Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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We may go further back to the protest of the Hebrew Prophets against the
corrupt priesthood. Christ himself, who recognized the divine economy of
the history of Israel, and came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets, attacked
with withering severity the self-righteousness and hypocrisy of the Scribes
and Pharisees who sat in Moses’ seat, and was condemned by the high
priest and the Jewish hierarchy to the death of the cross. These scriptural
antecedents help very much to understand and to justify the course of the
Reformers.
Nothing can be more truly Catholic than Calvin’s description of the historic
Church. It reminds one of the finest passages in St. Cyprian and St.
Augustin. After explaining the meaning of the article of the Apostles’
Creed on the holy Catholic Church, as embracing not only the visible
Church, but all God’s elect, living and departed, he thus speaks of the
visible or historic Catholic Church: f649
“As our present design is to treat of the visible Church, we may learn even
from the title of mother, how useful and even necessary it is for us to know
her; since there is no other way of entrance into life, unless we are
conceived by her, born of her, nourished at her breast, and continually
preserved under her care and government till we are divested of this mortal
flesh and become I like the angels’ (Matt. 22:30). For our infirmity will not
admit of our dismission from her school; we must continue under her
instruction and discipline to the end of our lives. It is also to be remarked
that out of her bosom there can be no hope of remission of sins, or any
salvation, according to the testimony of Isaiah (37:32) and Joel (2:32);
which is confirmed by Ezekiel (13:9), when he denounces that those whom
God excludes from the heavenly life shalt not be enrolled among his
people. So, on the contrary, those who devote themselves to the service of
God are said to inscribe their names among the citizens of Jerusalem. For
which reason the Psalmist says, ‘Remember me, O Lord, with the favor
that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation, that I may
see the prosperity of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy
nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance’ (Ps106:4, 5). In these
words the paternal favor of God, and the peculiar testimony of the spiritual
life, are restricted to his flock, to teach us that it is always fatally dangerous
to be separated from the Church.” f650
So strong are the claims of the visible Church upon us that even abounding
corruptions cannot justify a secession. Reasoning against the Anabaptists