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
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
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
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
gates of hell but onely that on earth And though it be applicable to the invisible onely yet to those as visible for so they are assailed by persecutions and heresies Againe He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved This doth primarily belong to the Church Catholike and that a visible Church because capable of Baptisme and though it be applicable to every member of any particular Congregation yet not as being a member thereof but of the Church Catholike to which that Promise was made yea look over all the Promises in the New Testament and you shall finde them made in generall without the least respect or reference to the particular Congregations wherein the Beleevers lived In any similar body as water the accidents doe not primarily pertaine to this or that particular drop and secondarily to the whole but first to the whole and secondarily to this or that drop So the Priviledges of the Church doe not primarily belong to this or that particular Church and secondarily to the generall but first to the generall and secondarily to this particular being a part of it The maine Priviledges of the Church visible are first Federall Holinesse to the children secondly right to the Ordinances quoad nos saltem now neither of both these betide any man primarily as a member of a particular Congregation but as a member of the Church Catholike For Federall or Covenant Holinesse whereby the children are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 betideth no mans children because the parents are of this or that particular Congregation but because of the Church Catholike and this appeares by divers demonstrations I will give you but one That which should have been though the particular relation had never been and which continueth when the particular relation ceaseth that is not a proper Priviledge of that relation but such is federall Holinesse in regard of relation to any particular Church Suppose those baptized by John Baptist or by Christs Disciples before there was any particular distinction should have any children or the Eunuch if he were an Eunuch by office only and not in body baptized by Philip and went immediately home into his own country should not their children be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suppose a Church dissolved by warre the Minister and people slaine and some women left with childe should be carryed away captive should not those children be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the particular relation is extinct Doe not those women remaine members of the Church Are they to be counted without in the Apostles sence Secondly for Ordinances either of Worship or Discipline they are both Priviledges of the Church Catholike primarily For Worship a man or a childe hath right to Baptisme as a member of the Church Catholike and not of the particular Congregation for they had right before Congregations were distinguished as in John Baptists and Christs time and the Eunuchs case and have right after that relation ceaseth as children born in captivity as in the former instances such children being holy are capable of Baptisme Infantes baptizandi sunt non ut sancti sint sed quia sancti sunt Whitak And therefore no question but any Minister might baptize those children if he could come by them And for hearing the Word of God let a Christian dwell where he will and have opportunity to heare the Word where he can he hath right to it and doth heare it not as a heathen that is without but as his rightfull portion And even in Congregationall Churches the brethren in one Congregation communicate at the Lords Table in other Congregations as occasion is offered And no question but any Christian may joyne in prayer and say Our Father c. with any Christians in the furthest parts of the world And for the Ordinances of Discipline every one as a member of the Church Catholike is bound to submit thereunto and every officer of the Church Catholike visible hath right to power in the Ordinances of Discipline in actu primo every where as shall be shewed more afterward And certainly the Church Catholike even in their representative ministeriall body have more extensive authoritative power then particular Classes or Congregations though haply not more intensive Neither can it be imagined that all the other Priviledges should belong first to the Church Catholike and so descend to particulars and this of Discipline should belong first to the particular congregation and so ascend to the Catholike that some should go in a geneticall method as it were and others in an analyticall Suppose an Apostle should have preached in a citie and converted at first but two or three or converted a company of women as it was Pauls lot to preach to a company of women Acts 16.13 So that they could not be brought in to an organicall congregation could it be conceived that they though baptized were still without and were not their children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if any of them should miscarry in their judgements or practises had Paul nothing to doe to censure them because they were not in a Church way as some terme it or in a particular Congregation though they were in the Church Catholike visible If they were lyable to censure or capable thereof not being in a particular congregation but the Church Catholike only then Discipline belongs to the Church Catholike and that primarily The Keyes of Discipline were first given to the Church Catholike because first given to the Apostles who were generall Pastours and therefore the Keyes are Catholike Also censures past in one Congregation reach the whole Church Catholike visible as shall be shewed more afterward That which belongeth to all and every part of a similar body as parts of that body that primarily belongeth to the whole but so doth Discipline Therefore c. Argument 3 Thirdly Christs Offices are first intended for and executed on the Church Catholike here below He is King Priest and Prophet primarily in respect of the whole and but secondarily in respect of a particular congregation or member Gods aime in Redemption was to redeeme the whole firstly and secondarily particulars God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. And so is the application of that redemption by Christ As a Priest he reconcileth cleanseth and intercedeth for all of the elect and proffers it to the whole Church Catholike visible As a Prophet he teacheth all As a King he ruleth all primarily and particulars secondarily As an earthly King is indeed King of Thomas and John c. but not primarily but secondarily as they are members of his kingdome And the naturall head is indeed head to the little finger and little toe but not primarily but as they are parts of the whole body whereof it is head so is Christ a mysticall King and head first of the whole and secondarily of the particular parts contained in and under the whole Yea Christ may be King Priest and Prophet to
