“Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife…”
Rev. 21:9
“…even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
Eph. 5:25-27
“Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge… Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.”
Ps. 48:2-3, 12-13
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Subsections
Church Membership
Church-State Relations
Ladies in Church
Apostolic Succession
Works Against Bellarmine: Church
Visible Church: Outwardly in Covenant of Grace
“No Salvation Outside of the Church”
Reformed vs. Aquinas
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Order of Contents
Articles 30+
Books 6+
Quotes 6
Head of Church 8+
Invisible Church 4
Visible Church
. Apostles’ Creed: Visible Christian
. Church Government: Not Necessary to 10
. Unbaptized Professors: in the Church
National Church 4+
catholic Church
Marks of 6+
3 Kinds of Church Communion 1
No Perfect Church
True & False Churches 6+
Church Only has Power unto Edification 1
Latin 5
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Articles
See also ‘Commentaries on the Apostles’ Creed’ on ‘I believe in the holy catholic church’.
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Anthology of
Heppe, Heinrich – ch. 27, ‘The Church’ in Reformed Dogmatics ed. Ernst Bizer, tr. G.T. Thomson (1861; Wipf & Stock, 2007), pp. 657-95
Heppe (1820–1879) was a German reformed theologian.
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1500’s
Zwingli, Ulrich – Commentary on True & False Religion eds. Jackson & Heller (1525; Labyrinth Press, 1981)
‘The Church, I’ 176-366
‘The Church, II (Reply Emser)’ 366-88
Bullinger, Henry – 2nd Sermon, ‘That there is One catholic Church; that without the Church there is no light or salvation; against schismatics; wherefore we depart from the upstart Church of Rome; that the Church of God is the house, vineyard and Kingdom of God; and the body, sheepfold and spouse of Christ; a mother and a virgin’ in The Decades ed. Thomas Harding (Cambridge: Parker Society, 1850), vol. 4, 5th Decade, pp. 49-92
Melanchthon, Philip
Article 7-8, Of the Church in The Apology of the Augsburg Confession tr: F. Bente & W. H. T. Dau (1531)
Melanchthon on Christian Doctrine, Loci Communes, 1555 tr. Clyde L. Manschreck (1555; NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1965)
ch. 29. ‘Of the Church’ 266-74
ch. 30. ‘Of the Kingdom of Christ’ 274-80
Calvin, John – Institutes of the Christian Religion tr. Henry Beveridge (1559; Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845), vol. 3, bk. 4
1. ‘Of the True Church. Duty of cultivating Unity with her, as the mother of all the godly’ 7
2. ‘Comparison between the False Church and the True’ 41
Bullinger, Henry – 2. ‘Of the Holy Christian Church & of the Church of Rome’ in Questions of Religion Cast Abroad in Helvetia [Switzerland] by the Adversaries of the Same, & Answered… tr. John Coxe (1560; London, 1572), pp. 1-30
Musculus, Wolfgang – Common Places of the Christian Religion (1560; London, 1563)
‘Church’ 253.b
What the Church is 254.a
How many sorts of churches there be 255.a
What is the true Church of Christ 256.a
Of the catholic Church 258.a
That the prelates of the Church of Rome be not the true Church 258.b
Of the knowledge of the true Church 259.a
What is the head of the Church 260.a
Of the unity of the Church 262.a
That the unity of the Church does not consist in ceremonies 264.a
Of the faith of the catholic Church 264.a
On the Apostles’ Creed 264.b
Of the Power of the Church 265.b
Whether the Church may err 266.a
Whether a Christian man may depart from the Church without blame 277.b
de Brès, Guy – ‘Of the Assemblies and Congregations of the Faithful’ in The Staff of Christian Faith… for to Know the Antiquity of our Holy Faith… gathered out of the Works of the Ancient Doctors of the Church… (d. 1567; London, 1577), pp. 340-46
de Bres (1522-1567) was a Walloon pastor, Protestant reformer and theologian, a student of Calvin and Beza in Geneva.
Zanchi, Girolamo – Confession of the Christian Religion… (1586; Cambridge, 1599)
ch. 23, ’Of Christ’s Church in General’ 174-80
ch. 24, ’Of the Militant Church’ 181-205
Vermigli, Peter Martyr – The Common Places… (d. 1562; London: Henrie Denham et al., 1583), pt. 4
ch. 1, ‘Of the catholic Church’ 1
‘Of Sundry Ministers of the Church’ 3
‘Of Calling, & Especially unto the Ministry’ 9
‘Of the Authority or Contempt of Ministers’ 15
‘Of the Office of Pastors’ 16
‘Of the Efficacy of the Ministry’ 21
‘Of the Mighty Simpleness of the Ministry’ 25
Viret, Pierre – A Christian Instruction… (d. 1571; London: Veale, 1573)
The Sum of the Principal Points of the Christian Faith
49. Of the Church and of the foundation of the same, and of her head 50-51
53. Of the doctrine of the Church, and of man’s traditions, and of those which she does acknowledge for true or false ministers 54
The Summary of the Christian Doctrine, set forth in Form of Dialogue & of Catechism
Of the Church
Of the things which we ought to believe of the Church
Of the benefits of Jesus Christ towards his Church
Of the possession of the benefits of Jesus Christ in the Church during this life
A Familiar Exposition of the Principal Points of the Catechism, and of the Christian Doctrine, made in Form of Dialogue
13th Dialogue: Of the Church & of the Ministry of the Same
Of the Sanctifying of the Church, and of the members of the same
Of the Ministry of the Church, and of the gifts necessary to the same
How that the Ministry of the Word of God is perpetually necessary to the Church in this world
Of other Gifts of God which are not so necessary for the Church as the gift of preaching
How the Lord takes the ministers of his Church of his very people, and not of a strange people
18th Dialogue: Of the Presence of Jesus Christ in Heaven, & in the Supper & in his Church
Of the Invisible coming of the body of Jesus Christ
Of the Spiritual coming of Jesus Christ
Of the Spiritual & Divine presence of Jesus Christ in his Church, and of the virtue of the same
Ursinus, Zachary – The Sum of Christian Religion: Delivered… in his Lectures upon the Catechism… tr. Henrie Parrie (Oxford, 1587)
1. What the Church is
2. How many ways the Church is taken
3. What are the tokens or marks of the Church
4. Why the Church is called holy and Catholic
5. In what the Church differs from the commonweal
6. Whence arises the difference of the Church from the rest of mankind
7. Whether anyone may be saved out of the Church
Beza, Theodore, Anthony Faius & Students – 50. ‘Upon the Article, ‘I believe that there is an holy catholic Church’’ in Propositions & Principles of Divinity Propounded & Disputed in the University of Geneva by Certain Students of Divinity there, under Mr. Theodore Beza & Mr. Anthony Faius… (Edinburgh: Waldegrave, 1591), pp. 139-44
Zanchi, Jerome – Of Saints in The Confession of Jerome Zanchi touching the Perseverance of the Saints in Faith in Speculum Christianum, or A Christian Survey for the Conscience, containing Three Tractates… (d. 1590; London, 1614), 1. Of Faith
Perkins, William – ‘The Church’ in An Exposition of the Symbol, or Apostles’ Creed… (Cambridge, 1595), p. 420
Perkins (d. 1602) was an influential, puritan, Anglican clergyman and Cambridge theologian.
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1600’s
Bucanus, William – 41. ‘Of the Church’ in Institutions of Christian Religion... (London: Snowdon, 1606), pp. 501-30
Whence is the word ecclesia, ‘Church,’ derived?
How many ways is the name of ‘Church’ used in the scriptures?
What is a Church?
How manifold is the Church?
But is not that one only Church divided?
Why is it called the catholic Church?
How is the catholic Church again divided?
But is there any visible Church, seeing we say in the Apostles’ Creed, ‘I believe the Church,’ and faith is of things which are not seen, Heb. 11:2; 2 Cor. 5:7, and Augustine says it is an action of faith to believe what thou seest not,’ for if thou seest it is not faith?
Is there, or has there been always a glorious visible state of God’s Church on earth among all men and all the world over?
The invisible Church does either openly profess the faith, or not profess it at all: If she profess it, then is she not the invisible Church; if she do not, then is she not the true Church because she confesses not the faith?
But where and how was the Church so many ages past in Popery, seeing Popery is not the Church?
May the catholic Church fall away?
When began the Church to fall from the truth?
Where then was the Church?
What are the causes of a Church?
Are not the blessed angels likewise a material part of the true Church?
Has the Church an head?
Has the Church any foundation?
What are the true and inward properties of the Church?
What are the manifest tokens of a visible Church, whereunto we may safely join ourselves?
Whether: 1. antiquity, 2. multitude of followers of some one doctrine, 3. succession in some one company of bishops, chiefly of Rome, 4. miracles, 5. continuance, 6. unity and concord, 7. efficacy of doctrine, 8. holiness of life in the authors and fathers of the religion, 9. the gift of prophesy, 10. temporal felicity, 11. the title of Church apostolical, or that it is one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church, are the notes of a true Church?
Does the Church cease to be a Church by reason of some blemish or fault in doctrine and administration of sacraments?
Is everyone bound to join himself to the assembly of that Church which has those true notes?
Can the Church err from the truth, or fall away therefrom?
May the godly, by reason of some men’s vices and evil manners, sever themselves from the outward congregation of those that profess the doctrine of Christ?
What are the conditions of the Church?
What epithets are attributed to the Church on earth?
Why is it called an holy Church?
What is the final cause of the Church?
What is the effect or office of the Church?
What is the fruit and use of the article of the Church?
What be the contraries to this doctrine?
Ames, William – The Marrow of Theology tr. John D. Eusden (1623; Baker, 1997), bk. 1, pp. 171-75
ch. 31, ‘The Church Mystically Considered’, pp. 175-78
ch. 32, ‘The Church Instituted’, pp. 178-82
Ames (1576-1633) was an English, puritan, congregationalist, minister, philosopher and controversialist. He spent much time in the Netherlands, and is noted for his involvement in the controversy between the reformed and the Arminians. Voet highly commended Ames’s Marrow for learning theology.
Synopsis of a Purer Theology: Latin Text & English Translation Buy (1625; Brill, 2016), vol. 2
40. ‘On the Church’, pp. 558-88
41. ‘On Christ as Head of the Church & on the Antichrist’, pp. 588-620
Rutherford, Samuel – ch. 15, ‘On the Church & its Marks’ in Examination of Arminianism tr. by AI by Monergism (1639-1642; Utrecht, 1668; 2024), pp. 595-627
1. Whether the Remonstrants rightly define the visible Church as the congregation of believers who profess saving doctrine, and of those who will do so, though they do not actually believe? We deny against the same.
2. Whether there is a church in the New Testament that is destitute of all elders to which [our] Lord and Savior commits the power of the keys? We deny with a distinction against the Remonstrants and Separatists.
3. Whether the Remonstrants rightly teach that to be the true Church which agrees in the faith and profession of necessary truth? We deny according to their own principles.
4. Whether it is possible that there be no Church of Christ on the earth? We deny against the Remonstrants.
5. Whether the doctrine of the marks of the Church is useless and harmful? We deny against the Remonstrants.
6. Whether there are any other marks of the Church than the profession of saving faith and the external observance of Christ’s commands? We affirm against the Remonstrants.
7. Whether the preaching of true doctrine is incorrectly stated by us to be a mark of the Church? We deny and explain against the Remonstrants.
Maccovius, John – ch. 16, ‘On the Church’ in Scholastic Discourse: Johannes Maccovius (1588-1644) on Theological & Philosophical Distinctions & Rules (1644; Apeldoorn: Instituut voor Reformatieonderzoek, 2009), pp. 253-59
Maccovius (1588–1644) was a Polish, reformed theologian.
Voet, Gisbert – Ecclesiastical Politics tr. by AI (Amsterdam: Joannes à Waesberge, 1663–1676)
vol. 1
‘The Nature of the Instituted Church’, pp. 11-44 & 47-71
‘On Church Power & the Magistrate’, pp. 114-48
‘On the Objects of Ecclesiastical Power’, pp. 235-41
‘On Ecclesiastical Canons, Decrees & Customs, or Usages’, pp. 254-62
vol. 3
‘On the Nature & Relations of Church Members’, pp. 2-31
‘On the Extraordinary Office of Apostle’, pp. 337-38, 351-63
‘Questions about Ruling Elders’, chs. 5-6, pp. 462-79
‘On Ecclesiastical Elections’, chs. 3-4, pp. 543-60
‘On the Fivefold Approval of Elected Church Officers’, ch. 5, pp. 560-73
‘On the Calling in Reformed Churches, & the First Reformers’, ch. 6, pp. 573-79
‘The History of the Right of Patronage’, ch. 1, pp. 580-95
‘On Cardinals’, pp. 793-816
‘On Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops & Deans’, ch. 3, pp. 816-32
vol. 4
pt. 3, bk. 4, tract 1, ch. 7, ‘On the Legislative Power of Ecclesiastical Authorities’, question 5, ‘Do church inspectors have legislative power, or the power of making laws that bind the conscience?’
Leigh, Edward – ch. 1. Of the Church of Christ in A System or Body of Divinity… (London, A.M., 1654), bk. 6, pp. 447-54
Le Blanc de Beaulieu, Louis – Theological Theses Published at Various Times in the Academy of Sedan 3rd ed. tr. by AI by Colloquia Scholastica (1675; London, 1683) Latin
5. Controversies on the Church Militant 1045
1. Nature and definition of the Church 1045
2. Visibility and Invisibility of the Church 1063
3. Can the church fail, or on the Church’s perennial duration 1068
4. Can the Church err, or on the Church’s constancy in retaining the Faith 1071
5. Church’s marks according to the Papists 1076
6. Church’s marks: Opinion of our doctors 1085
6. Controversies on the Members of the Militant Church
1. Designation of ‘clergy’ and ‘laity’ 1087
2. Ranks and distinction of the Church’s ministers 1089
3. Grades and distinction of Church ministers according to our theologians 1094
4. Institution or creation of Church ministers 1098
5. Celibacy and bigamy [remarriages] of ministers of the Church 1103
Rijssen, Leonard – ch. 16, ‘The Church’ in A Complete Summary of Elenctic Theology & of as Much Didactic Theology as is Necessary trans. J. Wesley White MTh thesis (Bern, 1676; GPTS, 2009), pp. 197-222
Rijssen (1636?-1700?) was a prominent Dutch reformed minister and theologian, active in theological controversies.
Turretin, Francis – Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr. (1679–1685; P&R, 1994), vol. 3
18th Topic
1. ‘The necessity of the discussion concerning the church, and whether the knowledge of the church ought to precede the knowledge of doctrine.’ 1
2. ‘The word ‘church’–its homonyms and definition.’ 6
3. ‘Besides the elect, are reprobates and infidels (whether secret or open) also true members of the church of Christ? We deny against the Romanists.’ 11
4. ‘Do unbaptized catechumens, the excommunicated and schismatics belong to the church? We distinguish.’ 23
5. ‘In what sense may the church be called one? 27
6. ‘In what sense is the church called catholic? 30
7. ‘Is the true church rightly said to be invisible? We affirm against the Romanists.’ 32
8. ‘Is the true church indefectible, which always was and always ought to be in the world until the consummation of the ages? We affirm against the Socinians.’ 41
9. ‘Ought the church to enjoy perpetual splendor and eminence; or can it be at times so obscured and lessened that no assembly of it appears publicly on earth? The former we deny; the latter we affirm against the Romanists.’ 47
20th Topic
12. ‘What is the difference between the church militant and the church triumphant?’ 86
van Mastricht, Peter – ch. 1, ‘The Nature of the Church’ in Theoretical Practical Theology (2nd ed. 1698; RHB), vol. 5, pt. 1, bk. 7
Heidegger, Johann H. – 26. ‘On the Church’ in The Concise Marrow of Theology tr. Casey Carmichael in Classic Reformed Theology, vol. 4 (1697; RHB, 2019), pp. 185-91
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1700’s
à Brakel, Wilhelmus – The Christian’s Reasonable Service, vol. 2 ed. Joel Beeke, trans. Bartel Elshout Buy (1700; RHB, 1992/1999)
ch. 24, ‘Concerning the Church’, pp. 3-55
ch. 25, ‘The Duty to Join the Church & to Remain with Her’, pp. 55-87
ch. 26, ‘The Communion of Believers with Christ & with Each Other’, pp. 87-107
ch. 43, Proposition 2, ‘A Christian must have great love and esteem for the church’, pp. 648-53
a Brakel (1635-1711) was a contemporary of Voet and Witsius and a major representative of the Dutch Further Reformation.
