The Government of the Churches of Christ, Book 6 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
The Reasons why God and Christ would have a Church, as the Seat of Divine Worship, wherein they might be Adored and Praised. What a Church is. That Saints or Persons Regenerated and Holy are the proper matter of it. The Church is either the Universal Mystical Church, or a particular Congregation. The grounds of this Distinction shewed from Scripture.
IT is the practice of all Societies and Corporations, at first embodying themselves to read over their Charter. Thus at the Assizes the Commission is first Read, and in Parliaments, the Writ, by which they are Summoned, is opened.
It is then requisite, when any number of Saints do, by mutual consent, joyn into so Holy a Fellowship as a Church is; to shew what Charter and Commission they have for it from Jesus Christ. The question otherwise may be put to us (which was put to Christ, Mat. 21. 23▪) By what Authority we do these things? Which Authority, if we are not able to produce, we incur that premunire, Acts 19. 40. We are in danger to be questioned by God, by Men, If there be no cause whereby we may give an account of this meeting. The word is foreign, whence, the name of foreign is given to such a Fellowship of Saints.
All inferior civil Societies do embody themselves by a liberty granted and derived from the Head of the Common-wealth they live in; especially when they take on them to exercise any judicial Acts. Therefore this Holy Divine Fellowship, must much more be Authorized by Christ the Head of the Church Universal, since those joyned in it, take upon them the Authority to Judge them within it, as occasion is, 1 Cor. 5. 12. As all meetings in civil Affairs are said to be in the King's Name, so we must prove this to be in Christ's Name: and for this we have that known place, Matth. 18. 20. Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, &c. Where he spaaks not of every Assembly of Saints; but of such an Assembly as doth make and constitute a Church; for (ver. 17.) those two or three to whom this promise is made are call'd the Church. And by Name is, among other things, chiefly meant the Power and Authority of Christ; and is usually so taken in Scripture. So Acts 4. 7. The Pharisees take it, asking the Apostles, by what Name or Power have you done this? And in that Sense the Apostles make answer, ver. 10. Know that, by the Name of Christ, this Man stands whole before you.
That there is and ought to be a Church is the confession of all the Professors of the Name of Christ: Papists and Protestants agree in this Assertion, it being a Principle of the Gospel, universally asserted to by all, to whom the sound of the Gospel is come: As, that there is a God, is owned by all to whom the sound or preaching of the Works of God is come. As that Notion of a God was preserved in the ruines of the fall; so the Notion that there is a Church hath been preserved, notwithstanding the Apostacy and falling away of Nations to Antichrist, and accordingly hath been Transmitted to us. And as that Notion, that there is a God, was the occasion of an Idolatry and false Worship through Darkness; and of Worshipping a false God, not knowing the true: So this Notion, that there is a Church on Earth, hath, through the like Darkness been the main occasion of all Errors about Ecclesiastical Government, Men not discerning what was the Church which Christ intended.
And indeed, that God should have a Church, is exceeding natural and requisite.
1. The Divine Nature in God desires it, as it desires communication of it self to the Creatures, that they might glorifie him, so it design'd a communication of it self to many, and to many together united, mutually to praise him. The God-head it self is naturally communicated to three Persons, who mutually rejoyce each in the other, and together in the Union and Participation of such glorious Attributes, Prov. 8. 30. There is a blessed Fellowship between those three Persons; and God would also have Creatures taken up into the same Fellowship; not only each a-part with himself; but mutually together to glorifie him, which is the nature of a Church. Those three Persons that were three in one, would have a Church of Creatures also; and resolv'd, that many should become one, as they are one, John 17. 21. 23. The Gospel is called the Fellowship of the Mystery, Ephes. 3. 9. Wisdom also loves to open and cry her precious Wares in places of concourse, Prov. 1. 21. Psal. 22. 22. Psal. 40. 9, 10. Christ who was this Wisdom of his Father says, he had declared his Faithfulness not to his Brethren only apart, but together in the great Congregation, (Psal. 35. 18.) Because thereby Glory and Praises, being joynt and mutual, are so much the more encreased; for Glory manifested Results out of the Apprehensions and Encomiums of many joyned: Therefore God, e're he would so fully communicate himself, desires a meeting, and an Assembly of the People. So Exod. 25. 8. Let them make me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell among them; and Exod. 29. 42, 43, 44. There I will meet with you, that is, when they are all met there. And therefore it is called, in the Original, the Meeting-place; so that if there be a God, he will have a Church to Worship and praise him.
