gregation of men, or a company assembled, if we consider the use of it. But neither of these doth fully express the nature of the Church, what it is in itself, and as it is propounded to our belief.

Our second observation is, That the Church hath been taken for the whole complex of men and angels worshipping the same God; and again, the angels being not considered, it hath been taken as comprehending all the sons of men believing in God ever since the foundation of the World.* But being Christ took not upon him the nature of angels, and consequently did not properly purchase them with his blood, or call them by his word; being they are not in the Scriptures mentioned as parts or members of the Church, nor can be imagined to be built upon the prophets or apostles; being we are at this time to speak of the proper notion of the Church; therefore I shall not look upon it as comprehending any more than the sons of men. Again, being though Christ was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the World, and whosoever from the beginning pleased God were saved by his blood: yet because there was a vast difference between the several dispensations of the Law and Gospel; because our Saviour spake expressly of building himself a Church, when the Jewish synagogue was about to fail; because catholicism, which is here attributed unto the Church, must be understood in opposition to the legal singularity of the Jewish nation; because the ancient fathers were generally wont to distinguish between the Synagogue and the Church;+ therefore I think it necessary to restrain this notion to Christianity.

than κλῆσις, as κλητεύειν and ἐκκλητεύειν with the Attics were the same: from whence it came to pass, that the same preposition hath been twice added in the composition of the same word; from ἐκκαλεῖν ἐκκλησία, from thence ἐκκλησιάζειν, and because the preposition had no signification in the use of that word, from thence εξεκκλησιάζειν, to convocate, or call together. But yet ixxλncia is not the same with xxλnois, not the evocation or the action of calling, but the xλntol, or the company called, and that (according to the use) gathered together; from whence ixκλησιάζειν is to gather together, or to be gathered. Hence St. Cyril; 'Exxλnoia δὲ καλεῖται φερωνύμως, διὰ τὸ πάντας ἐκκαλεῖσθαι καὶ ὁμοῦ συνάγειν. Catech. xviii. 6. 11. So Ammonius: Εκκλησίαν ἔλεγον οἱ ̓Αθηναῖοι τὴν σύνοδον τῶν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν. δ.

Εδοξέ μοι περὶ πρῶτον ὕπνον ἐν τῇ Πνυκὶ Εκκλησιάζειν πρόβατα συγκαθήμενα. Where, though the scholiast hath rendered ἐκκλησιάζειν, εἰς ἐκκλησίαν συνάγειν, whereby the lexicographers have been deceived; yet the word is even there taken as a neuter, in the passive sense, as generally the Attics use it. Howsoever, from the notation of the word we cannot conclude that it signifies a number of men called together into one assembly out of the mass or generality of mankind: first, because the preposition ix hath no such force in the use of the word; secondly, because the collection or coming together is not specified in the origination.

Translatus in Paradisum, jam tuLc de mundo in ecclesiam.' Tertull. 1. ii. adv. Marcion. c. 4.

Thus St. Ignatius speaking of Christ: Αὐτὸς ὢν θύρα τοῦ Πατρὸς, δι ̓ ἧς εἰσέρχονται ̓Αβραὰμ, καὶ Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ Ἰακώβ, καὶ οἱ Προφῆται, καὶ οἱ Απόστολοι, καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία. Ερ. ad. Philad. §. 9. Where xxλnoia is plainly taken for the multitude of Christians, who were converted to the faith by the apostles, and those who were after

Thirdly, Therefore I observe that the only way to attain unto the knowledge of the true notion of the Church, is to search into the New Testament, and from the places there which mention it, to conclude what is the nature of it. To which purpose it will be necessary to take notice, that our Saviour first speaking of it, mentions it as that which then was not, but afterwards was to be ;* as when he spake unto the great apostle, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;" (Matt. xvi. 18.) but when he ascended into heaven, and the Holy Ghost came down, when Peter had converted "three thousand souls," (Acts ii. 41.) which were added to the "hundred and twenty" disciples, (Acts i. 15.) then was there a Church (and that built upon Peter,t according to our Saviour's promise); for after that we read, "the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved." (Acts ii. 47.) A Church then our Saviour promised should be built, and by a promise made before his death: after his ascension, and upon the preaching of St. Peter, we find a Church built or constituted, and that of a nature capable of daily increase. We cannot then take a better occasion to search into the true notion of the Church of Christ, than by looking into the origination and increase thereof; without which it is impossible to have a right conception of it.‡

Now what we are infallibly assured of the first actual existence of a Church of Christ, is only this: there were twelve apostles with the disciples before the descent of the Holy Ghost, and the "number of the names together were a hundred and twenty." (Acts i. 15.) When the Holy Ghost came

wards joined to them in the profession of the same faith. Sacrificia in populo, sacrificia et in ecclesia.' Iren. adv. Hæres. 1. iv. c. 34. Disseminaverunt sermonem de Christo Patriarchæ et Prophetæ ; demessa est autem ecclesia, hoc est, fructum percepit.' Id. l. iv. c. 25. Quid ? Judaicus populus circa beneficia divina perfidus et ingratus, nonne quod a Deo primum recessit, impatientiæ crimen fuit? Impatientia etiam in ecclesia hæreticos facit.' S. Cyprian. de Bono Patient. §. 11. 'Quis non agnoscat Christum reliquisse matrem Synagogam Judæorum, Veteri Testamento carnaliter adhærentem, et adhæsisse uxori suæ, sanctæ ecclesiæ ?' S. August. contra Faust. 1. xii. c. 8. Mater Sponsi Domini nostri Jesu Christi Synagoga est; proinde nurus ejus ecclesia.' Idem, Enarr. in Psal. 44. §. 12.

