CHAPTER XXXIX.

Of the Signification in Scripture of the word Church.

THE word Church (Ecclesia) signifieth in the books of Holy Scripture divers things. Sometimes, though not often, it is taken for "God's house," that is to say, for a temple wherein Christians assembled to perform holy duties publicly, as (1 Cor. xiv. 34), "Let your women keep silence in the Churches." But this is metaphorically put for the congregation there assembled, and hath been since used for the edifice itself, to distinguish between the temples of Christians and idolaters. The Temple of Jerusalem was "God's house," and the house of prayer; and so is any edifice dedicated by Christians to the worship of Christ, "Christ's house; and therefore the Greek fathers call it Kupiaκn, "the Lord's house;" and thence in our language it came to be called "kyrke" and "church."

Church, when not taken for a house, signifieth the same that ecclesia signified in the Grecian commonwealth, that is to say, a congregation or an assembly of citizens called forth to hear the magistrate speak unto them; and which in the c mmonwealth of Rome was called concio; as he that spake was called ecclesiastes and concionator. And when they were called forth by lawful authority (Acts xix. 39), it was Ecclesia legitima, a “lawful Church,” ἔννομος ἐκκλησία. But when they were excited by tumultuous and seditious clamour, then it was a confused Church, èккλnoía ovykeχυμένη.

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It is taken also sometimes for the men that have right to be of the congregation though not actually assembled, that is to say, for the whole multitude of Christian men, how far soever they be dispersed as (Acts viii. 3), where it is said that "Saul made havoc of the Church;" and in this sense is Christ said to be the head of the Church. And sometimes for a certain part of Christians, as (Col. iv. 15), "Salute the Church that is in his house." Sometimes also for the elect only, as (Eph. v. 27), "A glorious Church, without spot, or wrinkle, holy, and without blemish; which is meant of the “Church triumphant ” or “Church to come." "Sometimes, for a congregation assembled of professors of Christianity, whether their profession be true or counterfeit, as it is understood (Matt. xviii. 17), where it is said, "Tell it to the Church; and if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be to thee as a Gentile, or publican.”

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And in this last sense only it is that the "Church' can be taken for one person, that is to say, that it can be said to have power to will, to pronounce, to command, to be obeyed, to make laws, or to do any other action whatsoever. For without authority from a lawful congregation, whatsoever act be done in a concourse of people, it is the particular act of every one of those that were present, and gave their aid to the performance of it, and not the act of them all in gross, as of one body, much less the act of them that were absent, or, that being present, were not willing it should be done. According to this sense, I define a 66 Church to be " company of men professing Christian religion, united in the person of one sovereign, at whose command they ought to assemble, and without whose authority they ought not to assemble.' And because in all commonwealths that assembly, which is without warrant from the civil sovereign, is unlawful, that Church also which is assembled in any commonwealth that hath forbidden them to assemble, is an unlawful assembly.

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It followeth also that there is on earth no such universal Church, as all Christians are bound to obey; because there is no power on earth to which

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all other commonwealths are subject. There are Christians in the dominions of several princes and states, but every one of them is subject to that commonwealth whereof he is himself a member; and consequently, cannot be subject to the commands of any other person. And therefore a Church, such a one as is capable to command, to judge, absolve, condemn, or do any other act, is the same thing with a civil commonwealth, consisting of Christian men; and is called a civil state," for that the subjects of it are "men ;" and a Church," for that the subjects thereof are Christians." "Temporal" and "spiritual" government are but two words brought into the world to make men see double, and mistake their "lawful sovereign." It is true that the bodies of the faithful, after the resurrection, shall be not only spiritual but eternal; but in this life they are gross and corruptible. There is therefore no other government in this life, neither of state, nor religion, but temporal; nor teaching of any doctrine, lawful to any subject, which the governor both of the state and of the religion forbiddeth to be taught. And that governor must be one; or else there must needs follow faction and civil war in the commonwealth between the "Church" and "State; "" between " spiritualists and temporalists;" between the "sword of justice," and the "shield of faith: and, which is more, in every Christian man's own breast, between the "Christian" and the "man. The doctors of the Church are called pastors; so also are civil sovereigns. But if pastors be not subordinate one to another, so as that there may be one chief pastor, men will be taught contrary doctrines, whereof both may be, and one must be false. Who that one chief pastor is, according to the law of Nature, hath been already shown; namely, that it is the civil sovereign; and to whom the Scripture hath assigned that office we shall see in the chapters following.

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CHAPTER XL.

Of the Rights of the Kingdom of God, in Abraham, Moses, the High Priests, and the Kings of Judah.

