gregated in the name of Christ, washed in the fame Laver of Regeneration, eat- Fourthly, Whofoever belongeth to any Church is fome way called; and all which are fo, are called in one hope of their calling: the fame reward of eter- Ephef. 4.4. nal Life is promifed unto every Perfon, and we all through the Spirit wait Gal. 5. 5. for the hope of righteousness by faith. They therefore which depend upon the fame God, and worthip him all for the fame end, the hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lye, promifed before the world began, having all the fame expectation, may well be reputed the fame Church. And this is the unity of hope. Fifthly, They which are all of one mind, whatsoever the number of their Perfons be, they are in reference to that mind but one; as all the members, howfoever different, yet being animated by one Soul, become one Body: Charity is of a faftning and uniting nature; nor can we call thofe many, who endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. By this, faid Ephef. 4. 3. our Saviour, fhall all men know that ye are my Difciples, if ye have love John 13. 35. one to another. And this is the * unity of Charity. * Unus Deus clefia ejus u lidam corpo Lastly, All the Churches of God are united into one by the unity of dif- enim & Chricipline and government, by virtue whereof the fame Chrift ruleth in them all. us unus, EcFor they have all the fame paftoral guides appointed, authorized, fanctified, na, fides una, and fet apart by the appointment of God, by the direction of the Spirit, to & plebs in fodirect and lead the people of God in the fame way of eternal Salvation: as therefore there is no Church where there is no order, no ministry; fo where the fame order and miniftry is, there is the fame Church. And this the unity of regiment and discipline. is ris unitatein concordia glutine copulata. S.Cyp. de Unitate Ecclef. † Ecclefia non cit quæ non habet Sacerdotes. S. Hier. adv. Lucifer. Πάντες επρεπέπωσαν τὸς Διακόνες ὡς Ἰησῶν Χρισὸν, καὶ τὸ Ἐπίσκοπον ὡς Πατέρα, τὰς ἢ Πρεσβυτέρας ως συνέδριον Θεό, καὶ ὡς σαύδεσμον Αποσόλων. χωρίς τέτων εκκλησία & καλεί), Ignat. ad Trall. Τό γε με το Εκκλησίας όνομα 7' * εἰς Χρισὸν τις δυσάντων ὑφαίνη πληθὺν, ἱεραργές τε καὶ λαός, ποιρθρίας καὶ διδασκάλας, καὶ της ww xn xalas. S. Cyril ad cap. 45. ubi interpres pairs, malè tranftulit declarat, quod eft paid; cùm reddere oportuerit, connectit, aut contexit. Epifcopatus unus eft, cujus à fingulis in folidum pars tenetur : Ecclefia una eft quæ in multitudinem latiùs incremento fœcunditatis extenditur. S. Cyp. ibidem. So he joins these two together, Cùm fit à Chrifto una Ecclefia per totum mundum in multa membra divifa, item Epifcopatus unus Epifcoporum multorum concordi numerofitate diffufus. Ep. ad Antonianum. Tertullian, nus Deus, i eadem lava Ecclefia fu By these means, and * for these reasons, millions of perfons, and multi- *These are all tudes of congregations are united into one body, and become one Church. expressed by And thus under the name of Church expreffed in this Article, is understood Una nobis & a body, or collection of human perfons profeffing faith in Chrift, gathered to- illis fides, ugether in feveral places of the world for the worship of the fame God, and united dem Chriftus, into the fame corporation by the means aforefaid. And this I conceive fufficient eadem fpes, to declare the true notion of the Church as fuch, which is here the object of our cri facramenFaith; it remaineth therefore that we next confider the existence of the ta, femel dixChurch, which is acknowledged in the act of Faith applied to this object. erim, una For when I profefs and fay, I believe a Church, it is not only an acknow- mus. De Virg. ledgment of a Church which hath been, or of a Church which fhall be, but veland. cap. 2. also of that which is. When I fay, I believe in Chrift dead, I acknowledge Corpus fumus that death which once was, and now is not: for Chrift once died, but now tia religionis, is not dead. When I fay, I believe the Refurrection of the Body, I acknow- & difciplinæ ledge that which never yet was, and is not now, but fhall hereafter be. Thus fpei fædere. the act of Faith is applicated to the object according to the nature of it; to Apolog. cap. what is already paft, as paft; to what is to come, as ftill to come; to that 39. which is prefent, as it is still prefent. Now that which was then paft, when the Creed was made, must necessarily be always paft, and fo believed for ever; that which fhall never come to pass until the end of the world, when this de confcien unitate & 23. this publick profeffion