The aggregate of the elect, from the first and to the last, inclusive, is the Church of God in Christ. "The Church," says Bishop Jewell, "heareth the voice of the Shepherd; it will not follow a stranger, but flieth from him, for it knoweth not the voice of strangers. It is the pillar of the truth, the body, the fulness, and the spouse of Christ; it is the vine, the house, the city, and the kingdom of God; they which dwell in it are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ. Himself being the head corner-stone, in whom all the building, coupled together, groweth into an holy temple in the Lord. 'This church Christ loved, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify it, and cleanse it by the washing of water through the word, that He might make it unto Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blame' (Eph. v.) Such a Church was the Church of God at Thessalonica. Such a Church are they, whosoever in any place of the world truly fear the Lord and call His name." upon

This is a fruitful theme with the sacred writers, presented under a great variety of figures, while onr Lord Jesus Christ Himself is presented under corresponding figures. Thus, when we read of the vine and the branches, the bridegroom and the bride, the husband and the wife, the head and the body, the shepherd and the sheep,-under all this variety of figurative language we are reading one and the same truth. That truth is the unchangeable relationship which exists according to the eternal purpose of God the Father, between Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, and the whole company of the elect, the faithful, the saints, the Church, or by whatever other name those persons, considered in the aggregate, may be called, who are chosen of God in Christ out of mankind, and predestinated to everlasting salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, working by love.

Concerning this body, our reformers taught, and our Church

Jewell on 1 Thess. i. 1.

adopted, and we have subscribed, thus, "Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) He hath constantly decreed, by His counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation hose whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God's purpose, by His Spirit working in due season; they through grace obey the calling; they be justified freely; they be made sons of God by adoption; they be made like the image of His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ; they walk religiously in good works, and at length by God's mercy they attain to everlasting felicity," (Art. xvii.)

In contemplating more closely and clearly the constituent parts of the Church of God in Christ, it is necessary to distinguish between the purpose of God as it exists in His mind, and the performances of God as they are progressively developed in His providence.

In the purpose of God there is no succession, no variableness or shadow of turning. All is perfect. All was always perfect. All that shall stand forth as perfected performance throughout eternity to come, is nothing more than a true and faithful echo or reflection of what was perfectly purposed from eternity past. No new thing can arise; not a movement of an insect or an atom. If the smallest fraction of any occurrence of any kind be unprovided for, it might happen to jostle against and disturb the whole framework. And therefore it has been well said, that if "anything be contingent, nothing can be certain." It follows irresistibly, that if anything be certain, nothing can be contingent with God. Jehovah can never in anything be surprised; "He is God, and there is none like Him, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yət done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure "1 (Isa. xlvi. 9, 10). Considered in the divine purpose,

"All things which God in their times and seasons hath brought forth, were eternally and before all times in God, as a work unbegun is in the artificer who

therefore, Christ and His Church are perfect. He was set up in all His mystical fulness from eternity, and the union of each: member in Him, unto the accomplishment of them all, belongs to the selfsame determinate counsel and foreknowledge by which the Head was delivered into wicked hands, crucified, and raised again from the dead (Acts ii. 23, 24).

But in the performances of God among men there is progress. These are imperfect—that is, unfinished; and being unrevealed in their details as regards times and persons, they are invested with all the practical elements of uncertainty, and all the practical results of responsibility, to the mind and conduct of every

afterwards bringeth it unto effect. Therefore whatsoever we do behold now, in this present world, it was inwrapped within the bowels of divine mercy, written in the book of eternal wisdom, and held in the hands of omnipotent power, the first foundation of the world being as yet unlaid. So that all things which God hath made are in that respect the offspring of God; they are in Him as effects in their highest cause; He likewise actually is in them, the assistance and influence of His deity is their life. Let hereunto saving efficacy be added, and it bringeth forth a special offspring amongst men, containing them, to whom God hath Himself given the generous and amiable name of sons. We are by nature the sons of Adam. When God created Adam, He created us; and as many as are descended from Adam, have in themselves the root out of which they spring. The sons of God we neither are all, nor any one of us, otherwise than only by grace and favour. The sons of God have God's own Son, as a second Adam from heaven, whose race and progeny they are by spiritual and heavenly birth. God, therefore, loving eternally His Son, He must needs eternally in Him have loved and preferred before all others them which are since spiritually descended and spring out of Him. These were in God, as in their Saviour, and not as in their Creator only. It was the purpose of His saring goodness, His saring wisdom, and His saving power, which inclined itself towards them. They which were thus in God eternally by their intended admission to life, have, by vocation or adoption, God actually now in them, as the artificer is in the work which his hand doth presently frame. Life, as all other gifts and benefits, groweth originally from the Father, and cometh not to us but by the Son; nor by the Son to any of us in particular, but through the Spirit. For this cause the apostle wisheth to the Church of Corinth the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Which three St. Peter comprehendeth in one, the participation of the divine nature. We are there. fore in God, through Christ, eternally, according to that intent and purpose whereby we are chosen to be made His in this present world, before the world itself was made. We are in God, through the knowledge which is had of us, and the love which is borne towards us from everlasting."-Hooker, Eccl. Pol., b. v., sec. 56.

