Whole Works, Tracts 1 · Tract 4 · Part 1
¶ What the Church is.
THis worde Churche Signification of the … are ….hath diuerſe ſignifications. Firſt it ſignifieth a place or houſe, whether Chriſten people were wont in the old tyme to reſorte at tymes cōuenient, for to heare the word of doctrine, the law of God & the fayth of our Sauiour Ieſus Chriſt, & how and what to pray and whence to aſke power and ſtrength to liue godly. For The miniſters of the … are … to preach to yt people ſ…ly the wo… of … & to pray in a …vnderſtand.the officers therto appointed preached the price word of God onelyonly and pray…d in a t…ng that all men vnderſtode. And yt people hearkned vntounto his prayers, & ſayd thereto Amē & prayed with him in their hartes, & of him learned to pray at home and eueryevery where, and to inſtruct eueryevery man his houſhold.
Where now we heare but voyces with out ſignification and buzſinges, howlynges and cryinges, as it were the ha…yng…s of Foxes or baytings of Bear…s, & wonder at diſguiſings & t…yes wherof we know no meanyng.
By reaſon wherof we be fallen into ſuch ignorauncie, that we know of the mercy & promiſes whiche are in Chriſt nothyng at all.
And of the law of God we thinke as do the Turkes, and as did the old The lawe cannot be fulfilled wt workes or they neuer ſo holy.heathen people, how that it is a thyng which eueryevery man may do of his owne power, and in doyng therof becōmeth good and waxeth righteous and deſerueth heauen: yea and are yet more mad then that. For we imagine the ſame of Phantaſies and vayne ceremonies of our owne making, neither nedefull vntounto the tamyng of our owne fleſh, neither profitable vntounto our neighbour, neither honour vntounto God.
And of prayer we thinke, that no A great abuſe in prayer.man can pray but at Church, and that it is nothing els but to ſay Pater noſter vntounto a poſt. Wherewith yet and with other obſeruaūces of our owne imaginyng, we beleue, we deſerue to be ſped of all that our blynd hartes deſire.
In an other ſignification it is abuſed The church taken for the ſpiritualty.and miſtakē for a multitude of ſhauen ſhorne, and oyled which we now call the ſpiritualtie and Clergy. As when we read in the Chronicles kyng William was a great tyraūt and a wicked King William.man vntounto holy Church and tooke much landes from them. Kyng Iohn King Iohn.was alſo a per…ous man and a wicked vntounto holy Church, & would hauehave had them puniſhed for theft, murther and what ſoeuer miſchief they dyd, as though they had not bene people annoynted, but euē of the vile raſcall and common lay people.
And Thomas Becket was a bleſſed & an holy man for he dyed for the liberties S. Thomas of Caunterbury.(to do all miſchief vnpuniſhed) & priuileges of the Church. Is he a laye man or a man of the Church? Such is the liuing of holy Church. So men ſay Holy Church hath bornt a great ſwinge.of holy church. Ye muſt beleue in holy Church & do as they teach you. Will ye not obey holy Church? Will ye not do the penaunce enioyned you by holy Church? Will yet not forſweare obedience vntounto holy Church? Beware leaſt ye fal into yt indignatiō of holy church, leſt they curſe you & ſo forth. In which The Pope and his rable takē for the church.all we vnderſtand but ye Pope, Cardinals, Legates, Patriarckes, Archbyſhops, Byſhops, Abbotes, Priours, Chauncelers, Archdeacons, Commiſſaries, Officials, Prieſtes, Monkes, Friers, Blacke, Whit, Pied, Grey, and ſo forth, by (I trow) a thouſand names of blaſphemy and of hypocriſies & as many ſundry faſhions of diſguiſinges.
It hath yet or ſhould hauehave an other ſignification, little knowen among the common people now a dayes. That is to wit, it ſignifieth a congregation, a multitude or a company gathered together The church is a cong…gation of people of all ſortes gathered together.in one, of all degrees of people. As a mā would ſay, the church of Lō don, meaning not the ſpiritualtie onelyonly (as they will be called for their diligent ſeruing of God in the ſpirite, and ſo ſore eſchuing to meddle wyth temporall matters) but the whole bodye of the citie, of all kindes, conditions & degrees: and the church of Briſtow, all that pertaine vntounto the towne generally. And what congregation is mēt, thou ſhalt alway vnderſtand by the matter that is entreated of, and by the circumſtaunces thereof.
And in this third ſignification is the The church of God how it is taken in Scripture.church of God or Chriſt taken in the ſcripture, euē for the whole multitude of all them that receaue the name of Chriſt to beleue in him, and not for the clergy onelyonly. For Paule ſayth Gal. i. Gal. 1.I perſecuted the church of God aboue meaſure, which was not the preachers onelyonly, but all that beleued generally, as it is to ſee Act. xxij. where he ſaith, Actes. 23.I perſecuted this way euen vntounto the death, binding and putting in priſon both men and women. And Gal. i. I Gal. 1.was vnknowen concerning my perſon vntounto the congregations of the Iewes which were in Chriſt. And Rom. Rom. 16.xvi. I commende vntounto you Phebe the Deaconi…e of the church of Cenchris. And the churches of Aſia ſalute you. i. 1. Cor. 16.Corin. the laſt.
And if a man can not rule his owne houſe, how ſhall he take the care of the church of God. i. Tim. iij? if any faithfull 1. Tim. 3.man or woman hauehave widdowes, let them finde them, that the church be not charged. i. Tim. v. And Mat. 18. 1. Tim. 5.if thy brother heare thee not, tell the church or congregation and ſo forth. The church is a multitude of all them that beleue in Chriſt whereſoeuer …hey be gathered together.In which places and thoroughout all the ſcripture, the church is taken for ye whole multitude of them that beleue in Chriſt in that place, in that pariſhe, towne, citie, prouince, land, or thoroughout all the worlde, and not for the ſpiritualtie onelyonly.
Notwithſtāding yet it is ſomtimes taken generally for all them that embrace A double ſignificatiō of this worde church.the name of Chriſt, though their faithes be naught, or though they hauehave no fayth at all. And ſometimes it is taken ſpecially for the electe onelyonly, in whoſe hartes God hath written hys lawe with his holy ſpirite, and geuen them a feeling faith of the mercy that is in Chriſt Ieſu our Lord.