:

all men do justly arrogate to themselves the Holy Ghost, or no. The Bishops of Rome have for a long time made a sore challenge thereunto, reasoning for themselves after this sort. The Holy Ghost, say they, was promised to the Church, and never forsaketh the Church but we are the chief heads and the principal part of the Church: therefore we have the Holy Ghost for ever; and whatsoever things we decree are undoubted verities and oracles of the Holy Ghost. That ye may perceive the weakness of this argument, it is needful to teach you first what the true Church of Christ is, and then to confer the Church of Rome therewith, to discern how well they agree together.

"The true Church is an universal congregation or fellowship of God's faithful and elect people, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the head corner-stone. And it hath always

three notes or marks whereby it is known: pure and sound doctrine, the sacraments ministered according to Christ's holy institution, and the right use of ecclesiastical discipline. This description of the Church is agreeable both to the Scriptures of God and also to the doctrine of the ancient Fathers, so that none may justly find fault therewith."1

The connection between the description here given and that in the Article is obvious. That in the Homily is little more than a rhetorical amplification of that given in the Article. The chief difference is that the Homily adds a third note to the two given in the Article, namely, "the right use of ecclesiastical discipline." It may, however, fairly be argued that even

1 "The second part of the sermon for Whitsunday." The Homilies, p. 494 (ed. S.P.C.K.).

2 This "note or mark" is also added in the "Short Catechism" issued together with the Articles in 1553 (see Dixon's History of the Church of

this is no substantial addition, because it is really included in the right administration of the sacraments, which must involve their administration by properly qualified persons, and to those only who are properly qualified to receive them.1

The main subjects to be considered in connection with this Article are the following:

1. The description of the visible Church.

2. The statement that the Church of Rome hath erred in matters of faith.

I. The Description of the visible Church.

The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.

It will be convenient to consider separately each term in this description.

England, vol. iii. p. 528), where it is said that "the marks of this Church are first, pure preaching of the gospel; then, brotherly love, out of which, as members of all one body, springeth goodwill of each to other; thirdly, upright and uncorrupted use of the Lord's sacraments, according to the ordinance of the gospel; last of all, brotherly correction and excommunication, or banishing those out of the Church that will not amend their lives. This mark the holy Fathers termed discipline." See Liturgies of King Edward VI. (Parker Society) p. 513. Somewhat to the same effect we read in Nowell's Catechism, published in 1570, that the "marks of the visible Church are the sincere preaching of the gospel, that is to say, of the benefits of Christ, invocation and administration of the sacraments," and it is added that "in the same Church, if it be well ordered, there shall be seen to be observed a certain order and manner of government, and such a form of ecclesiastical discipline," etc. See Nowell's Catechism (Parker Society), pp. 56, 175; cf. also Ridley's Works (Parker Society), p. 123.

1 Cf. Bp. Browne, Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles, p. 452.

(a) The visible Church. The word "Church "1 is the English equivalent for the Greek ẻккλŋoía, which has passed through three stages of meaning. (1) In its classical sense it is not a religious word at all, but simply stands for the assembly of the citizens of Athens and (later) of other free Greek cities, called together for the discussion of public business. In this sense it occurs once in the New Testament of the " lawful assembly " ( evvoμos ẻкkλŋoía) at Ephesus, Acts xix. 39. (2) It obtains a religious connotation first in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, where it is frequently used as the translation of the Hebrew, for the assembly of the Israelites, especially when gathered for sacred purposes. In this sense it is found twice in the New Testament, viz. in Acts vii. 38, where S. Stephen speaks of "the Church in the wilderness," and in Heb. ii. 12 in a quotation from the LXX. of Ps. xxii. 22. (3) This Old Testament use of the term prepared the way for the third stage in its usage, in which it is adopted by our Lord as the name of the Society which He came to found on earth. It is so used on two occasions by Him in the Gospels, namely in S. Matt. xvi. 18 (to be noted as its earliest occurrence), "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church ” (οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ékкλŋσíav), and S. Matt. xviii. 18, where it is said of the erring brother, "If he refuse to hear thee, tell it to the Church; and if he refuse to hear the Church also,

1 The English word "Church" is ordinarily said to come from the Greek Kupiaký. But see the Dictionary of the Bible, vol. i. p. 694 (ed. ii.), where reasons are given for doubting this derivation.

