The heavenly doctrine of Christ, although for the most part committed to writing by divine inspiration, could not unite the minds of men if left to the human intellect alone. It would, for this very reason, be subject to various and contradictory interpretations. This is so not only be- cause of the nature of the doctrine itself and of the mys- teries it involves, but also because of the divergencies of the human mind and of the disturbing element of conflicting passions. From a variety of interpretations a variety of beliefs is necessarily begotten; hence come controversies, dissensions, and wranglings such as have arisen in the past, even in the first ages of the Church, Irenaeus writes of heretics as follows: "Admitting the Sacred Scriptures they distort the interpretations."^ And Augustine: "Heresies have arisen, and certain perverse views ensnaring souls and precipitating them into the abyss only when the Scriptures, good in themselves, are not properly understood."" Besides holy writ it was _ absojutej^nficessary to insure this union of m en's minds— "to~effect and preserve unity of ideas — that there should be another principle. This the wisdom of God requires: for He could not have willed that the faith should be one if He did not provide means sufficient for the preserva- tion of this unity; and this holy writ clearly sets forth as We shall presently point out. Assuredly the infinite power of God is not bound by anything; all things obey ^ In Evang. Joan., tract xviii., cap. 5, n. 1 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 361 it as so many passive instruments. In regard to this external principle, therefore, we must inquire which one of all the means in His power Christ did actually adopt. For this purpose it is necessary to recall in thought the institution of Christianity.
We are mindful only of what is witnessed to by holy writ and what is otherwise well known. Christ proves His own divinity and the divine origin of His mission by miracles; He teaches the multitudes heavenly doctrine by word of mouth; and He absolutely commands that the assent of faith should be given to His teaching, promising eternal rewards to those who believe and eternal punish- ment to those who do not. // I do not the icorks of My Father, believe Me vat} If I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin? But if I do (the works), though you will not believe Me, believe the works? Whatsoever He commands, He commands^ by the sam e authority. He requires the assent of the miiid to all. truths without exception. It was "tlTus the duty of all who heard Jesus Christ, if they wished for eternal salvation, not merely to accept His doctrine as a whole, but to assent with their entire mind to all and every point of it, since it is unlawful to withhold faith from God even in regard to one single point.
When about to ascend into heaven He sends His apostles in virtue of the same power by which He had been sent from the Father; and He charges them to spread abroad and propagate His teaching. All 'power is given to Me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore teach all nations...teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.* So that those obeying the apostles might be saved, and those disobeying should perish. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned.^ But since it is obviously most in harmony with God's providence that no one Matt, xxviii. 18, 19, 20. » Mark xvi. 16. should have confided to him a great and important mission unless he were furnished with the means of properly carrying it out, for this reason Christ promised that He would send the Spirit of Truth to His disciples to remain with them forever. But if I go I will send Him (the Paraclete) to you..".. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will teach you all truth. And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. He shall give testimony of Me, and you shall give testimony. Hence He commands that the teaching of the apostles should be religiously accepted and piously kept as if it were His own — He who hears you hears Me, he who despises you despises Me. Wherefore the apostles are ambassadors of Christ as He is the ambassador of the Father. As the Father sent Me so also I send you. Hence as the apostles and disciples were bound to obey Christ, so also those whom the apostles taught were, by God's command, bound to obey them. And, therefore, it was no more allowable to repudiate one iota of the apostles' teaching than it was to reject any point of the doctrine of Christ Himself.
Truly the voice of the apostles, when the Holy Ghost had come down upon them, resounded throughout the world. Wherever they went they proclaimed themselves the ambassadors of Christ Himself. By whom (Jesus Christ) we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith in all nations for His name. And God makes known their divine mission by numerous miracles. But they going forth preached everywhere: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed. But what is this word? That which comprehends all things, that which they had learnt from their Master; because they openly and publicly declare that they cannot help speaking of what they had seen and heard.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 363 But, as We have already said, ^the^ apostolic mission was ,.not destined to die with the apostles themselve^, or to~ come to an end in the course of time, since it was intended for the people at large and instituted for the salvation of .the human ra^ce. For Christ commanded His apostles to preach the "Gospel to every creature, to carry His name to nations and kings, and to be witnesses to Him to the ends of the earth." He further promised to assist them in the fulfilment of their high mission, and that, not for a few years or centuries only, but for all time — "even to the consummation of the world." Upon which St. Jerome Bays: "He who promises to remain with His disciples to the end of the world declares that they will be forever victorious, and that He will never depart from those who beUeve in Him." ^ But how could all this be realized in the apostles alone, placed as they were under the universal law of dissolution by death? It was consequently pro- vided by God that the Magisterium instituted by Jesus Christ should not end with the life of the apostles, but that it should be perpetuated. We see it in truth propa- gated, and, as it were, delivered from hand to hand. For the apostles consecrated bishops, and each one ap- pointed those who were to succeed them immediately "in the ministry' of the Word."
