Section 1066
II. We are not satisfied that the church of England is a true church of Christ because of theformand order of it
Which is national, whereas it ought to be congregational, as the first Christian churches were; we read of the church at Jerusalem, and of the churches in Judea besides, so that there were several churches in one nation; and also of the churches of Macedonia, and likewise of Galatia, and of the seven churches of Asia, which were in the particular cities mentioned; yea of a church in an house, which could not be national; there were also the church at Corinth, and another at Cenchrea, a few miles distant from it, and a sea-port of the Corinthians. A church of Christ is a congregation of men who are gathered out of the world by the grace of God, and who separate from it and meet together in fume one place to worship God; and to this agrees the definition of a church in the xixth Article of the church of England, and is this; “The visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men:” which is against herself; for if a congregation, then not a nation; if a congregation then it must be gathered out from others; and if a congregation, then it must meet in one place, or it cannot with any propriety be so called; as the church at Corinth is said to do (1 Corinthians 11:18, 20; 14:23), but when and where did the church of England meet together in one place? and how is it the visible church of Christ? where and when was it ever seen in a body together? is it to be seen in the King, the head of it? or in the Parliament, by whom it was established? or in the upper and lower houses of Convocation, its representatives? To say, that it is to be seen in every parish, is either to make a building of stone the church, which is the stupid notion of the vulgar people; or to make the parishioners a church, and then there must be as many churches of England as there are parishes, and so some thousands, and not one only.