few know what the term means? A more ambiguous word than this, the Church, is fcarce to be found in the English language. It is fometimes taken for a Building fet apart for public worship: fometimes for a Congregation, or body of people, united together in the fervice of God. It is only in the latter fenfe that it is taken in the enfuing Difcourfe.

2. It may be taken indifferently for any number of people, how small or great fo ever. As where two or three are met together in his name, there is Chrift; fo (to fpeak with St.Cyprian) “Where two or three believers are met together, there is a Church." Thus it is that St. Paul writing to Philemon mentions the church which is in lis houfe: plainly fignifying, that even a Christian Family may be termed a Church.

8. Several of those whom God had called out of the world, (fo the original word properly fignifies) uniting together in one Congregation, formed a larger Church: as the Church at Jerufalem; that is, all thofe in Jerufalem whom God had fo called. But confidering how fwiftly thefe were multiplied, after the day of Pentecoft, it cannot be fuppofed that they could continue to affemble in one place: efpecially as they had not then any large place, neither would they have been permitted to build one. In confequence they must have divided themselves even at Jerufalem, into feveral diftin&t Congregations. In like 'manner when St. Paul, feveral years after, wrote to the Church in Rome (directing his letter To all that are in Rome, called to be faints) it cannot be fuppofed that they had any one building capable of containing them all; but they were divided into feveral Congregations, affembling in feveral parts of the city.

4. The first time that the Apoftle ufes the word Church, is in his preface to the former Epiftle to the Corinthians: Paul called to be an Apofile of Jefus Chrift, unto the Church of God which is at Corinth: the meaning of which expreffion is fixt by the following words, To them that are fanctified in Chrift Jfus: with all that are in every place (not Corinth only; fo

VOL. IX.

it was a kind of Circular Letter) call upon the name of Jefus Christ our Lord, both yours and ours. In the infcription of his fecond letter to the Corinthians, he fpeaks ftill more explicitly: Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, with all the faints that are in all Achaia. Here he plainly includes all the Churches, or Chriftian Congregations, which were in the whole Province.

5. He frequently ufes the word in the plural number. So Gal. i. 2, Paul an Apoftle-unto the Churches of Galatia, that is, the Chriftian Congregations difperfed throughout that country. In all these places (and abundantly more might be cited) the word Church or Churches means, not the Buildings where the Chriftians affembled (as it frequently does in the English tongue) but the people that used to affemble there, one or more Chriftian Congregations. But fometimes the word Church is taken in Scripture in a ftill more extenfive meaning, as including all the Chriftian Congregations that are upon the face of the earth. And in this fenfe we understand it in our Liturgy when we fay, "Let us pray for the whole ftate of Chrift's Church militant here on earth." In this fenfe it is unqueftionably taken by St. Paul, in his exhortation to the Elders of Ephefus, (A&ts xx. 28.) Take heed to the Church of God, which he hath purchafed with his own blood. The Church here undoubtedly means the Catholic or Universal Church, that is, all the Chriflians under heaven.

6. Who thofe are that are properly the Church of God, the Apoftle fhews at large, and that in the cleareft and most decifive. manner, in the paffage above cited: wherein he likewise inftructs all the members of the Church, how to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called.

7. Let us confider firft, Who are properly the Church of God? What is the true meaning of that term? The Church at Ephefus, as the Apoftle himself explains it, means, The faints, the holy perfons that are in Ephefus, and there affemble themfelves together to worship God the Father and his Son,

Jefus

Jefus Chrift: whether they did this in one, or (as we may probably suppose) in feveral places. But it is the Church in general, the Catholic or Univerfal Church, which the Apoftle here confiders as one body: comprehending not only the Chriftians in the houfe of Philemon, or any one family; not only the Chriftians of one Congregation, of one city, of one province or nation; but all the perfons upon the face of the earth, who answer the character here given: the feveral particulars contained therein, we may now more diftinctly confider.

