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
same tillage Sever the wicked from among the just seed fencing watering It is a barn floore with wheate and chaffe It is a draw net gathering together good and bad It is a marriage where were wise and foolish virgins some with wedding garments some without some had oyle and some had none but lamps of profession Now these metaphors cannot be limited to any particular Congregation but agree to the Church Catholike not as invisible but visible And when we say Thy kingdome come we pray for the good of the Church Catholike visible that it might be enlarged and have freedome and purity of ordinances which are things that concerne it as visible In 1 Cor. 15.24 it is said Then shall Christ deliver up the Kingdome to God his Father This is not the essentiall Kingdome which he hath with the Father and Holy Ghost as God for that he shall never deliver up Neither is it the kingdome of grace which he exerciseth in the hearts of the elect for that shall continue for ever and be more perfect in Heaven For the kingdome of grace here and glory afterward differ only gradu communionis as Ames tells us here the degree is imperfect then it shall be perfect both in graces and joyes But it is the kingdome exercised in the visible Church in ordinances of worship and discipline which shall then cease for as the Evangelicall externall service thrust out the legall and ceremoniall so shall the heavenly thrust out the evangelicall And Heb. 12.28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdome which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly feare This kingdome cannot be meant of the internall kingdome of grace in the heart for that was also exercised by Christ in his peoples hearts in the old Testament but it is meant of the externall ordinances of worship and discipline which differed from that under the Law else the Apostles antithesis of the Church under the Law and the Church under the Gospell had not been good which are the things he compares in that place Now nothing is opposite to externall under the Law but externall under the Gospell It cannot be meant of the kingdome of glory for they had not yet received it and it is plaine he speakes of a Kingdome wherein we may now serve God acceptably with reverence and godly feare Repent for the Kingdome * Mat. 3.2 Mat. 4.17 of Heaven is at hand He that is least in the Kingdome †Mat. 1.11 of Heaven is greater then John Now if these things were spoken of a particular congregation only which particular congregation in the world shall impropriate these things to it selfe But if true of everyone in particular and all in generall and these all be continually called one kingdome then there is a Church Catholike visible Againe 1 Cor. 5.12 The Apostle saith What have I to doe to judge those that are without The preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extra I desire to know what Noune shall be understood or supplied unto it Is it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the Church And can we think that that Church was the Church of Corinth only Had Paul nothing to doe to judge any that were out of the Church of Corinth when he was an Apostle all over the Christian world This could not be meant of the invisible company only What had Paul nothing to doe to censure any but invisible memmbers Why did he then excommunicate Hymineus Philetus Phygellus Hermogines and Alexander And saith I would they were cut off that trouble you and therefore it must be meant of the Church Catholike visible What have I to do to judge those that are without the pale of the Church they are not under my power or cognizance but belong only to the civill Magistrate And we usually speake of the countries that are within the pale of the Church and those that are without And we have an axiome Extra Ecclesiam non est salus which cannot be meant of any particular congregation in the world but is true of the Church Catholike visible typified by the Ark of Noah without which ordinarily and visibly there is no hope of salvation Also it is said Acts 2.47 God added to the Church daily such as should be saved which was not a particular congregationall Church but the Catholike For it is not probable that those hundred and twenty that were together at Pentecost were one congregationall Church for many of them were men of Galilee which by their habitation could not pertaine to the Church in Jerusalem and yet the rest were added to them Againe Ephes 3.10 To the intent that unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdome of God This Church here spoken of was not a particular Congregation but the whole Church Catholike whereof Paul was made a Minister as he saith in the same chapter And this proficiency of the Angels for ought I know was by the truths which it pleased God by the ministry of the word to make knowne audibly to the Church And Ephes 3.21 To him be glory in the Church throughout all ages c. This place speakes of the Church Catholike visible in the largest sence that can be possible both in respect of place for it is the whole Church by which God hath glory which is universall and time for it is the Church in all ages but no particular congregation nor nationall Church can be sure to last to all ages no not by succession but the Church Catholike shall Againe Ephes 4.4 5. The Apostle proveth the Church to be but one by divers arguments First he saith There is but one body of Christ which is therefore called Eph. 3.