hand and by arte Non exsanguinibus nec ex voluntate carnis sed ex Deo saith Saint Iohn of the Church Both Vine Church grow vp the meanest of all plants they cannot beare vp themselues without props and stayes euen as the Elme is to the Vine so is the ciuill state vnto the Church Both in regard of their naturall weakenes are taught to twine their armes and their branches one within an other embrace sustaine and strengthen one another as it were growing in one by loue when they flourish and are suffered to spread nothing so enlargeth it selfe As Plinie speaketh of Vines Sine modo crescunt So the Church spreadeth forth her armes from the sea vnto the riuer from one end of the world vnto the other In the time of their flourishing estate and their summer no plant is so pleasant euery thing harboreth vnder their shadow but when winter commeth and the persecutions of stormes take away their beauty no plant standeth so poore so deformed so contemptible to the outward eye the rich the noble the worldly wise like their greene leaues doe commonly fall away Both Vineyard and Church both must bee strongly fenced els they lie open to the prey of many kinds of spoiles both must bee pruned and kept vnder with continuall cutting els they grow out luxuriously and become wilde and as for their fruits when they proue fruitfull how are their weake branches laden with grapes how doe their fruites exceed their strength how doe they bring forth their grapes in bunches and clusters vnited in loue as the Apostle Saint Iames speaketh of the fruits of righteousnes that they are brought forth in peace of them that loue peace And as for the kinds of their fruits all other fruits in comparison are as nothing It is the fruit of these two vines which ministreth mirth and comfort to all the world and as the vine speaketh Iudg. 9. cherisheth the heart both of God and man Fruits of mercy and loue how doe they warme and cheare vp the weake hearts fruits of Iustice and Equity how doe they ease and relieue the oppressed soule God Angels and men reioyce when these Vines are laden with these fruits For when they are vnfruitfull both sorts of Vines are of all trees most vnprofitable seruing for no vse but for the fire This is then the nature of Gods Church It is a spirituall Vineyard the roote whereof is but one Christ Iesus the second Adam Other foundation sayeth the Apostle can no man lay Other Plants shal be rooted out Into him the multitude of beleeuers are planted into him they grow for all the branches of it are of their own nature wilde taken from the old stocke the first Adam euen as many as the Lord our God shall call and they are set into that eternall Vine the second Adam by ingrafting Now as in Grafts though all in like manner stand in stockes and are fastned to them with outward bonds yet all doe not incorporate themselues by drawing sappe from the root therby growing in it and bringing forth fruite so there is an outward ingrafting into Christ by outward visible bonds of vnion the outward profession of the faith of Christ and the outward Sacrament of Incorporations the society and company of which outward professions so visibly ingrafted doe make the visible Church and Vineyard of God on earth And with this visible and outward ingrafting and by meanes thereof there is wrought an inward ingrafting and incorporating through the inuisible bonds of the spirit also in which some doe grow into the stocke and receiue sappe and life from the roote euen the participation of the spirit of life from Christ and doe bring forth fruit in him the company of which onely doe make vp that mysticall body of Christ which is to man inuisible because the bond is inuisible These two sorts of grafts howsoeuer to our eyes they stand alike in the stocke and do somtimes seem to grow alike yet the Apostle distinguisheth most plainely with their seuerall bonds also Rom. 2.28 Hee is not a Iew who is a Iew outward neither that circumcision which is in the flesh but hee is a Iew who is a Iew within whose circumcision is of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose prayse is not of men but of God Notwithstanding both these sorts as they communicate together in the outward bonds of one profession as they visibly cōtinue together like one visible body vpon that one roote Christ Iesus on whom they al outwardly professe that they depend as on the fountaine of their sappe and life so they both together make this one visible Vineyard and visible Church on earth to which God speaketh by his Prophets that Vineyard which is sometimes fruitfull and somtimes bringeth forth wilde grapes And of this visible kind of Vineyard we are now to intreat Our next question therefore is where that Vineyarde may bee seene For in Esayes dayes Surely saith God the Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel the men of Iudah are his pleasant plants All the world besides was as a wildernes and a forrest the habitation of wild beasts this onely was the Lords Paradice placed in the middest of the world and fenced in from all the world the subiect of our present Parable But the circumstances of this Church doc minister occasion of 3. doubts concerning the generall nature and state of Gods Church on earth which are necessary to be vnfolded first seeing the whole church of Israel and Iudah was at these times so generally corrupted as well in idolatry and superstition as in life manners that as it is Esay 1. From the crowne of the head to the soale of the foot there was nothing sound but wounds swellings and sores full of cerruption A doubt ariseth how it might be called Gods Church and Vineyard vnles an Idolatrous and erring Church notwithstanding may bee accounted Gods Church an adulterous wife Gods Spouse 2. Seeing the house of Israel at this day was diuided and Ephram separated from Iudah not onely in ciuil sort but in the forme of Religion also our next doubt is then how these two Churches are notwithstanding by the Prophet counted as one The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel though the men of Iudah be his pleasant plants And seeing both Iudah and Samaria are now laid waste and the Church and Vineyard there is vtterly destroyed our last doubt is where the Vineyard and Church of God may now be found on earth I will lightly touch them all speaking first of the place where the Church is secondly of her variable state her purity and corruption thirdly of her vnity how many particular Churches are notwithstanding one Now for the first where the Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is Vnhappy Israel thou hadst an eternall promise Psal 132. ver 14. This said God is my rest for euer here will I
same kingdome though hee be gone first through Gods mercy you shall shine as starres together and therefore seeing good my Lord he sleepeth but you are waking he is in heauen and you on earth what part or parcell of his writings can challenge as of right protection frō any man that liues saue only your self who haue so truely loued him in his life and so redoubled your affection vpon him in his since his death which his religious constant and truly sorrowfull widdow with her fatherlesse children doe finde and freely confes powring out incessāt praiers to almighty God for you and yours And how can you want the blessings of heauen which haue the widdow and fatherlesse to intercede for you vpon earth Oh giue mee leaue to say of your Lordship concerning this without suspition of flattery as Saint Hierom writes of Origen in his preface before his booke vpon the Canticles In ceteris libris omnes alios vicerit in Cantico Canticorum seipsum vicit So in other of your paynfull works you goe beyond others but in this worke of piety you exceede your selfe But not to trespasse too far vpon your Lordships patience seing thus the God of mercy hath moued your heart sincerely to affect the Author of this Sermon and next vnder God to regard his widdow and fatherlesse children let me presume to make this sute further vnto you in the behalfe of this the liuing Image of his soule the first fruit of his published labours that you being a Reuerend father of the church would giue it your blessing before it goe abroad yea that blessing which Iacob sent with his sonnes into Egypt Gen. 43.14 God Almighty giue you mercy in the sight of the man in the sight of the proud man that you may make him humble in the sight of the poore man that you may make him content in the sight of the stubborne man that you may make him yeeld in the sight of the penitent man that you may binde vp and powre wine and oyle into his wounds in the sight of the barren man that you may make him fruitfull in the sight of euery man that you may touch their consciences and winne their soules but especially in the sight of our Ioseph our Iesus who euer so blesse your Lordship that your waies may bee prosperous your sorrowes easie your comforts manie your vertues eminent your conscience quiet your life holie your death comfortable your election sure and your saluation certaine Amen Your Honours humbly deuoted Hamlett Marshall GODS LOVE TO HIS VINEYARD ESAY the 5. VERSE 2.3 Now therefore O Inhabitants of Ierusalem and men of Iudah Iudge I pray you betweene mee and my Vineyard What could I haue done any more to my Vineyard which I haue not done vnto it Why haue I looked for grapes and it bringeth forth wilde grapes WHereas the beginning of mans saluation the spur and goad which driueth him to Christ is the sence of his owne imperfections and terror of his owne sinnes Strange it is how auerse wee are by nature