of Faith fhall ceafe, that must for ever be believed as ftill to come. But that which was when the Creed began, and was to continue till the Creed fhall end, is propofed to our belief in every Age as being; and thus ever fince the first Church was conftituted, the Church it felf, as being, was the object of the Faith of the Church believing. The existence therefore of the Church of Chrift, (as that Church before is understood by us) is the continuation of it in an actual Being, from the first collection in the Apostles times unto the confummation of all things. And therefore to make good this explication of the Article, it will be neceffary to prove that the Church which our Saviour founded and the Apostles gathered was to receive a conftant and perpetual Acceffion, and by a fucceffive augmentation be uninterruptedly continued in an actual existence of believing perfons and congregations in all Ages unto the end of the World. Now this indeed is a proper object of Faith, because it is grounded only upon the promise of God; there can be no other affurance of the perpetuity of this Church, but what we have from him that built it. The Church is not of fuch a nature as would neceffarily, once begun, preserve it self for ever. Many thousand Perfons have fallen totally and finally from the Faith profeffed, and fo apoftatized from the Church. Many particular Churches have been wholly loft, many Candlesticks have been removed; neither is there any particular Church which hath any power to continue it felf more or longer than others; and confequently, if all particulars be defectible, the univerfal Church must also be fubject of it felf unto the fame defectibility. But though the providence of God doth fuffer many particular Churches to cease, yet the promise of the fame God will never permit that all of them at once fhall perish. When Christ fpake first particularly to S. Peter, he fealed his speech with a powerful promife of perpetuity, faying, Thou Mat. 16. 18. art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of bell fhall not prevail against it. When he spake generally to all the rest Mat. 28. 19, of the Apoftles to the fame purpofe, Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; he added a promise to the fame effect, and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the world. The first of these promises affureth us of the continuance of the Church, because it is built upon a Rock; for our Saviour had Mat. 7.24, expreffed this before, Whosoever heareth thefe fayings of mine, and doth them, I will liken him unto a wife man which built his houfe upon a rock, and the rain defcended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. The Church of Christ is the House of Chrift; for he hath builded the house, and Heb. 3.3, 6. is as a Son over his own house, whose houfe are we; and as a wife man, he hath built his House upon a Rock, and what is fo built fhall not fall. Ecclefiam fu- The latter of these promifes giveth not only an affurance of the continuance of the Church, but alfo the cause of that continuance, which is the precente Domi- fence of Chrift. Where two or three are gathered together in the name of no, Ecce ego Chrift, there he is in the midst of them, and thereby they become a Church; vobifcum for they are as a builded House, and the Son within that Houfe. Wherebus, &c. Leo fore being Chrift doth promise his prefence unto the Church, even unto the Epift. 31. S. 25. *Non deferit am Divina protectio, di omnibus die Aug. upon those words of the Pfal. 101. Exiguitatem dierum meorum annuncia mihi, maketh the Church to speak these words. Quid eft quod nefcio qui recedentes à me murmurant contra me; Quid eft quod perditi me periiffe contendunt? Certè enim hoc dicunt, Quia fui & non fum. Annuncia mihi exiguitatem dierum meorum. Non à te quæro illos dies æternos; illi fine fine funt, ubi ero, non ipfos quæro, temporales quæro, temporales dies mihi annuncia. Exiguitatem dierum meorum non æternitatem dierum meorum annuncia mihi. Quamdiu erò in ifto fæculo, annuncia mihi, propter illos qui dicunt, Fuit & jam non eft: propter illos qui dicunt, Impletæ funt Scripturæ, crediderunt omnes gentes, fed apoftatavit, & periit Ecclefia de omnibus gentibus: Quid eft hoc, Exiguitatem dierum meorum annuncia mihi? Et annunciavit, nec vacua fuit vox ifta. Quis annunciavit mihi nifi ipfa via: Quomodo annunciavit? Ecte ego vobifcum fum ufque ad confummationem faculi. Concione fecunda in Pfal. 101. end a a Fortè ifta Ci end of the world, he doth thereby affure us of the existence of the Church, until that time, of which his prefence is