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1800’s
Hodge, Charles – ‘The Revised Book of Discipline’ (1858) 30 pp.
Cunningham, William
‘The Church’ & ‘The Council at Jerusalem [Acts 15]’ (1863), p. 9 and 43 respectively, 32 pp. and 35 pp. respectively, Chs. 1 & 2 from his Historical Theology, vol. 1.
Church Power: the Power of the Keys (1863), p. 235, 20 pp. being ch. 9 from his Discussions on Church Principles
Dabney, Robert – The Changes Proposed in our Book of Discipline (1859) 48 pp.
Vos, Geerhardus – ch. 1, ‘Essence’ in Reformed Dogmatics tr: Richard Gaffin 1 vol. ed. Buy (1896; Lexham Press, 2020), vol. 5, ‘Ecclesiology, the Means of Grace, Eschatology’, pt. 1, ‘Ecclesiology’, pp. 847-76
Girardeau, John
The Discretionary Power of the Church, a Sermon on Matt 28:20, (d. 1898; 1907), extracted from Sermons, ed. Rev. George A. Blackburn.
What is the discretionary power of the church? It is that she only has the authority given to her by Christ and no more, “she can utter no new doctrine, make no new laws, ordain no new forms of government, and invent no new modes of worship.”
The editor of these sermons says, “This is not the most eloquent, but it is the most valuable and the most timely sermon in this volume. It was preached before the General Assembly, at St. Louis, May 20, 1875. The author called it a testimony.”
Individual Liberty & Church Authority, a Sermon on Rom. 14:12 (1889) 18 pp.
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1900’s
Berkhof, Louis – Systematic Theology (1950)
‘Nature of the Church’ 31 paragraphs
‘Scriptural Names of the Church and the Doctrine of the Church in History’ 13 paragraphs
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Books
1400’s
Huss, John – The Church tr. David S. Schaff (Monergism, 2025) 370 pp.
Monergism: “Jan Hus (c. 1372–1415) stands as one of the clearest voices calling for Reformation before the Reformation itself arrived… The Church represents a courageous stand for biblical truth in an age of deep ecclesiastical corruption. For these convictions, Hus was condemned at the Council of Constance and martyred in 1415. His work remains a lasting testimony to the supreme authority of Scripture and the sole headship of Christ over His Church… He clearly affirms:
– The supreme authority of Scripture over popes, councils, and tradition
– The headship of Christ alone over the Church
– The true Church as the company of the elect joined to Christ by faith
– The fallibility of popes and councils
– The necessity of testing ecclesiastical authorities by the Word of God
– The rejection of coercion or violence in matters of faith
At the same time, as a “proto-Reformer,” Hus had not yet thrown off every medieval belief. In The Church, he continues to affirm:
– The existence of purgatory
– The doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper (transubstantiation)
– Traditional language such as referring to the Church as ‘Holy Mother'”
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1500’s
Mornay, Philip – A Notable Treatise of the Church in which are handled all the Principal Questions that have been moved in our Time concerning that matter [in controversy with Romanism] (London: Barker, 1579) 405 pp. ToC
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1600’s
Randall, John – Twenty-Nine Lectures of the Church… (London, 1631)
Randall (1570–1622) was an English puritan who held that the particular form of Church government is not by divine-right.
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1800’s
Miller, Samuel – Letters to Presbyterians, on the Present Crisis in the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1833) 340 pp.
Buchanan, James – On the “Tracts for the Times” (1843) 112 pp. being seven letters critiquing the Tractarian Movement at Oxford, England
Very relevant today as many people are being attracted to “High Church” Christianity. Read here why High Church views are unBiblical.
Cunningham, William – Discussions on Church Principles: Popish, Erastian and Presbyterian Buy (1863) 565 pp., with a four page preface by James Buchanan & James Bannerman
Many people are aware of Bannerman’s Church of Christ, which positively expounds the doctrine of the Church from scripture. Cunningham’s work is more polemical, against the errors of alternative views. Both are needed. This is his main work on the Church.
Hodge, Charles
Discussions in Church Polity Buy (1878) 560 pp.
This and his Essays and Reviews are the main source for Hodge’s important and influential writings in church theory and practice, especially in the context of the 1800′s debates between the northern and southern presbyterians.
In it you will find him defending the historic reformed view that the Roman Catholic Church is part of the Visible church, that her baptism is valid, and that baptized infants are under the discipline of the church. On the other hand he argues against the historic reformed view of the Establishment Principle for a Voluntary position with regard to Church and State, and for an Americanized three office view of church government. In his day the new issue came up of church boards, which he defends, as opposed to the more rigorously Biblical view of Thornwell against them. Many other interesting points of polity are also discussed.
Essays & Reviews (1857) 661 pp.
In this you will find Hodge taking up the interesting subjects of Regeneration, the Atonement, Theories of the Church, that the Roman Church is part of the Visible Church, the Lord’s Supper, Slavery (which he is against) and Emancipation, amongst others.
Binnie, William – The Church Buy (1882) 188 pp.
An excellent short work on doctrine of the Church. If the two volumes of Bannerman are too long for you, this is the next best thing.
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1900’s
Clowney, Edmund – The Church ed. Gerald Bray in Contours of Christian Theology (IVP, 1995) 330 pp. ToC
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Quotes
John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan
“Jesus is present – present in his church, as He is not in the world. As eternal God, He filleth immensity with his presence; but as Mediator… He is peculiarly, mystically, but really with his church.”
“Those who love the Lamb must love the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. They have no true love to the Lamb who have no true love to the Bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
“To cleave to the Lamb – that’s the heart of the Bride.”
“He loved her! And why? I cannot tell: she cannot tell: angels cannot tell: He knows Himself.”
“The pulse of the Christian church beats from its heart in heaven.”
“We forget the best part of the church when we forget the church triumphant [already in Heaven].”
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On the Head of the Church
Order of Contents
Articles 6+
Quotes 2
Medieval Precedent
Latin 1
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Articles
1500’s
Musculus, Wolfgang – Common Places of the Christian Religion (1560; London, 1563)
‘What is the head of the Church’ 260.a
Beza, Theodore – A Brief & Pithy Sum of the Christian Faith made in Form of a Confession (London, 1565)
Ch. 5, 5. The church has but one Head, that is to say Jesus Christ, to whom there needs no lieutenant
Ch. 7, 6. The papists spoil Jesus Christ of his office of Head of the Church
Viret, Pierre – A Christian Instruction… (d. 1571; London: Veale, 1573)
The Sum of the Principal Points of the Christian Faith
49. Of the Church and of the foundation of the same, and of her head 50-51
A Familiar Exposition of the Principal Points of the Catechism
‘Of the True Head of the Church and…’
Mornay, Philip – A Notable Treatise of the Church in which are handled all the Principal Questions that have been moved in our Time concerning that matter [in controversy with Romanism] (London: Barker, 1579)
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1600’s
Bucanus, William – ‘Has the Church an head?’ in 41. ‘Of the Church’ in Institutions of Christian Religion... (London: Snowdon, 1606), pp. 501-30
Leiden Professors – 41. ‘On Christ as Head of the Church & on the Antichrist’ in Synopsis of a Purer Theology: Latin Text & English Translation Buy (1625; Brill, 2016), vol. 2, pp. 588-620
Baxter, Richard – ‘Yet let not any here cheat you by overdoing, nor mere names and titles of unity deceive you instead of the thing itself: Nor must you ever dream of any Head and center of the unity of the catholic Church, but Christ Himself’ in The Cure of Church Divisions… (London, 1670), pt. 1, pp. 270-77
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2000’s
Fentiman, Travis – Wamphray’s 4th Objection, pp. 144-47 in “Editor’s Extended Introduction” in English Puritans, A Refutation of the Errors of Separatists (1604; RBO, 2025)
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Quotes
Order of
Belgic Confession
Fentiman
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1500’s
Belgic Confession
Article 29, ‘The Marks of the True Church’
“The true church can be recognized if it has the following marks: The church engages in the pure preaching of the gospel; it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them; it practices church discipline for correcting faults. In short, it governs itself according to the pure Word of God, rejecting all things contrary to it and holding Jesus Christ as the only Head. By these marks one can be assured of recognizing the true church– and no one ought to be separated from it.”
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On the 1600’s
Travis Fentiman, “Editor’s Extended Introduction” in English Puritans, A Refutation of the Errors of Separatists (1604; RBO, 2025), pp. 134-35
“[Johannes G.] Vos often refers to the [Scottish] non-conforming
ministers outside the establishment [1662-1688] as “presbyterians” and “covenanters” unqualified, yet this, at best, is a myopic view of the historical situation and a transgression of the fairness wherewith we ought to deal with each other (Ninth Commandment), where many in-conscience presbyterians and covenanters were in the established Church of Christ. Vos says ‘The Covenanters… rejected every offer of Erastian toleration, [and] maintained their high principle of the sole headship of Christ over the Church…’
Yet Christ and the apostles accepted their Erastian, Roman toleration while maintaining the high principle of Christ’s sole, formal headship over the Church (Eph. 1:20–23; Col. 1:18), as likewise did the presbyterian covenanters in the Erastian establishment. Vos seems strangely unaware that his reflections on the indulged ministers also condemn the godly Scottish covenanters who remained in the broken and declining Erastian establishment under bishops in the early-1600’s (which history Vos narrated in chapter two of his book) and most of the Westminster divines, whom Vos so highly praises.”
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Medieval Precedent
John T. McNeill, ch. 1. “The Ecumenical Idea & Efforts to Realize it, 1517-1618” in eds. Ruth Rouse & Stephen C. Neill, A History of the Ecumenical Movement: 1517-1948 (Philadelphia, 1967), pp. 32-33
“Thus on the basis of the ecumenical Creeds the Reformers outline a doctrine of the ecumenical Church, laying stress on the avoidance of schism where the Word and scriptural sacraments are honored. In all this they were profoundly indebted to the Church Fathes. They were also in a large sense the heirs of the Conciliarists, who demanded that ecclesiastical authority be representative. Conciliarism was a frustrated revolution; but its principle remained in many minds, both as a potential danger to papal claims and as a potential influence in doctrine and polity in an age of reform.
The Conciliarist emphasis upon the Headship of Christ was renewed in the Reformation. It was, of course, a doctrine derived from Scripture and employed by the Fathers. (Tota ecclesia ejus, quae ubique diffusa est, cujus est ipse caput. Augustine, Enarratio in Psalmos, lii, Sermo 2. CF. lxv, Sermo 1) But the doctrine is rather assumed than strongly emphasized by the Fathers, while it is frequently stressed by the Conciliarists, and constantly affirmed in Reformation statements. It was a doctrinal basis of attack upon the headship claimed by the Pope. The word-wide Church of which Christ is Head could, said the Conciliarists, through its representatives in a council, restrain or depose a Pope. No human monarch of the Church, said the Reformers, was either necessary for government or authorized in Scripture.”
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Latin Articles
1600’s
Voet, Gisbert – Syllabus of Theological Problems (Utrecht, 1643), pt. 1, section 2, tract 4, I. Of the Church Abbr.
2. The Head of the Church, the Roman Pope & The Antichrist
Of Christ the Sole Head of the Church, & of the Roman Pope
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On the Invisible Church
1600’s
Davenant, John – The Determinations, or Resolutions of Certain Theological Questions, Publicly Discussed in the University of Cambridge trans. Josiah Allport (1634; 1846) bound at the end of John Davenant, A Treatise on Justification, or the Disputatio de Justitia... trans. Josiah Allport (1631; London, 1846), vol. 2
Question 35, ‘The Invisible Church is Not a Platonic Idea’, pp. 400-404
Question 46, ‘The Holy Catholic Church which We Believe, Consists of the Elect Alone’, pp. 474-79
Le Blanc de Beaulieu, Louis – 2. ‘Visibility & Invisibility of the Church; in Theological Theses Published at Various Times in the Academy of Sedan 3rd ed. tr. by AI by Colloquia Scholastica (1675; London, 1683), 5. Controversies on the Church Militant, pp. 1063-68 Latin
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On the Visible Church
Order of Contents
Articles 6+
Quotes 3
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Articles
1500’s
Mornay, Philip – A Notable Treatise of the Church in which are handled all the Principal Questions that have been moved in our Time concerning that matter [in controversy with Romanism] (London: Barker, 1579)
ch. 1, ‘What the visible Church is, and what are the sundry states thereof’
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1600’s
English Puritans – 3. “Our People are Members of a True Visible Church” in A Refutation of the Errors of Separatists (1604; RBO, 2025), pp. 276-86
Wolleb, Johannes – 25. ‘The Nature of the Visible Church’ in Abridgment of Christian Divinity (1626) in ed. John Beardslee, Reformed Dogmatics: J. Wollebius, G. Voetius & F. Turretin (Oxford Univ. Press, 1965), bk. 1, pp. 135-41
Wolleb (1589–1629) was a Swiss reformed theologian. He was a student of Amandus Polanus.
Rutherford, Samuel – Pt. 1, ‘Of the Communion of the Visible Catholic Church’ in ‘Independent Churches do not have the Authority for Greater Excommunication’ (1644; RBO, 2014), pp. 5-31 from The Due Right of Presbyteries (London, 1644), ch. 10, section 10, pp. 289-323
Apollonius, Wilhelm – Point III, pp. 33-36 in ch. 3, ‘Of an Institute Visible Church’ in A Consideration of Certain Controversies at this Time Agitated in the Kingdom of England concerning the Government of the Church of God (London: 1645)
Baxter, Richard – Direction 56, ‘Keep still in your thoughts the state of all Christ’s Churches upon earth: that you may know what a people they are through the world whom Christ has communion with; and may not be deceived by ignorance to separate from almost all Christ’s Churches while you think that you separate from none but the few that are about you’ in The Cure of Church Divisions… (London, 1670), pt. 1, pp. 263-69
Le Blanc de Beaulieu, Louis – 2. ‘Visibility & Invisibility of the Church; in Theological Theses Published at Various Times in the Academy of Sedan 3rd ed. tr. by AI by Colloquia Scholastica (1675; London, 1683), 5. Controversies on the Church Militant, pp. 1063-68 Latin
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Quotes
Order of
English Puritans
Ames
Apollonius
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1600’s
English Puritans
A Refutation of the Errors of Separatists (1604; 1644; RBO, 2025), pt. 1
pp. 209-10
“for as true faith in Christ is that which gives the life and being to such as are effectually called, and so become members of the invisible and elect Church, so the profession of true Faith is that which gives life and being to a visible Church.
Upon this profession we find many that have been incorporated into the visible Church and admitted to the privileges thereof, even by the apostles themselves (Acts 8:37; 16:12, 31–32); yea, and Simon Magus, though he had neither faith nor the Spirit of God, yet because he made profession of faith, he was judged a member of the visible Church and baptized. (Acts 8:13, 18–24) So the Church of Pergamos, though it did tolerate gross corruptions in it, it kept the Faith of Christ and denied not his Faith, and was still called the Church of God. (Rev. 2:12, 15)
The description of a Church which they [Separatists] give in the 67th page of their Collection of Letters and Conferences, viz. that it is a company of faithful people that truly worship Christ and readily obey Him, is utterly untrue, if it be understood (as needs it must) of the visible Church; for if everyone that the Church may account a visible member be truly faithful, how is our Savior to be understood when He compares the Church or ministry to a draw-net, which being cast into the sea gathers as well that which must be cast away, as good fish (Mt. 13:47–48): and to a field where the Devil does as busily sow tares as the Son of Man does good wheat? (Mt. 13:37, 39)
Or how shall that difference stand which the Scripture makes betwixt the Lord’s judgment and the judgment of men (1 Sam. 16:7; Acts 13:28), if men may not account any members of the Church by their outward appearance and profession unless they know them to have true faith? which thing the Lord’s eye is only able to discern. [Jn. 2:23–25; Rom. 2:28–29]”
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pp. 237-39
“Lastly, though this were all proved, that our assemblies are thoroughly convinced in these points and that we, having power to reform that which is amiss, do yet voluntarily continue in those lacks and corruptions, yet might we be the true churches of Christ notwithstanding, for as true faith in Christ, not moral obedience, is that which gives life and being to every true member of the Church [Rom. 5:1; Gal. 2:16], so the profession of true faith in Christ, rather than obedience, is that which
gives the life and being to a visible assembly:
So we read that many upon their profession of faith were baptized and incorporated into the Church (Acts 8:12–13, 16, 31–32), so that which made the Romans a true Church in the judgment of Paul was that their faith was published throughout the world (Rom. 1:8); and generally, that which made the gentiles (to whom he preached) a true Church, was that they gave obedience of faith. (Rom. 1:5) Neither do we see what difference they will make betwixt the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace if they hold obedience to the commandments of God necessary to the life and first-being of a true Christian Church.