2 It is never used for the Hebrew for which ovvaywy is the regular equivalent. This word is also used regularly in the first four books of the Pentateuch for p; but from Deuteronomy onwards, though awaywyń is still occasionally used for it, ékkλŋola is more usually employed. See Deut. iv. 10, ix. 10, xviii. 16, etc.; and on the history of the word in general, see Trench's Synonyms of the New Testament, p. 1.

let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.” Owing probably to its use in this sense by our Lord Himself, we find on turning to the Acts and Epistles that it is the familiar designation of the Christian Society, used sometimes for the Society as a whole, throughout the world, 1 Cor. xii. 28; Eph. i. 22;1 Phil. iii. 6, etc.; sometimes for the Church in a particular place, as "the Church which was in Jerusalem,” Acts viii. 1; "the Church of God which is at Corinth," 1 Cor. i. 2; "the Church of the Thessalonians," 1 Thess. i. 1; or "the Church in Ephesus," Rev. ii. 1; sometimes even for a particular congregation gathered together in some house. So we read of Prisca and Aquila, and "the Church that is in their house" (Rom. xvi. 5; 1 Cor. xvi. 19), and of Philemon, and the Church in his house (Philem. 2, and cf. Col. iv. 15). This varying usage of the word in its Christian sense is faithfully reflected in the language of our own Articles, which speak sometimes of "the Church" (Art. XX.), or " the visible Church" (Art. XIX.) as a whole, sometimes of "every particular or national Church" (Art. XXXIV.), such as "the Church of Jerusalem," of "Alexandria and Antioch," as well as "the Church of Rome" (Art. XIX.).

The phrase employed in the Article before us, "the visible Church," is important. It obviously indicates that the Church is a definite ascertainable body, which can be pointed out to men, and distinguished from any other bodies or societies claiming identity or similarity with it.

1 This usage is especially characteristic of the Epistle to the Ephesians, in which the conception of one Catholic Church stands out with peculiar clearness. See Eph. i. 22, iii. 10, v. 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32.

It may be noted that the word can also be used for "any gathering" of men assembled by chance or tumultuously, as it is by the "town clerk" in his speech at Ephesus, Acts xix. 32, 41. Its use for the building in which Christians meet together for worship is post-biblical, and apparently not found before the third century at the earliest.

What the distinguishing marks of the Church are the Article proceeds to state, and these will presently be explained. But before this can be done, the phrase before us requires further consideration.

At the time when the Articles were drawn up there was in some quarters a tendency to attach little importance to the notion of a "visible Church," and to speak much of an "invisible Church," consisting of true believers known only to God, wherever they might be found, outside and independent of all external organisation. That God does know who are really His, in whatever society or body they may be found, is of course perfectly true, and what no Christian can deny. But when this is said, there is really nothing more that can be said of an "invisible Church." Its existence

1 See a startling exposition of this view in Hooper's Brief and Clear Confession of the Christian Faith: "I believe and confess one only Catholic and Universal Church, which is an holy congregation and assembly of all faithful believers, which are chosen and predestinate unto everlasting life, before the foundations of the world were laid of whose number I count myself, and believe that I am, through the only grace and mercy of the Father, and by the merits of my good Lord and Master Jesus Christ, and not by means of my good works and merits, which indeed are none.

"I believe that this Church is invisible to the eye of man, 'and is only to God known; and that the same Church is not set, compassed, and limited within a certain place or bounds, but is scattered and spread abroad throughout all the world; but yet coupled together in heart, will, and spirit by the bond of faith and charity, having and altogether acknowledging one only God, one only head and mediator Jesus Christ, one faith, one law, one baptism, one spiritual table, wherein one meal, and one spiritual drink, is ministered to them unto the end of the world. This Church containeth in it all the righteous and chosen people, from the first righteous man unto the last that shall be found righteous in the end of the world: and therefore I do call it universal. For as touching the visible Church, which is the congregation of the good and of the wicked, of the chosen and of the reprobate, and generally of all those which say they believe in Christ, I do not believe that to be the Church because that Church is seen of the eye, and the faith thereof is in visible. things."-Later writings of Bishop Hooper (Parker Society), p. 40.