then Whether there be a Church Catholike visible Quest 1. I know that our Divines in answer to the Pontificians doe deny the Church Catholike to be visible as Zanchy Gerard Whitakers Chamier and Ames against Bellarmine and Sadeel against Turrianus But the Pontificians state not the question as I state it and I confesse their assertions of the Church Catholike to be false For First They take visible for conspicuous glorious and manifest specious and flourishing Secondly They hold that the name Catholike Church belongs to one Church viz. The Church of Rome and that being the Church Catholike and comprizing the universality of the Church in it selfe all that will be members of the Church Catholike must submit to them and be members of that Church Thirdly They hold that it is necessary that this visible Catholike Church should be under one visible universall head which they make to be the Pope Christs Vicar Generall and in these regards our Divines doe contradict and confute them But there are passages enough in our Divines writings that may be brought to allow and approve visibility aspectability and unity in all the Churches of the Saints throughout the whole world I will give you a taste but of one of the fore-mentioned for brevity sake and he the most rigid in discipline and exact in Logicall divisions and deductions of any of them and that is Dr Ames who in his Medulla saith Ecclesia nunquam de sinit esse visibilis Which cannot be meant of any particular Church for that may faile Again he saith Congregationes illae particulares sunt quasi partes similares Ecclesiae Catholicae atque adeo nomen naturam ejus participant And further saith Illi qui professione tantum sunt fideles dum remanent in illa societate sunt membra illius Ecclesiae sicut etiam Ecclesiae Catholicae quoad statum externum And in his Bellarminus enervatus he saith Nos fatemur Ecclesiam militantem visibilem esse quoad formam accidentalem externam in suis partibus singulatim conjunctim c. Now though I have set downe these humane testimonies first yet it is not that I meane to leane upon these as my maine proofes but only to shew that our Divines in denying the Popish tenet of a Church Catholike visible in their sence yet all of the fore-mentioned deny it not in my sense if any doe But for proofe that there is a Church Catholike visible I will first give you Scripture and secondly demonstration For Scripture see Acts 8.3 Saul made havock of the Church I shewed you before that this must needs be a visible Church for they could not else be persecuted and certainly Saul could not discerne the invisible company but persecuted promiscuously all that were of that way neither was it a particular Church for this persecution was in Jerusalem and in every Synagogue and to Damascus and even to strange Cities So that by Church here is meant an indefinite number of visible Churches or Congregations which were in no other community but profession of the same faith and an indefinite is equivalent to a generall and by the same reason that the word Church would reach all these Churches it would reach all the Churches in the world The same word there is Galat. 1.13 I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it and yet it is said when he was converted then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galileo and Samaria which yet were but some parts of the Church in the singular number which he persecuted Againe See 1 Cor. 10.32 Give no offence to the Jew nor Gentile nor to the Church of God Where the word Church cannot signifie the elect only nor any one particular Congregation or Kingdome but indefinitely See also 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers The Church there spoken of is not the triumphant Church nor the Invisible Church only for they were visible messengers and some of them but only visible for Judas had obtained part in the Apostleship and Ministry and was sent to preach and work miracles and many Prophets were not of the invisible number for many shall say Lord Lord we have prophecied in thy name and yet shall not be saved But to be sure they were sent to afford the Saints visible communion in ordinances Again This is not meant of the Church Entitive which is a similar and as I may say an homogeniall body every member being equall and of the same capacity as a member but of the Church organicall a Heterogeniall Dissimilar body because here are set downe the officers Neither is here meant a particular Church but all collectively that were within the bounds of the Apostles commission which was the Church in the whole world Goe teach all Nations c. and all the Churches that have Pastors and Teachers over them which all the Churches in the world have or ought to have and yet all these are called but one Church one body vers 20. Now if there be officers of the Church Catholike visible then there is a Church Catholike visible but the Apostles Prophets and Evangelists were officers of the Church Catholike visible for they had no limits and yet are said to be set not in the Churches but in the Church And this is granted by our brethren for Congregationall Churches that they were officers of the Church Catholike and therefore did not baptize into particular Congregations or in refernce to them but into the generall And this Cartwright in his Catechisme granteth concerning the Church Catholike Now certainly they were not officers to the true beleevers only seeing they censured others also Also 1 Tim. 3.15 These things I write unto thee that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy selfe in the house of God which is the Church of the living God This Church must be a visible Church where he and others must exist and converse together and carry themselves in mutuall duties Now these directions concerned not Ephesus alone or in any speciall manner but all the Churches where ever he should come It is that Church which is the ground and pillar of truth which holdeth it forth unto others more forensi which is the Church Catholike unto which Timothy was an Evangelist Againe It is the Church visible that is so often in the Scripture called the Kingdome * Mark 4 2◠30. Luk. 7.28 of God and the Kingdome †Mat. 13.24 31 33 44 45 47. of Heaven Christ calls them not Kingdomes but the Kingdome and compares this Kingdome to a field of wheate mingled with tares and himselfe expounds it that the field is the world and this must be the Christian world for the other is a field of tares only for vers 41. Mat. 13.41 49. it is said they shall gather out of the Kingdome c. In this field particular Churches are but particular ridges enjoying the
