The second tearme 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. à duplici modo communionis externo interno Such as have spirituall communion with Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inwardly are said to be invisible members which are only known to God and not men having this seale the Lord knoweth who are his Such as have externall communion in outward ordinance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are called visible members because their communion is visible and apparent Now only the invisible company have communion for life and are elect many of those that have externall communion and are visible members shall perish And yet by reason of their profession are said 2 Thes 1.1 to be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as Ames also confesseth Such was the Church of Corinth and Ephesus c wherein all were not in communion for life And of such Christ speaketh Joh. 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he takes away These are said to be redeemed 2 Pet. 2.1 Denying the Lord that bought them And sanctified Heb. 10.29 And hath accounted the bloud of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing And in Pauls exordiums of his Epistles To the Church of God to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints 1 Cor. 1.2 Now we are to know that this distinction of visible and invisible is a very lame one and the lamenesse thereof deceiveth many for whereas all distinctions or distributions should have their parts distinct and different and the more opposite the members thereof be the better the distribution is these two branches of this distinction interfere one with another and the one comprehends the other the visible comprehend the invisible here in this world I meane the persons though not the notions For though indeed every visible member is not invisible yet every invisible member is also visible They that have inward communion with Christ for life are not taught and nourished only by an inward unction or inspiration but are faine to have externall communion also in the outward ordinances of God De Ecclesia vivorum modò agitur cui Symbolum Apostolicum praescriptum est non de coelesti Ramus in Symb. So that this distinction is like the old distinction of gratia gratis data gratia gratum faciens whereas omnis gratia gratum faciens est etiam gratia gratis data If invisible had been taken for Saints in Heaven and visible for Saints on earth it had been a compleat distinction Or if visible had been taken for a Church conspicuous flourishing with liberty of ordinances and invisible for a Church latent as under persecutions and generall heresies then it had been compleat but the tearmes are not used in either of those sences and therefore the distinction halteth So that in what is to be said we must take heed that by visible we meane not only such as are hypocrites and reprobates but those that are also truly godly not only such as make externall profession of faith whereby they are differenced from heathens What a Church visible is but such as have inward sincerity also whereby they are differenced from hypocrites The Church visible is a company of people called by God from Idols to the true Religion and professing subjection to that call which is true of the godly as well as the hypocrites 3d Tearme The third tearme to be opened is universall We are to know that the Church of God admits of severall distinctions from severall accidents As in reference to the time wherein the Church hath or doth exist it is distributed into the Church under the old Testament and the Church under the New And this is distributed againe 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 universall and particular Now in this question universall is meant principally in regard of Persons Places and not in regard of time The Church Catholick existing on earth at the same time is compared with particular Churches existing at the same time also Universality is applied to places and persons in the Church at the same time What the universall visible Church is The Vniversall visible Church is the whole company of visible beleevers throughout the whole world Severall men give severall descriptions thereof I shall set down some of them Ecclesia Dei vivi est columna firmamentum veritatis toto orbe terrarum diffusa propter 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 modò auditis sed quotquot sunt Christiani fideles in universo terrarum orbe quoniam à solis Ortu usque ad occasum laudatur nomen Domini Sic se habet Ecclesia Catholica mater noster Aug. Serm. 99. Ecclesia est congregatio sanctorum in quâ Evangelium rectè docetur rectè administrantur Sacramenta Aug. conf Saepè Ecclesiae nomine universam hominum multitudinem in orbe diffusam designamus quae unuâ—se Deum Christum colere profitetur Calv. Instit l. 4. c. 1. Sect. 7. Est Congregatio omnium per orbem universum qui consentiunâ— in fide Evangelica Bulling Est coetus hominum Christum suum negem sacerdotem prophetam profitentium Keckerman In novo Testamento vocamus Ecclesiam pro omnibus qui Christo nomen dederunt Zuinglius Vniversa multitudo Christianorum quae se fidelem censet simul â—nus fidelis populus una Ecclesia dicitur Idem Ecclesia significat totam illam omnium multitudinem quae generatim exvocatione professsione externa aestimatur Trelc Ecclesia est visibilis coetus amplectentium Evangelium Christi rectè utentium Sacramentis Gerard. Statuimus Ecclesiam quandam universalem externam per totum orbem dispersans nobis in sacris literis describi quae visibili quadam politia unicum Ecclesiasticum Organicum corpus constituit sub quo omnes Ecclesia particulares Classicales Provinciales Nationales tanquam partes totius continentur Apollon 29. pag. Vbicunque quandocunque fuerint homines Apostolicâ fide informati Christianam Electorum rempublicam constituunt etiamsi dispersi in omnes Orbis partes Sic Antoninus Philosophus Civem Romanum dixit esse quicunque Romanis legibus viveret Ita quicunque Christianis legibus moribusque vivit ubicunque sit nihil interest civis est Christianus ad publicum de regendâ civitate Dei consilium adhibendus ut Ecclesiae Catholicae disciplina Catholica sit P. Ramus de Eccl. Cathol Sometimes saith Bifield Church signifieth a company of men in one City or
