“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” Matt. xiii. 47, 48.
In the Apostles’ age, the chief contest between Truth and Falsehood lay in the war waged by the Church against the world, and the world against the Church—the Church, the aggressor in the name of the Lord; the world, stung with envy and malice, rage and pride, retaliating spiritual weapons with carnal, the Gospel with persecution, good with evil, in the cause of the Devil. But of the conflict within the Church, such as it is at this day, Christians knew comparatively little. True, the Prophetic Spirit told them that “even of their ownselves should men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them;” that “in the last days perilous times should come.” [Acts xx. 30. 2 Tim. iii. 1.] Also they had the experience of their own and former times to show them, as in type, that in the Church evil will always mingle with the good. Thus, at the flood, there were eight men in the Ark, and one of them was reprobate; out of twelve Apostles, one was a devil; out of seven Deacons, one (as it is said) fell away into heresy; out of twelve tribes, one is dropped at the final sealing. These intimations, however, whether by instance or prophecy, were not sufficient to realize to them, before the event, the serious and awful truth implied in the text, viz.—that the warfare which Christ began between his little flock and the world should be in no long while transferred into the Church itself, and be carried on by members of that Church one with another.
This, I say, the early Christians did not see fulfilled, as our eyes see it; and so hard is it to possess ourselves of a true conviction about it, that even at this day, when it may be plainly seen, men will not see it. They will not so open and surrender their minds to Divine truth, as to admit that the Holy Church has unholy members, that blessings are given to the unworthy, that “the Kingdom of heaven is like a net that gathers of every kind.” They evade this mysterious appointment in various ways. Sometimes they deny that bad men are really in God’s Church, which they think consists only of good men. They have invented an Invisible Church, distinct and complete at present, and peopled by saints only,—as if Scripture said one word, anywhere, of a spiritual body existing in this world separate from, and independent of, the Visible Church; and they consider the Visible Church to be nothing but a mere part of this world, an establishment, sect, or party. Or, again, while they admit it as a Divine ordinance, they lower its standard of faith and ho1iness, and its privileges; and, considering the communion of saints to be but a name, and all Christians to be about alike, they effectually destroy all notions, whether of a Church or of a conflict. Thus, in one way or other, they refuse to admit the idea, contained in the text, that the dissimilitude, the enmity, and the warfare which once existed between the world and the Church, is now transferred into the Church itself.
But let us try, with God’s blessing, to get a firm hold upon this truth, and see if we cannot draw some instruction from it. The text says, that “the Kingdom of Heaven,” that is, the Christian Church, “is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind.” Elsewhere St. Paul says, “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.” [2 Tim. ii. 20.] Now, passages such as these admit of a very various application. I shall consider them here with reference to the contest between Truth and Falsehood in the Church.
Doubtless, in the eye of natural reason, it would be a privilege, were the enemies of Christ and of our souls separated from us, and did the trial of our faith take place on some broad questions, about which there could be no mistake; butsuch is not the fact “in the wisdom of God.” Faith and unbelief, humbleness and pride, love and selfishness, have been from the Apostles’ age united in one and the same body; nor can any means of man’s device disengage the one from the other. All who are within the Church have the same privileges; they are all baptized, all admitted to the Holy Eucharist, all taught in the Truth, all profess the Truth. At all times, indeed, there have been those who have avowed corrupt doctrine or indulged themselves in open vice; and whom, in consequence, it was easy to detect and avoid. But these are few; the great body in the Christian Church profess one and the same faith, and seem one and all to agree together. Yet, among these persons, thus apparently unanimous, is the real inveterate conflict proceeding, as from the beginning, between good and evil. Some of these are wise, some foolish. Who belong to the one, and to the other party, is hid from us, and will be hid till the day of judgment; nor are they at present individually formed upon the perfect model of good or evil; they vary one with another in the degree and mode of their holding to the one or the other; but that there are two parties in the Church, two parties, however vague and indefinite their outlines, among those who live, in one sense, as familiar friends, I mean, who eat the same spiritual Food, and profess the same Creed, is certain.