of a Church future to be built which Christ then intended to set up which was the Evangelicall Catholike Church and not Catholike as some take it for the Church past present and to come for those past were already built and were in Heaven out of Gunshot of assault but it is meant de Ecclesia vivorum de militante de Ecclesia quam Christus erat aedificaturus Object O but this place is meant of the Church invisible for they that are only visible may be prevailed against Answ It is true but those invisible are also visible and they shall never be prevailed against as visible Ecclesia nunquam desinit esse visibilis Satan or persecutours shall never so far prevaile as to cut off all the visible members And though such heresies come that shall deceive all but the Elect yet as long as the Elect are not deceived there remaines a Church Catholike visible still in their visibility If all the visible members should faile then all the invisible must needs faile also for none are invisible in this world but be must be visible also except any be converted and fed only by inspiration which we have no ground for in the Scripture Again Excommunication in 2 Ep. John 10. is called casting out of the Church What Church is that It cannot be the Invisible Church for all the censures in the world cannot cast a man out of that if once he be in therefore it is the visible Church and if it be the visible Church then I would know whether a man truly excommunicated in one Church or Congregation is not thereby excommunicated from brotherly fellowship with all Congregations Or whether the delivering up to Satan be only within the bounds of one Congregation so that if he remove out of such a circle or circuit of ground to another he is out of Satans bonds againe and may communicate there safely I deny not but that through ignorance such a thing may be admitted but certainly if the censure be past against him he needeth no other Excommunication but his first sentence will binde him in all the Christian world if it can be known I am not ignorant that I have Dr Whitakers and many Protestant Divines against me herein and therefore I onely propose what my light guideth me to judge herein Herein I agree with Apollonius Sicut per excommunicationem legitimam excommunicatus non tantum ex hac vel illa particulari Ecclesia ejicitur sed ubicunque terrarum ligatur excommunione fraterna universalis Ecclesiae excluditur Matth. 18.17 18. Ita per Sacramentum Baptismi sacrae Eucharistiae homini communio Ecclesiastica non tantum in particulari sed universali Ecclesia obsignatur Apollon p. 26. If any one that is called a * 1 Cor. 5.11 brother be a drunkard railer extortioner c. What makes him to be called a brother Is it because he is of that particular Congregation or the Church Catholike Is it because he is an invisible member or a visible by Profession Few Fornicators Idolaters Drunkards c. are invisible members Againe all those Metaphors which set out the Church in Scripture shew the unity of the Church Catholike This is the woman clothed with the Sunne Rev. 12.1 the Righteousnesse of Christ and the Moon all terrestriall mutable things under her feet or clothed with the Sunne the purity of Doctrine and the Moon i. e. as some will have it Discipline under her feet Surely this woman was not a particular Congregation but the Church Catholike for were it meant of particular Congregations it should have been women not a woman There shall be one Shepherd saith Christ and one Sheep-fold Joh. 10.16 which is meant of the Church Catholike and that visible consisting of Jew and Gentile The Church is called the Body of Christ and that is the Church Catholike for Christ hath but one body Rom. 12.5 As we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another This the Apostle speakes of the visible Organicall Church for thereupon he fals to reckon up the severall offices in the Church as Prophecying Teaching Exhorting Giving Ruling Shewing mercy which some compute to be an exact distribution of the Church Offices So Eph. 4.4 * 1 Cor. 10.17 1 Cor. 12 1â— 13 20. Eph. 2.16 It is called the a 1 Tim. 3.15 House of God How thou shouldest behave thy selfe in the House of God And the City of God b Eph. 2.19 Heb. 12 22. Rev. 3.12 Now these things had they been meant of particular Congregations should have been Bodies Houses Cities Sheepfolds But as many members in a body hinder not the unity of the whole and many townes in a Kingdome and many houses in a Citie and many roomes in an house or in the Arke hinder not the unity thereof so many particular Congregations hinder not the unity of the Church Catholike Cant. 6.9 My Dove my undefiled is but one she is the only one of her mother She is the Lilly c Cant. 2.2 among the thorns which is the Church militant She is called the Spouse of Christ d Cant. 4.8 9 10 11 12. Yea the Holy Ghost chooseth to joyn many particular Churches together by Nounes collective Nounes of multitude in the singular number where it can be with convenience Remarkeable is that 1 Peter 5.2 where writing to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithinia he cals them all one flock not flocks Feed the flock of God which is among you The same word Paul useth Acts 20. to the Elders of Ephesus Est una sola Christi Ecclesia â—â—ae ob id etiam dicitur Catholica Particulares Ecclesia non sunt impedimento quin una sit Ecclesia Zanch. de Ecclesia A second kinde of proofe hereof is by argument or demonstration If particular Churches be visible there is a visible Catholike Church but particular Churches are visible therefore The consequence will follow whether you consider the particular Churches as Species or as Partes Omne particulare habet suum generale sive universale omne membrum habet suum integrum omnis pars habet suum totum If therefore there be particular Churches there is a generall and if the particular be visible so is the generall if the particulars be mingled wheat and tares together so is the generall Genus Species pars totum similare presertim sunt ejusdem praedicamenti Ten thousand particular corporeall substances cannot make one generall incorporeall Ten thousand visible particular Churches cannot make one invisible generall Church But all Divines yea our brethren for Congregationall Churches yea the Separation hold that particular Churches are visible as consisting indeed of visible members And Gerard though he will not grant a Church Catholike visible yet saith Ecclesias particulares visibiles esse
Province that did outwardly professe the true Religion 1 Cor. 11.18 22. And so usually in the writings of Divines the company throughout the world so professing is called the visible Church Bifield on Art 9. Catholick in the most evident sense agreeth to the Church now under the Gospell since the partition wall betweene Jewes and Gentiles was broken down and yet in some sense it may agree to the Church from the beginning Idem For particular Churches either single or combined either Nationall Provinciall Classicall or Congregationall it is not belonging to this Question to discusse the Quaeries about them and therefore I shall only set down some descriptions of them positively as they are usually taken by others and give you my present apprehensions of them A Nationall Church A Nationall Church is where all the visible publike religious Assemblies of a Nation being parts of the Church Catholike living under one politick civill Government are by the profession of the same faith and communion in the same worship and Government united into one body Ecclesiastick or Ecclesiasticall Republike Two things as I conceive are required to make a Nationall Church First Nationall agreement in the same faith and worship Secondly Nationall Union in one Ecclesiasticall body in the same community of Ecclesiastical Government The Churches in France and the Netherlands have the same faith and worship and kind of Government but they are not in the same Nationall community thereof * Vide Apollō p. 29. See proofes for Nationall Churches under the Gospel Isai 55.5 Thou shalt call a Nation which thou knewest not and Nations which knew not thee shall runne unto thee It is spoken of Christ under the Gospel and there is set down both Gods call of a Nation and a Nations answer to that call and there can be no more required to make a Church Also Isai 19.25 Aegypt my people Assyria the worke of my hands and Israel mine Inheritance Where all those three Nations are called three sister Churches in effect