i^lys^Si^

!*r*/'^''r i' -" '-^''^•■r r r

^^^^s

C-^^lA'.'V.->-=.'

WCy

/ ^

THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES

THE

UNITY OF THE CHURCH,

HENRY EDWARD MANNING, M.A.,

ARCHDEACON OF CHICHESTER.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1842.

LONDON :

IViiiliM bv William Clowes and Sons,
Slamfiird Slreet.

TO THE

RIGHT HONOURABLE

WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE,

8fc. 8fc. c^-c.

THIS WORK
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.

jei t™< ('■s y-'*

CONTENTS.

PAGE

General Introduction ....... 1

PART I.

The History and Exposition of the Doctrine of
Catholic Unity.

CHAPTER I.
The Antiquity of the Article " I believe in the Holy Church" 10

CHAPTER II.

The Interpretation of the Article " The Holy Church," as

taught by uninspired Writers ..... 29

CHAPTER III.
The Unity of the Church as taught in Holy Scripture . . G8

CHAPTER IV.
The Form and Matter of Unity ...... 91

Conclusion to the First Part ..... 163

PART II.

The Moral Design of Catholic Unity.

CHAPTER I.
The Moral Design of the Church as shown by Holy Scripture 169

VI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER II.

PAGE

The Unity of the Clmrch a Means to restore the true Know-
ledge of God ........ 186

CHAPTER III.

The Unity of the Church a Means to restore Man to the

Image of God ........ 229

CHAPTER IV.

The Unity of the Church a Probation of the Faith and Will of

Man 255

Conclusion to the Second Part . . . . . 278

PART III.

The Doctrine of Catholic Unity applied to the Actual
State of Christendom.

>
CHAPTER I.

The Unity of the Church the only revealed Way of Salvation 287

CHAPTER II.
The Loss of Objective Unity 308

CHAPTER III.
The Loss of Subjective Unity . . . . . . 354

General Conclusion ....... .367

PART L

THE HISTORY AND EXPOSITION OF THE
DOCTRINE OF CATHOLIC UNITY.

THE

UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

St. Augustin, in his book concerning the instruc-
tion of persons ignorant of the Christian doctrine,
after giving many rules for the guidance of the
teacher, adds, " but if the catechumen be slow of
understanding, and have neither hearing nor heart
for the sweetness of truth, he must be borne with
tenderly, and, after a short and cursory statement of
other points, those things which are chiefly neces-
sary are to be inculcated with much of awe, such
as the Unity of the Catholic Church, the nature of
temptation, and of the Christian life by reason of
the judgment to come.'" It will sound strange
to modern ears to hear the Unity of the Church
thus numbered among the first principles of the

' S. Aug. de Catechiz. Rudibus. c. xiii.

I THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

doctrine of Christ ; and by this we may measure
how remote are our habits of thought from the tone
of CathoHc behef. It is to be noted, moreover,
that St. Augustin does not treat the doctrine of
unity as a first principle only, but as an elementary
or axiomatic truth among the first principles of
faith. It is to be taught to all catechumens, even
to the least intelligent of them. It is, in fact, an
object of faith, and a rule of life, without which no
man can become a Catholic Christian. Whatso-
ever any man may safely either not know at all, or
know but in part, this at least he must know tho-
roughly, and believe without a doubt.

The reasons of this necessity are many and ob-
vious ; and it will not be amiss to touch on one or
two, that we may form some juster estimate of the
great importance of the subject on which we are
about to enter.

1. First, then, the doctrine of the Unity of the
Church is most necessary to be known and be-
lieved, as an object of faith, by all Christians,
because it is in the One Church alone that there
is a revealed way of salvation in the Name of Christ.
It is not requisite, in this place, to do more than
affirm this mysterious doctrine. Its meaning,
limits, and application we shall consider hereafter.
It is enough only to refer to it ; for all Christians
agree in believing that there is such a mystery in the
Gospel : they differ only in expounding the nature
and fixing the limits of the one Church in which

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. d

alone salvation is revealed to man. Whatsoever,
then, be the doctrine of salvation in the Church
only, it is plainly so related to the doctrine of the
Unity or Oneness of the Church itself, as to render
a right understanding of the nature of the Church,
i. e. what, and where it is, highly necessary to
all men who are seeking salvation through Jesus
Christ. For if they know not what nor where the
Church is, how shall they partake of the salvation
which is enshrined in it ? And if they know not
the nature and limits of the Church, how, even
after finding it, shall they be assured that they still
abide in the way of life ? And this brings us to
another reason.

2. Secondly, the Unity of the Church is most
necessary to be known and acted on as a rule of
life by all Christians, because it is a principle of
moral obligation. In the first place, it is the corre-
lative of schism, and a safeguard against it. By a
right knowledge of unity Catholic Christians know
also the nature and forms of schism. It is evident
that without this knowledge they may, and we
daily see that they do, countenance, partake in, and
even themselves originate, acts which are materi-
ally schismatical, — such, for instance, as aiding in
the propagation of sectarian bodies, being present at
acts of worship, or teaching, without the pale of the
Church, and the like. It matters not, in this view
of the case, what be the true doctrine of unity and
of schism : because that there are such realities in

B 2

4 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

the Christian scheme, and that unity is a duty and
schism a sin, all Christians agree in believing. It
is as necessary, therefore, to know their true nature
and definition, as it is to know the limits of truth
and falsehood, and the boundary-lines of good and
evil. It is, in fact, a matter of revealed obligation,
and a particular form of Christian ethics.

3. Again, a right knowledge of the nature of
Unity is necessary, not only as a safeguard against
schism, but as a guide in the whole complicated
texture of a Christian man's life. It enters into
every function and act of the Church around him :
it is in her teaching, her worship, her sacraments,
her ceremonies, her discipline, her penitential order,
her censures, her absolutions : it runs through his
private life, in all acts of domestic religion, in all
the conduct, and temper, and converse of a Catho-
lic Christian : it besets him behind and before, and
lays its hand upon him in all his relations to his
brethren, to his pastor, to his Lord : it is a govern-
ing rule of his moral choice, teaching him what to
do and what to forbear, what to testifv and what to
hold in silence : it is the outward index, and the
unerring means of " the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace," and thereby of his perfection in the
likeness of Christ.

Now these are some among many reasons which
might be brought to shew the necessity of delivering
to all catechumens the doctrine of Catholic Unity.
There are also two remarks I would make on the

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. O

present condition of the Church of Christ, which
will the more strongly impress on us the duty of
faithfully instructing our people in this great rule
of life.

And first it must be remembered that tliis doc-
trine, which, in the time of St. Augustin, was de-
finite and undoubted, is now perplexed and gainsaid.
In his day the nature of unity was admitted :
the only dispute, as with the Donatists, turned
on the question, which of two contending bodies
was indeed the one true Church. How many and
various soever were the sects by which the Church
was then beset, she had yet within a clear and sus-
tained consciousness of her own unity, of which
consciousness she carefully made all her members
to partake. They carried with them, as it were, a
talisman which kept them from wandering into the
conventicles of schism. Now we, in these latter
times, are beset by no fewer schisms than they were
of old. The state of the Western Church for the
last three hundred years, our familiar intercourse
with Christians in a state of open schism, the visible
moral excellence of many born and reared in sepa-
ration, the deadening effect of political combination,
the wayward partizanship of men in the commu-
nion of the Church, and then again, together with
all these, a habit of indifference, laxity, and a spu-
rious charity, which, like a hidden stream, under-
mines the steadfastness of principle, — all these have
so lowered the standard of teaching and thought

6 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

among' us, that we fail to impress upon our cate-
chumens any definite or intelligible idea of the
Unity of the Church, i. e. what it is, wherein it con-
sists, and how it makes us responsible for our moral
acts. Certain it is, that we have come to look
upon the doctrine of Unity as a part of the theologia
armata, — as a weapon of offence. We shrink from
teaching it, lest we should seem to condemn those
who are visibly in schism ; and thus, for the sins of
Christendom, it has come to pass that what was or-
dained unto life is found to be unto death ; and men,
by striving to and fro to establish their conflicting
theories, are divided in the very article of unity.
Or, on the other hand, the false charity of being
silent the more embroils the fray ; so that, if we, to
whom the only word that can still the storm has
been imparted, shall refuse to speak it, what do we
do ? — what reckoning shall we give to Him that
bequeathed liis peace unto us ? No sober man can
doubt that one chief cause of the continuance of
schism, and therefore of perplexity and error, among
our people, is our slackness in faithfully expound-
ing- to them the articles of their baptismal creed. If
the pastors of the flock should slur over the article
of the Incarnation of otir Lord as they have slurred
over that of the Unity of the Church, her people
would have been long since heretical. The low
tone of teaching now prevalent on this doctrine is
one reason to enforce the duty of bestowing much
anxious thought and care in restoring some true

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 7

and effectual mode of inculcating it upon our
catechumens.

The other remark I would venture to make is on
the defective state of our catechetical formularies in
the point of this doctrine. In our Prayer-book it
is everywhere assumed that the people are duly
taught in the nature of the one Church : as for
instance, in the Prayer for all sorts and conditions
of men, in the collects for the Feasts of St. Simon
and St. Jude, and of All Saints ; in the service for
the Visitation of the Sick, where we pray that God
may " preserve and continue this sick member in
the unity of the Church ;" and also in the Litany,
where the people are taught to pray for deliverance
from the sin of schism. It is therefore evident that
a knowledge of the nature of unity is pre-supposed ;
and without doubt, when these services were pub-
lished in the vulgar tongue, the context of the
Church's oral teaching filled up all that was need-
ful for the right understanding of them. But, with
submission to those to whose hands the disposal of
such things is intrusted, I would venture to adopt,
as my own, the wish of a layman whose name will
be its own sanction. " If ever a convocation should
think fit to revise the catechism of the Church, to
whose authority and judgment an affair of that
nature ought to be entirely submitted, it is possible
they may find it necessary to add some questions
concerning those who have the power of administer-
ing sacraments, and how they receive such an

8 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

authority, and what duties are owing by God's word
to our spiritual guides : because such sort of instruc-
tions, early instilled into tender minds, might in
the next generation retrieve that respect to the
sacred order which we so scandalously want in
this ; and they would have this further advantage,
that they would be a means of keeping men stead-
fast to the communion of the Church, and of pre-
serving them from falling into schisms, even in a
state of persecution ; from the possibility of which
no human establishment can secure the Church of
God, while she is militant here on earth. And till
this can be effected, it is to be wished the reverend
clergy would more frequently instruct the people in
such duties. The want of which necessary know-
ledge makes the principles of Church communion
so little understood, that men are ' tossed to and fro,
and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by
the slight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie in wait to deceive.' I am very sensible
great modesty hath prevailed upon them to divert
their thoughts from this subject, lest it should be
interpreted a preaching up themselves; but the
same fears may as well prevent parents from in-
structing their children, and masters their servants,
in those duties that relate to themselves." ^

How far the following work may supply a
definite view of this great Christian doctrine it is
not for me to do more than hope. It is my heart's

* Nelson's Fasts and Festivals. Preface, p. xiii.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 9

desire to lend a hand, so far as I may, to the great
and charitable work of clearing off the entangle-
ments by which the path of unity and of eternal
life has been well nigh hidden from the eyes of men
of good will.

The course I have taken is as follows : — I have
treated the subject of unity in three aspects : first,
its positive nature, or what it is by the ordinance of
God ; next, so far as Holy Scripture will carry us,
the end and design, or why God has so ordained
the scheme of our redemption ; and lastly, the
existing anomalies of the Christian world, or how
we may reconcile the exact doctrine of unit}' with
the irregularities which are visible around us. The
first part, therefore, is dogmatic or historical, tracing
out the doctrine of Unity in the Catholic Creeds,
and in the inspired and uninspired documents of
the Church. The second part is moral, but con-
fined to the testimony of Holy Scripture alone.
The third and last is practical or casuistical, and
is discussed upon the principles and by the lights
gathered from the two previous parts, and from
the decisions of the Catholic Church.

10 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

CHAPTER L

THE HOLY CHURCH. '

ON THE ANTIQUITY OF THE ARTICLE, " I BELIEVE IN

Before we proceed to examine the intention of this
article of the Catholic creeds, it will be right to
make some inquiry into its antiquity.

That it has been received as a part of the
Christian Faith in all churches of the East and
West, through the whole tract of time since the
Council of Constantinople, is admitted on all hands.

But a question may j^et be raised as to its origin.
It may be still asked whether or no this article were
included in the Creed in the times of the Apostles ;
whether or not they required of every convert a
profession of belief in the one Holy Church ?

In answering this question, we will first collect
the facts of the case, and then make some remarks
upon them, so as to lay the ground for a definite
conclusion.

In the first place, the whole Catholic Church,
having united in receiving the creed of the Council

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 11

of Constantinople, has united in holding as an
article of faith the doctrine of " one Catholic and
Apostolic Church," since the year a.d. 381 ; that
is, for about fifteen hundred years.

Our inquiry, therefore, is limited to the three
centuries from the Council of Constantinople to the
first opening of the Apostolic mission.

Now, we must observe that the Constantinopolitan
or Nicene Creed has a character peculiar to itself,
being the first promulgation of the Christian faith by
conciliary authority. It may be called, therefore, a
conciliary or synodal creed (jiymholum synodale),
to distinguish it from the baptismal creeds of the
several Churches of which it was a public repre-
sentative. The creed of the Nicene Council, al-
though readily embraced by all branches of the
Catholic Church, has never to this day displaced
the baptismal creed of the Western Church, and
was partially and by slow degrees substituted for
the other traditional forms in the Eastern. Some
Churches incorporated a portion of it in their own
particular creed ; but the catechetical lectures of
St. Cyril, which were delivered after the closing of
the Nicene Council, are an exposition of the bap-
tismal creed, which was retained in the Church of
Jerusalem until the middle of the fourth century.
Even so late as the middle of the fifth, the Church of
Antioch still retained its own baptismal profession.^

' Observ. in Symb. Hierosol., p. 80. 3. 0pp. S. Cyril. Hier.
Ed. Touttee.

12 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

We must, therefore, refer to the baptismal creeds
of the several Churches.

And, first, of the Eastern Church.

Epiphanius has preserved two creeds, which he
enjoins pastors of the Church to teach to such as are
approaching the baptismal font (^leXXoVra? rw dylo)
Xovrpw Trpoa-ieva'i). ^ In what particular Churches
they w^ere used is not certainly known, except
that they were the Churches of Cyprus, and
especially of Salamis, of which Epiphanius was
Bishop. ^

In the first (of which he says " This is the faith
which was delivered by the holy Ajjostles, and in
the Church, the holy city, by all the holy Bishops,
with one accord, to the number of more than three
hundred and ten")^ the article stands thus: " We
believe ... in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church;" and in the other, "We believe in One
Catholic and Apostolic Church."

Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, in his letter to
Alexander of Constantinople (about a.d. 317), ex-
posing- the impiety of the Arians, recites the form
of doctrine taught in his own Chui'ch (ravTa SiSd-

(TKOfXeV TCXVTa Kt]pVTTO/U€l/, TUVTa Trjg eKK\t]Cridi TU

aTToiTToXt/ca Soy/uctTa, k. t. X.) : " We confess," he

' Epiph. Ancoratus. ss. cxix. cxx. cxxi. Walchius, Bibliotheca
Symbolica, 50, 51.

* Walchius, ibid. 52, 53.
Epiph. Ancor. cxx.: ilc p^iav ayiny Kd^oXiKrjv kciV A-KO(JTo\iicr]v
iKicXrjtjiai'.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHMRCH. 13

says, " one and one only Catholic Church, that
which is Apostolic.'.' ^

The next creed we may adduce will liave more
weight for our present purpose, for the very reason
which shakes its authority in other respects, being a
confession of faith, presented, as it is believed, by
Arius and Euzoius, when they made a sort of
feio-ned recantation. In the article before us it
runs as follows : — " We believe ... in one Catholic
Church of God, which is from one end of the world
to the other." They go on to say, " This faith we
received from the holy Gospels, forasmuch as the
Lord said to his disciples, Go ye, and teach all
nations, baptizing them, &c."^ This was doubtless
the creed of the Alexandrian Church, to which
they desired reconciliation. ^

I have already spoken of the creed of the Church
of Jerusalem, expounded by St. Cyril to the candi-
dates for baptism. He calls it " the holy Apostolic
faith," and everywhere treats it as the doctrine
which the Church had always held and taught to
the baptized. The present article stands thus :
" We believe ... in one holy Catholic Church."^

The creeds of the Churches of Antioch and
Caesarea are preserved by several fathers and doc-

* fXiHV Kal fi6vr]v KadoXiicifi^ t}]1' 'ATrooroXtw/j' eKK\r)ariav. Theo-
doret, lib. 1. civ. pp. 19, 20, ed. Reading. Walch. p. 49.

* Socrat. Hist. lib. 1. c. 26. Walch. p. 49. Bingham, Orig.
Eccl. b, X. c. V. s. 10.

* dio TrapaKoKovfiev . . . Ei'ovadaiij/xdg . . ry jj.rjTplriiJ.oii'. Socrat.
Hist. ibid.

■* Catech. xviii. 32. : £(c ^luv ayiav KaS^oXiKuji' lt:t;\r)(Tlai\

14 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

tors of the Church, but only by way of testimony
against the Arian heresy. In their citations, there-
fore, no more is quoted than was enough to con-
demn the errors against which they testified. For
this reason the third and last member of the creed
is almost wholly omitted. ^

There still remain to be cited two very remark-
able documents of the Eastern Church.

In the exposition of the Apostles' Creed, by Ruf-
finus, is to be seen a comparison of three several
forms, the Roman, the Aquileian, and a third which
he refers to as the creed of the Eastern Church.
This Eastern creed is extant only in Latin, — is al-
most identical with the Aquileian and Roman, — was
plainly very much more ancient than the Nicene
Council, — and may be taken as the representative
to the Western or Latin Churches of the faith of the
Greek Churches of the East. We shall hereafter
see reason to conclude that the fact of its existing
only in Latin is no objection to its genuineness.
In this creed the article stands in these words : " I
believe . . . the Holy Church."^

The other and the last which I shall adduce from
the Eastern Church is the baptismal creed, recited
in the book of the Apostolical Constitutions.

It must be observed that this compilation was
made probably in the third or fourth century, but

' See Walch. pp. 40, 46. Bingham, b. x, cv. s. 9, 11, and xiv.,
where he shows the reason of this omission.

* Ruffin. Expos, in Symb. Ap. ad calc. S. Cypriani 0pp.
" Credo . . . Sanctam Ecclesiam."

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 15

that the date is unimportant, inasmuch as it is not
denied that the book exhibits to us the outline and
condition of the Church from its earliest times.
The compiler, after giving directions how catechu-
mens ought to be instructed, describes the renunci-
ation of Satan made in baptism, and the confession
of Christ which followed. The candidate was di-
rected to say, " I believe and am baptized into one
unbegotten, the only true God, &c. ... I am bap-
tized into the Holy Ghost, that is the Comforter,
which wrought in all the saints from the beginning,
and afterwards was sent also to the apostles by the
Father, according to the promise of the Saviour
our Lord Jesus Christ, and after the apostles to
all who in the Holy Catholic Church believe
also," &.C. ^

We may now, in like manner, collect the suf-
frasfes of the Western Church.

The first we will cite is the creed of the Spanish
Church, preserved by Etherius and Beatus in a
book written against Elipandus. Although this
work was compiled towards the end of the eighth
century, the creed recited by them is given as the
baptismal creed of the Church, and believed by
them to be transmitted from the apostles. ^ The
article stands thus : — " I believe . . . the Holy Ca-
tholic Church."

In the ancient missal of the Galilean Church, as

' Apost. Const, lib. vii. c. 41.

^ Bibliotheca Vet. Patr. Gallandii, torn. xiii. 295. " Sanctam
Ecclesiam Catholicam."

16 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

given by Martene, ' is the creed which was delivered
to candidates for baptism. The article runs as
usual — " I believe . . . one Holy Catholic Church."

Another creed used in the Gallican Church, pro-
bably at Poictiers, is preserved in an exposition by
Venantius Fortunatus, "^ who was Bishop of that see
in the sixth centur3^ It is evidently a very ancient
form, the articles of the Burial of Christ, the
" Communion of Saints," and " Life everlasting,"
being omitted, which is not the case in the later
creeds. The article before us stands, " I believe . . .
the Holy Church," which is its simplest and earliest
form.

St. Augustin has delivered to us the creed of the
African Church, in his book De Fide et Symbolo, ^
where the article stands, " I believe . . . the Holy
Catholic Church."

Maximus, Bishop of Tours (a.d. 422), has pre-
served the baptismal creed of that Church. * Its
great antiquity is evident from the simplicity of
the wording. The article runs, as in the oldest
forms, " I believe . . . the Holy Church."

