h thought he was
alone in Israel; and yet there were seven thousand invisible ones around
him. Grant that we had Elijah's intelligence; and we could only
calculate on collecting one seven-thousandth part of the evidence or
opinions of the part of the Invisible Church living on earth at a given
moment: that is to say, the seven-millionth or trillionth of its
collective evidence. It is very clear, therefore, we cannot hope to get
rid of the contradictory opinions, and keep the consistent ones, by a
general equation. But, it has been said, these are no contradictory
opinions; the Church is infallible. There was some talk about the
infallibility of the Church, if I recollect right, in that letter of Mr.
Bennett's to the Bishop of London. If any Church is infallible, it is
assuredly the Invisible Church, or Body of Christ: and infallible in the
main sense it must of course be by its definition. An Elect person must
be saved, and therefore cannot eventually be deceived on essential
points: so that Christ says of the deception of such, "If it were
_possible_" implying it to be impossible. Therefore, as we said, if one
could get rid of the variable opinions of the members of the Invisible
Church, the constant opinions would assuredly be authoritative: but, for
the three reasons above stated, we cannot get at their constant
opinions: and as for the feelings and thoughts which they daily
experience or express, the question of Infallibility -which is practical
only in this bearing--is soon settled. Observe, St. Paul, and the rest
of the Apostles, write nearly all their epistles to the Invisible
Church:--those epistles are headed,--Romans, "To the beloved of God,
called to be saints; "1 Corinthians, "To them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus; "2 Corinthians, "To the saints in all Achaia;" Ephesians,
"To the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus; "Philippians, "To all the saints which are at Philippi;
"Colossians, "To the saints and faithful brethren which are at Colosse;"
1 and 2 Thessalonians, "To the Church of the Thessalonians, which is
in God the Father, and the Lord Jesus; "1 and 2 Timothy, "To his own son
in the faith; "Titus, to the same; 1 Peter, "To the Strangers, Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God;" 2 Peter, "To them that have
obtained like precious faith with us; " 2 John, "To the Elect lady; "
Jude, " To them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in
Jesus Christ, and c