if you marke the coherence It is a prophecy of Gospell times Psal 22.27 All the ends of the world shall turn unto the Lord and all the kinreds of the Nations shall worship before thee Revel 11.15 The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Also Psal 72.11 and 86.9 And by the same reason when a part of a Nationall Church shall joyne in particular consociation and community in a City or Province or Classis they may receive denomination from thence the one containing a greater part of the Church Catholike the other a lesse For the Church Catholick being a similar body retaines the name Church in what parts parcels or quantities soever it be divided into for convenient community untill it be brought in minimum quod sic as the Philosophers say i. e. into the least parts that can enjoy publike communion in ordinances which is a particular congregation Gersom Bucerus in dissert de gub Eccles p. 11. hath this description of a particular Church Nos particularem Ecclesium intelligimus quemlibet credentium caetum in unam vocationem Divinam Evangelij praedicatione sacrarumque institutionum observatione adunatum ac uni Presbyterio subjunctum sacros verò conventus uno aut pluribus locis agitantem Nam paroeciarum in quibus convenitur numerus accidenturia res est nihil ad Ecclesiae particularis essentiam pertinons Now this seemeth to me to be a description of a Presbyteriall or classicall Church and so not to divide the Church Catholick into any lesse parts for enjoyment of all the usuall publike ordinances especially of some parts of discipline and ordination then a Presbyteriall Church Mr Cotton tels us that a visible Church is a mysticall body whereof Christ is the head the Members Saints called out of the world and united together into one Congregation by an holy Covenant to worship the Lord and to edifie one another in all his holy Ordinances But with due respect to so grave and worthy a man this seemes to me to belong to an invisible Church not a visible because the matter thereof is the mysticall body of Christ consisting only of Saints called not only from Idols but out of the world and therefore truly godly Neither dare I make a particular explicit holy Covenant to be the forme of a particular Church as this definition doth because I find no mention of any such covenant besides the generall covenant imposed on Churches nor example or warrant for it in all the Scriptures and therefore cannot account it an ordinance of God but a humane politick device to keepe the members together which in some places and cases may haply be of good use so it be not urged as an ordinance of God and so it be not used to inthrall any and abridge them of liberty of removall into other places and congregations for their convenience Or urged as the forme of the Church And for the enjoyment of all the Ordinances of God in one congregation it seemeth to me very inconvenient for some of the Ordinances and altogether impossible for others First It is inconvenient and of dangerous consequence that a Church consisting of 7 10 20 or 30. should passe the formidable sentence of Excommunication against any person to cast him out of communion not only with themselves but the whole Church Catholike visible and deliver him up to Satan For if it be inflicted by the votes of the whole congregation as some would have it many of the Members being private men and haply altogether illiterate or unexperienced through want of age education or parts are not able to understand the nature of the allegations and probations they may be so intricate or not able to apply the rule unto the case for inflicting of a just censure and may be in danger to beare particular favour or ill will unto their persons and so apt to be swayed by love pity or hopes from them or to be over-awed by feare or threatnings being poore men servants children work-men tenants and therefore our brethren for congregationall Churches have of late seeing this inconvenience debarred the people from votes and put it into the hand of the Elders onely * See M Cottons book set out by M. Goodwin M. Nie. Yea even the Elders of one congregation may be in danger of the same temptations because of particular relations and their dependance on them for maintenance but suppose they were as free as Angels from temptations or infirmities which they are not yet the weightinesse and solemnity of the censure require to be performed by a colledge of Elders of a combined Presbytery that so it being passed not by the votes of 3 or 4. onely and they lyable to so many temptations also but by the joynt consent of a greater Presbytery free from any such temptations or exceptions may be done with the more advice and combined authority and be more dreadfull to the party
and be the better accepted and submitted unto without heart burning and grudge against the particular Elders or fear of revenge Secondly it is impossible for one congregation to enjoy all the Ordinances of God within themselves First Synods and Councels are acknowledged to be the ordinance of God and particularly by that reverend Divine Mr Cotton in a late booke set out by him and he groundeth it on Act. 15. And though some of our brethren for congregationall Churches wave that place yet grant the thing and are members of one at this time and this Ordinance all men will grant cannot be had in one congregation but sometimes requires the helpe of a whole Province Kingdome yea many Kingdomes Yea secondly the Ordinances that nearly concerne a particular congregation cannot be performed by that alone for how can a congregation of private Christians try the sufficiency of an Elder to be elected over them and if they have a tryed man among them who shall give him imposition of hands which is belonging only to Elders to performe Neither have our Brethren of congregationall Churches ever dared as farre as I have heard to permit common Christians to impose hands on their Elders but alwayes desired the Elders of other congregations to doe it and therefore they cannot have this Ordinance among themselves And though this seeme to some a thing of small weight yea but a * Quisquiliae veritatu sunt pretiosissimae complement yet is it an Ordinance of God And the Apostle Heb. 6.1 2. reckoneth it up amongst the Principles of Religion and part of the foundation which place Hen Jocob urgeth vehemently to overthrow the lawfulnesse of all the Ministers of the Church of England because they have as he conceived erred in the foundation not having right and due imposition of hands of the Presbytery though by his leave he was mistaken for those that imposed their hands on them were Presbyters And this impossibility befals a Church either in the beginning of it and first constitution or may at other times by mortality of Elders or when but one remains alive which will be frequent And because it is not rationally probable that the Churches of Jerusalem Rome Corinth Philippi Thessalonica or the 7 Churches of Asia were meerly congregationall but rather Presbyteriall unles it were in their very infancy for a little time before their numbers were increased It seemeth difficult to me to find in Scripture an expresse instance or example of a congregationall Church standing and continuing so by it selfe The Church of Cenchraea mentioned Ro. 16.1 is the most probable because of the conceived smalnesse of the place yet it is not certaine for it was a Port Town * Oppidum Corinthiorum navium statione câ—leberrimum et ideò frequent valâ—e populorum Gualr in Rom. 16. and yet it may be the necessity of those