Nay more: they hkewise required t heir successors to ^ choose fitting men, to endow them with like authority, and to confideTothem the office and m-ission of teaching. Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus: and the things which thou hast heard of me by many witnesses, the same command to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also."^ Wherefore, as Christ was sent by God and the apostles by Christ, so the bishops ^ ^and~tHose~who succeeded them were sent by the apostles. "The apostles were appointed by Christ to preach the Gospel to us. Jesus Christ was sent by God. Christ is In Matt., lib. iv., cap. 28, v. 20. » 2 Tim. ii. 1, 2.
364 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
therefore from God, and the apostles from Christ, and both according to the will of God...Preaching there- fore the word through the countries and cities, when they had proved in the Spirit the first-fruits of their teaching they appointed bishops and deacons for the faithful...They appointed them and then ordained .theni, so that when they themselves had passed away other tried men should carry on their ministry." ^ On the one hand, therefore, it is necessary that the mission of teaching whatever Christ had taught should remain per- petual and immutable, and on the other that the duty of accepting and professing all their doctrine should like- wise be perpetual and immutable. "Our Lord Jesus Christ, when in His Gospel He testifies that those who are not wdth Him are His enemies, does not designate any special form of heresy, but declares that all heretics who^are not with Him and do not gather with Sim, scatter Hi9:_flock and are His adversaries: He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth." ^ The, Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and en- ,de.avoj- than she has displayed in guarding the integrity C^ of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Euty- chians, did not certainly reject all Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a certain portion of it. Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church? In like manner were con- demned all authors of heretical tenets who followed them in subsequent ages. "There can be nothing more dan- gerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as Math a drop of S. Clemens Rom. Epist. I. ad Corinth, capp. 42, 46.
^ S. Cj^rianus, Ep. Ixix. ad Magnum, n. 1. poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by Our Lord and handed down by apostolic tradition." 1 The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authori- tative Magisterium. Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodoret, drew up a long list of the heresies of their times. St. Augustine notes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is by the very fact cut off from Catholic unity. "No one who merely disbelieves in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard himself as a Catholic or call himself one. For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are not set out in this work of ours, and if any one holds to one single one of these he is not a Catholic." 2 The need of this divinely instituted means for the preser- vation of unity, about which We speak, is urged by St. Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians. In this he first ad- monishes them to preserve with every care concord of minds: Solicitous to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.³ And as souls cannot be perfectly united in charity unless minds agree in faith, he wishes all to hold the same faith: One Lord, one faith, and this so perfectly one as to prevent all danger of error: that henceforth we be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive; * and this he teaches is to be observed, not for a time only, but until we all meet in the unity of faith unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ. But, in what has Christ placed the primary principle, and the means of preserving this unity? In that He gave some apostles 366 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH...and other some pastors and doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ} Wherefore, from the very earliest times the Fathers and Doctors of the Church have been accustomed to follow and with one accord to defend this rule. Origen writes: "As often as the heretics allege the possession of the canonical scriptures, to which all Christians give unanimous assent, they seem to say: 'Behold the word of truth is in the houses.' But we should believe them not and abandon not the primary and ecclesiastical tradition. We should be- lieve not otherwise than has been handed down by the tradition of the Church of God." ^ Irenaeus too says: "The doctrine of the apostles is the true faith...which is known' to us through the episcopal succession...which has reached even unto our age by the very fact that the Scriptures have been zealousJy_^uarded and fully, in- terpreted." ^ And Tertullian: "It is therefore clear that all doctrine which agrees with that of the apostohc churches — the matrices and original centres of the faith — must be looked upon as the truth, holding without hesitation that the Church received it from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, and Christ from God...We are in com- munion with the apostolic churches, and by the very fact that they agree amongst themselves we have a testi- mony of the truth." ^ And so Hilary: "Christ teaching from the ship signifies that those who are outside the Church can never grasp the divine teaching; for the ship typifies the Church where the word of life is deposited and preached. Those who are outside are like sterile and worthless sand: they cannot comprehend."^ Ru- finus praises Gregory of Nazianzum and Basil because lEph. iv. 11, 12.
^ Vetus Interpretatio Commentariorum in Matt. n. 46, ^ Contra Haereses, lib. iv., cap. 33, an. 8.
De Prajscript., cap. xxxi.