*In quem ingruerunt-in ecclesiam? quam nondum Apostoli struxerant.' Tertull. de Bapt. c. 11.

+ Qualis es evertens atque commutans manifestam Domini intentionem personaliter hoc Petro conferentem. Su

per te, inquit, ædificabo ecclesiam meam, et dabo tibi claves, non ecclesiæ. Sic enim et exitus docet: in ipso ecclesia exstructa est, id est, per ipsum, ipse clavem imbuit; vides quam; Viri Israelitæ, auribus mandate que dico: Jesum Nazarenum, virum a Deo vobis destinatum, et reliqua.' Tertull. de Pudicitia, c. 21. So St. Basil: Εὐθὺς γὰρ ἐκ τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης νοοῦμεν Πέτρον τὸν διὰ τῆς πίστεως ὑπεροχὴν ἐφ ἑαυτὸν τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας δεξάμενον. Adv. Eunom. 1. ii. §. 4. St. Peter took upon himself the building of the Church, that is, to build the Church, which he then performed, when he preached the Gospel by which the Church was first gathered.

Tertullian, mentioning the Acts of the Apostles, addeth these words: 'Quam Scripturam qui non recipiunt, nec Spiritus Sancti esse possunt, qui necdum Spiritum possint agnoscere discentibus missum sed nec ecclesiam defendere, qui quando et quibus incunabulis institutum est hoc corpus, probare non habent.' De Præscr. Hæret. c. 22.

called a Church, (Rom. xvi. 5.) as the Church in the house of Priscilla and Aquila, (1 Cor. xvi. 19.)* the Church in the house of Nymphas, (Col. iv. 15.) the Church in the house of Philemon; (Phil. 2.) which Churches were nothing else but the believing and baptized persons of each family, with such as they admitted and received into their house to join in the worship of the same God.

Again, When the Scripture speaketh of any country where the Gospel had been preached, it nameth always by way of plurality the Churches of that country, as the Churches of Judea, of Samaria and Galilee, the Churches of Syria and of Cilicia, the Churches of Galatia, the Churches of Asia, the Churches of Macedonia.+ But notwithstanding there were several such Churches or congregations of believers in great and populous cities, yet the Scriptures always speak of such congregations in the notion of one Church: as when St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "Let your women keep silence in the Churches," (1 Cor. xiv. 34.) yet the dedication of the Epistle is, "Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth." (1 Cor. i. 2.) So we read not of the Churches, but the Church at Jerusalem, the Church at Antioch, the Church at Cæsarea, the Church at Ephesus, the Church of the Thessalonians, the Church of Laodicea, the Church of Smyrna, the Church of Pergamus, the Church of Thyatira, the Church of Sardis, the Church of Philadelphia. From whence it appeareth that a collection of several congregations, every one of which is in some sense a Church, and may be called so, is properly one Church by virtue of the subordination of them all in one government under one ruler. For thus in those great and populous cities where Christians were very numerous, not only those of several Churches within the cities, but all those also in the adjacent parts, were united under the care and inspection of one bishop, and therefore was accounted one Church; the number of the Churches following the number of the angels, that is, the rulers of them, as is evident in the Revelation.

Now as several Churches are reduced to the denomination of one Church, in relation to the single governor of those many Churches; so all the Churches of all cities and all nations in the world may be reduced to the same single denomination, in relation to one supreme governor of them all, and that one

St. Chrysostom observeth of Priscilla and Aquila : Οὕτω γὰρ ἦσαν εὐδόκιμοι, ὡς καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἐκκλησίαν ποιῆσαι, διά τε τοῦ πάντας ποιῆσαι πιστῶς, καὶ διὰ τοῦ τοῖς ξένοις aúrny àvoiţaι mãow. Homil. 30. in Epist. ad Romanos.

+ Gal. i. 22. Acts ix. 31. 1 Cor. xvi. 1. 19. Rev. i. 11. 1 Thess. ii. 14. 2 Cor. viii. 1. Gal. i. 2.

Acts viii. 1. xi. 22. xiii, 1. xv. 3. xviii. 22. xx. 17. 2 Thess i. 1. Col. iv.