times and disjunction from other places might make it stand single for a while at least And yet there might be more congregations then one therin if it were so popuous as some say Indeed we find 1 Cor. 14.34 these words Let your women keepe silence in the CHVRCHES which word Churches if it doth import severall companies meeting in severall places to enjoy the publike Ordinances and that these companies are called Churches which is to some a Question yet it is certain they were all one combined Church of Corinth often spoken of in the singular number But this dispute belongs not to this Question yet the present difference of opinions and practises have caused me to dilate a little upon this subject beyond the explication of the Tearme And I understand by particular Churches any or all the fore-mentioned Churches whether Nationall Provinciall Presbyteriall or Congregationall and this last principally for those that have first mooved this Question meane principally if not solely the congregationall Church because as I suppose they hold no other particular Churches but such The fourth Tearme to be opened is What is meant by Prima vel Orta This distinction or at least in these tearmes is not ancient for Mr Parker in hic Politeia Eccl. was the first that sprung it as farre as I know Primum in Logick is defined to be Quod est suae Originis Ortum quod oritur à primo But I suppose in this Question it is meant which hath the priority in consideration Whether in our apprehension of Churches we are to begin at the Church Catholike and descend to particular Churches or begin at the particular Churches and ascend to the Church Catholike Which notion is first in distinct knowledge whether Ecclesia universalis aut particularis Which is as the root which the branches Which is as the mother which the daughter Or to speake more punctually Whether the nature and priviledges of the Church belong first to the particular congregation and so ascend to the Church Catholike or belong first to the Church Catholike and descend unto the particular Churches I do not in this Question by primum meane absolutè primum for God only is Eus primum who hath his being in himselfe and from himselfe and giveth being to all his creatures And so the whole Church is Gods house built by him but Primum in suo genere in genere Ecclesiarum Neither doe I meane by Ortum that the particular Churches doe arise out of the generall by the sole vertue or innate power and strength of the Church Catholike but because the particular Churches are made up of the members of the Church Catholike and partake of the benefits and priviledges of the Church primarily not because they are members of the particular Churches but of the Catholike And yet I deny not but that a Ministeriall Synodicall or Classicall Church made up of delegated Members of divers particular Churches pro tempore which some improperly call a representative Church may put on the notion of Ecclesia Orta and the particular Churches out of which those members are chosen and delegated may in some sence in reference unto them put on the notion of Ecclesia prima but the Question is not so stated but between the whole Church Catholike and whole particular Churches Now I have opened the Tearmes of my Question I find two Questions instead of one and whether of them is the most difficult I cannot tell For whereas the subject of every Question useth to be taken for granted and the predicate only proved I find the subject of my Question exceedingly opposed and that by our own Divines and therefore I must crave leave to confirme that sufficiently or else whatever I shall say of the predicate will be as a house built on the sand or a castle in the aire For if there be no universall Church visible then it is not capable of being prima or Orta In handling both these Questions I shall follow my wonted method I preferre one divine testimonie before ten arguments and one good argument before ten humane testimonies First
concedimus and therefore he must grant the generall Church to which those particulars belong to be of the same kinde Object 1 All that can be said against the former consequence as I guesse is that though the particular Churches have existence yet the generall hath none but only a notionall essence and exist only in the particulars as Animalitie existeth not by it selfe but in homine Bruto Answ Answer here were some colour in this objection if you consider the Church Catholike onely as a genus and the particular as species yet not enough to amount to a deniall of a Church Catholike visible no more then any Logician denyeth Animal because there is no such creature but in homine bruto But the proper notion of the Church Catholike and particular is of integrum membra And so as I said before Ames in his medulla taketh it Congregationes illae particulares sunt quasi partes similares Ecclesiae Catholicae atque adeo nomen naturam ejus participant And then the argument standeth thus Vbi omnes partes existunt simul compacta ibi totum existit sed omnes partes Ecclesiae Catholicae visibilis existunt simul compacta Therefore The minor 〈◊〉 proved Eph. 4.16 From whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplyeth c. This place is spoken of the Church militant because organicall and organicall because the officers are there reckoned up and Catholike because it is the Church to which Apostles Prophets and Evangelists are given They have the same Lord the same law the same spirit and have influence by love sympathy and prayer into the wellfare one of another For my part I conceive the Church Catholike to be Totum integrale and the particular Churches to be similares partes and so members thereof and parcels thereof as the Jewish Synagogues * Jam. 2 2. 2 Thes 2.1 Heb. 10.25 Tilenus in thes part 1. disp 14. Theft 3. were of the Jewish Church though with some more priviledge for both Sacraments c. and that every particular Church partaketh of part of the matter and part of the form of the whole And these parts are limited and distinguished from others by civill and prudentiall limits for convenience of meeting and maintenance and transacting of businesse and that every Christian is a member of the Church in whose limits he dwels being only in the generall Covenant of Baptisme And this membership is either divolved on him by Gods disposing providence by reason of his birth or cohabitation there or voluntarily assumed by his voluntary removall into that place allotted out by civill prudence for such a particular society to enjoy the Ordinances of God conveniently together For he knew the Minister and members before he came in or might have done at least if he had pleased and it is at his choice to remove out again if he dislike either officers or members But of any Christian mans or womans dwelling in any City or Towne where there was a Church and not to be a member of that Church or to be a member of another Church in another town or city and reside in his own but per accidens as some doe distinguish hath neither example nor warrant in the Scripture But seemeth to me to imply an unchurching those places from whence they are gathered As a man that comes to dwell in a towne shall thereby be a member of it and ruled by the officers thereof in civill affaires and if he like it not he may remove and if they have any thing justly against him they may punish or restraine remove him so it is in the administration of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction And as the limits of the particular seas and their names are from the