[216] Tit. iii. 10; Matt. xviii. 15. [217] Ezek. xviii. 17; Gen. xviii. 23-25. [218] 1 Cor. x. 15; Acts i. 19; 1 Cor. v. 3-5; xi. 3. [219] Matt. v. 11, 12; John xvi. 2. [220] 1 Cor. xii. 27-29; Eph. iv. 5-7; 1 Cor. i. 12, 13; iii. 22, 23; Eph. v. 23; iv. 15; Col. i. 18; ii. 19. [221] 3 John. [222] Eph. v. 11; 1 Cor. v. 11. [223] 1 Cor. xii. 12; John xiii. 35; 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2, &c. [224] 1 Cor. xii. 12; vi. 17; x. 17; Eph. iv. 3, &c. [225] Gal. iv. 11, 12. [226] Rev. iii. 8-12; ii. 10, 11; Acts xiv. 22; Tit. i. 5; Rom. xvi. 4, 16; 1 Cor. vii. 17; xi. 16; xiv. 33, 44; 2 Thess. i. 4; Rev. ii. 23. [227] 1 Cor. i. 13; Rom. xvi. 17; Acts xx. 30. [228] Acts ii. 44; 1 Cor. i. 10; 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. [229] Heb. x. 25; 1 Tim. iii. 7; 3 John 12. [230] Acts xvi. 32, 34; x. 2, 22; xviii. 8; Col. iv. 15. [231] Of these things I have said so much in my "Cure of Church divisions," and in the "Defence" of it, and in the end of my "Reas. of Christ. Relig." Consect. i. and ii. that I pass them over here with the more brevity. Quest. II. _Whether we must esteem the church of Rome a true church? And in what sense some divines affirm it, and some deny it._ Want of some easy distinguishing hath made that seem a controversy here, which is so plain, that it can hardly be any at all to protestants, if the question had been but truly stated.[232] Remember therefore that by a church is meant, not a mere company of christians, any how related to each other; but a society consisting of an ecclesiastical head and body, such as we call a political society. 2. And that we speak not of an accidental head (such as the king is, because he governeth them _suo modo_ by the sword); for that is not an essential constitutive part; but of a constitutive ecclesiastical head and body. 3. That the question is not, Whether the church of Rome be a part of the church, but whether it be a true church? And now I answer, 1. To affirm the church of Rome to be the catholic or universal church, is more than to affirm it to be a true catholic church, that is, a true part of the catholic church: and is as much as to say that it is the whole and only church, and that there is no other; which is odious falsehood and usurpation, and slander against all other churches. 2. The church of Rome is so called in the question, as it is a policy or church in a general sense; and the meaning of the question is, Whether it be a divine, or a human or diabolical policy; a lawful church. 3. The church of Rome is considered, 1. Formally, as a church or policy. 2. Materially, as the singular persons are qualified. It is the form that denominateth. Therefore the question must be taken of the Roman policy, or of the church of Rome as such; that is, as it is one ruler pretending to be the vicarious, constitutive, governing head of all Christ's visible church on earth, and the body which owneth him in this relation.