OBSERVAT. IIII.

Some things are spoken of the Church in common, or gene∣rall tearmes, to shew what the whole is in respect of Gods out∣ward [ D] vocation, or what the office and dutie of the whole Church is: but the same promises, properties, and priuiledges are really fulfilled or found in the better and sounder part there∣of onely a.

When our Sauiour promiseth, that the gates of Hell shall not preuaile against the Church (Matth. 16.18.) he vnderstan∣deth such a Church as heareth and obeyeth his word b, and not Page  53 a visible companie or Hierarchie of Prelates, which forsake his [ A] word, and doe what they list. August. d. Vnit. Ecclesiae, cap. 18. Ecclesia in his est qui adificant supra Petram, id est qui credunt ver∣bum Christi, & faciunt, & d. Baptismo, Lib. 6. cap. 24. Nonne illi sunt in Ecclefia, qui sunt in Petra? Qui autem in Petra non sunt, nec in Ecclesia sunt, iam ergò videamus, vtrum super Petram aedifici∣um suum constituant, qui audiunt Christi verba & non faciant. Saint Augustine in these words deliuereth three things: first, The Church is in them which build vpon the Rocke: secondly, They are not in the Church, which are not in the Rocke: third∣ly, They onely build vpon the Rocke, and are in the Rocke, [ B] which beleeue and obey the word of Christ a. And this Do∣ctrine of S. Augustine is taken out of the holy Scripture. Matth. 7.24. 1. Cor. 3.11. & 10.4.

Also when S. Paul saith, The Church is the ground and pillar of Truth b, 1. Tim. 3. 15. by the Church, hee vnderstandeth the [ C] House of the liuing God, as the precedent part of his speech sheweth, to wit, If I tarrie long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behaue thy selfe in the House of God, &c. But they alone are verily and indeed the House of God, which beleeue and loue the Truth. S. August. Enchirid. c. 5.6. &c. Donatist. Lib. 7. cap. 50. Wicked people may be called Gods House, because of externall cal∣ling, and visible profession, 2. Tim. 2. 20. Sed non sunt de compage domus, They are not of the frame of the House c, Heb. 3. 6. August. d. Bapt. Lib. 7. cap. 50. All they which couet earthly things, [ D] preferring worldly felicitie before God; they which seeke their owne, and not those things which are Iesus Christs, ad vnam Ciuitatem illam pertinent, quae dicitur Babylonia mystice, & habet Regem Dia∣bolum, belong onely to that Citie, which in a mysterie is called Baby∣lon, and hath the Deuill the Head. Aug. sup. Psal. 61.

Wicked persons d (saith S. Augustine, Epist. 50.) figuram mem∣bri tenent, retaine the figure or outward shape of a member, sed Page  54 reuera corpus Domini non sunt, but they are not in truth the bo∣die [ A] of Christ (August. d. Doct. Christ. Lib. 3. cap. 32.) In corpore Christi non sunt, quod est Ecclesia; They are not in the bodie of Christ, which is the Church. (August. c. Crescon. Lib. 2. cap. 21.)

But they which are not of the Body of Christ, nor of the house of God, really, and in truth, doe not constantly preserue, or faithfully deliuer Apostolicall Traditions; neither are they one, or holy, nor yet such as the Spirit of God infallibly, and alwayes directeth in their publicke Doctrine.