And as a wife ceases not to be a wife, though in many things she cease to be willfully obedient to her husband, unless she sin either by desertion or whoredom and be divorced [Mt. 5:32; 1 Cor. 7:15], so neither the Church ceases to be the Church and spouse of Christ till she be both sufficiently convinced of atheism or idolatry and be divorced also [Isa. 50:1], the Lord taking from her his Word and sacraments and all other of his spiritual jewels and ornaments: In the third chapter of Jeremiah, both Israel and Judah were charged with idolatry, and yet must we needs confess that they still continued the true Church of God, unless we will say there was at that time no true visible Church in the world, which was most absurd to affirm.
So the Corinthians, being in the first epistle convinced of the sin of idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14) and other sins (2 Cor. 6:14; 12:21; 13:2), the Church remaining in them, as appears in the second epistle, did yet continue to be the true Church of God notwithstanding, and so are called in the same epistle (2 Cor. 1:1)…
He that was once a brother, though he persist in his sins he has been convinced of, not by one brother only, but by two or three (Mt. 18:15–16), yea though he commit some presumptuous sins, ceases not to be a brother notwithstanding [2 Thess. 3:15]: How much less shall a Church cease to be a true Church because it has been convinced of some gross corruptions, by one or some few?
The high places were continued in Israel and Judah, and that under the reign of sundry good kings [1 Kn. 3:3; 15:14; 22:43; 2 Kn. 12:2–3; 14:1–4, etc.], notwithstanding the reproof of many prophets [1 Kn. 22:42–43; 2 Chron. 15:1–2, 8, 17; 17:6; 19:2–3; 20:33]. Yet were those of Israel and Judah accounted the Church still; neither did the prophets cease to communicate with them. (2 Kings 1:3; 15:3–4)
Neither would those that remained in Babylon after the proclamation of Cyrus to return (which was also the commandment of God, 2 Chron. 36:22), thrust out of the account of the Church, as appears by the communion of them with the Church of Jerusalem and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, notwithstanding (partly in fear of the danger, partly in a love of the commodity which they settled themselves in during the captivity) they did not build the Temple in person, but only sent money for the building. (Ezra 1:4, 6; 7:12–28; Neh. 2:7–9; 7:6, 70–72)
Lastly, the apostle sets down a rule which is directly contrary to this fourth article of their first exception in these words:
“Let us therefore as many as are perfect be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal the same unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule that we may mind the same thing.” (Phil. 3:15–16)
whereby it appears that with those who hold the foundation we both may and ought to hold and join ourselves in the things wherein we are agreed, notwithstanding our differences in those things that are not fundamental.”
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William Ames
Marrow of Sacred Divinity (London, 1642), bk. 1, ch. 31, sect. 39
“Yea the Church does never wholly cease to be visible, for although sometime there scarce appear a Church anywhere so pure that one may fly unto it in communion of the same worship in all things: yet the Church does in some sort abide visible in that very impurity of worship and profession.”
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Wilhelm Apollonius
A Consideration of Certain Controversies at this Time Agitated in the Kingdom of England concerning the Government of the Church of God (London: 1645), ch. 3, ‘Of an Institute Visible Church’, p. 25
“…we also conceive that the visible Church described in the holy Scripture is not only a parochial or particular Church, but that there is also a national and universal Church, dispersed through a whole kingdom, yea through the whole world; which does in ecclesiastical communion make up one body catholic.”
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Rutherford’s 7 Arguments that there is a catholic, Visible Church
Intro
For these arguments fleshed out in detail, see pp. 5-17 of ‘Independent Churches do not have the Authority for Greater Excommunication’ (RBO). Three objections with Rutherford’s responses follow in the document.
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The Due Right of Presbyteries... (London, 1644), pt. 1, ch. 10, section 10, ‘Of the Communion of the Visible, catholic Church’, pp. 289-98
1. Christ gave ministerial power to the apostles as representatives of the officers of the visible catholic Church (Jn. 20:21-23).
2. Christ gave ministerial power and officers to the visible catholic Church, not to a specific congregation (Eph. 4:11-13; 1 Cor. 12:28; Rom. 12:5; etc.).
3. The whole visible catholic Church is one body (Song 6:4-9; Gal. 4:26).
4. Christ has given the ministry and ordinances to that Church which He intends to perfect and bring to a unity of faith (Eph. 4:11-13), namely, the visible catholic Church.
5. Christ gives gifts primarily to the whole of his Church and only secondarily to particular saints or congregations (Jn. 3:16; Eph. 5:25; Jn. 10:11; Lk. 19:10; etc.).
6. The ‘Spouse,’ ‘Body,’ ’Sheep,’ etc. that Christ gives gifts to is the visible catholic Church, not a single congregation (Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18).
7. A church member is excommunicated out of the visible catholic Church, and hence he was previously a member of the visible catholic Church. Therefore, the visible catholic Church has the power of excommunication (1 Cor. 5:4; Eph. 4:11).
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Rutherford’s Distinctions & Conclusions on the Visible Church
A Peaceable & Temperate Plea… (London, 1642), ch. 9, ‘What members are necessarily required for the right and lawful constitution of a true politic visible Church, to the which we may join in God’s worship’, pp. 92-94
10 Distinctions
1. There be some saints by external calling, but not chosen; some saints by internal and effectual calling, called and chosen of God.
2. There be some members of a visible Church, who, de jure, by right and obligation should be such; there be other members of a visible Church, de facto, and in practice, who are such and such members.
3. There is a moral obligation, and so all the members of a visible Church are obliged to be saints by effectual calling; There is a physical obligation, and so that persons may be members of a visible Church as visible: it is not essentially required that they be effectually called.
4. …a true Church and a visible Church (as visible) may… for a time be opposed by way of contradiction, as a believing Church and a non-believing Church…
5. It is one thing to be wicked and scandalous, indeed and really, and another thing to be scandalous juridice [judicially], and in the court of the Church and notarily [by public demarcation].
6. A known and openly scandalous person and a well-lustered and dyed hypocrite are to be differenced in the Church.
7. …the preaching of the Word be… in diverse considerations: 1. A mean of constituting and making a visible Church; 2. A true note of a visible Church; 3. A mean of saving the believing Church, now visibly professing the Faith.
8. …the magistrate and king may… compel men [who have professed Christianity] to the confessing and professing of the faith, actu imperato, by an external forcing power, and yet neither magistrate nor pastor can compel to heart-believing, actu elicito, by an inward moving of the heart.
9. Let it be considered if a visible Church may not be a true Church by reason of some few sound believers and sincere seekers of God, and that same whole body [be] an infected lump and whorish in respect of some visible professors who are hypocrites and proud despisers of the Lord.
10. Let it be considered if a Church may not be termed by God’s Spirit an whore, no Church, no Spouse, jure et merito et quod vocationem passivam, in respect of bad deserving and their not answering on their parts to the call of God, and yet that same Church remain de facto, formaliter et quoad vocationem Dei activam, formally and in regard of God’s part and his active vocation and calling the Spouse and bride of Christ.
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6 Conclusions
1. The saints by external calling are the true matter of a visible Church.
2. All the members of the visible Church de jure, and by right, or by moral obligation ought to be saints effectually called.
3. But, de facto, as the visible Church is in the field of the world, all the members of the visible Church are not effectually called, justified, sanctified, neither is it needful by a physical obligation for the true nature and essence of a visible Church that all the members of it be inwardly called and sanctified; every professor is obliged to believe, else the wrath of God abides on him… But to make a man a visible professor, and a member of the true visible Church as visible, saving faith is not essentially required, so as he should be no member of the Church visible, if he believe not.
…the visible Church falls under a two-fold consideration: 1. in concreto, as a Church. 2. in abstracto, as visible. The visible Church considered in concreto is a part of the universal, catholic and unvisible Church, which partakes of the nature and essence of a true Church, and Christ’s mystical body, in which consideration we deny reprobates and unbelievers to be members of the visible Church.
Whence I infer these conclusions: 1. Separatists’ arguments must be weak, for they all conclude that which we deny not, and no other thing, to wit, that heretics, adulterers, sorcerers, blasphemers be no parts of Christ’s visible Church, as it is a Church.
2. Preaching of the Gospel is called a note of the Church, and profession of faith a note of the Church both; the former is a note of the teaching Church or ministerial Church called, Ecclesia docens. The latter is a note of the professing Church, who professes the faith, which we may call Ecclesia utens, or Ecclesia practice consideram [the Church practically considered].
3. Profession of the faith is thought to be true, either subjectively, 2. objectively, or 3. both, subjectively and objectively. Profession-subjectively is true when the professor does indeed profess and avow the truth, and does not only seem to avow and profess the truth; and this is no note of a true Church, because it may be in hypocrites, who really go to church, really hear the Word and partake of the sacraments, but not sincerely. Profession true objectively is when the professor does profess that faith which is indeed sound and orthodox. And this is a mark of the true teaching or ministerial Church, and may be in a visible company of professors who for the time are not sincere believers. But a profession of the faith both objectively true and subjectively is, when the object is orthodox and sound truth, and the professor sincerely and graciously, and with an honest heart believes and professes the truth, and this way profession of the truth is a true and essential note of a visible Church as it is a true Church and body of Christ, and so are our divines to be expounded in this doctrine about the notes of the visible Church.
But withal, the visible Church is to be considered in abstracto, under the notion of visibility, and as visible, and as performing all the external acts of professing, governing, hearing, preaching, praising, administrating the seals of the covenant, binding and loosing in the external and visible court of Christ, and under this reduplication as obvious to men’s eyes, and therefore in this notion all external professors who are not manifestly and openly scandalous are to be reputed members of the true visible Church, and therefore this term, would be considered, a true visible Church. For the adjective ‘true’ may either be referred to the subject, Church, and so signifies the true mystical body of Christ visibly, and with all sincerely professing the sound faith. Or it may be referred to the other adjective ‘visible’, and so it is no other but a company of professors visible to our senses, and so truly visible, whose members may be unsound and false professors:
…the company that we are to join ourselves unto, as visible members, have in it these true marks of a visible Church, The pure word of God purely preached, and the sacraments duly administered, with discipline according to God’s Word, and withal a people externally professing the fore-said faith…
4. That howbeit openly and grossly profane wicked persons, as known atheists and mockers of religion, idolaters, papists, heretics, sorcerers, witches, thieves, adulterers, etc. are not to be kept in the Church, but [are] to be excommunicated, nor yet to be received into the Church as members thereof, until they give evidences of their repentance: Yet we say that there is nothing required more as touching the essential properties and nature of being members of a Church, as visible, but that they profess before men the faith, and desire the seals of the Covenant, and crave fellowship with the visible Church…
5. The preaching of the Word and seals thereof ordinarily settled in a visible society is the essential note and mark of a true Church… we distinguish three things here:
There is 1. The single and occasional preaching of the Word. 2. The settled preaching of the Word, the settling of the candlestick and Kingdom to dwell amongst a people. 3. The preached Word, with the seals, especially the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
The single and occasional preaching, or by concomitancy as to a people unconverted and unbelievers, and so it is not an essential note of the true Church, but a mean to gather a Church to God…
2. The settled preaching of the Word established and remaining in a Church, as the standing candlestick, the fixed kingdom of God is the essential mark of the true Church, and preached in God’s blessed decree of election only for, and to the chosen believers, and as it were in the bie to the profane reprobates amongst them, and this they cannot be able to improve.
3. The preaching of the Word, and the seals of the settled covenant is a means of confirming those that are already converted: Neither is it much against us that the Word is preached to the reprobate; for the preaching of the Word is considered either in itself, and actu primo, and so it is a mark of the visible Church. Or. 2. As it is effectual by the Spirit of Jesus, and actu secundo, and so it is an essential mark of the true Church and lively body of Christ…
6. Seeing then the Church has no other mark and rule to look unto in the receiving in of members into a visible Church, but external profession, which is no infallible mark of a true convert, the Church is rightly constitute where all born within the visible Church and professing the Faith are received, suppose many wicked persons be there. Now seeing time, favor of men, prosperity accompanying the Gospel, bring many into the Church, so the magistrate [in such a Christian land] may compel men [born in, or otherwise in the visible Church] to adjoin themselves to the true Church.
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Profession of the Apostles’ Creed makes a Visible Christian
Quote
1600’s
Samuel Rutherford
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Church Government is Not Necessary to the Visible Church, but is for its Well-being
Order of
Westminster
Quotes 8+
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Westminster
Confession, 25.2
“II. The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion,[b] together with their children;[c] and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ,[d] the house and family of God,[e]…
[b] 1 Cor. 1:2. 1 Cor. 12:12,13. Ps. 2:8. Rev. 7:9. Rom. 15:9-12.
[c] 1 Cor. 7:14. Acts 2:39. Ezek. 16:20,21. Rom. 11:16. Gen. 3:15. Gen. 17:7.
[d] Matt. 13:47. Isa. 9:7.
[e] Eph. 2:19. Eph. 3:15“
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Quotes
Order of
Cartwright
Mornay
Alison
Gifford
Puritan Ministers
Hall
Ames
Randall
Seaman
London Presbyterians
Leigh
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1500’s
Thomas Cartwright
‘A Letter of T. C. To Richard Harrison Concerning Separation’ (1584), p. 10 in The Judgment of Mr. Cartwright & Mr. Baxter Concerning Separation & the Ceremonies (1673) Note that EEBO lists the author as Cartwright (1634-1689), which is untrue. This same work is in Cartwrightiana, pp. 48-58.
“Was not Jerusalem after the return from Babylon the City of the great King until such time as Nehemiah came and builded the walls of the city? To say therefore, it is none of the Church of God because it has not received the discipline, methinks it is all one with this:
As if a man should say, ‘It is no city because it has no wall;’ or that ‘it is no vineyard because it has neither ditch nor hedge.’ It is not, I grant, so sightly a city or vineyard, nor yet so safe against the invasion of their several enemies which lie in wait for them; yet are they truly both cities and vineyards.“
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Philip Mornay
A Notable Treatise of the Church in which are handled all the Principal Questions that have been moved in our Time concerning that matter [in controversy with Romanism] (London: Barker, 1579), ch. 2, n.p.
“The which thing St. Ambrose teaches us saying (De Salubr., ch. 7), that the catholic Church is that where God speaks with his servants: and St. Augustine also (contra Cresco. Gramat., bk. •, ch. 11 etc.), where He places the ministry of ministers and pastors of the Church, in the Word of God and sacraments. Let us yet add hereunto the third mark of this Church, albeit it be not of the substance, but outward, to wit, the lawful vocation of pastors and ministers of the Church, which have the administration of the things aforesaid.”
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Richard Alison
A Plain Confutation of a Treatise of Brownism (London: Scarlet,1590), A Plain Confutation, pp. 24-26
“The [opposing] author expresses what his meaning is in the other part of this book: for he describes these [church] officers and these laws, what they are: Concerning all which this I say in general, that here is nothing but palpable ignorance to be found, for first these governing officers, pastors, doctors, elders, deacons and relievers, being five in number, are so necessarily required that the want [lack] of these or any of these in a congregation, causes it to be no Church apparant…
Secondly, that the want of elders takes not away the esse or being of the church, considering that Christ and his disciples which joined with Him were the apparant Church, and yet during the time of his humiliation these officers were not erected. And when many revolted, as is to be seen, Jn. 6, Christ asking the twelve if they also would go away, Peter answered in the name of the rest, ‘Master to whom shall we go, Thou hast the words of eternal life?’ so that Peter accounts the Word a sufficient warrant for his continuing with Christ, howsoever these men though they confess that the Word of God is to be heard, yet deny the hearing of it at their mouths which have not ordained elders among them.
But this may seem no sufficient proof which is taken from Christ and his disciples forasmuch as this discipline was not then commanded. I answer that if there were a time when the Church of Christ was without this government, and forasmuch as it received not the government of the Jews, it is not a perpetual rule that outward government should be the life of the Church.
But I will not hold them in this straight: they ask where we can find a Church without this government after that Christ had sent his Spirit upon the disciples. I answer that as Timothy was left at Ephesus, so was Titus in Crete, I mean in the House of God, which is the Church of the living God. And yet at that time elders were not appointed in that Church before Titus had ordained them: not to speak of the Church of Jerusalem, which made choice of deacons, but not of elders. Also it is plain that the elders which were appointed in the churches by the apostles were for the most part such as dealt in the Word, and not in goverment only, as hereafter shall be made more manifest in his due place.”
