Such is the clear historical view of Christianity, and the statement of it is an analytical statement of the Catholic Religion from the beginning. We do not find the facts of Scripture and History to be “difficulties.”—But let us now, finally, endeavour to combine what has been said, and briefly consider, in a more synthetical way, our whole Christianity, as it lies before us both in the Gospels and Epistles.
In the former, Christ is instructing His Apostles and witnessing to the Jews. In the latter, the Apostles, “in the person of Christ” (2 Cor. ii. 10), “as though Christ did it by them” (2 Cor. v. 20.), are instructing the Churches, and through them witnessing to the world. The general impression wrought on the mind by the Gospel narrative of Christ and His followers, is that of an isolated company of men, having little in common with those by whom they were surrounded, and among whom they moved, as bent on some unearthly enterprise. And in like manner, the impression left by the perusal of an Apostolic Epistle is, of a separated band, a “peculiar people,” in the midst of a world “lying in wickedness.”—Looking a little closer, we soon recognize a Purity of principle and a Divine mystery alike unsearchable. Christ Himself in the Gospel speaks with a heavenly emphasis of those who are endowed with a certain high character, as “BLESSED;” telling us that “their’s is the Kingdom of heaven.” And every Epistle opens with an exalted delineation of the like persons—the “elect,” the “called,” the “sanctified,” the “BLESSED in Christ Jesus.” They who were so addressed were deemed, in a lofty sense, already the heirs of God and “joint-heirs with Christ,” having “received power to become sons of God” (John i. 12.), and having been Baptismally “born of God.” (1 John iii. 9.) Each had a Sacred character, yet not as an individual, but as a member of a Sacred Body. Among them there were distinctions, and yet there was an identity; “diversity of gifts,” but Oneness of grace. They were “all members one of another,” but “all members had not the same office;” they were “one,” they were “brethren” in Christ (as He had commanded them to be); but some were to “rule,” and some to “submit;” some to “overlook” and “watch,” and some to “obey.”—And the idea of the Oneness of Christians, (and the mysterious nature of it,) seems to pervade the whole New Testament, and is that which forces itself upon our attention, open it wherever we may. Not only did Christ pray to His Father for this, but He appointed a Mysterious ordinance, by which His people were to become One Body: And another more mysterious still, by which their Oneness might be Divinely sustained. “By ONE Spirit ye are Baptized into ONE body;” and “know ye not that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” said St. Paul; as if intimating somewhat which the Baptized might apprehend, but which could not be spoken. And again, “I speak as to wise men,” said the same holy Apostle to the Corinthian Church—glancing only, as it were, at The Mystery of unutterable grace—“I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The Cup of blessing which WE bless, is it not the COMMUNION of the BLOOD of Christ? The Bread which WE break, is it not the COMMUNION of the BODY of Christ?” And then he adds—passing from our Union with Christ to our Communion with all Saints by means of the Most Holy Eucharist, “We are ONE body, . . . for we are all partakers of that ONE Bread!” And in the judgment of the same Apostle, no language seemed too severe to condemn the willing violaters of this Union. It was sacrilege to injure the least of the members; how much more then to divide the Body? That the Baptized were “One with Christ,”—that the Communicating believer was already, as it were, linked with the verities of eternity,—were transcendent Mysteries; not bare metaphors, but earthly forms of stating Heavenly Truths. And if every member of Christ was thus sacredly looked on, so the more also was the whole Body. “Ye are a chosen generation,” says St. Peter, “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.”—Every Christian indeed was a “Temple of the Holy Ghost:” but as S. Clement of Alexandria saith, the Church is God’s great Temple—“builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