man. The theory of them, however, in the aggregate, as far as the Church of God in Christ is concerned, is revealed. And being revealed, it presents itself to every true Christian with all the unchangeable certainty which belongs to the great revealer, the faithful and true God, who keepeth His promise for ever.

To have clear views of the constituent parts of the Church of God in Christ, we must contemplate them with reference to this progress of God's performances among men, and this revealed promise that the progress shall not be interrupted till the purpose be completely performed. Thus viewed, the body of Christ may be said to consist of four distinct classes.

The first class consists of those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, whose bodies have returned to dust, and whose spirits, the spirits of just men made perfect, being delivered from the burden of the flesh, are "present with the Lord" in joy and felicity. The second class consists of those on the earth, in all climes and nations, who are quickened into spiritual life by divine grace, in whom the Holy Spirit dwells and acts, who trust in Jesus, and walk with God, not by sight, but by faith. These are what we understand by real Christians. The third class consists of those on the earth, in all climes and nations, who are foreordained of God to be converted into real Christians at His appointed time, but who are not yet effectually called and quickened into spiritual life. These may be appropriately designated elect to be saints, though as yet unconverted sinners. At the time of Stephen's martyrdom, Saul of Tarsus belonged to this third class: he was a chosen vessel of grace, though as yet in point of fact an unconverted sinner. Afterwards, as he went to Damascus, he was transferred into the second class: he became a real Christian. The fourth class consists of those who are not yet born into this world, but are foreseen of God in the loins of their parents, or their parents' parents, and foreordained to be born, and in due time to be "born again."

These all, viewed in the aggregate, constitute the catholicity of the Church of God, extending over all the ages of the world's history, and all the countries of the world's geography. This is the only true and genuine catholicity. There cannot be a more

egregious misnomer than the application of that expression to a section of the whole, limited in its extent, and temporary in its duration. The Church of God existed on earth, and members of it were translated to heaven during successive generations, for above four thousand years, before there was the name or thought of a Church in either Italy or England. And at this moment there are multitudes of members of it, who are utter strangers to both Rome and Canterbury. How, then, can any one, with common regard to accuracy of language, apply the term "Catholic" to either the Latin or the English Church? How, indeed, except in the way of accommodation, to any Church, or combination of Churches, at any one time upon earth?

In the way of accommodation it is commonly applied to the general society of those who at any one time profess the faith of Christ "throughout all the world." Thus Bishop Pearson 2 says, "The most obvious and most general notion of this catholicism consisteth in the diffusiveness of the Church." In this sense it includes "all who in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours" (1 Cor. i. 2), and therefore Greeks, Moravians, Waldenses, Lutherans, Zuinglians, Scots, and Americans, as well as Romans and Anglicans. Differences in proportions of numbers constitute no difference in principle; and while all these varieties exist in the general society of those who profess the faith of Christ, it is plainly an unwarrantable usurpation in any one of them to arrogate a title which by implication absorbes all the rest. The Zuinglians said well in their Helvetic Confession, "There is only one Church, which we therefore call catholic, because it is universal, and diffused through all parts of the world, and extends to all times, being included within no particular localities or ages. Therefore we condemn the Donatists, who restricted the Church to some corners of Africa; nor do we approve the Roman clergy, who vaunt of the Roman Church alone as the catholic." The former part of this passage, taken

3 66

3

This will be proved in the next chapter.

2 On the Creed.

Consequitur unam duntaxat esse ecclesiam : quam propterea catholicam nuncupamus, quod sit universalis, et diffundatur per omnes mundi partes, et ad