Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Church Militant · The Church Spread Throughout the Whole World
Chapter 12: That the Church Is Visible
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Ecclesia Militante, On the Church Militant (of the controversy On Councils and the Church). The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
First, therefore, that the true Church is visible is proved first from all the Scriptures, wherever the name of the Church is found: for always by the name of the Church a visible congregation is signified; nor could Calvin bring forward even one place, nor did he bring one, where this name is attributed to an invisible congregation. Certainly when it is said, Numbers 20: Why have you brought out the Church of the Lord into the wilderness?, by "Church" is called that most well-known people of Israel which had gone out of Egypt. So 3 Kings 8, Scripture manifestly speaks of the visible Church, when it says: And the king turned his face and blessed all the Church of Israel; for all the Church of Israel stood. Matthew 16: Upon this rock I will build my Church. By the name of the rock, whether you understand Christ or the confession of faith, as the heretics will have it, or Peter, as we believe, always the foundation of the Church is something sensible, as is clear, and accordingly the Church itself is sensible or visible: for although now we see neither Christ nor Peter, yet then each was exposed to the bodily senses to be seen; and now each is seen, not in himself, but in his vicar or successor: as the Kingdom of Naples is not therefore invisible because the King is absent, for the King is seen in his Viceroy. Matthew 18: Tell the Church; if he will not hear the Church, etc. Certainly neither could be observed if the Church were invisible. Acts 20: Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Spirit hath placed you bishops to rule the Church of God. How could they rule a Church which they did not know? Acts 15: They therefore, being brought on their way by the Church, passed through Phoenice. And in the same place: When they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the Church. And chapter 18: Paul went up and saluted the Church. How do these befit an invisible Church? 1 Corinthians 15, Galatians 1, and Philippians 3, Paul says that he persecuted the Church of God; but it is known whom he persecuted, from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 9. Finally, 1 Timothy 3: These things I write to thee, my son Timothy, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, etc. But truly he could not behave himself in it, unless he knew which it was.
Secondly, it is proved from other Scriptures, where the Church is not named, but yet is openly described. Psalm 18: In the sun He hath set His tabernacle. Augustine expounds, treatise 2 on the epistle of John: “He hath set His Church in the open, that, as the sun cannot at all be hidden, so neither can the Church be hidden.” Likewise Isaiah 2, Daniel 2, and Micah 4, the Church is compared to a great and conspicuous mountain which can in no way be hidden, according to the common exposition of Jerome on those places, and of Augustine, treatise 1 on the epistle of John. Likewise that of Matthew 5: A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Augustine, book on the unity of the Church, chapter 14, and elsewhere passim, expounds it of the Church. Finally the Gospel parables of the floor, of the net, of the fold, of the feast, etc., all show that the true Church, which is the kingdom of heaven, is visible.
It is proved thirdly from the very origin and progress of the Church; for, to omit the state of the Old Testament, in which the Church was so visible that in the very flesh they bore the visible sign of circumcision, in the New Testament without doubt the whole Christian Church was in the beginning in the Apostles and disciples of Christ, who were so visible that upon them the Holy Spirit descended visibly on the day of Pentecost. Then to these were visibly added in one day men to the number of three thousand, and again to five thousand, by the confession of faith and Baptism, as is clear Acts 1, 2, 3, and 4; and thenceforth always all those, and those alone, were held of the Church of Christ who joined themselves to those first ones by Baptism and confession of faith, and departed not thence by heresies or schisms, or were not expelled by excommunication.
Fourthly, it is proved from the very nature of the Church; for the Church is a certain society, not of Angels, nor of souls, but of men. But it cannot be called a society of men unless it consist in external and visible signs; for it is not a society unless those who are called associates recognize one another, but men cannot recognize one another unless the bonds of society be external and visible. And it is confirmed from the custom of all human societies; for into the army, into the city, into the kingdom, and other like things, men are enrolled in no other way than by visible signs. Whence Augustine, Book 19 against Faustus, chapter 11: “Men cannot be coagulated into any name of religion, whether true or false, unless they be bound together by some fellowship of visible signs or Sacraments.”
Fifthly, in the time of Christ, as Philip and Illyricus will have it, the Church was only in Zacharias, Simeon, Anna, Mary, and a few other pious ones, but not in the Pontiffs and the rest of the multitude of the Jews. But it is established that Zacharias, Simeon, and the rest communicated with the Pontiffs in the temple, sacrifices, etc. For Zacharias sacrificed in the same temple; Anna departed not from that temple; Mary went every year to that temple; Christ Himself sent lepers to the Priests, and said: What they say, do ye. Therefore either those did ill in communicating with a false Church, or the Lutherans do ill in not communicating with us and not obeying the Pontiff.
Sixthly, it is proved from necessity; for we are all bound, under peril of eternal death, to join ourselves to the true Church and to persevere in it, that is, to obey its head and communicate with the rest of the members, as is clear from Cyprian on the simplicity of prelates, Jerome in letter 1 to Damasus on the name of hypostasis, and Augustine, Book 4 on Baptism, chapter 1. But this cannot be done if the Church is invisible.