then Whether there be a Church Catholike visible Quest 1. I know that our Divines in answer to the Pontificians doe deny the Church Catholike to be visible as Zanchy Gerard Whitakers Chamier and Ames against Bellarmine and Sadeel against Turrianus But the Pontificians state not the question as I state it and I confesse their assertions of the Church Catholike to be false For First They take visible for conspicuous glorious and manifest specious and flourishing Secondly They hold that the name Catholike Church belongs to one Church viz. The Church of Rome and that being the Church Catholike and comprizing the universality of the Church in it selfe all that will be members of the Church Catholike must submit to them and be members of that Church Thirdly They hold that it is necessary that this visible Catholike Church should be under one visible universall head which they make to be the Pope Christs Vicar Generall and in these regards our Divines doe contradict and confute them But there are passages enough in our Divines writings that may be brought to allow and approve visibility aspectability and unity in all the Churches of the Saints throughout the whole world I will give you a taste but of one of the fore-mentioned for brevity sake and he the most rigid in discipline and exact in Logicall divisions and deductions of any of them and that is Dr Ames who in his Medulla saith Ecclesia nunquam de sinit esse visibilis Which cannot be meant of any particular Church for that may faile Again he saith Congregationes illae particulares sunt quasi partes similares Ecclesiae Catholicae atque adeo nomen naturam ejus participant And further saith Illi qui professione tantum sunt fideles dum remanent in illa societate sunt membra illius Ecclesiae sicut etiam Ecclesiae Catholicae quoad statum externum And in his Bellarminus enervatus he saith Nos fatemur Ecclesiam militantem visibilem esse quoad formam accidentalem externam in suis partibus singulatim conjunctim c. Now though I have set downe these humane testimonies first yet it is not that I meane to leane upon these as my maine proofes but only to shew that our Divines in denying the Popish tenet of a Church Catholike visible in their sence yet all of the fore-mentioned deny it not in my sense if any doe But for proofe that there is a Church Catholike visible I will first give you Scripture and secondly demonstration For Scripture see Acts 8.3 Saul made havock of the Church I shewed you before that this must needs be a visible Church for they could not else be persecuted and certainly Saul could not discerne the invisible company but persecuted promiscuously all that were of that way neither was it a particular Church for this persecution was in Jerusalem and in every Synagogue and to Damascus and even to strange Cities 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 generall and by the same reason that the word Church would reach all these Churches it would reach all the Churches in the world The same word there is Galat. 1.13 I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it and yet it is said when he was converted then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galileo and Samaria which yet were but some parts of the Church in the singular number which he persecuted Againe See 1 Cor. 10.32 Give no offence to the Jew nor Gentile nor to the Church of God Where the word Church cannot signifie the elect only nor any one particular Congregation or Kingdome but indefinitely See also 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers The Church there spoken of is not the triumphant Church nor the Invisible Church only for they were visible messengers and some of them but only visible for Judas had obtained part in the Apostleship and Ministry and was sent to preach and work miracles and many Prophets were not of the invisible number for many shall say Lord Lord we have prophecied in thy name and yet shall not be saved But to be sure they were sent to afford the Saints visible communion in ordinances Again This is not meant of the Church Entitive which is a similar and as I may say an homogeniall body every member being equall and of the same capacity as a member but of the Church organicall a Heterogeniall Dissimilar body because here are set downe the officers Neither is here meant a particular Church but all collectively that were within the bounds of the Apostles commission which was the Church in the whole world Goe teach all Nations c. and all the Churches that have Pastors and Teachers over them which all the Churches in the world have or ought to have and yet all these are called but one Church one body vers 20. Now if there be officers of the Church Catholike visible then there is a Church Catholike visible but the Apostles Prophets and Evangelists were officers of the Church Catholike visible for they had no limits and yet are said to be set not in the Churches but in the Church And this is granted by our brethren for Congregationall Churches that they were officers of the Church Catholike and therefore did not baptize into particular Congregations or in refernce to them but into the generall And this Cartwright in his Catechisme granteth concerning the Church Catholike Now certainly they were not officers to the true beleevers only seeing they censured others also Also 1 Tim. 3.15 These things I write unto thee that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy selfe in the house of God which is the Church of the living God This Church must be a visible Church where he and others must exist and converse together and carry themselves in mutuall duties Now these directions concerned not Ephesus alone or in any speciall manner but all the Churches where ever he should come It is that Church which is the ground and pillar of truth which holdeth it forth unto others more forensi which is the Church Catholike unto which Timothy was an Evangelist Againe It is the Church visible that is so often in the Scripture called the Kingdome * Mark 4 2◠30. Luk. 7.28 of God and the Kingdome †Mat. 13.24 31 33 44 45 47. of Heaven Christ calls them not Kingdomes but the Kingdome and compares this Kingdome to a field of wheate mingled with tares and himselfe expounds it that the field is the world and this must be the Christian world for the other is a field of tares only for vers 41. Mat. 13.41 49. it is said they shall gather out of the Kingdome c. In this field particular Churches are but particular ridges enjoying the
of a Church future to be built which Christ then intended to set up which was the Evangelicall Catholike Church and not Catholike as some take it for the Church past present and to come for those past were already built and were in Heaven out of Gunshot of assault but it is meant de Ecclesia vivorum de militante de Ecclesia quam Christus erat aedificaturus Object O but this place is meant of the Church invisible for they that are only visible may be prevailed against Answ It is true but those invisible are also visible and they shall never be prevailed against as visible Ecclesia nunquam desinit esse visibilis Satan or persecutours shall never so far prevaile as to cut off all the visible members And though such heresies come that shall deceive all but the Elect yet as long as the Elect are not deceived there remaines a Church Catholike visible still in their visibility If all the visible members should faile then all the invisible must needs faile also for none are invisible in this world but be must be visible also except any be converted and fed only by inspiration which we have no ground for in the Scripture Again Excommunication in 2 Ep. John 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 and if it be 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 Or whether the delivering up to Satan be only within the bounds of one Congregation so that if he remove out of such a circle or circuit of ground to another he is out of Satans bonds againe and may communicate there safely I deny not but that through ignorance such a thing may be admitted but certainly if the censure be past against him he needeth no other Excommunication but his first sentence will binde him in all the Christian world if it can be known I am not ignorant that I have Dr Whitakers and many Protestant Divines against me herein and therefore I onely propose what my light guideth me to judge herein Herein I agree with Apollonius Sicut per excommunicationem legitimam excommunicatus non tantum ex hac vel illa particulari Ecclesia ejicitur sed ubicunque terrarum ligatur excommunione fraterna universalis Ecclesiae excluditur Matth. 