which Christ exercises this his Office It is the Church Calae Instit lib. 4. ca. 1. De Ecclesia Zanch Miscellan 2. part pag. â—1 seqq item Confess cap. 2â— How many waies is Church taken Two waies in a large or in a more strict signification What is the Church taken in the large acceptiâ—n It is the multitude or company of all such men Syst Theol. pag. 371. as haue the word of God preached vnto them in which company there bee many Hypocrites which doe not beleeue truly and therefore are damned for euer What is the Church as it is strictly taken It is that number and company of men which are elect of Christ by faith vnto eternall life Syst Theol. pag. 383. And this company is wont to be parted into two rankes the one Militant the other Triumphant That company of the elect and godly is called the Militant Church which remaineth yet on earth but the Triumphant is that company of the faithfull that is already in Heauen And so the rule of the Fathers is to be vnderstood Non peruenit ad praemia Christi qui relinquit ecclesiam Christi Cypr. Non Deus huic pater est cui non Ecclesia mater 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. He shall neuer bee a member of the Church Triumphant that hath not beene a member of the Church Militant But whereas the Church is diuided into the visible and inuisible Church that is no true diuision to speake properly but only a distinction of diuers respects in the Church For the Church is said to bee visible in respect of the men themselues which are in the Church and may bee seenâ— and inuisible in respect of the internall graces to wit of faith and other gifts of the holy Spirit which are not so obuious to the senses Which must be noted against the Papists who would haue the Church to bee a glorious appearing company which may by the very senses be pointed out and acknowledged by the externall pompe of ceremonies as Bellarmine affirmeth The Church is as visible as the common wealth of Venice Contrary whereunto our Sauiour speaketh Luk. 17.20 The Kingdome of God commeth not with obseruation where it is apparent enough out of the Text hee speaketh of the Church in this world namely that it shall be no such glorious company as should bee knowne by externall ceremonies and obseruations or by solemnities aparrelling of Senatours of Counsellors and other such like What are to be considered about the Church The Head the Members and the Proprieties Who is the Head of the Church Syst Theol. pag. 374. Christ alone is the Head of the Church aswell of the Millitant as the Triumphant which is confirmed first by apparent testimonies of holy writ Ephes 1.12 God hath put all things vnder the feete of Christ and hath appointed him ouer all to bee the Head to the Church which is the body And Ephes 4 15. Christ is the head by whom the whole body is coupled and knit together Col. 1.18 Christ is the Head of his Body the Church A like place there is Col. 2.19 It is proued secondly by reason because euery head ought to infuse vigor and liuely vertue into all the members as our head for instance infuseth liuely spirits into euery part of our body for sense and motion but Christ alone can infuse that liuely vigour into the members Ergo. True say the Papists Christ is the Head of the Church Obiect but he is the inuisible Head therefore there is neede of another visible Head who must bee Christs Vicar on earth and Peter the Apostles Successour to wit the Pope of Rome Soluti Whereunto we answer that in this strange doctrine of the Papists there are contained many puddles of errour The first errour is that Christ hath neede of a Vicar or Deputie on earth whereunto wee oppose these arguments First there is no Vicar but implyeth the weaknesse of the principall Regent or Gouernor For therfore Kings haue their Deputies because they bee but weake men not able to looke vnto all their Subiects by themselues but Christ is an omnipotent King Secondly Hee needeth a Deputie who cannot vpon all occasions bee euery where present with his Subiects but Christ is alwaies euery where present with his members as hee promiseth Matthew 28.20 Wheresoeuer two or three are gathered together in my name there am I is the midst of them that is immediately am I present with them Ego fidentur dieo quia quisquis se vniuersalem sacerdotem vocat vel vocari desiderat in elatione sua Antichristum praecurrit Greg. Mag. Galu Instit lib. 4. cap. 6. as the Hebrew phrase teacheth The second errour is that they thinke it a righteous thing for some one man and he a Bishop or Minister of the Church to attribute vnto himselfe this power to bee the vniuersall Head and Gouernour of the whole Church whereunto wee oppose these Arguments First because Christ doth plainely forbid primacie in the Church Matth. 