The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-11-11 00:00:00

WHAT IS THE CHURCH ?'

TO THE EDITOR OF TI.

Courts'

—Agreed to

s the ci

and thirdly, to one of on'

•eformers

u7-.A.s MLA .ot.wfruz --- a ',War" to perpetuate,
ground" to maintain and uphold ; distinctly refe
nised company of

external

member of t

co unci

Mr. SIVIITE

- .
ppointment of Mr. Moore in I th /iev ing who

company is invisi

if Mr. Harvey, as comn
local act of 5 Geo.IN

ssioners
for the

couragement of pilots for the con-
t.() and out of the port of

d vessels i

1 church

An application to alLoCv, under special circumstances, the
enrolment of the indentures of apprenticeship of William F.
Sim, William Rtitherfotd,*Thomas Harrison, and Griffith

'finance Committes to inquire and

SANCI

The MAYOR said he had received a memorial, stating that
there existed a penny show at the corner of Leigh-street and
Whitecha?el, in the front of which, pictures were exhibited
representing dreadful and horrible murders—the woman

i .
Jones, for instance, who was murdered and cut up in pieces
by G)od the coachman, and the murder of the Italian boy

in Liverpool, by scalding, and others of a like abominable
nature. The memorialists further stated that a barrel organ
was being constantly played on the premises—that a man

ist is therefore on

the vicinit

—that busit

:ss was there

by injured and t

iich supernaturally appertain to the ver

It was de

'mined that the exhibit!

tised community

roceeded

rmation, the

Municipal Re-

form Ac

nt to each member of the council. He
tofore, and that it

several new membe

He pro.

!xpense of the Co)

gestion was a very
to carry out the bill

Nov. St h

IE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
Your correspondent " A Church of England Chris-
ks an important question in a grave and serious
manner. He asks, " What is the church?" It demands a
careful and serious reply. This, I have little doubt, will be
given to it, by some of those to whom he specially appeals,
more particularly by " A. M.," whose style and calm de-

monstrative manner plainly evince him to be a man " of
' Committee power, of love, and of a sound mind." It seemeth good to
'dition me also, though I cannot claim " more perfect understand-
ing of these things," to say a word to your querist ; and in
so doing, I would simply appeal to three authorities for an

First, to
of Eny-

1- i First, what saith the Scripture ? St. Paul replies, in Ist
1- Timothy, iii. 15, " The house of God, which is, the church
f, of the living GOd, the pillar and ground of the truth ; "

which is in Christ Jesus—a bap. ti corn nau;a-i-t; Ia- nilio-
MTH moved the appointment of Sir Thomas -
for this external body agree the words of the same apostle in
as trustee under the local act of 7 Geo. IV.
ng St. James's Cemetery, in lieu of Mr. Daniel Ist Cor. xii. 28, " And God bath set some in the church
who had ceased to 1—
~ first, apostles; secondarily, prophets," 8,, -- ^
existing ordained ministry.

, referring to an

not all Israel " be_
~.e of Israel " circumcised, so now likewise
are not all of the church spiritual who are of the church
,-,.0n in place of external—i.e., there is a saved company of genuine believer., n place of Mr. Bolton, of within this company of baptied professors—" a wheel within
[eller, of Mr. Blundell in a wheel" a d
n as the large body is external and easily dis-
lae in place of

the Bible speaks more frequently, and denominates it " the
church": for this see Ephesians i. 22-3, " And gave him
(Christ) to be head over all things to the church, which is
his body," and of this " body" St. Paul speaks again in
the same epistle, chap. iv. 4,5, 6, " There is one body,"
d of the

I could multiply passages on this head
Now, what saith the 19th article of the Church of Eng-
land? " The visible church of Christ is a congregation of
faill(ful men, in the which the pure word of God is preached,
and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's
ordinance;" &c. &c. This article, from its use of the word
" visible," evidently refers to the external and organised
company, and not to the hint/. and sared body.
What saith the judicious Hooker? " That church of
Christ, which we properly term his body mystical, can be
but one ; neither can that one be sensibly discerned by any
man, inasmuch as the parts thereof are some in heaven al-
ready with Christ, and the rest that are on earth (albeit
their natural persons are visible) we do not discern under
this property whereby they are truly and infallibly of that
body." Hooker here distinctly speaks of the saved and in-

visible church of
,ion of those things
essence of Chris-
,,re necessarily required in every particular
lan." Here he as distinctly speaks of the hap-

And now, sir, there appears to be a third sense in which
the term " the church " is used in Scripture, viz., certain
local companies of believers, who were in the habit of meet-
ing together for mutual edification, sometimes in each others'
houses. So we read, Rom. xvi. 5, " Likewise greet the
church that is in their house ;" and Ist Cor. xvi. 19.
So, then, here are three senses in which the term " the
church" is used : one of them spoken of in the 19th article,
two of them spoken of by Hooker, and the three spoken of
in the Bible : and if your correspondent inquire to which of
these three I think those words in St. Matthew, xviii. 17,
But if he neglect to hear the church," belong, I have no
hesitation in saying, to the latter; the Saviour plainly di-
recting the man, after remonstrating with his offending bro-
ther in private, then to take with him two or three Christian
friends, and if all failed, then, in the last resort, to lay the
matter before the little local company of believers who might
assemble in his house or neighbourhood ; Christ never, I
believe, having constituted an ecclesiastical tribunal to take
cognisance of secular offences.—l am, sir, &c.,
\INDEX ECCLr.

t'SIIE

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

think your correspondent, " A. M.," will see that,
admitting the meaning which " Hear the Church ! " was
adduced to sustain, and which I proved to be legitimate by
two pertinent quotations, the form also of the text is
not strained or unnatural, seeing that the words " If he
neglect to hear the rhureh" is a plain injunction to " Hear
the Church," and only expresses the whole sentence in a
short compass ; and that " Top knot, come down," is by
no means a parallel instance, inasmuch as it introduces a
meaning quite different from its context.

Mr. DOdsworth's sermon, price 3d., will afford the requi-
site information as to what is the Church.—Your's, &c.
CLERICIIS.