16. Rev. ii. 8. 12. 18. iii. 1. 7. 14. And thus after they grew yet far more numer ous in the time of Clemens bishop of Rome: Ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ παρακούσα Ῥώμην, τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ παροικούσῃ Κόpivov. Proam. Ep. 1. So after him Ignatius : Τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῇ ἀξιομακαρίστῳ τῇ οὔση ἐν Ἐφέσῳ τῆς ̓Ασίας. Proam. Epist. ad Ephes. and : ἐκκλησίᾳ ἁγίᾳ τῇ οὔσῃ ἐν Τράλο A. Proam. Epist. ad Trall. And so the rest.

governor is Christ, the Bishop of our souls. Wherefore the apostle, speaking of that in which all Churches do agree, comprehendeth them all under the same appellation of one Church; and therefore often by the name of Church* are understood all Christians whatsoever belonging to any of the Churches dispersed through the distant and divided parts of he world. For the single persons professing faith in Christ are members of the particular Churches in which they live, and all those particular Churches are members of the general and universal Church, which is one by unity of aggregation; and this is the Church in the CREED which we believe, and which is in other Creeds, expressly termed one, I believe in one holy catholick Church.

It will therefore be farther necessary for the understanding of the nature of the Church which is thus one, to consider in what that unity doth consist. And being it is an aggregation not only of many persons, but also of many congregations, the unity thereof must consist in some agreement of them all, and adhesion to something which is one. If then we reflect upon the first Church again, which we found constituted in the Acts, and to which all other since have been in a manner added and conjoined, we may collect from their union and agreement, how all other Churches are united and agree. Now they were described to be believing and baptized persons, converted to the faith by St. Peter, continuing steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and prayers. These then were all built upon the same rock, all professed the same faith, all received the same sacraments, all performed the same devotions, and thereby were all reputed members of the same Church. To this Church were added daily such as should be saved, who became members of the same Church by being built upon the same foundation, by adhering to the same doctrine, by receiving the same sacraments, by performing the same devotions. (Acts ii. 41, 42. 44. 47.)

From whence it appeareth that the first unity of the Church considered in itself, beside that of the Head, which is one Christ, and the life communicated from that Head, which is one Spirit, relieth upon the original of it, which is one; even as a house built upon one foundation, though consisting of many rooms, and every room of many stones, is not yet many, but one house. Now there is but one foundation upon which the Church is built, and that is Christ. "For other foundation

* Matt. xvi. 18. 1 Cor. xii. 28. xv. 9. Gal. i. 13. Ephes. i. 22. iii. 10. 21. v. 23. 25. 27. 29. 32. Phil. iii. 6. Col. i. 18. 24. Heb. xii. 23. Of this, as of one Church, Celsus calls the Christians: Toùç ἀπὸ μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας. Apud.Orig. l. v.5.59.

So the Creeds of Epiphanius, in Anευταίο: Πιστεύομεν εἰς μίαν ἁγίαν καθολικὴν

καὶ ἀποστολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν. §. 120, 121. δο the Jerusalem Creed in St. Cyril. Thus the Nicene, with the additions of the Council of Constantinople : μίαν ἁγίαν και θολικὴν καὶ ἀποστολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν. Thus also the Alexandrian, as appeareth by those already quoted of Alexander, Arius, and Euzoius.

after a powerful and miraculous manner upon the blessed apostles, and St. Peter preached unto the Jews that they should "repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." (Acts ii. 31. 41.) These being thus added to the rest, "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers;" (Ibid. 42.) and all these persons so continuing are called the Church. What this Church was is easily determined, for it was a certain number of men, of which some were apostles, some the former disciples, others were persons which repented, and believed, and were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and continued hearing the word preached, receiving the sacraments administered, joining in the public prayers presented unto God. This was then the Church, which was daily increased by the addition of other persons received into it upon the same conditions, making up "the multitude of them that believed, who were of one heart and one soul," (Acts iv. 32.) "believers added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." (Acts v. 14.)

But though the Church was thus begun, and represented unto us as one in the beginning, though that Church which we profess to believe in the CREED, be also propounded unto us as one; and so the notion of the Church in the Acts of the Apostles might seem sufficient to express the nature of that Church which we believe: yet because that Church which was one by way of origination,† was afterwards divided into many, the actual members of that one becoming the members of several Churches; and that Church which we believe, is otherwise one by way of complexion, receiving the members of all Churches into it; it will be necessary to consider, how at the first those several Churches were constituted, that we may understand how in this one Church they were all united. To which purpose it will be farther fit to examine the several acceptations of this word, as it is diversely used by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament; that, if it be possible, nothing may escape our search, but that all things may be weighed, before we collect and conclude the full notion of the Church from thence.

First, then, that word which signifies the Church in the original Greek, is sometimes used in the vulgar sense according as the native Greeks did use the same to express their conventions, without any relation to the worship of God or Christ, and therefore is translated by the word assembly, (Acts xix. 32. 41.) of as great a latitude. Secondly, It is sometimes used

Cum remisissent summi Sacerdotes Petrum et Ioannem, et reversi essent ad reliquos co-apostolos et discipulos Domini, id est, in ecclesiam.' Iren.adv. Hær. 1. iii. c. 12. Hæ voces ecclesiæ, ex qua habuit omnis ecclesia initium.' Iren. ibid.