In the creed of the Church of Ravenna, given by
Petrus Chrysologus, who was Bishop of that see, ^
the article is found as follows : " I believe . . . the
Holy Catholic Church."

* De Antiq. Ecclesise Ritibus. torn. i. 33.

* Venaiitii 0pp. P. i. lib. xi. ed. Rom. p. 3*77.
^ S. Aug. torn. vi. 161.

* Maximi Taurin. 0pp. Horn. i. De diversis ad calc 0pp.
S. Leouis. ed. Venet. 1748. ed. Rom. p. 2*72.

^ Petri Chrysol. Horn. Ivii. 0pp. ed. Venet. 1742.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 17

We now come to the creed of the Church of Aqui-
leia. There are extant tliree several forms : two pre-
served by a writer who lived about the middle of the
ninth century, ^ and one by Ruffinus, in the fourth,"
which he represents as the immemorial tradition of
the Church. The three forms differ only in one
word ; two havino-, " I believe . . . the holy
Church,'' and one " I believe . . . the Holy Catholic
Church."

The last witness we have to adduce is that of the
Roman Church. There are extant no fewer than
seven forms, ^ so authenticated by their relation to
the Roman Church as to represent to us the baptis-
mal profession there in use.

Three of them are found in tlie Greek lanouaoe.
Strange as this fact may seem at first sight, it is
capable of an easy and full explanation.

In the first place, it was the custom in the Roman
and many other Latin Churches to recite the Creed
both in Latin and in Greek, at the season of confer-
ring baptism. This custom was preserved so long,
that when in the darker times of the Western Church
the clergy could not so much as read the Greek
character, the Greek version of the Creed was
written in their ritual with the Italic; and, as
Archbishop Ussher discovered, also in the Anglo-
Saxon character. ^ This last transcript is to be seen

' Walch. Bib. Symb., pp. 54, 56.

* Ruffin. Expos, in Symb.; also Walch. ibid. p. 37.
'Walch. ibid. pp. 56,61.

* Usserii de RomaiifE Eccl. Symbolis Diatriba, p. 8. The iii-

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

at the end of King Athelstan's Psalter, written about
the year a.d. 703. '

In the next place, one of the Greek versions is a
translation of what we commonly call the Apostles'
Creed. '^ This was also found by Archbishop Ussher.
It is most likely that both these were received by
the Anglo-Saxon from the Roman Church.

A third form is called the Creed of Marcellus of
Ancyra, and was delivered by him to Julius, Bishop
of Rome, to attest his orthodoxy, when he had been
driven by the Arians or Eusebians from his see. "^
This version is in more exact agreement Avith the
Roman than with any Eastern Creed, being doubt-
less the Baptismal Creed of that Church, adopted
by Marcellus as a guarantee of his orthodoxy.

In these forms the article stands as follows : —
In two of them, " I believe . . . the Holy Church."
In the third, " I believe ... in the Holy Catholic
Church."

Of the Latin forms, one is the Creed commonly
called the Creed of the Apostles, which has, " I be-
lieve . . . the Holy Catholic Church." A second is
found in the Roman Ordinal, in which the article
stands in the same words. A third is the Creed
given by Archbishop Ussher as the ordinary form,

terrogation before the Creed was also used in Greek in the church
of Poictiers. See INIartene de Antiq. Eccl. Ritibus, torn. i. p. 38.
Walch. ibid. p. 57.

' Bingham, Orig. Eccl. B. x. c. v. s. 10, and Ussher ut supra.

* Walch. Bib. Symb., p. 58.

^ Bibliotheca Vet. Patr. Galland. torn. v. 17. The view in the
text is takeiv by Archbishop Ussher, and by Walchius, Bib. Symb-
pp. 56, 57.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 19

wiiich has, " I believe . . . the Holy Church." The
fourth and last is a response made by the candidate
for bajDtism, in the Sacramentary of Gelasius, which
has, " I believe . . . the Holy Church."

Having now gathered the facts on which this
question must ultimately rest, I proceed to make a
few observations, after which we may venture to
draw our conclusion.

And first it is evident that a belief in the Unity
of the Church forms an article in every Baptismal
Creed of every Church, both in the East and in the
West.

I am not aware of any Baptismal Creed extant
in which this article is not to be read.

And here I may make two remarks to guard this
assertion from objections.

First, there are to be found condensed and oblique
citations of the ancient Creeds, adduced by the
Fathers for the special and direct purpose of refuting
some emergent and partial heresy. In such cases,
a part only of the Creed is quoted, as the two first
members were wont to be adduced in the Ariari
controversy. The omission of the rest, which is
sometimes marked in words (as by " et reliqua "),
though sometimes not marked at all, is no disproof
of the assertion I have made. This will apply to the
Creeds of the Churches of Ceesarea and Antioch,
and to some others.

Secondly, there are certain interlocutory forms
of confessing the Holy Trinity, which were repeated
by candidates for baptism, from which almost all

c 2

20 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

other articles were omitted, as the form in the
Liturgy of St. James, which runs as follows : —
" I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth, and in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God." But this would prove
too much, as it omits also the article of " the Holy
Ghost." ' Another is to be seen in the Catechetics
of St. Cyril : — " I believe in the Father, and in the
Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and in one baptism of
repentance."^ But it is evident that this is not the
confession of faith, but an act of self-dedication to
the Holy Trinity, made by the catechumen turning
to the East before he turned to the West for the ab-
renunciation of Satan. This was the practice of
several Churches : as, for instance, at Jerusalem, at
Rome, at Milan, and in the Churches of Spain,
Gaul, and Cappadocia. ^ Nevertheless, in these
Churches the entire Creed also was recited by can-
didates for baptism. The self-dedication to the Holy
Trinity was a distinct part of the baptismal office.
There is also, in the Sermo de Symbolo ad Cate-
chumenos, * falsely ascribed to St. Augustin, a form
which omits this article ; but it omits also several
other parts, as the word " only," and " Lord " in
the confession of Jesus Christ, also the session at
the right hand of God. ^ In other respects also it
so far varies from the wording of the African Creed

' Walch. Bib. Synib., p. 42. Probably only the first words are
given as a rubrical order.

vS. Cyril. Catech. xix. 9, ed. Touttee.
^ S. Cyril, ed. Touttee. Prolog, in Catech. Myst. s. viii. p. 30.5.
* S. Au^. torn. vi. 556. ed. Ben. ' Ibid. 561, 564.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. ^1

as to show that it is not a baptismal form, and this
is all I am concerned to prove.

Lastly, I may notice that the rule of faitli ap-
pealed to by St. Ireneeiis ^ and Tertullian ^ is
plainly, and even at first sight, a large and loose
recital of the Evangelical traditions, nearly enough
allied to the baptismal profession to remind the
reader throughout of the exacter forms, but at the
same time so visibly informal and general as to
disclaim for itself all pretension to the exactness of
a baptismal Creed. They sufficiently indicate the
existence, and represent the substance of such a
form, while they manifestly disclaim the character
and authority of a recognised Creed.

Such beino; the three classes of documents from
which apparent objections may be alleged, I ven-
ture to repeat that the omission of this article in
such documents is no disproof of the assertion that
the article of the Unity of the Church forms a part
of every Baptismal Creed in existence.

I say the article of the Unity of the Church, for
such is the substance in which all Creeds, how vari-
ously soever they may be worded, exactly agree.

The variety of expression in the forms above
cited may be reduced to the following classes.

They all assert the article in some one of these
three forms : —

' Adv. Hfer. lib. i. 10. ed. Ben.

* De Virg. Velaud. c. 1. Contra Prax. c. 2. De Prsescrip.
c. 13. ed. Rigalt.

22 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

1. " One Catholic and Apostolic Church," as the
Constantinopolitan or Nicene ; the Creed recited
by Epiphanius, and the Alexandrian, which adds
(juiovijv), " one only."

2. "The Holy Catholic Church," as the Apostles'
Creed, the Spanish, the Gallican, the forms in the
Roman Ordinal and the Apostolical Constitution,
and one of the Aquileian Creeds.

3. " The Holy Church," as the Roman, two of
the Aquileian Creeds, the Ancient Eastern, the
Creed of Marcellus, the Creeds of Ravenna, Turin,
the African, one of the Gallican, and the form in
the Sacramentary of Gelasius.

There are one or two formularies which, from
some slight variety in the combination of the terms,
will not fall into these classes, and may therefore
stand alone, not being of sufficient importance to
form a separate class.

Of the three classes above given, the first two,
which are more explicit, are also later. The third
and last class represents the article as it is found in
the earliest Creeds, and with this therefore we have
now to do.

At present I need only conclude that the Unity
of the Church is contained as an article of faith in
every Baptismal Creed on record.

The next observation I would make, is, that there
is positive evidence that a profession of faith in the
Unity of the Church formed part of the Baptismal
Creed as early as the second century.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 23

The writers wlio have handed down these formu-
laries always and everywhere speak of them as a
tradition of immemorial antiquity. The Bishops
and Catechists of the fourth century — i. e. between
the years a.d. 300 and a.d. 400 — deliver these
Creeds to the catechumens as the same form of
words on the profession of which they and their
forefathers were baptized. They assume everywhere
that it is an Apostolical tradition.

But we have more direct evidence than this
general presumption,

St. Cyprian, writing to Magnus concerning the
Novatian schism (a.d. 255), says, " But if any one
should object, and say that Novatian holds the same
rule as the Catholic Church, baptizes in the same
Creed that we do, acknowledges the same God the
Father, the same Christ the Son, the same Holy
Ghost ; and for that reason, because he appears not
to differ from us in the interrogatories at baptism,
may therefore exercise the power of baptizing ; let
such an objector know, first, that we have not one
and the same rule in the Creed with the schismatics,
nor the same interrogatories ; for when they say,
' Dost thou believe the remission of sins, and life
everlasting through the Holy Church ? ' they lie in
their interrogatory, forasmuch as they do not hold
the Church. Then by the confession which they
make with their own mouth, that the remission of
sins cannot be given except through the Holy
Church, which they do not hold to, they them-

24 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

selves show that sins cannot be forgiven among
them.'"

Hence it is clear beyond a controversy that the
article stood in the Baptismal Creed, both of the
Catholic Church and of the Novatian schism.

But we have in the next epistle a direct proof.
In the following letter St. Cyprian writes : — " The
very interrogatory which is made in baptism is a
witness of the truth : for when we say, ' Dost thou
believe in life everlasting, and the remission of sins
through the Holy Church ?' we understand that re-
mission of sins is given only in the Church." ^

The next evidence, and of a still earlier date, is a
passage of Tertullian in his treatise on Baptism.
Speaking of the Hol}^ Trinity, he says, " If by
three witnesses every word shall stand, how much
more does the number of the Divine names suffice
also to confirm our hope, seeing that we have by
the benediction the same as w itnesses of (our) faith,
wdio are also the sureties of our salvation ? But
forasmuch as the attestation of (our) faith, and the
promise of salvation are pledged under three (i. e.
witnesses), the mention of the Church is neces-
sarily added, since where three are — that is, the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — there is the Church,
which is the body of the three. After that, when
we have come out of the font, we are anointed with

' Ad Magnum, Ep. 69. ed. Fell. p. 296. Walch. Bibl. Symb. p. 12.
* Ep. "70. cd. Fell. p. 301. Walch p. 13.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 25

the blessed oil." ^ The last sentence puts it beyond
all controversy that Tertullian is narrating the sub-
stance of the baptismal confession made by the
candidate in the font.

But to put the fact even further out of doubt, we
may refer to the full and deliberate argument raised
bv St. Auo'ustin on the relation in which this article
of the Creed stands to the doctrine of the Holy
Trinity. After expounding the Creed at large, he
says : — " In like manner we ought to believe in the
Holy Ghost, that the Trinity, which is God, may
have its fulness. Then the Holy Church is men-
tioned." . . . . " The right order of the confes-
sion required that to the Trinity should be sub-
joined the Church, as the dwelling to the in-
habitant, and as His temple to the Lord, and the
city to its builder." ^

From what has been said we may safely conclude
that the article of the Unity of the Church was a
part of the Baptismal Creed in Tertullian's time,
that is, at the end of the second century.

The learned annotator on Bishop Bull's ' Ju-
dicium Ecclesiee Catholicae,' after admitting the
preceding conclusion, imagines that this article
was inserted at the end of the first or the be-
ginning of the second century, when heretics
and schismatics began to form separate congre-

' TertuU. de Bapt. s. 6. ed. Rigalt, p. 226. Pearson on the
Creed, p. 334.

'^ S. Aug. Enchirid, de Fide, &c., c Ivi. torn. vi. 217.

26 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

gations. But this necessity existed from the
time of St. Paul's preaching at Corinth, and
throughout the whole course of the Apostolic
times. ^ The next observation I would, therefore,
make is, that no time can be assigned, nor any
person alleged, when and by whom this article was
first introduced into the Creed. If it was not in
the Baptismal Creed used by the Apostles, it must
have been introduced at some time between' the
death of St. John, about a.d. 100, and the birth of
Tertullian, about a.d. 150.^ If so, the name of the
person who introduced it, or of the Church where it
was first received, or the time of the insertion, or
the cause of its adoption, would surely have been
at least hinted in the history of the Church. But
there is not so much as the slio-htest trace of such
an event : which strange silence on so great a matter
in a circle and series of so many Churches, both
Greek and Latin, in the East and in the West,
which must have adopted it gradually and in suc-
cession, puts this conjecture past all belief.

The acknowledged additions made to the Creed
were noted, and the reasons avowed, as in the inser-
tion of the words " of one substance" against the
Arians ; and indeed in this particular article, in the
addition of the word " Catholic,'' which was first

' Annotata J. E. Grabe in Judic. Eccl. Cathol. ad cap. vi.
s. 11.

^ Bishop of Lincoln's History of the Second and Third Cen-
turies, p. 12.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 27

inserted by the Greek Churches for the purpose, as
St. Cyril ^ tells us, of distinguishing the true
Church from all schismatical congregations. The ad-
dition of the epithet " Catholic " to the words " Holy
Church " is thus carefully recorded, but the orip'in of
the article to wliich the addition was made must
be sought in the same teaching from whence the
"Baptismal Confession was itself derived. Still, in
thus referring to the institution of the Apostles it is
hardly necessary that we should refute in express
terms the story which narrates that the Apostles'
Creed was compiled by a synod of the Apostles, each
making his several contribution of one of the articles
as they now stand : the article, which is the subject
of our present inquiry, being the portion assigned
to St. Matthew. This fanciful account had its rise in
the fifth century ; is a Latin tradition, being unknown
to the Eastern Churches ; ^ and is self-convicted
of untruth, as the Creed commonly called the
Apostles' Creed is well known to be an augmented
form of the earlier and simpler confession. ^

Having seen in the foregoing evidence that all
Churches consented in professing at baptism a belief
in the Holy Church — that there is direct evidence

' S. Cyril. Catech. xviii. s. 26.

* When the Latins at the Council of Florence affirmed that their
creed was composed by the Apostles, the Greeks answered >//-i£te
ovre lyojxey ovre ticoixzy (rv[.il3o\ov rwr AttocttoXw)'. "We neither
possess nor have seen any creed of the Apostles." See Suicer. The-
saur. Eccl. in voc. (TV[xfto\oy.

^ Diipin. History of Eccl. Writers, vol. i. p. 3*78, folio, 1*723.

28 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

of the existence of this article in the baptismal
forms of the second century — that no baptismal
form can be adduced from which it is omitted, and
no time assigned for such an insertion, nor any
intimation that such an addition to the Creed was
made between the beginning and the end of the
first century (for to this short tract of time the
question is finally narrowed) — I conclude that a
belief in the Unity of the Church, however ex-
pressed in words, was required of every candidate for
Christian baptism from the beginning of the Gospel.
For " whatsoever the Universal Church maintains,
the same being instituted by no council, but
always retained, is rightly believed to be handed
down from no other authority than that of the
Apostles." ^

' S. Aug. de Bapt. contra Donatistas, lib. iv. c. xxiv. torn. ix.
140.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 29

CHAPTER II.

THE INTERPRErATION OF THE ARTICLE " THE HOLY
CHURCH," AS TAUGHT BY UNINSPIRED WRITERS.

In the foregoing chapter we have considered what
may be called the history of the article before us.
No attempt has been made to attach to it any
definite interpretation. So far as we have hitherto
proceeded, every class of Christians, except those
who reject the Catholic Creeds, may claim the
authority of the Baptismal Confession, as a witness
to confirm each several way of explaining the Unity
of the Church. For in teaching that there is only
one Church of Christ all Christians agree, the
only controversy being wherein that one Church
consists.

I wish it to be clearly understood that in this
chapter we shall follow exactly the same course as
in the foregoing.

Our inquiry will be strictly historical. I shall
abstain with all carefulness from seeming to assert

30 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, [PART I.

what is the true doctrine of the Unity of the Church,
and shall confine myself to inquiring in what sense
this article was expounded in the earliest times. Wlie-
ther such expositions be right or wrong will be a
matter for discussion hereafter. For the present it is
enough to examine how this article was wont to be
interpreted, or, to use the same form of speech as
before, to consider the histor}^ of the interpretation.

The only point, therefore, for the reader's judg-
ment is, whether or no the mind of the writers,
hereafter adduced, be truly represented.

It will be both the simpler and surer course to
take first the direct expositions of the article, and
next the general teaching of Christian writers on
the doctrine of the Unity of the Church.

Of the direct exposition of the Creed, the earliest
is that of St. Cyril. It is preserved to us in the
form of catechetical lectures to candidates for holy
baptism. They were delivered about a.d. 347,
before he was raised to the bishopric of Jerusalem.
In the creed of that Church, as in most of the
Eastern creeds, the word " Catholic " had been al-
ready inserted.

" Let us therefore speak," he says, " of what re-
mains, namely, on the article, ' and in One Holy

Catholic Church.' It is called, then. Catholic,

because it is throughout the whole world, from one
end of the earth to the other ; and because it
teaches universally and without fail all doctrines
that are necessary for man to know, concerning

CHAP. II. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 31

both visible and invisible things, both heavenly and
earthly ; and because it subjects the whole race of
man unto godliness, both rulers and rided, learned
and unlearned ; and because it universally tends,
and heals every form of sin committed in soul and
body; and because there is contained in it every
kind of virtue which is named in deed and word,
and all kinds of spiritual gifts.

" It is called the ' Church' (e/c/cX>;cr/a) by a most
fitting appellation, because it calls out all men, and
gathers them in one, as the Lord speaks in tlie
book of Leviticus — ' Call together {eKKXrja-laa-ov) the
whole congregation (o-wwyMy/j) to the door of the
tabernacle of witness.' Moreover it is worthy of
observation that this word (eKKXria-laarov) is first
used in Scripture in this place when the Lord ap-
pointed Aaron to the high priesthood From

the time that the Jews, on account of their evil
plotting against tlie Saviour, were cast away from
grace, the Saviour built a second Church from the
Gentiles, tliat is, the Holy Church of us Christians,
concerning which he said to Peter, ' And on this
rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it.' After the one

Church vv'hich was in Jud£ea had been cut off,
thenceforward the Churches of Christ are multi-
plied throughout all the world But foras-
much as the name ' Church' is applied to diverse
things .... therefore the Creed with guarded care
has delivered to thee the article ' in One Hol}^ Ca-

32 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

thoHc Church,' that thou mayest avoid the hateful
assemblies (of heretics) and cleave alway to the
holy Catholic Church in which thou wast regene-
rated. And if at any time thou art in strange
cities, ask, not merely, where is the Lord's house? —
for the sects and heresies of the impious endeavour
to honour their dens with the name of the Lord's
house — nor merely, where is the Church? but,
where is the Catholic Chuich ? for that is the pro-
per name of her that is holy and the mother of us

all For when that first Church had been

cut off, in the second, that is, the Catholic Church,
' God,' as Paul saith, ' gave, first apostles, second-
arily prophets, thirdly teachers, then powers, then
gifts of healing, helps, governments, divers kinds

of tongues, &c And whereas the kings of

particular nations have limits set to their power,
the Holy Catholic Church alone has a power with-
out limit in all the world."*

The next exposition is that of Rufiinus, a few
years later than St. Cyril.