the caufe. Indeed, this is the City Pfal. 48. S. of the Lord of hofts, the City of our God, God will establish it for ever, as vitas, quæ great Prophet of the Church hath faid. the mundum tenuit, aliquan do evertetur. Abfit. Deus fundavit eam in æternum. Si ergo Deus fundavit eam in æternum, quid times ne cadat firmamentum? S. Aug. ad locum. Upon the certainty of this truth, the existence of the Church hath been propounded as an object of our Faith in every age of Christianity; and fo it ihall be ftill unto the end of the world. For thofe which are believers are the Church; and therefore if they do believe, they must believe there is a Church. And thus having fhewed in what the nature of a Church confifteth, and proved that a Church of that nature is of perpetual and indefectible existence by virtue of the Promifes of Chrift, I have done all which can be neceffary for the explication of this part of the Article, I believe the Church. 1:. After the confideration of that which is the fubject in this Article, followeth the explication of the affections thereof; which are two, fanctity and univerfality; the one attributed unto it by the Apostles, the other by the Fathers of the Church: by the first the Church is denominated Holy, by the fecond Catholick. Now the Church which we have defcribed, may be called holy in feveral refpects, and for feveral reafons: First, In reference to the vocation by which all the Members thereof are called and feparated from the reft of the World to God; which feparation in the Language of the Scriptures is a fanctification: and fo the calling being holy, (for God hath called us 2 Tim. 1: with an holy calling) the Body which is feparated and congregated thereby, may well be termed holy. Secondly, In relation to the Offices appointed, and the Powers exercised in the Church, which by their inftitution and operation are holy; that Church for which they were appointed, and in which they are exercifed, may be called holy. Thirdly, Because whofoever is called to profefs Faith in Chrift, is thereby engaged to holiness of life, according to the words of the Apostle, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ 2 Tim. 2. 19. depart from iniquity for thofe namers of the name, or named by the name of Christ, are fuch as called on his name; and that was the defcription of the Church: as when Saul did perfecute the Church, it is faid he had authority from the chief Priests to bind all that called upon the name of Acts 9.14,21. Christ; and when he preached Christ in the Synagogues, all that heard vid. Cor.1.2. him faid, Is not this he who deftroyed them which called on this name in Sogia ee Jerufalem? Being then all within the Church are by their profeffion obliged to fuch holiness of life, in respect of this obligation, the whole Church may be termed holy. Fourthly, In regard the end of conftituting a Church in God, was for the purchafing an holy and a precious People; and the great defign thereof was for the begetting and increafing holiness, that as God is originally holy in himself, fo he might communicate his fanctity to the fons Copias y of men, whom he intended to bring unto the fruition of himself, unto which, Peluf. Epift. without a previous fanctification, they can never approach, because without 246. 1. 2. bolinefs no man fhall ever fee God. in to it lis ὀρθῆς πίςεως eis Cunexxia ist, day is Tols κρατημθίων. Εκκλησία ἐςι, σαμθύοις. Ιd. For thefe four reafons, the whole Church of God, as it containeth in it all the perfons which were called to the profeffion of the Faith of Christ, or were baptized in his name, may well be termed and believed holy. But the Apoftle hath delivered another kind of holiness which cannot belong unto the Church taken in fo great a latitude. For, faith he, Christ loved the Church, Ephef. 5. 25, and gave himself for it, that he might fanctifie and cleanfe it by the 26, 27. washing of water by the word, that he might prefent it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any fuch thing, but that it Should be holy and without blemish. Now though it may be conceived that 3 Christ 30, 47. Mat. 3. 