Commission that Christ gave a Pastoral Relation or Presbytership which was included in their Apostleship and Exercised toward the Church of Jerusalem Such Presbyter-ship John and Peter both had Hence there remains no other Successors jure to the Apostles but ordinary Pastors and Teachers These are relative Officers and are always in and to some particular Congregations we know of no Catholick visible Church that any Pastors are ordained to 1. The Scripture speaks of no Church as Catholick visible 2. The thing it self is but a Chimaera of some Men's Brains it 's not in rerum naturâ for if a Catholick visible Church be all the Churches that I see at a time I am not capable of seeing much more than what can Assemble in one place And if it be meant of all the Churches actually in being how are they visible to me where can they be seen in one place I may as well call all the Cities and Corporations in the World the Catholick visible City or Corporation which all rational Men would call Nonsence Besides if all Organized Churches could be got together it 's not Catholick in respect of Saints Militant much less of Triumphant for many are no Church Members that are Christs Members and many visible Members are no true Members of Christ Jesus Where is any such Church capable of Communion in all Ordinances in one place and the Scripture speaks of no other Organized visible Church Again to a Catholick visible Church constituted should be a Catholick visible Pastor or Pastors for as the Church is such is the Pastor and Officers to the Mystical Church Christ is the mystical Head and Pastor he is called the chief Bishop and Shepherd of our Souls 1 Pet. 2.25 hence the uncalled are his Sheep as John 10.16 but to all visible Churches Christ hath appointed a visible Pastor or Pastors and where is the Pastor of the Catholick visible Church he is not to be found unless it please us to take him from Rome To say that all individual Pastors are Pastors to the Catholick Church is either to say that they are invested with as much Pastoral Power and Charge in one Church as in another and then they are indefinite Pastors and therefore all Pastors have mutual Power in each others Churches and so John may come into Thomas his Church and exercise all parts of Jurisdiction there and Thomas into John's or a Minister to the Catholick Church hath an universal Catholick Power over the Catholick Church if so the Power and Charge which every ordinary Pastor hath is Apostolick Or lastly he is invested with an Arbitrary Power at least as to the taking up a particular Charge where he pleaseth with a non obstante to the Suffrages of the People for if he hath an Office whereby he is equally and indisputably related to all Churches it 's at his liberty by virtue of this Office to take where he pleaseth But every Church-Officer under Christ is a visible relate and the correlate must be such whence the Church must be visible to which he is an Officer It 's absurd to say a Man is a visible Husband to an invisible Wife the relate and correlate must be ejusdem naturae It 's true Christ is related to the Church as mystical Head but it 's in respect of the Church in its mystical Nature for Christ hath substituted no mystical Officers in his Church There is a great deal of difference between the mystical and external visible Church though the latter is founded upon it and for the sake of it It 's founded upon it as taking its true spiritual Original from it deriving vital Spirits from it by a mystical Vnion to and Communion with Christ and his Members and it 's for the Sake of it all external visible Assemblies Ministers Ordinances are for the sake of the mystical Body of Christ for calling in the Elect and the Edifying of them to that full measure of Stature they are designed unto But the different consideration lies in these Things 1. That the mystical Church doth never fail neither is diminished by any Shocks of Temptation or Suffering that in their visible Profession any of them undergo whereas visible Churches are often broken scattered yea unchurched and many Members fail of the Grace of God by final Apostasy Likewise Christ's mystical Church is many times preserved in that State only or mostly when Christ hath not a visible organized Church according to Institution to be found on the Face of the Earth so it was with his Church often under the Old Testament-Dispensation as in Aegypt in the Days of the Judges when the Ark was carried away by the Philistins in the Days of Manasseh and other wicked Kings and especially in Babylon In such times the Faithful Ones were preserved without the true Sacrifices the teaching Priest and the Law. So hath it been in the days of the New Testament in divers places under the Draconick Heathen Persecutions and afterward in the Wilderness-state of the Church under the Anti-Christian Vsurpations and false Worship Which mystical State is the place prepared of God to hide the Seed of the Woman in from the Dragons Rage for the space of One thousand two hundred and sixty Days Again Vnto this Mystical Church is