shoares and lands they are bounded by though a heterogeneall body so may particular Churches well be bounded by civill prudentiall limits though they seeme heterogeneall We find frequently in Scripture The Church which was in Jerusalem Antioch Corinth Ephesus Yea Cenchrea a port town some 8. miles from Corinth gave name to the Church therein Object 2 If they be all one Church it is necessary they should all meet sometimes together Answ It is no more necessary then that all in a kingdome or empire should meet sometimes it is enough that they are under the same King and governed by the same lawes and inspired by the same Spirit and walke in the same wayes and tend to the same end and fare the better for one anothers prayers and rejoyce in the welfare and mourne for the ill fare one of another and help one another as they have opportunity And yet we reade that many times the Church Catholike visible hath met in generall Councels by their delegates or commissioners as a ministeriall Church Catholike which in former times of the Church under Christian Emperours was frequent and there is no intrinfical let in the Church that they do not meet so still but only extrinsicall and extraneous by reason of the divisions among the civill Governors but even in our dayes a great part of this great body hath met in the Synod of Dort by commissioners Dr Whitakers and Apollonius acknowledge the meeting Act. 1. to be a generall Councell The members were the Apostles who were Pastours of the Church Catholike and Brethren out of Galilee and Jerusalem The worke was to elect an Apostle who was to be a Pastour of the universall Church and they that undertake and dispatch a busines which concernes the teaching and government of the whole Church must represent the whole Church Catholike Yet there is so much power given to every Presbyteriall Church at least as may uphold it selfe and exercise the discipline of the Church for the being and well being of it ordinarily Yet so as it is a part of the Church Catholike into which also the censures there past have influence as shall be shewed more afterwards And on some great occasions there may be cause to fetch help further as Cranmer appeald to a generall councell But if that extensive power cannot be had as now it is very difficult then must that particular nationall provinciall or Presbyteriall Church rest in that intensive power that remaines within its owne limits Yea even in a congregationall Church if it stand so as it cannot combine with neighbours or have recourse unto them it must be so but that is an extraordinary case and so not to be regulated by ordinary rules And in such cases also all civill power must rest in one congregation as if it were in a wildernes where there were no neighbour townes or cities to which it might be joined yet it followeth not that it must be so in England or any other kingdome where there are counties shires cities great townes or a Parliament Yea I know not but a particular family may yea must be in such an extraordinary case Independent both in Ecclesiasticall and civill matters
also yet it followes not that there is any such inherent right in every town or family all over the world and that therefore particular towns and familyes in England are debarred of an inherent priviledge belonging to them because necessity may put such an independency on some in an extraordinary case As by Shipwrack or being cast into some Iland not inhabited It is fit that a visible Church Catholike here on earth should Object 3 have a visible head over them that so the body and head may be of the same nature This is the maine argument of the Pontificians for the supremacy of the Pope Answ and that wich made our Divines deny them a Church Catholike visible But to the argument I answer that the Church hath a head of the same nature consisting of body and soule who sometimes lived in this kingdome of grace in the dayes of his flesh and did visibly partake in externall ordinances though indeed now he be ascended into his kingdome of glory yet ceaseth not to be a man as we are though glorifyed and ceaseth not to rule and govern his Church here below for it is an everlasting kingdome Isa 9.7 As when King Iames was translated from Scotland to England and lived here he did not cease to be King of Scotland so neither doth Christ cease to be the head of his Church though he be translated to his other kingdome of glory and as for a vicar or deputy here below it is not needfull We confesse the government of the Church in regard of the head is absolutely monarchicall but in regard of the officers it is Aristocraticall Object 4 Yea but the Church-Catholike cannot be visible because it wanteth a proper existence of its own and existeth only in the existence of particular Churches on the members thereof this objection is somewhat like a former onely there the existence was said to be in the Species here in the members Answ So we may say of every aggregative body A heape of stones existeth only in the existence of particular stones the whole element of water existeth only in particular dropps By this objection you may deny particular visible Churches because they exist not but in particular families and particular families exist not but in particular members but as I said before if the parts do exist the existence of the whole resulteth thereof An army existeth not but in the severall brigades and regiments and they are billeted in distant places and yet having one Generall the same lawes martial the same cause the same enemies though they should never be drawn up together into one body yet are one army So is the Church Catholike one though it never meet bodily because the union is not corporeall but an unity of profession of chief governour of lawes Spirit way and hope Yea the existence of it will the more appeare because it hath priviledges belonging thereunto which particulars have not or but in part and at second hand as shall be shewed in the second question Object 5 But that which you call the Church Catholike visible may by persecutions warres heresies be brought into a very little roome and haply to one congregation or a few persons Answ It is possible yet all the essence Priviledges of the Church Catholike visible are contracted and reserved therein and from them conveyed and derived to those whom they shall convert and so shal dilate it self again And while the Church is but one cōgregation that hath the notion of the Church Catholike more properly then of a particular Church Yea though it be but in one family as it was in the Arke in the dayes of Noah Second Question I come now to handle the predicate of my Question which I may well call a second question and that is Which of these two Churches is Prima and which Orta Before I answer I desire you to remember that the comparison is not between the Invisible and the visible Church but between Churches of the same kinde viz. The Catholike visible and the particular visible Churches And then I answer I conceive the Church Catholike is Prima and the particular Churches are Ortae For First all the names that are in Scripture given unto the Argument 1 Church visible agree primarily to the Church Catholike secondarily to particular Congregations As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are first considered as called out from Idols and devoted to be the Lords people before we can be considered of this or that Congregation And for priority of time we know they were given to the people of the Jewes before ever any Congregationall Churches had existence Acts 7.38 The Church in the wildernesse And the Jewes are frequently called the Lords people So the Church is called the House of the Living God 1 Tim. 3.15 And the ground and pillar of truth The Citie of God Isai 1.21 Gods vineyard John 15.1 wherein branches in Christ bearing no fruit are cut off * John 10.16 Christs Sheepfold a Matth. 