18.17 18. Ita per Sacramentum Baptismi sacrae Eucharistiae homini communio Ecclesiastica non tantum in particulari sed universali Ecclesia obsignatur Apollon p. 26. If any one that is called a * 1 Cor. 5.11 brother be a drunkard railer extortioner c. What makes him to be called a brother Is it because he is of that particular Congregation or the Church Catholike Is it because he is an invisible member or a visible by Profession Few Fornicators Idolaters Drunkards c. are invisible members Againe all those Metaphors which set out the Church in Scripture shew the unity of the Church Catholike This is the woman clothed with the Sunne Rev. 12.1 the Righteousnesse of Christ and the Moon all terrestriall mutable things under her feet or clothed with the Sunne the purity of Doctrine and the Moon i. e. as some will have it Discipline under her feet Surely this woman was not a particular Congregation but the Church Catholike for were it meant of particular Congregations it should have been women not a woman There shall be one Shepherd saith Christ and one Sheep-fold Joh. 10.16 which is meant of the Church Catholike and that visible consisting of Jew and Gentile The Church is called the Body of Christ and that is the Church Catholike for Christ hath but one body Rom. 12.5 As we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another This the Apostle speakes of the visible Organicall Church for thereupon he fals to reckon up the severall offices in the Church as Prophecying Teaching Exhorting Giving Ruling Shewing mercy which some compute to be an exact distribution of the Church Offices So Eph. 4.4 * 1 Cor. 10.17 1 Cor. 12 1â— 13 20. Eph. 2.16 It is called the a 1 Tim. 3.15 House of God How thou shouldest behave thy selfe in the House of God And the City of God b Eph. 2.19 Heb. 12 22. Rev. 3.12 Now these things had they been meant of particular Congregations should have been Bodies Houses Cities Sheepfolds But as many members in a body hinder not the unity of the whole and many townes in a Kingdome and many houses in a Citie and many roomes in an house or in the Arke hinder not the unity thereof so many particular Congregations hinder not the unity of the Church Catholike Cant. 6.9 My Dove my undefiled is but one she is the only one of her mother She is the Lilly c Cant. 2.2 among the thorns which is the Church militant She is called the Spouse of Christ d Cant. 4.8 9 10 11 12. Yea the Holy Ghost chooseth to joyn many particular Churches together by Nounes collective Nounes of multitude in the singular number where it can be with convenience Remarkeable is that 1 Peter 5.2 where writing to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithinia he cals them all one flock not flocks Feed the flock of God which is among you The same word Paul useth Acts 20. to the Elders of Ephesus Est una sola Christi Ecclesia â—â—ae ob id etiam dicitur Catholica Particulares Ecclesia non sunt impedimento quin una sit Ecclesia Zanch. de Ecclesia A second kinde of proofe hereof is by argument or demonstration If particular Churches be visible there is a visible Catholike Church but particular Churches are visible therefore The consequence will follow whether you consider the particular Churches as Species or as Partes Omne particulare habet suum generale sive universale omne membrum habet suum integrum omnis pars habet suum totum If therefore there be particular Churches there is a generall and if the particular be visible so is the generall if the particulars be mingled wheat and tares together so is the generall Genus Species pars totum similare presertim sunt ejusdem praedicamenti Ten thousand particular corporeall substances cannot make one generall incorporeall Ten thousand visible particular Churches cannot make one invisible generall Church But all Divines yea our brethren for Congregationall Churches yea the Separation hold that particular Churches are visible as consisting indeed of visible members And Gerard though he will not grant a Church Catholike visible yet saith Ecclesias particulares visibiles esse
a particular convert brought in and nourished by the word of God preached in a visible congregation before he be admitted a member of that congregation or any other by publike consent remaining in no Church but the Church Catholike visible and haply scarce being a compleat member of that being as yet not baptized Fourthly the signes that difference a true Church from a false do Argument 4 not primarily belong to a particular congregation but to the Church Catholike visible viz profession of the true faith the administration of the true ordinances of God the Word and Sacraments for therein all the whole Church agree and is thereby distinguished from those that are without not from those that are within This is no note to know this or that particular Church by from another for it is common to the universall Church it distinguisheth not among themselves but from the generall common opposite the heathen or the grosse heretick A man being lead into a vault where were the sculls of many dead men and understanding that Alexanders scull was there desired his guide to shew him that his guide told him it was that scull with the hollow eye holes and with the gristly nose and with futures crossing the brain pann and when the man replyed that they had all so yea saith his guide there is no difference between Kings and other mens sculls when they are dead So if any man should ask you or me which is the Church of Ipswich Dedham or Colchester it were a folly to say it is the Church where the word of God is preached and sacraments administred and that professe Iesus Christ to be crucifyed dead and buryed risen again and ascended into Heaven for so do all the Church Catholike but I must give some other notes to distinguish any of them for these are not distinctive because common Therefore the signes of the true Church belong primarily to the whole secondarily to particular parts thereof and are therfore not distinctive to the parts 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 kind Fiftly all the members of particular Churches are members of the Church Catholike yea that relation belongs first to them If they be born within the pale of the Church they have federall holines and are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not because members of this or that