only essentially necessary a mystical Vnion unto the Lord Jesus Christ by the Gift of the Father Acceptation and Covenant-undertaking of the Son the powerful and efficacious Work of the Spirit of the Father and the Son working true saving Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and sincere Love to him and all his True Members Whereby as they have a firm and unshaken Vnion so they have a spiritual Communion though without those desirable Enjoyments of external Church Privileges and means of Grace which they are providentially often hindred from Visible Churches being but Christ's Tents and Tabernacles which he sometimes setteth up and sometimes takes down and removes at his Pleasure as he sees best for his Glory in the World. But of these he hath a special regard as to their Foundadation Matter Constitution and Order he gives forth an exact pattern from Mount Zion as of that Typical Tabernacle from Mount Sinai of Old. The Foundation part of a visible Church is the credible Profession of Faith and Holiness wherein the Lord Jesus Christ is the Corner Stone Eph. ij 20 Matth. xvi 18 This Profession is the Foundation but not the Church it self It 's not Articles of Faith or Profession of them in particular individual Persons that make an organized visible Church We are the Houshold of Faith built upon the Foundation c. 2. It 's Men and Women not Doctrine that are the Matter of a Church and these professing the Faith and practising Holiness The Members of Churches are always called in the New Testament Saints Faithful Believers They was such that were added to the Churches neither is every Believer so as such but as a professing Believer for a Man must appear
as the best Treasure to be preserved and ensured by all that would be Happy here and hereafter By Bartholomew Ashwood late Minister of the Gospel Price bound 2s 6d Another Book of the same Authors Entituled The heavenly Trade or the best Merchandize the only way to live well in impoverishing Times A Discourse occasioned from the decay of Earthly Trades and visible waste of practical Piety in the Day we live in Offering Arguments and Counsels to all towards a speedy revival of dying Godliness and timely prevention of the dangerous issues thereof hanging over us Very necessary for all Families Price 2 s. 6 d. Some other Books Printed for and Sold by William Marshal CAryl's Exposition on the whole Book of Job In Two Volumes in Folio Pool's Synopsis Criticorum In V. Volumes Latin. 's Synopsis on the New Testament In Two large Volumes in Latin with the Index are to be sold very cheap In Quires both Volumes for 20 s and both Vol. well bound for 30 s. Pool's Annotations in English. Two Volumes Index's to the Old and New Testament to be sold alone Price 5 s. Dr. Owen on the Hebrews In Four Volumes Owen on the Spirit Clark's Martyrology Mellificium Chirurgiae or the Marrow of Chirurgery An Anatomical Treatise Institutions of Physick with Hippocrates's Aphorisms largely Commented upon The Marrow of Physick shewing the Causes Signs and Cures of most Diseases incident to humane Bodies Choice experienced Receipts for the Cure of several Distempers The Fourth Edition enlarged withm any Additions and purged from many Faults that escaped in the former Impressions Illustrated with Twelve Copper Cuts By James Cooke of Warwick Practitioner in Physick and Chirurgery There is also a very useful Book of the same Authors for those That are desirous of being their own Physicians Entituled Select Observations of English Bodies of Eminent Persons in desperate Diseases To which is now added an Hundred rich Counsels and Advices for several honourable Persons With all the several Medicines and Methods by which the several Cures were effected With Directions about Drinking the Bath Water Price bound 2 s. 6 d. Clarkson's Primitive Episcopacy Octavo Price bound 1 s. 6 d. Owen of Justification 's Brief and Impartial Account of the Nature of the Protestant Religion THE TRUE NATURE OF A Gospel Church AND ITS GOVERNMENT CHAP. I. The Subject Matter of the Church THE Church may be considered either as unto its Essence Constitution and Being or as unto its Power and Order when it is Organized As unto its Essence and Being its constituent parts are its Matter and Form. These we must enquire into By the Matter of the Church we understand the persons whereof the Church doth consist with their Qualifications And by its Form the reason cause and way of that kind of Relation among them which gives them the Being of a Church and therewithal an Interest in all that belongs unto a Church either privilege or power as such Our first Enquiry being concerning what sort of Persons our Lord Jesus Christ requireth and admitteth to be the visible Subjects of his Kingdom we are to be regulated in our Determination by respect unto his Honour Glory and the Holiness of his Rule To reckon such persons to be Subjects of Christ Members of his Body such as he requires and owns for others are not so who would not be tolerated at least not approved in a well Governed Kingdom or Commonwealth of the