Seventhly, from what was said in the preceding question; for if the Church is a congregation of men using the same Sacraments and professing the faith of Christ, under the rule of legitimate pastors, as was there proved, it necessarily follows that it is visible.
Lastly, by the testimonies of the ancients. Origen, homily 30 on Matthew: “The Church is full of splendor from the East to the West, etc.” Cyprian, book on the unity of the Church: “The Church, suffused with the light of the Lord, spreads its rays through the whole world, etc.” Chrysostom, homily 4 on chapter 6 of Isaiah: “It is easier for the sun to be extinguished than for the Church to be obscured.” Augustine, Book 3 against the letter of Parmenian, chapter 5: “There is no security of unity but from the promises of God, the Church being declared, which, seated upon a mountain, as it is said, cannot be hidden.” Treatise 1 on the epistle of John: “Do we point out the Church with the finger, my brethren? Is it not open?” And treatise 2: “What more shall I say than that they are blind who do not see so great a mountain? who against the lamp set on the candlestick close their eyes?”
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XI!. Ecclesiam esse visibilem , Primum igitur, quod vera Ecclesia sit visi¬ bilis, probatur primo ex Scripturis omnibus, ubicumque invenitur nomen Ecclesiae : nam semper nomine Ecclesiae visibilis congrega¬ tio significatur ; nec unum saltem locum Calvinus proferre potuit, nec protulit, ubi hoc nomen tribueretur congregationi invisi¬ bili. Certe cum dicitur Num. XX : Cur eduxis¬ tis Ecclesiam Domini in solitudinem ? Eccle¬ sia vocatur populus ille notissimus Israel, qui exierat de TEgypto. Sic III. Reg. VIII. de visibili Ecclesia manifeste loquitur Scrip¬ tura, cum dicit : Convertitque Rex faciem suam , et benedixit omni Ecclesiae Israel. Om¬ nis enim Ecclesia Israel stabat. Matth. XVI. Super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam (1). Nomine petrae sive intelligas Chris¬ tum aut fidei confessionem, ut haeretici vo¬ lunt, sive Petrum, ut nos credimus, semper fundamentum Ecclesiae est aliquid sensibile ut patet, ac proinde Ecclesia ipsa est sensi¬ bilis, sive visibilis : nam etsi nunc neque Christum, neque Petrum videamus, tamen tunc uterque sensibus corporeis expositus erat ad videndum : et nunc uterque videtur, non in se, sed in vicario, aut successore suo : Sicut Regnum Neapolitanum non ideo est invisibile, quia Rex abest, nam Rex videtur in suo Prorege, Matth. XVIII : Dic Ecclesiae , si Ecclesiam non audierit , etc. (2) Certe neutrum servari posset, si esset Ec¬ clesia invisibilis, Actor. XX : Attendite vobis (1) Num. XX, 4; III. Reg. VIII, 14; Matth. XVI, 18. — (2) Matth. XVIII, 17, 346 LIBER III. et universo gregi , in quo vos Spiritus sanctus posuit Episcopos regere Ecclesiam Dei. Quo¬ modo poterant regere Ecclesiam, quam non noverant? Actor. XV : Illi quidem deducti ab Ecclesia pertransibant Phoenicem . Et ibidem : Cum venissent Hierosolymam , suscepti sunt ab Ecclesia. Et c. XVIII : Ascendit Paulus , et salutavit Ecclesiam. Quomodo ista conveniunt Ecclesiae invisibili? I. Corinth. XV. Galat. 1. et Philipp. III. Paulus dicit, se persecutum Ecclesiam Dei : at notum est, quos perse¬ quebatur, ex Actis Apostolor. cap. IX. Deni¬ que I. Timoth. III : Hcec tibiscribo, fili Timo¬ thee, ut scias , quomodo te oporteat conversari in domo Dei , quce est Ecclesia Dei vivi, elc. (1) At sane non poterat in ea conversari, nisi sciret, quaenam esset. Secundo, probatur ex aliis Scripturis, ubi non nominatur, sed tamen aperte descri¬ bitur Ecclesia, Psalm. XVIII : In Sole posuit tabernaculum suum; exponit Augustinus tr. 2. in epist. Joannis : « In manifesto posuit Ec¬ clesiam suam, ut, sicut Sol non potest omni¬ no latere, ita nec Ecclesia possit abscondi. » Item Isaiae II, Daniel II, et Michaeae IV com¬ paratur Ecclesia monti magno et conspicuo, qui nullo modo potest latere , secundum communem expositionem Hieronymi in ea loca, et Augustini tract. I. in epist. Joannis. Item illud Matth. V : Non potest civitas abs¬ condi supra