20.26 Luke 22.26 Secondly because the Apostles themselues diuided the Office of the Apostleship among themselues for that they saw that one man could not bee ouer all Churches As the Scripture witnesseth Galath 27.8.9 where Paul saith When they saw that the Gospell of vncircumcision was committed vnto me as the Gospell of Circumcision vnto Peter and when Iames and Cephas and Iohn which were counted Pillars knew of the grace giuen vnto me they gaue vnto me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that wee should doe the Office of the Apostles among the Gentiles and they execute the same Office among the Jewes Thirdly Moses who was a farre greater man then the Pope could not beare the burden of iudging the people of Israel alone but was constrained â—o part it as it is Exod. 18. much lesse therefore can the Pope gouerne the whole Church PlanuÌ„ est Apostolis interdicitur dominatus Bern. Quicunque desiderauerit primatum in terra inueniet confusioneÌ„ in caelo Distinct 40 cap. multi The third errour is that they faine Peter to haue bin Head of the Church whereas not withstanding 1 Christ flatly forbiddeth Peter and his other Apostles to seeke after this Head ship and secondly Paul to the Gal. 2.7 in plaine tearmes saith that Iames and Peter and John were counted or thought to be pillars that is by an erronious conceire they were taken to be such by them who might by the abuse of that title deceiue the Galathians They obiect that place Mat. 16.18 Thou art Peter Obiection and vpon this Rocke super hanc Petram will I build my Church Whereunto wee answer Solut. that hee saith not and vpon thee Peter will I build my Church but wee say this is the intention and scope of Christs speech namely to commend the confession of Peter Tu es Petrus supra hanc petram c. sapius ex posui vt sâ—per hunc intelligeretur quem confessus
not our priuate troubles and afflictions For these bee the conditions of an Aduocate or Mediatour first that our Mediatour bee nominated and commended vnto vs vpon good and sufficient warrant of Gods Word Secondly that that same intercessour be perfectly righteous and holy Thirdly that hee also know the groanings and afflictions of him for whom hee meanes to mediate none of all which agreeth vnto the Saints For the Saints are neither appointed vnto vs by God to be our intercessours neither haue we any command in holy Scripture that we are to make the Saints Mediatours for vs or to call on them Nay rather quite contrary precepts hereunto which wee haue before cited Againe wee finde not through the whole volume of of Gods booke any one example of any Saint that hath prayed vnto a Saint and entreated him to play the Mediatour for him Neither does the second condition agree to them for that they are not altogether pure before God that they may mediate for others but they themselues rather haue need of a Mediatour as it is said Iob 15.15 Yea in his Saints bee found vncleannesse Thirdly the Saints are ignorāt of our afflictiōs affections how can they therfore interceed for vs if they wot not what we aske for God alone challengeth this priuiledge to himselfe to be the searcher of the heart and the discouerer of the thoughts and groanings of men Yea but say the Papists the Saints as the friends of God haue all our groanings and prayers disclosed vnto them in the glasse of the Trinitie Note Si quando homines exorare oportet ianitorib prius occurrere oportet c. In Deo nihil tale ad quem confugies ad Abrahamum non te audiet Ille solus precandus exorandus qui scriptam in te damnationem delere potest incendium restinguere Chrysostom Whereto I answer first that if the Saints come to the knowledge of our groanings by God what need is there that first wee should call on the Saints and to what end is it to haue any such Mediators with God sithence he to whom they mediate knoweth better what is wanting to vs then the Mediators themselues For it should seeme to bee a preposterous course to vse any intercessour vnto a King if the King knew the party for whome the Mediatour would interceede Solent tamen pudorē passi miser◠vti excusatione per istos posse iri ad Deū sicut per comites peruenitur ad regē age nunquid tam demōs c. Vide Amb. in 1 ca. epist ad Rom. better then the Mediatour himselfe And how absurde should it be if the intercessour should say Tell me I pray you O my King what this felloW askes for whom I am to mediate Secondly I say that the Scripture hath broken that prospectiue glasse all to shiuers Esay 63.15.16 Heare from heauen thy holy dwelling place for thou art our Father Abraham heareth vs not and Israel is ignorant of vs but thou art our Father thy name is from euerlasting Where it is plainely affirmed that Abraham and Israel which long agoe were dead and whose soules rested with God in the Heauens did not in any glasse behold and know the groanings and afflictions of the Church militant on earth And indeed that the Saints departed are not priuie to our affaires done vpon the earth nor know any thing in specialtie what happeneth among the liuing