PART

I.

Q. 2. Is there not another word, the same both in Greek and Latin, by which CHURCH is expressed?

A. Yes, ECCLESIA.

Q. 3. Whence is this word derived?

A. From the Geek ix, forth, and xanéw, to call. Q. 4. How is this word modified in living European languages?

A. In Italian it has become Chiesa; in French, Eglise; and in Spanish, Iglésia.

Q. 5. What did the word Ecclesia originally mean?

A. A Public Assembly; and it was specially applied to designate the Popular Assembly at Athens, to which all free citizens were convoked, and which was summoned by Presidents (puráveis), each of whom (as ἐπαστάτης) held in rotation the keys of the Civic Treasury and Archives and the State Seal.

1 Bp. PEARSON on the Creed, Art. ix.

2 JULIUS POLLUX, viii. 6. HERMANN'S Manual of Polit. Antiq. of Greece, & 127.

Q. 6. What do you infer from the two words, Κυριακή and Εκκλησία, with respect to the character of the Church?

A. That it is the Lord's House, or Common Assembly of His People, presided over by Persons intrusted with certain powers, and to whom men are convoked as the Athenians were to their Ecclesia.1

1 FIELD on the Church, i. 5.

Bp. PEARSON on the Creed, Art. ix. note. 'Exxλnoía is the same with the xλntoi, or the company called and gathered together.

Q. 7. But is not the Christian Church something more than an Assembly?

A. Yes, the Church is indeed an Assembly, it

I.

being convoked; but it is a permanent Society,' in CHAP. that having been convoked it never will be dissolved.

1 HOOKER, III. 1. 14. The Church is always a Visible Society of men.

Q. 8. And this Assembly or Society is presented to us in Holy Scripture under what form? A. As consisting of believing and baptized persons, continuing "steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and Acts ii. 41in prayers;" and who were thus reputed to be Members of the same Church, and to which were Acts ii. 47. added (oi owóμEvoL) such as were being saved.1

1 Bp. PEARSON, Lectiones in Acta Apostolorum, pp. 34, 35, ed. 1688. (in Act. i. 13; ii. 48.) Hæc nobis forma quasi atque imago primæ Ecclesiæ ab Apostolis congregatæ, formatæ, gubernatæ. Fide semel Apostolico sermoni habitâ per Baptismum in Ecclesiam admittebantur ; in Ecclesiam admissi Cœtus Publicos frequentabant; in cœtu publico Doctrinæ Apostolorum sedulò attendebant; et Eucharistiæ participes fibant (fractione panis, i. e. Eucharistiâ, p. 34); Publicis denique et Communibus Orationibus in eodem Coetu factis Deum colebant. Atque ita Ecclesiis omnibus usque ad consummationem sæculi Exemplum præbebant.

Q. 9. What are the designations by which the Church is described in the Apostles' and Constantinopolitan Creeds ?

A. It is called ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLIC (μία, αγία, καθολική, Αποστολική).

Q. 10. How is the Church ONE, or United?

47. xx. 7.

See below,
ch. iv. ans. 8.

John x. 16.

20.

Eph. iv. 2-5.

A. Inasmuch as all its members have one God Ephes. iv. 6. and Father; and are united as sheep of one fold, Rom. xii. 5. under one Shepherd, and as members, under 1 Cor. xii. 12. Christ their Head, of one Body, into which they 1 Cor. xi. 3. are all baptized in one Spirit; and are all par- 1 Cor. x. 17. takers of one Bread and of one Cup fh the Holy Eucharist; have all one Faith,' and one Hope of their calling; are of one heart and one soul,

Jude 3.

I.

Col. iii. 12

PART loving each other as Brethren, and keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; walking 'by the same rule, and minding the same thing; united by the same Apostolic government, disciActs iv. 32. pline, and worship; and all living with this one Eph. iv. 3. aim, that they may with one mind and one mouth Acts ii. 41- glorify God."

15.

1 Pet. iii. 8.

Phil. iii. 16.

47.

Rom. xv. 6. 1S. IREN. adv. Hæres, i. c. iii. p. 46, Grabe. Touto tò κήρυγμα καὶ ταύτην τὴν πίστιν, ὡς προέφαμεν, ἡ Ἐκκλησία καίπερ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ διεσπαρμένη παρείλείφνια ἐπιμελως φυ λάσσει, ὡς ἕνα οἰκον οίκουσα, καὶ ὁμοίως πιστεύει τούτοις ὡς μίαν ψυχὴν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχουσα καρδίαν, καὶ συμφώνως ταὐτὰ κηρύσσει καὶ διδάσκει καὶ παραδίδωσιν ὡς ἑν στόμα κεκημένη.

S. CYPRIAN, Unit. Eccles. p. 108, Fell. Ecclesia una est quæ in multitudinem latius incremento fœcunditatis extenditur, quomodo solis multi radii, sed lumen unum, et rami arboris multi, sed robur unum tenaci radice fundatum, et cum de fonte uno rivi plurimi defluunt, numerositas licet diffusa videatur exundantis copiæ largitate, unitas tamen servatur in origine.

2 TERTULLIAN, Apol. 39. Corpus sumus de conscientiâ religionis et disciplinæ unitate et spei fodere.

S. CYPRIAN, ad Antonian. p. 112, Fell. Cum sit a Christo una Ecclesia per totum mundum in multa membra divisa, item Episcopatus unus Episcoporum multorum concordi numerositate diffusus-Ep. lxvi. Florentio, p. 168, Fell. Ecclesia a Christo non recedit, et illi sunt Ecclesia plebs sacerdoti adunata, et pastori suo grex adhærens, unde scire debes Episcopum in Ecclesiâ esse et Ecclesiam in Episcopo; et si qui cum Episcopo non sint in Ecclesiâ non esse, et frustrà sibi blandiri eos qui pacem cum sacerdotibus Dei non habentes obrepunt et latenter apud quosdam communicare se credunt; quando Ecclesia, quæ Catholica una est, scissa non sit neque divisa, sed sit utique connexa et cohærentium sibi invicem sacerdotum glutino copulata.

