A History of the Moravian ChurchHutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Religion
A History of the Moravian Church
Hutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Moravian Church -- History
At Paris, too, he made the acquaintance of the Catholic Archbishop,
Cardinal Noailles. It is marvellous how broad in his views the young man
was. As he discussed the nature of true religion with the Cardinal,
who tried in vain to win him for the Church of Rome, he came to the
conclusion that the true Church of Jesus Christ consisted of many sects
and many forms of belief. He held that the Church was still an invisible
body; he held that it transcended the bounds of all denominations; he
had found good Christians among Protestants and Catholics alike; and he
believed, with all his heart and soul, that God had called him to
the holy task of enlisting the faithful in all the sects in one grand
Christian army, and thus realizing, in visible form, the promise of
Christ that all His disciples should be one. He was no bigoted Lutheran.
For him the cloak of creed or sect was only of minor moment. He desired
to break down all sectarian barriers. He desired to draw men from
all the churches into one grand fellowship with Christ. He saw, and
lamented, the bigotry of all the sects. "We Protestants," he said, "are
very fond of the word liberty; but in practice we often try to throttle
the conscience." He was asked if he thought a Catholic could be saved.
"Yes," he replied, "and the man who doubts that, cannot have looked far
beyond his own small cottage."
"What, then," asked the Duchess of Luynes, "is the real difference
between a Lutheran and a Catholic?"
"It is," he replied, "the false idea that the Bible is so hard to
understand that only the Church can explain it." He had, in a word,
discovered his vocation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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