from this first meanes of our conuersion strange how blinde how partially how corruptly we iudge in our owne causes eyther not once considering or not faithfully acknowledging our own transgressions which forceth God in the ordinary courses of mans saluation sometimes to deale by policies and deuises and to propose his owne case to him not as his owne but in Parables and in the person of others that drawing him from himselfe he might also draw from him an vnpartiall sentence against himselfe Thus God dealt with Dauid when he lay asleepe in the sinne of Bershebah and would not awake himselfe to consider of his owne estate that when Dauid had giuen a seuere sentence against the rich man that slew the poore mans lambe and had pronounced death against him with an oath As the Lord liueth hee shall surely die The Prophet might strike him to the heart with the sentence of his owne mouth Thou art the man Thus and thus hast thou done And to omit the manifolde examples in Scriptures of this kind thus doth our Prophet in this place deale with the people of Iudah he proposeth to them a Parable and because it should bee taken vp in euery mans mouth he setteth it downe in verse and maketh a song of a Vineyard which after the infinite care cost of the husbandman in planting fencing weeding watering pruning it could not bee wonne to bring forth any thing but wild vnwholesom as the word signifieth stinking grapes wherin hauing euery mans secret iudgement that such an vnprofitable vine-yard were to bee left desolate and neglected hee concludeth out of this their owne seueritie against themselues Verse 7. Surely this Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel the men of Iudah are his pleasant plants and he looked for iudgement and behold oppression for righteousnes and behold a crying And first by the way for the Parable it self God hath iudged it profitable thus to teach his Church sometimes by parables which though they be vayles and shadows do hide vnder them spiritual mysteries yet when they are opened and vnfolded they giue a great light to the thing which they shadowed and by their sensible similitude proportion they breed a sensible conceit of things remoued from sense Now to discourse of this whole Parable time will not permit I haue made choice of that one part onely in which the case of the Vineyard is put to the iudgement of the people that is their owne cause is referred to their owne arbitrement Now therefore O inhabitants c. Iudge I pray you c. In which wordes is comprehended the summe of the whole 1. The Church of Israel is proposed vnder the figure of the Lords vineyard 2. Is set downe the Lords care of prouision for his Vineyard What could I haue done for my Vineyard which I haue not done 3. The end of Gods care and benefites fruits good works I looked for grapes 4. The Churches vnthankefulnes It bringeth forth wilde grapes 5. and lastly the iudgement which passed on it Iudge I pray you First for the Church of Israel thus figured by a vineyard As there is one Creator both of heauen and earth so wonderfull are the similitudes and resemblances of one order of his creatures to another of things sensible to things intelligible whereby in earth wise men do beholde a shadow of heauen it selfe but of earthly things which represent spirituall nothing doth more liuely expresse the nature of the visible Church then doth a Vineyard A certaine householder saith our Sauiour Math. 21. planted a Vineyard And Iohn the 15. I am the Vine and yee are the branches and my Father is a husbandman For what property can wee finde in the one which is not in a sort answered in the other Both Church and Vineyard neither of them doe as selfe-sowne things naturally spring and multiply out of the earth both are to bee planted by
be named the Lords Vineyard Surely to vse Gods owne similitude where there hath publikely passed a solemne contract of marriage visibly confirmed by Couenants and pledges mutually deliuered and receiued though the wife keepe not the truth of her first faith but euen openly and shamelesly turneth away her heart after other louers yet til there passeth a publike renouncing one of the other and a bill of diuorcement giuen and separation passed she is accounted his wife whose name she beareth whose wife shee publikely professeth her selfe to be So is betweene God and his visible Church both Israel and Iudah notwithstanding their fornications still kept the publike profession of the name of the God of Israel they retained circumcision the outward seale and pledge both of his Couenant both offered sacrifices to him that brought thē out of Egypt euen by that stile though in a superstitious maner both had the law of God publikely amongst them his Prophets also And therefore this outward foundation of the