Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus II (Pars Altera): Demonstratio Catholica

1. Christ himself indicates that the Church founded by him is visible: a) By the form which he gave to the Church. From the thesis on the institution of the Church¹ it is clear that Christ founded the Church in the form of a true society. But no society worthy of the name can be conceived among men unless it is visible. Therefore. b) By the end which he fixed for the Church.² The end of the Church consists in this, that it render the work of redemption perennial (proximate end) and save individual men (remote end). But this twofold end is attained only by visible acts, namely by the acts of preaching, ministering and directing on the part of superiors, as well as by the acts of professing the faith, receiving the sacraments and obeying the commandments on the part of subjects. Therefore. c) By the parables with which he describes the Church. He describes the Church as: the kingdom of heaven, which throughout the whole Old Testament is understood as conspicuous, and which indeed by its very diffusion is conspicuous to all nations and times; a field, in which the weeds grow and are seen together with the wheat;³ a net;⁴ a wedding feast;⁵ a sheepfold of sheep under the shepherd Peter;⁶ a house to be built upon a rock foundation;⁷ a city set upon a mountain.⁸ All these parables denote a visible Church.

2. The Apostles likewise teach that the Church of Christ is visible: a) By the metaphors with which they describe the Church: a flock, in which the Holy Spirit placed bishops as pastors;⁹ a body, in which there are many members joined together and mutually dependent upon one another;¹⁰ a household, of which the apostles were divinely appointed ministers and stewards;¹¹ the house of God, in which the bishops are bound to conduct themselves worthily.¹² All these things plainly proclaim a visible Church. b) By the acts with which they propagate the Church. For they themselves, going into the whole world, preached the Gospel everywhere; they united believers into visible particular churches; they set elders and ministers over the churches; they sent letters to the ministers and to the churches themselves; they cast unworthy men out of the Church. And by these and very many other acts they bear witness to the visibility of the Church.

3. Christian antiquity excludes an invisible Church both by its manner of speaking and by its manner of acting. a) By manner of speaking. The ancient writers extol the visibility of the Church in many ways. Thus Cyprian: "The Church of the Lord, bathed in light, extends its rays throughout the whole world."¹³ Athanasius: "The Church of Christ, shining and illuminating the world and abiding forever like the sun and the moon."¹⁴ Chrysostom: "Where is the Church? It shines more brightly than the sun."¹⁵ Ambrose: "Above all assemblies the Church of God shines forth."¹⁶ Augustine: "The true Church is hidden from no one."¹⁷ b) By manner of acting. Heretics were always separated by excommunication from the visible Church. Schism, i. e. a severing from the visible Church, was always and everywhere regarded as the worst crime. Finally, the history of almost all religious bodies that declared themselves to be the Church of Christ was written down, although only the fortunes and deeds of a visible institution can be written down. Therefore the consensus of Christians knows nothing of an invisible Church, or of that congregation of the saints known to God alone, such as the adversaries dream of.

To the direct argument thus far proposed there is added an indirect argument, by which are in fact blunted the reasons by which the adversaries wish to defend their opinion concerning an invisible Church.