congregation but because born of parents within the generall covenant externally 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 A man may dwell in one City and heare 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 Church Catholike therfore most properly are said to be Ortae for such a cōvert may joine himselfe after his conversion to what congregation he pleaseth to inhabit among If a man come into a parish that is a heathen he is not a member of that particular Church because not a member of the Church Catholike but if he be a Christian then is he a member of that particular congregation where he resideth or fit so to be and ought not to be denyed admission or communion though he had never bin member of any other 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 of these persons or companies is that they are freemen of London and secondarily that they are distinct from other free men by being of this or that particular society belonging to such a hall So it is for all Churches First 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 freeman yet is it free for any Christian to change his particular relation from one congregation to another because he is a Christian and takes not up his first freedome into a particular congregation or company but in to the Catholik They are made members of the whole by conversion to the faith and initiated by the sacrament of baptisme externally but are secondarily made members of a particular congregation by cohabitation or consociation Suppose a man had abundance of sheep as Abraham Isaack Jacob and Job who had 14000. and these sheep had all one brand of the owners upon them and these sheep were divided into severall flocks under severall shepheards in severall 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 that they are such a mans sheep either bought or bred c. 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 particular walke And so the first consideration of any part of Gods flock whether person or Congregation is that they are Gods people borne or converted to him fed and nourished by his Ordinances and Ministers and then the particular secondary notion is that they are fed by such a Pastour in such a place It is an usuall 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 Brittish Seas And so when it puts in at any creeke because it is continuous with the Sea we call it the Sea And we say the sea comes up at Harwich Ipswich Manitree Colchester now it were an absurd thing for any man to think that the particular seas were the prime seas and the maine is mare ortum Or because the name sea is indulged to this or that arme or creeke that therefore that should either monopolize the name Sea that there should be no sea but such creekes or that any such creekes should arrogate the name and priviledges of the sea first to themselves and leave them but secondarily to the maine So it is for particular Congregations which have the name and Priviledges of the Church indulged to them at 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 Argument 6 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 appeares by this demonstration That Church to the which the donation of the Ministry was first made is the first subject thereof but that was the Church Catholike therefore For proofe hereof see 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 the Lord gave Apostles Note also from hence that the same Church to which God gave Apostles and Prophets to the same he gave Teachers also Bishop and Pastour may seeme to be in respect to the particular relation to some particular place wherein by the politie of the Church a particular Minister is set but Presbyter Minister and Teacher more generall extending to the whole Church Catholike Paul an Apostle cals himselfe a Teacher and Preacher 2 Tim. 1.11 Peter also and John the Apostles call themselves Presbyters 1 Pet. 5.1 2 Ep. Joh. 1.3 Joh. 1. we finde also that Ministers are in Scripture spoken of under a generall notion They are called Ministers of the Word Luke 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 Gospell 1 Thes 3.2 And Ministers of the Lord Eph. 6.21 where the Ministeriall Office is noted by the reference thereof to the Author that imployeth them and the subject about which they are imployed and not by the Object to whom they preached They are not called Ministers of the people but their Teachers Rulers Pastours Overseers or Ministers for them Col. 1.7 And if a Minister of this or that Congregation were not a Minister of the Church Catholike visible then he were no Minister out of his own Congregation and therefore could not preach or administer any Sacrament as a Minister out of his own Congregation Yea if any members of another Congregation should come and heare a Minister in his owne Congregation he could not preach to them nor they heare him as a Minister but only as a gifted brother And though he may pray and beseech his owne 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 Ministeriall Office to some and to others ex officio charitatis generali onely 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 doe that also as a gifted brother and as a private person which yet all men hold hath nothing to doe to administer the Scales of the Covenant And yet this communion of members of other Congregations is frequent among our brethren for Congregationall Churches Neither can this be answered that it is done by vertue of consociation of Churches except the consociation of Churches and their members make also a consociation of offices and officers and so every Minister be a generall officer and a Minister of the Church Catholike as well as the particular members be members of the Church Catholike And if a Minister of one Congregation be a generall officer and can administer the Seales of the Covenant Baptisme and the Lords Supper to strangers in his own congregation in his owne meeting-house then any where else in any other meeting house for no man will say his ministeriall office is circumscribed by or tyed unto the limits and fabrick of his own meeting house or any especiall influence or authority afforded him in the execution of his ministeriall function by the presence of his owne congregation He whose office is limited within and stands wholly in relation unto a particular place is out of office when he is out of that place as a Major of a Corporation and Constable of a Parish but it is not so with 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 he indeed be peculiarly their Pastour or Bishop one that hath the oversight of them in the Lord in a more immediate especiall manner yet this extends to all times and places where-ever he or they shall come by occasion though never so farre from their dwellings but so is not a Major or Constable And besides that particular office he is an officer a Minister in generall to all others and may execute his office to them as God giveth him occasion but so cannot a Major or Constable because they are only particular officers Suppose a Ministers flock by mortality captivity or the sword should be