World is highly dishonourable unto him But it is so come to pass that let Men be never so notoriously and flagitiously wicked until they become pests of the earth yet are they esteemed to belong to the Church of Christ. And not only so but it is thought little less than Schism to forbid them the Communion of the Church in all its sacred Privileges Howbeit the Scripture doth in general represent the Kingdom or Church of Christ to consist of persons called Saints separated from the World with many other things of an alike nature as we shall see immediately And if the Honour of Christ were of such weight with us as it ought to be if we understood aright the nature and ends of his Kingdom and that the peculiar Glory of it above all the Kingdoms in the World consists in the Holiness of its Subjects such an Holiness as the World in its wisdom knoweth not we would duly consider whom we avow to belong thereunto Those who know ought of these things will not profess that persons openly profane vicious sensual wicked and ignorant are approved and owned of Christ as the Subjects of his Kingdom or that it is his will that we should receive them into the Communion of the Church But an old opinion of the unlawfulness of separation from a Church on the account of the mixture of wicked men in it is made a scare-crow to frighten men from attempting the Reformation of the greatest Evils and a covert for the composing Churches of such Members only Some things therefore are to be premised unto what shall be offered unto the right stating of this Enquiry As 1. That if there be no more required of any as unto Personal Qualifications in a visible uncontroulable profession to constitute them Subjects of Christs Kingdom and Members of his Church but what is required by the most righteous and severe Laws of Men to constitute a good Subject or Citizen the distinction between his visible Kingdom and the Kingdoms of the World as unto the principal causes of it is utterly lost Now all negative Qualifications as that Men are not Oppressors Drunkards Revilers Swearers Adulterers c. are required hereunto But yet it is so fallen out that generally more is required to constitute such a Citizen as shall represent the righteous Laws he liveth under than to constitute a Member of the Church of Christ. 2. That whereas Regeneration is expresly required in the Gospel to give a Right and Privilege unto an entrance into the Church or Kingdom of Christ whereby that Kingdom of his is distinguished from all other Kingdoms in and of the World unto an Interest wherein never any such thing was required it must of necessity be something better more excellent and sublime than any thing the Laws and Polities of Men pretend unto or prescribe Wherefore it cannot consist in any outward Rites easie to be observed by the worst and vilest of Men besides the Scripture gives us a description of it in opposition unto its consisting in any such Rite 1 Pet. 3.21 And many things required unto good Citizens are far better than the meer observation of such a Rite Of this Regeneration Baptism is the Symbol the Sign Expression and Representation Wherefore unto those who are in a due manner partakers of it it giveth all the external Rights and Privileges which belong unto them that are Regenerate until they come unto such Seasons wherein the personal performance of those Duties whereon the continuation of
season these things are so full an indication of sincerity as that in the judgment of Charity they render Men meet to be Members of the visible Church And if any of this sort of persons through the severity of the Church in their non Admission of them should be cast on a conjunction in Superstitious and Idolatrous Worship or be otherwise exposed unto Temptations and Discouragements prejudicial unto their Souls I know not how such a Church can answer the refusal of them unto the great and universal Pastor of the whole Flock CHAP. II. Of the Formal Cause of a Particular Church THE way or means whereby such persons as are described in the foregoing Chapter may become a Church or enter into a Church-State is by mutual confederation or solemn Agreement for the performance of all the Duties which the Lord Christ hath prescribed unto his Disciples in such Churches and in order to the exercise of the power wherewith they are intrusted according unto the Rule of the Word FOR the most part the Churches that are in the World at present know not how they came so to be continuing only in that state which they have received by Tradition from their Fathers Few there are who think that any Act or Duty of their own is required to enstate them in Church Order and Relation And it is acknowledged that there is a difference between the continuation of a Church and its first Erection Yet that that continuation may be regular it is required that its first Congregating for the Church is a Congregation was so as also that the force and efficacy of it be still continued Wherefore the causes of that first gathering must be enquired into THE Churches mentioned in the New Testament planted