12. tene & nulla Christ did love the whole Church as it did any way contain all fuch as ever called upon his name, and did give himself for all of them: yet we cannot imagine that the whole body of all men could ever be fo holy, as to be without fpot, wrinkle, blemish, or any fuch thing. It will be therefore neceffary, within the great complex body of the univerfal Church, to find that Church to which this abfolute holiness doth belong and to this purpose it will be fit to confider both the difference of the perfons contained in the Church, as it hath been hitherto defcribed, while they continue in this life, and their different conditions after death; whereby we fhall at laft discover in what persons this holiness is inherent really, in what condition it is inherent perfectly, and confequently in what other fenfe it may be truly and properly affirmed that the Church is holy. Where firft we muft obferve that the Church, as it embraceth all the profeffors of the true Faith of Christ, containeth in it not only fuch as do truly believe and are obedient to the word, but thofe alfo which are hypocrites, and prophane. Many profefs the Faith, which have no true belief: many have fome kind of Faith, which live with no correfpondence to the Gospel preached. Within therefore the notion of the Church are comprehended good and bad, being both externally called, and both profeffing the fame Mat. 13. 24, Faith. For the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a field in which wheat and tares grow together unto the harvest; like unto a net that was cast into the fea, and gathered of every kind; like unto a floor in which is laid up wheat and chaff; like unto a marriage-feaft, in which fome have on the Fmiflime wedding-garment, and fome not. This is that ark of Noah in which were tenus dubites preferved beafts clean and unclean. This is that great house in which there aream Dei ef- are not only veffels of gold and of filver, but also of wood, and of earth, and fe Ecclefiain fome to honour, and fome to dishonour. There are many called of all which Catholicam, the Church confifteth, but there are few chofen, of thofe which are called, ufque in fi and thereby within the Church. I conclude therefore, as the ancient Cathonem feculi licks did against the * Donatifts, That within the Church, in the publick mixtas paleas profeffion and external communion thereof, are contained perfons truly good contineri,hoc and fanctified, and hereafter faved; and together with them other perfons eft, bonis ma- void of all faving Grace, and hereafter to be damned: and that Church contorum com-taining these of both kinds may well be called holy; as S. Matthew called Jemunionemif- rufalem the holy City, even at that time when our Saviour did but begin to ad Petrum, preach, when we know there was in that City a general corruption in manc. 43. ners and worship. & intra eam frumento los facramen ceri. Fulgent. Mat. 22. IO. The 2 Tim. 2. 20. S. Jerom joins these two together. Arca Noæ Ecclefiæ typus: ut in illa omnium animalium genera, ita & in hac univerfarium & gentium & morum homines funt, ut ubi pardus & hodi, lupus & agni, ita & hîc jufti & peccatores, id eft, vafa aurea & argentea cum lagenis & fictilibus commorantur. Dial. contra Luciferianos. opinion of the Donatifts confuted by the Catholicks is to be feen in S. Auguftine's Book, entituled, Breviculum Collationum. Upon which reflection in his Book, Poft Collationem, he obferves how they were forced by the testimony of those Scriptures which we have produced, to acknowledge that there were mingled with the good fuch as were occultly bad, Ecce etiam ipfi veritate Evangelicâ non aliud coacti funt confiteri quàm malos occultos, nunc ei permixtos effe, as the good and bad fish are taken in the fame net, because it could not difcern the bad from the good. And from thence he enforceth from their acknowledgment, that thofe which are apparently evil, are contained in the fame Church: Si enim propterea retibus bonos & malos congregantibus Ecclefiam comparavit, quia malos in Ecclefia non manifeftos fed latentes intelligi voluit, quos ita nefciunt facerdotes, quemadmodum fub fluctibus quid acceperint retia nefciunt Pifcatores. Propterea ergo & areæ comparata eft, ut etiam manifeftè mali cum bonis in ea praenunciarentur futuri. Neque enim palea quæ in area eft permixta frumentis, etiam ipfa fub fluctibus latet, quæ fic omnium oculis eft confpicua, ut potius occulta fint in ea frumenta, cùm fit ipfa manifefta. Lib. Poft Collat. cap. 9, 10. Of these promifcuously contained in the Church, fuch as are void of all faving grace while they live, and communicate with the reft of the Church, and when they pafs out of this life, die in their fins, and remain under the eternal wrath of God; as they were not in their perfons holy while they lived, fo are they no way of the Church after their death, neither as members of it, nor as contained in it. Through their own demerit they fall fhort of the glory unto unto which they were called, and being by death separated from the exter nal communion of the Church, and