signifie an organical Body though that the Church on Earth is also by Christ's own institution of which more hereafter but it is so called for mystical reasons which I shall briefly explain to you 1. Now I first observe that the Relation between Man and Wife is but an Emblem and Figure of that Union which is between Christ and his Church Hence the Apostle exhorts Husbands to love their Wives even as Christ loved his Church and tells us of Marriage It is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and his Church 5 Ephes. 25. 32. 2. That to be the Body and the Spouse of Christ signifies the same thing Hence the Apostle argues That men ought to love their Wives as their own bodies 28 v. For no man ever hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church 29. For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones 30. So that the Wife is the Body the very Flesh of the Husband and so is the Church of Christ. 3. To understand this matter why the Church is called the Body and Spouse of Christ we must enquire why the Wife is called the Body of the Man Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone and the reason of that is because the Woman was formed out of the Man. God at first formed Man with an entire humane Body of the Dust of the Earth and out of Man while he slept he formed the Woman who though a distinct separate Person yet was part of the Man Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone And this was a natural Marriage for two were by nature one Flesh and this was the natural and fundamental reason of the Matrimonial Union For this cause shall a man leave his Father and Mother and cleave to his Wife and they two shall be one Flesh. For though other Women are not made as Eve was no more than other Men are made as Adam was yet the Woman being originally of the Man the reason holds as to the whole kind and in subsequent Marriages a legal Ceremony and Contract does what a natural Formation did at first that is unites two into one Flesh. Thus the blessed Jesus out of great pity and compassion to fallen man intending to marry us unto himself and thereby to recover us out of a state of sin and misery first marries our Nature to himself by an hypostatical Union as Man was created first and then the Woman formed out of him Christ took a humane Body of the substance of a pure Virgin which signifies that it was an Espousable Nature which he took and was a Pledge and Earnest and Medium of our Marriage to him For though we cannot be married immediately to the Divinity yet to a God Incarnate we may For Marriage requires that Husband and Wife be of the same nature But this is not enough that the Husband and Wife partake of the same Nature but the Woman must be formed out of the Man which makes her Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone. And thus accordingly the Church is formed out of the Body of Christ and is in a mystical sense his very Flesh and Bones as St. Paul speaks We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones For the Sufferings of Christ in the flesh gave life and being to the Church he purchast to himself a Church by his own Bloud that is he formed to himself a Church out of his broken Body as Adam's Body was broken and a Rib taken out of him to form the Woman And therefore as the Woman was made of the same Flesh with Adam so the Sufferings of Christ in his humane nature purchased a Church not of Angels but of Men of the same nature with himself as the Apostle observes 2 Heb. 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the Seed of Abraham and therefore is not the Saviour of Angels but of men is not married to the Angelical but to the humane nature And to make the Analogie still more compleat as the Woman was formed out of Adam's side so was the Church out of Christ's side for when he was pierced with the Souldiers Spear there came out of his side both Water and Bloud 19 John 34. and the Evangelist sets a peculiar remark upon it He that saw it bare record and we know that his record is true and he knoweth that he saith true that ye might believe 35 v. and this is especially observed and great weight laid on it 1 John 5. 6. This is he that came by water and bloud even Jesus Christ not by water only but by water and bloud This some think signifies no more but that it was a demonstration that he was truly dead in that his heart was wounded where there is a Capsula called the Pericardium which contains water which being pierced water came out together with bloud but the water and bloud came out distinct though from the same wound which was never known before and cannot be done again by the greatest Artist and though this might be a reason why St. John might take notice of it in his Gospel where he gave an account of his death yet it does not seem a sufficient reason why he should lay such weight on it in his Epistles This is he who came by water and bloud not by water only but by water and bloud and therefore I doubt not but the ancient Fathers were in the right who tell us that the two Sacraments of the new Covenant flowed out of his side which are the formation of this spiritual Spouse his Church the birth and the nourishment of it Baptism and the Lords Supper which came from his wounded body and have both of them a peculiar respect to his Death and Passion Thus we see the Church is called Christ's Body and Spouse for mystical reasons because it is formed out of his broken Body his Death and Sufferings giving life and being to the Church and therefore it is but one Body because all those who are redeemed by his Bloud and united to him by Covenant which is a kind of Marriage-Vow and Contract are his Body and Spouse And therefore the Sacraments of the new Covenant Baptism and the Lords Supper do no otherwise unite us to each other than they unite us all to Christ which makes us all one Body or as the Apostle speaks with respect to the Lords Supper For we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread We all partake of the same Body of Christ which is therefore called the Communion of his Body and Bloud and therefore we all are but one Body so that it is a vain thing to inquire after any other Principle of Unity for the whole Church but the Union of all Christians to Christ who are one Body by their Union to one Head. But it may be