2. Jesus Christ desires it also, who was to be made glorious; and therefore was to have a Church, that is, many united in one, whereof he might be the Head: So Ephes. 1. 22. God gave him to be Head to the Church. It was a priviledge to him to have a Church, she is therefore given him; and as this was his desire too, his Father in answer bestows her on him, Ask and I will give thee, Psal. 2. 8. As he was to be a Head, so to have a Body; in whom, as in a Head, they might be gathered together in one, ver. 10. He was to have many Brethren; and his desire was, that they might be gathered together about him. Thus he declares, Psal. 22. 22. and thus he promises to them when assembled on Earth, Matth. 18. and thus he Prays, John 17. 24. That he and they may be together. So as if there be a Christ, there is to be a Church also.
3. The Divine nature in us, (2 Pet. 1. 4.) breath's after such a Fellowship. As Reason and Understanding desires communion with Men, since Man is by Nature (as he that had but Nature said) Animal foreign sociable, a sociable Creature, so a Saint is too. As it was not good for Adam, the New Creature of the First World, to be alone; so nor for the New Creature of Christ's World. It was that one thing of Davids Desires, that is, the Top the chief of them, Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired. to dwell in the House of the Lord. The Church, as they have a Relation to Christ, so likewise one to another; for they are not an Holy Seed only, but an Holy Nation, a Royal Kindred: Who, out of an instinct, desire Fellowship one with another. They are taught of God, (says the Apostle, 1 Thes. 4. 9.) And therefore as natural instincts shew themselves in Creatures, who, when new fall'n from the Dam, gather in a company about it; so a Spiritual instinct shews it self in those, who, being new Born, associate together. So in Phil. 1. 5. Paul gives thanks for their Fellowship in the Gospel from the first Day; as if, when they were not an Hours standing, they desire it. And therefore in the Acts, to be converted to the Church and to the Lord are used promiscuously; they breathing after a Church-Fellowship with the Saints as well as with God.
But our Business further, is to enquire what manner of Church it is, which Christ would have erected; and unto which his promise is made that he will be in the midst of them.
We shall come the better to know what this Church in particular is to be, if we enquire what the Church in general is?
A Church in general is an Assembly of Saints, of Believers, of Men called.
1. It is a Company or Assembly united. If there had been but one Angel, or one Man saved, he had not made a Church. 'Tis a Body that hath many Members, 1 Cor. 12. 15. and Rom. 12. 6. We being many, are one Body. 'Tis a Nation, 1 Pet. 2. 9. A Flock, an Houshold, a Kingdom, a Common wealth, Ephes. 2. 12. The same Men, that considered a-part are call'd Saints, collectively taken, are called the Church.
2. A Church is a company united in one, for without Union, they are not a Church, but a confused Multitude; Therefore it is called one Body, Ephes. 4. 4. as there is one God, and one Spirit, &c. 1 Cor. 12. 12, 13. And Ephes. 4. 16. it is said to be knit together.