montem posita . Augustinus lib. de unit. Ecclesiae, cap. 14. et alibi passim exponit de Ecclesia. Denique parabolae , Evangelicae de area, de reti, de ovili, de convivio etc. omnes ostendunt Ecclesiam veram, quae est regnum coelorum, esse visi¬ bilem. Probatur tertio, ex ipso ortu, et progressu Ecclesiae ; nam, ut omittamus statum Testa¬ menti veteris, in quo adeo visibilis erat Ec¬ clesia , ut iu ipsa carne portarent visibile signum circumcisionis; in Testamento novo sine dubio Ecclesia Christiana tota erat in principio in Apostolis et discipulis Christi, qui adeo visibiles erant, ut super eos visibi¬ liter Spiritus sanctus descenderit in die Pen¬ tecostes. Deinde istis additi sunt visibiliter una die homines ad tria millia, et rursum ad quinque millia, per fidei Confessionem et Baptismum, ut patet Actor. I, II, III et IV, ac deinceps semper illi omnes, et soli habiti sunt de Ecclesia Christi, qui ad illos primos se adjunxerunt per Baptismum et Confessio¬ nem fidei, et inde non recesserunt per hae- reses aut schismata, vel expulsi non sunt per excommunicationem. Quarto, probatur ex ipsa ratione Eccle¬ siae; Ecclesia enim est societas quaedam, non Angelorum, neque animarum, sed homi¬ num. Non autem dici potest societas homi¬ num, nisi in externis et visibilibus signis consistat ; nam non est societas, nisi se ag¬ noscant ii, qui dicuntur socii, non autem se possunt homines agnoscere, nisi societatis vincula sint externa et visibilia. Et confir¬ matur ex more omnium humanarum socie¬ tatum; nam in militiam, in civitatem, in re¬ gnum, et alia similia non aliter homines ad- scribuntur, quam signis visibilibus. Unde Augustinus lib. XIX cont. Faustum, cap.H : « In nullum, inquit, nomen religionis, seu verum, seu falsum, coagulari homines pos¬ sunt, nisi aliquo signaculorum, vel Sacra¬ mentorum visibilium consortio colligentur.» Quinto, tempore Christi, ut volunt Philip¬ pus et Illyricus, Ecclesia solum erat in Za- charia, Simeone, Anna, Maria, et paucis aliis piis, non autem in Pontificibus et cae- tera multitudine Judaeorum. At constat, quod Zacharias, Simeon, et caeteri commu¬ nicabant cum Pontificibus in templo, sacri¬ ficiis etc. Nam Zacharias in eodem templo sacrificabat. Anna ab eo templo non rece¬ debat. Maria ibat singulis annis ad templum illud. Christus ipse mittebat leprosos ad Sa¬ cerdotes, et dicebat : Quce dicunt , facite. Er¬ go, vel male faciebant isti communicando falsae Ecclesiae ; vel male faciunt Lutherani non communicando nobiscum, et non iObe- diendo Pontifici. Sexto, probatur ex necessitate; nam tene¬ mur omnes sub periculo aeternae mortis ve¬ rae Ecclesiae nos adjungere, et in illa perse¬ verare, id est, capiti ejus obedire, et caete- teris membris communicare, ut patet ex Cy¬ priano de simplicitate Praelator. Hieronymo in epist. I. adDamasum de nomine hyposta¬ sis, et Augustino lib. IV de Baptismo, cap. 1. At hoc fieri non potest, si est Ecclesia in¬ visibilis. Septimo, ex dictis quaestione superiore; si enim Ecclesia est congregatio hominum uten¬ tium Sacramentis iisdem, et fidem Christi profitentium, sub regimine legitimorum pas¬ torum, ut ibi probatum est, sequitur neces¬ sario eam esse visibilem. (1) Act. XX. 28 ; XV, 5; XVIII, 22; I. Tqn. III, 14 et Jb. CAPUT XIII. 347 Ultimo, testimoniis veterum, Origenes ho- mil. 30. in Matthaeum : « Ecclesia, inquit, plena est fulgore ab Oriente usque ad Occi¬ dentem etc. » Cyprianus lib. de unit. Eccle¬ siae : « Ecclesia, inquit, Domini luce perfu¬ sa, radios suos per orbem terrarum spargit, etc. » Chrysostom. homil. 4. in cap. VI Isa. «Facilius est, inquit, Solem extingui, quam Ecclesiam obscurari. » Augustinus lib. III cont. epist. Parmeniani, cap. 5. : « Nulla, inquit, est securitas unitatis, nisi ex promis¬ sis Dei, Ecclesia declarata, quae supra mon¬ tem, ut dictum est, constituta, abscondi non potest. » Tract. 1. in epist. Joan. : « Num- quid digito ostendimus Ecclesiam, fratres mei? Nonne aperta est? » Et Tractat. 2. : « Quid amplius dicturus sum, quam caecos, qui tam magnum montem non vident? Qui contra lucernam, in candelabro positam, oculos claudunt? »