8. There is one Spirit who animates all thefe, all the living members of the Church of God. Some understand hereby the Holy Spirit himself, the Fountain of all spiritual Life. And it is certain, If any man have not the Spirit of Chrift, he is none of his. Others underftand it of thofe fpiritual gifts and holy difpofitions which are afterward mentioned.

9. There is, in all thofe that have received this Spirit, one hope, a hope full of immortality. They know, to die is not to be loft: their profpect extends beyond the grave. They can cheerfully fay, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, who according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the refurrection of Chrift from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.

10. There is one Lord, who has now dominion over them, who has fet up his kingdom in their hearts, and reigns over all those that are partakers of this hope. To obey him, to run the way of his commandments, is their glory and joy. And while they are doing this with a willing mind, they, as it were, fit in heavenly places with Chrift Fefus.

11. There is one Faith, which is the free gift of God, and is the ground of their hope. This is not barely the faith of a Heathen: namely a belief that there is a God, and that he is gracious and juft, and confequently a rewarder of them that diligently feek him. Neither is it barely the faith of a Devil: though this goes much farther than the former. For the Devil believes,

B 2

believes, and cannot but believe, all that is written both in the Old and New Teftament to be true. But it is the faith of St. Thomas, teaching him to fay with holy boldness, My Lord and my God. It is the faith which enables every true Chriftian Believer to teftify with St. Paul, The life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

12. There is one baptifm, which is the outward fign our one Lord has been pleased to appoint, of all that inward and spi-: ritual grace, which he is continually beflowing upon his Church. It is likewife a precious means, whereby this faith, and hope are given to thofe that diligently feek him. Some indeed have been inclined to interpret this in a figurative fenfe, as if it referred to that baptism of the Holy Ghost, which the Apostles received at the day of Pentecoft, and which in a lower degree isgiven to all believers. But it is a flated rale in interpreting Scripture, Never to depart from the plain, literal fenfe, unless it implies an abfurdity. And befide, if we thus understood it, it would be a needlefs repetition, as being included in, There is que fpirit.

13. There is one God and Father of all, that have the Spirit of adoption, which crieth in their hearts, Abba, Father: which witneffeth continually with their spirits, that they are the children of God: who is above all-the moft High, the Creator, the Suftainer, the Governor of the whole univerfe. And through all-Pervading all space, filling heaven and earth:

Totum

Mens agitans molem, & magno fe corpore mifcens.

And in you all-in a peculiar manner living in you, that are one Lody, by one Spirit:

Making your fouls his loved abode

The temples of indwelling God.

14. Here

1

14. Here then is a clear unexceptionable answer to that queftion, What is the Church? The Catholic or Univerfal Church is, All the perfons in the Universe, whom God hath fo called out of the world, as to entitle them to the preceding Character; as to be one body, united by one Spirit, having one faith, one hope, one baptifm: one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in them all.

15. That part of this great body, of the Univerfal Church, which inhabits any one kingdom or nation, we may properly terni a National Church, as the Church of France, the Church of England, the Church of Scotland. A fmaller part of the Univerfal Church, are the Chriftians that inhabit one city or town, as the Church of Ephefus, and the reft of the feven Churches mentioned in the Revelation. Two or three Chriftian Believers united together are a Church in the narroweft fenfe of the word. Such was the Church in the houfe of Philemon, and. that in the house of Nymphas, mentioned Col. iv. 15. A particular Church may therefore confift of any number of members, whether two or three, or two or three millions. But ftill, whether they be larger or smaller, the fame idea is to be preserved. They are one body, and have one Spirit, one Lord, one hope, one faith, one baptism: one God and Father of all.

16. This account is exactly agreeable to the nineteenth Article of our Church, the Church of England: (only the Article includes a little more than the Apostle has expreffed.)

"Of the CHURCH.

"The visible Church of Chrift is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the facraments be duly adminiftred."

It may be obferved, that at the fame time our Thirty-nine Articles were compiled and publifhed, a Latin tranflation of them was published by the fame authority. In this the words

were

"Catus credentium," "a congregation of Believers," plainly fhewing that by faithful men, the compilers meant,

men