" The tradition of the faith contains next ' the

Holy Church.' They, therefore, who have

been already taught to believe in one God, in the
mystery of the Trinity, ought also believe this, that
the Holy Church is one, in which is one faith and
one baptism, in which men believe in one God the
Father, one Lord Jesus Christ His Son, and one
Holy Ghost. That, therefore, is the Holy Church,

' S. Cyril. Hieros. Cat. xxiii. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 33

not having spot or wrinkle. Many others, indeed,
have gathered Churches, as Marcion, Valentiuus,
Hebion, Manichaeus, and Arius, and all other here-
tics. But they are not Churches without spot or
wrinkle of false faith. And therefore the prophet
said concerning them, ' I hate the congregation of
evil-doers, and with the wicked I will not sit.'
But concerning the Church which keeps whole the
faith of Christ, hear what the Holy Ghost says in
the Song of Songs, ' My dove is one, the perfect
one of her mother is one.' " *

St. Augustin, in his book ' De Fide et Syinbolo,'
speaks as follows : —

" But forasmuch as we are not only commanded
to love God, when it is said ' thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul,
and all thy mind,' but also our neighbour, ' for,'
he saith, ' thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,'
if this faith (of ours) does not hold to the congre-
gation and fellowship of men in which brotherly
love worketh, it bears less fruit. We believe, more-
over, ' the Holy Church,' that is, ' the Catholic'
For both heretics and schismatics call their congre-
gations Churches. But heretics, by false opinions
concerning God, violate the faith itself; ond schis-
matics, by their evil divisions, break oflf from bro-
therly love, though they believe the same things
that we believe. Wherefore neither heretics belong

' Ruffin. Hxpos. in Symb. Ap. ad calc. opp. S. Cyp. p. 166.
ed. Fell.

34 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART I.

to the Catholic Church, for that it loves God ; nor
schismatics, for that it loves our neighbour." '

And again, in his discourse De Symbolo, he says,
" After the confession of the Trinity follows ' the
Holy Church.' Both God and his temple are set
forth. ' For,' saith the apostle, ' the temple of God
is holy, which (temple) ye are.' The same is the
Holy Church, the one Church, the true Church,
the Catholic Church, waning against all heresies ;
for war it may, but warred down it never can be.
All heresies went out from her, as worthless
branches cut from the vine : but she abideth in her
root, in her life, in her love. Her the gates of hell
shall not overcome." ^

Among the works of St. Augustin are three dis-
courses on the Creed, which for a long time were
supposed to be his. The Benedictine editors, on
the strength of internal evidence, have judged them
to be the work of some other hand. They were,
however, manifestly written about the fourth cen-
tury, for they speak of the Arian heresy as the
active and foremost enemy of the Church.

On the article we treat of the writer says, " No
man can have love nor charity who is not in His
Church ; forasmuch as no one that is out of it can
be with God, who is life eternal. Therefore this
mystery (the Creed) concludes with the Church, for
that she is the fruitful mother, perfect and chaste,

' S. Aug. Liber de Fide et Symbolo, torn. vi. 161. ed. Ben.
* Liber de Synvlwlo, c. vi. torn. vi. 554. ed. Ben.

CHAP. II. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 35

everywhere spread abroad, bearing spiritual sons
unto God, spiritually nourishing her little ones
with the milk of her words, teaching boys wisdom,
guarding youtli from luxury and immodesty by
her holy chastity, arming young men against the
devil with the strength of virtue, and teaching the
aged prudence, and making the elders venerable.
Through her, young men and virgins, the elders
with the young, every age and sex, praise the name
of the Lord. She recalls her sons from their wan-
derings, weeps mournfully for the dead, and nou-
rishes without lack those that cleave unto her.
Her, my beloved, let us all love : to such a mother,
so loving, so provident, so prudent, let us all inse-
parably cling, that together with her and through
her we may be meet to be for ever joined to God
the Father." '

In another of these discourses the writer thus ex-
pounds the same words : " The end of this mystery is
therefore summed up by the Holy Church : because
if any man is found without it, he will be an alien
from the number of sons; nor shall he have God
for his Father wlio will not have the Church for
his mother : nor will it avail him anything to have
believed, and done so many good works, without
the end of the chief good. The Church is a spi-
ritual mother; the Church is the bride of Christ,
clad in white by His grace, dowried with His pre-
cious blood. She possesses all that she received in
' Liber de Symbolo, torn. vi. 575.

D 2

36 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

dowry from her Husband. I will read and recite
the marriage deed. Hear, ye heretics, what is
written. ' It behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise
from the dead, and that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in His name among all
nations.' ' All nations' signifies all the world.
The Church possesses all that she received in dowry
from her Husband. The congregation of heresy,
whatsoever it be, that sits in a corner, it is an har-
lot, and not a matron. O thou heresy of Arius,
why insultest thou ? why dost thou scornfully re-
nounce us ? why for a time dost thou usurp so
boldly? The wife suffers injurious treatment from
thee, the bondwoman : thou loadest her with many
contumelies. Though she weep, the Holy Catholic
Church, the spouse of Christ, doth not greatly fear
thee. For so soon as the Spouse shall look upon
her, thou as a bondwoman shalt be cast out with
thy children ; for the children of the bondwoman
shall not be heirs with the children of the free.
Let her therefore be acknowledged as the One,
Holy, True, and Catholic queen, to whom Christ
hath given such a kingdom; for He hath spread her
abroad throughout the world, and cleansed her
from all spot and wrinkle, and hath made her
ready and altogether fair for His own coming." *

In another exposition by Nicetas, Bishop of
Aquileia, in the fifth century, we find the article
thus explained. " After the confession of the blessed

' Liber de Svmbolo, torn. vi. 582.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 37

Trinity thou makest profession of faith in the Holy
CathoHc Church. What else is the Church than
the congregation of all saints ? From the beginning
of the world all (the righteous), whether patriarchs,
as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or prophets, or
apostles, or martyrs, or any other who have been,
or are, or shall be righteous, are one Church, inas-
much as, being sanctified by one faith and conver-
sation, sealed by one Spirit, they are made one body,
of which Christ is head, as it is declared and
written. I say more, even angels, and virtues, and
the higher powers, are confederated in this one
Church, as the Apostle teaches us that ' in Christ
are all things reconciled, not only things in earth,
but things in heaven.' Believe, therefore, that in this
one Church thou shalt attain to the communion of
saints. Know that this one Church is the Catholic
Church founded in all the world, to whose com-
munion thou oughtest firmly to cleave. There are
indeed other false churches, but have thou nothing
in common with them ; such as the Manichees, the
Cataphrygae, the Marcionists, or of the other heretics
and schismatics, for these churches cease to be holy,
inasmuch as they, being deceived by the doctrines
of devils, believe and act otherwise than Christ the
Lord commanded, and the Apostles ordained." '

We may now gather from the passages above
given the general outlines of interpretation.

1. They assert, first, that as tliere was only one
' S. Nicetse Explanatio Symboli, p. 44. Romre, 1827.

38 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

congregation of Israel, so there is only one visible
Church in the world.

2. Secondly, that it is holy, as being the temple
of God.

3. Thirdly, that this one Church is not restricted
to one nation, as Israel, but has received the dowry
of all nations, and is therefore Catholic.

4. Fourthly, that it contains the saints, as of all
nations so of all times, and is, therefore, a body
partly visible and partly invisible.

5. Fifthly, that neither heretics, howsoever nearly
they may approach the true faith, nor schismatics,
though they may hold the true faith entire, are
members of the one Church.

Whether right or wrong, these positions are
asserted by St. Cyril, Ruffinus, St. Augustin, the
anonymous expositor, and by Nicetas.

But as the earliest of these writers lived in the
fourth century, and as their expositions may be
suspected of a narrowness arising from the com-
pendious way in which it was necessary to instruct
candidates for baptism, we will go on to examine
in the treatises of the fathers written at large, and
designed for the fully instructed members of the
Church, how far these expositions are a fair and
exact statement of Catholic doctrine.

We will first examine such passages as relate
to that part of the one Holy Church which is visible
in the world.

St. Irenaeus says that " God led Abraham and

CHAP. II. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 39

his seed into the kingdom of Heaven, which is the
Church through Jesus Christ, to whom is given
the adoption and the inheritance which was pro-
mised to Abraham." ^ In another place he says,
that " As Jacob took the blessing from Esau, so the
latter people (i. e. the Church) took away the bless-
ing from the former (i. e. from the Jews), for which
cause he suftered the plots and persecutions of his
brother, as the Church also sutlers the same from
the Jews. The twelve tribes, the family of Israel,
were born in a strange land, as Christ also began
to form among strangers the twelve-pillared founda-
tion of the Church ;" ^ and afterwards, " For the
whole going forth of the people of God from Egypt
was a type and image of the going forth of the
Church which should be among the Gentiles : for
this also, in the end, He led the Church towards its
inheritance, which not Moses the servant of God,
but Jesus the Son of God, shall give in possession." ^
And the Church thus prefigured and adumbrated
by Israel, St. Irenseus describes as " scattered
abroad throughout the world .... dwelling as it
were in one house .... having one soul, one
and the same heart .... and teaching with one
mouth."'

The language of Tertullian is to the same effect.
The Apostles, he says, " went into all the world and

' S. Irenseus, lib. iv. viii. p. 236. ed. Ben.
^ Ibid. lib. iv. c. xxi. ^ Ibid. lib. iv. c. xxx.

'* Ibid. lib. i. ex.

40 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

preached the same doctrine of the same faith to the
nations, and founded Churches in every city, from
which afterwards the rest of the Churches borrowed
the line of the faith and the seeds of doctrine, and
do daily borrow it, and so become Churches. And
for this cause they also are reputed Apostolical,
being the offspring of Apostolical Churches. Every
family must be traced back to its original; therefore
these so many and great Churches are that one
first Church which tlie Apostles founded, from which
all are sprung. So all are primitive and all Apos-
tolical, so long as all are one. The proof of unity
is the participation of peace, the salutation of bro-
therhood, and the interchange of hospitality." ^

St. Clement of Alexandria writes, " Wherefore I
conceive it has been made manifest by what has
been said, that the true Church, the Church which
is indeed primitive, is one, into which the just
according to the purpose (of God) are gathered.
For God being one and the Lord one, therefore
whatever is most highly precious is praised in re-
spect that it stands alone, being a likeness of the one
first principle. In the nature, however, of the One
partaketli that One Church which heresies violently
strive to rend into many: wherefore in its sub-
stance, and its mind, and its principle, and its
excellence, we declare the primitive and Catholic
Church to be one only, unto the unity of the
one faith, which is according to the several cove-
' TertuU. de praescr. Hferet. c x\. Opuscula. ed. Routh.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 41

nants, or rather according to the one covenant
at divers times, which by the will of one God,
throngh one Lord, gathers together those that are
ordained whom God hath predestinated, having
known before the foundation of the world that thev
would be righteous. Wherefore the excellence of
the Church, like the principle of its constitution,
is in its oneness, thereby transcending all other
things, and having nothing like or equal to it." '
In another place he calls it " the gathering together
of the elect." '

The testimony of St. Cyprian is so w^ell known
that I need quote no more than one passage from
his treatise on the Unity of the Church.

After showing that our Lord singled out St.
Peter, and made him a type of Unity by giving
first to one alone the power of the keys, he says,
" For the inculcation of Unity, He disposed by his
authority that the beginning of that Unity should
have its rise in one. The other Apostles were what
Peter was — endowed with a like share of honour
and power, but the begiiming was made from one,

that the Church might be shown to be one

The Apostle Paul teaches the same thing, and
shows forth the mystery of Unity, when he says,
' There is one body and one Spirit, and one hope of
your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
God.' The Church is one, which by

' S. Clen\. Alex. Strom, vii. 17. torn. ii. 899.
' Ibid. vii. 6. torn ii. p. 846

42 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

the growth of its fruitfuhiess is spread widely into
a multitude : as there are many rays of the sun but
one light, and many branches of a tree but one
trunk planted in the clinging root, and though from
one fountain many rivers flow, so that there seem to
be many several streams by reason of the fulness of
the abundant flood, yet is the oneness maintained
in the original spring. Take off" a ray from the
body of the sun, the unity of light admits no divi-
sion ; cut ofl" a stream from the fountain, that which
is cut off* dries up : so the Church, filled through-
out with the light of the Lord, spreads its rays
through the whole world ; yet is it only one light
which is everywhere diffiised ; nor is the Unity of
the body severed : by reason of its abundant fulness
it stretches its rays into all the earth ; it pours
widely forth its flowing streams, yet is there one
head, and one beginning, and one mother, teeming
with continual fruitfulness." ^

So also St. Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with
Trji^pho, speaks of the visible Unity of the Church
as prefigured in the synagogue, and adumbrated by
Pharaoh's daughter in the forty-fifth Psalm : " And
to them that believe in Him (Christ) as being one
soul, and one synagogue, and one Church, the
word of God is spoken as to a daughter, to the
Church that is, which is formed of His name, and
partakes of His name (for we are all called Chris-
tians). The words (of the Psalm) with equal
' S. Cyprian de Unit. Ecclesise.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 43

clearness declare, teaching us to forget tlie ancient
customs of our fathers, thus saying, ' Hear then,
O daughter, and consider,' &c." '

And also in another place he says, " As we see
in the body, although the members be many in
number, all are called one body, so also the people
and the Church are many several men in iium-
ber, but they are one Being, and are called, and
addressed by one appellation." ^

In like manner St. Basil says, on the twenty-ninth
Psalm, "'Worship the Lord in His holy court.' It
is no worship which is offered out of the Church, but
only in the court of God. Do not imagine to your-
selves private courts and synagogues. There is
one holy court of God. The synagogue of the Jews
was aforetime that court, but, after their sin against
Christ, their house was left unto them desolate.
Wherefore the Lord says, ' And other sheep I have
which are not of this fold ' (IwXti), meaning them
who from the Gentiles were predestinated to salva-
tion. He shows that He has another court besides
that of the Jews ; wherefore it is not meet to wor-
ship God out of this holy court, but within it

Wherefore they that are planted in the house of the
Lord, which is the Church of the living God, shall
flourish in the courts of our God." ^

Parallel with this are the words of Lactantius.
After speaking of sects which by unbelief and schism

' S. Just. Mar. Dial, cum Tryph. sect. 63. * Ibid. sect. 42.
^ S. Basil. Honi. in Psalm xxviii (al. xxix.) sect. 3.

44 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

had forfeited the name of Christian, he adds: "That,
therefore, alone is the Catholic Church which re-
tains the true worship. This is the fountain of
truth, this the home of the faith, this the temple of
God, into which if any man enter not, or from
which if any man go out, he is a stranger to the
hope of life and everlasting salvation." ^

St. Ambrose, commenting on the works of the
third day, interprets the gathering together of the
waters as a type of the Church. " From every
valley a Catholic people is gathered together. Now
there are not many congregations, but the congre-
gation is one, the Church is one." ^

Epiphanius also, after quoting the well-known
text, " My dove is one," says : " For the Church
is begotten of one faith, being born of the Holy
Ghost, the only daughter of one only mother, and
the only one to her that bare her. As many as
came after her and before her were called harlots,
who nevertheless were not altogether aliens from
the covenant and the inheritance, but had received
no dowr}' from the Word, nor any visitation of the
Holy Ghost." '

But of all the writers of the early Church there
is no one from whose works so many and so direct
statements of the Unity of the Church may be
extracted as from those of St. Augustin. The

' Lactantius de vera Sap. lib. iv. 30.

* S. Ambrose. Hexaemer. lib. iii. ed. Ben.

^ Epiph. adv. Haer. lib. iii. torn. ii. 6.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 45

greater part of his life was laboriously spent in
winning schismatics to the Unity of the Churcli.
His polemical writings were drawn from him by
these duties, and they wear the form and exhibit
the impress of this great doctrine with a severity and
truth which conflict with error seems alone to give.
The chief difficulty in using the testimony of
St. Augustin is, to know what to omit and what to
choose. I shall give only one or two passages
under this head, as we shall necessarily return to
his works hereafter. In his instructions to Cate-
chumens, he says, " All those things which we see
accomplished in the name of Christ in the Church
of God, and throughout the whole earth, were fore-
told before the world ; and as we read, so we see
them fulfilled, whereby we are built up in faith.
For once there was brought on the whole earth a
deluge, for the destruction of sinners ; and they who
escaped in the ark exhibited a type of the Church
which should be afterwards, which now floats upon
the waves of this world, and is saved from drowning
by the wood of Christ's cross. To Abraham, the
servant of God, one single man, it was foretold that
from him a people should be born, who should
worship the one God in the midst of the other
nations who worshipped idols ; and all tilings
which were foretold as happening to that people
came to pass as they were foretold. It was pro-
phesied also that of that people should come Christ,
the King and God of all saints, of the seed of

46 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

the same Abraham according to the flesh, which He
took upon him, that all who should imitate His
faith might be the children of Abraham ; and so it
was fulfilled. Christ was born of the Virgin Mary,
who was of that family. It was foretold by the
prophets that He should suffer on the cross at the
hands of the same people, of the Jews from whose
stock He came according to the flesh ; and so it was
fulfilled. It was foretold that He should rise again :
He rose, and according to the predictions of the
prophets ascended into Heaven, and sent the Holy
Ghost to His disciples. It was foretold not only by
the prophets, but also by our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, that His Church should be throughout the
whole world, spread abroad by the sufferings and
martyrdom of the saints. And it was foretold at a
time when as yet His name was unknown among
the Gentiles, and, when it was known, held in con-
tempt ; and yet, by the power of his miracles which
He wrought, both himself and by his servants,
while these things are announced and believed, we
see the prophecy even now fulfilled ; and the very
kings of the earth, who before persecuted the
Christians, now subjugated to the name of Christ.
It was foretold that schisms and heresies should go
forth out of the Church, and, under the name of
Christ, wheresoever thev can, seek their own and not
His glory ; and these things are fulfilled." ^

In another place he says, " The Church stands
' S. Aug. de Catech. Rudibus, 53.

CHAl'. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 47

forth glorious and visible to all; for it is a city built
on a hill which cannot be hid, by which Christ
reigns from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of
the earth, as the seed of Abraham multiplied like
the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea, in
whom all nations are blessed."'

" Hence it is that no man can fail to see the true
Church. Therefore the Lord himself said in the
Gospel, ' A city built on a hill cannot be hid.' " ^

One more quotation shall close this list. Theo-
doret, commenting on the forty-seventh Psalm, after
applying to the words, " The city of our God, even
upon His holy hill," the saying of our Lord that a
city built on a hill cannot be hid, goes on to say,
" There is one Church in all the earth and sea,
wherefore in our prayers we say (we pray) for the
holy and only Catholic and Apostolic Church, from
one end of the world to the other. But this
(Church) is further divided according to the cities,
and villages, and lands, which the prophetical lan-
guage calls habitations (^apei?). ^ ... As each city
has within it many several houses, but is neverthe-
less named one city, so are there ten thousand, yea
innumerable Churches, in the isles and on the con-
tinent ; but all in common make up one Church,
being united by the harmony of true doctrines." *

Enough has been now adduced to show that the

' S. Aug. Contra Crescon. Donat. lib. ii. 36.

^ Contra literas Petil. ii. '74. ^ Engl. Tr. "palaces."

* Theodoret in Psalm. 47.

48 THE UNITY OF TOE CHURCH. [pART I.

early Christian teacliers held and taught that the
one Church is the antitype of the ark, the family
of Abraham, the people of Israel descended from
the twelve patriarchs ; that it is the bride and the
body of Christ — a sole, definite, visible system,
easily distinguishable from all heretical and schis-
matical bodies ; and that in this primarily consists
the Unity of the Church.

This will be more manifest, if we consider for a
moment with how constant and unanimous a voice
the same Christian teachers declare that no heretics,
nor schismatics, are members of the one Church.
They maintained not only that gainsayers of the
Christian faith were cut off from the one body, but
also that they who, even though they held the
whole doctrine of Christianity in its soundness, yet
broke from the communion of the visible body,
were also excluded from the Church.

We may exhibit the mind of the early Christians
upon this point by referring to the works of St.
Cyprian and St. Augustin, who were respectively
engaged in reducing a schism atical congregation to
the Unity of the Church. It is to be observed that
in neither case was there any disputed point of
doctrine. The whole controversy turned upon a
breach which had been made in the Unity of the
Catholic Church.