old league and couenant continueth stil the Lord accounteth them both as his and notwithstanding their knowne adulteries and their children of fornication by other gods whom they also serued hee intreateth them though in anger and displeasure and in threates and sometimes in chasticements yet as his owne for they were neuer denounced till they were destroyed and by the benefite of that same outward society coniunctiō which in the midst of their other abominations still remayned between God and them of the word and Sacrament many spirituall children also were borne by them to the Lord such as those 7000. were in Elias dayes who liuing in house together with their illegitimate brethren feared their father the God of Israel and secretly mourned at the abominations of their mother howsoeuer by liuing in so corrupt a house they might be tainted with some of the corruptions of their mother and carnall brethren And this is the nature of the Christian Church wherof that was a figure it is here on earth subiect to alterations and to that like generall defection and ouerrunning with weeds which both Christ and the Apostles prophesie should happen in the outward and visible face thereof which we see did happen in the figuratiue Church of Israel before Christ though the roote and foundation of Christianity shal neuer faile in it and the booke of God the seed of immortality shall remaine in it vncorrupted and the publike profession of Christ shall neuer be vtterly choaked for the Elects sake that shall bee from age to age of this world being borne in it yea though one part of the Church whose preseruation of the trueth shall be lesse corrupted then an other as Iudah was in comparison of Israel For the particular Churches are like Vineyards some flourishing for a time some barren and according to their husbandmen some cleaner kept some ouergrowne with thornes some become wilde for want of pruning yea they are like our bodies some sound and orthodox some more diseased some sicke vnto death and some vncleane and leprous and with whom there can bee no communion Thus the Church of Corinth in the Apostle Saint Paules time was not so sound as the Churches of Rome Ephesus the Church of Galatia was infected with a most dangerous error After when S. Iohn wrote the church of Ephesus had her imperfections the other sixe Churches were more infected and amongst them Laodicea was in farre worse estate then either Pergamus or Thyatira and yet all these remained the Lords Churches and Vineyards in the middest of their errors corruptions because they helde that foundation of Christianity vpon which the Church is builded Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God For although as euery sinne is opposite to theloue of God so euery error also is opposite to his truth and doe not agree together yet by reason of our weake eyes and iudgements not discerning the disagreement of truth and error as of righteousnes and sinne the best men doe receiue some probable errors into the society of truth without reiecting and ouerturning their faith of those grounds which they truly hold and therefore though euery little error in matter of faith be dangerous and causeth some defect and mayme in our practise of piety eyther in our inuocations of faith or in our works of loue and the more deadly the nearer they touch the principall grounds yet they doe not all make wounds vnto death and kill our faith and piety till they come to be knowne and wilfull errors that is to be heresies and sinnes of the will for then the least error is deadly because it is wilfull and directly opposite to the loue of the truth of Christ Finally as one Church is more or lesse pure and Orthodoxe then another so wee see how the selfe same Churches continue not alwayes in one and the selfe same state for the Church of Iudah was sometime religious sometimes idolatrous sometimes purged in part the groues and high places still remaining so hath euery Church in the world since Christs time vndergone great alterations and changes the Church of Rome in her first ages was very sound and pure the Easterne Churches were more ouergrowne with errors in these latter ages since as Platina obserueth Iohn 10. The people were cleane departed from Saint Peters steps the west Churches haue more declined and the Easterne Churches except that one error of the proceeding of the holy Ghost in all other parts of faith remaine much more pure then the Church of Rome and her adherents yea Rome it selfe began a little changing of her selfe when Pius the fift acknowledging that their bookes of publike diuine seruice in all places were stuffed with vaine errors of superstitions did cast out some corruptions and no doubt besides the priuate reformations both in the iudgements and practise of