Church and Heaven

“Now the privilege of the visible Church of God (for of that we speak) is to be herein like the ark of Noah, that, for any thing we know to the contrary, all without it are lost sheep; yet in this was the ark of Noah privileged above the Church that whereas none of them which were in the one could perish, numbers in the other are cast away, because to eternal life our profession is not enough. Many things exclude from the kingdom of God although from the Church they separate not.”

(Richard Hooker/Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity/5:68:6)

Contemplate that last sentence. “Many things exclude from the kingdom of God although from the Church they separate not.” It is a “Selah” moment.

The doors of the Church should always be open. The gates of heaven not so. The Church should receive everyone. Heaven must discriminate.

Bill Hitchcock