dissolved extinct and faile indeed he ceaseth to be their Pastour because the correlative faileth but he ceaseth not to be a Minister of the Gospell A King or Major haply cease to be so any longer if his Kingdome or Corporation should sinke because there is no Catholike Kingdome or Township whereof they were officers but the office of the Minister ceaseth not because he was an officer of the Church Catholike which correlate sinketh not And being an officer of the Church Catholike he hath thereby actum primum to administer all the Ordinances of Christ which a single officer may or can doe in any place only wanteth actum secundum vel exercitum pro hic nunc which is appointed by the politie of the Church for order For though their office be generall as Ministers of the Gospell yet they take particular divisions and parcels of the Church to feed and stretch not themselves within one anothers line without a call by permission or intreaty And that a Minister is a Minister of the Church Catholike visible appeares by this argument He that can ministerially eject admit a member out of into the Church Catholike visible is a Minister and Officer of the Church Catholike visible But every Minister by Excommunication Baptisme ejecteth admitteth members out of into the Church Catholike visible Therefore c. This argument I finde more fully laid downe by Apollonius Pastor ut Pastor exercet multos actus ministeriales non tantum erga Ecclesiam suam particularem cujus ordinario Ministerio est affixus sed etiam erga Ecclesias alias Particulares Provinciales Nationales imò erga Ecclesiam Vniversalem
Nam per Baptismum membra in Ecclesiam universalem admittit Per Excommunicationem membra non tantum ex sua particulari sed etiam Provinciali Nationali Vniversali Ecclesia ejicit Matth. 18.18 19. Ex officio pastorali preces Deo offert pro omnibus aliis Ecclesiis laborantibus Verbum Dei in alia Ecclesia particulari praedicare potest non tantum virtute ratione donorum sed cum pastorali authoritate ita ut verbo suo liget solvat peccatores remittat retineat peccata ut legatus missus à Deo obsecret homines ut reconcilientur Deo Gul. Apollon consideratio quarundam c. pag. 86. Of Excommunication I spake before proving that it ejecteth a man out of the whole Church Catholike visible which though it be passed with the knowledge and consent of the Congregation as also is Baptisme yet it is an act of the Presbyters But because it is an act of many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 2 Cor. 2.6 I will therefore insist more largely and particularly upon Baptisme which is the act of a single Pastour or Minister That by Baptisme we are admitted into the Church I thinke is without doubt for if persons baptized be not members of a visible Church then the Seale of the Covenant yea the initiall Seale thereof is administred to those that are and remain out of the Church which were absurd to say Mr Ball in his Catechisme hath this passage Baptisme is a Sacrament of our ingrafting into Christ Communion with him and entrance into the Church for which he citeth Matth. 28.19 Acts 8.38 And afterward explaines himselfe It doth saith he solemnely signifie and seale their engrafting into Christ and confirme that they are acknowledged members of the Church and entred into it though it doth not make us Christian soules And that we are thereby admitted members not of a particular Congregation but the Church Catholike appeares because we are baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 And this appeares further because he that is baptized in one Congregation is baptized all over the world and is not to be rebaptized but is taken as a member where-ever he becomes Now that baptizing is an act of office appeares John 1.33 He that sent me to baptize And goe teach all nations and baptize them was the substance of the Apostles Commission And though Paul 1 Cor. 1.17 saith Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospell yet that is meant not principally for he was sent also to baptize else he might not have done it And that by vertue of this office we are baptized into the Church Catholike appeares because John Baptist baptized all Jerusalem Judea and the Region round about Jordan And the Disciples of Christ made and baptized more Disciples then John and that without relation to any particular Congregations which had it been necessary they could have combined them into So Peter caused Cornelius and his friends to be baptized Act. 10.48 but no mention is made of any Congregation into which they were baptized And Philip baptized the Eunuch not into any particular Congregation And the Apostles carryed about one with them whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Minister Acts 13.5 who was no Apostle and he baptized for them So Tychicus Col. 4.7 is called a beloved brother and faithfull Minister and fellow-servant in the Lord yet he was none of their Minister and Ephes 6.21 he hath the same stile given him againe certainly he could not be a peculiar Minister to both those distant Churches and I suppose he was of neither Appollos baptized at Corinth 1 Cor. 3.4 and yet was no Apostle but as a Minister and steward of the Mysteries of God as well as they 1 Cor. 4.1 Hence is this distinction of Junius in his Animadversions on Bellaerm cap. 7. nota 7. Alia est electio sive vocatio communis qua vir bonus pius doctus aptus absòlutè eligitur ad ministerium verbi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alia particularis sive singularis quâ ad ministerium singulariter huic vel illi Ecclesiae praeficiendus eligitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the truth is the Scripture alwayes calling the Beleevers in one Citie one Church even Jerusalem though there were many thousands yea myriads that is many times ten thousands of beleeving Jewes therein as James tels Paul Act. 21.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were all probably of Jerusalem as appeares first because they were not such as could beare any witnesse against Paul but by hear-say they are informed of thee but the Jewes amongst the Gentiles disperst having seen and heard Paul could have testified of their own knowledge and would not be blinded with Pauls present conformity And secondly because they only of Jerusalem could receive satisfaction by Pauls conformity to the Law at Jerusalem at that time and not the others And also the Holy Ghost calling the Elders in those Cities the Elders of the Church in communi it leaveth it uncertaine to me whether the severall Elders were fixed over particular congregations or taught and ruled in communi as the Ministers do now in Middleburgh and Strasburgh and other places yet because it maketh most for edification and order to have them fixed I shall thinke they were untill the contrary shall be proved And I verily beleeve they ruled in communi though haply they did not teach so Seventhly that Church to which every Christian bears first 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 therfore Them nor appeares because none can be admitted into a particular congregation