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George Gifford
A Short Reply unto the Last Printed Books of Henry Barrow & John Greenwood, the Chief Ringleaders of our Donatists in England… (London, 1591), p. 97
“…ye are full Donatists [Eary Church heretics]… you do agree with them in the sum and substance of all the fowlest things…:
…
15. That ye judge them to be no true Churches which have not excommunication.”
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1600’s
Partially Conforming English Puritans
A Refutation of the Errors of Separatists (1604; RBO, 2025)
p. 228
“Thirdly, though none of our assemblies did use this power [suspension from the Lord’s Table], it follows not from thence that we have it not: no more than it does follow that the rich churl has no money because he uses none, and that a man therefore has no authority because he does not exercise any.
Fourthly, admit we were not able (through lack of knowledge and courage) to use this power, yet follows it not that therefore we lack the right and authority to use it. For if those Churches which the prophet reproves for putting no difference between the holy and profane (Eze. 22:26), or that which the apostle blames for not putting the incestuous person from among them [1 Cor. 5:1–2]: had they lacked authority to use this power, how could they justly have been reproved for neglecting the exercising thereof?
Lastly, though it were granted that we lacked both the exercise of the Church’s censures and some of those officers which our Savior has appointed to exercise them by, yet might we be a true visible Church notwithstanding:
There was a true Church in Judah all the days of Asa (2 Chron. 15:9–10) and Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 17:5, 9), yet was not the discipline reformed there till the latter days of Jehoshaphat’s reign (2 Chron. 19:8, 11). That also was a true Church even then when the apostles found this fault with them (1 Cor. 5:1–2). The congregation at Samaria is called a Church before the discipline was established there [Acts 8; 9:31; 15:3], and even in Jerusalem there was a famous visible Church of Christ long before sundry parts of the discipline (for lack whereof they condemn us) were established there. [Acts 1:4; 2:46–47; 5:28; 6:7; 8:1; 8:14; 9:13, 26; 11:22] Yea it is evident that by the apostles themselves diverse Churches were gathered some good space of time before the discipline was settled or exercised by all, which is manifest. (Acts 13:43; 14:11, 21, 23)
That how necessary soever those parts of the discipline (which we lack) be to the beauty and well-being or preservation of the Church, yet are they not necessary to the being thereof, but that a true Church may be without them. And as we may well call him a man that lacks not only sundry parts of his body, as an arm or a leg, or eye, but is also distempered much even in the brain and liver, and heart and the rest of the vital parts, so may we rightly call that a Church which not only lacks sundry of those officers which Christ has ordained, but has also much maimedness and distemper even in the ministry of the Word and the profession of the true Faith (which are as it were the brain and heart of a true Church).”
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p. 258
“…unless the eldership be held so essential a thing that there can be no true Church without it (which we are well assured of that our brethren themselves, and all that have any knowledge, will deny)…”
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Joseph Hall
Epistles, the Second Volume (London: 1608), 6th Decade, Epistle 5… dissuading from Separation & Shortly Oppugning the Grounds of that Error, pp. 50-55
“But whether every truth be fundamental or necessary: ‘Discipline’ (you say) ‘is so’: [it is] indeed necessary to the well-being of a church, no more: it may be true without it, [though] not perfect.
Christ compares his spouse to an army with banners: as order is to an army, so is discipline to the Church: if the troops be not well marshalled in their several ranks, and move not forward, according to the discipline of war, it is an army still: confusion may hinder their sucess, it cannot bereave them of their name: it is as beautiful proportion to the body, an hedge to a vineyard, a wall to a city, an hem to a garment, ceiling to an house. It may be a body, vineyard, city, garment, house, without them: it cannot be well and perfect.
Yet which of our adversaries will say we have no discipline? Some they grant, but not the right: as if they said, Your city has a brick wall indeed, but it should have one of hewn stone; your vineyard is hedged, but it should be paled and ditched: while they cavil at what we want, we thank God for what we have; and so much we have, in spite of all detraction, as makes us both a true Church and a worthy one.”
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William Ames
A Second Manuduction for Mr. [John] Robinson. Or a confirmation of the former in an answer to his manumission (Amsterdam, 1615), p. 33
“Now these members combining themselves into one body as they are such, do make or rather are actually a true visible church, one integral body, not continued but by aggregation…
Further, this integral body for the well-being of it in exercising those operations which belong unto it and whereunto it serves, must become as we say organical, having members of diverse ranks, some as head, mouth and eyes, the pastor, teachers, and elders, some as hands, the deacons and helpers: whereupon arises another relation and form of accidental perfection, in state of government: which is complete or incomplete, freely exercising the power granted by Christ to his church, or else restrained or defective therein.”
.
John Randall
Twenty-Nine Lectures of the Church… (London, 1631), Lecture 14 Randall (1570–1622) was an English puritan who held that the particular form of Church government is not by divine-right.
p. 235
“…there is a twofold necessity; one absolute, the other conditional. Absolute, that is, when one thing is so necessarily required to another, as that it cannot be without it. Secondly, there is a necessity that is not absolute, but conditional; that is, when one thing is so necessary to another as that it cannot well be without it: of this latter sort, the necessity of this government in the Church of God is: for the Church may be without it in some kind of being, but it cannot have her well-being except this concur.”
.
pp. 242-44
“The third use is for reproof of those that hold outward government essentially necessary to the Church, as if the Church without this could have no being at all. I for my part desire, and would gladly go as far as I see Christ and his apostles have gone before me; and where they stay, there would I stay too. I find that the Church can never be long nor well without government, but yet it may be sometimes without it, and yet be a true Church.
It is true of the inward government, for where that is not, it is not possible that the Church should have any being at all, but it is not so of the outward. Therefore we must rightly distinguish betwixt the inward and the outward government, otherwise we shall run into many absurdities:
First, the inward is merely spiritual, the outward is for the most part bodily, that is, such as affects the ear, or the eye, or some other parts; only it is thus far spiritual, in regard of the end it aims at, that is, to make us spiritually minded.
Secondly, the inward is proper to God, and reserued to Him only; the outward, though it be from God too, yet it is committed to the administration of men.
Thirdly, the inward is peculiar to the faithful and elect alone, God rules in their hearts and consciences, justifying and sanctifying them, and none others; the outward is common to all that profess themselves to be members, though they be hypocrites.
Fourthly, the inward is the highest and principal, the outward is but a serviceable dispensation fitted to the inward.
Fifthly, the inward seconds the outward, and makes it effectual and fruitful; the outward does but lead vs by the hand (as it were) to the inward.
I note this difference the rather, because many men do clamorously exclaim that Christ is robbed of the one half of his kingdom when that outward form which they pretend is not observed. And this is the Brownists’ exception: ‘You’ (say they) ‘deny Christ to be your King, because you own not his discipline which He has prescribed.’ I am with the apostle: God’s kingdom consists not of meats and drinks, and of outward rites, but of righteousnesse and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. [Rom. 14] The principal part of God’s kingdom is when He rules by his Spirit in the hearts of his children: and therefore if there were any such discipline prescribed by the Word as they pretend, yet we should not lose the one half of Christ’s kingdom, though it were not observed.
Happily it is not known to them that do not observe it; and then it is no rebellion; if it be knowne by them, the sin is much the greater, if it be not observed. But yet Christ may still exercise his Kingdom in the hearts of many members of the Church by his Spirit, though this were wanting.
The case may seem to be well paralleled by our outward and inward worship in prayer: The outward worship is but an appurtenance to the inward, for the inward may be true without the outward. And so discipline is rather an appurtenance to God’s kingdom, than the kingdom itself; so that we see that God’s Church may be without discipline, though it cannot be well nor long without it; where outward government is wanting, the Church may be defective and maimed, yea half-dead in outward show at least, and yet a true Church still.
Yet, but are not the Word and the sacraments parts of the outward government, and they are necessary to the very being of the Church. Therefore some part of the outward government is essential to the Church. I answer:
That they are not necessary to themselves, but by accident, because they 〈…〉to the inward, as that it cannot be without this. And besides, the Word and the sacraments are not so much of the outward government of themselves, but rather the carriage and manner of using of them is of the outward government.
Lastly, I answer, they are simply necessary, as they are the causes and gathering of the Church, but not as they are parts of outward government. As Moses his message and gathering of the Israelites to the Lord was one thing, his governing of them another. So that the Word and sacraments must be considered in both these respects, and so in respect of gathering the Church, they are simply necessary, not in respect of governing of it. So that outward government is not simply necessary to the being of the Church, but to the well-being only.”
.
Lazarus Seaman
The Diatribe Proved to be Paradiatribe, or a Vindication of the Judgment of the Reformed Churches, and Protestant Divines, from misrepresentations concerning ordination and laying on of hands... (London: T.R., 1647), ‘Answer to the Tract bearing title, The Judgment of the Reformed Churches’, p. 49 Seaman (d. 1675) was a Westminster divine.
“I distinguish between the Church and her external polity: That which is essential to the Church’s being never ceases, but that which is essential to her outward polity may, because polity itself is not essential. The Church, for being, like Christ as God, never dies; but in her external order, like Christ as man, she dies and rises again.”
.
London (Presbyterian) Provincial Assembly
A Vindication of the Presbyterial-Government & the Ministry… (London, 1650), p. 1
“The external government and discipline of Christ (though it be not necessary to the being, yet it) is absolutely necessary to the well-being of a Church: So necessary, as that we cannot but be deeply affected with grief and sorrow when we consider how long the thorough settling of it has been delayed (notwithstanding the [Solemn League and] Covenant we have taken, with hands lifted up to heaven to endeavor a reformation in point of discipline) and cannot but conceive it to be one chief reason of all the miseries that are now upon us; because those that have been in authority amongst us have labored to build their own houses and have suffered the house of God to lie waste.
If Nehemiah sat down and wept and mourned certain days because the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, etc. Much more have we cause to mourn that the wall of Zion is not yet reared up; for as a city without walls, a sea without banks, a vineyard without a hedge, so is a Church without discipline, and he that shall consider the multitude of heresies and blasphemies, the abundance of iniquities and abominations that have crowded into the Church, whilst this wall has been unbuilt, and this hedge unmade; cannot but take up the lamentation of David, though with a little difference:
‘Why hast thou suffered thy Vineyard to be without a hedge, so that all they which do pass by pluck her. The boar out of the wood doth waste it and the wild beasts of the field devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O Lord of Hosts; look down from Heaven and behold and visit this Vine, and the Vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself, etc.’ (Ps. 80:12-15)
And likewise to pray the prayer of the same prophet in another place, ‘Do good in thy good pleasure to Zion, and build thou the walls of Jerusalem.’ (Ps. 51:18)”
.
Edward Leigh
A System or Body of Divinity... (London: A.M., 1654), bk. 6, ch. 3, ‘Of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction & Government’
“There is a twofold ministerial power:
1. Potestas ordinis, which consists merely in preaching the Word and administring the sacraments.
2. Jurisdictionis, whereby they govern in the Church, by binding the impenitent and losing the penitent.¹
¹ …’Discipline’ is used sometimes largely, so as it extends to all rule and order, appointed or left for the right managing of the things of God, or strictly for the censures of the Church. So there may be a true Church without discipline. The Helvetians and those of Switzerland have no suspension [from the Table or Church] at all, but what offences other Churches suspend for the civil magistrate punishes other way.”
.
.
Professing Believers & their Children, though Unbaptized, are part of the Visible Church
See also, ‘Local Church Membership is Not Necessary to the Visible Church’ and ‘Local Church Membership is Not Necessary for the Sacraments’.
.
Order of Contents
Westminster
Quotes
Article
.
Westminster
Confession, 25.2
“II. The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion,[b] together with their children;[c] and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ,[d] the house and family of God,[e]…
[b] 1 Cor. 1:2. 1 Cor. 12:12,13. Ps. 2:8. Rev. 7:9. Rom. 15:9-12.
[c] 1 Cor. 7:14. Acts 2:39. Ezek. 16:20,21. Rom. 11:16. Gen. 3:15. Gen. 17:7.
[d] Matt. 13:47. Isa. 9:7.
[e] Eph. 2:19. Eph. 3:15“
.
Quotes
Order of
Cartwright
Rutherford
.
1600’s
Thomas Cartwright
‘A Letter of T. C. To Richard Harrison Concerning Separation’ (1584), pp. 7-8 in The Judgment of Mr. Cartwright & Mr. Baxter Concerning Separation & the Ceremonies (1673) Note that EEBO lists the author as Cartwright (1634-1689), which is untrue. This same work is in Cartwrightiana, pp. 48-58.
“…whatsoever is wanting [lacking] of that which is commanded, or remaining of that which is forbidden, is not able to put that assembly, which by faith is laid upon Christ, from the right and title of being the Church of Christ: for faith can admit no such thing which gives an utter overthrow and turning upside down of the truth.
By this title of ‘the faithful,’ the apostle in his epistles notes out the Churches of God, it being all one with him to say, ‘To the faithful,’ or ‘To the saints,’ as ‘To the Church’ of such a place. Whatsoever wants unto this, or is more than enough that wants, or abounds to the disgrace or uncomeliness or to the hazard of continuance, and not to the present overthrow of the Church.
Hereupon the people of Israel, which neglected for the space of forty years the holy sacrament of circumcision and the Passover also as it seems (one only time excepted), ceased not therefore to be the Churches of God and to have the Sanctuary among them.”
.
Samuel Rutherford
On the baptism of the children of adherents ***
The Due Right of Presbyteries… (London, 1644), pt. 1, pp. 204-8, 229, 235 irregular numbering
“Yea, many of great learning think that at the beginning of Reformation thousands being under popery baptized by midwives and private persons, were never rebaptized; not that they think such baptism valid, but where the sacrament is wanting, ex invincibili ignorantia facti, ‘out of an invincible ignorance of a fact’, such [by] that way [the] baptized do indeed want the Lord’s seal; but we cannot for that say that they are no better than infidels and unbaptized Turks and Jews, because:
1. Their being born in the visible Church gives a federal holiness, as all of Jewish parents had a federal right to circumcision and were, eatenus, ‘insofar’, separated from the womb.
2. Because their profession of that Covenant whereof baptism is a seal, separates them sufficiently from infidels, though they want the seal external.
But our divines esteem, and that justly, baptism administrated by women or such as have no calling, to be no baptism at all; for which let the reader see Calvin, Institutes, bk. 4, ch. 15, sect. 20; Epistle 326; Beza, Libel., Questione de Baptism; the learned Rivet, in Cathol. Orthod., tome 2, tract 2, q. 7. We stand not for what Bellarmine, Maldonatus, Gretserus and other papists say on the contrary.”
.
Article
1600’s
Turretin, Francis – 4. ‘Do unbaptized catechumens, the excommunicated and schismatics belong to the church? We distinguish.’ in Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr. (1679–1685; P&R, 1994), vol. 3, 18th Topic, pp. 23-27
.
On National Churches
Order of
Articles 3
Book 1
Quotes 2
Historical 1
.
Articles
1600’s
Rutherford, Samuel
A Peaceable & Temperate Plea… (London, 1642)
pp. 226 & 228-31 of ch. 15
pp. 245-46 of ch. 16
The Due Right of Presbyteries... (London, 1644), pt. 1
ch. 4, 2nd Conclusion, ‘A national typical Church was the Church of the Jews, we deny. But a Church national or provincial of cities, provinces and kingdomes, having one common government, we think cannot be denied’, pp. 54-57 & 59-61
ch. 10, Objection 7, pp. 342-44
Acts 15, Objection 17, pp. 416-18
ch. 11, ‘Of the National Church & the Lawfulness of a National Covenant’ in A Survey of the Survey of that Sum of Church-Discipline penned by Mr. Thomas Hooker (London, 1658)
Apollonius, Wilhelm – Point II, pp. 28-33 in ch. 3, ‘Of an Institute Visible Church’ in A Consideration of Certain Controversies at this Time Agitated in the Kingdom of England concerning the Government of the Church of God (London: 1645)
Stillingfleet, Edward – pp. 156-58 of ch. 1 in Irenicum, a Weapon-Salve for the Church’s Wounds, or the Divine Right of Particular Forms of Church-Government Discussed & Examined... (London: Mortlock, 1662), pt. 2
.
Book
1600’s
Baxter, Richard – Of National Churches, their Description, Institution, Use, preservation, danger, maladies and cure, partly applied to England… (London, 1691) ToC
.
Quotes
1600’s
Richard Baxter
The English Nonconformity as under King Charles II & King James II Truly Stated & Argued (1683; London: Parkhurst, 1689), pp. 11 & 15-16 The preface is dated 1683.
