to this Church. The Church, therefore, it is clear, is holy, [1] and holy, because she is the body of Christ, by whom she is sanctified, and in whose blood she is washed. [2] [3]
The third mark of the Church is, that she is Catholic, that is, universal; and justly is she called Catholic, because, as S. Augustine says: " She is diffused by the splendour of one faith from the rising to the setting sun." [4] Unlike republics of human institution, or the conventicles of heretics, she is not circumscribed within the limits of any one kingdom, nor confined to the members of any one society of men; but embraces, within the amplitude of her love, all mankind, whether barbarians or Scythians, slaves or freemen, male or female. Therefore it is written, "Thou hast redeemed us to God in thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us to our God, a kingdom." [5] Speaking of the Church, David says: " Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession:" [6] and also, "I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me:" [7] and " This man and that man is born in her:" [8] To this Church, "built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets," [9] belong all the faithful who have existed from Adam to the present day, or who shall exist, in the profession of the true faith, to the end of time; all of whom are founded and raised upon the one corner stone, Christ, who made both one, and announced peace to them that are near, and to them that are afar. She is, also, called universal, because all who desire eternal salvation must cling to and embrace her, like those who entered the ark, to escape perishing in the flood. [10] This, therefore, is to be taught as a most just criterion, to distinguish the true from a false Church.
The true Church is, also, to be known from her origin, which she derives under the law of grace, from the Apostles; for her doctrines are neither novel nor of recent origin, but were delivered, of old, by the Apostles, and disseminated throughout the world. Hence, no one can, for a moment, doubt that the impious opinions which heresy invents, opposed, as they are, to the doctrines taught by the Church from the days of the Apostles to the present time, are very different from the faith of the true Church. That all, therefore, may know the true Catholic Church, the Fathers, guided by the Spirit of God, added to the Creed the word "APOSTOLIC;" [11] for the Holy Ghost, who presides over the Church, governs her by no other than Apostolic men; and this Spirit, first imparted to the Apostles, has, by the infinite goodness of God, always continued in the Church. But
- ↑ Eph. i. 1-4.
- ↑ Eph. i. 7. 13; v. 26.
- ↑ De sanctitate Ecclesiee vide Justin. Mart, in utraque Apol. Tert. in Apol. Aug. contr. Fulg. c. 17. Gregor. Moral. L. 37. c. 7.
- ↑ S. Aug. serm. 131 & 181. de temp.
- ↑ Apoc. v. 9, 10.
- ↑ Ps. ii. 8.
- ↑ Ps. lxxxvi 4.
- ↑ Ps. lxxxvi.
- ↑ Eph. ii. 20.
- ↑ Gen. vii. 7.
- ↑ De vene. Ecclesia? notis vide Aug. contra epist fundament, cap. 4. Tertul. lib to de praescript.