' Comment, in Matt. xiii. n. 1, THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 367 " they studied the text of Holy Scripture alone, and took the interpretation of its meaning not from their own inner consciousness, but from the writings and on the authority of the ancients, who in their turn, as it is clear, took their rule for understanding the meaning from the apostolic succession." ^ Wherefore, as appears from what has been said, Christ instituted in the Church a living, authoritative, and perma- . nent Magisterium, which by His own power He strength- 4,_.ened^_byJJie_Spki±_ of Truth He taught, and by miracles '^ jQonfirmed. He willed and ordered, under the gravest penalties, that its teachings should be received as if they were His own. As often, therefore, as it is declared on the authority of this teaching that this or that is con- tained in the deposit of divine revelation, it must be beheved by every one as true. If it could in any way be false, an evident contradiction follows; for then God Himself would be the author of error in man. "Lord, if we be in error, we are being deceived by Thee." ^ In this wise, all cause for doubting being removed, can it be la'vv^ul for any one to reject any one of those truths without by the very fact falling into heresy? — without separating himself from the Church? — \^^thout repudiating in one sweeping act the whole of Christian teaching? For such is the nature of faith that nothing can be more absurd than to accept some things and reject others. _Faith, as the Church teaches^ is _'lthat supernatural yirtue by which, through^ffieZhelp— of ^od and through the assistance of His grace, we beUeve what He has re- .'££ale d to be true, nof on account of the intrinsic truth perceived by the natural light of reason, but because of the authority of God Himself, the Revealer, who can neither deceive nor be deceived." ^ If then it be certain that anything is revealed by God, and this is not believed, ^ Richardus de S. Victore, De Trin., lib. i., cap. 2.
' Cone. Vat., Sess. iii., cap. 3.
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then nothing whatever is beheved by divine faith: for what the Apostle St. jJaines judges to be the effect of a moral delinquency, the same is to be said of an erroneous opinion in the matter of faith..Whosoever shall offend in one point, is become guilty of all} Nay, it apphes uith greater force to an erroneous opinion. For it can be said with less truth that every law is violated by one who commits a single sin, since it may be that he only virtually despises the majesty of God the Legislator. But he who dissents even in one point from divinely revealed truth absolutely rejects all faith, since he thereby refuses to honor God as the supreme truth and the formal motive of faith. "In many things they are with me, in a few things not with me; but in those few things in which they are not with me the many things in which they are will not profit them." And this indeed most deservedly; for they who take from Christian doctrine jwhat they "please Jean on their own judgments, not on faith; and hot bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ,'^ they more.^ truly obey them- selves than Go d. "You, who believe what you like of the gospels ahdT believe not what you like, believe your- selves rather than the gospel." * For this reason the Fathers of the Vatican Council laid down nothing new, but followed divine revelation and the acknowledged and invariable teaching of the Church as to the very nature of faith, when they decreed as follows: "All those things are to be believed by divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the written or unwritten word of God, and which are proposed by the Church as divinely revealed, either by a solemn definition or in the exercise of its ordinary and universal Magisterium." ^ Hence^ as it James ii. 10.
S. Augustinus, lib. xvii., Contra Faustum Manichaeum, cap. 3.
Sess. iii., cap. 3.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 369 is clear that God absolutely willed that there should be unity in His Church, and as it is evident what kind of unity He wdlled, and by means of what principle He ordained that this unity should be maintained, We may address the following words of St. Augustine to all who have not deliberately closed their minds to the truth: "When we see the great help of God, such manifest prog- ress and such abundant fruit, shall we hesitate to take refuge in the bosom of that Church which, as is evident to all, possesses the supreme authority of the Apostolic See through the episcopal succession? In vain do heretics rage round it; they are condemned partly by the judgment of the people themselves, partly by the weight of councils, partly by the splendid evidence of miracles. To refuse to the Church the primacy is most uupious and above measure arrogant. And if all learning, no matter how easy and common it may be, in order to be fully understood re- quires a teacher and master, what can be greater evidence of pride and rashness than to be un\\dlling to learn about the books of the divine mysteries from the proper inter- preter, and to wish to condemn them unknowm?" ^ It is, then, i^jidoubtedly the office of the Church to guard /â– lldgj^^ri-dl^^^^^^^ ll^ ^'" pT^pBgate it in its integrity and purity. But this is not all: the object for which the Church has been instituted is not wholly attained by the perfonnance of this duty. For, since Jesus Christ de- livered Himself up for the salvation of the human race, and to this end directed all His teaching and commands, so He_ ordered the Church to strive, by the truth of its doctrine, "To sanctify and to save mankind. But faith alone cannot compass so great, excellent, and important an end. There must needs be also the fitting and devout worship of God, which is to be found chiefly in the divine sacrifice and in the dispensation of the sacraments, as well as salutary laws and discipline. All these must be found in the Church, Do Unitate Credendi, cap. xvii. u. 35. since it continues the mission of the Saviour forever. The Church alone offers to the human race that religion — that state of absolute perfection — which He wished, as it were, to be incorporated in it. And it alone supplies those means of salvation which accord with the ordinary counsels of Providence.