THE father of the faithful, and first in the kingdom of God by covenant, was Abraham. For with him was the covenant first made, wherein he obliged himself and his seed after him, to acknowledge and obey the commands of God; not only such as he could take notice of (as moral laws), by the light of Nature, but also such as God should in special manner deliver to him by dreams and visions. For as to the moral law, they were already obliged, and needed not have been contracted withal by promise of the land of Canaan. Nor was there any contract that could add to or strengthen the obligation by which both they and all men else were bound naturally to obey God Almighty: and therefore the covenant which Abraham made with God was to take for the commandment of God, that which in the name of God was commanded him in a dream or vision; and to deliver it to his family, and cause them to observe the same.

In this contract of God with Abraham we may observe three points of important consequence in the government of God's people. First, that at the making of this covenant, God spake only to Abraham; and therefore contracted not with any of his family, or seed, otherwise than as their wills, which make the essence of all covenants, were before the contract involved in the will of Abraham, who was therefore supposed to have had a lawful power to make them perform all that he covenanted for them. According whereunto (Gen. xviii. 18, 19), God saith, "All the nations of the earth

shall be blessed in him; for I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord." From whence may be concluded this first point, that they to whom God hath not spoken immediately are to receive the positive commandments of God from their sovereign, as the family and seed of Abraham did from Abraham their father, and lord, and civil sovereign. And consequently in every commonwealth they who have no supernatural revelation to the contrary, ought to obey the laws of their own sovereign in the external acts and profession of religion. As for the inward "thought" and "belief" of men, which human governors can take no notice of (for God only knoweth the heart), they are not voluntary, nor the effect of the laws, but of the unrevealed will and of the power of God, and consequently fall not under obligation.

From whence proceedeth another point, that it was not unlawful for Abraham, when any of his subjects should pretend private vision or spirit, or other revelation from God, for the countenancing of any doctrine which Abraham should forbid, or when they followed or adhered to any such pretender to punish them: and consequently that it is lawful now for the sovereign to punish any man that shall oppose his private spirit against the laws: for he hath the same place in the commonwealth that Abraham had in his own family.

There ariseth also from the same a third point; that as none but Abraham in his family, so none but the sovereign in a Christian commonwealth can take notice what is, or what is not, the word of God. For God spake only to Abraham; and it was he only that was able to know what God said, and to interpret the same to his family; and therefore also they that have the place of Abraham in a commonwealth, are the only interpreters of what God hath spoken.

The same covenant was renewed with Isaac, and afterwards with Jacob; but afterwards no more till the Israelites were freed from the Egyptians, and arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai; and then it was renewed by Moses (as I have said before, chap. xxxv.), in such manner as they became from that time forward the peculiar kingdom of God; whose lieutenant was Moses, for his own time; and the succession to that office was settled upon Aaron, and his heirs after him, to be to God a sacerdotal kingdom for ever.

By this constitution a kingdom is acquired to God. But seeing Moses had no authority to govern the Israelites, as a successor to the right of Abraham, because he could not claim it by inheritance; it appeareth not as yet that the people were obliged to take him for God's lieutenant longer than they believed that God spake unto him. And therefore his authority, notwithstanding the covenant they made with God, depended yet merely upon the opinion they had of his sanctity, and of the reality of his conferences with God, and the verity of his miracles: which opinion coming to change, they were no more obliged to take anything for the law of God, which he propounded to them in God's name. We are therefore to consider what other ground there was of their obligation to obey him. For it could not be the commandment of God that could oblige them; because God spake not to them immediately, but by the mediation of Moses himself; and our Saviour saith of himself (John v. 31), "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true; "much less if Moses bear witness of himself, especially in a claim of kingly power over God's people, ought his testimony to be received. His authority therefore, as the authority of all other princes, must be grounded on the consent of the people, and their promise to obey him. And so it was; for "the people" (Exod. xx. 18, 19), “when they saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpets, and the mountain smoking, removed, and stood afar off. And they said

unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die." Here was their promise of obedience; and by this it was they obliged themselves to obey whatsoever he should deliver unto them for the commandment of God.

