CHAPTER XVII.--OF THE CATHOLIC AND HOLY CHURCH OF GOD, AND OF THE ONE ONLY HEAD OF THE CHURCH.

CHAPTER XVII.--OF THE CATHOLIC AND HOLY CHURCH OF GOD, AND OF THE ONE ONLY HEAD OF THE CHURCH.

Forasmuch as God from the beginning would have men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. ii. 4), therefore it is necessary that there always should have been, and should be at this day, and to the end of the world, a Church--that is, a company of the faithful called and gathered out of the world; a communion (I say) of all saints, that is, of them who truly know and rightly worship and serve the true God, in Jesus Christ the Saviour, by the word of the Holy Spirit, and who by faith are partakers of all those good graces which are freely offered through Christ. These all are citizens of one and the same city, living under one Lord, under the same laws, and in the same fellowship of all good things; for the apostle calls them 'fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God' (Eph. ii. 19); terming the faithful upon the earth saints (1 Cor. iv. 1), who are sanctified by the blood of the Son of God. Of these is that article of our Creed wholly to be understood, 'I believe in the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints.'

And, seeing that there is always but 'one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ' (1 Tim. ii. 5); also, one Shepherd of the whole flock, one Head of this body, and, to conclude, one Spirit, one salvation, one faith, one Testament, or Covenant,--it follows necessarily that there is but one Church, which we therefore call Catholic because it is universal, spread abroad through all the parts and quarters of the world, and reaches unto all times, and is not limited within the compass either of time or place. Here, therefore, we must condemn the Donatists, who pinned up the Church within the corners of Africa; neither do we assent to the Roman clergy, who vaunt that the Church of Rome alone is in a manner Catholic.

The Church is divided by some into divers parts or sorts; not that it is rent and divided from itself, but rather distinguished in respect of the diversity of the members that are in it. One part thereof they make to be the Church Militant, the other the Church Triumphant. The Militant wars still on earth, and fights against the flesh, the world, and the prince of the world, the devil; against sin and against death. The other, being already set at liberty, is now in heaven, and triumphs over all those things overcome, and continually rejoices before the Lord. Yet these two churches have, notwithstanding, a communion and fellowship between themselves.

Moreover, the Church Militant upon the earth has evermore had many particular churches, which must all, notwithstanding, be referred to the unity of the Catholic Church. This Militant Church was otherwise ordered and governed before the Law, among the patriarchs; otherwise under Moses, by the Law; and otherwise of Christ, by the Gospel. There are but two sorts of people, for the most part, mentioned: to wit, the Israelites and the Gentiles; or they who, of the Jews and Gentiles, were gathered to make a Church. There are also two Testaments, the Old and the New. Yet both these sorts of people have had, and still have, one fellowship, one salvation, in one and the same Messiah; in whom, as members of one body, they are all joined together under one head, and by one faith are all partakers of one and the same spiritual meat and drink. Yet here we do acknowledge a diversity of times, and a diversity in the pledges and signs of Christ promised and exhibited; and that now, the ceremonies being abolished, the light shines unto us more clearly, our gifts and graces are more abundant, and our liberty is more full and ample.

This holy Church of God is called 'the house of the living God' (2 Cor. vi. 16), 'builded of living and spiritual stones' (1 Pet. ii. 5) 'founded upon a rock' (Matt. xvi. 18), 'which can not be moved' (Heb. xii. 28), 'upon a foundation besides which none can be laid' (1 Cor. iii. 11). Whereupon it is called 'the pillar and ground of the truth' (1 Tim. iii. 15), that does not err, so long as it relies upon the rock Christ, and upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles. And no marvel if it do err, so often as it forsakes Him who is the alone truth. This Church is also called 'a virgin' (1 Cor. xi. 2), and 'the spouse of Christ' (Cant. iv. 8), and 'his only beloved' (Cant. v. 16). For the apostle says, 'I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ' (2 Cor. xi. 2). The Church is called 'a flock of sheep under one shepherd,' even Christ (Ezek. xxxiv. 22, 23, and John x. 16); also, 'the body of Christ' (Col. i. 24), because the faithful are the lively members of Christ, having him for their head.

