an assembly of men to decide a dispute, the other time in connection with the obscure utterance about a stone--Peter, and the gates of hell. From these two passages in which the word

an assembly of men to decide a dispute, the other time in

connection with the obscure utterance about a stone--Peter, and

the gates of hell.  From these two passages in which the word

church is used, in the signification merely of an assembly, has

been deduced all that we now understand by the Church.

But Christ could not have founded the Church, that is, what we now

understand by that word.  For nothing like the idea of the Church

as we know it now, with its sacraments, miracles, and above all

its claim to infallibility, is to be found either in Christ's

words or in the ideas of the men of that time.

The fact that men called what was formed afterward by the same

word as Christ used for something totally different, does not give

them the right to assert that Christ founded the one, true Church.

Besides, if Christ had really founded such an institution as the

Church for the foundation of all his teaching and the whole faith,

he would certainly have described this institution clearly and

definitely, and would have given the only true Church, besides

tales of miracles, which are used to support every kind of

superstition, some tokens so unmistakable that no doubt of its

genuineness could ever have arisen.  But nothing of the sort was

done by him.  And there have been and still are different

institutions, each calling itself the true Church.

The Catholic catechism says: "L'Église est la société des fidéles

établie par notre Seigneur Jésus Christ, répandue sur toute la

terre et soumise à l'authorité des pasteurs légitimes,

principalement notre Saint Père le Pape," [see Footnote]

understanding by the words "pasteurs légitimes" an association of

men having the Pope at its head, and consisting of certain

individuals bound together by a certain organization.

    [Footnote: "The Church is the society of the faithful,

    established by our Lord Jesus Christ, spread over the

    whole earth, and subject to the authority of its lawful

    pastors, and chief of them our Holy Father the Pope."

The Greek Orthodox catechism says: "The Church is a society

founded upon earth by Jesus Christ, which is united into one

whole, by one divine doctrine and by sacraments, under the rule

and guidance of a priesthood appointed by God," meaning by the

"priesthood appointed by God" the Greek Orthodox priesthood,

consisting of certain individuals who happen to be in such or such

positions.

The Lutheran catechism says: "The Church is holy Christianity, or

the collection of all believers under Christ, their head, to whom

the Holy Ghost through the Gospels and sacraments promises,

communicates, and administers heavenly salvation," meaning that

the Catholic Church is lost in error, and that the true means of

salvation is in Lutheranism.

For Catholics the Church of God coincides with the Roman

priesthood and the Pope.  For the Greek Orthodox believer the

Church of God coincides with the establishment and priesthood of

Russia. [See Footnote]

    [Footnote: Homyakov's definition of the Church, which

    was received with some favor among Russians, does not

    improve matters, if we are to agree with Homyakov in

    considering the Greek Orthodox Church as the one true

    Church.  Homyakov asserts that a church is a collection

    of men (all without distinction of clergy and laymen)

    united together by love, and that only to men united by

    love is the truth revealed (let us love each other, that

    in the unity of thought, etc.), and that such a church

    is the church which, in the first place, recognizes the

    Nicene Creed, and in the second place does not, after

    the division of the churches, recognize the popes and

    new dogmas.  But with such a definition of the church,

    there is still more difficulty in reconciling, as

    Homyakov tries to do, the church united by love with

    the church that recognizes the Nicene Creed and the

    doctrine of Photius.  So that Homyakov's assertion that

    this church, united by love, and consequently holy,

    is the same church as the Greek Orthodox priesthood

    profess faith in, is even more arbitrary than the

    assertions of the Catholics or the Orthodox.  If we

    admit the idea of a church in the sense Homyakov

    gives to it--that is, a body of men bound together

    by love and truth--then all that any man can predicate

    in regard to this body, if such an one exists, is

    its love and truth, but there can be no outer signs

    by which one could reckon oneself or another as a

    member of this holy body, nor by which one could put

    anyone outside it; so that no institution having

    an external existence can correspond to this idea.

For Lutherans the Church of God coincides with a body of men who

recognize the authority of the Bible and Luther's catechism.

Ordinarily, when speaking of the rise of Christianity, men

belonging to one of the existing churches use the word church in

the singular, as though there were and had been only one church.

But this is absolutely incorrect.  The Church, as an institution

which asserted that it possessed infallible truth, did not make

its appearance singly; there were at least two churches directly

this claim was made.

While believers were agreed among themselves and the body was one,

it had no need to declare itself as a church.  It was only when

believers were split up into opposing parties, renouncing one

another, that it seemed necessary to each party to confirm their

own truth by ascribing to themselves infallibility.  The

conception of one church only arose when there were two sides

divided and disputing, who each called the other side heresy, and

recognized their own side only as the infallible church.

If we knew that there was a church which decided in the year 51 to

receive the uncircumcised, it is only so because there was another

church--of the Judaists--who decided to keep the uncircumcised

out.

If there is a Catholic Church now which asserts its own

infallibility, that is only because there are churches--Greco-

Russian, Old Orthodox, and Lutheran--each asserting its own

infallibility and denying that of all other churches.  So that the

one Church is only a fantastic imagination which has not the least

trace of reality about it.

As a real historical fact there has existed, and still exist,

several bodies of men, each asserting that it is the one Church,

founded by Christ, and that all the others who call themselves

churches are only sects and heresies.

The catechisms of the churches of the most world-wide influence--

the Catholic, the Old Orthodox, and the Lutheran--openly assert

this.

In the Catholic catechism it is said: "Quels sont ceux qui sont

hors de l'église?  Les infidèles, les hérétiques, les

schismatiques." [Footnote: "Who are those who are outside the

Church? Infidels, heretics, and schismatics."]  The so-called

Greek Orthodox are regarded as schismatics, the Lutherans as

heretics; so that according to the Catholic catechism the only

people in the Church are Catholics.

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