Here, then, is opened to us the great Catholic idea of the Christian Revelation—That the mystical Company of Christ’s people, as such, were clothed with the heavenly Powers, and “blessed with the heavenly blessings.”—It was in the temple “builded together” that the Divine glory vouchsafed to dwell.—To the Church, the elect assembly, the promises had been made. To the Body, when in solemn meeting, the special and highest grace of Christ had been granted; (and so at the appointed “gatherings together” [134a] the Blessed Eucharist was usually celebrated.)—From the beginning of the Gospel this had been indicated, so that even the instituted Apostolate arose, as at Christ’s command, out of the Church, more as the Divine instrument of Her invisible power, than the possessor of aught in itself. [134b] Christ’s words, “Thou art Peter,” were instantly connected with the promise of building the Church against which “the gates of hell should not prevail.” The commission, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained,” was instantly followed by words conveying this power of absolving and condemning, to the Church, and not to the persons of the Apostles, [135] except as God’s instruments in the Church; “for” it is directly added, “where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I.” In accordance with which declaration, we see (in a passage before quoted) that an Apostolic condemnation of a sinner was pronounced. “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when ye (i.e. the Church) are gathered together” (1 Cor. v. 4.) In like manner we may trace how, from the first, the highest Authority, as well as sacredness and favour, (Luke xxiv. 33.) was attributed to the “assembling together” of Christians, which therefore they were urged “not to forsake.” Thus when the door of faith was first “opened to the Gentiles,” the Church was “gathered together”, (Acts xiv. 27.) and the matter rehearsed. When the question of Judaizing arose, again “the Apostles and Elders came together” (Acts xv. 6.) When the Apostle St. Peter was to be miraculously delivered from prison, “there were many gathered together praying” for him. (Acts xii. 12.) The announcement of the risen Saviour had been made to the “eleven gathered together” (Luke xxiv. 33.) And the blessings attendant on these united assemblings was not to be disturbed by Jewish or Gentile jealousies. Since, they had all been “quickened together, and raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. ii. 5.) And so Christians might be addressed as “heirs together of the grace of life;” (1 Pet. iii. 7.) exhorted to be “followers together” of the Apostles; (Phil. iii. 17.) and admonished to “strive together” for the “faith of the Gospel.”
The majestic privileges of the Saints, in Union with Christ and Communion with one another, if we contemplated them aright, would so overwhelm our spirits, that we could not think of the “solemn assemblies” without coveting to be there! Little as it is thought of, there is a special awfulness in the “meeting together” of the members of this Heavenly, yet earthly,—this Invisible, yet visible—Society; when God’s Eye is on every one, when Christ, though unseen, is “in the midst,”—and the “hosts of God” are encamping around! All Christians then constituting, in some sacred and lofty sense, a “kingdom of Priests;” [137]—yet ministering only through that Consecrated organ which Christ, the great High Priest, appointed,—the Bishop, or his representative.—“God is very greatly to be feared in the Council of the Saints! and to be had in reverence of all that are round about Him.”—Well might the ancient Fathers delight to speak of the dignity of being a Christian! It is observable, however, for our instruction and warning, even in this, that Tertullian, after he embraced the Montanist heresy, carried out so erroneously the idea we have been dwelling on, as to assign to any Christian, in cases of necessity, the exercise of inherent Priestly functions. Such, even then, was the perilous rashness of Private Judgment. For though the Priestly functions are doubtless in the Church, granted unto Her for Her blessedness and perfection (1 Cor. iii. 22.); and though in our Solemn Assemblies “all the people of the Lord are holy,” all the Baptized in such wise sharers of the Priesthood, that they join in our ‘sacred offerings;’ yet, we must beware of the “gainsaying of Core.” (Jude 11.) The Catholic Church has ever held that Her Priesthood cannot be effectually exercised otherwise than in conformity with the original commands and ordinations of Christ. And from Him alone the first Ministers of the Church derived their appointment, (St. Paul speaking of HIS as “the Ministry received of the Lord:” See also Col. iv. 17.), and afterwards conveyed it to others, whom they had chosen, and on whom they “laid their hands.” And thus St. Paul, while anxious to vindicate and prove to the Church, as the constituent body, his right to the Ministry, at the same time scruples not to claim and exercise its loftiest Powers as his own, (2 Cor. xiii. 10) and commands the Church’s obedience. . . . So mysteriously is “all the building fitly framed together, and groweth into an Holy Temple in the Lord.”
