“Father,” said I, “are there more Churches than one?”
“There is one Bride of Christ. There is also a synagogue of Satan.”
“Ah! that, I count, is the Eastern Church, that man saith hath departed from the faith.”
“They that depart from the faith make that Church. I fear they may so do in the West as well as the East.”
“Well, in the most holy universal Church are counted both the holy Roman Church, and our own mother, the Church of England,” said I. “I know not if it include the Eastern schism or no.”
“All these,” saith he, “are names of men, and shall perish. All that is of man must come to nought. The Church Catholic, true and holy, is not of man, but of God. In her is gathered every saved soul, whether he come from the east or from the west, from the north or from the south. She is not Pauline, nor Petrine, nor Johannine, but Christian. The heavenly Bridegroom cannot have two Brides. ‘One is My dove, My perfect one,’ There are many counties in England; there is but one realm. So there are many so-called Churches: there is but one holy Church.”
“But to find her commands,” I answered, “we must, I suppose, hearken each to his own branch of the Church?”
“Her Lord’s commands are hers. ‘Hear thou Him.’ The day is coming, daughter, when the Scriptures of God’s Word shall be all rendered into English tongue, and, I firmly trust, shall be accessible to every man that chooses to know them. Pray thou heartily for that day; and meanwhile, keep thou close following Christ’s steps, to the best of thy knowledge, and entreat Him for pardon of all unknown sins. And when the light of day is fully come, and the blessed lamp of Holy Writ placed in the hands of the people, then come to the light that thou mayest clearly see. For then woe, woe upon him that tarrieth in the shadow! ‘If the light that is in thee be darkness, what darkness can equal it?’”
“Father,” said I, “I thank you, for you have much comforted me. All this while have I been trying not to love folks; and I find it full hard to do.”
“Battle with thy sins, Daughter, and let thy love alone. I counsel thee to beware of one thing, of which many need no warning to beware: I think thou dost. A thing is not sin because it is comfortable and pleasant; it is not good because it is hard or distasteful. Why mortify thy will when it would do good? It is the will to sin which must be mortified. When Christ bade His disciples to ‘love their enemies,’ He did not mean them to hate their friends. True love must needs be true concern for the true welfare of the beloved. How can that be sin? It is not love which will help man to sin! that love cometh of Sathanas, and is ‘earthly, sensual, devilish.’ But the love which would fain keep man from sin,—this is God’s love to man, and man cannot err in bestowing it on his brother.”