A DISCOURSE Concerning the Nature Vnity and Communion OF THE Catholick Church Wherein most of the CONTROVERSIES Relating to the CHURCH Are briefly and plainly Stated PART I. By WILLIAM SHERLOCK D. D. Master of the Temple LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1688. A DISCOURSE Concerning the Nature Vnity and Communion OF THE Catholick Church The Introduction IN the Preface to the Vindication of some Protestant Principles of Church-Unity and Catholick Communion from the charge of Agreement with the Church of Rome I promised a Discourse about the Church and intended to have discharged that Obligation which has been very importunately demanded of me long before this and indeed had finished what I now publish several months ago I shall not trouble my Reader with the Reasons why I then laid it aside I hope The Preservative against Popery will satisfie him that I have not been idle in the mean time but the true and only reason why I have delayed to publish this Part which has been so long finished was because I intended to finish the whole before I published it which would have given more general satisfaction to my Readers But I have not leisure for that now and think it more advisable to publish a part than none at all especially since what I here publish is an entire Discourse concerning the Nature and Vnity of the Catholick Church It is sufficiently known that there is no Argument of greater consequence in our Disputes with the Church of Rome than the Vnity and Authority of the Catholick Church Nothing will serve them but to make the Church of Rome the Catholick Church and then no body is a Member of the Church Catholick who is not in Communion with the Church of Rome and since no body can be saved but in the Church all Hereticks and Schismaticks who are not in Communion with the Church of Rome must be damned and there is a sad end of us all Thus the Catholick Church is an Infallible Teacher of Faith for who dares say that the Catholick Church can fail or err in Fundamentals since Christ himself has promised that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church and therefore the Church of Rome which is the Catholick Church and Principle of Catholick Vnity must be Infallible and no Christian ought to dispute any thing which she has determined in matters of Faith. The Bishop of Rome is the Head of this Catholick Church St. Peter's Successor and Christ's Vicar upon Earth and therefore he is the Supreme Governour of the Church from whom all other Bishops derive their Authority and to whom all Christian Princes and Emperours themselves are subject in Ordine ad Spiritualia which will go a great way to a Temporal Soveraignty and Vniversal Empire These pretences indeed have been sufficiently baffled by Protestant Divines ever since the beginning of the Reformation but we have to deal with men who have confidence enough to be baffled and not to own it to see all their Arguments confuted an hundred times over and to repeat them again with a good grace without replying to those Answers which have been so often given them or so much as taking notice that there ever had been any Answer made to them But after all that is said on one side and t'other I am very sensible there never will be an end of these Wranglings without setling the true Notion of the Catholick Church which though a great many good things have been said about it I think was never thoroughly done yet what my present Performance is I must leave other men to judge but if my Notion be right I am sure there is an end of all the vain and arrogant Pretences of the Church of Rome as will appear to any indifferent Reader who peruses this Discourse with Care and Judgment The foundation of all I have laid in an Inquiry into the true Notion of the Vnity of the Church Catholick which gives occasion to state the true Notion of the Church and most of those Controversies which depend on it I have here only considered what is meant by the Vnity of the Catholick Church as that signifies the whole Church of Christ both in Heaven and Earth and the whole Church of Christ on Earth What relates to the Nature and Vnity of particular Churches their Government Vnion and Combinations into one Catholick Communion must be reserved for a Second Part. ERRATA Page 5. line 3. for intent r. extent p. 5. l. 13. for for r. far p. 32. l. 15. for universal r. univocal CHAP. I. Concerning the Vnity of the whole Catholick Church in Heaven and Earth IT is acknowledged by all Christians that Christ has but One Church which is his One Body but then we must consider the intent of this One Church The Church on Earth indeed is but One but this One Church on Earth is not the One Church and One Body of Christ but only a very little part of it Christ has but One Church and One Body in all and therefore it must comprehend the whole Church from the beginning to the end of the World at least from the first planting of a Church by Christ and his Apostles till the last Judgment for they all belong to this One Church and this One Body of Christ so that for the greatest part of this One Church is already translated into Heaven and the Church on Earth is but a very little part of the whole for the Church in Heaven and the Church on Earth are but One Church and One Body Here we must lay the foundation if we would rightly understand what makes One Church for since this Unity comprehends the whole Church we cannot argue meerly from the Churches being One to infer any other kind of Unity but what makes the whole but what unites the whole Church in Heaven and Earth into One Body for that only is the true Unity of the Church because the whole Church in Earth and Heaven is the One Church And therefore to place the Unity of the Church in any thing which can concern only one part of the Church but not the whole as suppose that part only which is on Earth not that which is in Heaven is manifestly absurd because it does not give an account how the whole Church is One and yet the Oneness of the Church properly relates to the whole not to a part for a part be it never so much One can be but One part not the One Church Now hence we may learn wherein the Unity of the Church does not consist and wherein it does 1. Wherein the Unity of the Church does not consist As 1. The Unity of the Church does not consist in its being One organized Politick Body under the government of One visible Head on Earth for tho a visible Head on Earth might make the Church on Earth One yet it cannot unite the Church on Earth and the