But as this heavenly doctrine was never left to the arbitrary judgment of private individuals, but in the beginning delivered by Jesus Christ, was afterwards committed by Him exclusively to the Magisterium already named, so the power of performing and administering the divine mysteries, together with the authority of ruling and governing, was not bestowed by God on all Christians indiscriminately, but on certain chosen persons. For to the apostles and their legitimate successors alone these words have reference: "Going into the whole world preach the Gospel." " Baptizing them." " Do this in commemoration of Me." "Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them." And in like manner He ordered the apostles only and those who should lawfully succeed them to feed—” that is to govern with authority—” all Christian souls. Whence it also follows that it is necessarily the duty of Christians to be subject and to obey. And these duties of the apostolic office are, in general, all included in the words of St. Paul: Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God.
Wherefore Jesus Christ bade all men, present and future, follow Him as their leader and Saviour; and this not merely as individuals, but as forming a society, organized and united m mind. In this way a duly constituted society should exist, formed out of the divided multitude of peoples, one in faith, one in end, one in the participation of the means adapted to the attainment of the end, and one as subject to one and the same authority.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 371 To this end He established in the Church all those prin- ciples which necessarily tend to make organized human societies, and through which they attain the perfection proper to each. That is, in it (the Church) all who wished to be the sons of God by adoption might attain to the perfection demanded by their high calling, and might obtain salvation. The Church, therefore, as we have said..-is_ma n's guide~~to^ hatevp,r pert^i4:is. to heaven. This is the office appointed unto it by God: that it may watch over and may order all that concerns religion, and may, without let or hindrance, exercise, according to its judgment, its charge over Christianity. Wherefore they who pretend that the Church has any wish to interfere in civil matters, or to infringe upon the rights of the State, know it not, or wickedly calumniate it.
God indeed even made tli^Chm^^h a society far more _perfectthaii any other. For the end for which the Church exists is as much higher than the end of other societies as divine ^race is above nature, as immortal blessings are abo\'e the transitory things on the_s&rth. Therefore the Church is a society divine in its origin, ^supernatural in its end and in the means proximately adapted to the attain- ment of that end; ibut jt is Sijiupmn community inasmuch as it is composed of men. For this reason we find it called in holy WTit by names indicating a perfect society. It is spoken of as the house of God, the city placed upon the mountain to which all nations must come. But it is also the fold presided over by one Shepherd, and into which all Christ's sheep must betake themselves. Yea, it is called the kingdom which God has raised up and which will stand forever. Finally it is th^Modn of Christ — that is, of course, His mystical body, but a body living and duly organized and composed of many members; members indeed which have not all the same functions, but which, united one to the other, are kept bound together by the guida nce ^nd authorit y, of the head.
Indeed no true and perfect human society can be conceived which is not governed by some supreme authority. Christ therefore must have given to His Church a supreme authority to which all Christians must render obedience. For this reason, as the unity of the faith is of necessity required for the unity of the Church, inasmuch as it is the body of the faithful, so also for this same unity, inasmuch as the Church is a divinely constituted society, unity of government, which effects and involves unity of communion, is necessary jure divino. "The, unity of the Church is manifested in the mutual connection or communication of its members, and likewise in the relation of all the members of the Church to one head."
From this it is easy to see that men can fall away from the unity of the Church by schism, as well as by heresy. "We think that this difference exists between heresy and schism" (writes St. Jerome): "heresy has no perfect dogmatic teaching, whereas schism, through some epis- copal dissent, also separates from the Church." In which judgment St John Chrysostom concurs: "I say and protest," he writes, "that it is as wrong to divide the Church as to fall into heresy," Wherefore as no heresy can ever be justiffable so in like manner there can be no Justification for schism. "There is nothing more grievous than the sacrilege of schism...there can be no just necessity for destroying the unity of the Church."