numbers of her followers who will not embrace all her abominations she would haue proceeded further in publike reformation had not besides the loue of her priuate gaines a respect of her publike credit hindred her for by confessing any one error shee seeth that shee should giue preiudice against her self for other her opinions in acknowledging that shee might erre in them also Which ministreth an answere to their vaine obiections who demand of vs where our Church was for so many ages till Martin Luthers dayes in what caue of the earth it lurked for our Church is one and the same which it was at the first planting of Christianity amongst vs It hath alwayes had one and the same roote and foundation one and the same Christ publikely professed though at the first more purely afterwards more corruptly and not by Gods mercy the same Christ more purely againe For as the new dressing and weeding of a Vineyard is not a new planting and as the often repairing the decayes and purging of the vncleannes of the Temple was not the new founding and building of another Temple so in our Church
dwell but thou diddest thy selfe reiect God and didst cast the LORD thy Redeemer out of his owne Vineyard thou diddest with a loud cry in the sight of the Sunne and in the hearing of the Gentiles protest Wee will not haue this man to raigne ouer vs wee will haue no King but Caesar Thou diddest lead him out of thy City diddest crucifie him without the gate calling for the guilt of his innocent bloud not onely vpon thine owne head but also vpon the heads of all thy posterity And now the Lord is risen vp again and is departed the Vine is remoued and planted elsewhere and as for that olde Vineyard it is burnt it is burnt with fire and the wilde beasts of the forrest haue deuoured it vp Seeing then the Lord will not bee without a Church on earth without a Vineyard Psal 80. if wee demand where it is now 1. it is euident that since Iudah is for her contempt laide waste the Lord hath planted his Church in the desert of the Gentiles secondly it is as euident that according to the prophesies he hath enlarged the bounds therof and hath made it vniuersall and Catholike so that there is no City nor Nation which will receiue that eternall roote to bee planted in it which may not become a part of his Church and Vineyard This appeareth by the maner of Gods proceeding When Paul and Apollo the Lords workmen went forth to worke in what City soeuer they stayed they made a Vineyard Paul planted Apollo watered and by their industry the Lord had a new Church in Corinth a Church at Ephesus a Church in Galatia in Thessalonica in Philippi the other Apostles and Euangelists did the like in other Countries planting Vineyards as farre as India so that if any man would know where the Lords Church is wee need not seeke for secret marks and tokens These Vineyards are easily discerned from other partes of the earth And yet not by their fruits for often they bring forth wilde grapes but by their roote that is planted in them in what Country or place soeuer that Vine which came downe from heauen is planted wheresoeuer it is outwardly receiued as the roote and spring of mans life and saluation where there is Baptisme to ingraft and incorporate the new professed branches and the food of the word and the communion of the Lords Supper to make them encrease and grow there is a Vineyard because there both is his vine the means to make it spread to the Lord of hosts and therefore there is his eye and care and prouidence and protection there he expecteth fruit for wheresoeuer God vouchsafeth to bestow the outward grace of the knowledge of Christ Act. 16.9 and to continue the sowing of his seed of life it is an euident token that he hath some people in that place Thus of those seuen seuerall Vineyards and Churches in Asia with their Angels and ouerseers Reuel 1. though one Church was purer then another and some were so degenerated that the great LORD of the Vineyard doth threaten them with desolation and remouing the vine root yet his carefull eye was ouer them all hee that seemeth to bee gone into a farre Country yet was seene walking in the midst of them and as it were holding them in his hand And thus to seeke no other marks and notes of the Church then this present Parable affoordeth what greater assurance can we haue to our selues that the Lord hath chosen vs for a part of his Vineyard then this that he hath with such care and long assiduity laboured to plant the knowledge of Christ crucified among vs that he hath raysed vp such multitudes of Labourers amongst vs and indued them with excellent faculties and graces and sent them into his Vineyard to follow his spirituall husbandry that hee hath so many thousands dayly ingrafted into him by Baptisme that he so mightily