3.12 Barn-floore b Matth. 13.37 38. Drag not Wheat-field Kingdome of Heaven a great house wherein were vessels even of dishonour 2 Tim. 2.20 These names cannot be limited to or impropriated by any particular Congregation but are first true of the whole Church and of every particular Church as a part thereof I must here remember you againe of that saying of Dr Ames in his Medulla Congregationes particulares sunt quasi partes similares Ecclesiae Catholicae atque adeo nomen naturam ejus participant Where he grants the Church Catholike to have the first right to the name and nature of a Church and the particulars only by participation Secondly that is the primary Church to which the Promises Argument 2 and Priviledges of the Church doe primarily belong but the Promises and Priviledges of the Church doe primarily belong to the Church Catholike Therefore c. The minor I prove because the first Evangelicall Promise that ever was made in the world was to Adam and Eve representing all mankinde and therefore consequently the whole Church of God This was before there was any division or distinction made of Churches into Jew and Gentile Nationall or Congregationall Againe the maine commission for gathering the Evangelicall Church was generall Goe teach all nations and baptize them in the Name of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost And this was before any divisions or subdivisions were appointed and they were secondarily brought in for order and better edification and being parts of the whole receive particular distinction from the places where they lived and other particularities They all retaine the generall forme and essentiall difference from heathens and among themselves as parts of a similar body are distinguished but by accidentall differences And that Promise that the gates of hell shall never prevaile against the Church is primarily given to the Church Catholike visible here on earth for that in Heaven is not assailed by the
Priviledges given by God to the Church Catholike primarily to themselves and leave them secondarily to the Church Catholike Argument 6 Sixthly the Ministers are primarily Ministers of the Church Catholike secondarily of this or that particular flock or congregation and therefore the Catholike is the prime Church And this appeares by this demonstration That Church to the which the donation of the Ministry was first made is the first subject thereof but that was the Church Catholike therefore For proofe hereof see 1 Cor. 12.28 29. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers Now this Church was the Church Catholike and not any particular congregation for it is the Church to which the Lord gave Apostles Note also from hence that the same Church to which God gave Apostles and Prophets to the same he gave Teachers also Bishop and Pastour may seeme to be in respect to the particular relation to some particular place wherein by the politie of the Church a particular Minister is set but Presbyter Minister and Teacher more generall extending to the whole Church Catholike Paul an Apostle cals himselfe a Teacher and Preacher 2 Tim. 1.11 Peter also and John the Apostles call themselves Presbyters 1 Pet. 5.1 2 Ep. Joh. 1.3 Joh. 1. we finde also that Ministers are in Scripture spoken of under a generall notion They are called Ministers of the Word Luke 1.2 and Ministers of God 2 Cor. 6.4 And Ministers of Christ 1 Cor. 4.1 And Ministers of the New Testament 2 Cor. 3.6 And Ministers of the Gospell 1 Thes 3.2 And Ministers of the Lord Eph. 6.21 where the Ministeriall Office is noted by the reference thereof to the Author that imployeth them and the subject about which they are imployed and not by the Object to whom they preached They are not called Ministers of the people but their Teachers Rulers Pastours Overseers or Ministers for them Col. 1.7 And if a Minister of this or that Congregation were not a Minister of the Church Catholike visible then he were no Minister out of his own Congregation and therefore could not preach or administer any Sacrament as a Minister out of his own Congregation Yea if any members of another Congregation should come and heare a Minister in his owne Congregation he could not preach to them nor they heare him as a Minister but only as a gifted brother And though he may pray and beseech his owne flock as an Ambassadour of Christ to be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5.20 yet he cannot say so to any other except he be an Ambassadour in office unto others also and if he be a Minister to one member besides his own Congregation then is he so indefinitely to all by the same reason But if he deliver the Word as a Minister to his own Congregation only then the same Word which is delivered at the same time by the same man is delivered by vertue of Ministeriall Office to some and to others ex officio charitatis generali onely as a gifted brother And if this be granted which is absurd yet a greater absurdity will follow viz. that if he administer the Lords Supper to any members of another Congregation he must doe that also as a gifted brother and as a private person which yet all men hold hath nothing to doe to administer the Scales of the Covenant And yet this communion of members of other Congregations is frequent among our brethren for Congregationall Churches Neither can this be answered that it is done by vertue of consociation of Churches except the consociation of Churches and their members make also a consociation of offices and officers and so every Minister be a generall officer and a Minister of the Church Catholike as well as the particular members be members of the Church Catholike And if a Minister of one Congregation be a generall officer and can administer the Seales of the Covenant Baptisme and the Lords Supper to strangers in his own congregation in his owne meeting-house then any where else in any other meeting house for no man will say his ministeriall office is circumscribed by or tyed unto the limits and fabrick of his own meeting house or any especiall influence or authority afforded him in the execution of his ministeriall function by the presence of his owne congregation He whose office is limited within and stands wholly in relation unto a particular place is out of office when he is out of that place as a Major of a Corporation and Constable of a Parish but it is not so with a Minister he is no private man as soon as he is out of his meeting house or the limits of his congregation and though he indeed be peculiarly their Pastour or Bishop one that hath the oversight of them in the Lord in a more immediate especiall manner yet this extends to all times and places where-ever he or they shall come by occasion though never so farre from their dwellings but so is not a Major or Constable And besides that particular office he is an officer a Minister in generall to all others and may execute his office to them as God giveth him occasion but so cannot a Major or Constable because they are only particular officers Suppose a Ministers flock by mortality captivity or the sword should be dissolved extinct and faile indeed he ceaseth to be their Pastour because the correlative faileth but he ceaseth not