ars first in the conference held between the two
parties, and is then noted as having had the express approval of the
king and commissioners of Parliament,[281] which was not at that time,
nor till considerably later, secured to the clauses in the Act affirming
the powers of the larger presbytery.

[Sidenote: Westminster Theory of the Church.]

I have said elsewhere that in chapters xxv. and xxvi. of the Westminster
Confession of Faith we have a doctrine affirmed as to the church and the
communion of saints which seems to me to be more thoroughly catholic
than that which is set forth in the Articles of the Irish Episcopal
Church, of the teaching of which the compilers of our Confession have so
largely availed themselves. In addition to one invisible church to which
all the true elect of God are affirmed to belong, and particular visible
churches composed of _professing_ Christians in particular nations (both
of which are expressly owned in both formularies), the Westminster
Confession recognises one visible church to which all throughout the
world who profess faith in Christ are to feel that they belong, and
with the members of which they are bound, as God gives them opportunity,
to cultivate union and communion. "The catholic or universal church,
which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect that have
been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof;
and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel
(not confined to one nation as before under the law), consists of all
those throughout the world that profess the true religion, and of their
children, and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and
family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of
salvation. Unto this catholic visible church Christ hath given the
ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God for the gathering and
perfecting of the saints in this life to the end of the world; and doth
by His own presence and Spirit, according to His promise, make them
effectual thereunto. This catholic church hath been sometimes more,
sometimes less, visible; and particular churches which are members
thereof are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the Gospel
is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship
performed more or less purely in them.... All saints that are united to
Jesus Christ