protecteth them with his defences so continually feedeth them with the knowledge of his word so importunately calleth at their hands for the fruits of a Vineyard and no doubt receiueth some for it is impossible that all these things should be in vaine as not from God seeing not so much as the raine and snow from heauen doe returne againe in vaine Esai 55.10.11 The second question which the Vineyard moueth is concerning the state of the Lords Churches their purity or corruptions heere on earth whether they are alwayes cleane and not sometimes through the negligence of the Ouerseers ouergrowne with weeds or through their priuate couetousnesse sometimes planted among with other plants For first the Church of Iudah howsoeuer at this time in the dayes of Vzziah it held the publike profession of God purely yet was it both now so generally corrupted in maners that in Esai 1. God cryeth against it Ah sinfull Nation laden with iniquity corrupt children which haue forsaken the Lord After in the dayes of Ahas both Prince high Priest and people euen the whole outward state fell to Idolatry and by little and little so corrupted their waies that as Ezechiel chargeth her shee went beyond her sister Samaria in spirituall fornication and idolatry And yet notwithstanding this her vncleannes shee is still counted the Lords Spouse though a harlot also and the Lords vineyard though for the outward face in most part cleane degenerated yea and the Lord by his Prophets wooeth her as his owne because shee had not absolutely renounced his couenants otherwise God had no publike visible Church and Vineyard at all vpon the earth in those dayes Nay I may goe further and affirme of Israel that though it not onely worshipped God by calues and after in Ahabs time did set vp Baal also the god of the Gentiles and then as the Prophet chargeth them halted between God Baal yet the Lord not only in this place calleth it his Vineyard and professeth Ier. 3.9 I am a Father to Israel Ephraim is my first borne But his mercifull presence in the middest of these abominations did not clean forsake thē but that he had of his Prophets continually amongst them and many messages of kindnes he sent to their state and many miraculous deliuerances he wrought for them and after almost three hundred yeares Idolatry when Israel was for this their irreuocable obstinacy in rebellious fornication to be cast off into the hands of her enemies and yeelded vp to captiuity yet he is as it were distracted within himself Hos 8. How shal I deliuer thee vp O Ephraim My heart is turned within mee I will not yet execute the fiercenes of my wrath for though Ephraim were a prodigal sonne yet he was counted a sonne to his last being euen till he gaue vp the seale of circumcision and outward profession of the name of the God of Israel Can then an Idolatrous Church be counted the Lords Church and a degenerate Vine that onely groweth vpon another roote and bringeth forth wilde fruit of another kind
since it was reformed we know no other differēce from that which it was before then such as wee see in the Vineyard and Church of Iudah which in the dayes of Manasses was full of superstition in the dayes of Iosiah had her abominations cast out and the purity of Gods seruice restored according to his owne law There were crept into our Church grauen Images the likenesses of things in heauen and things in earth and men did bow downe and worshippe them contrary to the law and contrary to antiquity for as yet appeareth euen by the buildings and walles of our most ancient Churches there was no place within the Church prouided for them To these Images of dead men they did light candles and burned Incense and offered gifts after the custome of the heathen the light of the Church was remoued out of the candlesticks and the word of God which is the true light of the world and lanterne to our feet was hidden vnder an vnknowne tongue as vnder a bushell that which the Apostle calleth both our milke and our meate was taken away and nothing was read to the peoples vnderstanding but the lies of their Legend the author therof had a leaden head a brazen forehead as Viues a lerned Papist cēsureth them The holy Sacraments of the church were prophaned to the sanctified water in baptisme cream was added salt spittle by the people receiued as parts of the sacramēt the Lords Supper was mangled the cup of blessing which is the Cōmunion of the bloud of Christ was sacrile giously remoued the communion of the bread was turned into a priuate masse of dead ceremonies These and infinite other abominations were growne vp so high that they did both draw all the fatnes from the roote and ouerdrop and ouershadow the true vine and euen called for the fickle to cut them downe for there was not any learned deuout man amongst