Throughout the whole
course of fifteen centuries these men find neither town, village
nor household professing their doctrine, until an unhappy monk
by an incestuous marriage had deflowered a virgin vowed to God,
or a Swiss gladiator had conspired against his country, or a
branded runaway had occupied Geneva. These people, if they want
to have a Church at all, are compelled to crack up a Church all
hidden away; and to claim parents whom they themselves have
never known, and no mortal has ever set eyes on, Perhaps they
glory in the ancestry of men whom every one knows to have been
heretics, such as Aerius, Jovinianus, Vigilantius, Helvidius,
Berengarius, the Waldenses, the Lollards, Wycliffe, Huss, of
whom they have begged sundry poisonous fragments of dogmas.
Wonder not that I have no fear of their empty talk: once I can
meet them in the noon-day, I shall have no trouble in dispelling
such vapourings. Our conversation with them would take this
line. Tell me, do you subscribe to the Church which flourished
in bygone ages? Certainly. Let us traverse, then, different
countries and periods. What Church? The assembly of the
faithful. What faithful? Their names are unknown, but it is
certain that there have been many of them.
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