having no true internal communion with the members and the head thereof, are totally and finally cut off from the Church of Chrift. On the contrary, fuch as are efficaciously called, justified, and fanctified, while they live are truly holy, and when they die are perfectly holy; nor are they by their death feparated from the Church, but remain united still by virtue of that internal union by which they were before conjoined both to the members and the head. As therefore the Church is truly holy, not only by an holiness of inftitution, but also by a perfonal fanctity in reference to these Saints while they live, fo is it alfo perfectly holy, in relation to the fame Saints glorified in Heaven. And at the end of the World, when all the wicked fhall be turned into Hell, and confequently all cut off from the Communion of the Church; when the members of the Church remaining being perfectly fanctified, fhall be eternally glorified, then fhall the whole Church be truly and perfectly holy. Catholicks Then shall that be completely fulfilled, that Chrift fhall present unto him- Ephef. 2. 27. Self a glorious Church, which thall be holy and without blemish. Not that there are two Churches of Chrift; one, in which good and bad are mingled together; another, in which there are good alone: one, in which the Saints are imperfectly holy; another, in which they are perfectly fuch: but one and the fame Church in relation to * different times, admitteth or not admitteth * This was it the permixtion of the wicked, or the imperfection of the godly. To con- which the clude, The Church of God is univerfally holy in refpect of all, by inftitutions answered to and administrations of fanctity; the fame Church is really holy in this World, the Donatifts, in relation to all godly perfons contained in it, by a real infufed fanctity; objecting that the fame is farther yet at the fame time perfectly holy in reference to the they made Saints departed and admitted to the prefence of God; and the fame Church Churches, De fhall hereafter be most completely holy in the World to come, when all the duabus etiam members actually belonging to it, fhall be at once perfected in holiness and lumniam cocompleted in happiness. And thus I conceive the affection of the fanctity rum Catholifufficiently explicated. two diftinct Ecclefiis ca ci refutarunt, identidem expreffiùs o Atendentes quid dixerint, id eft, non eam Ecclefiam quae nunc habet permixtos malos alienam fe dixiffe à regno Dei, ubi non erunt mali commixti, fed eandem ipfam unam & fanctam Ecclefiam nunc effe aliter, tunc autem aliter fu turam, nunc habere malos mixtos, tunc non habituram, ficut nunc mortalem quòd ex mortalibus conftaret hominibus, tunc autem immortalem, quòd in ea nullus effet vel corpore moriturus, ficut non ideo duo Chrifti, quia prior mortuus poftea non moriturus. S. Auguft. Collat. 3. dièi. The next affection of the Church is that of univerfality, I believe the Holy CATHOLICK Church. Now the word Catholick, as it is not read in the Scriptures, fo was it not anciently in the Creed, (as we have already fhewn) but being inferted by the Church, muft neceffarily be inter preted by the fenfe which the most ancient Fathers had of it, and that sense must be confirmed, fo far as it is confentient with the Scriptures. To grant then that the word was not used by the * Apostles, we must alfo acknow- * It was the ledge that it was most anciently in ufe among the primitive Fathers, and that ordinary obas to feveral intents. For, firft, they called the Epiftles of S. James, S.Pe-jection of the fchifmatical ter, S. John, S. Jude, the † Catholick Epiftles, because when the Epiftles Novatians, written by S. Paul, were directed to particular Churches congregated in par- That the very ticular Cities, these were either fent to the Churches difperfed through a great tholicks was part of the World, or directed to the whole Church of God upon the face never used by of the whole Earth. Again, We obferve the Fathers to ufe the word Ca- the Apostles, tholick for nothing elfe but general or univerfal, in the originary or vulgar fwer to it by name of Ca and the an the Catholicks was by way of conceffion; Sed fub Apoftolis, inquies, nemo Catholicus vocabatur; Efto, fic fuerit, vel illud indul ge, &c. Pacianus ad Sympronianum, Epift. 1. † So S. Jerom of S. James; Unam tantum fcripfit Epiftolam quæ de feptem Catholicis eft: of S. Peter, Scripfit duas Epiftolas quæ Catholicæ nominantur: Of S. Jude, Judas frater Jacobi parvam quidem, quæ de feptem Catholicis eft, Epiftolam reliquit. This therefore was the common title Y y of |