It is the head which has the pre-eminence in the body, and from whence the whole body receives life; by whose spirit it is governed in all things; of whom, also, it receives increase, that it may grow up. Also, there is but one head to the body, which has agreement with the body; and therefore the Church can not have any other head besides Christ. For as the Church is a spiritual body, so must it needs have a spiritual head like unto itself. Neither can it be governed by any other spirit than by the Spirit of Christ. Wherefore Paul says, 'And he is the head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence' (Col. i. 18). And in another place, 'Christ,' saith he, 'is the head of the Church: and he is the Saviour of the body' (Eph. v. 23). And again, 'Who is the head of the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all' (Eph. i. 22, 23). Again, 'Let us grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ; by whom all the body being knit together, receiveth increase' (Eph. iv. 15, 16). And therefore we do not allow of the doctrine of the Romish prelates, who would make the Pope the general pastor and supreme head of the Church Militant here on earth, and the very vicar of Jesus Christ, who has (as they say) all fullness of power and sovereign authority in the Church. For we hold and teach that Christ our Lord is, and remains still, the only universal pastor, and highest bishop, before God his Father; and that in the Church he performs all the duties of a pastor or bishop, even to the world's end; and therefore stands not in need of any other to supply his room. For he is said to have a substitute, who is absent; but Christ is present with his Church, and is the head that gives life thereunto. He did straitly forbid his apostles and their successors all superiority or dominion in the Church. They, therefore, that by gainsaying set themselves against so manifest a truth, and bring another kind of government into the Church, who sees not that they are to be counted in the number of them of the apostles of Christ prophesied? as in Peter, 2 Epist. ii. 1, and Paul, Acts xx. 29; 2 Cor. xi. 13; 2 Thess. ii. 8, 9, and in many other places.

Now, by taking away the Romish head we do not bring any confusion or disorder into the Church. For we teach that the government of the Church which the apostles set down is sufficient to keep the Church in due order; which, from the beginning, while as yet it wanted such a Romish head as is now pretended to keep it in order, was not, disordered or full of confusion. The Romish head doth maintain indeed his tyranny and corruption which have been brought into the Church; but in the mean time he hinders, resists, and, with all the might he can make, cuts off the right and lawful reformation of the Church.

They object against us that there have been great strifes and dissensions in our churches since they did sever themselves from the Church of Rome; and that therefore they can not be true churches. As though there were never in the Church of Rome any sects, any contentions and quarrels; and that, in matters of religion, maintained not so much in the schools as in the holy Chairs, even in the audience of the people. We know that the apostle said, 'God is not the author of confusion, but of peace' (1 Cor. xiv. 33), and, 'Seeing there is among you emulation and contention, are ye not carnal?' (1 Cor. iii. 3, 4). Yet may we not deny that God was in that Church planted by the apostle; and that the Apostolic Church was a true Church, howsoever there were strifes and dissensions in it. The Apostle Paul reprehended Peter, an apostle (Gal. ii. 11), and Barnabas fell at variance with Paul (Acts xv. 39). Great contention arose in the Church of Antioch between them that preached one and the same Christ, as Luke records in the Acts of the Apostles, chap. xv. 2. And there have at all times been great contentions in the Church, and the most excellent doctors of the Church have, about no small matters, differed in opinion; yet so as, in the mean time, the Church ceased not to be the Church for all these contentions. For thus it pleases God to use the dissensions that arise in the Church, to the glory of his name, to the setting forth of the truth, and to the end that such as are not approved might be manifest (1 Cor. xi. 19).

Now, as we acknowledge no other head of the Church than Christ, so do we not acknowledge every church to be the true Church which vaunts herself so to be; but we teach that to be the true Church indeed in which the marks and tokens of the true Church are to be found. Firstly and chiefly, the lawful and sincere preaching of the word of God as it is left unto us in the writings of the prophets and the apostles, which do all seem to lead us unto Christ, who in the Gospel has said, 'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life. A stranger they do not hear, but flee from him, because they know not his voice' (John x. 5, 27, 28).

And they that are such in the Church of God have all but one faith and one spirit; and therefore they worship but one God, and him alone they serve in spirit and in truth, loving him with all their hearts and with all their strength, praying unto him alone through Jesus Christ, the only Mediator and Intercessor; and they seek not life or justice but only in Christ, and by faith in him; because they do acknowledge Christ the only head and foundation of his Church, and, being surely founded on him, do daily repair themselves by repentance, and do with patience bear the cross laid upon them; and, besides, by unfeigned love joining themselves to all the members of Christ, do thereby declare themselves to be the disciples of Christ, by continuing in the bond of peace and holy unity. They do withal communicate in the sacraments ordained by Christ, and delivered unto us by his apostles, using them in no other manner than as they received them from the Lord himself. That saying of the Apostle Paul is well known to all, 'I received from the Lord that which I delivered unto you' (1 Cor. xi. 23). For which cause we condemn all such churches, as strangers from the true Church of Christ, which are not such as we have heard they ought to be, howsoever, in the mean time, they brag of the succession of bishops, of unity, and of antiquity. Moreover, we have in charge from the apostles of Christ 'to shun idolatry' (1 Cor. x. 14; 1 John v. 21), and 'to come out of Babylon,' and to have no fellowship with her, unless we mean to be partakers with her of all God's plagues laid upon her (Rev. xviii. 4; 2 Cor. vi. 17).