Nam per Baptismum membra in Ecclesiam universalem admittit Per Excommunicationem membra non tantum ex sua particulari sed etiam Provinciali Nationali Vniversali Ecclesia ejicit Matth. 18.18 19. Ex officio pastorali preces Deo offert pro omnibus aliis Ecclesiis laborantibus Verbum Dei in alia Ecclesia particulari praedicare potest non tantum virtute ratione donorum sed cum pastorali authoritate ita ut verbo suo liget solvat peccatores remittat retineat peccata ut legatus missus à Deo obsecret homines ut reconcilientur Deo Gul. Apollon consideratio quarundam c. pag. 86. Of Excommunication I spake before proving that it ejecteth a man out of the whole Church Catholike visible which though it be passed with the knowledge and consent of the Congregation as also is Baptisme yet it is an act of the Presbyters But because it is an act of many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 2 Cor. 2.6 I will therefore insist more largely and particularly upon Baptisme which is the act of a single Pastour or Minister That by Baptisme we are admitted into the Church I thinke is without doubt for if persons baptized be not members of a visible Church then the Seale of the Covenant yea the initiall Seale thereof is administred to those that are and remain out of the Church which were absurd to say Mr Ball in his Catechisme hath this passage Baptisme is a Sacrament of our ingrafting into Christ Communion with him and entrance into the Church for which he citeth Matth. 28.19 Acts 8.38 And afterward explaines himselfe It doth saith he solemnely signifie and seale their engrafting into Christ and confirme that they are acknowledged members of the Church and entred into it though it doth not make us Christian soules And that we are thereby admitted members not of a particular Congregation but the Church Catholike appeares because we are baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 And this appeares further because he that is baptized in one Congregation is baptized all over the world and is not to be rebaptized but is taken as a member where-ever he becomes Now that baptizing is an act of office appeares John 1.33 He that sent me to baptize And goe teach all nations and baptize them was the substance of the Apostles Commission And though Paul 1 Cor. 1.17 saith Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospell yet that is meant not principally for he was sent also to baptize else he might not have done it And that by vertue of this office we are baptized into the Church Catholike appeares because John Baptist baptized all Jerusalem Judea and the Region round about Jordan And the Disciples of Christ made and baptized more Disciples then John and that without relation to any particular Congregations which had it been necessary they could have combined them into So Peter caused Cornelius and his friends to be baptized Act. 10.48 but no mention is made of any Congregation into which they were baptized And Philip baptized the Eunuch not into any particular Congregation And the Apostles carryed about one with them whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Minister Acts 13.5 who was no Apostle and he baptized for them So Tychicus Col. 4.7 is called a beloved brother and faithfull Minister and fellow-servant in the Lord yet he was none of their Minister and Ephes 6.21 he hath the same stile given him againe certainly he could not be a peculiar Minister to both those distant Churches and I suppose he was of neither Appollos baptized at Corinth 1 Cor. 3.4 and yet was no Apostle but as a Minister and steward of the Mysteries of God as well as they 1 Cor. 4.1 Hence is this distinction of Junius in his Animadversions on Bellaerm cap. 7. nota 7. Alia est electio sive vocatio communis qua vir bonus pius doctus aptus absòlutè eligitur ad ministerium verbi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alia particularis sive singularis quâ ad ministerium singulariter huic vel illi Ecclesiae praeficiendus eligitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the truth is the Scripture alwayes calling the Beleevers in one Citie one Church even Jerusalem though there were many thousands yea myriads that is many times ten thousands of beleeving Jewes therein as James tels Paul Act. 21.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were all probably of Jerusalem as appeares first because they were not such as could beare any witnesse against Paul but by hear-say they are informed of thee but the Jewes amongst the Gentiles disperst having seen and heard Paul could have testified of their own knowledge and would not be blinded with Pauls present conformity And secondly because they only of Jerusalem could receive satisfaction by Pauls conformity to the Law at Jerusalem at that time and not the others And also the Holy Ghost calling the Elders in those Cities the Elders of the Church in communi it leaveth it uncertaine to me whether the severall Elders were fixed over particular congregations or taught and ruled in communi as the Ministers do now in Middleburgh and Strasburgh and other places yet because it maketh most for edification and order to have them fixed I shall thinke they were untill the contrary shall be proved And I verily beleeve they ruled in communi though haply they did not teach so Seventhly that Church to which every Christian bears first relation and which relation continueth last and cannot be broken by him without sin is the first Church but such is the Church Catholike visible therfore Them nor appeares because none can be admitted into a particular congregation except he be judged first of the Church Catholike so againe though he change his habitation never so often and beare relation to never so many particular congregations one after another yet in all those the generall relation holdeth still he is a baptized visible member of the Church Catholike and therfore to be received where ever he becometh into any particular congregation Yea in the Interim between his breaking off from one congregation and placing in another congregation he retaines the generall relation and baptisme and is not a heathen or infidell he is not one without in the Apostles phrase Yea suppose a man should be a Traveller Merchant or Factour and setled in no particular congregation yet being a Christian he is a member of the Church Catholike yea and if he broach any errours or live inordinately he shall be accountable to the Church wherein he for the present resides or such crimes are committed and be lyable to their censure as being a member of the Church Catholike which appeares in that the Church of Ephesus is commended Rev. 1.2 ☜ for trying strangers that came among them under the notion of Apostles And finding them lyars did not suffer them now prohibition is a censure They are not to be left to the