An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…

Schism is the concern of visible Churches;¹ but that place Eph. 4. speaks not of visible Churches, which are made up of believers and unbelievers, but of the Church Catholic made up of Believers and Saints only; This is plain, the Church Catholic is that whole body, [Greek or Hebrew], fitly joined together, all being Saints in it; but in the visible Church, there are believers and unbelievers, who can no more stand in harmony than light and darkness, Christ and Belial, the Temple of God and Idols: In the Church Catholic there is an effectual working in every part; but in the Church visible, there is no such energy in the wicked: And so in that parallel place, ⟨p. 201⟩Eph. 2.20. The Church. Catholic is that [Greek or Hebrew], That whole Building fitly framed together, which groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord: But in the Church visible the wicked grow not into a Temple; nay, there is not a stone of the spiritual Building laid in them: And Eph. 1.23. The Church Catholic is not only [Greek or Hebrew], not only the body, but fullness of Christ: Every member of it helps, as it were to fill up the mystical body; but in the Church visible the wicked do not complete the body, but corrupt it; they do not adorn, but deform it. I have before showed, that our union to Christ, stands not in communion with a visible Church, or its Rulers: It is made by internal and spiritual ligatures, and is invariably one and the same, whether there be a Church visible or not: But saith the Author, We are under an obligation of Communion with a Church visible, when there is one: But it is one thing what our Duty is, and another what constitutes our union with Christ; it is our duty to be subject to civil Magistrates, but I suppose our union to Christ consists not in it; it is our duty to hear the Ministers of Christ; Luke ⟨p. 202⟩10.16. But our union to Christ doth not consist in it; indeed it is a sacred Ordinance which God is pleased to use, to bring us to Christ; but the only proper immediate bands of that union are the Spirit and Faith.