“But those [leading presbyterian and congregationalist ministers] that were called by the king, and one another, 1660 and 1661, to treat of concord, and that assembled at Sion College, and elsewhere about it, did openly make known their minds: And I think they meddled not against any of these things following, by any accusation of them as sinful:
…
XXXVII. We are not for unlimited toleration: But that the rulers justly distinguish in law and license: 1. The approved, whom they must own and maintain. 2. The tolerable, whom they must tolerate. 3. The intolerable, whom they must restrain from doing hurt.
XXXVIII. We are for making true religion as national and extensive as may be; and for a national Church: 1. As the associated community of churches in a nation is so called. 2. And as they are all accidentally united under one Christian sovereign: Though we abhor the casting out all that be not of our opinion and measure, and that cannot submit to all that I here enumerate, which I and others of my mind can submit to.
XXXIX. We are so far from desiring to draw people from the parish Churches into conventicles that we would keep up the honor of them to the utmost of our power, as knowing how greatly the countenance and maintenance of rulers conduces to the furtherance of religion; and that the public religion will be the common and national religion; and most will be there: And if the Protestant religion were reduced to tolerated conventicles, Popery would possess its place and become national, and soon withdraw even private toleration, as we see in France.
XL. We are not for preaching when we are forbidden where there is not a real and evident need of our labors.”
.
Richard Baxter’s Penitent Confession & his Necessary Vindication... (London, 1691), ch. 2, p. 6
“The Independents blame me for being for a National Church, and some of them for being against their unnecessary covenanting terms of communion…”
.
Historical
At Westminster
De Witt, John Richard – 3. “The Church of England is a True Church” in Jus divinum. The Westminster Assembly & the Divine Right of Church Government (Kampen: Kok, 1969), pp. 71-73
.
On the catholic (Universal) Church of Christ
See also ‘Rutherford’s 7 Arguments that there is a catholic Visible Church’ and ‘Commentaries on the Apostles’ Creed’ on ‘I believe in the holy, catholic Church’.
.
Articles
1500’s
Bullinger, Henry – 2nd Sermon, ‘That there is One catholic Church; that without the Church there is no light or salvation; against schismatics; wherefore we depart from the upstart Church of Rome; that the Church of God is the house, vineyard and Kingdom of God; and the body, sheepfold and spouse of Christ; a mother and a virgin’ in The Decades ed. Thomas Harding (1549; Cambridge: Parker Society, 1850), vol. 4, 5th Decade, pp. 49-92
Vermigli, Peter Martyr – ch. 1, ‘Of the catholic Church’ in The Common Places… (London: Henrie Denham et al., 1583), pt. 4, pp. 1-28
Musculus, Wolfgang – Common Places of the Christian Religion (1560; London, 1563), ‘Church’
Of the catholic Church 258.a
Of the faith of the catholic Church 264.a
Beza, Theodore – 3. Wherefore we call the Church catholic in A Brief & Pithy Sum of the Christian Faith made in Form of a Confession (London, 1562), Ch. 5
Mornay, Philip – ch. 2, ‘That of the visible and catholic Church, some parts of it are pure and some impure, and which be the infallible markes of the pure Churches’ in A Notable Treatise of the Church in which are handled all the Principal Questions that have been moved in our Time concerning that matter [in controversy with Romanism] (London: Barker, 1579)
Olevian, Caspar
An Exposition of the Apostle’s Creed (London, 1581), pt. 2
’I believe the Holy catholic Church, the communion of saints’
Testimonies out of the prophets and apostles
What this part contains
The meaning of these words, ‘I believe the catholic or universal Church’
Why the Church is called ‘holy’
Why the Church is called catholic
Olevian (1536–1587) was a significant German reformed theologian, and has been said to be a co-author of the Heidelberg Catechism along with Zacharias Ursinus (though this has been questioned).
‘Of the Holy catholic Church’ in A Catechism, or Brief Instruction in the Principles & Grounds of the True Christian Religion… (d. 1587; London, 1617), pp. 16-19
Ursinus, Zachary – 4. ‘Why the Church is called holy and Catholic’ in The Sum of Christian Religion: Delivered… in his Lectures upon the Catechism… tr. Henrie Parrie (Oxford, 1587), Of the Church
Beza, Theodore, Anthony Faius & Students – 50. ‘Upon the Article, ‘I believe that there is an holy catholic Church’’ in Propositions & Principles of Divinity Propounded & Disputed in the University of Geneva by Certain Students of Divinity there, under Mr. Theodore Beza & Mr. Anthony Faius… (Edinburgh: Waldegrave, 1591), pp. 139-44
.
1600’s
Perkins, William – William Perkins’s Problem of the Forged Catholicism, or Universality of the Romish Religion in The Works (Cambridge: Legat, 1601), vol. 2, pp. 485-602
Bucanus, William – Institutions of Christian Religion... (London: Snowdon, 1606), 41. ‘Of the Church’, pp. 501-30
But is not that one only Church divided?
Why is it called the catholic Church?
How is the catholic Church again divided?
Is there, or has there been always a glorious visible state of God’s Church on earth among all men and all the world over?
But where and how was the Church so many ages past in Popery, seeing Popery is not the Church?
May the catholic Church fall away?
Davenant, John – The Determinations, or Resolutions of Certain Theological Questions, Publicly Discussed in the University of Cambridge trans. Josiah Allport (1634; 1846) bound at the end of John Davenant, A Treatise on Justification, or the Disputatio de Justitia... trans. Josiah Allport (1631; London, 1846), vol. 2
Question 46, ‘The Holy Catholic Church which We Believe, Consists of the Elect Alone’, pp. 474-79
Rutherford, Samuel – Pt. 1, ‘Of the Communion of the Visible Catholic Church’ in ‘Independent Churches do not have the Authority for Greater Excommunication’ (1644; RBO, 2014), pp. 5-31 from The Due Right of Presbyteries (London, 1644), ch. 10, section 10, pp. 289-323
Apollonius, Wilhelm – pp. 36-37 in ch. 3, ‘Of an Institute Visible Church’ in A Consideration of Certain Controversies at this Time Agitated in the Kingdom of England concerning the Government of the Church of God (London: 1645)
Turretin, Francis – 6. ‘In what sense is the church called catholic?’ in Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr. (1679–1685; P&R, 1994), vol. 3, 18th Topic, pp. 30-32
Heidegger, Johann H. – ‘One Catholic & Apostolic Church’ (1687) in Various Disputations tr. by AI by Onku (d. 1698), pp. 149-87 Latin
.
1800’s
Smyth, Thomas – An Ecclesiastical Catechism of the Presbyterian Church… (NY: 1843), ch. 1
section IV, ‘Of the Church catholic’
.
Quotes
Order of
Apollonius
Presbyterians & Independents
Duncan
.
1600’s
Wilhelm Apollonius
A Consideration of Certain Controversies at this Time Agitated in the Kingdom of England concerning the Government of the Church of God (London: 1645), ch. 3, ‘Of an Institute Visible Church’, p. 25
“…we also conceive that the visible Church described in the holy Scripture is not only a parochial or particular Church, but that there is also a national and universal Church, dispersed through a whole kingdom, yea through the whole world; which does in ecclesiastical communion make up one body catholic.”
.
Leading English & Presbyterian Ministers
The Grand Debate between the most reverend Bishops & the Presbyterian Divines appointed by His Sacred Majesty as Commissioners for the Review & Alteration of the Book of Common Prayer... (London, 1661), ‘The Papers’, p. 63
“But we perceive that ‘the catholic consent of antiquity’ must go into your [bishops’] definition of the ‘orthodox,’ but how hard it is to get a reconciling determination what ages shall go with you and us for the true antiquity, and what is necessary to that consent that must be called catholic is unknown to none but the unexperienced…
And we profess ‘to adhere to Scripture, and the catholic consent of antiquity’ (as described by Vincentius Liniensis [of Lerins, d. c. 445]). If you [bishops] will say that our pretense and claim is unjust, we call for your authority to judge our hearts or depose us from the number of the orthodox, or else for your proofs to make good your accusation.”
.
1800’s
John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan
“Seas and continents separate in space, but the church of Christ is one in Him.”
“It would be well for Christendom if all the members of Christ’s catholic church would endeavor to preserve the unity of the Spirit, and think oftener of the many and major points in which they agree than the few and minor ones in which they differ.”
“That is a fine saying of Sack of Bonn [Germany] in his history of the Scottish Church: ‘In Scotland there are no sects, only parties.’ That is a fine testimony from a foreigner.”
“I rejoice in being a member of a Free Church [of Scotland], but I rejoice still more in being a member of the catholic church of the Lord Jesus.”
.
On the Marks or Notes of the Church
See also ‘Rutherford’s 7 Arguments that there is a catholic Visible Church’ and ‘Discipline: Not a Necessary Mark of the Essence of the Visible Church’.
.
Articles
1500’s
Beza, Theodore – A Brief & Pithy Sum of the Christian Faith made in Form of a Confession (London, 1565), Ch. 5
7. The marks whereby we may discern the False Church from the True
9. The marks or tokens of the Church be not always in one estate, and how it ought to be governed
de Brès, Guy – ‘Of the Church, and how it may be known and of her Authority’ in The Staff of Christian Faith… for to Know the Antiquity of our Holy Faith… gathered out of the Works of the Ancient Doctors of the Church… (London, 1577), pp. 258-93
de Bres (1522-1567) was a Walloon pastor, Protestant reformer and theologian, a student of Calvin and Beza in Geneva.
Viret, Pierre – A Christian Instruction… (d. 1571; London: Veale, 1573), The Sum of the Principal Points of the Christian Faith
Mornay, Philip – A Notable Treatise of the Church in which are handled all the Principal Questions that have been moved in our Time concerning that matter [in controversy with Romanism] (London: Barker, 1579)
Ursinus, Zachary – The Sum of Christian Religion: Delivered… in his Lectures upon the Catechism… tr. Henrie Parrie (Oxford, 1587)
Of the Church, 3. What are the tokens or marks of the Church
Of the Holy Scripture, 2. What Religion, delivered in the Scriptures, differs from other religions…, Certain notes or marks by which the Church is distinguished from others
.
1600’s
Bucanus, William – 41. ‘Of the Church’ in Institutions of Christian Religion... (London: Snowdon, 1606), pp. 501-30
Is there, or has there been always a glorious visible state of God’s Church on Earth, among all men, and all the world over?
What are the true and inward properties of the Church?
What are the manifest tokens of a visible Church, whereunto we may safely join ourselves?
Whether: 1. antiquity, 2. multitude of followers of some one doctrine, 3. succession in some one company of bishops, chiefly of Rome, 4. miracles, 5. continuance, 6. unity and concord, 7. efficacy of doctrine, 8. holiness of life in the authors and fathers of the religion, 9. the gift of prophesy, 10. temporal felicity, 11. the title of Church apostolical, or that it is one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church, are the notes of a true Church?
Does the Church cease to be a Church by reason of some blemish or fault in doctrine and administration of sacraments?
Is everyone bound to join himself to the assembly of that Church which has those true notes?
Can the Church err from the truth, or fall away therefrom?
Rutherford, Samuel
ch. 15, section 5, ‘Whether the doctrine of the marks of the Church is useless and harmful? We deny against the Remonstrants.’ in Rutherford’s Examination of Arminianism: the Tables of Contents with Excerpts from Every Chapter tr. Charles Johnson & Travis Fentiman (1638-1642; 1668; RBO, 2019), pp. 119-20
ch. 15, ‘On the Church & its Marks’ in Examination of Arminianism tr. by AI by Monergism (1639-1642; Utrecht, 1668; 2024), pp. 595-627
1. Whether the Remonstrants rightly define the visible Church as the congregation of believers who profess saving doctrine, and of those who will do so, though they do not actually believe? We deny against the same.
2. Whether there is a church in the New Testament that is destitute of all elders to which [our] Lord and Savior commits the power of the keys? We deny with a distinction against the Remonstrants and Separatists.
3. Whether the Remonstrants rightly teach that to be the true Church which agrees in the faith and profession of necessary truth? We deny according to their own principles.
4. Whether it is possible that there be no Church of Christ on the earth? We deny against the Remonstrants.
5. Whether the doctrine of the marks of the Church is useless and harmful? We deny against the Remonstrants.
6. Whether there are any other marks of the Church than the profession of saving faith and the external observance of Christ’s commands? We affirm against the Remonstrants.
7. Whether the preaching of true doctrine is incorrectly stated by us to be a mark of the Church? We deny and explain against the Remonstrants.
Le Blanc de Beaulieu, Louis – Theological Theses Published at Various Times in the Academy of Sedan 3rd ed. tr. by AI by Colloquia Scholastica (1675; London, 1683), 5. Controversies on the Church Militant Latin
5. Church’s marks according to the Papists 1076
6. Church’s marks: Opinion of our doctors 1085-87
Turretin, Francis – Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr. (1679–1685; P&R, 1994), vol. 3, 18th Topic
12. ‘Is the truth of doctrine which is held in any assembly, or its conformity with the Word of God by the pure preaching and profession of the Word, and the lawful administration and use of the sacraments, a mark of the true visible church? We affirm against the Romanists.’ 86
13. ‘Are the name ‘catholic’, antiquity, continued duration, amplitude, the succession of bishops, harmony in doctrine with the ancient church, union of the members with each other and with the head, holiness of doctrine, the efficacy of the same, holiness of life, the glory of miracles, prophetic light, the confession of adversaries, the unhappy end of the persecutors of the church and the temporal happiness of those who have defended it, marks of the true church? We deny against the Romanists.’ 96
.
Book
1500’s
Beza, Theodore – A Discourse of the True & Visible Marks of the Catholic Church (London [1582?]) 130 pp. ToC
.
Quote
Belgic Confession
Article 29, ‘The Marks of the True Church’
“We believe that we ought to discern diligently and very carefully, by the Word of God, what is the true church– for all sects in the world today claim for themselves the name of ‘the church.’
We are not speaking here of the company of hypocrites who are mixed among the good in the church and who nonetheless are not part of it, even though they are physically there. But we are speaking of distinguishing the body and fellowship of the true church from all sects that call themselves “the church.”
The true church can be recognized if it has the following marks: The church engages in the pure preaching of the gospel; it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them; it practices church discipline for correcting faults. In short, it governs itself according to the pure Word of God, rejecting all things contrary to it and holding Jesus Christ as the only Head. By these marks one can be assured of recognizing the true church– and no one ought to be separated from it.
As for those who can belong to the church, we can recognize them by the distinguishing marks of Christians: namely by faith, and by their fleeing from sin and pursuing righteousness, once they have received the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. They love the true God and their neighbors, without turning to the right or left, and they crucify the flesh and its works.
Though great weakness remains in them, they fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their lives, appealing constantly to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of the Lord Jesus, in whom they have forgiveness of their sins, through faith in him.
As for the false church, it assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God; it does not want to subject itself to the yoke of Christ; it does not administer the sacraments as Christ commanded in his Word; it rather adds to them or subtracts from them as it pleases; it bases itself on men, more than on Jesus Christ; it persecutes those who live holy lives according to the Word of God and who rebuke it for its faults, greed, and idolatry.
These two churches are easy to recognize and thus to distinguish from each other.”
.
Latin Articles
1600’s
Rutherford, Samuel – ch. 15, ‘On the Church & its Notes’ in The Examination of Arminianism ed. Matthew Nethenus (1639-1643; Utrecht, 1668), pp. 642-81
Voet, Gisbert – 3. Of the Visible Church & its Marks in Syllabus of Theological Problems (Utrecht, 1643), pt. 1, section 2, tract 4 Abbr.
.
On 3 Kinds of Communion with the Church
Samuel Rutherford
A Peaceable & Temperate Plea… (London, 1642), ch. 10, p. 132
“4th Conclusion: There be three sorts that have communion rightly with our Church:
1. Infants baptized, for baptism is a seal of their fellowship with Christ, and therefore of communion with the Church. Because Separatists will have none members of the Church while [except] they can give proofs thereof by signs of regeneration, infants must be without the Church, as infidels and Turks, for none are the Church to them but the royal generation, partakers of the holy faith, taught of God, called and separated from the world: the rest are without. Hence baptism shall either seal no entering of infants in the Church, contrary to God’s Word, or the baptizing of infants is not lawful, as Anabaptists teach.
2. The hearers of the Word have a communion with the Church, as is clear seeing these that eat of one bread are one body, these that profess in the hearing of the Word, that same faith, are also that same body in profession; yet excommunicated persons are admitted as hearers of the Word. Hence only the extreme and great excommunication, 1 Cor. 16:22, cuts off men from being simply no members of the Church, that excommunication that makes the party as a heathen and publican supposes him still to be a brother and hearer of the Word, 2 Thess. 3:14-15. And all these are members of the Church and yet not necessarily converted.