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both of Jewes and Gentiles i. e. the same body Secondly there is but one Spirit in that whole body which is as one soule in one body Thirdly there is but one hope of their calling Fourthly there is but one Lord or King over the whole Church Fifthly there is but one Faith i. e. one Religion Doctrine Worship the same Commands and Statutes for all Sixthly There is but one Baptisme to admit into this Church Now if the whole world were under one King and governed by one Law and all capable of the same Priviledges and all made Denizons by the same way of inrowlement it would make but one Empire yet so it is with all the Churches in the world they have the same King Law Word Sacraments of admission and nutrition which they visibly subject themselves unto and receive therefore they are all one visible Church Againe Christ saith on this rock * Matth. 16.18 will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it Was this a particular Congregation No surely but the Church Catholike for any particular Church may be prevailed against but the whole shall not The place is meant
a particular convert brought in and nourished by the word of God preached in a visible congregation before he be admitted a member of that congregation or any other by publike consent remaining in no Church but the Church Catholike visible and haply scarce being a compleat member of that being as yet not baptized Fourthly the signes that difference a true Church from a false do Argument 4 not primarily belong to a particular congregation but to the Church Catholike visible viz profession of the true faith the administration of the true ordinances of God the Word and Sacraments for therein all the whole Church agree and is thereby distinguished from those that are without not from those that are within This is no note to know this or that particular Church by from another for it is common to the universall Church it distinguisheth not among themselves but from the generall common opposite the heathen or the grosse heretick A man being lead into a vault where were the sculls of many dead men and understanding that Alexanders scull was there desired his guide to shew him that his guide told him it was that scull with the hollow eye holes and with the gristly nose and with futures crossing the brain pann and when the man replyed that they had all so yea saith his guide there is no difference between Kings and other mens sculls when they are dead So if any man should ask you or me which is the Church of Ipswich Dedham or Colchester it were a folly to say it is the Church where the word of God is preached and sacraments administred and that professe Iesus Christ to be crucifyed dead and buryed risen again and ascended into Heaven for so do all the Church Catholike but I must give some other notes to distinguish any of them for these are not distinctive because common Therefore the signes of the true Church belong primarily to the whole secondarily to particular parts thereof and are therfore not distinctive to the parts That which is primary to any thing is distinctive to that thing but that which is secondary and common is not distinctive from other particulars of the like kind Fiftly all the members of particular Churches are members of the Church Catholike yea that relation belongs first to them If they be born within the pale of the Church they have federall holines and are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not because members of this or that congregation but because born of parents within the generall covenant externally and so within the Church Catholike If they be converted from heathens they are not first converted into this or that particular Church but converted first into the Church Catholike and then secondarily admitted members of this or that particular congregation A man may dwell in one City and heare the word of God by accident in another city and thereby be converted but he is not converted to be a member of the Church where he was converted but into the Church Catholike So that particular congregations are made up of members of the Church Catholike therfore most properly are said to be Ortae for such a cōvert may joine himselfe after his conversion to what congregation he pleaseth to inhabit among If a man come into a parish that is a heathen he is not a member of that particular Church because not a member of the Church Catholike but if he be a Christian then is he a member of that particular congregation where he resideth or fit so to be and ought not to be denyed admission or communion though he had never bin member of any other The particular companies in London are made up only of free men that are joyned together in some particular body or society belonging to such or such a hall now the first notion that comes upon any of these persons or companies is that they are freemen of London and secondarily that they are distinct from other free men by being of this or that particular society belonging to such a hall So it is for all Churches First all the members are conceived to be free of the Church Catholike and secondarily distinct by their societies in this