Orthodoxy: Its Truths And ErrorsClarke, James Freeman
Religion
Orthodoxy: Its Truths And Errors
Clarke, James Freeman
Unitarianism
our churches in the power of the holy traditions which have become a part
of our nature. There is a Christian consciousness which grows up in every
child who is born in Christendom, and is the best part of his nature. This
makes him a member of the invisible Church before he outwardly becomes a
member of the visible Christian community.
§ 5. Church of the Leaven, or the Invisible Church.
There are two parables of Christ which apply to the Church visible and
invisible. The Church Visible is the Church of the Mustard-seed; the
Church Invisible is the Church of the Leaven. The former is an
organization, the latter an _influence_; the one is body, and the other
spirit. The Visible Church is limited by certain boundaries; defined by
its worship, creeds, officers, assemblies, forms. It has its holy days,
holy places, holy men, holy books. But the Invisible Church is not limited
by any such boundaries; it exists wherever goodness exists. The Church of
the Leaven is to be found inside and outside of Orthodoxy; inside and
outside of professing Christianity; among Jews, Mohammedans, Heathen;
among Deists and unbelievers of all sorts, who build better than they
know. For says Jesus, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and we hear the
sound thereof.... So is every one who is born of the Spirit.” A locomotive
must run on a track, a wagon on a road. But there is no track laid through
the sky for the south wind; there is no time-table to determine the
starting and arriving of the soft breeze which comes from the far
prairies, laden with the sweet fragrance of ten thousand flowers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account