themselues in those ages who did not both bewayle the corruptions of the Church as appeareth by them that wrote and in particular acknowledge some one error of theirs or other though now authority stoppeth their mouthes and clippeth such tongues and the Indices expungatorij do rase those confessions out of their writings Now the indisposition therefore eyther of the Church of Rome or any other neighbor Church to reform themselus can be no iust excuse for our Church and her ouerseers not to reforme her selfe then it had beene for Israel to sinne because Iudah sinned or for Iudah because of the sinne of Israel In these cases of Gods seruice and honor the expectation of neighbours and desire of vnity is no allowed answere but that of Iosuah belongeth to all gouernors which he spake to all Israel Iosu 15. If it seeme euill in your eyes to serue the Lord chuse you this day whom you will serue but I and my house will serue the Lord and that rule of Hosea If Ephraim be ioyned vnto Idols let him alone and if Israel play the harlot yet let not Iudah sinne Only our hearty prayer vnto God is that as we do communicate in the general grounds and foundations of Christianity and ioyntly professe the same Creede so the Lord would giue them hearts to remoue these abominations which blocke vp the way of peace and communion between Church and Church or if eyther for pride or couetousnes they will acknowledge no error yet hee would giue them contented minds to keep to themselues their owne corruptions which now being cast off by vs would be so much the more loathsome to put on againe The third doubt which the vineyard of the house of Israel answereth is the vnity of the Church seeing the deuided houses of Ephraim and Iudah not so much seuered in state as in religion are yet by our Prophet accepted as one vineyard for though one read of many seuerall Churches in the new Testament also Psal 64. yet that of Saint Augustine is most true there be many Churches yet but one Church and in such sort many yet they are all but one Nay in the vnity of the Church wee must yet goe further and acknowledge with the same father the Church is the body of Christ not that which is here or there but that which is euery where throughout the world Psalme 90. neither that which is at this time but euen from Abel vnto those which shall hereafter bee borne and belieue in Christ vnto the end the whole company of saints belonging to one City which is the body of Christ and whereof he is head for this is that which the Apostle affirmeth of all beleeuers Bee they Iew or Gentile bond or free they are al incorporate into one Company they all make one body But this vnity is properly meant of Christs mysticall body and Church which is inuisible of which church these men are no part who are onely in Sacrament is Ecclesiae as Saint Augustine expoundeth himselfe that is of the whole body of the faithfull from Adam to the end of the world yet notwithstanding these outward visible societies of professed christians in which the militant members of Christ mingled with the bad are yet in framing for eternity these also haue a bond of vnity also and though they bee many yet are they but as one Now the outward bonds of these visible Churches are diuers for 1. they all spring by propagation from one originall mother Church Ierusalem which is beneath is the mother of vs all and from Sion came the Gospell by propagation vnto all Nations But this bond is not so strong as to tie them in one that are sprung from one beginning There is a stronger which this Parable of a Vine doth lay before vs for the Vine or tree which is diuided into so many seuerall branches some dying some springing vp and one bough perhaps bearing seuerall fruits from another what is it that maketh them all one but their owne stocke and roote on which they all vifibly grow this is the visible bond of the seuerall armes and parts of the visible Church they all outwardly ioyne in that one roote Christ in whom they are all visiblie ingrafted on whom they all make outward shew that they doe stand and grow The Apostle Ephes 4.5 exhorting Christians to vnity setteth downe this bond and to it addeth two other kinds the vniformity of our faith and articles of beliefe There is one kinde of ingrafting one badge of their incorporation Baptisme One Lord one Faith one Baptism i. One King vnder which they liue one Law by which they are guided one common badge of their incorporation which they all publikely receiue so that seeing the Iewes howsoeuer dispersed amongst al the Nations of the earth and liuing without dependance vpon any one common gouernour and yet accounted but as one Nation because of the bond of their vnity in the publike profession of the Law of Moses and seeing they that hang on Mahomet as their