In the case of St. Cyprian a schism had been
formed, both in the African Church and at Rome,
b^^ Felicissimus, who had been schismatically or-

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 49

dained deacon, and by Novatian, who claimed the
see of Rome against Cornelius. It was on this
occasion that St. Cyprian wrote his Treatise on the
Unity of the Church, in which he says, " Whoso-
ever is separate from the Church is joined to an
adulteress ; he is severed from the promises of the
Church ; he is an alien, a profane man, and an
enemy. He can no longer have God for his Father
who has not the Church for his mother. If any
one who was out of the ark of Noah could escape,
then he also that is not of the Church shall
escape." *

And again, in his letter to Antonianus, he says,
" As for Novatian himself, my dearest brother, con-
cerning whom you desired to hear what heresy he
had introduced, know in the first place that we
ought not even to be curious to inquire what his
teachino- is, forasmuch as he teaches out of the
Church. Whosoever and whatsoever any man may
be, he is no Christian who is not in Christ's Church.
Although he boast himself, and declaim with proud
words of his philosophy and eloquence, he that
does not hold to brotherly love, and the Unity
of the Church, has forfeited even what he was
before." '

In the same way, St. Augustin, writing of the
Donatists, says, " Christ is both the head and the
body : the only begotten Son of God is the Head ;

' S. Cyprian De Unitate Ecclesise.
* Ad Anton. Ep. Hi. ed. Ben

50 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

the body is His Church, the bridegroom and the
bride, two in one flesh. Whosoever agree not with
Holy Scripture, touching the Head, though they be
in all places where the Church is known, are not
in the Church ; and again, whosoever agree with
Holy Scripture, touching the Head, but communi-
cate not with the Unity of the Church, are not in
the Church, because they agree not concerning the
body of Christ, which is the Church, according to
the testimony of Christ himself. For instance, they
who do not believe that Christ came in the flesh of
the Virgin Mary, of the seed of David, which the
Scriptures of God declare most plainly, or that he
did not rise again in the body in which he was
crucified and buried, even though they should be
found in all lands wherever the Church is found,
they are therefore not in the Church, because they
do not hold the Head of the Church, which is Christ
Jesus ; and they are not deceived by any obscurity
of the Divine Scriptures, but they contradict the
most notorious and plainest testimonies. Also, who-
soever believe indeed that Christ Jesus came in the
flesh, as has been said, and rose again in the same
flesh in which he was born and suffered, and is
Himself the Son of God, God with God, and one
with the Father, the incommunicable Word of the
Father, by whom all things were made, but yet so
dissent from His body, which is the Church, that
they do not communicate with it as it is everywhere
spread abroad, and are foimd separated in some

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 51

particular spot, it is manifest that they are not in
the Catholic Church." ^

One more passage will bring this to a most exact
expression of the primitive doctrine.

St. Augustin, writing to Vincentius, says, " All
the sacraments of the Lord are derived from the
Catholic Church, which you still have and admi-
nister as they were wont to be held and given, even
before you went out (of the Church). It is not
that you therefore have not these things because
you are not there, whence the things you possess
are derived. We do not chan2:e those thines in
you wherein we are with you, for in many things
ye are with us : for of such persons it is said, ' that
in many things they were with me ;' " but we correct
those things in which you are not with us, and we
desire you to receive here those things which ye
have not where ye are : for ye are with us in Bap-
tism, in the Creed, in the other m3^steries of the
Lord ; but in the spirit of unity and the bond of
peace, above all, in the Catholic Church, ye are
not with us." ^

From these passages it is evident that the one
Church had a certain visible system of which they
that were separated from it did not partake; and tliat
this system, whatsoever it be, is that character to
which the types and shadows of the ark, the temple,
and the fold were held to refer. It was evidently

' De Unitate Eccl. c. iv. Tom. ix. ed. Ben.
' Psalm liv. 19; al. Iv. 18.
^ S. August, ad Vincent. Rogatist. Ep. xciii. xi. t. ii. 249.

52 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

something external and organic. We will examine
therefore what was that condition which determined
whether or no a man holding the faith and sacra-
ments, as the Donatists held them, Mere with-
in or withont the Church of Christ ; and with this
inquiry we will close the portion of the subject
which relates to the visible part of the one Church.

St. Augustin objects against the Donatists that
they had separated themselves from the Catholic
bishops: — "We may not assent to the teaching
even of the Catholic bishops, if at any time they
are deceived into opinions contrary to the canonical
Scriptures of God ; but if they should so fall into
error, and yet maintain the bond of unity and
charity, let the apostle's saying avail in their case :
' And if in anything ye are otherwise minded, God
shall reveal even this unto you.' Now these divine
words have so manifest an application to the whole
Church, that none but heretics in their stubborn
perverseness and blind fury can bark against
them." '

In like manner St. Cyprian : — " This unity we
ought firmly to hold and contend for, especially we
who are bishops, who preside in the Church, that
we may exhibit the episcopate also one and undi-
vided. . , . The episcopate is one of which each
holds in full a common share." ^

" Such an one is to be abhorred and avoided,
being separated from the Church. Such an one is
pei'verse, and sinneth, and is condemned of him-
' De Unitate Eccl. 29. * S. Cyprian, de Unit. Eccl.

CHAP. II. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 53

self. Does he think himself to be with Christ, who
sets himself against the priests of Christ — who
severs himself from the fellowship of His clergy and
people ? He bears arms against the Church, and
strives against the dispensation of God, being an
enemy of the altar, a rebel against the sacrifice of
Christ, for faith perfidious, for religion sacrilegious,
a disobedient servant, an impious son, an hostile
brother, despising the bishops and forsaking the
priests of God, he dares to set up another altar." ^

And in the letter to Antonianus, before quoted,
he says of Novatian : — " There being one Church
founded by Christ, divided into many members
throughout the world, also one Episcopate spread
abroad in the accordant multitude of many bishops,
he, after this tradition of God, after the connecting
and joining together in all places of the Unity of
the Catholic Church, endeavours to set up a human
Church, and sends these new apostles of his into
many cities, to establish the new foundations of his
institution ; and seeing that there are in all pro-
vinces, and in every several city, bishops already
constituted, ancient in age, in faith perfect, in straits
approved, in persecution proscribed, he has the
hardihood to erect other mock-bishops over them,
as if he could traverse the whole world in the stub-
bornness of his new attempt, or break up the com-
pactness of the ecclesiastical body by the sowing of
his discord." ^

' S. Cyprian, de Unit. Ecclesise.
* Ad Anton. Ep. lii. ed. Ben.

54 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

And in bis answer to Cornelius concerning the
offences of Novatian, St. Cyprian says, that after
making a schism at Carthage he went to Rome, and
strove to do the same : " Severing a portion of the
people from the clergy, and cutting asunder the con-
cord of a firmly-united, mutually-attached brother-
hood He who in one place had made a deacon

in opposition to the Church, in the other made a

bishop They cannot remain in the Church of

God who do not maintain the discipline ordained
by God and the Church, by the tenor of their
actions, and the peaceableness of their disposi-
tions."^

And a little afterwards : — " He that is not planted
in the precepts and counsels of God the Father, he
only can depart from the Church ; he only, after
forsaking the bishops, persists in his madness among
heretics and schismatics."^

In exactly the same sense, St. Ignatius writes to
the Philadelphians : — "Do not err, my brethren.
If any man follow a schismatic, he shall not inherit
the kingdom of God. . . . Take good heed then to
partake of one Eucharist : for there is one flesh of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup for the uniting
us in his blood, one altar ; as also there is one
Bishop with the presbyters and deacons, my fellow-
servants." ^

Also, in his epistle to the Trallians, he says : —
" In like manner, let all reverence the deacons, as

' Ad Cornel. Ep. xlix. ed. Ben.^ * Ibid.

" S. Ignat. ad Philad.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 55

also the bishops, as Jesus Christ, who is the Son of
the Father ; and the presbyters as the Council of
God, and as the bond of the apostles : apart from
these the name of Church is not," ^ And " He
that does anything without the bishop, and presby-
tery, and deacon is not of a pure conscience." ^

With one passage to the same effect from St.
Irenseus, we will conclude this head : — " Where-
fore," he says, " we must obey those who are in
the Church : the presbyters, who have succession
from the apostles, as we have shown, who, together
with the succession of the Episcopate, received the
sure gift of truth according to the good pleasure
of the Father; but others who withdraw from the
chief succession, and assemble in any place, we
ought to hold in suspicion, either as heretics and of
evil opinions, or as schismatical through pride, and
self-pleasing ; or, again, as hypocrites who do it
for the sake of gain or vain-glory. All these have
fallen from the truth. The heretics, indeed, bring-
ing strange fire to the altar of God — that is, strange
doctrines — shall be consumed by fire from heaven,
as Nadab and Abihu ; and they that rise up against
the truth, and stir up others against the Church of
God, shall abide in the pit, swallowed by the yawn-
ing of the earth, as Corah, Dathan, and Abi-
rain with their followers ; but they who rend and
sever the Unity of the Church shall receive from
God the same punishment as Jeroboam." ^
' S. 1 gnat, ad Trail. Mbid. ' S. Iren. adv. Haer. lib. iv. 26,

56 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

From these passages, especially from the last
sentence of that now quoted, it is evident that the
sin of schism consisted in separating from the di-
vinely-ordained priesthood and polity of the Church,
and in usurping the power to constitute a new
priesthood and polity, beside the one Church of
Christ; and in this consists the visible unity of the
one body, that it had throughout the world a
visible system governed by rulers ordained of God.
The universal college of Catholic bishops, with
their several flocks (plebs pasto/'i adunatd), made up
the Church of Christ, and the one fold of the one
Pastor.

The question whether or no any man were in that
one fold they looked on as equivalent to the ques-
tion whether or no he were subject to the Catholic
pastors, and in communion with their flock.

We have now examined the chief points relating
to that part of the one Church which was visible in
the world ; and the reader will judge whether or
no, in the following summary, the mind of the
Christian writers whose works we have quoted be
fairly represented.

They held and taught that there is in the world
one visible body, which is the Church,

That its oneness consists in having; one origin :
one object in faith, one succession and polity, and
one Head, which is Christ. This may be called its
organic oneness.

That, further, it is one in the spiritual graces of

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 57

peace, charity, submission to spiritual guides, and
in brotherly communion among the pastors and
members of the flock. This may be called its moral
oneness.

We have now to examine the teaching of tlie
early Christians respecting that portion of the one
Church which is invisible. They believed in the
personal oneness of the whole body, and taught that
the visibleness or invisibleness of its parts was an
accident. This we see at once from the answer of
St. Augustin to the Donatists, who charged the
Catholics with making two Churches, because they
taught that the visible Church is imperfect, the in-
visible perfect in holiness. " The Catholics," he
says, " refuted this calumny about the two
Churches, at the same time showing more dis-
tinctly their meaning, namely, that they did not
hold that the Church which has a mixture of evil
men in it is severed from the kingdom of God,
where evil men sliall not be mingled, but that the
very same one holy Church is now under one
condition and shall hereafter be under another :
that it now has a mixture of evil men, and then
shall not liave any : as it is now mortal, because
made up of mortal men, but shall then be immor-
tal, because there shall be in it no one who can any
more die even in the body ; just as there were not
therefore two Christs, because first he died, and
afterwards dieth no more."^ But in this invisible

' S. Aug. Brevic. Cull, cum Doiiiitist. c. x. torn. ix. ed. Ben.

58 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

portion of the one Cliurcli they taught that as
there were gathered in one the saints of all nations,
so there were the saints of all dispensations and times.

This we will go on to show, as before, by cita-
tions.

The first we may adduce is from the Shepherd
of Hermas. The allegorical form of this work, if
it take from its weight as an exact exposition of
doctrine, is, for the same reason, more favourable
as giving opportunity for a full exhibition of the
writer's belief.

After adumbrating the Church as a tower built
upon the water, he adds, " Hear now also concern-
ing the stones that are in the building. The square
and white stones, which agree exactly in their
joints, are the apostles, and bishops, and doctors,
and ministers, who through the merc}^ of God have
come in and governed, and taught, and ministered
holily and modestly to the elect of God ; both they
who are fallen asleep and they who yet remain, who
have always agreed with them, and have had peace
among themselves, and have obeyed each other.
For which cause their joints exactly meet together
in the building of the tower. They which are
drawn out of the deep and put into the building,
and whose joints agree with the other stones which
are already built, are those which are already fallen
asleep, and have suffered for the sake of the Lord's

name." ^

' S. Hermse, Vis. iii. s. 5.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 59

And in his ninth Simihtude he says, " What are
these stones which were taken out of the deep and
fitted into the building ? The ten, said he, which
were placed at the foundation are the first age, the
following five-and-twenty the second, of righteous
men. The next thirty-five are the prophets and
ministers of the Loi'd ; and the forty are the apos-
tles and doctors of the preaching of the Son of
God." ^ And a little after : " And I said, Sir,
show me this farther. He answered, What dost
thou ask ? Why did these stones come out of the
deep, and were placed into the building of this
tower, seeing that they long ago carried those
holy spirits? It was necessary, said he, for them
to ascend by water, that they might be at rest ;
for they could not otherwise enter the kingdom of
God but by laying aside the mortality of their
former life. They therefore being dead were ne-
vertheless sealed with the seal of the Son of God,
and so entered into the kingdom of God. For be-
fore a man receives the name of the Son of God,
he is ordained unto death ; but when he receives
that seal, he is freed from death and assigned unto
life. Now, that seal is the water of baptism, into
which men go down under the obligation unto
death, but come up appointed unto life. Where-
fore to those also was this seal preached, and they
made use of it, that they might enter into the king-
dom of God. And I said. Why, then. Sir, did
' S. Hermse Simil. ix. s. 15.

60 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

these forty stones also ascend with them out of the
deep, having ah'eady received that seal ? He an-
swered, Because these apostles and teachers, who
preached the name of the Son of God, dying after
they had received his faith and power, preached to
those who were dead before, and they gave this
seal to them. They v/ent down, therefore, into the
water with them and again came up. But these
went down whilst they were alive, and came up
again alive : whereas those who were before dead
went down dead, but came up alive. Through
tliese, therefore, they received life, and knew the
Son of God. For which cause they came up with
them, and were fit to come into the building of the
tower ; and were not cut, but put in entire, because
they died in righteousness, and in great purity,
only this seal was wanting to them."^

St. Clement, in his Epistle to the Corinthians,
says, " Let us look stedfastly unto the blood of
Christ, and see how precious unto God is his blood
which was shed for our salvation, and hath brought
to the whole world the grace of repentance. Let
us stedfastly look at all generations, and learn that
from generation to generation 'the Lord hath given
a place of repentance to those that rurned to Him.
Noah preached repentance, and those that heard
him were saved. Jonah preached conversion to the
Ninevites, and they that repented of their sins
turned away the wrath of God by their prayers
' S. Hermse Simil. ix. 16. vid. S. Clem. Alex. Strom, ii. 9. 452.

CHAP, n.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 61

and were saved, although they were aliens from
God." '

St. Irenseus, speaking of Abraham, teaches that
he was a type of both testaments : " that he might
become the father of all who follow the word of
God and endure the pilgrimage of this world, that
is, of all who are faithful both from the circum-
cision and uncircumcision ; as Christ is the chief
corner-stone which upholds all things, and gathers
together into the one faith of Abraham those who
in both Testaments are fit for the building of
God." '

The same we have already seen in Clement of
Alexandria ^ and Nicetas. *

But the most explicit declarations of this view
are to be found in the works of St. Augustin.
After speaking of the book of Job, he adds, " I do
not doubt tliat this was divinely provided, that by
this one proof we might know that there may be
even among other nations those who walked with
God, and pleased him, and belong to the spiritual
Jerusalem, which we can believe was conceded to
no one but to those to whom had been divinely re-
vealed the one mediator between God and man,
the man Christ Jesus, who to the saints of old was
foretold as to come, even as he is declared to us as
come already, that one and the same faith through

' S. Clem, ad Cor., Ep. i. 7.

^ S. Irenseus, adv. Hser. lib. iv. xxv.

' S. Clem. Alex. torn. ii. 899. " S. Nicetae 0pp. 43.

62 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

Him might lead all the predestinate into the city of
God, the house of God, the temple of God." ^

In another place, also, speaking of the saints be-
fore Christ's coming, he says, they " were citizens
of that holy city," and " were members of Christ's
Church although they lived before Christ our Lord
was born in the flesh. For He the only begotten
Son of God, the Word of His Father, equal and
co-eternal with the Father, by whom all things
were made, was made man for us, that He might be
the head of the whole Church as of the whole body.
So all the saints who were on earth before the na-
tivity of our Lord Jesus Christ, although born
beforehand, yet were united under their head to
that universal body of which He is the head."^

" The l)ody of this head is the Church, not that
which is in this place, but both in this place and in all
the world ; not that which is at this time, but from
Abel to those who shall be born even unto the end,
and shall believe in Christ : the whole people of
the saints belong to one city, which city is the body
of Christ, of whicli Christ is head. Thus also the
angels are our fellow-citizens : only, as stran2"ers,
far from home, we are toiling; while they in the
city await our coming. And from that city, from
which we are absent far off, letters have come to
us, which are the Scriptures, &c." ^

And again, speaking of Canaan, he says, "There

' De Civ. Dei, lib. xviii. 47. torn. vi. ed. Ben.
^ De Catech. rud. 33. torn. vii.
^ Enairatio in Ps. xc. Sermo. 2.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 63

was built Jerusalem, the illustrious city of God,
which served as a sign of the city which is free,
which is called the Heavenly Jerusalem. Of
which all sanctified men who ever were, who are,
and who shall be, are citizens, and every holy
spirit, even they that in the highest heavens obey
God with pious devotion. Of this city the Lord
Jesus Christ is king ; the Word of God by whom
the highest angels are ruled ; the Word that took
man's nature, that men also might be ruled by
Him, who shall also reign with Him in everlasting
peace." ^

And in another place, " The temple of God, that
is of the whole highest Trinity, is the Holy Church,
namely, the Universal Church in Heaven and
earth." ^ " This Church, therefore, which is made
up of the holy angels and powers of God, will then
become known to us as it really is, when we are
finally joined to it to enjoy together with it ever-
lasting bliss. But that Church which is afar off
from it in its pilgrimage on earth, is by so much
the more known to us, for that we are in it ; and it
is made up of men, which also we are. This
Church is redeemed from all sin by the blood of
the Mediator, who is witliout sin. Christ did not,
indeed, die for the angels ; and yet even the angels
are partakers of this mystery, when any portion
soever of mankind is redeemed and delivered from

' S. Aug. de Catech. rud. 36. Conf. Enarr. in Psalm xxxvi. v.
Serm. 3.

* Enchiridion de Fide Spe et Caritate, c. Ivi. torn. vi. 218.

64 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. (_PART I.

evil by His death. Since, in a certain sense, man-
kind returns to favour with them, after the enmity
which sin wrought between men and the holy
angels ; and by the same redemption of man the fall
of the angels is restored ; and the holy angels being
taught of God, by the eternal contemplation of
whose truth they are blessed, know what number of
the family of man the perfection of that city waits
for to fulfil its complement. Wherefore the Apostle
says, ' to restore all things in Christ, which are in
Heaven and which are in earth, even in Him.' For
the things in Heaven are restored when the fall of
angels is restored from among mankind ; and things
in earth are restored when men who are predesti-
nated to eternal life are renewed from the oldness
of corruption. And thus by that one sacrifice in
which the Mediator was slain, which one sacrifice
the many victims in the law figured forth, heavenly
things were reconciled with earthly, and earthly
with heavenly. As also, the Apostle says, ' It
pleased Him that in Him should all fullness
dwell ; and by Him to reconcile all things to
Himself, making peace by the blood of His
cross, whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven.' " ^

I will add only one more passage : " Let no man
be deceived. Even the things in Heaven, and the
glory of the angels, and the principalities visible
and invisible, unless they believe in the blood of

' Encliirid. de Fide, &c. c Ixi.

CHAP, II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 65

Christ, shall be brought into judgment. He that
can receive it let him receive it." ^

From these passages it is evident that they
believed the saints of all ages to be members of the
one Church, and that they who fell asleep before
Christ's coming were engrafted into it by some
mysterious action in the invisible world. ~ All holy
angels, and all spirits of just men made perfect,
under Christ their Head, made up the unseen por-
tion of the one Church. And of this we have very
full and striking evidence in two primitive usages.
The first being the commemoration and commenda-
tion of the departed faithful, which in all Liturgies,
as in those ascribed to St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, St.
Gregory, and to the Apostles, runs nearly in the
same form. In the suffrages for the whole Catholic
Church they -were ever wont to testify the oneness
of the visible and invisible parts, saying, " Further,
O Lord, vouchsafe to remember them also who,
from the beginning of the world, have pleased thee,
the holy fathers, patriarchs, apostles, prophets,
preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, and
every just spirit made perfect in the faith of
Christ." '

The other usage to which I refer shows that they
believed the visible part to have not only union, but
communion of energy and worship with the part in-

' S. I gnat, ad Smyrneeos.

* S. Cyril. Hier. Cat. xiii. 31, and S. Hermas, ut supra, p. 59.

^ Liturg. S. Basil. 0pp. torn. ii. p. 680.

66 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

visible. In the same Eucharistical office was always
used the Seraphic Hymn or Trisagium, in which the
earthly and heavenly Church were believed to join.
The following passages will represent the common
faith of the early teachers on this point. Speaking
of this hymn, St. Chrysostom says, " Know ye this
voice ? Whether is it ours or the seraphims' ? Both
ours and the seraphims' through Christ, who hath
taken away the middle wall of partition, and recon-
ciled things in Heaven and things in earth, making
both one. For aforetime this hymn was sung in
Heaven alone ; but when the Lord vouchsafed to
come down on earth he brought down to us also
this melody. Wherefore the chief priest (i. e. the
Bisliop), when he stands at the holy table, offering
the reasonable service, and making oblation of the
unbloody sacrifice, does not merely call us to this
chant, but after naming the cherubim and seraphim,
then exhorts every one to send forth this awful
song, drawing our thoughts from the earth by the re-
membrance of those that chant with us, and almost
crying to each of us and saying, ' Thou singest
with the seraphim, stand then with the seraphim,
spread thy wings with them, with them hover
round the royal throne.' " ^ They believed that the
acts of homage and adoration offered by the visible
were * assisted by the invisible members of the
Church ; that they bore a part in all the ghostly
energies of that body of which the Church mili-
' S. Chrys. Horn. vi. in Esai. t. iii. 890.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 67

tant is the lower portion, and Christ the common
Head.