3. The regenerate and believers that communicate of one bread and one cup at the Lord’s Table, are most nearly and properly members of one visible body, and none of these are to separate from Christ’s body.”
.
There is No Perfect Church on Earth
Quotes
1600’s
Richard Baxter
Schism Detected in both Extremes, or Two Sorts of Sinful Separation… (London: 1684), ch. 4, p. 25
“22. There is no Church on earth so sound and orthodox as to want [lack] no integral part of Christian religion. Proved: There is no man on earth, much less any multitude, so sound as to want no integral part: But all Churches consist only of men; And therefore if all the men be so far defective, all the Churches are so.
…
All things in Scripture proposed to our faith, hope and practice, are the integrals of our religion: But no Christian understands all these proposals or words of Scripture: Therefore no Christian explicitly believes them all, or practices all. To hold the contrary, is to hold that some Church is perfect in understanding, faith, hope and practice, without ignorance, errour or sin: that is, not to know what a man or a Christian on earth is.”
.
London Ministers
A Collection of Cases & other Discourses lately written to recover Dissenters to the communion of the Church of England by some Divines of the City of London (London, 1685), vol. 1, ‘A Discourse about a Scrupulous Conscience’, pp. 28-29
“…consider that there never was nor ever will be any public constitution that will be every way unexceptionable. The best policy, whether civil or ecclesiastical, that can be established will have some flaws and defects, which must be borne and tolerated. Some Inconveniences will in process of time arise that never could be foreseen or provided against; and to make alteration upon every emergent difficulty may be often of worse consequence than the evil we pretend to cure by it.
Let the rules and modes of government, discipline, public worship, be most exact and blameless, yet there will be faults in governours and ministers as long as they are but men. We must not expect in this world a Church without spot or wrinkle that consists only of [true] saints, in which nothing can be found amiss; especially by those who lie at the catch and wait for an advantage against it…
Men must be willing, if ever they would promote peace and unity, to put candid constructions and favorable interpretations upon things, to take them by the best handle, and not strain things on purpose that they might cavil the more plausibly and raise more considerable objections against them. We must not make personal, accidental faults, nor anything a pretence for our leaving the communion of our Church, which arises only from the necessary condition and temper of all human affairs, that nothing here is absolutely perfect.”
.
On the Reformation & Puritan Categories of the True Church & False Churches
Order of Contents
Belgic Confession
Articles 8+
Quotes 2
.
Belgic Confession
Article 29, ‘The Marks of the True Church’
“We believe that we ought to discern diligently and very carefully, by the Word of God, what is the true church– for all sects in the world today claim for themselves the name of ‘the church.’
We are not speaking here of the company of hypocrites who are mixed among the good in the church and who nonetheless are not part of it, even though they are physically there. But we are speaking of distinguishing the body and fellowship of the true church from all sects that call themselves “the church.”
The true church can be recognized if it has the following marks: The church engages in the pure preaching of the gospel; it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them; it practices church discipline for correcting faults. In short, it governs itself according to the pure Word of God, rejecting all things contrary to it and holding Jesus Christ as the only Head. By these marks one can be assured of recognizing the true church– and no one ought to be separated from it.
As for those who can belong to the church, we can recognize them by the distinguishing marks of Christians: namely by faith, and by their fleeing from sin and pursuing righteousness, once they have received the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. They love the true God and their neighbors, without turning to the right or left, and they crucify the flesh and its works.
Though great weakness remains in them, they fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their lives, appealing constantly to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of the Lord Jesus, in whom they have forgiveness of their sins, through faith in him.
As for the false church, it assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God; it does not want to subject itself to the yoke of Christ; it does not administer the sacraments as Christ commanded in his Word; it rather adds to them or subtracts from them as it pleases; it bases itself on men, more than on Jesus Christ; it persecutes those who live holy lives according to the Word of God and who rebuke it for its faults, greed, and idolatry.
These two churches are easy to recognize and thus to distinguish from each other.”
.
Articles
1500’s
Calvin, John – Institutes of the Christian Religion tr. Henry Beveridge (1559; Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845), vol. 3, bk. 4
1. ‘Of the True Church. Duty of cultivating Unity with her, as the mother of all the godly’ 7
2. ‘Comparison between the False Church & the True’ 41
Musculus, Wolfgang – Common Places of the Christian Religion (1560; London, 1563), ‘Church’
What is the true Church of Christ 256.a
That the prelates of the Church of Rome be not the true Church 258.b
Of the knowledge of the true Church 259.a
Beza, Theodore – A Brief & Pithy Sum of the Christian Faith made in Form of a Confession (London, 1562), Ch. 5
2. There can be but one true Church
7. The marks whereby we may discern the False Church from the True
8. Which be the true members of the Church
Viret, Pierre – A Christian Instruction… (d. 1571; London: Veale, 1573), The Sum of the Principal Points of the Christian Faith
50. Of the marks whereby to know in this world which is the true Church and who are to be accoumpted for true members of the same 51-52
53. Of the doctrine of the Church, and of man’s traditions, and of those which she does acknowledge for true or false ministers 54
Mornay, Philip – A Notable Treatise of the Church in which are handled all the Principal Questions that have been moved in our Time concerning that matter [in controversy with Romanism] (London: Barker, 1579)
.
1600’s
Perkins, William – ‘Rome is Not a True Church’ in Reformed Catholic in Works (RHB), vol. 7, pp. 149-52
Note that Perkins holds that the Roman Church has lawful ministers and a valid baptism (which logically necessitates that Romanism as a whole is a Church in some sense) in his Treatise of Conscience, ch. 8; see pp. 19-22 of The Reformed Chuches & Roman Catholic Baptism.
English Puritans – 1. “The Church of England is a True Church” in A Refutation of the Errors of Separatists (1604; RBO, 2025), pp. 207-40
Cameron, John – ch. 37, ‘In what sense we yield that the Church of Rome has the substance of true religion, and how she ceases not for all that to be a false Chuch’ in An Examination of those Plausible Appearances which seem most to commend the Romish Church, and to Prejudice the Reformed… (Oxford, 1626), pp. 146-50
Wolleb, Johannes – 27. ‘The False Church’ in Abridgment of Christian Divinity (1626) in ed. John Beardslee, Reformed Dogmatics: J. Wollebius, G. Voetius & F. Turretin (Oxford Univ. Press, 1965), bk. 1, pp. 150-57
Wolleb (1589–1629) was a Swiss reformed theologian. He was a student of Amandus Polanus.
Turretin, Francis – Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr. (1679–1685; P&R, 1994), vol. 3, 18th Topic
14. ‘Can the church of Rome of today be called a true church of Christ? We deny against the Romanists.’ 121
15. Are the evangelical and Reformed churches true churches of Christ? We affirm.’ 137
.
Quotes
Order of
Rutherford
London Presbyterians
.
1600’s
Samuel Rutherford
The Due Right of Presbyteries… (London, 1644), pt. 2, ch. 4, section 5, p. 219
“…nor is it inconvenient to say that Papists as baptized and under that reduplication are members of the visible Church, though as baptized thus and thus they be not members of the true, visible Church, professing the sound faith.”
.
London Presbyterians
A Vindication of the Presbyterial-Government & the Ministry… (London, 1650), pt. 2, p. 122
“Did you ever read of true conversion ordinarily in a false Church? Will the Lord concur with those ministers whom He sends not?”
.
That the Church Only has Power & Authority from Christ unto Edification, & None Else
See also All Authority Given of God is Only Unto Good.
.
The Tetrapolitan Confession 1530
in ed. Dennison, Reformed Confessions of the 16th & 17th Centuries… vol. 1 (2008), p. 153
Ch. 13, ‘Of the Office, Dignity & Power of Ministers in the Church
“Concerning the ministry and the dignity of the ecclesiastical order we teach: first, that there is no power in the Church except for edification.”
.
Latin Articles
1600’s
Alsted, Johann H.
ch. 19, ‘Church’ in Distinctions through Universal Theology, taken out of the Canon of the Sacred Letters & Classical Theologians (Frankfurt: 1626), pp. 83-91
ch. 19, ‘On the Church’ in Theological Common Places Illustrated by Perpetual Similitudes (Frankfurt, 1630), pp. 111-20
Rutherford, Samuel – ch. 15, ‘On the Church & its Notes’ in The Examination of Arminianism ed. Matthew Nethenus (1639-1643; Utrecht, 1668), pp. 642-81
Voet, Gisbert
Syllabus of Theological Problems (Utrecht, 1643), pt. 1, section 2, tract 4 Abbr.
Of its Definition & Nature
Of the Cause & Subject, or Material of the
. Church
Of the Adjuncts & Properties
Of the Divisions or Distinctions of the Church
2. The Head of the Church, the Roman Pope & The Antichrist
Of Christ the Sole Head of the Church, & of
. the Roman Pope
Of The Antichrist
3. Of the Visible Church & its Marks
. Appendix: Of the Parts & Members of the
. Visible Church, even of Ecclesiastical
. Ministers, Government, Censures, etc.
4. Of the Church Before the Fall & After the Fall in the O.T.
Of the Church Before the Fall
From the Fall to Christ in General
Of the Church of the Patriarchs Until Moses
In Specific, Under Moses, the Judges, the
. Kings & After the Captivity
In General
Of the Apostolic Church
Of the Ancient Church
Of the Medieval [Intermedia] Church
Of the 3rd Age [Aetate]
7. The Church Having Been Reforming
In General
Of the Ancient: of the Waldenses & the
. Bohemians
Of Recent Times, from Luther, in General
Of the Ancient, Protestant German Church, unto the Schism through the Book of Concord
Of the Anglican Church
Of the Swiss, French, Scottish, Belgic, Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Transylvanian & Numerous German Churches
II. Of the Tyrannical & Violent Enemies of the Church
III. Of the Opposites of the Church: of the Heterodox & Other Turbulent Persons
1. Of Apostates & Heretics in General
2. Of Atheism & Atheists
3. Of Heathenism & the Conversion of the Heathens
. Of Heathenism in General
. Of the Heathenism of the Ancient Time, or of
. the O.T.
. Before the Flood & From There unto Moses
. From Moses to the Apostles
. Of the Calling & Conversion of the Heathens
4. Judaism
Of the Defection & State of the Jews
Of the Adjuncts & Cognates of Judaism
Of the Distinction of Judaism
Of the Conversion of the Jews
Appendices:
(1) Of the Samaritans
(2) Of the Ancient Sects of the Jews
(3) Of the Ancient & Modern Semi-Judaizers
5. Of Mohommedism
6. Of the Ancient Heretics (Ebionites, Cerenthians, Valentinians, Marcionites, Manichees; Arians, Eunomians, Nestorians, Pelagians, etc.)
7. Of the Modern Enthusiasts & Libertines
In General
Of the Henry-Nicolatians
Of the David-Jorists
Of the Zwenckfeldians
Of the Franckists, of Ezekiel Metz, etc.
Appendix: On the Semi-Libertines, the
. Libertine Sects & the German Interim &
. the Intermisters
Of the Anabaptists
Of the Neo-Arians, named the Socinians
Of the Remonstrants in Belgium
Appendix: On the Doctrine of Conrad Vorsti
1. Of Schism & Schismatics, by whatever way they
. Illegitimately Secede
In General
Of the Errors & Schism of the Neo-Lutherans
. On Some Intestine Contentions
Of the English Separatists, commonly called
. Brownists or Barrowists
2. Of Moderates, the Tepid & Syncretists
3. Of the Disorderly, those Lax in Discipline, of
. Scandalizers & those Scandalized
‘Some Determinations on the Church’ in Select Theological Disputations (1669), pp. 383-87
.
Wettstein, Gernler & Buxtorf – 19. Nature of the Church in A Syllabus of Controversies in Religion which come between the Orthodox Churches & whatever other Adversaries, for material for the regular disputations… customarily held in the theological school of the academy at Basil (Basil, 1662), pp. 68-75
Brown of Wamphray, John
‘Preface to the Reader’ in Two Books… in the Second, the Libertine-Erastian Judgment of Lambert Velthusius in his book in the [Dutch] vernacular, on Idolatry & Superstition, newly set forth, is detected and confuted; also the orthodox truth is vindicated from the exceptions of adversaries, whether Libertines, Erastians or others and is illustrated and confirmed by 32 Assertions opposite the Velthusian judgment, to which is prefixed a small preface, in which some things are briefly and summarily propounded on the Nature of the Visible & Invisible Church, and so of the Communion of the Church, tearing down the illegitimate Separation already begun in Belgium in 2 vols. (Amseterdam, 1670), vol. 1 This volume only contains the work on the interpretation of the Scriptures.
This preface, translated into English by Grange Press (2024), briefly lists out and illustrates Brown’s 32 assertions on the Church and Church government that are more extensively propounded and defended in the volume below.
Brown was a Scottish covenanting minister who abode for many years in the Netherlands. Velthuysen (1623-1685) was generally reformed. Other reformed theologians likewise had complained of his concessions to Erastiansim in responding to Arminianism.
The general outline of this volume follows the 32 assertions Brown laid out in the preface to the first volume above.
.
.
Latin Books
1600’s
Zepperus, Wilhelm – Ecclesiastical Polity 2nd ed. (1595; Herborn, 1607) 829 pp. ToC
Zepper (1550-1607) was a Reformed theologian,court preacher and professor in Herborn, Germany.
ToC
vol. 1
Prolegomena to Ecclesiastical Polity
Of the Knowledge, or Discipline, which Ecclesiastical Polity Describes [Dicitur]. Of the 1. Nature, 2. Causes, 3. Relations, 4. Division, 5. Study and of the Apparatus to this Study. 1
Book 1, Of the Object of Ecclesiastical Polity
Tract 1, Of the Instituted Church
1. The Nature of the Instituted Church Explained, with Respect to its Genus, Material, Form, Efficient and Final Causes, Relations, Opposites and Divisions. 11
2. The First Class of Problems, or Questions, about the Genus, Material, Form, Object and Ends of the Instituted Church. 26
3. The Second Class of Questions, about Efficient Causes. 42
4. Questions about the Relations of the Instituted Church. 55
5. Containing the Fourth Class of Questions about Divisions of the Instituted Church, where is treated of the Parochial, Village or Rural, Domestic, Princely, Camp, Nautical, Scholastic and Provincial Church. 71
[?] 6. Of Ecclesiastical Colleges, Cathedrals or Dioceses, Archbishops or Metropolitans, Patriarchs and Ecumenics. 80
.
Book 1, Tract 2
Of the Power, Polity & Canons of the Churches
1. The Term ‘Ecclesiastical Power’ is Distinguished. The Proper Power itself, as it is Used in Speech, is Defined. 114
2. The Power and Right of the Magistrate Around the Sacred is Decided. 124
3. Fonts of Solutions and Responses to Arguments and Evidences that the Adversaries are Accustomed to Using are Set Down. 149
4. Some Particular Questions about the Power of the Magistrate Around the Sacred are Determined. 182
5. Some Particular Questions are Determined about the Subject of Ecclesiastical Power [Who may Hold and Exercise it]: Is it of the Magistrate and other Political Confederations? At Least During a Corrupt or Turbulent State of the Church? [Is it held by] The Pope, Bishops, etc. Courts of them, Cathedrals of the Church, Councils; or of Solely the Ministry, a Court of Them, or an Ecumentical or Catholic Church; or the Populus? 211
6. Of the Object of the Ecclesiastical Power, even Personal and of Things. 235
7. Of the Polity or Government of Churches. 241
8. Of Ecclesiastical Canons, Decrees, Ordinances and Custom. 254
. Custom 261
9. Some Thesis Questions about Ecclesiastical Canons are Explained. 262
10. Contains Chronicles of Some Questions, even General and Particular. 272
11. Contains Questions on Ecclesiastical Decrees and on Custom. 288
12. Ecclesiastical Law or Canon in General and Historical Explained. 295
13. An Explication of the Historical Body of Canon Law. 309
14. Of the Judgment of the Body of Canons, or of the Pontifical Right, and of the Study of Them. 325
15. Some Questions on Canon Law. 332
.
Part 1, Book 2
Of Ecclesiastical Things, or Acts and Exercises
Tract 1
Of Formularies, or Liturgies and Rituals
1. Of Formularies, or Liturgies 343
2. Some Questions on Liturgies & Liturgical Actions Determined 360
3. Of Rituals or Ecclesiastical Ceremonies
4. The Controversy which Comes Between us and the Papacy on the Same Ceremonies, in General 384
5. Of the Ceremonies yet Remaining in the Greater Part of the German Churches 405
6. On the Controversy [Concertatione] about Some Ceremonies of the Anglican Church 413
7. An Explaining of the Question, Nature, Causes and Abundant Properties of the Ceremonies
8. Questions on Some Rituals in Particular: on the Laying on of Hands, the [Holy] Kiss, Abstinence from Things Strangled and Blood, the Marriage Rite, Anointing, Shaking the Feet of Dust, Love Feasts, the Rite of Covenanting and of the Washing of Feet. 460
.