to be a Minister of the Gospell A King or Major haply cease to be so any longer if his Kingdome or Corporation should sinke because there is no Catholike Kingdome or Township whereof they were officers but the office of the Minister ceaseth not because he was an officer of the Church Catholike which correlate sinketh not And being an officer of the Church Catholike he hath thereby actum primum to administer all the Ordinances of Christ which a single officer may or can doe in any place only wanteth actum secundum vel exercitum pro hic nunc which is appointed by the politie of the Church for order For though their office be generall as Ministers of the Gospell yet they take particular divisions and parcels of the Church to feed and stretch not themselves within one anothers line without a call by permission or intreaty And that a Minister is a Minister of the Church Catholike visible appeares by this argument He that can ministerially eject admit a member out of into the Church Catholike visible is a Minister and Officer of the Church Catholike visible But every Minister by Excommunication Baptisme ejecteth admitteth members out of into the Church Catholike visible Therefore c. This argument I finde more fully laid downe by Apollonius Pastor ut Pastor exercet multos actus ministeriales non tantum erga Ecclesiam suam particularem cujus ordinario Ministerio est affixus sed etiam erga Ecclesias alias Particulares Provinciales Nationales imò erga Ecclesiam Vniversalem
proves himselfe not to be truly godly and so all those Ordinances were null being administred by one that was not only no Minister but no true member of the Church I conclude this answer with that saying in Ames in his Bellar. enervat Falsum est internas virtutes requiri à nobis ut aliquis sit in Ecclesia quoad visibilem ejus statum Object The Church Catholike is Integrum and the particular Churches are membra and therefore neither of them can be Prima or Orta in reference of one to another because being Relata they are simul naturâ and both Integrum membra are both of them Orta argumenta Vide Rami Dialecticam Indeed we finde in Logick that both Genus and Species Answ Integrum membra are Orta Argumenta and that it is not meant in reference one to another but to those arguments which are called Prima as Cause Effect Subject Adjunct and Contraries And it would be a Logicall dispute not Theologicall to define whether Integrum or membra have the primary consideration seeing they are Relata Quorum alterum constat è mutuâ alterius affectione Ergo dicuntur simul esse naturâ For Totum est quod habet partes Pars est quae continetur à toto So that a thing cannot be said to be a whole but in reference to the parts nor can any thing be said to be a part but in reference to the whole for though it may have a being before the whole yet it is not a part of the whole untill the whole be Yet for the clearing of this Objection we must consider that Integrum membra admit of divers kinds and considerations and though in a constant permanent or continuous body whose particular individuall parts rise and fall together with the whole so that it cannot consist but of so many essentiall individuall parts whereof it is constituted there the whole and the parts whereof it is constituted as they stand in relation unto one another must be simul naturâ yet the Church Catholike being as I may say a kinde of discreet successive indefinite body alwayes transient and in flux some members being alwayes in their adding and some alwayes in taking away so that even in respect of the particular parts it is not one houre every way the same it was the last I say that in reference to the members that are to be added the whole must needs be accounted first because it hath a being before the addition and after the substraction and the members must needs be first added to the whole before they can beare the relation of parts unto it And herein it is like a Corporation whose first members whereof it is constituted are simul naturâ with the whole yet all the members that are added successively finde it a Corporation before their addition and so are not simul naturâ with the whole Object The Church Catholike is made up of the particular Churches and therefore it is Orta and they are Prima Answ To let passe Logicall disputes consider we the universall and particular Churches in a theologicall notion and we shall find as hath been already proved that the particular Churches or congregations do rise out of the Church Catholike and not contrary For the members of a particular congregation are first members of the Church Catholike and admitted thereinto before they come to be capable of being members of a particular Congregation for no Congregation takes a heathen in first and makes him a member and then a Christian but he is first made a Christian and then made a member Yea I conceive that there may be many belonging to the Church Catholike that belong to no particular Congregation whose conversion hath been by accidentall providence as by reading or discourse or haply hearing a disputation or Sermon and yet their habitation or imprisonment slavery banishment travell or other occasions may not suffer them to joyne themselves to any particular Congregation and yet are visible Christians yeelding professed subjection to the Gospell in their lives and conversations And are by being of the Church Catholike fit to be members of any Congregation but are actually none Suppose a man by transplanting into America suffering shipwrack should swimme to some unknowne land and there live among the natives is that man without or if he should convert a native to the faith in Christ is he without is he not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of what Congregation was the Eunuch that was baptized by Philip and yet we doubt not to say he was a Christian and one of the Church members but it must be the Church Catholike So that we see the Church Catholike consisteth not of particular Congregations only but particular members that may not haply be drawne into congregations As not only all Cities Towns and Parishes in a Kingdome belong to that Kingdome but all particular Persons living under and by the same lawes though haply there should be some that live not in any township or village but in some Island forrest or in ships as the manner is of many families in the Netherlands or as I have heard of some house that stands so that no Parish in their Perambulation did over fetch it in And if we must account the particular Churches to be primae because the Church Catholike is made up of them then we must account particular families to be the prime Churches because the Congregations are made up of them and they are called Churches in the Scripture Rom. 16.5 1 Cor. 16.19 Col. 4.15 Philem. 2. And we know God had his Church in families in the Patriarchs times before it was either Nationall or Congregationall But it is plaine that particular Congregations are made up of a certain number or parcell of the members of the Church Catholike and not contrary And so were the Churches in families also Now then seeing it is evident by the former Scriptures and Arguments that there is a Church Catholike visible And seeing that the Names Nature and Priviledges of the Church the Promises and Ordinances of God the Offices of Christ and Signes of the true Church the Members of the Church and Ministry of the Word belong first to the Church Catholike visible and that every particular Christian beare first and last relation thereunto which relation cannot be broken off by any removall or without sinne and that particular Churches spring out of the Church Catholike I therefore conclude according to the light God hath given me That the Church Catholike visible is Prima and the particular Churches are Ortae From this Thesis give me leave to propound to your further consideration these Corollaries or Conclusions Concerning Churches Catholike Particular Persons Publike viz. the Officers Private viz. the members Concerning the Church in generall 1. That there is a Church Catholike 2. That the Church Catholike is but one 3. That the Church Catholike is visible 4. That though the Church Catholike be alwayes