It would be very easy to multiply, to an indefinite
extent, passages which bear upon the points under
consideration. But knowing how irksome it is to
read over a series of quotations, I have endeavoured
to make them as few as possible. With this view
I have used the best judgment I was able in select-
ing such as seemed clear enough to exhibit the
mind of the early Church.

Once more, let me remind the reader that the
only point in which he need as yet apply his criti-
cal skill is, whether or no the following summary
be a fair and exact representation of the sense of
the writers here adduced.

It would seem that they believed the one Church
to consist of the body of faithful of all nations
and of all ages, gathered under Christ their Head ;
and that of this body there are two parts, one
visible and one invisible, between which there
nevertheless subsists the most strict and energetic
personal union : that the invisible part is perfect
and admitted into the fellowship of angels ; and the
visible imperfect, having in it a mixture of evil
men, and that its unity is twofold, organic in its
origin and polity, and moral in peace and charity ;
the visible mark or character of unity being com-
munion with pastors deriving lawful succession
from the Apostles of Christ.

68 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, [PART I.

CHAPTER III.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH AS TAUGHT IN HOLY

SCRIPTURE.

Hitherto I have attempted only to ascertain in
what sense the doctrine of the Unity of the Church
was held in the first ages. If I have faithfully
exhibited the mind of the early teachers of Christ's
Gospel, I have fulfilled the work I undertook.
Whether that doctrine which has been exhibited be
true or not is a further question, on which I have
as yet made no assertion. Henceforward I shall
endeavour to show by a course of direct argument
what is the doctrine of Unity as revealed by Jesus
Christ. If the conclusion to which our reasoning
may ultimately lead us should be found to coin-
cide with the doctrine stated in the last chapter, it
will of course amount to an independent proof that
the same doctrine is true. I say independent ; for
it must always be borne in mind that, even though
the arguments of this present chapter should appear
inconclusive, the statements in the last constitute

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, 69

a distinct and separate fact, which, if supposed to be
untrue, must be explained away or accounted for.

I will, however, assert nothing upon the witness of
the early Church. I will not as yet use it even for
the enunciation of our present argument. But, as
we have ascertained by detailed examination what
was the doctrine of Unity taught by the uninspired
writers, we will now follow exactly the same course
with the inspired teachers of the Church. The
whole of this chapter, therefore, will rest upon the
canonical books of Scripture.

That the Unity of the Church in some sense
is a doctrine of Holy Scripture every Christian man
admits. So far there is no controversy. In what
sense this Unity is to be believed, whether as wholly
visible and outward, or wholly inward and invisible,
or in a mixed, various, and changeable shape — this
is the only dispute. It is plain, therefore, that if the
text of Holy Scripture can be variously interpreted,
every man will claim its witness for himself, as every
several man believes the eye of a picture to be
fixed on him alone. But it is obvious that to call
any proposition alleged from Scripture a proof
from Scripture, until it is first proved to be the
right sense of Scripture, is only to beg the ques-
tion at every step. The point at issue is plainly this:
of many apparent senses of Scripture, which is the
true ? He that has it has Scripture on his side,
and he only.

I am aware, therefore, that in professing to derive

70 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

the proof of this chapter from Holy Scripture, I lay
myself open to the preliminary objection, that the
words of Scripture are not proof from Scripture till I
have proved that they are adduced according to the
mind and intention of the writer. This, therefore,
is the real point. Every thoughtful man will admit
that although, in the manifold wisdom of God, His
Word may have, as it were, many sides, and every
saying of it many aspects, yet it can only be so as
any perfect though complex figure may have a
multitude of harmonizing lines, with an absolute
unity. It savours, therefore, rather of shallowness and
incoherence to hear men say that Holy Scripture
has passages of a discrepant and various kind. God
cannot belie himself. In the Divine mind all the
ideas of eternal truth lie in perfect harmony ; and
all their reflections on the page ofy Hoi Writ are
likewise of one accord. Scattered and divergent
as they may seem to our eyes, there is a point of
sight at which we shall see them all rise and blend
into the oneness and harmony of light.

Many, therefore, as may be the apparent senses of
Scripture, there can be but one true sense. Many
as may be the apparent arguments and deductions
from these apparent senses, there can be but one
true argument and conclusion from Holy Writ.
And this we will endeavour to ascertain in the
article of the Unity of the Church.

I shall, therefore, on every point, first adduce
the words of Scripture.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 71

Next, in the event of doubt as to the right inter-
pretation of any passage, I shall adduce such other
passages of Holy Scripture as may determine its
sense.

And, lastly, should the interpretation be still
doubtful, I shall ascertain in what sense the early
uninspired writers of the Church received it. I
shall use them, therefore, not as primary, but as
corroborating witnesses, and shall leave for candid
minds to estimate the relative weight of interpreta-
tions, of which the one shall have the authority of
some few, and those modern teachers, or it may be
only of an individual mind, and the other the assent
and corroboration of Christians from the earliest
traceable antiquity. Of such an interpretation, if we
may not at once assert that it must be right, we may
at least believe that it is in harmony with the Catho-
lic faith, and may be, as it has been, held without
blame by the most devoted servants of God.

Ever since the fall of man there has been in the
world a fellowship of God's faithful servants. In
the universal sinfulness of mankind, before the
flood, there was one family, which still clave to God.
In the second declension from God, which followed
after the flood, there was yet a remnant. When
chosen by the free grace of God, and called out of the
midst of an idolatrous land and kindred, the familv
of Abraham alone was found faithful. When this
family had grown into a tribe, and from a tribe into
a nation, God was pleased to superadd the tokens and

72 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I

signatures of a visible polity and priesthood. Thence-
forward Israel was among nations a " kingdom of
priests," a visible witness for God. After the various
fortunes of fifteen hundred years, through which the
visible national identity of Israel was preserved by
the Divine Providence, God was pleased to continue
the same visible witness of Himself in the Church
of Christ. The Jewish Church was a typical
Church so far as it was Jewish, that ir, the national
Israel was a figure of the spiritual, of " the Israel of
God ;" but it was a real Church in so far as it was
the stock on which the Catholic Church of Christ
was grafted. It is probable, therefore, that from
the time of Noah, supposing a visible line from
Noah to Abraham, and certain that from the time
of Abraham, there has been in the world one, and
one only body, a family, a nation, a Catholic
fellowship, which, through the knowledge of God
revealed to it alone, has fulfilled the ofiice ascribed
to it by St. Peter. " Ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a peculiar people, a holy nation,
to show forth the praises of Him that hath called
you out of darkness into his marvellous light."

At this day there is in the world a great visible
witness for God, namely, the whole of Christendom,
There are not two Christendoms, but one only ; and
in it alone is to be found the true knowledge of
God revealed to mankind by His Son Jesus Christ.
In this sense of Unity, which is plainly deducible
from vScripture, all will readily agree.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 73

We may remark further, that as this visible
body has had three distinct stages or phases of
development, the patriarchal, the national, and the
Catholic, so under each several condition it has
borne a distinct and visible character.

It has always been constituted as a society, of
which the two main conditions were subordination
and charity, the two main relations of sonship and
brotherhood. This was the structure of the patri-
archal family, of which there was always one head
by devolution of the right of primogeniture, and one
body of many members. Towards this head was
the duty of subordination as of sons to a father, and
towards the members of the body, of charity as of
brethren one to another.

But when this family multiplied into a nation
this organised system was more strongly developed.
The bonds of relation by kindred were so lengthened
out as to lose in the closeness of their hold, there-
fore God strengthened them by a direct institution.
A stronger hand was needed to wield a nation than
a family. For a people of twelve tribes, a more
visible structure and a more consolidated polity
was needful. And at this time we find a lawgiver
and a priest ordained by God himself, the one to
be for ever represented by the succession of the
priesthood, the other by the judges and the kings.

The civil and sacerdotal polity of the Jewish
nation is so legible in every part of Holy Writ, that
no one has ever called it into doubt : the only ques-

74 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

tion that can be raised is, whether that poHty was
an economy to meet the temjDorary condition of a
particular jDcople, or an institution of Divine wis-
dom necessary to the well-being of mankind, and
therefore designed to continue in the Christian
Church through all ages, to the end of the world.

And, first, it will be well to remark on the nature
of the chief types by which the Catholic Church
was foreshadowed. The earliest is the ark of Noah ;
the most visible, the family of Abraham and the
nation of Israel. In both these we see not more
the character of unity than of structure and organi-
sation. The ark was built by the express and detailed
instruction of God : the distinctive features of the
Jewish economy were of divine institution, from the
seal of the Covenant given to Abraham, to the
pattern shown to Moses in the Mount.

It is plain, then, that part of the moral instruction
of these tj^pes was to foreshadow a coming mystery,
the prominent character of which should be a struc-
ture and an organisation instituted by God him-
self.

The same may be traced in the language of the
prophets : as where Daniel passes from the four
visible empires to a fifth, which is the visible King-
dom of God ; where Isaiah foretells the peace of the
Church under the image of a city built of precious
stones; in the whole implied meaning of the
words, " Behold I lay in Sion, for a foundation, a
stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 75

foundation;"^ and in the head stone, which in
due time should be brought forth with shouting. ^
All these foreshadow a structure or polity.

Other types (such as the stone which grew into a
great mountain, in the vision seen by Daniel, and
the figurative language of the Psalms and Song of
Songs, where the Church is spoken of as the
beloved and the bride) are designed to express
Unity, together with some characteristic attribute,
such as growth and extension, or purity and intense
cleaving of love to Christ the Spouse. But as these
bring out each one some peculiar property of the
Churcli, so do the ark and the people of Israel and
the like bespeak an organised system.

We may add to these the parables of our Lord,

in which the Church is everywhere typified as

one organised body : as for instance, those in

which He likened the Kingdom of Heaven to

an household, to a net, to a grain of mustard

seed, to a vine. In all these continuity of parts

and unity of structure are distinctly adumbrated.

To the same effect also are our Lord's words,

when He applied to Himself the prophecy of the

stone which the builder refused ; and when He said

to Simon, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock

will I build my Church." All these things would

prepare us for some visible organised system

instituted by God as the fulfilment of the types, and

ordained in the stead of His former economies.

' Isaiah xxviii. 16. * Zecli. iv. 7.

76 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART I.

Now if we examine Holy Scripture simply as an
authentic historical document, in which the begin-
nings of the Church are narrated, we shall find, —

First, that by the baptism of St. John Baptist a
body of people was gathered togetlier for the service
of the Messiah. What the circumcision of Abraham
was to the Mosaic polity the baptism of St. John
was to the Church of Christ. Next, by the baptism
in the name of Christ, the first fou.idations of the
Church were laid. " Then they that gladly received
his (Peter's) word were baptized ; and the same day
there were added unto them about three thousand

souls And they continued steadfastly in the

Apostle's doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking
of bread, and in prayers. And the Lord added to
the Church daily such as should be saved." ^ This
is the first time we read of the Church as a body
already in being. Our Lord had plainly spoken of
it in His benediction to St. Peter, ^ but He spoke of
it in promise and in prophecy. As yet it did not
exist. But in the book of Acts we find His words
rising up into a reality. The Church had passed
into being. The faithful remnant were knit into one
body, compacted by one faith and one common bond
of baptism into Christ. And thenceforward the
Church is spoken of as a phenomenon well known,
and as a body conspicuously visible. It was a com-
munity existing in Jerusalem, and worshipping in
the temple ; and yet so distinct from the polity and

' Acts ii. 41, 42, 47. * St. Matth. xvi. 18 ; xviii. 17.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 77

system of the Jews, as to admit its members by a
formal seal of initiation in the Name of God. The
Apostles baptized out of God's elder system into the
new. From this time we find persecution aris-
ing against " the Church ;" Saul making havock of
" the Church ;" prayer being made for Peter by " the
Church ;" Herod vexing certain of " the Church." ^

And, again, we read of the Apostles ordaining
elders in every Church ; of the Churches through-
out all Judea having rest ; of Paul going through-
out Syria confirming the Churches ; of the Churches
being established in the faith. And throughout
the New Testament Scripture, in more than a
hundred places, '* the Church " is in like manner
spoken of.

It is plain that this refers to some one visible
organized sytem, having unity in plurality, and
being therefore spoken of as existing at one and the
same time, in one and in many places. And there-
fore the Apostolic Epistles bear the name and
address of each several Church, and to the Cliurch in
each several place ; and the Church is spoken of
as in the house of Chloe, or of Gains, of Philemon,
and Nymphas, and the like. But this is enough
to show that by " the Cliurch " was intended some
newly developed system, whicli at that time began
to take the place of God's previous economies, and
to overspread both Judea and the countries round
about. Thus far we have evidence rather of the
fact, that such a system was then founded, than of

' Acts viii. 1, 3; xii. 1, 5.

78 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

the kind and nature of the system itself. We see
that it was a visible substantive body, united by
symbolical bonds, and differenced from all other
communities partly by the rejection of their respec-
tive characteristics, and partly by the peculiar
nature of its own.

We will now examine what the inspired writers
tauo'ht concernino; the nature of the Church.

They explain its nature chiefly by the use of two
metaphors — a building and a body.

St. Paul draws a direct parallel between the
Church of the Jews and the Church of Christians.
" Every house is builded by some man, but He that
built all things is God. And Moses verily was
faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony
of those things which were to be spoken after. But
Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house
are we."^ As he says to the Corinthians, "Ye are
God's building ;"" and again, " Know ye not that
ye are the temple of God ;" ^ and " the temple of
God is holy, which temple ye are." ^ " Your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost." ^ " Ye are the
temple of the living God." ^ " Unto whom com-
ing," says St. Peter, " as unto a living stone, dis-
allowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and
precious. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up
a spiritual house." ' Again St. Paul says, " Ye are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens

' Heb. iii. 4, 5, 6. M Cor. iii. 9. ^ I Cor. iii. 16.

* 1 Cor. iii. 17. ' 1 Cor. vi. 19.

* 2 Cor. vi. 16. ' 1 St. Pet. ii. 4, .5.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 79

with the saints, and of the household of God, and
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
corner stone, in whom all the building, fitly framed
together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord :
in whom ye also are builded together from habita-
tion of God through the Spirit." ^

In these passages St. Paul and St. Peter teach
us that what the temple in Jerusalem was to the
Divine presence which dwelt in it, the fellowship
of Christians is now to the indwelling presence of
the Holy Ghost.

The Jewish temple was a type, being a structure
of dead matter made with hands ; the Church of
Christ the antitype, being an aggregation of living
and spiritual natures gathered into one, and held
together in the same relation to Christ, the head
corner-stone.

It is unnecessary to raise a question whether or
no from this passage the visible Unity of the
Church is to be proved, although it would seem
that a congregation of living men is as visible an
object as a pile of lifeless stones. Let us take only
what all admit. Let us say that these passages
prove only the spiritual and invisible Unity of the
Church. Now no man can deny that the type of a
building or temple shadows forth the properties
of structure, and mutual relation of parts, and
therefore of order and combination on some com-

' Ephes. ii. 19, 22.

80 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART I.

mon principle no less than of unity. Nay, I think,
candid reasoners will admit these to be the chief
and prominent ideas expressed by the analogy.
However, for our present argument, it is enough
that these be admitted as features in the prophetic
types and in the language of the Apostles.

The other figure commonly used by St. Paul to
express the nature of Christ's Church, is that of a
body.

To the Ephesians he says, that God " hath put
all things under His feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the Church, which is His
body, the fullness of Him that hlleth all in all." *
And to the Colossians, " He is the head of the body,
the Church ;" ^ and a little afterwards, " holding
the head, from which all the body by joints and
bands having nourishment ministered, and knit
together, increaseth with the increase of God."^
" We being many are one body in Christ."^ " As
the body is one, and hath many members, and all
the members of that one body, being many, are one
body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we are
all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have
been all made to drink into one Spirit." ^ " Ye are
the body of Christ and members in particular."*
To the Ephesians, he says, " I therefore, the prisoner

' Ephes. i. 22, 23. * Coloss. i. 18 and 20 ; and iii. 15.
Coloss. ii. 19. ■* Rom. xii. 4.

" 1 Cor. xiv. 12, 13. ' 1 Cor. xiv. 27.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 61

of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness
and meekness, with long suffering-, forbearing one
another in love, endeavouring to keep the Unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body
and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of
your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
God and Father of all, who is above all, and
through all, and in you all. But unto every one
of us is given grace according to the measure of
the gift of Christ. Wherefore, he saith, when he
ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and

gave gifts unto men And he gave

some apostles and some prophets, and some evan-
gelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the per-
fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all
come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ ;
that we henceforth be no more children tossed to
and fro, and carried about with every wind of doc-
trine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive ; but, speaking
the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all
things, which is the Head, even Christ ; from
whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
according to the effectual working in the measure
of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the

82 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PAKT I.

edifying of itself in love." ' So to the Romans he
says, " As we have many members in one body, and
all members have not the same office, so we being
many are one body in Christ ; and every one mem-
bers one of another." " And carrying out the same
idea, he says to the Corinthians, that there are
diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations ;
the manifestation of the Spirit being given to each
man severally for his respective ministry in the
edifying of the one body. " God hath set some in
the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets,
thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of
healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
Are all apostles ? Are all prophets V ^ — all parts of
the body being thus tempered together with a mani-
fold and various endowment of powers and func-
tions, distributed to each several member for the
interchange of service and reciprocal ministry, and
for the ultimate well-being of the whole.

In these passages, and in many more, St. Paul
shadows forth the Church under the figure of a
body, and then raises the figure into a reality, so
that the example or argument passes by a sort of
transfiguration into the mystery of Christ's mystical
body, as when he says, " We are members of His
body, of His flesh, and of His bones." " And to this
transcendent communion he likens the unity of hol}^
wedlock. " For this cause shall a man leave his

' Ephes. iv. 1 — 16. * Rom. xii. 4, 5.

' 1 Cor. xiv. 28, 29. * Ephes. v. 30.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 83

father and mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a
great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and his
Church." ' From all this, I say, it is most evident
that St. Paul intends to express not more the Unity
of Christ's body than the organic structure of the
Church.

But in these last passages we have arrived at a
further truth, namely, that the ministry is of Divine
origin and authority. St. Paul ascribes the office
of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, &c.,
to a direct institution of the Holy Spirit. This
great fact runs through the whole inspired docu-
ment. First, we rend that Christ Himself consti-
tuted twelve to be his Apostles ; next, that they by
a deliberate action and purpose filled in the place
of Judas with a successor to his apostolic powers ;
then that they ordained elders in every Church.
We find St. Paul giving cliarge to the elders of the
Asiatic Churches to feed the flock of God, over
which the Hoh Ghost had made them overseers :
we find him laying hands on Timothy, and consti-
tuting Titus to the oversight of Crete, and in-
structing them in their spiritual government of
the Church, and providing for the multiplication
and succession of pastors. If the ministry be
not of Divine origin, then surely nothing can be.
Neither Baptism nor the Eucharist has more,
and more self-evident proofs of being instituted

' Ephes. V. 31, 32.

G 2

84 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

by the act and continued by the will of Christ and
of God.

But besides this we learn from the passages above
cited, that the ministry of the Church was divinely
appointed to be as it were the spinal chord of the
whole body. It is the very condition of structure
and organisation, and the divinely ordained means
of growth and unity of life. I raise no question
here as to the form and aspect of the polity of the
Church, and speak only of the Succession of pastors
deriving power from the Apostles of Christ. That
this is the differentia of the one Church as com-
pared with other congregations of men is evident,
as we may read in Holy Scripture. We have seen
that the Church "continued steadfastly in the
Apostles' fellowship." We read of nascent schisms
in the Churches of Galatia and Corinth, which
were formed by the congregating of unstable men
round teachers who professed to be Apostles of
Christ. The Church of Ephesus was commended
for trying them which said they were Apostles,
and were not, and finding them to be liars. ^ St.
Peter also writes, " There were false prophets also
among the people, even as there shall be false
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that
bought them, and bring upon themselves swift
destruction. And many shall follow their perni-
cious ways," &c. ' St. John, speaking of the fore-
' Rev. ii. 2. * 2 St. Pet. ii. 12.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 85

runners of Anti-Christ in his day, says, " They went
out from us, but they were not of us ; for if they
had been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us." ^ " These be they," says St. Jude,
" which separate themselves, sensual, having not
the Spirit."' And St. Paul, "For first of all,
when ye come together in the Church, I hear that
there be divisions among you, and I partly believe
it ; for there must needs be also heresies among
you, that they which are approved may be made
manifest among you." ^ " Obey them that have
the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they
watch for your souls as they that must give
account." * " And we beseech you, brethren, to
know them which labour among you, and are over
you in the Lord, and admonish you. And to
esteem them very highly in love for their work's
sake, and to be at peace among yourselves." ^

From these passages it is plain that the divinely
appointed ministry of the Church was the bond
which knit together the members of Christ in one
visible communion : that it was in fact the test and
seal, or, so to speak, the Sacrament of order in the
Church, being the idea correlative with subordina-
tion. From this also we see that they who, by false
teaching or insubordinate temper, violated the Unity
of the faith, or of the Christian family, ceased by that
act to be any longer members of the body. This

' St. John ii. 19. ' St. Jude 19. ' 1 Cor. xi. 18, 19.

