PART Salvation of men, there might be glory to Him for

I.

Is. lx. 3. 10.

xlix. 23. liv. 17. lx. 12.

ever.

Q. 3. Whence appears the dignity and glory of the Christian Church?

:

A. From the titles before mentioned (chap. I.,) which indicate her Unity, Holiness, and Universality from the promises made to her by God, that "all the Gentiles should come to her light;' that "Kings should be her nursing Fathers, and Queens her nursing mothers;" that "no weapon formed against her should prosper;" that "the Nation and Kingdom which will not serve her should perish and be utterly wasted;" and from other expressions by which she is described in Holy Writ, so that, therefore, the Psalmist says, Ps. lxxxvii. "Glorious things are spoken of thee, thou City of God."

3.

Rom. xii. 1.5.

x. 17. xii. 12.

27.

Rev. xix. 7.

17.

LOWTH on Isaiah lxii. 1-12, and notes on Hosea ii. 19.
S. AUG. de Civ. Dei, xvii. 28-35.

Q. 4. Mention some of these expressions?

A. She is there called the Body and Spouse1 of 1 Cor. vi. 15. Christ, the King's Daughter, the Queen at the right hand of the Messiah, the Lord's Vineyard, xxi. 2. xxii. the Kingdom of Heaven, of God, of Grace, of Micah. iv. 1, Light; the Mountain of the Lord, to which all nations shall flow; the House built on a Rock, 12. the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, the City of Fs. xlv. 9, 10. God, the Jerusalem which is above, which is the Matt. xx. 1. Mother of us all.

2.

Eph. i. 23. iv.

v. 23. 30.

Is. v. 1.

Ps. lxxx. 8.

Matt. iv. 17.

xvi. 19. xx. 1.

Col. i. 13.

Is. ii. 2.

vii. 24.

1

Bp. TAYLOR, Sermon xvii. The Marriage Ring, v. p. Dan. ii. 44. 254. This is a great mystery, but it is the symbolical and sacramental representation of the greatest mysteries of our Matt. xvi. 18. religion. Christ descended from His Father's bosom, and contracted His Divinity with flesh and blood, and married Heb. xii. 22. our nature, and we became a Church, the Spouse of the Gal. iv. 26. Bridegroom, which He cleansed with His blood, and gave her His Holy Spirit for a dowry, and Heaven for a jointure; begetting children unto God by the Gospel. The Spouse

1 Tim. iii. 15.

IV.

He hath joined to Himself by an excellent charity; He feeds CHAP. her at His own table, and lodges her nigh His own heart; provides for all her necessities, relieves her sorrows, determines her doubts, guides her wanderings; He is become her Head, and she as a signet upon His right Hand. Here is the eternal conjunction, the indissoluble knot, the exceeding love of Christ, the obedience of the Spouse, the communicating of goods, the uniting of interests, the fruit of marriage, a celestial generation, a new creature. Sacramentum hoc magnum est; this is the Sacramental mystery, represented by the holy rite of Marriage.

Q. 5. But do not these latter titles refer to the Invisible Church, purified and glorified in heaven? A. They do indeed specially belong to the Church, as she will be hereafter in a state of bliss; but they appertain also to the Universal Church Eph. ii. 6. upon Earth, for they describe that which she is in Col. i. 12. tendency, in endeavour, in desire, and in expecta

tion.1

1 BARROW, Discourse concerning the Unity of the Church, pp. 296-7, ed. 1683.

CHAPTER IV.

ON SALVATION ONLY IN THE CHURCH.

Q. 1. WE have seen that the Visible Church is a Society, and since every Society has some essential characteristic by which it is distinguished from other Societies, what is that by which the Church is discerned?

A. The profession of the true Religion.1

1 HOOKER, V. LXVIII. 6. Of the Visible Church of Christ

PART
I.

in this present world, we are thus persuaded; Church is a word which art hath devised thereby to sever and distinguish that society of men which professeth the true religion from the rest which profess it not.

Q. 2. And what is the essential characteristic of this profession of the true Religion?

A. It is faith in our LORD JESUS CHRIST, which distinguishes the true Religion from the false; and separates the Church from all other societies of men, such as Pagans, Jews, Mahometans, Infidels, Acts xi. 26. and Apostates.1 Hence it is that when a name was to be given to the members of the Church, to distinguish them from all others, they were called Christians.

1 HOOKER, V. LXVIII. 6. There have been in the world, from the very first foundation thereof, but three religions, Paganism, which lived in the blindness of corrupt and depraved nature, Judaism, embracing the law which reformed heathenish impiety, and taught salvation to be looked for through one whom God in the last days would send and exalt to be Lord of all; [and Mahometanism, see Bp. Andrewes, Catechist. Doctr. p. 34;] finally, Christian belief, which yieldeth obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and acknowledgeth Him the Saviour whom God did promise.. Seeing, then, that the Church is a name which art hath given to professors of true religion, religion being a matter partly of contemplation, partly of action, we must define the Church, which is a religious society, by such differences as do properly explain the essence of such things, that is to say, by the object or matter whereabout the contemplations and actions of the Church are properly conversant. For so all knowledges and all virtues are defined. Whereupon because the only object which separateth ours from other religions is Jesus Christ, and whom none but the Church doth worship, we find that accordingly the Apostles do every where distinguish hereby the Church from infidels and from Jews, accounting them "which call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" to be His Church.