3. A Church is a company of Saints united in one. It is a Society of Believers who are called, as 'tis a Nation for Multitude and Order, so 'tis a Holy Nation, 1 Pet. 2. 9. as it is an Houshold, so of Faith. As it is a Common-wealth, so of Israel, Ephes. 2. 12. As it is a Temple, so an Holy Temple, ver. 21. Holiness becomes thine House, Psal. 93. 5. It is a Congregation, but of Saints, Psal. 89. 5. 1 Cor. 1. 2. To the Church of God at Corinth; to them that are Sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be Saints, not by Invitation only, as if all to whom ever the Gospel is Preached, might have that name; for so the West-Indians, if but Preach'd unto, should be called. But they are called Saints by qualification, that is, they are Sanctified. They that were not my People shall be called my People, Rom. 9. 25. (called Saints) that is, that are Saints; for God calls things as they are. They are called with an Holy Calling, 2 Tim. 1. 9. To all callings a qualification is required. If a Man is to be of the Privy-Counsel, the place requires that he should be Wise: If he is to be of a Company to Trade, it is requisite that he be brought up to it: If he is a Minister, that he be Gifted; and so, if he be of a Church, that he be Holy.
4. It is a company joyned to have Fellowship with Christ, 1 Cor. 1. 9. It is called therefore Christ, 1 Cor. 12. 12. and Complementum Christi, the fullness of Christ, Eph. 1. 23.
The Kingdom is Spiritual, so are the Subjects; for Christ is, in Relation to his Church, a King of Saints, Rev. 15. 3. To be in a Church is to be fellow Citizens with Saints, Eph. 2. 19. and with Christ, 1 Cor. 1. 9. And as Reason only fits us to have Fellowship with Men; so Grace only qualifies us to have communion with Saints and Christ. A Fellowship is of those who are alike in Nature and Disposition. Thus God would not have Adam joyned in Fellowship with Beasts, and therefore made a Woman for him, as a meet companion, much less will God admit his Second Adam Christ, and his Members to be joyned with Swine. What Fellowship is there between Righteousness and Ʋnrighteousness, 2 Cor. 6. 14, 15, 16, 17. They are a Temple to God, and the Stones which frame it are Hewn, before they are laid in the material Building, 1 Kings 17, 18. and therefore they are to be lively Stones, not Dead, as Peter alludes, 1 Pet. 2. 5. They are a Body, and the Body of Christ, and therefore the Members are to be simular to the Head. Hence hath arisen that distinction of a Church Mystical, and of a Church Instituted, which suppose the same matter, the same Men, and which are but several Adjuncts of the same matter or relations, whereof the one may be Superadded to the other. As in Holland, the same Man that is a Member of the Society of the States General is also, and may be also, of the States of a particular Town; but yet still he must be a Dutchman: Or as in London, every Man of a particular Company, may also be a Member of the Common-Council of the whole City, but yet he must be a Londoner, and free of the City. So here in this case, if a Person is a Member of the Church Mystical, or of an Instituted Church, he ought to be a Saint. As a Church in general is a Company and Assembly of Saints united; so the Church Mystical is the general Assembly of all Saints on Earth united in Christ to him, and one to another: And the Church Instituted is, a particular Assembly of Saints on Earth, united in Christ by a special Covenant. The Members of both the one and the other, are to be Saints united into a Company and Assembly, that so there may be a communion.
1. I will show the ground for this Distinction of Church, in Scripture.
1. There one Church is called The General Assembly, and the Church of the first Born, Heb. 12. 23. An Assembly it is, and a General Assembly: And that part of the distinction argues, there is another to be found from which, by that word, it is Distinguisht. And therefore, there are particular Assemblies, which also must be called a Church. Members of this General Assembly, these Hebrews were; for he saith, ver. 22. Ye are come to this General Assembly as being made a part of it: And that these Hebrews were also Members of particular Assemblies, though Dispersed through all Countries, and that they had a Relation unto them, is expresly mentioned, Heb. 10. 3. 25. Not forsaking the Assembling of our selves together. And they were so to Assemble, as in a special Relation joyned to consider and exhort one another.