the Sufferings of his Natural Body extend no farther than his Mystical Body and therefore Christ is said to have reconciled both Jew and Gentile to God in one body by the cross 2. Ephes. 16. That is he has reconciled all both Jews and Gentiles who by Faith and Baptism are united in his one Mystical Body to God by his Sufferings on the Cross. So that we are not the Body of Christ and cannot be said to be the purchase of his Blood till we are united to him by Covenant This we may learn from that Analogy there is between the Law and the Gospel The legal Sacrifices especially that great Sacrifice on the Day of Expiation were typically of the Sacrifice of Christ and the Carnal Israel was a Type of the Spiritual Israel or of the Christian Church now as the Virtue and Expiation of Legal Sacrifices was applicable only to the Carnal Israel so the Expiation of Christ's Death extends only to the Spiritual Israel the Christian Church which is Christ's Mystical Body which one thing if well considered would answer all the Difficulties and silence those fierce Disputes about Universal Redemption However this shews what difference there is between bad Christians and the world of Infidels the first are visibly in Covenant with Christ and are the Purchase of his Blood and have a Covenant-right to the redemption of it and therefore are Members of his Mystical Body for none else have any right to his Sacrifice the other have no interest in him nor relation to him And if we will not allow of this I desire to know who those Children of the Kingdom are that at the last day shall be shut out But is not our Mystical Union to Christ then an Union of Spirits a participation of his Nature and Life having his Spirit dwelling in us being led by the Spirit and walking in the Spirit I answer this is our Spiritual Union to Christ this is to live in him to be quicken'd by him but it is not our Mystical Union as that signifies such an Union as makes us Members of his Mystical Body for that in a strict proper sence is only a Covenant-relation every Member of Christ's Mystical Body ought to partake of his Life and Spirit or else they are onely dead and rotten Members which shall be cut off and shall never inherit Eternal Life but such dead Members are Members still till they are cut off either by Church Censures in this World or by the Sentence of Christ in the next This Participation of the Life and Spirit of Christ is not our Mystical Union to Christ but the effect of it We cannot receive the influences of Life and Grace from Christ till we are united to him and made the Members of his Body for his Spirit onely quickens and animates his own Body and we are united to his Body by Covenant and by the Sacraments of it which convey this Divine Life and Spirit to us and therefore Baptism is our Regeneration or New Birth the beginnings of a New Life because it incorporates us into Christ's Mystical Body which puts us under the influences and communications of his Life and Spirit as when a branch is engrafted into a stock it receives nourishment and life from it So that these divine and supernatural influences are consequent upon our Union to Christ and tho' all who are united to Christ have these influences of Grace as the root naturally communicates its sap and juices to all its branches yet all do not improve it do not digest it into principles of life and action do not bring forth fruits worthy of it like dead and withered branches who cannot receive the sap and nourishment which ascends from the root and would quicken them were not its entrance stopt and hindred but notwithstanding this they are members and branches still though dead and fruitless There is no account indeed had of them Christ knows them not and does not reckon them as his and therefore the Description and Characters of the Church in Scripture are such as belong onely to living Members to those who are renewed and sanctified and quicken'd by the Divine Spirit but yet they do belong to Christ's Mystical Body tho' they are in it onely as a dead Branch is in the Vine But how can the Church on Earth and the Church in Heaven be one Church and one Body if the Church on Earth has such corrupt and rotten Members in it for the Church in Heaven has none but living and holy Members I answer the same Covenant makes them the same Church and the same Body of Christ and that there are bad Men in the Church on Earth and none but Saints in Heaven does not prove that they are two Churches but that they are in two very different states Of right none but sincere believers and truly pious men ought to be Members of the Church on Earth as well as in Heaven but the government of the Church the receiving in and casting out of the Church being intrusted with Men who cannot see the Heart or who are not careful in the Exercise of Discipline to preserve the Purity of the Church secret Hypocrites may be received into the Church and those who are openly Prophane may not be cast out of it but in the other World Christ makes the distinction and separates the Chaff from the Wheat and therefore the Church in Heaven can consist only of good Men because bad Men can find no admission there And besides this it is agreeable enough to the state of the Church on Earth and indeed cannot well be otherwise that good and bad Men should be intermixt in it because it is a state of Tryal and Discipline of Growth and Improvement Tho' bad Men as that signifies Hypocrites and Unbelievers if they were known ought not to be received into the Church yet if they be by the Influences of Grace and the Instructions of the Word and the Prayers of the Church and the Examples and Conversations of good Men and the prudent Exercise of Discipline they may be reclaimed to Vertue and become living Members of Christ's Body those who were dead before may recover a New Life by being engratted into this Heavenly Vine nay indeed tho' all men are not equally wicked yet no Man has this Divine Life but onely from Christ and the communications of his Grace which he cannot receive from Christ till he be united to him and therefore the Apostles required no other qualification for Baptism but onely Faith the very worst of Men who believed in Christ and profess'd obedience to him were received into the Church by Baptism and put under the Influences of Grace without expecting till they had first reformed their Lives which besides the Authority of the Apostles seems to me much more agreeable to the Gospel-Dispensation than that Discipline which was afterwards used in the Church when they did not immediately baptize those who profess'd to believe in Christ