except he be judged first of the Church Catholike so againe though he change his habitation never so often and beare relation to never so many particular congregations one after another yet in all those the generall relation holdeth still he is a baptized visible member of the Church Catholike and therfore to be received where ever he becometh into any particular congregation Yea in the Interim between his breaking off from one congregation and placing in another congregation he retaines the generall relation and baptisme and is not a heathen or infidell he is not one without in the Apostles phrase Yea suppose a man should be a Traveller Merchant or Factour and setled in no particular congregation yet being a Christian he is a member of the Church Catholike yea and if he broach any errours or live inordinately he shall be accountable to the Church wherein he for the present resides or such crimes are committed and be lyable to their censure as being a member of the Church Catholike which appeares in that the Church of Ephesus is commended Rev. 1.2 ☜ for trying strangers that came among them under the notion of Apostles And finding them lyars did not suffer them now prohibition is a censure They are not to be left to the
transient and in flux by the addition and subtraction of the members thereof yet it shall never cease to be visible 5. That if the Church Catholike be contracted into the limits of a particular Congregation yet that hath the notion of the Church Catholike more properly then of a particular Congregation 6. That the Church Catholike is mixt of good and bad as well as particular Congregations are 7. That the Church Catholike is Organicall 8. That the Keyes of Discipline are Catholike as well as of Doctrine 9. That the Promises Priviledges and Ordinances of Worship and Discipline belong primarily to the Church Catholike 10. That the notes and signes of the true Church belong first to the Church Catholike visible and therefore are distinctive to that only 11. That the whole Church Catholike is the primary object of Christs Offices and particulars but as parts thereof Joh. 3.16 12. Though Christ be the only Supreme head and Ruler of his Church yet must it have immediate subordinate rulers over it Ephes 4.11 13. That the Unity of the Church Catholike requireth not a meeting of the whole body together at any time Concerning particular Churches 1. That particular Churches are made up of the members of the Church Catholike 2. That the particular Divisions of the Church Catholike visible for convenient enjoyment of publike Ordinances have the Name Church and the Priviledges thereof by participation as farre as they are capable indulged unto them 3. That particular Churches must be distinguished by particular accidentall limits and circumstances though they be heterogeneall to the Church 4. Many Congregations may be in the same community of Discipline and be ruled by their Elders in communi by co-ordination though not subordination and so be called One Church Nationall Provinciall or Presbyteriall 5. That which belongs primarily to the whole Church as Totum similare and to the least part of the whole as a part thereof belongs much more to a greater part thereof Or thus That which belongs to a little part of a similar body quâ talis belongs to a greater part much more 6. The greater the parts of the Church Catholike be and the more united by co-ordination the stronger they be and the smaller the Divisions be the weaker 7. The Division of the Church Catholike into small parcels to stand alone by themselves without co-ordination is dangerous 8. Yet necessity in regard of distance of place c. may cause a particular Church to be Independent in regard of actuall externall consociation 9. The constituting a particular Church by an explicite Covenant as the essentiall forme thereof implyeth a deniall of all other Churches to be true that are not so constituted because they must want the essentiall forme Concerning the publike Officers of the Church 1. Every Minister is an Officer of the Church Catholike and that relation is primary to him yet the particular relation he stands in to a particular congregation giveth him by the politic of the Church a more immediate charge to administer the Ordinances of God unto them 2. Any single Minister by vertue of his office hath power ministerially to admit a member into the Church Catholike visible 3. Although the Election of a Minister to a particular congregation be an act of liberty in the people yet his mission is from Christ primarily and ministerially by the Presbytery 4. He doth not administer the Ordinances of God in the name of the congregation as their servant but of Christ As a Major in a corporation though chosen by the people yet executeth his office in the Kings name 5. If he administreth any Ordinances out of his own congregation he doth it not as a gifted brother but by vertue of his office 2 Cor. 5.20 6. Although the particular flock over which a Minister was set be dissolved yet he ceaseth not to be a Minister because the Church to which he bare first relation is not dissolved which is the Catholike Concerning private members 1. Particular Converts are first converted into the Church Catholike and secondarily conjoyn'd into particular consociations 2. Every member of a particular Church is a member of the Church Catholike and that relation doth primarily belong unto him 3. Externall profession of the true Faith and subjection to Gods Ordinances is enough to make a man capable of being a member of a visible Church quoad externam formum 4. By Baptisme members are visibly and ministerially admitted into the Church Catholike visible 5. By Excommunication rightly administred an offender is cast out of the Church Catholike visible as much as out of a particular congregation 6. Federall Holinesse belongs to none primarily because borne of members of a particular congregation but of the Church Catholike 7. They that are only in the Church Catholike visible are not Without in the Apostles sense 8. Children of beleeving parents have right to Baptisme though their parents were not members of any particular congregation and are debarred of their due if denyed it 9. Every member of the Church Catholike is or ought to be a member of the particular Church wherein he dwells 10. The being in the generall Covenant gives right to the Ordinances and not any particular neither do we find any mention in Scripture of any particular explicit Covenant either urged or used at the admission of members into a particular congregation or at the constitution of the same 11. The Invisible members of the Church which have internall communion with Christ are also visible members and have externall communion in externall ordinances 12. The departure of a member from a particular congregation and removall to another for convenience or by necessity is no sinne but departing from the Church Catholike and ceasing to be a member thereof is a sinne I know it is not usuall to make uses and application to Theses of this nature and should I enter thereinto I might drowne my selfe in sorrow to bewayle the rents not in Christs seamelesse coate but in his body the Church which Christ preferred in some regards before his naturall body for he assumed his naturall body for their sakes and was willing to suffer that to be buffeted spit on whipped crowned with thornes crucifyed peirced slaine for their sakes yea he was willing to be made sinne yea a curse and to beare his fathers wrath in his humanity for his Churches sake that they might escape and be saved The divisions in the Church are of three sorts in judgement in affection and in way or practise For judgement first come the Romists and they rend away the second commandment then come the Antisabbatarians and they rend away the fourth though placed in the heart of the Decalogue and so extraordinarily fenced by God with a memento before it and so many arguments after it then come the Antinomians and they pluck away the whole law from us denying it both punitive coactive and directive power and so render it wholy dead and useles to Christians