or that particular assembly And though haply this similitude holdeth not in every thing as the not removing from one company to another and being received in there because he is a freeman yet is it free for any Christian to change his particular relation from one congregation to another because he is a Christian and takes not up his first freedome into a particular congregation or company but in to the Catholik They are made members of the whole by conversion to the faith and initiated by the sacrament of baptisme externally but are secondarily made members of a particular congregation by cohabitation or consociation Suppose a man had abundance of sheep as Abraham Isaack Jacob and Job who had 14000. and these sheep had all one brand of the owners upon them and these sheep were divided into severall flocks under severall shepheards in severall sheep-walks of the same owners according to his appointment the primary consideration of any of these sheep or flocks is not that they are under such a keeper in such a sheep walk but the first consideration of them is that they are such a mans sheep either bought or bred c. bearing his brand and fed by his servants on his ground and then the more particular and secondary consideration and notion is that they are under such a particular shepheard in such a particular walke And so the first consideration of any part of Gods flock whether person or Congregation is that they are Gods people borne or converted to him fed and nourished by his Ordinances and Ministers and then the particular secondary notion is that they are fed by such a Pastour in such a place It is an usuall similitude on all hands to compare the Church to the Sea or Ocean which though it be one yet as it washeth upon this or that countrey receiveth the name and distinction of the Germane Spanish Irish Brittish Seas And so when it puts in at any creeke because it is continuous with the Sea we call it the Sea And we say the sea comes up at Harwich Ipswich Manitree Colchester now it were an absurd thing for any man to think that the particular seas were the prime seas and the maine is mare ortum Or because the name sea is indulged to this or that arme or creeke that therefore that should either monopolize the name Sea that there should be no sea but such creekes or that any such creekes should arrogate the name and priviledges of the sea first to themselves and leave them but secondarily to the maine So it is for particular Congregations which have the name and Priviledges of the Church indulged to them at second or third hand because they are members and similar parts of the whole to usurp and challenge the name and
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
THE ESSENCE AND UNITIE OF THE Church Catholike VISIBLE And the Prioritie thereof in regard of Particular Churches Discussed By Samuel Hudson Minister of the Gospell LONDON Printed by George Miller for Christopher Meredith at the Signe of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard 1645. To the Reader REader this Thesis was compiled about a yeare agoe for the accommodation of private friends and was not intended by me for publike view yet since at the desire and by the approbation of some whom I much respect I am induced to consent to the publishing of it I confesse the texture of it is more homely and the stile more incompt then will please the tender eyes and delicate eares of this dainty criticall age But they that handle controversies must endeavour to speake in proper and significant words and deale by strength of proofes and arguments and not stand upon neatnesse or labour to deck their lines with flowers of Rhetorick I acknowledge this question is an unusuall subject and therefore but little trodden before me and hath many paths that crosse it more frequently beaten which did somewhat blunt mine intention and disswade me from making of it publike even after I had yeelded thereunto For first I finde the subject of my question much questioned yea flatly denied by many Divines of great worth both English French and Germane who affirme that there is no Church Catholike visible but that the Church Catholike is the invisible Church only But there having come divers tractates out lately which have touched that subject and prove a Church Catholike visible especially Gulielmi Apollonii Consideratio quarundam Controversiarum c. by command and allowance of the Walacrian Churches some few sentences whereof I have added hereto and Mr Prinn his truth triumphing over Falshood c. I was the more confirmed that this is no private opinion or strange heterodoxie but a firm truth and therefore I was the more encouraged to divulge it And for the predicate of the question it is seldome met withall especially stated in these termes and those that state it so make the particular Churches to be the prime Churches which I have endeavoured to refute according to my light And because the question lyeth at the root of divers controversies and differences that are now abroad I was willing to lend what light I could to the same Mine intention is not to provoke or exasperate any but if any shall receive any benefit hereby I have mine aime and let God have the Glory But if any seem contentious about it I cannot answer in Paul's words * 1 Cor. 11.16 We have no such custome nor the Churches of God For the