that place in the second of Kings Cha 22.20 witnesseth where God saith vnto Iosiah a most religious holy King I will gather thee vnto thy Fathers that thine eyes may not see all the euills which I will bring vpon this place Esay 57.1 The iust and the righteous are taken away from the sight of the euill that in his yeares hee may not behold the calamities which are to be sent vpon the Land for wretched impiety Ec. 9 4 the dead know nothing any more to wit of those things which are done vpon the earth Hence therefore is it rightly inferred that the Saints cannot bee Mediators And indeed wee haue no neede of them to be our intercessours first because God knoweth our afflictions better then they yea better then the Angels secondly because God is more merciful then any Saint and more desirous that wee should liue then any Saint can be Ideo ad regem per tribunos aut comites itur quia homo vtique est rex nescit quib debeat rempub credere Ad Deum autem quē vtique nihil latet c. Vid Am. vbi supra in 1. cap ad Rom. Now that we doe vse the intercession of some Noble man or great man vnto Kings which is their most plausible argument it is for the great defect and weakenesse that is in man for that Princes are not acquainted with all mens grieuances secondly because Princes are more affected vnto one man then vnto another but no such respect of persons is there with God as it is said Acts 10.34 the Papists bring vs in a distinction betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seruice and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adoration and say that the one to wit Seruice is due to Saints the other that is Adoration is due to God Against which distinction Calu. Instit l. 1. cap. 12. §. 2. you may reade a most cleare disputation in the exposition of Vrsins Catechisme pag. 739. where it is proued by holy Scripture that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both the one and the other agrees vnto God and neither of them both vnto Saints Only this one thing I will not let passe that the Papists themselues breake downe the pale of their owne distinction which I proue by this reason All those thinges which Dauid in the Psalmes giues vnto God hee giues them all by the way of adoration but all those very things which Dauid giues vnto God are attributed vnto the Virgin Mary in Bonauentures Psalter Ergo. The other errour of the Papists is about the worshipping of Images and so also of that worship which they make vnto the Reliques of the Saints And first of all the Papists hold that those prayers which are made in or at certaine set Chappels and Churches and before the Images of the Saints are of greater efficacie and greater worth then those which are in other places powred forth before God quite against the holy Word of God Ioh. 4.21.23 The time shall come when the true worshippers shall neither be at Jerusalem nor in this mountaine but in spirit and truth worship the Father Matt. 6.6 Christ bids vs go into our chāber and there the doores being shut to powre out our prayers 1. Tim. 2.8 The Apostle willeth men to pray in euery place lifting vp pure hands Now against reliques and Images let that place bee well obserued Esay 42.8 My glory wil I not giue vnto another nor mine honor vnto the grauen Images Calv. Insti l. 1. c. 11. §. 9 But we
Corelate in the Lords Supper It is called the thing signified or that thing where of wee are put in mind and assured in the Lords Supper The ancient Church called the Relatum the earthly matter as is bread and wine for both of them spring from the earth and the thing signified it called the heauenly matter whereupon it rightly and religiously taught that the Supper of the Lord did consist in two things a terrene or earthly and a celestiall or heauenly matter and therefore that it behooued those which came vnto the Lords Supper to thinke that there they should receiue two things to wit an earthly thing after an earthly fashion that is bread wine with the mouth of the body and an heauenly thing after an heauenly manner that is the Body and Blood of Christ by a true faith What be the things signified in the Lords Supper The thing signified is of two sorts substantiall or accidentall What is the substantiall Euen whole Christ our Mediatour according to both natures diuine and humane but especially according to his body and blood in asmuch as in his body as the subiect of his passion hee suffered for our sinnes and by his blood shed hee purged our sinnes And this it is which Christ saith This is my body which is giuen for you that is in the Supper of the Lord you are put in remembrance and assured of my body as it hung vpon the Crosse and also of my blood which was shedde likewise for you vpon the Crosse What is the Accidentall Euen all those benefits which doe acc ew vnto vs by the passion and death of Christ as the forgiuenesse of sinnes regeneration sanctification and in