Province that did outwardly professe the true Religion 1 Cor. 11.18 22. And so usually in the writings of Divines the company throughout the world so professing is called the visible Church Bifield on Art 9. Catholick in the most evident sense agreeth to the Church now under the Gospell since the partition wall betweene Jewes and Gentiles was broken down and yet in some sense it may agree to the Church from the beginning Idem For particular Churches either single or combined either Nationall Provinciall Classicall or Congregationall it is not belonging to this Question to discusse the Quaeries about them and therefore I shall only set down some descriptions of them positively as they are usually taken by others and give you my present apprehensions of them A Nationall Church A Nationall Church is where all the visible publike religious Assemblies of a Nation being parts of the Church Catholike living under one politick civill Government are by the profession of the same faith and communion in the same worship and Government united into one body Ecclesiastick or Ecclesiasticall Republike Two things as I conceive are required to make a Nationall Church First Nationall agreement in the same faith and worship Secondly Nationall Union in one Ecclesiasticall body in the same community of Ecclesiastical Government The Churches in France and the Netherlands have the same faith and worship and kind of Government but they are not in the same Nationall community thereof * Vide Apollō p. 29. See proofes for Nationall Churches under the Gospel Isai 55.5 Thou shalt call a Nation which thou knewest not and Nations which knew not thee shall runne unto thee It is spoken of Christ under the Gospel and there is set down both Gods call of a Nation and a Nations answer to that call and there can be no more required to make a Church Also Isai 19.25 Aegypt my people Assyria the worke of my hands and Israel mine Inheritance Where all those three Nations are called three sister Churches in effect if you marke the coherence It is a prophecy of Gospell times Psal 22.27 All the ends of the world shall turn unto the Lord and all the kinreds of the Nations shall worship before thee Revel 11.15 The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Also Psal 72.11 and 86.9 And by the same reason when a part of a Nationall Church shall joyne in particular consociation and community in a City or Province or Classis they may receive denomination from thence the one containing a greater part of the Church Catholike the other a lesse For the Church Catholick being a similar body retaines the name Church in what parts parcels or quantities soever it be divided into for convenient community untill it be brought in minimum quod sic as the Philosophers say i. e. into the least parts that can enjoy publike communion in ordinances which is a particular congregation Gersom Bucerus in dissert de gub Eccles p. 11. hath this description of a particular Church Nos particularem Ecclesium intelligimus quemlibet credentium caetum in unam vocationem Divinam Evangelij praedicatione sacrarumque institutionum observatione adunatum ac uni Presbyterio subjunctum sacros verò conventus uno aut pluribus locis agitantem Nam paroeciarum in quibus convenitur numerus accidenturia res est nihil ad Ecclesiae particularis essentiam pertinons Now this seemeth to me to be a description of a Presbyteriall or classicall Church and so not to divide the Church Catholick into any lesse parts for enjoyment of all the usuall publike ordinances especially of some parts of discipline and ordination then a Presbyteriall Church Mr Cotton tels us that a visible Church is a mysticall body whereof Christ is the head the Members Saints called out of the world and united together into one Congregation by an holy Covenant to worship the Lord and to edifie one another in all his holy Ordinances But with due respect to so grave and worthy a man this seemes to me to belong to an invisible Church not a visible because the matter thereof is the mysticall body of Christ consisting only of Saints called not only from Idols but out of the world and therefore truly godly Neither dare I make a particular explicit holy Covenant to be the forme of a particular Church as this definition doth because I find no mention of any such covenant besides the generall covenant imposed on Churches nor example or warrant for it in all the Scriptures and therefore cannot account it an ordinance of God but a humane politick device to keepe the members together which in some places and cases may haply be of good use so it be not urged as an ordinance of God and so it be not used to inthrall any and abridge them of liberty of removall into other places and congregations for their convenience Or urged as the forme of the Church And for the enjoyment of all the Ordinances of God in one congregation it seemeth to me very inconvenient for some of the Ordinances and altogether impossible for others First It is inconvenient and of dangerous consequence that a Church consisting of 7 10 20 or 30. should passe the formidable sentence of Excommunication against any person to cast him out of communion not only with themselves but the whole Church Catholike visible and deliver him up to Satan For if it be inflicted by the votes of the whole congregation as some would have it many of the Members being private men and haply altogether illiterate or unexperienced through want of age education or parts are not able to understand the nature of the allegations and probations they may be so intricate or not able to apply the rule unto the case for inflicting of a just censure and may be in danger to beare particular favour or ill will unto their persons and so apt to be swayed by love pity or hopes from them or to be over-awed by feare or threatnings being poore men servants children work-men tenants and therefore our brethren for congregationall Churches have of late seeing this inconvenience debarred the people from votes and put it into the hand of the Elders onely * See M Cottons book set out by M. Goodwin M. Nie. Yea even the Elders of one congregation may be in danger of the same temptations because of particular relations and their dependance on them for maintenance but suppose they were as free as Angels from temptations or infirmities which they are not yet the weightinesse and solemnity of the censure require to be performed by a colledge of Elders of a combined Presbytery that so it being passed not by the votes of 3 or 4. onely and they lyable to so many temptations also but by the joynt consent of a greater Presbytery free from any such temptations or exceptions may be done with the more advice and combined authority and be more dreadfull to the party