or gathered by the Apostles were Particular Churches as hath been proved These Churches did consist each of them of many Members who were so Members of one of them as that they were not Members of another The Saints of the Church of Corinth were not Members of the Church at Philippi And the Enquiry is How those Believers in one place and the other became to be a Church and that distinct from all others The Scripture affirms in general that they gave up themselves unto the Lord and unto the Apostles who guided them in these Affairs by the will of God 2 Cor. 8.5 and that other Believers were added unto the Church Act. 2. THAT it is the Will and Command of our Lord Jesus Christ that all his Disciples should be joined in such Societies for the Duties and Ends of them prescribed and limited by himself hath been proved sufficiently before All that are Discipled by the Word are to be taught to do and observe all his Commands Matth. 28.20 THIS could originally be no otherwise done but by their own actual express voluntary consent There are sundry things which concurr as remote causes or prerequisite conditions unto this conjunction of Believers in a Particular Church and without which it cannot be Such are Baptism Profession of the Christian Faith convenient Cohabitation resorting to the Preaching of the Word in the same place But neither any of these distinctly or separately nor all of them in Conjunction are or can be the constitutive Form of a Particular Church For it is evident that they may all be and yet no such Church State ensue They cannot altogether engage unto those Duties nor communicate those Powers which appertain unto this State. WERE there no other Order in Particular Churches no other Discipline to be exercised in them nor Rule over them no other Duties no other Ends assigned unto them but what are generally owned and practised in Parochial Assemblies the Preaching of the Word within such a precinct of Cohabitation determined by Civil Authority might constitute a Church But if a Church be such a Society as is intrusted in it self with sundry Powers and Privileges depending on sundry Duties prescribed unto it if it constitute new Relations between Persons that neither naturally nor morally were before so related as Marriage doth between Husband and Wife if it require new mutual Duties and give new mutual Rights among themselves not required of them either as unto their matter or as unto their manner before it is vain to imagine that this State can arise from or have any other Formal Cause but the joint consent and virtual confederation of those concerned unto these ends For there is none of them can have any other Foundation they are all of them resolved into the Wills of Men bringing themselves under an obligation unto them by their voluntary consent I say unto the Wills of Men as their Formal Cause the supreme efficient cause of them all being the Will Law and Constitution of our Lord Jesus Christ. THUS it is in all Societies in all Relations that are not meerly natural such as between Parents and Children wherein the necessity of Powers and mutual Duties is predetermined by a Superiour Law even that of Nature wherein Powers Privileges and mutual Duties are established as belonging unto that Society Nor after its first institution can any one be incorporated into it but by his own consent and engagement to observe the Laws of it Nor if the Nature and Duties of Churches were acknowledged could there be any contest in this matter for the things ensuing are clear and evident 1. THE Lord Christ by his Authority hath appointed and instituted this Church State as that there should be such Churches as we have proved before 2. THAT by his Word or Law he hath granted Powers and Privileges unto this Church and prescribed Duties unto all belonging unto it wherein they can have no concernment who are not incorporated into such a Church 3. THAT therefore he doth Require and Command all his Disciples to join themselves in such Church Relations as we have proved warranting them so to do by his Word and Command Wherefore 4. THIS joining of themselves whereon depends all their interest in Church Powers and Privileges all their obligation unto Church Duties is a voluntary Act of the obedience of Faith unto the Authority of Christ nor can it be any thing else 5. HEREIN do they give themselves unto the Lord and to one another by their Officers in a peculiar manner according to the Will of God 2 Cor. 8.5 6. TO give our selves unto the Lord that is unto the Lord Jesus Christ is expresly to engage to do and observe all that he hath appointed and commanded in the Church as that Phrase every where signifieth in the Scripture as also joining our selves unto God which is the same 7. THIS Resignation of our selves unto the Will Power and Authority of Christ with an express ingagement made unto him of doing and observing all his Commands hath the nature of a Covenant on our part and it hath so on his by virtue of the promise of his especial presence annexed unto this engagement on our part Matth. 28.18 19 20. 8.