he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth Him that sent me' (Luke x. 16).
26. By what means are unity and good order maintained in the whole Church?
By this: that all those who are not Priests always continue, with ready obedience, subject to the Priests, the Priests to the Bishops, and the Bishops to the Pope.
Consequently, Christ has not given to all the members of the Church the same right and the same power, but 'hath set the members every one of them in the body [of the Church] as it hath pleased Him. . . . And He gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and other some Evangelists, and other some Pastors and Doctors, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry. . . . Are all Apostles? Are all Prophets? Are all Doctors?' (1 Cor. xii. 18, 29; Eph. iv. 11, 12). Therefore St. Clement, the Disciple and Successor of St. Peter, compares the Church to an army, in which the privates are subordinate to the captains, the captains to the colonels, and these again to the general.
Application. Always cherish in your heart a profound reverence and an humble submission to the Holy Father the Pope, and to the Bishops and Priests united with him; for they are set over you in the place of God, and it is their duty to instruct you in the name of God, to make you partake of the Divine graces, and to lead you to eternal salvation. Woe to them who despise the Clergy and create schisms! 'They have gone in the way of Cain, and have perished in the contradiction of Core. . . . These are wandering stars, to whom the storm of darkness is reserved for ever' (Jude i. 11-13).
§ 2. On the Marks of the Church.
27. Has Christ established one Church, or more than one?
As, in the words of St. Paul, there is but ' one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all ' (Eph. iv. 5, 6), so there is but one Church established by Christ.
Christ said: ' Upon this rock I will build my Church ' — not