custome is every where now to contend and quarrell about every part of Divinity and he is no body that cannot carp at and wrangle against one truth or other so that all our practicall Divinity is turn'd into Polemicall and the power of godlinesse runs out into disputes and those truths which formerly seemed most firme plaine and smooth are now by the crotchets of mens braines runne into such division and become so knotty and prickly that a man knowes not where to fasten on them or how to hold them but he shall prick his fingers with one thorny objection or other For my part I am not so inamoured on or wedded to mine owne opinion but if any can convince me of errour I shall be willing to retract it and embrace the Truth of God or if any can afford any further light into this subject I shall be glad to see it and blesse God for it I Have perused this Discourse and finding that it handles a question of great importance and discusseth it with Judgement and Moderation I doe commend it to the Presse hoping that the intelligent and impartiall Reader may receive Benefit and Peace and Unitie in the Church be furthered by it Edm. Calamy THE ESSENCE AND VNITY OF THE CHURCH CATHOLIKE Visible c. QUEST Vtrum Ecclesia visibilis universalis sit prima vel orta FOR the handling of this question here are these foure tearmes to be opened First What is meant by Church Secondly What by Visible Thirdly What is meant by Vniversall Fourthly What by prima and orta First What a Church is The word Church is taken in a civill or a theologicall sense In a civill sense for a company of people summon'd or gathered together for some civill affaires so even the rout met together Acts 19. is called Ecclesia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly in a theologicall sense it signifieth a company of people that are called or to be called and joyned together standing in some spirituall relation to God And so the word is taken diversly First and most properly for the whole company of the elect as they are opposite to reprobates whether Jew or Gentile and in this sense it is taken Ephes 5.25 26. As Christ loved the Church and gave himselfe for it that he might cleanse it with the washing of water by the word So Coloss 1.18 His body the Church Interdum cum Ecclesiam nominant eam intelligunt quae reverâ est coram Deo in quam nulli recipiantur nisi adoptionis gratiâ filij Dei sunt Spiritus sanctificatione vera Christi membra Ac tunc quidem non tantum sanctos qui in terra habitant comprehendit sed electos omnes qui ab origine mundi fuerunt Calvin Instit lib. 4. cap. 1. sect 7. where you may see more of this subject Of these there are three sorts The first are elect uncalled which are not actually the Church but in potentiâ the second part are militant warring with principalities and powers with the flesh world and Devill being justified and sanctified persons the third part are triumphant in Heaven having finished their course and are now the spirits of just men made perfect For the fourth sort which the Papists make viz. Ecclesia dormiens in Purgatory we acknowledge not Secondly The word Church sometimes signifieth more then the elect viz. the multitude of beleevers whether truly or in shew only So Acts 8.3 Saul made havock of the Church Acts 12.1 Herod stretched out his hand to vex certain of the Church Now it is certain that neither Herod nor Saul knew who were elect but as himselfe expounded it He persecuted this way unto the death And he desired letters to Damascus that if he found any that way he might bind them So Acts 5.11 Fear came upon all the Church Now it cannot be conceived that they were all elect that feared that judgement of God So 1 Tim. 5.16 Let not the Church be charged with them that it may relieve widdowes indeed Now we cannot conceive that only the elect gave collection but the whole number of professours which yet are called the Church In Ecclesia plurimi sunt permixti hypocritae qui nihil Christi habent praeter titulum speciem Calv. Inst li. 4. c. 1. s 7. 2d Tearme
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
Magistrate only but to the Church tryall for those crimes come not alwayes under the cognizance of the civill Magistrates and if they do he may be a heathen and will not regard an haeretick nor can judge of him And if every kingdome will try murder or treason or any other foule crime committed in the same though by a stranger or alien because the crimes are against their lawes and soveraigne though their lawes pertain not to the country where the forrainer was borne and dwelleth then much more shall every Church try those members of the Church Catholike residing among them for their crimes seeing they have all the same soveraigne head the same lawes and are all one body Againe it is no sinne for a man to remove from one congregation to another as oft as occasion requireth but for a man to remove out of the Church Catholike is a sinne and apostacy No man is a schismatick for removing from one congregation to another but he that shall separate himselfe from all Church communion and shall rend himselfe from the Church Catholike he is a schismatick he is an apostate And therfore your severall sects though they pretend because of wants or blemishes to rend from the Church of England or Scotland c. Yet not from the Church Catholike by no meanes because