THE RETROSPECT.

No. X.

As that portion of the prophecies in the Apo calypse to which we are now about to direct our attention relate, as we judge, to the Church militant upon the earth, after the appearance of Christ in the air and the translation of the Saints

during that "short time" which the devil hath upon the earth-it will be necessary, in order to render our future interpretations more intelligible, that a clear and well defined idea should be entertained, what is to be understood by the term-the Church.

The Church, in the Catholic meaning of the expression, in which sense the Scriptures almost invariably apply the word, includes all who are baptized into her communion in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost: and, when applied in reference to place, refers to the whole of Christendom: and, in this large sense

X

of the term, there is no recognition of any of those innumerable sections into which the Catholic body is rent and subdivided. Nor does it follow, because any portion of the baptized body may have so far forgotten and denied the essentials of truth as to have become altogether apostate, that therefore they are unchurched. Indeed, to deny that the Church of Rome is essentially a Church is to destroy the gravamen of the charge against her, the essence of which arises out of an admission of the claim; and if it be contended that she is not a Church at all, because steeped in error and delusion, then it follows that she cannot be considered responsible for any of its duties or obligations; but she is a Church, though an apostate Church, and her condemnation will be sealed out of her own mouth, for, because she hath said "I see," therefore her sin remaineth. So that, though she has become an apostate Church, yet still she is a Church, just as a wife, though she may have become an adulteress, can only become so in consequence of her standing as a wife, and, moreover, continues to be a wife until the ecclesiastical courts have pronounced a judgment of divorce against her; and, if we apply this figure to the Roman Catholic body, it must be admitted that the Lord has not, as yet, produced His bill of divorcement.

Two very important conclusions are derived from these premises: the one, that every baptized man, in virtue of the ordinance of his baptism, is thereby inducted into all the hopes and privileges of the Christian Church, and, consequently, is responsible to God for the use of such talents; and the other, that every dispensation of grace or judgment which proceeds from Christ as the Head to His Church, though it may be manifested only in one of the extremities of the body, yet, nevertheless, is intended in its application for the universal Church-just as a physician prescribes for the whole man, and not for any particular part of his body.

There is, however, within the outer and visible, an inner and invisible circle, which contains the spiritual and invisible Church, and which comprehends within its unseen compass all those who possess any action of spiritual life; but, inasmuch as its essential character as regards man is its invisibility, it is obvious, from the nature of its existence, that it must be above, and beyond, both his recognition and interposition, which can only rest in Him who is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the hearts, and the trier of the reins of the children of men.

Acting, therefore, upon the principle which such a definition of the Church suggests, and, as

we believe, in perfect conformity also with the invariable use of the term in Scripture, it will become evident that we can take no recognition

of

any divisions or subdivisions in the Church, considered apart and isolated from the general body; as we unreservedly believe, when any phenomena present themselves (as, indeed, of necessity they must) in one part of the body, that it is an orthodox truth to regard them as applicable and intended for the whole; and we submit, where the contrary of this rule is maintained— no matter how lofty the pretensions to churchmanship may be-that such a spirit is the true indication of the existence of sectarianism. Let it, therefore, be clearly understood, generally, that when we allude to the manifestation of any dispensation of Christ to His Church, though, possibly, it may be exhibited in one section of the whole, yet we intend to speak of it as being (as in fact it is) the property of all the baptized; for truth is Catholic, and the principle of its life is felt in every fibre of the whole body, provided that fibre possesses the sensations of life; and, if this be true, it follows that it is not in the power of any section to deny to the whole that light and life, which is intended by God for the benefit and blessing of His Catholic Church. It is not very wise or prudent, however, for