worship given to that which is not God is not taken to be Divine Worship when indeed it is such 2. When the Worship taken to be Divine is not taken to be applyed to the object when indeed it is applyed Dissembled Idolatry is meerly External when an External Sign of Honour due to God alone is given to that which is not God without the intention of the mind to honour it thereby Every outward act that is ordinarily used for signification of Divine Honour is not of it self as Physically considered a signification thereof and consequently not Idolatry But whensoever such an act is knowingly and voluntarily done at such time and place and in such circumstances as make it to be taken for a signification of Divine Honour it is imputed to him that doth it for a signification thereof Though it be true That that which is not a sign of Internal Honour is not Worship nevertheless he that doth not internally honour may give the outward sign of doing it He doth really give the sign of such honour though but a feigned one and so is really guilty of Idolatry though but dissembled He doth really make shew of giving that honour to another which is due to God onely and professedly owns another object of Divine worship and so far an other God And though it be not Mental yet it is Corporal Idolatry as an Atheist or impious person doth not Internally Honour God but contemn him yet doing those things which are External Signs thereof he doth Externally worship God §. 5. Of adoration given to the Host THat the Papists give Divine Worship to the Host is by themselves acknowledged and it is no small part of their Religion The Council of Trent determines That the same Divine Worship which we give to God himself is to be given to the most Holy Sacrament And by the Holy Sacrament they mean the Body of Christ under the accidents of the Bread This according