* Heb. xiii. n. ' 1 Thess. v. 12, 13.

86 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

severing from the body of Christ was twofold :
either wilful, as in the case of heretics and schis-
matics, who separated themselves from the Church,
for instance the Nicolaitans ^ and the Gnostic
teachers ; or penal, as in the case of the excom-
municated Corinthian, who was " put away " from
the body of the Church, and delivered by them
" unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the
spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus. "^ And again of Hymenaeus and Alexander,
whom St. Paul delivered unto Satan, " that they
might learn not to blaspheme."^ To any one who
will consider the nature of excommunication, and
the authority by which it was inflicted, it will be
abundantly plain that it signifies a judicial sepa-
ration, by authoritative sentence of the spiritual
rulers, from the body of Christ's Church. And this
will be sufiicient proof of the nature of the Church
as recorded in Scripture, that it was a visible body,
having an exact internal organisation, and subjected
to constituted rulers. We learn also that the Unity
of that body is twofold : one kind of Unity being
objective, consisting in its faith, sacraments, and
organised polity ; the other subjective, in the peace
and brotherly love of the several members.

In the foregoing pages I have gathered together
such passages of Holy Writ as declare to us the
nature of the one visible Church ; but there are

' Rev. ii. 6. ' 1 Cor. v. 13. M Tim. i. 20.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 87

still other declarations of the inspired writers which
must be taken into view to complete the full mean-
ing of " the Holy Church."

In writing- to the Ephesians, St, Paul says that
God having raised Christ from the dead, " set him
at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far
above all principality, and power, and might, and
dominion, and every name that is named not only
in this world, but also in that which is to come ;" *
and also to the Philippians that God had " exalted
Him and given Him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and
things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."^

To the Colossians he writes, " Who is the image
of the invisible God, the first born of every creature :
for by Him were all things created that are in
heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or prin-
cipalities, or powers, all things were created by
Him and for Him ; and He is before all things, and
by Him all things consist, and He is the Head of
the body which is the Church, who is the begin-
ning, the first born from the dead, that in all things
He might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
And having made peace through the blood of His
cross by Him, to reconcile all things unto Himself
' Ephes. i. 20, 21. * Phil. ii. 9, 10, 11.

8'8 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

by Him ; I say whether they be things in earth or
things in heaven." ^

And in like manner, teaching the Hebrew
Christians how liigh was their calling in Christ, he
says, " Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto
the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels. To the
general assembly and Church of the fir.-t born
which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh
better things than that of Abel." ^

From these places it is evident that the incar-
nation and passion of the Son of God is the mys-
terious cause of a new order, in which even unseen
and heavenly beings are partakers. The Father
sent Him into the world to redeem and to re-
generate the creation of God, " that in the dispen-
sation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are in earth." ^ How or
in what manner the heavenlv orders are reconsti-
tuted in a new order ; whether the original sin of
angels was a refusal of homage to the anticipated
mystery of the Incarnate Son ; whether the elect
angels, as they yielded adoration to the Word made
flesh, so are now partakers of a new summing up of

' Coloss. i. 15—20. * Heb. xii. 22, 23, 24.

' Ephes. 1. 10.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 89

God's creatures under a new Head ^ in Christ Jesus,
we know not. Most evident it is that they, together
with the spirits of just men made perfect, are mem-
bers of Christ's mediatorial kingdom, and gathered
together with the visible Church of Christ under
one Head in a wonderful order. ^ They are mem-
bers with us of the one mystical body, of which
part is seen and part unseen.

We have now gone through the writings of the
inspired teachers of the Church, so as to leave few
passages, that I am aware of, bearing explicitly on
the subject, untouched. And the result to which
we have come is this — that the Church of Christ
is a body of which one part is visible, the other
invisible ; that it is constituted of angels and men ;
and that of these some are already perfect, and some
in their imperfect state ; that the visible part of the
one body, here on earth, is the congregation of
Christian men who are under the rule of pastors
deriving their succession from the Apostles of
Christ.

I am not aware that I have strained the proof of
any one point in this argument. I might have
made it even more definite in some of its features,
but I had rather draw a conclusion which should fall
far within the circumference of the premises than
exceed their limits by never so small an excess.

On a ])rinciple which must be obvious, I forbear

HVai^efpuXaiMcrarrOaL.
^ Collect for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.

90 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

attempting to deduce from Scripture anything- more
than the outline of this doctrine. It is plainly not
less unreasonable to look to Holy Scripture for an
anticipated resolution of modern controversies than
to search in it for a proof of its own inspiration.
How, for instance, sliould we expect to find the
Apostles in their own lifetime adjusting questions
about the validity or invalidity of the succession ?
It is plain that they ordained a system in the world,
which contained in it the germ of a mysterious
development. The fact is sufficient proof of their
intention. The founding of the Church contains in
it the principle of succession, as the birth of a living
soul contains a continuous personal identity.

Sufficient has, I trust, been adduced to prove
that the teaching of the inspired and uninspired
writers is in exact aoreement.

Unless it can be shown that I have misrepre-
sented the meaning of the Fathers or of the Apostles,
I may now assume that the article in the Creed is
the enunciation, the teaching of the Fathers the
exposition, and the witness of Holy Scripture the
proof of the doctrine of the Unity of the Church as
here expressed.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, 91

CHAPTER IV.

THE FORM AND MATTER OF UNITY.

We have now ascertained, at least in outline, the
nature of the Unity of the Church. If I may be
allowed to use a word already forced by the poverty
of our abstract language upon a well-known writer,^
I would say that the doctrine of unity contains the
ideas both of oneUness, and of oneness.

The oneliness of the Church is tliat which is ex-
pressed in the Creed preserved in the works of
Alexander by the ju-lav kui ju6vr]v eKKXtja-iav, the one,
and one only Church. The oneness relates to
its essential nature, and to the mode in which it is
one.

Of unit}', in the sense that there is one and one
only Church, enough has been already said : but
of unity which is the cause and reason of the one-

' Cudworth, Intell. System, p. 633, fol. 1678.

92 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

liness of the Church, we have as yet spoken only in
a broad and general way. In the present chapter,
therefore, we will take up this part of the subject.

I have already said that the unity of the visible
part of the Church may be divided into a twofold
kind, namely, organic or objective, and moral or
sul)jective ; and I will endeavour to show the nature
of these two several aspects of unity, and the reason
for so distinguishing them.

By the organic unity of the Church may be un-
derstood the oneness of the form and constitution
which God by direct act and inspiration has or-
dained ; as we speak of the organic nature of the
world or of man, distinct from the powers of life
and moral action. I would therefore use the term
as CO- extensive with the whole objective economy
of God ; including all that He has taught and or-
dained, or, as we are wont commonly to say, both
the doctrine and discipline of the Church ; and ex-
cluding all that relates to the subjective nature,
condition, and probation of man.

By the moral unity of the Church may be un-
derstood the oneness of the subjective nature, con-
dition, and character of mankind, wrought out and
maintained through the organic unity of the whole
dispensation ; as we distinguish between the moral
character and habits of a family, and the lineal
descent and collateral relations which determine
the unity and identity of the race.

We will now take these two points in order.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 93

And first, under the idea of organic nnit}^, we
will comprehend both the doctrine and discipline
of the Church. In exact truth, this common division
is illogical, inasnmch as the several members will be
found reciprocally to include a portion of the same
idea. As, for instance, it does not readily appear
whether we ought to refer the Holy Sacraments to
the head of doctrine, or of discipline. They are doc-
trinal so far as they are matters of doctrine, and have
a symbolical aspect to adumbrate the mystery of
redemption ; they are disciplinary so far as they con-
sist of visible signs which form the central points of
the Liturgy, and order of the Church. The same
may be said of the Sacramental Rites, such as Orders,
Confirmation, and the like. If they are disciplinary
in so far as they constitute the outward grades and
system of the Church, they are no less doctrinal in
their symbolical aspect, which expresses the derived
authority of Christ, and the presence of the Holy
Ghost.

It would be more strictly true, and philosophical,
if we were to say that God has revealed His saving
truth to mankind partly by word, and partly by
figure ; that He has partly spoken and partly sha-
dowed forth the mystery of salvation : for if the
words of the Gospel are the words of eternal life
through the blood-shedding of Christ, certainly
Holy Baptism, and the Holy Eucharist, and Holy
Orders, and Confirmation, and the succession of
the Apostles, and the polity of the Church, are
adumbrations as well as effectual means of spiritual

94 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

birth, and food, and strength, and authority, and of
the presence of Christ, and of the fatherhood of God.
It is the one truth indivisible, now spoken, now
shadowed forth, now traced invisibly in the reasoij,
now shown visibly to the eye : doctrine and disci-
pline, faith, and sacraments, the Gospel and the
Church are, as it were, one Christ now mani-
festing Himself, now conveying Himself away from
sense.

But with this understanding of the terms the
popular division is sufficiently exact for our present
purpose. We will therefore proceed to speak of
the unity of doctrine and discipline, including un-
der the former the Faith and Sacraments, and under
the latter the succession and polity of the Church,
of which the sacramental rites are the bands and
junctures.

We say, then, that the doctrine and discipline of
the whole Church is one.

Of the unity of doctrine, except so far as it
is a divine condition to the unity of discipline, I
have no intention or need to speak. All Christians
agree in holding, both that a right Faith is a neces-
sary condition for Baptism, and for continuance in
the communion of the Church ; and also that by de-
parting from the unity of the Faith a man departs
from the unity of the body of Christ.

That the Apostles in all places taught one and
the same doctrine, that the deposit of the Faith has
been handed down by Catholic tradition whole and
undiminished unto this day, that an inward sub-

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. .95

mission of mind to this one true objective mystery
is necessary to salvation, we all believe. We hold
also that churches, as men, may fall from the unity
of the body by falling from the unity of the Faith :
or, in other words, that heresy severs a member,
whether it be a church or a man, from the one
visible body. The objective forms, then, in which
this unity consists are the doctrine of Faith as re-
vealed by Christ through His Apostles, the Holy
Sacraments and Sacramental Rites, namely. Holy
Baptism, by which men are first knit into one
body, and the Holy Eucharist, by which men are
nurtured and kept in the same : the imposition of
hands with prayer, wliicli are the essential form
and matter in Holy Orders, and in Confirmation :
the authoritative benediction of the Church at
Holy Matrimony, and all things wliich the Apostles
taught or ordained as matters of immutable obli-
gation.

We are now chiefly concerned with that part of
organic unity which consists of discipline.

In the second clia])ter we saw that the limits of
the visible Church are determined by an organised
polity — in the last that this polity consists in the
authoritative oversight of a divinely appointed
ministry, deriving its succession from the Apostles.
But hitherto I have abstained from defining its ex-
act form ; the real and only important principle
lying in the fact that the visible Church in all ages
is the same with that which the Apostles founded.

96 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

It is evident that mere likeness or corresjoondence
in form cannot constitute this identity. There must
be some essential condition which shall make it to be
the true lineal descendant and lawful representative
of the original body. It is with the Church as with
a family or a kingdom. Their identity depends on
the direct and lawful devolution of the rights of pri-
mogeniture and of prerogative. No assumption by
any other body of name, title, and customs without
this continuity would make it one with them. A
kingdom may undergo many political mutations. It
may lapse from a despotism to a democracy, and yet
retain its personality. Athens under the kings, de-
cennial and annual archons, was yet one and the
same people. It is conceivable that the Church also
might retain its identity, even though its polity were
indefinitely changed ; I say it is conceivable, in so
far as the intrinsic nature of any form of polity is
concerned, for its polity is to its true identity what
the countenance or the figure of a man is to his
complex and true identity of person. And therefore
they do but miss the point, and perplex the subject,
who contend for or against Episcopacy or Presbytery
as such. Saving always the basis of identity, God
might have been pleased to leave the polity of the
Church without express form, to find its own level,
and take its own shape, moulding it here and there,
from time to time, by the unseen pressure of His over-
ruling hand, as He is wont to do in the kingdoms
of the earth. The Church retaining its transmitted

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 97

aiitliority might, bad He so willed, have put on a
succession of new aspects, and conformed itself
to the changeable polities of the world. It might
have been the ductile element, instead of the fixed
mould of human society. But it is a fact in God's
work of regenerating the world that He has cast His
Church into one definite shape. Like the bodily
structure of man, it might have been otherwise ar-
ranged, but, without a divine interposition, it now
cannot be. There is only one, universal, necessary
type.

We will therefore go on to investigate the exact
nature of this polity or organisation. And as in the
last chapter we assumed for the enunciation of our
subject the article of the Catholic Creed, so in this
we will assume as a fact the polity of the Catholic
Church, and from the e.^isting j)henomena trace
upwards to the origin of the Church, and thereby
ascertain in what the essence of this organic polity
consists.

The first fact, then, which strikes the eye at this
time in the world, is a visible body of many mem-
bers professing lineal descent and succession from
the Apostles of Christ. We find this bod}^ in the
extreme East and West, of a self-evident and im-
memorial antiquity ; bearing the stamp and cha-
racter of ages long gone by ; and agreeing univer-
sally in the chief and primary elements of it« organ-
ised system. The Catholic Church of this day is self-
evidently one. It has a correlation of parts and h cen-

98 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

tral unity which are the properties of an individual
being. Throughout its first great subdivision into
Patriarchates, and its secondary into Primacies, sub-
ject or independent, MetropoUtical or Archiepis-
copal, and into its several Episcopal jurisdictions —
throughout the offices of the Priesthood, and the func-
tions of the Diaconate, there is a series, and order
of place and power. From the Patriarch of Rome^

' The precedence granted to the Church of Rome was given accord-
ing to the rule observed throughout the whole empire. The seats
of the chief civil power were also the sees of the chief spiritual au-
thorities, (see Bingham, B. ix. i. iv.) The first city of the empire
conferred on the Church of that city its own precedence. The basis
of the greatness of the Roman Church was therefore partly civil and
partly ecclesiastical, using that word as defined in the text, and
not to express a directly divine or apostolical appointment. Rome
was the culminating point of civilization and empire, the political
centre, and the focus of all lines of communication and autho-
rity. It was the richest and the most numerous Church, and
therefore readily became the first in rank. This is what St. Ire-
napus intends by "propter potiorem principalitatem." Adv. Haer.
lib. iii. 3. For this reason, also it would seem, the two great
apostles of the circumcision and the uncircumcision bestowed on
it so much labour. All these things gave it a natural precedence,
and yet we find Tertullian speaking of it only as one of the chief
apostolic sees De Praescr. xxxvi. The attempt to found its pre-
cedence on a divine appointment through St. Peter is not a primi-
tive tradition. St. Cyprian, in the third centurv, is the first that
calls it the " Chair of Peter," (Ep. Iv.,) and yet in his mouth it was
only a title, not a prerogative. It was in the Novatian and Donatist
schisms that the succession and origin of the Roman Church,
being often forced into argument, began to assume a peculiar as-
pect. The nature of the controversy drew from St. Cyprian,
Optatus, and St. Augustin the kind of appeal and statement on
which so much has been, in after ages, built. The whole class of
passages have one plain interpretation. They assert the genuine-

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 99

to the acolyte there is a subordination of degrees ;
and in all the parts of the whole body there is an
organic unity. And here a distinction must be
drawn between what is of ecclesiastical and what is
of apostolical origin. The precedence of patriarchal
and archiepiscopal sees rests on the canons of the
Church, and arose by the force of accidents, separa-
ble, before the event, from all sees alike. Patriarchs

ness of the succession derived from St. Peter and St. Paul, not
against other genuine successions in the Catholic Church, but
against the schismatical rivals. Thence the chair of Peter and the
succession of Peter passed into a common title for the Roman suc-
cession, and by degrees began to be assigned as the ground of
precedence in the Western Church.

When the seat of empire was transferred to Constantinople the
fathers in the Council of Constantinople assigned to that Church as
the Church of the new Rome a precedence next after the old,
proving thereby on what it was originally grounded. The decree
is as follows: " Let the Bishop of Constantinople have the place
of chief honour after the Bishop of Rome, because Constantinople
is New Rome " Canon. 3 Bevereg. Pandectse, vol. i. 89. And
the Council of Chalcedon confirmed and extended these privileges,
adding the reason more at large. " The fathers reasonably as-
signed the chief privileges to the throne (see) of old Rome, be-
cause that city had the imperial power: and, moved by the same
regard, the hundred and fifty holy Bishops assigned equal privileges
to the most holy throne of new Rome, rightly deciding that tlie
city which is honoured with the empire and senate ought to enjoy
the same privileges as the elder Rome which had the imperial
government," &c. Can. xxviii. Bev. Pand. vol. i. 145. So Concil.
in TruUo. Can. 36. The ninth canon of the Council of Chalcedon
extends the privileges of Constantinople beyond any that Rome
had enjoyed. The Roman jurisdiction has no divine, i. e., direct or
apostolical foundation. This may be seen in Mr. Palmer's masterly
chapter on the Roman Pontiff, Treatise on the Cliurch, vol. ii. p.
501 ; in Barrow on the Supremacy; and in Nectarius adversus.
Imp. Papae; or in the work of Nilns, archbisliop of Thessulonica,
de Primatu Pai)ae Rom.

100 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

and Metropolitans were the bishops either of the
greatest or of the oldest sees. Civil precedence is
the basis of the Patriarchal, and spiritual maternity
of the Metropolitical, authority. But the basis of
all apostolical power, whether in Patriarchs, Metro-
politans, or archbishops, is the one episcopate, of
which indivisible authority all bishops are each
one severally and in full partakers. Howsoever
complex, therefore, the aspect of the Church Ca-
tholic may have become by the lapse and pressure
of ages, its complexity may be resolved into the
simple form of polity ordained by the Apostles.
The threefold orders of bishops, priests, and dea-
cons, which are at this day found in all churches,
are the groundvv^ork and essential element of the
whole organised system. It is therefore unneces-
sary for our present purpose to trace the eccle-
siastical development of the Church, and to
ascertain at what time the several patriarchal and
metropolitical privileges were conferred. It is
enough to take the apostolical element of the eccle-
siastical system, and to trace it upward to its begin-

nino;.

Every one, how slightly soever read in the his-
tory of the Church, is aware that from the present
day upward to the time of Constantine, there has
existed a successive ministry in the three orders of
bishops, priests, and deacons. At the time of the
Council of Nice the episcopate of the whole Church
consisted of about 1800 bishops, i. e. 1000 in the
Eastern, and 800 in the Western Churches.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 101

Our examination, therefore, may be confined to
the three centuries between Constantine and the
Apostles of Christ.

In tracing out this subject I shall first adduce
proofs from uninspired writers, and reserve the
proofs of Holy Scripture to the last.

To begin, then, with the writers of the second
century, we may adduce a letter of the clergy of
the Roman Church to St. Cyprian. This epistle
was written on the death of Fabianus, the Bishop
of Rome, and during the vacancy of the see. It
is inscribed by " tlie Presbyters and Deacons at
Rome to Pope Cyprian." They say, concerning
a case of difficulty then before them, " Although
a greater necessity to defer this case lies upon us,
seeing that, since the death of P'abianus, by reason
of the difficult condition of aflfairs and of the time,
we have as yet no bishop appointed to administer
these things, and by his authority and counsel to
take cognizance of the lapsed brethren. Although
in a matter of this great moment we are content
with what you have expressed, that the peace of
the Church should be first maintained, and then
account taken of the lapsed ai'ter a conference of
the bishops, priests, and deacons, together with the
confessors and the faithful laity, &c." ^ We find St.
Cyprian giving account of his correspondence with
the clergy of Rome to the clergy of his own
Church at Carthage, and inscribing his letter "to

' Ep. xxxi. ed. Ben.