S. CYPRIAN, ad Cornel. Ep. 52. Nec remanere in Ecclesia possunt qui Deificam et Ecclesiasticam Disciplinam nec actûs sui conversatione nec morum pace tenuerunt.

HOOKER, III. 1. 4, and 14. See below, chaps. ix. and x.

and Pt. ii. ch. vi.

3 BARROW on the Unity of the Church, p. 297, ed. 1683. PALMER on the Church, ch. iv. v.

Q. 11. How is the Church HOLY?

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1 Pet. i. 15,

A. In respect to its Head, Christ; of its Holy CHAP. Calling; of its Holy Baptism, wherein we are created anew after God in righteousness and true holiness; of the Holy Offices performed in it; of 16. the Holiness of Life required from its members; Eph. iv. 24. of the "Inheritance, Holy and undefiled," which 2 Tim. ii. 19. God has promised to them.

Q. 12. What is the derivation and meaning of the term CATHOLIC ?

A. Catholic is from the Greek adjective xaooxòs, universal, and is derived from the adverb xabónov, throughout, which is from the preposition xarà, according to, and oxos, whole; and Catholic means diffused throughout the whole, or1 universal.

1 Bp. PEARSON ad S. Ignat. ad Smyrn. 8. "Prima Catholicæ Ecclesiæ mentio in Polycarpi Martyrio sub Marco Antonino, secunda in passione Pionii sub Decio," says Valesius; but, as Bp. PEARSON observes, the word had been previously used by S. Ignat. 1. c.

Q. 13. How is the Church thus CATHOLIC or UNIVERSAL?

2

2 Tim. i. 9.

1 Pet. i. 4.

20. xxiv. 31.

15.

A. In respect of time, as enduring throughout Matt. xxvii. all ages, from the beginning till the end of the world. In respect of place, as not limited, like the Jewish Church, to one People, but as compre- Mark xvi. hending those of all Nations who are in the main Luke xxiv. points of religion one and the same. In respect Rev. v. 9. of Faith and Practice, as teaching all truth, and as requiring holiness from all; and as ministering, by God's appointment, all His means of spiritual Grace.*

1S. CYRIL. HIEROS. Catechesis xviii. p. 296, ed. Ven. 1763. Καθολικὴ καλεῖται διὰ τὸ κατὰ πάσης εἶναι τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀπὸ περάτων γῆς ἕως περάτων, καὶ διὰ τὸ διδάσκειν και θολικῶς καὶ ἀνελλιπῶς ἅπαντα τὰ εἰς γεῶσιν ἀνθρώπων ἐλ θεῖν ὀφείλοντα δόγματα περί τε ὁρατῶν καὶ ἀοράτων πραγ μάτων ἐπουρανίων τε καὶ ἐπιγείων, καὶ διὰ τὸ πᾶν γένος

47.

I.

PART ἀνθρώπων εἰς εὐσέβειαν ὑποτάσσειν ἀρχόντων τε καὶ ἀρχο μένων, λογίων τε καὶ ἰδιωτῶν, καὶ διὰ τὸ καθολικῶς ἰατρεύειν μὲν καὶ θεραπεύειν ἅπαν τὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν εἶδος, τῶν διὰ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἐπιτελουμένων, κεκτῆσθαι δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ πᾶσαν ἰδέαν ὀνομαζομέης ἀρετῆς ἐν ἔργοις καὶ λόγοις καὶ πνευματικοὺς παντοίοις χαρίσμασιν.

2 S. AUG. in Ps. lvi. (iv. p. 754, ed. Paris, 1835), Corpus Christi est Ecclesia, non ista aut illa, sed toto orbe diffusa, nec ea quæ nunc est in hominibus qui præsentem vitam agunt, sed ad eam pertinentibus etiam his qui fuerunt ante nos et his qui futuri sunt post nos usque ad finem sæculi. Tota enim Ecclesia constans ex omnibus fidelibus, quia fideles omnes sunt membra Christi, habet illud Caput positum in cœlis, quod gubernat corpus suum.

3 S. IREN. v. xx. p. 430. Ecclesiæ quidem prædicatio vera et firma, apud quam una et eadem salutis via in universo mundo ostenditur. Huic enim creditum est lumen Dei.-Ubique enim Ecclesia prædicat veritatem.

4

Archbp. CRANMER, Works, iv. p. 278, ed. Jenkyns, De Ecclesia. Bp. BULL, Corruptions of the Church of Rome, in answer to the Bp. of Meaux's (Bossuet's) Queries. Works, ii. p. 243, ed. Burton. Archbishop POTTER on Church Government, p. 29, ed. 1724. Archdn. MANNING, Unity of the Church, pp. 21-30.

See below, chap. iv. ans. 3 to 9.

Q. 14. Are the members of any particular or national Church (for example, of Italy, Greece, France, England, &c.) rightly called Catholics?

A. Yes; being Members of the Universal Church of Christ, they are Catholics,' generally; or, more particularly, Italian Catholics, Greek Catholics, French Catholics, and English or AngloCatholics.

1 S. PACIAN, Ep. 1, ad Sempronian. Christianus mihi nomen, Catholicus cognomen; illud me nuncupat, istud ostendit.

Q. 15. And what thence do you conclude concerning the claim often preferred by the Church of Rome to be called the Catholic Church?

A. The Church of Rome is a part of the