If we go lower, we shall but add unto this certain casual and variable accidents, whch are not properly of the being, but make only for the happier and better being of the Church of God, either in deed or in men's opinions and conceits. This

IV.

is the error of all popish definitions that hitherto have been CHAP. brought. They define not the Church by that which the Church essentially is, but by that wherein they imagine their' own more perfect than the rest are. Touching parts of eminency and perfection, parts likewise of imperfection and defect in the Church of God, they are infinite, their degrees and differences no way possible to be drawn unto any certain account. There is not the least contention and variance, but it blemisheth somewhat the Unity that ought to be in the Church of Christ, which notwithstanding may have not only without offence or breach of concord her manifold varieties in rites and ceremonies of religion, but also her strifes and contentions many times, and that about matters of no small importance, yea, her schisms, factions, and such other evils, whereunto the body of the Church is subject, sound and sick remaining both of the same body, as long as both parts retain, by outward profession, that vital substance of truth which maketh Christian religion to differ from theirs which acknowledge not our Lord Jesus Christ the blessed Saviour of mankind, give no credit to His glorious Gospel, and have His sacraments, the seals of eternal life, in derision. See also Bp. SANDERSON, Serm. iii. 26. (on 1 Pet. ii. 17.)

Q. 3. If we desire to be saved, is it necessary, that, if we are able, we should be members of the Christian Church?

A. It is.1

1 S. CYPRIAN, Ep. iv. p. 9. Domus Dei una est; et nemini Salus nisi in Ecclesiâ esse potest. See also S. AUG. III. 1985, 1992, 2027.

Christ Him

Ps. Ixvii. 7.

Is. xxv. 6.

Ezek. xiii. 9.

Q. 4. How does this necessity appear? A. From the nature of the case. self having instituted a Society on earth, in which xxxvi. 2. men are to receive the means of1 grace and salva- Joel ii. 32. tion, and having revealed no other way to this end, they who will not enter into, and continue in, this society, exclude themselves from participation in the privileges of the Gospel.

1 S. IREN. adv. Hæreses, iii. 40. Spiritûs Sancti non sunt participes qui non concurrunt ad Ecclesiam, sed semet

Eph. iv. 11.

PART ipsos fraudant a vitâ. Ubi enim Ecclesia Dei ibi Spiritus Dei.

I.

Gen. vii. 23.

Q. 5. Does this assertion further rest on the express authority of any examples in Holy Scripture?

A. Holy Scripture presents us with many instances where God appointed certain means for men's preservation, and where all were destroyed who would not avail themselves of those means.

Q. 6. Mention some of these.

A. It was necessary to enter and remain in the 1 Pet. iii. 21. Ark (which is the type of the Church') for safety from the Flood; it was necessary to have the doorExod. xii. 7. post sprinkled with blood, and that no one should Jos. ii. 18, 19. go out of the doors, in order to be safe from the sword of the destroying Angel; and it was necessary for the members of the family of Rahab1 to abide in her house, if they wished to escape death.

22. 26, 27.

1 TERTULLIAN, de Baptism. 8. Ecclesia est Arca figurata: v. de Idol. ad fin. S. CYPRIAN, Ep. lxix. p. 181. et Ep. lxxiv. p. 198. S. HIERON. ad Esa. xi: Quod Arca in Diluvio hoc Ecclesia præstat in Mundo. S. AUG. iv. p. 1315.-De Civ. D. xv. 27. Procul dubio Arca Noe figura est peregrinantis in hoc seculo Ecclesiæ, quæ fit salva per lignum in quo pependit Christus.

HOOKER, V. LXVIII. 6. The privilege of the visible Church is to be herein like the ark of Noah; that for any thing we know to the contrary, all without it are lost sheep.

2 S. CYPRIAN, de Unit. Eccles. p. 110. Sacramentum Paschæ in Exodi lege nihil aliud continet quam ut agnus qui in figurâ Christi occiditur in domo una edatur. Nec alia ulla credentibus præter unam Ecclesiam domus.—Vid. 182.

et P.

3 S. IREN. i. 3. ORIGEN, in lib. Jesu. Naue, Hom. iv. Extra hanc domum, id est, extra Ecclesiam, nemo salvatur.

S. CYPRIAN, EP. 69. Rahab typum portabat Ecclesiæ, cui dicitur, Omnis, qui exierit domus tuæ foras, reus sibi erit.— Quo sacramento declaratur, in unam domum solam, hoc est, in Ecclesiam, victuros colligi oportere.

Bp. PEARSON, on the Creed, Art. ix. As none were saved from the deluge but such as were within the Ark of Noah,