Book 2, Tract 2
Of the Regular Public Ordinances
Section 1
Of Ecclesiastical Prayers, Benedictions and Doxologies
1. Of Ecclesiastical Prayers 481
2. Of Benedictions, Salutations, Doxologies and Ecclesiastical Song 515
Of Organs and Instrumental Song in that which is Sacred 544
. Apologetic Appendix 592
.
Tract 2, Section 2
‘On the public administration of the Word of God’ 598
.
Tract 3, Section 3
Of the Administration of Baptism
1. Of the Minister of Baptism 631
2. Of the Ones who Ought to be Baptized 645
3. Of the Material and Form of the Administration of Baptism 671
4. Of the Mode, Rituals, Adjuncts and Circumstances to be Observed in the Administration of Baptism. 679
.
Tract 2, Section 4
Of the Administration of the Lord’s Supper
1. Of the Symbols, or Elements (as they’ve been Called) 731
2. Of the Consecration of the Symbols 741
3. Of the Persons who Distribute & of Communicants 746
4. Of the Utensils or Instruments, and also of Certain Adjuncts & Circumstances 789
5. Of the Rites of Breaking, Receiving, Genuflection & Elevation 803
. Of the Breaking of the Bread 804
. Of Taking or Accepting 808
. Of Genuflexion 812
. Of the Elevation of the Bread 827
.
Book 2, Tract 3
Of the Ordinary, Private and Public Practices
1. On Catechizing 834
2. Of Prophesies, or Gatherings [about the Explaining of the] Scriptures 873
3. Of the Solutions of Doubtful Things, Determinations of Issues, Councils about Theology, Domestic and Private Institutions, Convicting of the Erring, the Consoling of the Afflicted, Exhortations of the Lukewarm and Corrections for the Slipping 887
4. Of Certain Practices which Ought to be Observed for Closer Prudence 918
5. Of Practices which Ought to be Observed for Closer Love, that is, Alms, Hospitality and Love Feasts 929
6. Of Domestic Practices, or Exercises of Piety which ought to Advance Families 953
.
Book 2, Tract 4
Of Extraordinary, Public Practices: of Fastings and Thanksgivings
1. A Description and Distinguishing of Religious Fastings, with a Censure of Roman-Papist Pseudo-Fastings970
2. The Principal Controversy which is Now Agitated about Fastings, and other Questions about the Same are Explicated977
3. Of Public Thanksgivings, Feasts and Good-Days 995
.
vol. 2
Part 1, Book 3
Of Occasional Practices and Pseudo-Practices
Tract 1, of Marrying
1. Of Presuppositions and Some Prolegomena to this Tract on Marrying 1
2. Of Betrothals [Engagements] 9
3. Of Contracting Betrothals 12
4. Of the Declarations and Signs of Betrothals 13
5. Of the Obligation of Betrothals 16
6. Of the Distinction of Betrothals from Weddings, and of Some Period of Time Between them Intervening 31
.
Section 2, of Marriage
1. Of the Causes and Conditions being Required unto Marriage, and of the Impediments of the Same 41
2. Questions of Some other Impediments from the Imparity of Age, Diversity of Religion and the Guilt of Adultery 48
3. Of a Kindred-Relation and Affinity Impeding Marriage 55
4. Particular Questions about the Impediments of a Brother or a Granddaughter by Affinity, a Widow, a Step-son, etc. 78
5. Of Marriages Following, or Remarriage; of the Marriage of Cousins and Certain others which Human Law has Prohibited, though in Conscience they are not Unlawful 95
6. Of the Profession of Betrothals, Proclamations, of the Matrimonial Benediction, the Confirmation of the Same, Rituals, and of the Wedding Feast 110
.
Section 3, Of that which is Against Marriage
1. Of Lawful and Unlawful Celibacy 149
2. Of Aggravations to Marriages, namely: an Immature Age, a Natural or Accidental Defect, Incest, the Agreed [or Fitting] Dissent of Parents, Difference of Religion, the Corruption of Virginity and a Fault in Promises, Stipulations or other Conditions 151
3. Of Rejections and Divorces, which, of Themselves Release the Bond of Marriage 170
4. Of Malicious Desertion 188
5. Of Various Marriage Incompatibilities, the Contempt and Condemnation of Marriage, of Having Multiple Wives, a Changing [Giving, Selling, etc.] of the Same, a Barren Marriage, Incest, an Abominable Confusion of the Sexes, Polygamy, a Rendering of Service, Concubinage, Promiscuous Desire [Vaga Libidine], Perfidious Repudiations, Divorces, Desertions and of Marriages and Promiscuous Desire in the Future World 197
Short Appendix: On Adopted Free-Persons, Dead Persons, with Stipulations, the Dislocated [Criminal Children] and the Illegitimate 209
.
Book 3, Tract 2
On the Funeral, or the Burial of the Dead
1. Containing a Three-part Disputation on Burial, with Additions to Them 216
A Gleaning Going Before the Disputations on Burial [with End-Notes] 258
Appendix: Chronicles on Burial 286
.
Book 3, Tract 3
Of Certain Other Quasi-Practices
1. Of Occasional Quasi-Practices: 1. Petitions and Contracts for the Redemption of Freedom. 2. Of Collections Instituted for a Given End. 3. Of Schools. 4. Of Judgments. 302
2. Of Quasi-Practices which have been Conceded by the Church or Civil Government 305
3. Of Decrees, Ordinations and Executions of the Magistrates which ought to be Aimed at 316
.
Book 3, Tract 4
Of False [Pseudo] Practices
1. Of Usurping False Practices 320
2. Of False Practices, or Sacred Deceptions 329
.
Part 1, Book 4
Of the External Adjuncts of Ecclesiastical Practices
Tract 1
Of the Liberty, Immunity and Dignity of the Church
1. Of the Ecclesiastical Liberty of Security 354
2. Of the Liberty of Conscience and the Permission of Religions in a Republic 379
3. A Disquisition on the Liberty of Consciences, or on Using Force [Coactione] 400
4. Is the Permission of Many Religions in a Republic not Only Lawful, but so Great that the Liberty of its Exercise in Anything is to be Conceded by the Magistrate, However Greatly it is Brought Forth and Demanded out of One’s Conscience? Or are the Exercises of False Religions Truly Able to be Prohibited and Coerced? 432
5. Of the Liberty of Separate Conventicles [Gatherings for Worship], or Excepting them, on the Term ‘False Religion’, and of Writings and Deeds Professing, Defending and Opposing that which is Opposite the Truth 473
6. Of a Question: Is the Magistrate able, and ought he to Impede the Exercises and Propagation of False Religions, Infidels and Heretics only for Particular Political Reasons, and not truly also for General Theological Reasons? And in the Belgic Federation, have they been impeded thus far only for political reasons? 479
7. Is Liberty for Papal Exercise[s] to be Conceded in Civil States which have been Reformed? 490
8. At this time, is Liberty for the Exercise[s] of Papists in the Belgic Federation to be Conceded for Political or Ecclesiastical Reasons? 497
9. Is Some Liberty to be Conceded, Directly or Indirectly, for the Exercise and Conventicles [Gatherings of Worship] of the Sects of Anti-Trinitarians, Socinians, Arians and those Similar, and other Fanatics in the Belgic Federation? 529
10. Of the Liberty and Tolerating of the Remonstrants of the Belgic States, even Politically and Ecclesiastically 551
11. Of the Liberty of Exemption, or of Ecclesiastical Immunity 580
12. Of the Dignity of the Church 584
.
Book 4, Tract 2
Of the Property of the Church, or of Ecclesiastical Goods
1. Of the Name, Definition and Division of Ecclesiastical Goods 595
2. Are Ecclesiastical Goods, which, after the Persisting of the Greater Reformation in the European Churches, have been taken back by this our world, are they [yet] Ecclesiastical Goods? 627
3. The Next Issue to be Considered [Questio] is General, on the Origin and Acquisition of Ecclesiastical Goods, where these Six Distinct Points Ought to be Considered: 1. Who, and by Whom, are they Acquired? 2. Among Whom? 3. by what Means, or in what Manner? 4. of what Kind? 5. How Much? 6. For what End and Effect? 665
4. Of the Care and Administration of Ecclesiastical Goods, where Two Things Ought to be Considered: 1. By Who? 2. In What Manner are they Cared for and Administered? Of the First, Deeds are Referenced and Some Questions are Determined. 676
5. It is Made Good that the Cure and Administration of Goods Consists 1. in Care [Custodia], or Conservation; 2. in Dispensation or Distribution. 686
6. Of the Use and Abuse of Goods: 1. Preliminary Premises; 2. Some Questions are Propounded; 3. [in Greek, Objections and Exceptions?] are Exposed and Removed. 697
7. Shameful Things, Having been Hidden, are Exposed, along with the Defense of Wastefulness. 1. A Brief Argument is Shaken off from a Particular, which is Entirely and Only as an Argument to the Man [Ad Hominem] in this Matter, to be Able to Make one Absolved. An Exception about the Agreement of the Magistrate is Rejected.722
8. Eight Escapes of Usurpers and Wasters are Taken Up 733
9. Eight Other Escapes are Examined 749
10. Two Exceptions to an Argument out of the Example of Achan (Josh. 7) are Refuted, being Brought Against the Customary Abuse 759
11. Clouds of Testimonies on the Use and Abuse of Goods are Adduced. 791
.
Book 4, Tract 3
Of the Stipends of Ministers
1. The Right Ministers are Owed to Stipends; and that Ought to be Procured to Them Due to Equity 797
2. The Quantity and Quality of Stipends is Discussed 810
3. Who and What Kind [of Persons] are to be Appointed Stipends? 815
4. From Whom and by Whom are Stipends to be Given? 821
5. From Where are Stipends to be Given? 824
6. Of Ecclesiastical Benefits in the Papacy 838
.
Book 4, Tract 4
Of the External Requisites and Adjuncts of Sacred Practices
1. Of the Temporalities of Sacred Practices 846
.
Tract 4, Section 2
Of Church-Buildings
1. Of Church-Buildings and Places of Holy Things under the Old and New Testament 851
2. Of the Church-Buildings of Papists 862
3. Questions on Church-Buildings are Pressed Hard in the Controversy Between us and the Pontiffs 868
4. Textual Problems, and the History of Church-Buildings is Delineated 872
5. A Delineation of Some More Dogmatic Problems on Church-Buildings 882
6. A Delineation of Some Other Problems, More Moral and Practical, on Church-Buildings 887
.
Tract 4, Section 3
Of Utensils and Other Adjuncts of Church-Buildings
1. Of Bells 894
2. Of Vessels and other Sacred Utensils which themselves are of an Active Church-Building, They Being Kept in the Chancel [Choro] 913
3. Of Altars 920
4. Of 1. Candlesticks, Candles, Lamps; 2. Censers; 3. Books; 4. Sacred Vestments. 936
5. Of Cemetaries 939
6. Of Dedications [of Church-Buildings and Anniversary Feasts] 960
.
vol. 3
Part 2, Book 1, Of the People of the Church
Tract 1
1. Of the People of the Church in General 1
2. Of the Relations, Quantity, Liberty, Power, Dignity, Equality and Obedience of the People of the Church 14
3. A Doubt and Objections Against the Equality and Obedience of Members of the Church are Taken Up 31
4. On a Hypothetical Question, First: Do the Remonstrants [Arminians] of Good Order have Power to Remove Themselves and Their Own from the Inspection, Oversight and Ecclesiastical Judgment? and to Strive for Every Kind of Exemption from the Magistrate, to Use them for their Profit? 55
.
Book 1, Tract 2
Of that which is in Them, which are Reckoned amongst the People
1. Of the Distinction[s] of those Numbered Among the People by Internal and Ecclesiastical Qualities 85
2. Of the Division of the People by External and Secular Qualities 86
3. Of that which is in Them, which are not Directly and In-and-of-Themselves in the People of the Church, but rather [are only in them] by Analogy, Reductively or by it Accidentally Falling out; and of [their] Opposites. 88
.
Book 1, Tract 3
Of Confessors and Martyrs
1. Of Confessors 89
2. Objections Against the Necessity of a Confession of Faith are Solved and Related Questions are Determined 96
3. Of Persecution and Persecutors 112
4. Of Martyrdom and Martyrs in General 121
5. Of Various Distinctions and Divisions About Martyrs 126
. A Short Appendix on the History of Martyrs 137
6. Containing Various Thetical Questions about Martydom 139
7. Containing Some Hypothetical Questions about Martyrs 158
.
Book 1, Tract 4
Which is of Women
1. Questions about the Natural State and Condition of Women 179
2. Of Those Things which Pertain to the Secular and Political State of Women 198
3. Some Things which Pertain to the Spiritual and Ecclesiastical State of Women are Explained 206
.
Part 2, Book 2
Which is of Ministers and the Ecclesiastical Ministry
Tract 1
Of the Necessity, Difficulty, etc. of a Minister
1. Of the Necessity of a Minister 213
2. Objections Against the Necessity of a Minister are Responded to 223
3. Of the Difficulty of an Ecclesiastical Minister 232
4. Of the Authority or Power of a Minister 247
5. Objections Against the Divinely Collated Authority of Ministers are Orderly Responded to 253
6. Some Questions about the Authority of a Minister are Explained, of which Some Concern the Nature and Properties of Power and Authority in Itself; Others, the Exercise of Them. 263
7. Of the Dignity of a Minister 283
8. Various Pretexts for the Scorn of the Ministry and Ministers are Shaken Off 293
9. How the Dignity of a Minister Ought to be Constituted and Conserved 304
10. Of the Efficacy and Power of a Minister 336
.
Book 2, Tract 2
Of the Classes, Orders and Grades of Sacred Ministers
1. Of the Division of Ministers into Ordinary and Extraordinary; and of the Extraordinary Ministers of the Old Testament: the Patriarchs and Prophets 337
2. Of the Extraordinary Ministers Under the New Testament, and First, of the Apostles 351
3. Of the Evangelists and Prophets of the New Testament 364
4. Of the Extraordinary Ministry of John the Baptist 372
.
Book 2, Tract 3
Of the Ordinary Ministers of the Old and New Testament
1. Of the Ordinary Ministers of the Old Testament 391
2. Of the Ordinary Ministers of the New Testament, and of Pastors, or Preachers 401
3. Of the Functions of Pastors Negatively, or of Neglect, that is, of non-Attention to Himself and to the Church 405
4. Of Elders & Presbyters Governing 436
5. Objections Against the Order of Elders Responded to 462
6. Some of the Problems About Elders are Responded to 471
7. Of Doctors 479
8. Of Deacons 496
.
Book 2, Tract 4
Of Assisting Helpers to the Sacred Minister and Ministers
1. Of Deaconesses 508
2. Of the Visitors of the Sick, Announcers [Proponentibus], Catechists, Readers, Precentors, Custodians, Porters or Messengers 514
3. Of Visitors, Examiners, Deputies or Ambassadors, Correspondents, Presidents, Assessors and Registrars 527
.
Part 2, Book 3
Of the Calling of Ministers
Tract 1
1. Of the Internal Calling and of the Extraordinary 529
2. Of the Ordinary Calling under the Old Testament and under the New Testament; and of the Examination or Consideration of those Called 535
3. Of the Mode of an Ecclesiastical Election 543
4. Of Elections by Voting, or the Execution by Fortune 552
5. Of a Five-fold Approbation: 1. by the People, 2. by the Neighboring Ministers, or Classis [Presbytery], 3. by the Magistrate, 4. by the Minister or the Ordinand, 5. by the Church from Where he is Called 560
6. Of Calling in the Reformed Churches and of the First Reformations 573
.
Book 3, Tract 2
Of the Opposites to Calling
1. Of the History of the Law of Patronage 580
2. The Law of Patronage is Indicted 595
3. Distinctions and Cautions are set Forward about the Standing of the State of the Controversy; Arguments Against the Law of Patronage are Adduced 597
4. Special Arguments from the Absurdity of the Consequence and to the Man [ad Hominem] 613
5. The Consensus of Antiquity on Ecclesiastical Elections 617
6. Objections and Exceptions are Responded to 621
7. Some Particular Questions about the Usurpation of the Law of Patronage are Responded to 632
8. Of the Use of a Clerical Patron of Patrons, whether of the Heterodox or the Orthodox 637
9. Those are Examined which are Against our Sentiment and Diatribe on the Law of Patronage; They are Added from Some. 644
10. The Opposites of a Legitimate Calling are: 1. A Dallying and Evading [Circulatio et Circumambulatio] from any Certain Calling of the Church; 2. the Desertion of a Minister; 3. a Violent Explusion out of the Ministry. 660
. Appendix 682
11. An Extract on the Law of Patronage from a Certain Remonstrance 683
12. A Declaration of the Reformed Churches of France, [from] the Assemblies in the National Synod at Privas 693
13. Of Extraordinary Calling by an External Apparition, as by David George 695
.