Here let us pause: Let any man recall, in thought, the Scripture language concerning the Church’s privileges, and the Ministerial Prerogatives; let him compare it with all that has now been said; then let his mind revert to the notions of the Rationalist; and draw his own conclusion;—And whatever his personal belief may be, he will hardly fail to perceive, that the system which is every where supposed throughout the New Testament, differs from a mere code of principles to be “applied” to individuals—differs in kind,—as widely as the mysterious and appointed Sacrifice of Abel differs from the Rational devotion of Cain.
May God give us grace to weigh these things; and “that not lightly, or after the manner of dissemblers with Him!” Some, who are not yet members of the Church, may be wishing, perhaps, to put these thoughts far from them, sustaining themselves with the belief, that they have partaken of Christian blessings apart from the Church; and similar reflections. We only say to them, that self-deception on such a matter is but too easy! And if that be true which we have now literally taken from God’s word, then it is certain that they are, at the best, in a very deficient state, and “come behind in many a good gift!” More than this might indeed be said, without overstepping truth or charity: for those who have heard these things, cannot afterwards be as though they had not. But let each think of it for himself. Whatever may be said of those who are unwittingly out of the “kingdom of heaven” below, unbaptized, or only doubtfully baptized by some one who had only his own authority to do it; whatever be thought of the present amount of grace, or future reward of such, if they go on according to their best, in the course they find themselves in,—some of them haply verging on the very borders of our land of promise,—far different is their case who might have known and embraced the truth. To such we say, in Christ’s words, “Verily the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you!” . . . The foolish virgins in the parable thought their lamps seemed to burn brightly, and emulated the light of the heavenly-wise; but when the Bridegroom came, they were found unsupplied with the needful oil, and went out in utter darkness!
But let not those who are of the “household of faith” be self-confident! “By the grace of God, we are what we are!” And let the consciousness of our sinful neglect stir us up to pray for the fuller restoration of the Church’s grace to us Her degenerate children. It is of little value to believe in a Priesthood, without we use it. May God forgive His Priests and people for their joint forgetfulness of their many unearthly privileges!—the very belief whereof seemed a short time since almost dying away from very disuse! Of a truth, we of the English Church are blessed beyond others, would we but apprehend our privileges! Brought nigh, as we are, to our Lord Christ, with such abundant mercy and undeserved! If we come short of plenary grace in Him, what shall we dare to plead in the Day of account?
“What manner of persons ought we to be?” for we have “come unto the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of Angels; to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born enrolled in heaven!—to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the perfected just; and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament, and to the blood of sprinkling!”—Would that the feeling of Christ’s first disciples were ours! “Lord, to whom else shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” Would that we were more thankful to God for the present blessings of His Church! Would that we used our Prayers, and tried them well, before we talked of amending them; or understood our holy offices, instead of seeking to shorten them!—Have we now, in this late century, to seek out new faith—some new instructor or guide? God deliver us from this blindness! May He help His people to see what treasures of unknown grace lie hidden in His Holy Church among us! “We have all and abound.” Let us only “give diligence” thereto, that when Christ cometh, “we may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless!”
“Lord, I have loved the Habitation of Thy House, and the place where THINE honour dwelleth!”—So holy David could say from the very depths of his soul: and shall we who are brought into a holier place, “the Habitation of God through the Spirit,” be forbidden to give utterance to as ardent a love—a devotion as deep and pure?—
O holy Church of England! Brightest and fairest province of the realm of heaven on earth! What shining paths of truth and holiness are Thine!—And they are thronged by all Thy many Saints, farther than eye can trace through long past ages! What rivers of full grace flow through Thy mighty channels! What living fountains send forth their waters, refreshing evermore the weary and parched soul! Within Thy hallowed walls Thy saintly children trod in the ancient days—(the “old times of which our Fathers have told us”),—they whose monuments of goodness and glory are around us—in whose prayers we pray to the Eternal Father of all—in whose Psalms “we praise Thee O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord,” from age to age.—O Holy Church of the many wise and good! O Church of patient Martyrs and godly Confessors!—with whom we hold such mystical Communion, such “fellowship one with another,” that the “blood of Christ here cleanseth us!”—To God be glory in Thee, O Church of our Land! throughout all ages, world without end! Amen.