Yea, more expresly we find this mentioned, 1 Cor. 12. 27. where having Discoursed of the whole Body in the former verses, he (in ver. 27.) draws down all he had said in the General of the whole Church, to that particular Church at Corinth, to whom he Writes, chap. 1. 2. Now ye are the Body of Christ (says the Apostle) and Members in particular: Where the Phrase in particular, hath Reference both to Body, as well as to Members. So as the meaning is this, that they in particular, made a Body of Christ; and were Members one of another, also in particular. And therefore all that he had Discoursed of the Nature of the Body, and the Members, and the Offices, and Duties in General, he brings home as particularly true of them, as making a special Body a-part, so the word is foreign. They were a Body a-part in Relation to other Churches, and more particularly Members one of another, and that in such a particular manner, as they were not so of any Church else. The like we have as express, Ephes. 2. Where having Discoursed of the Body Mystical, as made up both of Jews and Gentiles, as appears by ve. 16. he shews (ver. 19.) their Relation thereunto. Ye are no more Strangers, but fellow Citizens with the Saints, and of the Houshold of God, (namely, that great Houshold of Heaven and Earth, as he calls it, (chap. 15. and are Built, &c. ver. 20. With all Saints into an Holy Temple. And then he further adds, ver. 22. and you also are Builded together for an Habitation of God, through the Spirit. Where 1. He means some one more special further Temple, then to be Members of the Mystical general Building: For he had said before, ver. 19, 20. Ye are Built up with the whole Church into such a Temple, and it needed not so Emphatically be Repeated again. But in that he says, you also foreign, &c. he affirms some further thing of them, then what he had said of them before. He means something more than that, whereas the whole Body is built into a Temple, they are built with them, as a part of that Temple: For that he had said afore (ver. 19.) they being part of that whole Temple, of which he says, all is built, &c. ver. 20. 2. he makes them a distinct Temple from the former, and plainly intends, that as with the whole they grew up into a Temple: So they in particular, were built up as an Habitation, besides the other. You Ephesians, and you as together considered (says he) foreign, are built up together. So as he speaks it not of that Personal Relation and Conjunction, which they had with all the rest of the Saints in the World, and which every one had privately and personally to the Mystical Church (for that was as common to the Galatians as to them) but he means that which they had together in a more peculiar manner, in joynt Relation each to other. If he had designed only their common Relation, he would rather have said, you together with all Saints, are thus built up, but this he had said afore; but now (says he) You Ephesians together one with another, are built up into a more special House, or private Oratory (as I may allude to private Chappels in great Cathedrals) or little Sanctuary (as the Prophet speaks, Ezek. 11. 16.) private by themselves. I might prove the same out of Ephes. 4. where having first at large Discoursed of the whole Body on Earth (ver. 12.) he then passeth (ver. 16.) to the use, and end, and benefit of a particular Congregation, which he also calls a whole Body fitly joyned together, so as to supply Nourishment, and to edifie each other. Which of all the Saints on Earth, making up a Mystical Body, cannot be said; for how is every one so Dispersed able to edifie each other in love?
And because there is the same Reason every way of the Body Mystical, and of the Body Instituted; therefore the same priviledges every way, which appertain to the whole Body Mystical, do belong also as fully to every such particular Church, so as indeed they are one, that is, there is unica & eadem ratio, one and the same consideration of the one and the other, as there is the same Nature of a drop that is of the Ocean, since both are Wrater, the one as well as the other. Therefore the Apostles do so promiscuously speak the same things of the one and the other; and in their Discourses, pass without much Distinction from the one to the other. As he that reads an Anatomy of the Body of Man in general, may be said to read it of every Man in particular: So what is said of the invisible Church may be said and applyed to the visible. As the one is called the Body of Christ, so is the other. Yea, as the one is called the whole Body of Christ, so is the other. So of the Church of the Corinths he says, when the whole Church is come together in one place. For the Church of Christ is totum homogeneum, an Homogeneal whole, whose parts are of the same Nature with it self; and so what is said of the whole, is said of every part.