102 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART I.

his brethren the Priests and Deacons."^ Throuo-h-
out all his works this threefold order is everywhere
recognised. A remarkable incidental proof of this
is to be found in his letter to Rogatianus, a bishop,
against whom one of his own deacons had behaved
contumaciously. He commends him for his gen-
tleness, "seeing that by virtue of the episcopate
and authority of the see he had the power to inflict
summary punishment" ^ upon a deacon. Against
a presbyter the apostle forbids an accusation to be
received except before two or three witnesses. ^

With this distinct use of the titles St. Cyprian
says: "Thence (from the mission of the Apostle
St. Peter) through the changes of time and succes-
sion the ordination of bishops and rule of the Church
uns down (to us), that the Church should be built
upon the bishops, and every act of the Church
be controlled by them as rulers ;" * whom in another
epistle he describes as " a sacerdotal college," ^ " a
single episcopate of many bishops diff'used abroad
in a numerous and accordant multitude," ® in whose
unity the Church is united, who have of God an ab-
solute power, but may neither judge nor be judged
by a colleague ; forasmuch as " all alike wait for the
judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone has
power both to advance them to the government of
His Church and to judge of their actions.

" 7

' Ep. xxxii. ed. Ben. ^ Ad Rogat. Ep. Ixv. ed. Ben.

« 1 Tun. V. 19. ' Ep. xxvii. ed. Ben.

* Ep. lii. ' J bid. ' Concilium Carthag. p. 330.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 103

So also Origen, himself a Presbyter, says, " More
is required of me than of a deacon, and more of a
deacon than of a layman. But from him to whom
is committed the chief power in the Church over
us all, still more is required." ' And in his homi-
lies on St. Matthew, " the bishop, priest, and dea-
con are a symbol of realities correspondent with
their names." ^ So, in another place, he likens the
deacons who mal-administered the Church goods to
the money-changers in the temple, and bishops
and priests who committed the Church of Christ to
unworthy men, to the sellers of doves ; ^ so, in many
places, the three orders are recognised. Also, Ter-
tulliau, whose witness runs into the second century,
says of baptism, that " the power of giving it is in
the chief priest, which is the bishop : thence the
Presbyters and deacons have it ; and yet they may
not give it without the authority of the bishop, for
the dignity of the Church, in preserving which
peace also is preserved." * And speaking of the
confusion among the heretical sects, he says, " Ad-
vancement is nowhere so easy as in the rebels'
camp, where to be is to be meritorious. Therefore
to-day one man is bishop, to-morrow another ; to-
day he is a deacon who to-morrow is a reader;

' Orig. Horn, in Jer. 2. quoted by Beveridge, Cod. Can. Eccl,
Prim. Vind. &c. c. x. 3.

* Orig. in Matth. torn. xiv. 22.

* Ibid. torn. xvi. 22. See also Horn. 2. in Cantic Cantic

* De Baptismo, c. 1*7.

104 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PAHT I'

to-day a Presbyter who to-morrow is a layman, for
even to laymen they commit sacerdotal functions." '
We nov/ come into the second century, in which
we may first cite St. Clement of Alexandria, who,
in a remarkable passage, sufficiently shows what
was the polity of the Church in his times. lie
says, " The grades of promotion in the Church,
that is, of bishops, priests, and deacons, are imita-
tions, I conceive, of the angelic glory." ^ So also
Hegesippus, who lived in the early part of the
second century, the first writer of ecclesiastical
history, tells us that " the Corinthian Church con-
tinued in the right faith until the episcopate of
Primus :" ^ also, speaking of Jerusalem, he says,
" After the martyrdom of James the Just, next after
his uncle, Symeon, the son of Cleopus, was made
bishop ;" and immediately after, " Thebuthis, be-
cause he was not made bishop, began secretly
to corrupt (the Church)." * In this way he al-
ways distinguishes the episcopate from the other
orders. As Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, also says,
" Polycarp, who was Bishop of Smyrna, and a
martyr, and Thraseas, Bishop of Eumenia, and a
martyr ; why should I speak of Sagaris, who w as
also bishop and martyr ?" He calls himself also
bishop, as Ignatius does : " Seven of my kindred,"
he says, " were bishops, and I the eighth." ^

' De prsescr. Haeret. c. xli. * Strom, vi. c. 13. p. 793. Potter.
^ Biblioth. Vet. Patrum. Gallandii, torn. ii. 64 : also Euseb.
Eccl. Hist. lib. iv. c xxii. * Ibid. 65. ' Ibid. 161.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 105

We may next cite St. Irenseus, who was of the
same age w^ith Polycarp, and his disciple. Speak-
ing of St. Paul's journey through Asia Minor, ' he
says, " The bishops and presbyters who came from
Ephesus and the other neighbouring cities, being
called together at Miletus, because he \\ as hasten-
ing to keep the Pentecost at Jerusalem," ^ he
charged them and foretold what should befall him.
In another place he writes, " Every one who desires
to see the truth may readily perceive the tradition
of the Apostles, which is manifested in all the
Church ; and we are able to enumerate those who
were ordained bishops in the Churches by the
Apostles, and their successors even to our day." ^
" But since it would be too long a work in such a
book as this to enumerate the successions of all the
Churches, we confound all (heretics) by ex-
hibiting the tradition of the great, and most ancient,
and well-known Church, which by the two glorious
Apostles, Peter and Paul, was founded and esta-
blished at Rome, the tradition which it has from
the Apostles, and the faith which is declared to all
men, and has come down bv the succession of
bishops to us,"* &c. And immediately after, "The
blessed Apostles, therefore, having founded and in-
structed the Church, committed the office of the
episcopate to Linus. Of this Linus St. Paul makes
mention in his Epistle to Timothy. His successor
was Anacletus. After him, in the third place from

' Acts XX. n ^ S. Ircn. lib. ui. xiv. 2.

" Ibid. lib. lii. 3. , Ibid. s. 2.

106 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

the Apostles, Clement obtained the episcopate, who
had both seen the blessed Apostles and had con-
versed with them." ^ "To this Clement succeeded
Evaristus, and to Evaristus Alexander ; and then
the sixth from the Apostles, Sixtus, was appointed ;
and after him Telesphorus, who suffered martyrdom
in a glorious manner ; and then Hyginus, after-
wards Pius, after whom Anicetus. After Soter
had succeeded to Anicetus, Eleutherius, who now,
the twelfth from the Apostles, holds the episco-
pate." ^ We know from Eusebius that, in the epis-
copate of Eleutherius, Florinus was deposed from
the order of Presbyters in the Roman Church for
heresy. ^ And in the time of Cornelius, who was
the eighth bishop after Eleutherius, the Presbyters
in Rome were forty-four in number. ^

There is another document of the same age
which will exhibit the distinction of these oifices.
In the letter of the Christians at Lyons, addressed
to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia, they speak
of their Bishop as "the blessed Pothinus, to whom
was intrusted the office of the episcopate in Lyons." '^
Speaking of Irenaeus, in a letter to Eleutherius,
they say, " For if we conceived that rank con-
ferred merit upon any, we would earnestly com-
mend him to you as a Presbyter of the Church,
in which order he is." In this they observe the
distinction of the two orders with great exactness ;

' S. Iren. lib. iii. c 3. s. 3 * Ibid.

^ Hist. Eccl. lib. V. 15.
' Ibid. lib. vi 43. ; ' Ibid. lib. v. 1.

CHAP. IV. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 107

as also in all parts of the epistle. For Eleutherius,
who was a bishop, they call " Father," Irenseus
only " brother," and " colleague," and " fellow,"
with themselves. Eusebius, who preserves these
passages of their letters, narrates the history, and
tells us, " These same martyrs commended Irenaeus,
who was then a Presbyter in the diocese of Lyons,
to the abovementioned Bishop of Rome." ^ And so
St. Jerome writes : " Irenaeus, Presbyter to Pothi-
nus, the bishop who then ruled the Church of
Lyons in Gaul, was sent as legate b}^ the martyrs of
that place to Rome, concerning certain ecclesiastical
questions, and exhibited to Eleutherius, the bishop,
honourable letters concerning himself. Afterwards,
when Pothinus, nearly at the age of ninety, was
crowned with martyrdom for Christ, he was ad-
vanced to his place." ^

In the very ancient writings called the Acts of
St. Ignatius we read that he, " disbarking from the
ship with great joy, hastened to see St. Polycarp,
the bishop, who had been a fellow-hearer (of St.
John) with himself." And a little after : " The
cities and Churches of Asia honoured the saint
through their bishops, priests, and deacons." ^ Also
in the Acts of St. Polycarp, who, as Irenseus, his
disciple, says, was ordained Bishop of Smyrna by
the Apostles, he is called " Polycarp, the martyr in
our times, much to be admired, the Apostolic and

' Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lil). v. 4.
^ S. Hieron. Catalog. Script. Eccl. torn. iv. 113. ed. Ben.
^ Martyrium S. Ignat. s. 3. Coteler. Patr. Apost. torn. ii. 159-

108 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

Prophetic Doctor, and Bishop of the Catholic
Churcli ill Smyrna." ^

We have come now to the first century and times
of the Apostles, in which lived those v/riters who by
pre-eminence are called the Apostolic Fathers, as
having- conversed with the Apostles themselves.

St. Hernias evidently refers to the threefold or-
ders where he speaks of " the Apostles, and bishops,
and doctors, and ministers, who through the mercy
of God have come in and governed, and taught,
and ministered holil}^ and modestly to the elect of
God." ^

St. Clement, also writing to the Corinthians,
draws a parallel between tlie Jewish and Christian
hierarchy, and adds : "To the high priest are given
his peculiar functions ; and to the priests their own
place is appointed ; and on the Levites their proper
ministiy is imposed : the layman is obliged by the
rules of the laity. Let each of you, brethren, in
his own order, give God thanks with a good con-
science, not transgressing the defined rule of his
ministry."^ As a comment on this passage may be
quoted the words of Jerome : " And that we may
know the apostolical traditions to be taken from the
Old Testament, what Aaron, and his sons, and the
Levites were in the temple, that bishops, priests,
and deacons have claim to be in the Church." *

There remains now only St. Ignatius, from whom,

' Martyrium S. Polycaipi. s. 16. ibid. p. 201.
* S. Herniee Pustur. Vis. iii. 5.
" S. Clem. 1 Ep. ad Cor. 40. comp. 42.
■* All Evangelum, torn. iv. 803.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 109

in the second chapter, we have already quoted
enough. The following passage or two will suffice
to close up this series. In his epistle to the Mag-
nesians, after commending Damas, the bisiiop,
Bassa and ApoUonius, presbyters, and Sotion, a
deacon, he goes on to say, " The bishop sits tlie
first in order, as in the place of God, and the pres-
byters as the synod of Apostles, and the deacons,
to me most dear, to whom is intrusted the ministry
of Jesus Christ." ^ And to the Smyrneans, " Let
all give heed to the bishop as Jesus Christ to the
Father, and to the Presbytery, as to the Apostles ;
and reverence the deacons as the commandment of
God." ^ And " Tliere is one flesh of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and one cup for the union of His blood, one
altar, as one bishop, with the presbyters and dea-
cons, my fellow-servants."^

Although the testimonies here adduced are from
the writings of uninspired men, there are yet two
points worthy of much regard. The first is their
absolute agreement ; one and all describing, by
three several and distinct names, the three several
and distinct orders of bishop, priest, and deacon, as
the threefold oflftces of the one apostolical ministry.
The next, that the series of accordant witnesses has
been traced up to the very lifetime of the Apostles
of Christ. We may therefore conclude that from
the latter part of the apostolic age both the names
and offices were distinct and appropriate.

' Ad Magnes. 6. "" Ad Smyrn. 8. ^ Ad Philad. 4.

110 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

We will now go on to ascertain whether the
same distinction is to be found in the documents of
the insjDired writers.

That the present inquiry may be made as clear
and definite as possible, I will here state beforehand
the conclusion in which it will terminate. There
is abundant evidence to show that if in the apostolic
writings the names be interchanged among the
three orders, yet the offices are never confounded.

The only point of difference, therefore, between
the apostolic and post-apostolic age would seem to
be, that the names had then become technical and
restricted by second intention to the several offices.

But before I bring any passages from the New
Testament to show the possible confusion of these
names, I must beg the reader's most careful atten-
tion to the following passage from the works of a
writer, of whom it has been truly said, that even
his lightest fragments are as the filings of gold.
" It does not yet appear that the names bishop and
presbyter in the apostolic writings are synonymous,
where the offices of the Church are spoken of.
Certainly, the arguments which have been hitherto
adduced do not necessarily compel us to believe it ;
and it is more probable that such a common use of
these words in the apostolic writings is not to be
admitted. Because, in the first place, if we ex-
amine the origin of this interpretation, we shall
find the first who brought it forward to confirm his
opinion was Aerius the heretic, whose opinion was
no sooner published than it was exploded by St

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 1 1 1

Epiphanius. Secondly, those Catholics who after-
wards embraced the same interpretation for another
purpose, whether you take the ancients or the mo-
derns, have never been able to agree in explaining-
it. If all the ways which can be contrived or fan-
cied to explain this community of the two names
should be exliibited, you will hardly find two which
nobody has embraced, certainly not one in which
two, or perhaps three, have agreed, excepting those
who professedly and wholly transcribe from others.
Whosoever conceives the idea of the community of
these two names must necessarily suppose that
there existed in the Churches, first founded by the
care and authority of the Apostles, either one only
order, or two ; and, indeed, they who contend for
this community of names are divided into various
opinions concerning the number of orders existing
at that time. All acknowledge that, a short time
after the books of the New Testament were written,
two orders or grades, distinct both in office and
dignity, obtained, whether by right or wrong, in
the Church ; to the superior of which the name of
bishop, to the inferior of presbyter, was attached.
They who think that only one of these existed while
the books of the New Testatnent were being written,
and that the other was afterwards added, acknowl-
edge either the inferior order, above which the
superior was afterwards placed, or the superior, to
which the inferior was afterwards supplied. Hence
arise two ways of explaining the community of
the names — one, that the names of bishop and

112 THE UNITY OF THE CHITRCH. [pART I.

presbyter were indiscriminately given to the priests
of one order, who were called priests of the inferior
order, or presbyters, after the superior order was
introduced and placed over tliem ; which opinion,
they say, is that of St. Jerome, and I do not con-
test it : the other, that the same names were indis-
criminately given to the priests of one order, v/ho
were called priests of the superior order or bishops,
after the inferior order was introduced and placed
under them ; which opinion Hammond, than whom
no one has handled the subject more accurately,
defends as the most likely. They who do not
doubt that in the Apostles' times, and by their in-
stitution, there were two orders distinct both in
office and dignity, are divided into more opinions
concerning the community of the names. Of
which opinions the first was, that at that time either
name was common to either order ; so that they
who were advanced to the superior order were
called sometimes bishops and sometimes presbyters ;
and in like manner they that were ordained to the
inferior grade were named sometimes presbyters
and sometimes bishops, which was the opinion of
Chr^^sostom and his follov/ers. But the second
opinion was, that the name bishop and presbyter
was given indifferently and indiscriminately to the
priests of the inferior order ; but neither of them
to those of the first order, or the bishops, because
at that time the priests of the first order were called
Apostles, vvliich was the opinion of Theodoret. Be-
sides these, two other conjectures may be formed,

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 113

i. e. that the priests of the superior order were
sometimes called bishops and sometimes presbyters,
but those of the inferior — presbyters only, which
Hammond admits as likely ; or that the priests of
the inferior order were sometimes called presbyters
and sometimes bishops, but those of the superior —
bishops onl}", which no one has embraced. Since
there is so great dissension among- all who think
they have discovered the community of these names
in Scripture, and their various ojiinions, which are
almost as many as there are men, can in no way
be reconciled, it is rendered still more probable that
such a community of names is not indeed to be
found in Scripture at all." ^

We may now shortly state the case as it relates
to the usage of these names in Holy Scripture; al-
ways remembering that no argument will be arawn
from it. In the New Testament the words e-Trla-KOTrog,
7rpecr(3vTepog, and SioLKovog, bishop, priest, and deacon,
or overseer, elder, and minister, with their cognates,
eTTia-KOTn'], irpea-^vrepiov, and SiaKovia, episcopate, pres-
bytery, diaconate or oversight, eldership, and minis-
try, are used in various ways, which may, however,
be reduced to two — o-eneral and ecclesiastical.

Of the general use the following will be suffi-
cient examples.

Our Lord says of Jerusalem that she knew not
the time of her visitation : rov Kaipov rtjg e7rtc7/co7r^?. ^

' Bishop Pearson's Vindiciee Ignatianfe, cap. xiii. CotelerPat.
Apost. ii. 42*7.

^ St. Luke xix. 44. See also 1 St. Pet. ii. 12.

1 14 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

We read in St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews
that, " through faith, the elders (6i irpea-^vTepoi) '
obtained a good report." In the parable of the
wedding garment the king commands the servants
(rdiq SiuKovois^) to bind the intruder and cast him
forth. Our Lord says to His disciples, " Who-
soever will be great among you, let him be
your minister " (Skxkovo?) ^ And of Martha we
ead that she " was cumbered about much servino^

(piaKovlav). ^

This general sense of the words by restriction be-
came ecclesiastical.

And first of the Jewish Church. The words
eTTtV/coTTo? and eiria-Koiri] do not occur in the New
Testament as applied to the Church of the Jews.
But the word bishopric (eTria-KOTn'i) is quoted from
the 109th Psalm by St. Peter — "And his
bishopric let another take " (kcu tijv eincrKOTryiv
avTov XajSoi erepoi) ^ In the Septuagint the word
eiricTKOTrog is of frequent occurrence. In Num-
bers xxxi. 14, the captain of the host is eirla-KOTro?
Tfj9 SwdfjL€(jo9. In Chron. xxxiv. 12, 17, the chief
among the workmen. In Neh. xi. 9, 14, the
ruler or prince of the city; and ch. v. 10, the
chief of the priests: in verse 15 the chief of the
Levites is called eTrtV/coTro?. Eleazar the son of
Aaron (who in Numbers iii. 32 is called ap-)(ovro)v

' Heb. xi. 2. ' St. Matth. xxii. 13. ' Ibid. xx. 26.

* St. Luke X. 40.

* Ps. cix. 8. For wliat follows, see Hammond's note on Acts i. 20.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 115

Twu AeviTcoi' apywv, the ruler of the rulers of the
Levites), in Numbers iv. 16 is called eirla-KOTro^
""^XeaXap \ In 2 Kings xi. 18, he that was set
over the house of the Lord is called e-rr'nTKo-rro^ eiri
Tov oiKov Kvpiov. In all these several uses the idea
of precedence and ruling- power is expressed.

In a multitude of places throughout the New Test-
ament the word " elder " or " presbyter " signifies a
member of the sanhedrim or council of the Jews,
and Trpecr^vrepiov, the Council itself In this all na-
tions have alike concurred, as the yepovreg and
yepovcrla in the Greek states, and " Senatus " among
the Latins. In this sense we read of " the tradition
of the elders,"^ the " elders and chief priests,"^ the

" council of the people" (irpea-^vrepLov TOV Xaov),*

the " estate of the elders." * In all which passages
it is plain that the words signify a collective, de-
liberative, and ruling body, subject to the chief
priests.^

The words " deacon " and " diaconate " nowhere
occur in the New Testament as applied to the
Jewish Church.

Isai. Ix. 17- LXX. /vttt cuaw rove cip^oj'Tac rrov iy k pi]vrf, Kai
TovQ kiridKOTTovQ (TOV Iv hiKawfTvyrj. Quoted thus by St. Clement,

I Ep. ad Cor. c. 42 : — /cot tovto {i. (?., the institution of bishops and
deacons by the Apostles) ov KaiviSc ek • yap o») ttoXXwj' ^poi'iov
eyiypaTTTO TTtpl eTnaKOi^wv kcu CiaKoyoJv. Ourwc yap t^ov Xeyei

II ypafi'i ■ ^^ Karaffrriffdj tovq ewktkottovq avrdii' ii' diKcuoirvrr], ical
TOVQ SiaKoyovQ avrioi' iv Tviarti.^^

* St. Matth. XV. 2. ' St. Mark viii. 31.

* St. Luke xxii. QQ. * Acts xxii. 6.

® Hammond's Paraphr. on New Test., note on Acts xi. 26.

116 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

I now come to the use of these words as ap-
plied to the Church of Christ.

We have already seen that the word " bishopric"
(eTTia-KOTrr]) is applied by St. Luke to the Aposto-
late of Judas. We find it again used by St. Paul
in writing to Timothy, as expressing the episcopate
or oversight (whether singly or conjointly must be
determined by other evidence) of a particular
church.^ St. Paul charges the presbyters or elders

(toi'9 Trpecr^vrepovg rrjg e/c/cXi/crt a?) ^ who met him at

Miletus, to take heed to the flock over which the

Holy Ghost had made them overseers or bishops

(eTTiiTKOTrovi).^ He also salutes the Philippian

Church " with the bishops and deacons." * He

tells Titus, a bishop should be blameless. ^ Here we

find the Milesian presbyters addressed as bishops,

and a salutation omitting the presbytery sent to only

two orders in the Church at Philippi. Also, in the

Epistle to Timothy, an immediate transition is made

from the office of a bishop to that of a deacon. ®

So again we find with the word " presbyter " or

"elder." We read of " the apostles and elders," '' " the

elders and brethren," ^ " the elders of the church ;"^

in all which places " presbyters " will equally stand.