And notwithstanding the covenant constituted a sacerdotal kingdom, that is to say, a kingdom hereditary to Aaron; yet that is to be understood of the succession after Moses should be dead. For whosoever ordereth and establisheth the policy, as first founder of a commonwealth, be it monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy, must needs have sovereign power over the people all the while he is doing of it. And that Moses had that power all his own time is evidently affirmed in the Scripture. First in the text last before cited, because the people promised obedience, not to Aaron, but to him. Secondly (Exod xxiv. 1, 2), "And God said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come nigh, neither shall the people go up with him." By which it is plain, that Moses, who was alone called up to God (and not Aaron, nor the other priests, nor the seventy elders, nor the people who were forbidden to come up), was alone he that represented to the Israelites the person of God, that is to say, was their sole sovereign under God. And though afterwards it be said (verses 9, 10), "Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet, as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone," &c. ; yet this was not till after Moses had been with God before, and had brought to the people the words which God had said to him. He only went for the business of the people; the others as the nobles of his retinue, were admitted for honour to that special grace, which was not allowed to the people; which was, as in the verse after appeareth, to see God and live, "God laid not his hand upon them, they saw God and did eat and drink," that is, did live but did not carry any commandment from Him to the people. Again, it is everywhere said "the Lord spake unto Moses," as in all other occasions of government, so also in the ordering of the ceremonies of religion, contained in chapters xxv., xxvi., xxvii., xxviii., xxix., xxx. and xxxi. of Exodus, and throughout Leviticus: to Aaron seldom. The calf that Aaron made, Moses threw into the fire. Lastly, the question of the authority of Aaron, by occasion of his and Miriam's mutiny against Moses, was (Numb. xii.) judged by God himself for Moses. So also in the question between Moses and the people, who had the right of governing the people, when Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, and two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly "gathered themselves together (Numb xvi. 3) against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is amongst them, why lift you up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?" God caused the earth to swallow Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, with their wives and children, alive, and consumed those two hundred and fifty princes with fire. Therefore neither Aaron, nor the people, nor any aristocracy of the chief princes of the people, but Moses alone had next under God the sovereignty over the Israelites: and that not only in causes of civil policy, but also of religion: for Moses only spake with God, and therefore only could tell the people what it was that God required at their hands. No man upon pain of death might be so presumptuous as to approach the mountain where God talked with Moses. "Thou shalt set bounds" (saith the Lord, Exod. xix: 12) "to the people round about, and say, Take heed to yourselves that you go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it; whosoever toucheth the mount shall surely be put to death." And again (verse 12), "Go down,

charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze." Out of which we may conclude that whosoever in a Christian commonwealth holdeth the place of Moses, is the sole messenger of God, and interpreter of His commandments. And according hereunto, no man ought in the interpretation of the Scripture to proceed further than the bounds which are set by their several sovereigns. For the Scriptures, since God now speaketh in them, are the Mount Sinai; the bounds whereof are the laws of them that represent God's person on earth. To look upon them, and therein to behold the wondrous works of God and learn to fear Him, is allowed; but to interpret them, that is, to pry into what God saith to him whom he appointeth to govern under him, and make themselves judges whether he govern as God commandeth him or not, is to transgress the bounds God hath set us, and to gaze upon God irreverently.

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There was no prophet in the time of Moses, nor pretender to the spirit of God, but such as Moses had approved and authorized. For there were in his time but seventy men that are said to prophesy by the spirit of God, and these were all of Moses his election; concerning whom God said to Moses (Numb. xi. 16), "Gather to me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people." To these God imparted His spirit; but it was not a different spirit from that of Moses; for it is said (verse 25), "God came down in a cloud, and took of the spirit that was upon Moses, and gave it to the seventy elders." But as I have shown before (chap. xxxvi.) by "spirit" is understood the "mind; so that the sense of the place is no other than this, that God endued them with a mind conformable and subordinate to that of Moses, that they might prophesy, that is to say, speak to the people in God's name, in such manner, as to set forward, as ministers of Moses and by his authority, such doctrine as was agreeable to Moses his doctrine. For they were but ministers; and when two of them prophesied in the camp, it was thought a new and unlawful thing; and as it is in verses 27 and 28 of the same chapter, they were accused of it, and Joshua advised Moses to forbid them, as not knowing that it was by Moses his spirit that they prophesied. By which it is manifest that no subject ought to pretend to prophesy, or to the spirit, in opposition to the doctrine established by him whom God hath set in the place of Moses.

Aaron being dead, and after him also Moses, the kingdom, as being a sacerdotal kingdom, descended by virtue of the covenant to Aaron's son, Eleazar the high priest and God declared him, next under himself, for sovereign, at the same time that He appointed Joshua for the general of their army. For thus God saith expressly (Numb. xxvii. 21) concerning Joshua: "He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him before the Lord; at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him." Therefore the supreme power of making war and peace was in the priest. The supreme power of judicature belonged also to the high priest : for the Book of the Law was in their keeping; and the priests and Levites only were the subordinate judges in causes civil, as appears in Deut. xvii. 8, 9, 10. And for the manner of God's worship, there was never doubt made but that the high priest till the time of Saul had the supreme authority. Therefore the civil and ecclsiastical power were both joined together in one and the same person, the high priest; and ought to be so, in whosoever governeth by divine right, that is, by authority immediate from God.

After the death of Joshua, till the time of Saul, the time between is noted frequently in the Book of Judges, "That there was in those days no king in Israel;" and sometimes with this addition, that "every man did that which was right in his own eyes." By which is to be understood that