Book 3, Tract 3
Of the Conditions which ought to be Sought for and Chosen in a Minister
1. Of Real [Genuinis] Conditions or Requisites, namely: of Piety, of Orthodoxy, of Temperament, of Learning, of Eloquence, of Prudence 699
2. Of Cutting-Short[?] Requisites of the Chosen, that is, Requisites which are not Requisites, or Pseudo-Requisites 704
3. Of Some Requisites and Conditions, the Tolerance of which is Looked into 712
.
Book 3, Tract 4
Of the Preparation of Those Called
1. Of the Preparation of Candidates, or Those Put Forth 728
2. Of a Close Preparation in Academies, or Upper-Level Schools 733
3. Of a Distant Preparation in Common Schools 737
Appendix 1, to Ch. 2 – A Tract on Preparation 747
Appendix 2 – Of Travelling Abroad 764
.
Part 2, Book 4
Of the Roman Heirarchy
Book 4, Tract 1
Of Governing Clerics
1. Of the Greatest Pontiff [the Pope] 775
. Appendix 784
. A Compendium of Some Principal Things Contained in the Ceremonial
. of Gregory XV, and of the Election of the Roman Pontiff 785
2. Of Cardinals 793
3. Of Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, Deans 816
4. A Delineation of a Brief Controversy about Episcopacy 832
5. Containing a Disquisition on Presbytery and Episcopacy 850
. Part 1 851
. Part 2 859
. [Four] Consequences 869
6. Of Ecclesiastical Governments According to Ordinaries[?], Those put Forward[?], Archdeacons, Archpresbyters, Vicars, Counselors 869
. Appendix to Ch. 6 876
.
Book 4, Tract 2
Of Ecclesiastical Attendants [Ministrantibus]
1. Of Pastors [Parochis] and Priests [Sacerdotibus] 879
2. Of Deacons, Sub-deacons, Acolytes, Exorcists, Readers, Porters 885
3. Of Ecclesiastical Attendants, Canonists and House-Managers [Oeconomis] 895
Table of [the Titles of] Majesty and Power of the Sacred Monastery of Casinum 897
.
Book 4, Tract 3
Of Ecclesiastical Assistants
1. Of Doctors of Theology 915
2. Of Doctors and Professors of Canonical Law 918
3. Of the Preacher, Disputator, Catechizer and Ecclesiastical Scholar 923
.
Book 4, Tract 4
Of Ecclesiastical Supererogators
Section 1, Of Monasticism in General
1. Of the Suppositions and Fundamentals of Monasticism 925
2. Of the Efficient, Fundamental and Occasional Causes of Monasticism 929
3. Of Examples of Monasticism, which are Produced out of Scripture and Antiquity 940
.
Section 2, Of Monastics in General
1. A Description of a Common Monk. A General Description and Subject Theses [Quaestionibus], and the Note of a Monk is Exhibited. 950
2. Doctrinal Issues, Moral Suppositions and the Foundation of Monasticism 964
3. Explications of Textual Questions about the Suppositions and Foundation 976
4. Historical Questions about the Suppositions and Fundamentals of Monasticism 985
5. The Primary Divisions of Monastics from the Form, or Rules, and from the Subject 993
6. Of Monastics in Excess, etc. 997
7. Of Monastics in Defect 1002
8. Of Moderate Monasticism in-between Excess and Defect 1004
9. Some Problems on Rules and Examples [Analogiis] of Them, especially of Cloppe, are Explicated 1012
10. Of the Strictest [Religiosis], or the Monks of the Society of Jesus 1021
.
Tract 4, Section 3
Of Examples [? Analogis] and Relations of Monasticism, Brotherhoods and Holy Soldiers
1. Of Brotherhoods in General 1034
2. Of Brotherhoods of Mary 1048
3. Reasons for Brotherhoods are Attacked, Objections and Exceptions are Refuted and some Questions are Responded to 1067
4. Of the Holy War of the Pope, or the Religious Ordinances of Knights [Equitum] in the Roman Church 1080
5. Of the Johannites 1087
6. Questions are Responded to About Holy Soldiers 1095
7. Of the Ordinance of the Johannites in the Belgic Federation, Whether it ought to be Retained or Set Aside 1102
8. Reasons for Demanding the Recovery of the Johannites are Dissolved 1111
9. Some other Objections for the Recovery of the Johannites are Refuted 1118
10. Is the Order of the Equestrian Johannites Neutral? 1123
11. Hypothetical, or Historic-Theological Questions 1125
12. Questions of Controversy Between Papists 1128
. Addenda 1129
.
Vol. 4
Part 3, Book 1
Considerations of the Absolute Government and Ordination of the Church
Tract 1, Of the Determination of the Doctrine of the Church and of the Agreed Upon Forms of Doctrine
1. Of Confessions and Apologies [Defenses] 2
2. Of Apologies [Defenses] 12
3. Of Recent Confessions and Apologies outside the Union of our Churches 16
4. Questions on Confessions in General 17
5. Some Questions on Confession in Specific 32
6. Some Questions on Confessions and Pseudo-Forms of Doctrine and Consensus, which, either to the Material or to the Form, or both, ought to be Disapproved 38
7. Some Questions on Apologies [Defenses] 46
.
Book 1, Tract 2
Of the Government, Appointment and Maintenance of Examinations, Exercises, Elections and Visitations
1. Of Examinations 74
2. Of Ecclesiastical Visitations 92
3. Of the Appointing and Governing of Ecclesiastical Callings and all the Exercises and Actions in the Church 109
.
Book 1, Tract 3
Of the Assemblies, Gatherings [Collegiis] and Corresponding Relations of the Antecedents of Churches
1. Of Senates, or Consistories, or Presbyteries 114
2. Of the Union of Churches and the Government of Them in Classes and Synods 117
3. Arguments Against Classical and Synodical Government are Refuted 138
4. Exceptions to our Arguments for Classical and Synodical Government are Refuted 161
5. Various Problems being Made to the Explication of the Classical and Synodical Government are Determined 166
6. Of Councils or Synods 180
7. Of the Persons present in Synod, or of the Persons Convened to the Synod 190
8. Of the Business and Causes which ought to be Handled in a Synod 203
9. Containing Some Questions about Synods, Returned to and More Fully Explicated 224
.
Book 1, Tract 4
Of Ecclesiastical Books, Records, Writings and Instruments
1. Of Ecclesiastical Books 272
2. Of Ecclesiastical Records and Writings 278
3. Of Ecclesiastical, Consistorial, Classical and Synodical Documents 283
4. Of Ecclesiastical, Consistorial, Classical and Synodical Documents 284
. A Small Appendix on Double-Leaved Writing Tablets 291
.
Part 3, Book 2
Considerations on the Governing and Ordering of the Church Respecting its being Erected
Tract 1, Of the First Planting and Collection of Churches
1. Of the Plantation and Planters of Churches 293
Appendix: Of the Builders of Church Buildings, the Erectors of Colleges and the Founders of Revenues 316
2. Of Ecclesiastical Missions 322
. Chain of Principle Questions 343
3. Of the Missions and Missionaries of the Papacy 349
.
Book 2, Tract 2
Of the Government of the Church, which Ought to be Maintained and Augmented
1. Of the Augmentation and Multiplication of Exercises, Acts and Ecclesiastical Offices 355
2. Of the Means which Ought to be Made use of for the Increase and Augmentation of Churches 361
3. Of the Positive Means which ought to be Used for the Maintenance of the Churches, especially of Moderation and Supporting [Tolerantia] 363
* Of Moderation and Supporting [Tolerantia] 364
4. Of the Impediments to the Maintenance and Increase of Churches Removed 378
.
Book 2, Tract 3
Of the Government of the Churches Less Conspicuous
1. Of Hidden Churches 390
2. Of Churches Secretly Working [Conniventiae] and Bearing up Under Toleration 401
3. Of the Means for the Propagation of Religion and the Augmenting of the Church by the Conversion of the Infidels, Heretics and Idolaters 404
.
Book 2, Tract 4
Of Churches by Analogy [Analogicis] which ought to be Raised, Encouraged and Governed
1. Of Churches in Courts and Academies 409
2. Of the Governance of Military Churches 414
3. Of the Governance of Analogical Churches out of Business Men, Professionals and Works of Collections 421
.
Book 3
Of the Government of the Church with Respect to a State of Turbulence
Tract 1, Of the Dispersion and Regathering of the Church
1. Of the Scattering or Dispersion of the Church 424
2. Of the Regathering and Reinstatement of Scattered Churches 426
.
Book 3, Tract 2
Of the Reformation of a Deformed Church
3. That by which the Reformation of the Public Profession and Worship, and Consequently, of the Church, is Introduced 433
4. Of the End to Which [Termino ad Quem] Reformation is to be Made 439
5. Of Reformation in Rituals and Ceremonies 443
6. Of Reformation in the Government and Discipline of the Church 446
7. Of Reformation about Piety in Practice and of Good Works 456
8. Of Specific Reformations of the Churches under the Old and New Testament 475
9. Of the Reformation Having Been Started in the Years 1516 & 1517 by Luther and Zwingli 479
.
Book 3, Tract 3
Of Union and Joining With [Syncretismo] Separated Churches
Section 1
1. Of Illicit Ecclesiastical Separations and Secessions 488
2. Arguments of the Opposite Sentiment are Solved. Arguments of the Donatists and those who Follow the Donatists[?] are now Examined. 494
3. Are the Faithful to Separate from their Church, etc.? 502
4. The Cause is Explicated why the Work of Paul in the Diatribe is Examined, and Reasons are Repeated 513
5. Reasons and Exceptions Opposite to my Considerations about the Work of Paul and Jerome are Refuted 529
6. The Succeeding Calumnies about my Considerations Regarding the Work of Paul, Exhibited Above in Ch. 3, are Heavily [Gravantur] Refuted 543
7. Exceptions to our Arguments in the Tryings of Those Separatists are Refuted 548
8. Particular Objections and Exceptions Against my Considerations above About the Work of Paul and Jerome are Refuted 560
9. Some Extravagant and Personal Calumnies of the New Apologist are Pressed Hard 578
.
Tract 3, Section 2
Of the Joining With [Syncretismo] or Union of the Separatist Churches
1. Of the Definition or Division, or Distinction of Union or Joining Together 585
2. Of the Mode and Means of Union 591
3. A Question of a General and a Principal Concern is Explicated: Is it Possible for an Ecclesiastical Joining Together to be Entered Into? 594
4. Particular Questions on Some Specific Joinings Together are Explicated 604
5. All the Notable Deliberations and Endeavors about the Joining Together, or Union, of Protestants and the Reformed with the Roman Church are Referenced and Noted 615
6. The Judgment of Grotius on Joining Together, and of the Invitation in Poland to a Colloquium on Joining Together 627
.
Book 3, Tract 4
Containing a Disquisition on the Means to Reformation and to the Joining Together of the Churches which ought at some Point to be Adhered to or as are Usually Commended
Section 1
Of Colloquiums, Conferences [Collationibus] & Disputations
1. Of the Name, General Description and Distinction of Colloquiums 652
2. Of the Ordinary Mode and Requisites of Public Disputations & Conferences [Collationum] about Religion 657
3. Of the Utility and Necessity of Conferences & Disputations 663
4. Containing an Index of Conferences and Disputations about Religion 667
.
Book 3, Tract 4, Section 2
Of the Liberty of Prophesying
1. A Description of the Liberty of Prophesying 679
2. The Principal Question of the Postulates and Presupposition of the Liberty of Prophesying is Ventilated 686
3. Some Particular Problems and Questions about the Liberty of Prophesying 690
.
Appendices
Appendix to the Preceding Tract on the Liberty of Prophesying 719
Appendix to the Tract on Toleration and Joining Together, Containing a Deliberation on the Mode and Conditions in which one ought to Receive [or Recover, Recipiendi] Members of the Communion of the Remonstrants, etc. 737
3rd Appendix – Containing a Response to the Question: Are the Faithful in Some Cases for the Time [in Greek, ‘the present hour’?] Able to Abstain from Attending [or Hearing, Audiendis] Assemblies [or Sermons, Concionibus], etc. 740
.
Book 3, Tract 4, Section 3
Of Amnesty, Conciliation and Neutrality
1. Of Amnesty 748
2. Of Conciliation 755
3. Of Neutrality 767
.
Part 3, Book 4, Of Ecclesiastical Discipline
Book 4, Tract 1, Of Ecclesiastical Power
1. Of the Necessity and Use of the Doctrine of Ecclesiastical Power 770
2. Whether there is any Ecclesiastical Power? 778
3. Of the Distinction of Ecclesiastical Power from Political Power, etc. 781
4. Of the Spirituality of the Power and Polity, or of the Ecclesiastical Government 783
5. Of the Mandatory Power and Mandates [Greek] or [Greek] of the Churches 787
6. Of Ecclesiastical Government, or of the Sacredness of the Underpinnings of the Church, being distinct from the Political Government, etc. 792
7. Of the Legislative Power of the Churches 795
8. Of the Jurisdiction or the Judicial Power of the Church 798
9. Of Ecclesiastical Punishment or Correction, and Censure 800
10. Of the Sacredness or Sanctity of Ministers under the New Testament 801
11. Whether the Ecclesiastical Power Imparted by Churches having been Reformed is a Papal Mastery [Imperium]? 805
12. Another Certain Mode is Shaken Off, of Another Method of Sacred Power and Government which Ought to be Refused, and of those Church Magistrates which Ought to be Allotted 806
13. Another Method to the Building of Caesaro-Papism is Examined 817
.
Book 4, Tract 2
Of the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven
1. Of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven 841
2. Of the Key of Discipline, [with] a Handling [Tractatio] of Homonymous and Synonymous Terms 843
3. The Definition of Discipline is Premitted, and of whether it is [whether it exists]? or, of the Necessity of it, is Investigated in Detail. 844
4. Of the Object of Ecclesiastical Discipline 848
5. Of the Concept and Examination of Sin 852
6. Of Ecclesiastical Admonition 855
7. Of Ecclesiastical Correction 857
8. Of Simple Abstention 859
9. Of Citation, Suspension, etc. 861
10. Of the Causes of Discipline: Impulsive or Meritorious 863
11. Of Distributing or Administering Causes of Discipline 865
12. Of Suspension 865
13. Of the Mode of the Administration of Discipline 869
14. Of the Ends or Effects of Discipline 872
15. A Consequence out of the Doctrine on the Effects of Discipline is Deduced 875
16. On the Division of Discipline 879
17. On that which Follows upon Discipline 881
.
Book 4, Tract 3
Of Excommunication
1. The Term ‘Excommunication’ and the Thing itself is Explained through the Definition [of it] 882
2. Of the Efficient Causes of Excommunication 885
3. Of the Object, or Subject of Excommunication 889
4. Of the Mode of Excommunication 909
5. Of the Effects of Excommunication 922
6. Of the Ends and Uses of Excommunication 929
7. Of Repentance and the Restitution of [Recovering Persons From?] Excommunications 930
.
Book 4, Tract 4
Of the Opposites of Discipline
1. On Erastians, the Adversaries of Church Discipline 936
2. Of Some of the Repugnant Things in the Usurping of Discipline in the Papacy; First, of the Bodily Afflictions of the External Man 943
3. An Enumeration of the Many Abuses and Repugnant Things in the Ecclesiastical Discipline which has been Instituted in, or Observed by the Papacy 953
4. Various Abuses are Recounted which Ought to be Referred to the Power of the Church in General or to Censures in Specific 969
The End
.
.
“Here are the treasures of Christ’s Church.”
The reply of Lawrence (258 A.D.), the treasurer of the church at Rome, as he presented the sick, the poor, and the lame to Emperor Valerian who had demanded of him to produce the treasures of the church, with the intent of confiscating it. For the remark Lawrence was slow roasted to death on a grid-iron.
“The true visible church, where God’s ordinances are set up as he hath appointed, where his word is purely preached, is the most beautiful thing under heaven, and there is God’s glory set forth and manifested more clearly than in all the Lord’s handiwork beside in heaven or earth.”
David Dickson
.
.
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