they know that were a sinne Argument 8 Eighthly that Church from which the particular Churches spring and to which they are as an additament and increase that is the prime Church but that is the Church Catholike * Act. 2.47 therfore c. The minor appeares because first the whole essence of the Church Catholike was in Adam and Eve and from them spread to his seed by their federall right from them and their actuall taking up that freedome and continuance therein And so againe from Noahs Arke And for the Church under the Gospell that little handfull which Christ left leavened the whole world and brought them in as an addition unto them They were to be witnesses first in Jerusalem them in Iudea and then to the ends of the earth For the Law shall go forth of Zion and the word of God from Jerusalem Isa 2.3 It was with the Church then as was said of the river of Eden Gen. 2.10 A river went out of Eden to water the garden and from thence it was parted and became into 4. heads so the water of life flowed from Zion into the 4. quarters of all the world So that as there is no Sea but hath influence and continuity with the maine Sea and receives name from thence so no particular Church but hath his first rise and spirituall ministeriall influence from the Church Catholike and received the Gospell and priviledges of it from thence God cals no Evangelicall Churches by inspiration but by the ministry of those that are members of the Church Catholike or some part thereof and therfore God would not have Cornelius instructed by an Angell though he could have done it but by Peter a member of the Church Evangelicall So that the Church is as the Sea and particular Churches as so many creeks or armes and rivers not running into the sea but running from the sea and receiving a tincture and season of her waters The Church Catholike is as the tree Christ as the root and particular Churches as branches She is the mother and they as daughters born of her and receiving from her ministerially both nature name and priviledges Paul indeed was called extraordinarily from Heaven by Christ himselfe the head of the Church and not by an Angell that he might be as some conceive a type of the second call of the Jewes who as some bold shall be so called as he was by the appearing of the signe of the son of man and therfore that Church is said to come downe from God out of Heaven Rev. 21.2 10. And the ground for this type they take from 1 Tim. 1.16 For this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long sufferance for a patterne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them which should or shall hereafter beleeve on him but these things are mysteries and I dare not be too confident in them yet should they come to passe they infringe not the present truth because their conversion shall come from the head root and fountaine it selfe of the Church as Abrahams call was and no question but Christ did convert many in the dayes of his flesh when he was actually and visibly a member of the Church here below And if any be converted by secret revelation or inspiration and neither converted nor fed by any externall ordinances nor joyned to any visible Church as infants of heathens or any of the Philosophers as Plato if possibly they may be such these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not within the compasse of the generall rule for the visible Church and so not of the question Quest If it be asked what it is that is sufficient to make a man a member of the Church Catholike visible Answ I answer Beliefe of the maine points of the Christian faith professed subjection thereunto And this is as much as the Apostles required as in the case of the Eunuch and Simon Magus and if it were sufficient then it is sufficient still for those were the purest Churches So many as gladly received the Word were baptized Acts 2.41 And yet this is no more then may be found in an hypocrite for the stony ground received the Word with joy And we have no other rule to goe by in gathering Churches or receiving members into a Church then they had then neither may we presume to make any other to our selves Sic omnes ferè Reformati Theologi celebres materiam visibilis Ecclesia asserunt esse homines externè vocatos fidem Christi profitentes namque definiunt caetum hominum vocatione externa seu praedicatione Verbi Sacramentorum communicatione evocatorum ad cultum Dei societatem Ecclesiasticam inter se celebrandam Apolon pag. 8. Vide etiam utrumque Trelcatium in locis communibus Loc. de Ecclesia Professores Leidenses Disp. 40. Thes 3. Neither is it requisite that they should be truly godly to make them members of a visible Church for then no man could tell whose child were to be baptized or who are members of a Church or when he is in a true Church And if the living members of Jesus Christ were the only or essentiall members of a visible Church then none are true essentiall members of the Church visible but they and then a truly godly Minister is a more essentiall Minister then another and the Ordinances administred by him are more essentially administred then by another and the vertue of the Ordinance should depend not on Christs Institution but the worthinesse of the person administring And haply after twenty or thirty yeares living under a Minister that seemed religious that Minister by falling away