stream from its source; the stream dries up. So the Church sends forth her rays over the whole earth : yet is the light one, and its Unity is undivided.”[1] De Unitate Ecclesiæ, p. 195.
“He that does not hold this Unity of the Church, can he think that he holds the Faith? he that opposes and withstands the Church, can he trust that he is in the Church? When the blessed Paul teaches the same thing, and shews the sacred character of Unity, saying, (Ephes. iv. 4, 5, 6.) one body and one spirit, &c. which unity, it is our duty firmly to hold and to vindicate.”[2] Ibid.
Whoever, separated from the Church, is joined to an adultress, is cut off from the promises of the Church. Who deserts the Church of Christ, obtains not the rewards of Christ. He is an alien, he is profane, he is an enemy. He cannot have God for a father, who has not the Church for his mother. If excluded from the ark of Noah, any one might have escaped ; so may he if out of the Church.[3] The Lord admonishes and says: He that is not with me, is against me. (Mat. xii. 30.) Who violates the peace of Christ and concord, is against him. The Lord says: I and the Father are one. (John x. 30.) And again, of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost it is written; And these three are one. (1. John v. 7.) Who holds not this unity, holds not the law of God, nor the faith of the Father and the Son, nor the truth that is to salvation.”[4] Ibid.
Having, after this, shewn, that by the seamless garment of Christ, was represented the Unity of the Church, St.
- ↑ Unum lumen est, quod ubique diffunditur, nec unitas coprois sepratur.
- ↑ Hunc Ecclesiæ unitatem qui non tenet, tenetre se fiden eredit? qui Ecclesiæ renititur et resistit in Eclesia se esse confidit?—Quam unitatem firmiter tenere, et vindicare debmus.
- ↑ Si potuit evadere quisquam qui extra arcam Noe fuit, et qui extra Ecllesiam foris fuerit, evadet.
- ↑ Hanc unitatem qui non tenet, Dei legem non tenet; vitam non tenet et salutem.