Magistrate only but to the Church tryall for those crimes come not alwayes under the cognizance of the civill Magistrates and if they do he may be a heathen and will not regard an haeretick nor can judge of him And if every kingdome will try murder or treason or any other foule crime committed in the same though by a stranger or alien because the crimes are against their lawes and soveraigne though their lawes pertain not to the country where the forrainer was borne and dwelleth then much more shall every Church try those members of the Church Catholike residing among them for their crimes seeing they have all the same soveraigne head the same lawes and are all one body Againe it is no sinne for a man to remove from one congregation to another as oft as occasion requireth but for a man to remove out of the Church Catholike is a sinne and apostacy No man is a schismatick for removing from one congregation to another but he that shall separate himselfe from all Church communion and shall rend himselfe from the Church Catholike he is a schismatick he is an apostate And therfore your severall 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 meanes because they know that were a sinne Argument 8 Eighthly that Church from which the particular Churches spring and to which they are as an additament and increase that is the prime Church but that is the Church Catholike * Act. 2.47 therfore c. The minor appeares because first the whole essence of the Church Catholike was in Adam and Eve and from them spread to his seed by their federall right from them and their actuall taking up that freedome and continuance therein And so againe from Noahs Arke And for the Church under the Gospell that little handfull which Christ left leavened the whole world and brought them in as an addition unto them They were to be witnesses first in Jerusalem them in Iudea and then to the ends of the earth For the Law shall go forth of Zion and the word of God from Jerusalem Isa 2.3 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 and became into 4. heads so the water of life flowed from Zion into the 4. quarters of all the world So that as there is no Sea but hath influence and continuity with the maine Sea and receives name from thence so no particular Church but hath his first rise and spirituall ministeriall influence from the Church Catholike and received the Gospell and priviledges of it from thence God cals no Evangelicall Churches by inspiration but by the ministry of those that are members of the Church Catholike or some part thereof and therfore God would not have Cornelius instructed by an Angell though he could have done it but by Peter a member of the Church Evangelicall So that the Church is as the Sea and particular Churches as so many creeks or armes and rivers not running into the sea but running from the sea and receiving a tincture and season of her waters The Church Catholike is as the tree Christ as the root and particular Churches as branches She is the mother and they as daughters born of her and receiving from her ministerially both nature name and priviledges Paul indeed was called extraordinarily from Heaven by Christ himselfe the head of the Church and not by an Angell that he might be as some conceive a type of the second call of the Jewes who as some bold shall be so called as he was by the appearing of the signe of the son of man and therfore that Church is said to come downe from God out of Heaven Rev. 21.2 10. And the ground for 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 long sufferance for a patterne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them which should or shall hereafter beleeve on him but these things are mysteries and I dare not be too confident in them yet should they come to passe they infringe not the present truth because their conversion shall come from the head root and fountaine it selfe of the Church as Abrahams call was and no question but Christ did convert many in the dayes of his flesh when he was actually and visibly a member of the Church here below And if any be converted by secret revelation or inspiration and neither converted nor fed by any externall ordinances nor joyned to any visible Church as infants of heathens or any of the Philosophers as Plato if possibly they may be such these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not within the compasse of the generall rule for the visible Church and so not of the question Quest If it be asked what it is that is sufficient to make a man a member of the Church Catholike visible Answ I answer Beliefe of the maine points of the Christian faith professed subjection thereunto And this is as much as the Apostles required as in the case of the Eunuch and Simon Magus and if it were sufficient then it is sufficient still for those were the purest Churches So many as gladly received the Word were baptized Acts 2.41 And yet this is no more then may be found in an hypocrite for the stony ground received the Word with joy And we have no other rule to goe by in gathering Churches or receiving members into a Church then they had then neither may we presume to make any other to our selves Sic omnes ferè Reformati Theologi celebres materiam visibilis Ecclesia asserunt esse homines externè vocatos fidem Christi profitentes namque definiunt caetum hominum vocatione externa seu praedicatione Verbi Sacramentorum communicatione evocatorum ad cultum Dei societatem Ecclesiasticam inter se celebrandam Apolon pag. 8. Vide etiam utrumque Trelcatium in locis communibus Loc. de Ecclesia Professores Leidenses Disp. 40. Thes 3. Neither is it requisite that they should be truly godly to make them members of a visible Church for then no man could tell whose child were to be baptized or who are members of a Church or when he is in a true Church And if the living members of Jesus Christ were the only or essentiall members of a visible Church then none are true essentiall members of the Church visible but they and then a truly godly Minister is a more essentiall Minister then another and the Ordinances administred by him are more essentially administred then by another and the vertue of the Ordinance should depend not on Christs Institution but the worthinesse of the person administring And haply after twenty or thirty yeares living under a Minister that seemed religious that Minister by falling away