transient and in flux by the addition and subtraction of the members thereof yet it shall never cease to be visible 5. That if the Church Catholike be contracted into the limits of a particular Congregation yet that hath the notion of the Church Catholike more properly then of a particular Congregation 6. That the Church Catholike is mixt of good and bad as well as particular Congregations are 7. That the Church Catholike is Organicall 8. That the Keyes of Discipline are Catholike as well as of Doctrine 9. That the Promises Priviledges and Ordinances of Worship and Discipline belong primarily to the Church Catholike 10. That the notes and signes of the true Church belong first to the Church Catholike visible and therefore are distinctive to that only 11. That the whole Church Catholike is the primary object of Christs Offices and particulars but as parts thereof Joh. 3.16 12. Though Christ be the only Supreme head and Ruler of his Church yet must it have immediate subordinate rulers over it Ephes 4.11 13. That the Unity of the Church Catholike requireth not a meeting of the whole body together at any time Concerning particular Churches 1. That particular Churches are made up of the members of the Church Catholike 2. That the particular Divisions of the Church Catholike visible for convenient enjoyment of publike Ordinances have the Name Church and the Priviledges thereof by participation as farre as they are capable indulged unto them 3. That particular Churches must be distinguished by particular accidentall limits and circumstances though they be heterogeneall to the Church 4. Many Congregations may be in the same community of Discipline and be ruled by their Elders in communi by co-ordination though not subordination and so be called One Church Nationall Provinciall or Presbyteriall 5. That which belongs primarily to the whole Church as Totum similare and to the least part of the whole as a part thereof belongs much more to a greater part thereof Or thus That which belongs to a little part of a similar body quâ talis belongs to a greater part much more 6. The greater the parts of the Church Catholike be and the more united by co-ordination the stronger they be and the smaller the Divisions be the weaker 7. The Division of the Church Catholike into small parcels to stand alone by themselves without co-ordination is dangerous 8. Yet necessity in regard of distance of place c. may cause a particular Church to be Independent in regard of actuall externall consociation 9. The constituting a particular Church by an explicite Covenant as the essentiall forme thereof implyeth a deniall of all other Churches to be true that are not so constituted because they must want the essentiall forme Concerning the publike Officers of the Church 1. Every Minister is an Officer of the Church Catholike and that relation is primary to him yet the particular relation he stands in to a particular congregation giveth him by the politic of the Church a more immediate charge to administer the Ordinances of God unto them 2. Any single Minister by vertue of his office hath power ministerially to admit a member into the Church Catholike visible 3. Although the Election of a Minister to a particular congregation be an act of liberty in the people yet his mission is from Christ primarily and ministerially by the Presbytery 4. He doth not administer the Ordinances of God in the name of the congregation as their servant but of Christ As a Major in a corporation though chosen by the people yet executeth his office in the Kings name 5. If he administreth any Ordinances out of his own congregation he doth it not as a gifted brother but by vertue of his office 2 Cor. 5.20 6. Although the particular flock over which a Minister was set be dissolved yet he ceaseth not to be a Minister because the Church to which he bare first relation is not dissolved which is the Catholike Concerning private members 1. Particular Converts are first converted into the Church Catholike and secondarily conjoyn'd into particular consociations 2. Every member of a particular Church is a member of the Church Catholike and that relation doth primarily belong unto him 3. Externall profession of the true Faith and subjection to Gods Ordinances is enough to make a man capable of being a member of a visible Church quoad externam formum 4. By Baptisme members are visibly and ministerially admitted into the Church Catholike visible 5. By Excommunication rightly administred an offender is cast out of the Church Catholike visible as much as out of a particular congregation 6. Federall Holinesse belongs to none primarily because borne of members of a particular congregation but of the Church Catholike 7. They that are only in the Church Catholike visible are not Without in the Apostles sense 8. Children of beleeving parents have right to Baptisme though their parents were not members of any particular congregation and are debarred of their due if denyed it 9. Every member of the Church Catholike is or ought to be a member of the particular Church wherein he dwells 10. The being in the generall Covenant gives right to the Ordinances and not any particular neither do we find any mention in Scripture of any particular explicit Covenant either urged or used at the admission of members into a particular congregation or at the constitution of the same 11. The Invisible members of the Church which have internall communion with Christ are also visible members and have externall communion in externall ordinances 12. The departure of a member from a particular congregation and removall to another for convenience or by necessity is no sinne but departing from the Church Catholike and ceasing to be a member thereof is a sinne I know it is not usuall to make uses and application to Theses of this nature and should I enter thereinto I might drowne my selfe in sorrow to bewayle the rents not in Christs seamelesse coate but in his body the Church which Christ preferred in some regards before his naturall body for he assumed his naturall body for their sakes and was willing to suffer that to be buffeted spit on whipped crowned with thornes crucifyed peirced slaine for their sakes yea he was willing to be made sinne yea a curse and to beare his fathers wrath in his humanity for his Churches sake that they might escape and be saved The divisions in the Church are of three sorts in judgement in affection and in way or practise For judgement first come the Romists and they rend away the second commandment then come the Antisabbatarians and they rend away the fourth though placed in the heart of the Decalogue and so extraordinarily fenced by God with a memento before it and so many arguments after it then come the Antinomians and they pluck away the whole law from us denying it both punitive coactive and directive power and so render it wholy dead and useles to Christians