fine life euerlasting as Christ saith My blood which is shed for you for the remission of sinnes I haue heard of both thy termes in the Lords Supper to wit the Relate and the Corelate now J would be instructed about the foundation and ground of holy admonition and certification as you calld it The fundamentall or efficient cause of the Lords Supper is Syst Theol pag. 446. partly in respect of the thing it selfe or the Sacrament partly in respect of vs which doe vse the Sacrament What is the foundation in respect of the Sacrament it selfe It is two fold the institution of Christ and the agreement or correspondencie betwixt the signe and the thing signified What are to bee considered in the institution of Christ Two things First the History of the institution of the LORDS Supper set downe by the Euangelists secondly De verbis Caenae Zanch. Epist lib. 1. pag. 179. Calu. Instit l 4. cap. 17. §. 12. seqq the especiall words of the institution which are This bread is my Body which is giuen for you 1 Cor. 11.24 This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood vers 25. How are those words to bee vnderstood Syst Theol. pag. 457. Dominus non dubitauit dicere hoc est corpus meum cum signum daret corporis sui Aug. Hoc est corpus meum id est hoc est figura corporis mei Tert. Panis dicitur corpus suo modo cum sit sacramētum non autem dicitur rei veritate sed mysterio significante Aug. They are to bee construed according to the nature of signes or sacraments which are not transubstantiations of things but as we haue a little before noted significations and seales of things These words therefore are not substantially to be vnderstood as if the Bread were the substance of the Body of Christ for by that reason bread should haue beene crucified for vs bread should haue beene giuen to die for vs and so the Cup likewise should haue beene shed for vs vpon the Crosse the Cup should haue issued out of Christs side Neither are they to bee vnderstood consubstantially as if the body of Christ were included in the bread and the bloud of Christ included in the wine for Christ saith not in this bread is my body or in this wine is contained my blood Vt quid paras dentes ventrē crede māducasti Idem Antequam sāctificetur panis panē nominamus diuina autem illa sanctificāte gratia liberatus est ab appellatione panis dignus autem habitus est dominici corports appellatione et si natura panis in eo remansit Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Seruator noster nomina cōmutauit corpori quidem id quod erat symboli ac signi nomen imposuit symbolo autem quod erat corporis causa mutationis manifesta estiis qui c. Theodoret. neither would our Sauiour teach his Disciples where his body or his blood was for they saw that well enough in that Christ was sitting with them at the Table But those words are to be vnderstood in a commemoratiue or certificatiue signification as if Christ had said the bread doth for a certaintie signifie vnto you and giues you notice of my body which is deliuered vnto death for you and the wine doth most certainely notifie assure you of my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sinnes Christs speech then is altogether the like as if when a Prince hath granted to any one a faire Mannor and hee giue withall vnto the Graunt his letters with his Broad seale and deliuering the man these his letters with the seale hee should say Loe there 's your Manner Now hee giues not the Land substantially into his hands and by consequent it will follow that that speech of the Prince must not bee vnderstood substantially as if those letters and the seale were the very substance of the demain or because the demaine were inclosed in the seale but it is a significatiue and certificatiue kind of speaking which must bee thus vnderstood and interpreted these letters of mine and this seale doth import and assure thee of the certaine hauing and possessing of that Mannor Farme or demaine Wherefore wee conclude that the Body and Blood of Christ according to the substance thereof is neither in the bread nor in the place where the Supper of the Lord is administred but in heauen as is vsually said he ascended into the heauens from whence only hee shall come at the last Judgement but that the Bread Wine do giue vs notice and assurance that that very body which now is in heauē was giuen for vs on the Crosse and that the Blood of Christ was shed for vs. Which must bee obserued against the Papists and Vbiquitaries who seeke after the body and blood of Christ in that very place where is the bread and wine What is the other foundation in respect of the Sacrament Si sacramēta aliquam similitudinem earum rerum quarum sunt sacramenta non haberēt ne sacramenta quidem essent Aug It is the agreement or meet analogie betwixt the signe and the thing signified or it is that fitnesse whereby the Bread may signifie and ascertaine vs of Christs body