Such a loud
pronouncement he dared not gainsay; he would not seem rebellious
against a Church of which the Scriptures make such frequent
mention: so he cunningly kept the name, while by his definition
he utterly abolished the thing, He has depicted the Church with
such properties as altogether hide her away, and leave her open
to the secret gaze of a very few men, as though she were removed
from the senses, like a Platonic Idea. They only could discern
her, who by a singular inspiration had got the faculty of
grasping with their intelligence this aerial body, and with keen
eye regarding the members of such a company.
What has become of candour and straightforwardness? What
Scripture texts or Scripture meanings or authorities of Fathers
thus portray the Church? There are letters of Christ to the
Asiatic Churches (Apoc. i. 3), letters of Peter, Paul, John, and
others to various Churches; frequent mention in the Acts of the
Apostles of the origin and spread of Churches. What of these
Churches? Were they visible to God alone and holy men, or to
Christians of every rank and degree? But, doubtless, necessity
is a hard weapon. Pardon these subterfuges.
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