The Church of God Obscured and Rendered Almost Invisible in Some Places

As the moon, though her substance and body never perish, is not always seen in her full light by the human eye, either because she sinks beneath the horizon, or, being too close to the sun, is obscured by him, or, being far from the sun, is darkened by the shadow of the earth, which is called an eclipse; so it is also with the substance and appearance of the church of God on earth. The latter, though never perishing entirely, does not always show herself in her full form; indeed, at times she seems to have vanished altogether, yet not in all places, but only in some, either through the slothfulness of some people, who, from want of regard, or for some other reason, neglect the outward, manifest commandments of God, or because of some misconceptions or errors that have arisen, by which many of the true believers have sometimes been perverted and seduced from the true worship of God; or because of persecution, violence, and tyranny exercised against the faith and the practice of it, on account of which the pious are compelled to hide and, as outcasts from mankind, to seclude themselves in forests, wildernesses, and solitary places; so that its characteristics, light, and virtue could not be seen, much less known, by the common world.

When the church of God of the Old Testament was in Egypt, it could not observe its divine worship, but had to ask permission "to go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord." Exodus 8, verses 26 and 27, compared with Exodus 10, verse 26.

During the forty years that this same people was in the wilderness, such remarkable things happened that all their children remained uncircumcised, and were not circumcised until they had grown old and had come into the land of Canaan, at mount Aralot. Joshua 5, verses 2 to 8.

In the time of Elijah this church was so greatly obscured by persecution that he thought he alone was left, though God had reserved to Himself seven thousand persons who served Him and had not bowed their knees to Baal. First Kings 19, verses 14 and 18; Romans 11, verses 3 and 4.

When this people had been carried away to Babylon, the house of God at Jerusalem, where divine worship used to be performed, lay waste, and the stones of the sanctuary were scattered through all the streets; indeed, among the people in Babylon matters stood so badly with regard to religion and the songs of praise with which they used to worship God, that they had hung their harps on the willows that were planted there by the rivers, Psalm 137, verses 1 to 4; for which reason they were counted among the dead and among those that go down to the grave. Baruch 3, verses 10 to 14.

After the Babylonian captivity, in the time of the Maccabees, many of the church of Israel, because of the danger then present, hid themselves in caves so that they might keep the Sabbath. Second Maccabees 6, verse 11.

All these obscurations, like sad eclipses in the divine worship, happened in the church of God of the Old Testament, before the birth and coming of Christ into this world; and much more might be said about this, if it were necessary, but we consider it enough to have made simple mention of it from time to time.

The same took place also after the coming of Christ, in the church under the Gospel, which was made up of Jews and Gentiles; she too could not always raise her head in safety, but was often, like the sun behind clouds, hidden from the common sight of men.

Even in the time when Christ lived bodily among men, and had risen from the dead, His disciples, the chief members of His church, sat concealed, with closed doors, for fear of the Jews. John 20, verse 19.

After the ascension of Christ, the very numerous church which was at Jerusalem was scattered, because of persecution, through the land of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles; so that this distinguished church, which, it appears, was the chief one on the face of the earth, had to live secretly in a strange land. Acts 8, verse 1.

Afterwards, when the emperor Domitian had banished John, the holy apostle and evangelist, for the sake of the Gospel, to the island of Patmos, the Holy Ghost revealed to him the future state of the church of Christ, namely, that she would have to flee into the wilderness, because of the persecution of Antichrist, and there be fed by God a thousand two hundred and sixty days, which, reckoned according to prophetic language, means as many years. Revelation 12, verses 6 to 11.

Whether we begin to reckon these years from the death of the apostles; or with the year 300, when the so-called patriarchs had their origin; or with the year 600; or a little later, when Mohammed rose in the east among the Greeks, and the pope in the west among the Latins, and raised no small persecution against the defenseless and innocent little flock of the church of Christ, so that all who did not wish to be devoured, either in soul or in body, had to hide themselves in deserts and wildernesses; reckon it as one may, we say, a very long period is to be understood by it, which has reached to this, or about this, time.

Here the rose has blossomed very gloriously among the thorns. Song of Songs 2, verse 2. Here the dove that was in the clefts of the rock and in the secret places of the stairs let her sweet voice be heard.* Verse 14. Here the Lord said: "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed" (Song of Songs 4, verse 12). Here the Son of God has fed, sustained, and preserved His church against the sentence of worldly and carnal-minded men, who, because they are carnal, cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit of God.

But so that no one may misconstrue what we have just proposed, let it be understood that when we speak of the obscuration, the concealment, or the becoming invisible, of the church of God, we do not mean the church in general, or in all places, for the church in general has never been obscured and hidden in all places at the same time; but we mean by it some parts of the church in general, namely, some particular societies belonging to the body of the general church which is spread over the whole earth. [n28-2]

It must be stated also that by the term general church we do not mean all the churches that bear the Christian name, but only those who express the Christian name by their upright faith and their pure observance of the Christian and Evangelical commandments.

Now the question arises whether our church of the present day, called the Anabaptists, has truly descended, and derived her succession, from the church of God spoken of above, which has existed from the beginning and has kept the commandments of God in purity.

But in order to do this briefly and in the best manner, we shall leave untouched the time and conditions of the church from Adam to Christ, as being an undisputed point, and examine only the time and condition of the church after the coming of Christ; for the point of difference relates solely to those who, and that which, by virtue of true succession, have a right to it.