CHAPTER XXXIX.
OF THE SIGNIFICATION IN SCRIPTURE OF THE WORD CHURCH.
[Sidenote: Church the Lord’s house.]
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 Κυριακὴ, _the Lord’s house_: and thence in our language it came to be called _kyrke_, and _church_.
[Sidenote: _Ecclesia_, properly what.]
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 commonwealth 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, ἐκκλησία συγκεχυμένη.
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, (_Matth._ 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_.
[Sidenote: In what sense the church is one person.]
[Sidenote: Church defined.]
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 CHURCH to be, _a 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.
[Sidenote: A Christian commonwealth and a church all one.]
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 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.
-------