they procure judgments to themselves. But since it is not their prerogative to know the heart, they are bound to demand a profession of faith and repentance from all who make application for communion with the Church; and if any make this profession with the tongue, and do not openly belie it by his practice, the office-bearers, so far as themselves are concerned, may safely admit him, without too scrupulous an inquiry into his spiritual state; the certain knowledge of which we read that God has reserved to himself, whilst it is nowhere affirmed that God requires it of the ministers of the Church. In primitive times indeed, Apostles and Evangelists were endowed with an extraordinary gift, which Paul styles "the discerning of spirits." But it does not appear that, in admitting the members of the Church, they made use of that gift, to distinguish those who were truly regenerate from such as by their profession and external conduct made false pretensions to regeneration. Had they done this, how could Simon Magus have been admitted to the Church? And whence those scandalous persons at Corinth, whom the Apostle reproves ?¢ e XVI. Since, then, it is impossible but that amidst so great a multitude of professors, some will falsely pretend to the Christian character, hypocrites and worthless men are never wanting in the visible Church. On this account the Church is compared to a floor, in which there is not only wheat, but also chaff ;fto a field, where tares as well as good seed, are sown ; -to a net, which gathers bad fish together with the b Mat. iii. 6. Acts viii. 37. с Διακρίσις πνευματων, 1 Cor. xii. 10. d Acts viii. 13. Mat. iii. 12. e 1 Cor. xi. 18, 21. Mat. xiii. 24. et seq. good ;h to a great house, in which are vessels of every kind," some to honour, and some to dishonour."i XVII. Let us now attend to the Epithets and honourable characters given to the Church; which are suitable to it in both forms, yet principally in its internal form. Three of these are mentioned in the Creed: HOLY, CATHOLIC, CHRISTIAN. 65 XVIII. The Church may be called HOLY, 1st, With respect to doctrine; which, in soundness of principles, purity of precepts, excellence of examples, and efficacy of motives, infinitely surpasses whatever is commendable in all the admired institutions and maxims of lawgivers, or priests, or philosophers. i 2dly, With respect to life and manners. The Old Testament Church was distinguished by a certain typical holiness, which consisted in the separation of the people of Israel from the rest of the nations, that they might be consecrated to the worship of God, and in a certain external and corporeal purification, by which they were, so to speak, purged and sanctified.* Corresponding to this, there is in the Gospel Church a real holiness, which consists in separation from the common condition of sinners to the performance of that spiritual Divine service which the New Testament prescribes, and in the purification of the mind by the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ.1 The Christian Church, therefore, is called Holy, in The Author's words here are lustratus ac februatus, which, in their primitive import, relate to certain periodical purifications by sacrifice observed amongst the Romans. See Kennet's Antiquities of Rome, Part II. Book ii. ch. 2. and Book iii. ch. 7. T. h Verse 47. et seq. i 2 Tim. ii. 20. J Deut. iv. 6-8. Rom. vii. 12. 1 Tim. vi. 3. Tit. i. 1. ii. 11, 12. Gal. i. 4. 1 Tit. ii. 14. 65 See NOTE LXV. contradistinction not merely to other nations, which were altogether impure and defiled ;m but also to the Jewish nation, to whose typical sanctity a true and substantial holiness is opposed." 3dly, With respect to inviolability, or the sacred protection under which it is placed. "He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, " he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not "mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." XIX. The epithet CATHOLIC does not occur in sacred writ. The first whom we find using it is Ignatius in his Epistle to the Church of Smyrna, if indeed that expression was in reality written by Ignatius, and not interpolated by some unfair hand: "Wherever "Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."* But it occurs also in the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, in which they give an account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, their Pastor; for that Epistle is inscribed to the Church of God at Philomelium, "and to all every where "that belong to the holy Catholic Church."+ ses. xx. The appellation Catholic is taken in several sen 1st, Very extensively, as comprehending all the diversities of places, times, persons, and states, and as denoting the whole family of God, whether now or formerly sojourning on the earth, and dispersed through all ages and quarters of the world. 2dly, More strictly, when it is ascribed to the New Testament Church in contradistinction to the Old. The middle wall of partition being broken down, the Gospel Church is not confined, as was the Church of old, to any place or Οπε ἄν ᾗ Χριστος Ιησες, έκει ἡ καθολικη εκκλησία. † Και πασαις ταῖς κατα παντα τοπον τῆς ἁγιας καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας Euseb. Hist. Lib. iv. cap. 11. παροικίαις. n Heb. ix. 12--14. m 1 Cor. vi. 11. people; but is scattered abroad throughout the whole extent of the world; and is the common Mother of men of all nations, nourishing all with the same milk, and cherishing all in the same bosom; making the whole world, so to speak, a common temple unto God. "She is called Catholic," says Cyril of Jerusalem, "because she is diffused over the whole world from the "one end of the earth to the other."* It was worth while also, by this characteristic, to distinguish the Christian Church from the Synagogue, in order to show that by the coming of Christ the truth of the ancient prophecies appears, in which it had been very often foretold that all nations without distinction should be invited to fellowship with God. This epithet, however, it is evident, has prevailed chiefly, since the Noratians, and afterwards the Donatists, presumed to restrict the Church to the narrow limits of Africa. To those men, the Orthodox then opposed the appellation Catholic, to distinguish the Church of Christ which subsisted in the whole world, from the conventicles of heretics and schismatics. 3dly, This appellation is used improperly, to denote a particular Church, which holds fellowship with the Church Universal, and is not separated from it by heresy or schism. Nay, it became customary to employ the term Catholic in the same sense with Orthodox. Hence we read in ancient writers, of" the Catholic Church in Smyrna, in Alex"andria, in Constantinople, in Nazianzum,” and the like, without number. XXI. In fine, the Church is also styled CHRISTIAN, because she is the disciple of Christ, and Christ is her Cateches. xviii. P Acts xi. 26. See NOTE LXVI. Master; because she is the Spouse of Christ, and Christ is her Bridegroom ;-because she is the body and the fulness of Christ, being necessary to the perfecting of his stature,s and Christ is her Head. In short, she is so closely united with Christ, that she is even denominated Christ." XXII. It now remains, to consider the exercise of our Faith in relation to the Church. And here we must first attend to the repetition in the Creed of the expression Credo, "I believe ;" and then to the alteration of the phrase: For whereas it was formerly said, "I "believe in God the Father, &c." "I believe in the 66 Holy Ghost"-it is not here said in like manner, Credo in Ecclesiam," I believe in the Church," but Credo Ecclesiam, "I believe the Church." The expression I believe, seems to be repeated of purpose, partly, to apprize as that we are entering on a new class of subjects, which differ widely from those previously mentioned; and partly, because, without that repetition, the construction of the words would render the sentence either obscure, or scarcely consistent with piety. Had the words run thus, "I believe in the 66 Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church," it would have been difficult to connect the words " I believe” with "the Holy Catholic Church," so as to suppress the particle in. This however was necessary; for our faith is exercised with regard to the Church in a manner very different from that in which it is exercised with relation to God. The Church, it is certain, is a Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam. 9 Mat. xxiii. 8. r John iii. 29. Comp. 1 Sam. xxviii. 20. pp n, the fulness of his stature. t Ephes. i. 22, 23. u 1 Cor. xii. 12. 33. |