The nature of this supreme authority, which all Chris- tians are bound to obey, can be ascertained only by finding out what was the evident and positive will of Christ. Certainly Christ is a King forever; and though invisible, He continues unto the end of time to govern and guard His Church from heaven. But since He willed that His kingdom should be visible He was obliged, when He THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 373 ascended into heaven, to designate a vicegerent on earth. " Should any one say that Christ is the one head and the one shepherd, the one spouse of the one Church, he does not give an adequate reply. It is clear, indeed, that Christ is the author of grace in the sacraments of the Church; it is Clirist HimseK who bagtizesj^ it is He,_who_forgives^ ^sins; it is He'who TsTHe^true priest who hath offered Him- self upon the altar of the cross, and it is by His power that His body is daily consecrated upon the altar; and still, because He was not to be visibly present to all the faithful, He made choice of ministers through whom the aforesaid sacraments should be dispensed to the faithful as said above." ^ "For the same reason, therefore, because He was about to \\athdraw His visible presence from the Church, it \yas necessary that He should appoint someone jn His._placej to have the charge of the universal Church. Hence before His ascension He said to Peter, 'Feed My sheep.'"'
Je sus Chr ist, therefore,.appointed J'eter to be the head of the Church; and He also determined that the^authority instituted in perpetuity for the salvation of all should be inherite d by Hi s s uccesso rs«Jn whom the same permanent authorityof Peter himself should continue. And so He made that remarkable promise to Peter and to no one else: Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will huild My Church.^ "To Peter the Lord spoke: to one, therefore, that He might estabhsh unity upon one."* "Without any pre- lude He mentions St. Peter's name and that of his father (Blessed art thou Simon, son of John) and He does not wnsh Him to be called any more Simon; claiming him for Himself according to His divine authority. He aptly jiames him Peter^^ i^jn jpeti'a the rock, since upon.himJHe was a bout to found HiaXhurch.' ' ^ ' Cap. 74.
^ St. Thomas, Contra Gentiles, lib. iv., cap. 76.
HIatt. xA-i. 18.
S. Pacianus ad Sempronivim, Ep. iii., n. 11.
' S. Cyrillus Alexaiidrinus, In Evang. Joan., lib. ii., in cap. i. v. 42.
374 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
From this text it is clear that by the will and com- mand of God the Church rests upon St. Peter, just as a building rests on its foundation. Now the proper nature of a foundation is to be a principle of cohesion for the various parts of the building. It must be the necessary conditions of stability and strength. Remove it and the whole building falls. It is consequently the office of St. Peter to support the Church, and to guard it irf alT~its strength and indestructible unity. How could he fulfil this office without the power of commanding, forbidding, and judging, which is properly called jurisdiction? It is only by this power o f jurisdiction_ that nations and commonwe alths a,re helcTIEog ether. A primacy of honor and the shadowy right of giving advice and admonition, which is called direction, could never secure to any society of men unity or strength. The words — and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it — proclaim and establish the authority of which we speak. "What is the it?*j (writes Origen). "Is it the rock upon which Christ builds the Church, or the Church? The expression indeed is ambiguous, as if the rock and the Church were one and the same. I indeed think that this is so, and that neither against the rock upon which Christ builds His Church nor against the Church shall the gates of hell prevail." * The meaning of this divine utterance is, that, notwith- standing the wiles and intrigues which they bring to bear against the Church, it pji never be that the Church com- ,mitt ed to the care. of. Peter shall suc_cumb or in any wise Jail. "For the Church, as the edifice of Christ who has wisely built ' His house upon a rock,' cannot be conquered j by the gates of hell, which may prevail over any man who shall be off the rock and outside the Church, but shall be powerless against it." ^ Therefore God con- fided His Church to Peter so that he might safely guard it with his unconquerable power. He invested him, there:;^ ' Origenes, Comment, in Matt., torn, xii., n. ii. ' Ibid.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 375 fore,jwith the needful authority; since the right to rule is absolutely required by him who has to guard human society really and effectively. This, furthei-more, Christ gave: "To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven." And He is clearly still speaking of the Church, which a short time before He had called His own, and vv'hich He declared He wished to build on Peter as on a foundation. ThejChUEch is typified not only as an edif.ce but as a kingdovi, and every one knows that the keys conslitute the usual sign of governing authority. Where- fore when Christ promised to give to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Hg^pjomisedjto give hinrpaffier and_a uthority, jjye£_thg_^Church. "The Son committed to Peter the office of spreading the knowledge of His Father and HhnseK over the whole world. He who in- creased the Church in all the earth, and proclaimed it to be stronger than the heavens, ^gaye_to_a^ mortal man ^U powe r in heaven when _He handed^ him the keys." * In this same sense He says: "Whatsoever thou shall bind upon earth it shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth it shall be loosed also in heaven." This metaphorical expression of bind- ing and loosing indicates the gower of making laws, of