St. James speaks of " the elders of the church" ^° for

the ministry generally. St. Peter exhorts the elders

or presbyters to feed the fluck of God. ^^

' 1 Tim. iii. 1. * Acts xx. 17. ' Ibid. 28.

*Phil. i. 1. *Tit i. 7. « 1 Tim. iii. 1, 8.

^ Acts XV. 2, 4, 6. ' Ibid. 23. " xx. 17.

'" St. Jam. V. 14. " 1 St. Pet. v. 1, 2.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 117

St. Paul charges Timothy to cherish the gift that
was given to him by " the laying on of the hands
of the presbytery." *

Now in all this there is not so much as a word
of bishop or bishopric.

And to make this apparent ambiguity greater, we
find the Apostles nowhere call themselves bishops.
We find St. Peter and St. John calling themselves
presbyters.^ St. Paul calls Tychicus a deacon,^ and
Timothy a deacon/ and himself a deacon,^ and all
the Apostles deacons twice over ; '^ and, as if to
banish from our minds the whole question of names,
he calls Apollos an apostle," and Epaphroditus an
apostle.®

Certainly, if the interchange of names be at all
a refutative argument, then there did not exist,
as a distinct office. Deacon, Presbyter, Bishop, or
Apostle. They who contend that the names are
thus common and indiscriminate must abide the
full issue of their principle. To say that a word is
used here in a wider, and there in a restricted sense
— that in one place the Apostle would magnify tlie
ofl[ice of his fellow-workers — and in another depress
his own dignity, is but to admit a principle of
sound criticism, by which, if applied at all, they also
must consistently and fairly abide. The issue would
not be doubtful, though very adverse to their pur-

' 1 Tim. iv. 14. ' 1 St. Peter v. 1 ; 1 St. John ii. 1 ; iii. 1.

' Eph. vi. 21. * 1 Tim. iv. 6. ' Eph. iii. 7.

' 1 Cor. iv. 1 ; 2 Cor. iii. G.

'' I Cor. iv. 6, conf. 9. Vid. Suic. Thesaur. in voc. (nrotTToXoQ.

* Pliilip. ii. 2.') : (Tuorpartwrrjr jxav Vjuwj' de airoaToxov.

118 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART I

pose in adopting it. Now it is not to be denied
that the seeming laxity with which these names are
used in the apostolic writings presents at first sight
no small difficulty. But it is equally certain that
the way to make the difficulty a thousand-fold
greater is to attempt a verbal proof from the several
names without investigating the facts of the case.
We should not only be committing ourselves to a
mistaken view of the matter from which the proof
is to be derived, but also to a false principle on
which the investigation is to be conducted. " To
contend about the names of bishops or presbyters
is nothing more than walking upon air ; and so to
propound the dispute that there never can be an end
of disputing:"^ the real question being whether
the Apostles, before they departed this life, com-
mitted the ultimate power of ruling the Church,
and ordaining others, to any one person in each
church, or to many, that is, according to the
modern formula, whether to a bishop, or to a body
of presbyters ? ^ When we have come to a conclu-
sion on this point, we shall find that the names in
the apostolic writings will for the most part fall
into their own places. But, after all, whether we
succeed or no in adjusting the use of these several
titles, the facts of history will prove that the offices
were distinct ; and on this alone we rest.

'"De nominibus enim Episcoporum et Presbyterorum conten-
dere nihil aliud est quam aepojociTeu', et disputationem ita instit-
uere, ut nullus sit disputandi finis." Bishop Bevcridge, in Cod,

Com., &c., hb. ii. c. xi. 13.

* Ibid.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 119

We must remember, then, that the point is
not to be decided by quoting the first acts of the
apostles, immediately after our Lord's ascension,
when they were on the threshold of their minis-
try. ' He that searches for dogmatic proofs (for the
co-optation of Matthias is a practical one) of the
apostolical succession at the time the Apostles were
only themselves succeeding to the sole apostolate ^ of
our Lord, must have a mind strangely exacting, or
eccentric in its reasoning process : or he that looks
to find from the beginning of the Gospel an entire
hierarchy, with all its supplements and complements
of order and office, must have a mind as strangely un-
skilled in the analogies of God's works. The notion
that the Church was perfected in all its organic
parts, uno apostolorum affiatu, by the first breath of
St. Peter and the Apostles, has no foundation in the
testimony either of inspired or uninspired history.
On the contrary, not only the analogy of all God's in-
animate and animate works, but also His earlier dis-
pensations, would lead us beforehand to look for what
in Holy Scripture we find. ^ We may take therefore
the beginning of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
and the beginning of the Book of the Revelation of
St. John as the two extreme points of the Apostolic
ministry as recorded by inspired men. Between
these two extremes we may trace the growth and
development of the Church ; and how, according to

' Bishop Beveridge, in Cod. Com., &c., lib. ii. c. xi. 13.
*" As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you."' — St. John,
XX. 21. ^ S. Epiph. adv. Haer. lib. iii. torn. i. v.

120 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART I.

its necessities, some organic provision to maintain
its health and energy was supplied. The point to be
ascertained is not so much what the Apostles did
when they began to found the Church, as how they
left it when they had finished the work which their
Lord had given them to do.

And first we have the witness of Scripture that
the number of twelve, which had been determined
by the Lord Himself for the fellowship of His
Apostles, was carefully and designedly kept up, by
the co-optation of Matthias into the place of Judas.

The twelve, with the rest of the Disciples, in all
one hundred and twenty, were the whole Church of
Christ.

The seventy disciples, who, as the Evangelists re-
cord, had been chosen and sent forth by our Lord,
do not appear again as a distinct bod}^ in the apos-
tolic writings: but that they continued in the fellow-
sliip of the Apostles, and that their original commis-
sion, which, so far as we read, had never been
revoked by our Lord, was not rescinded by His
Apostles, no one can doubt.

We then read of the selection and ordination of
seven men to a subordinate and secular office. The
seven deacons, as Vv e are wont to call them, were set
apart to a function which is placed in diametrical con-
tradistinction from the spiritual office of the Apostles.
They were ordained to serve tables, that the Apostles,
being exempt from that secular burden, might with-
out distraction give themselves to prayer, and to
the ministry of the word. Thus far the Diaconate

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 121

was a simply secular office ; and yet we find it im-
posed upon men, of wliom two, Stephen and Philip,
immediately appear preaching and baptizing in the
name of Christ. Either, then, as some think, they
were already of the number of the seventy whom
our Lord had commissioned to preach ; or the laying
on of the hands of the Apostles did confer a re-
stricted spiritual office, to which the secular function,
though it was the end for which they were required,
was but incidental. I say a restricted office, be-
cause, after that Philip had preached and baptized
at Samaria, the Apostles Peter and John were sent
thither to lay hands upon those that had received
Philip's baptism. ' This is a fact of much import-
ance, inasmuch as it proves, beyond controversy, that
the Apostles, out of the plenitude of their ghostly
authority, communicated a portion of their functions,
and constituted an inferior order with a restricted
power, which was a development or offshoot of their
own commission. The date of this transaction was
about the year a.d. 37, and before the Apostles left
Jerusalem. ^ We then read of the conversion of Si.
Paul, of his going up to Jerusalem, of the vision of
St. Peter at Joppa, of the admission of the Gentiles
in the person of Cornelius: then of St. Peter's going
to justify himself to the Apostles and brethren
in Jerusalem : then of the spread of the Gospel in
Phoenice, Cyprus, and Antioch, to which place
Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem about the year
A.D. 43, that is six years, or more, after the ordina-

' Acts viii. 14, \1. ' Ibid. viii. 1.

122 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART I.

tion of the Deacons. Up to this time we have heard
of none but the Apostles and Deacons, and now for
the first time we read of Presbyters. The Chris-
tians of Antioch made a gathering for the relief of
the brethren in Judsea, against the famine which
Agabus foretold, and sent " it to the elders (irpos
t6u9 -tt pea- /Sure povs) by the hands of Barnabas and
Saul."

Before I make any remark upon this newly emer-
gent feature in the primitive system, I must first
observe that hitherto, that is, for tlie space of at least
ten years, we know from Scripture of no orders in
the Church at Jerusalem but Apostles and Deacons.
It would seem that this was the polity which was first
required, and therefore first developed, in the begin-
nings of a Church ; and this seems to hold good also
at Philippi : b}^ which supposition we might not im-
probably solve the omission of Presbyters in St.
Paul's salutation of that Church ; and likewise the
apparent omission in his instructions to Timothy.^

' So St. Clement of Rome: " Christ was sent from God, and
the Apostles from Christ, and they went forth preaching the Gos-
pel .... as they preached in the countries and cities they con-
stituted their first fruits, after approving them by the Spirit, as
Bishops and Deacons of those that should believe." Ep. i. ad
Cor. 42. As also St. Cyprian : " Deacons ought to remember that
the Apostles, that is, Bishops and Rulers, the Lord himself chose
out ; but that the Deacons, after the ascension of the Lord into
heaven, the Apostles instituted, to be ministers of their Episco-
pate, and of the Church." Ep. ad Rogat. Ixv. ed. Ben. To the
same effect St. Epiphanius says, that the Apostles developed the
orders gradually, according to the state of each several Church :
in some places ordaining Presbyters and Deacons, reserving the

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 123

I say, the apparent omission in the Epistle to Ti-
mothy ; for Presbyters are not really omitted, but
twice most distinctly and expressly spoken of. '
Moreover, if real omissions were conclusive proofs,
there would seem to have been no Deacons in the
churches of Crete ; for, in the Epistle to Titus, St.
Paul describes only the character and qualifications
necessary for Presbyters or Bishops. ^ But this
would prove too much. After all, nothing can be
proved from omissions, but the gradual develop-
ment of the several Churches, which the facts of
history also confirm.

We have next to consider the origin and the
functions of Presb3^ters, as they now for the first
time appear in the Church of Jerusalem.

It is remarkable that we have no record of the
institution of these Presbyters. We find them ex-
isting as a body in the Church of Jerusalem, but
there is not a trace of their first rise. It would be
well if they who rest so much on names would ob-
serve this fact.

Episcopate ; in others, a Bishop and Deacons, reserving the Pres-
byterate : for instance, he says, in explaining the use of the names
in St. Paul's Epistles, " Where there was none fit or worthy to be
a Bishop, the place remained void without any : when need
required, and there were those that were fit for it, Bishops were
constituted ; but while there was no great multitude of Christians,
there were found none among them to be constituted Presbyter,
and they contented themselves with a Bishop alone : yet without
a Deacon it was impossible for a Bishop to be, and therefore the
Apostle took care that the Bishop should have his Deacons to mi-
nister to him." S. Epiphan. lib. iii. t. 1. See also s. v.
' 1 Tim. v. 7, 8, 9. ' Tit. i. 7.

124 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

That the office of Presbyter was not the same as
that of the Deacons is confessed on all hands.

That it was not the same as that of the Apostles
is equally plain, for we find the Apostles and Pres-
byters carefully distinguished, as in the following
passages. In the discussions which arose about cir-
cumcision, Paul and Barnabas went up " lo Jeru-
salem unto the Apostles and Presbyters ;" ' " they
were received of the Church and of tlie Apostles
and Presbyters." ' " The Apostles and Presbyters
came together for to consider of this matter."^
" Then pleased it the Apostles and Presbyters and
the whole Church to send chosen men." " " And
they wrote letters by them after this manner : The
Apostles, Presbyters, and Brethren send greeting." "
" And as they went through the cities they delivered
them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained
of the Apostles and Presbyters which were at Jeru-
salem." ' Now it is here to be observed that, be the
Presbyters what they may, they are distinguished
from the Apostles and named after them in everv
case. I know of no instance in which this precedence
is not observed. It must also be remarked that at
this same time one of the Apostles stood in a very
conspicuous and peculiar relation to the Presbyters
at Jerusalem. It is true that Scripture does not
exactly define it ; but there are sufficient indications
of a personal and peculiar authority vested in St.
James. When St. Peter was delivered out of prison

' Acts XV. 2. ^ Ibid. 4. ^ Ibid. 6. ' Ibid. 22.

' Ibid. 23. e Ibid. xvi. 4.

CHAP. IV,] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 125

by the angel, his first care, as soon as he entered the
house of Mary, was to send and make known his
safety " to James and to the brethren." ^ At St.
Paul's first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion
we find James, Cephas, and John mentioned, James
being named first. ^ When, at the council at Jeru-
salem, St. Peter had stated his opinion on the ques-
tion of circumcision, it was James that summed up
the discussion, and gave the definitive sentence on
which the council proceeded to act. ^ And again at
St. Paul's last visit to Jerusalem, we read he " went
in unto James, and all the Presbyters were present." ■*
And he saluted them and gave an account of his
ministry among the Gentiles. No one can doubt
that this account of St. Paul's ministry was ren-
dered to the Church of Jerusalem, then and there
duly assembled, and James is named at the head of
it. As I have strictly confined myself to Holy Scrip-
ture in this part of the present chapter, I forbear to
introduce into the text collateral proofs of the histo-
rical fact that St. James was Bishop of that Church.^

' Acts xii. 17. ^ Gal. i. 19, and ii. 9.

' Gal. XV. 13. " Ibid. xxi. 18.

^ " At Acts xii. 17, there is such a distinct and special mention
of James, the brother of our Lord, as justifies us in supposing that
he already possessed a sjiecific rank in the Church of Jenisalem ;
and yet it is the first of the kind, and it comes in, as we see, at the
Passover of U.C. 796 (A.D. 42), after the conversion of Cornelius.
It is an unquestionable fact that this James was Bishop of Jeru-
salem. And if he had been appointed subsequently to the conver-
sion of Cornelius, U.C. 794, it would do much to confirm the
tradition above alluded to, that for twelve years the Apostles were
not to leave Jerusalem ; and, consequently, that at the end of
twelve they were. While they were all in Jerusalem, and all

126 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

These indications of Scripture are enough for my
present purpose, which is to show that in every case
the Apostles are referred to as distinct from and
superior to Presbyters, and that St. James had a
visible precedence in rank and office. There is
only one more mention of Presbyters in the Book
of Acts. In the fourteenth chapter we • read of
St. Paul's first preaching among the Gentiles of
Asia. This was about the year a.d. 44. In the
23 rd verse we read that Paul and Barnabas " or-
dained them Presbyters in every city." ^ Here we
have the first and only record of such an ordination
in the Book of Acts. Now, of whatsoever rank and
power these were, it is manifest they stood in the
same relation to the Apostles Paul and Barnabas
that the Presb3^ters of Jerusalem stood in to the
rest of the Apostles, and to James the Just. They

actively engaged on the spot, it is reasonable to presume they
would all be at the head of the Church alike ; and so, from Acts
vi. 2; viii. 1 — 14; ix. 2*1, 32; xi. 1, before this point of time in
U.C. 793, they are manifestly seen to be. But when they were
beginning to prepare for the business of preaching the Gospel on
a more enlarged scale than before, and in other parts of the world
besides Judaea, the necessity of appointing some one to reside with,
and to preside over the mother Church permanently, would be evi-
dent even to ordinary wisdom and prudence : in which case (if the
choice were' not dictated by the Holy Ghost himself), none was
so likely to be selected for the government of a Church, which
consisted exclusively of the brethren of Christ according to the
flesh, as James, the brother of Christ according to the flesh."
Greswell's Harmony of the Gospels, vol. ii. 58. The historical
proofs are given in full by Bishop Taylor in his Episcopacy As-
serted, &c., sect. xiii. ; by Cave, in the history of St. James the
Less, contained in his Lives of the Apostles ; and by Hammond,
Letter of Resolution to Six Queries, Works, vol. i. p. 511.
' Acts xiv. 32.

CHAP. IV. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 127

were of the same order witli those of whom we read
that they were convened by St. Paul to Miletus,
i. e. " the Presbyters of the Church" ^ of Ephesus.
It seems highly probable, according to the view
already advanced on the authority of St. Epi-
phanius, ^' that in these Churches there were none
mature enough in the faith for the charge of the
Episcopate. They were necessarily new converts, or
" novices;" and for that reason, by the judgment of St.
Paul, unfit for the office of a Bishop.^ The Apostles
therefore ordained Presbyters, or teachers, reserving
to themselves the government of the Churches, which,
as we expressly read in the Book of Acts, St. Paul
exercised in his apostolic journeys throughout Asia.*
Of Presbyters we do not once read in any of the apos-
tolic epistles until we come to the First to Timothy.
In the absence of all other lights from Holy Scrip-
ture, it is reasonable to conclude that these Presby-
ters were an order constituted by the Apostles, when
the multitude of Christians increased, to aid them
in the spiritual functions of the Apostolate, as the
Deacons were first constituted, when " the number
of the disciples was multiplied," ^ to relieve them of
the secular office of distributing the alms of the
Church. At first they needed assistants only in
the lower, afterwards also in the higher functions ;
and what was true in any churcli, as at Jerusalem,
by reason of the multitude of Christians, was true

' Acts XX. 17. * See p. 122, and note. ' 1 Tim. iii. 6.
* Acts XV. 36. ' Acts vi. 1.

128 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

also in other churches by reason of the absence of
the Apostles. In the journeys of St. Paul he must
needs leave each several church as he founded it,
and pass on to other cities. Therefore he left men
charged with spiritual functions, reserving to him-
self the oversight.

But still there remains this difficulty : St. Paul
calls the Presbyters who met him at Miletus " Bi-
shops." And in his Epistle to Titus it would seem
as if the two names were indiscriminately used, and
the two apparent offices were one and the same.^ Let
us make the most of the difficulty. The Bishops
and Deacons at Philippi might then be only Presby-
ters and Deacons, and St. Paul's Epistle to Timothy
would seem to show that these were the only two
orders existing at that time. This, I believe, is the
full force of which the objection is capable. Now
let it be observed that the controversy turns upon
these two passages. Let them, for a moment, be
supposed not to exist, and the others may be ex-
plained on the principle stated by St. Epiphanius.
We are therefore testing the expressions, not of many
passages, but of two only : no others have the same
verbal ambiguity ; and in these two, it would cer-
tainly seem that St. Paul calls the same persons at
one time Presbyters, and at another Bishops.

It may not be amiss to state that it has been
thought, by some well versed in the records of the
Church, that both the Presbyters of Jerusalem

' Titus i. .5 — 7.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 129

before spoken of, and the Presbyters of Ephesiis,
were truly Bishops gathered from the neighbouring
churches. This view is rendered not unlikely by
the passage of Irenaeus already quoted, in which
he says " the Bishops and Presbyters from Ephe-
sus, and the other neighbouring cities, were con-
vened " by St. Paul.

It may also be supposed that, among them, there
might be Bishops ; or it may be conceived that St.
Paul calls them Bishops, because in his absence
they had the oversight of the flock which he had
gathered. They were his representatives.

We may now examine how they meet the diffi-
cult}^ who, while they contend for the distinction of
orders, admit the community of names ; and first
we may cite St. Chrysostom, who on the salutation
of the Philippian Church^ has this comment: —
" What is this ? Were there many Bisliops of one
city ? By no means. But he thus calls the Pres-
byters. For up to that time they partook of the
names in common, and the Bishop himself was called
a Deacon." ^ Again : " Of old the Presbyters were
called ' Bishops,' and the Bisliops ' Presbyters ' and
'Deacons' of Christ; whence many Bishops even
now write to their ' fellow-presbyter ' and ' fei low-
deacon.' But afterwards the proper name was dis-
tributed to each, and the one called ' Bishop,' the
other ' Presbyter.' " And on tlie First Epistle to
Timothy he says, " Discoursing of Bishops, and
' Philip, i. I. ^ S. Chrysost. in loc.

130 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

sketching their character, and saying M'hat things
a Bishop should have, and from what he should
abstain, and having dismissed the order of Pres-
byters, he (St. Paul) passes on at a leap to the
Deacons. Why ? Because the difference between
them and Bishops is not much, forasmuch as they
also are possessed of the authority to teach, and to
rule the Church. And what he said of Bishops ap-
plies also to them ; for they exceed them by the
power of ordaining only, and in this alone they
have more authority than the Presbyters." ^

Theodoret, whose commentary represents that of
St. Chrysostom, says on tlie same passage to the
Philippians : " He called the blessed Epaphroditus
their 'Apostle' in this same epistle, thereby plainly
shewing that he had the functions of the Episcopate
committed to him as he had the title of Apostle."
So in verse 25 of chapter ii. : " He called him their
Apostle, as having the charge of them committed
to him ; so that it is evident that they, who in the
opening of the Epistle were called Bishops, minis-
tered under him, that is, discharging the ojfice of
Presbyter."" And this he explains more fully in his
commentary on 1 Tim. iii. : " They were wont
of old to call the same persons Presbyters and
Bishops. But those that are now called Bishops
they named Apostles. But in process of time they
gave up the name of the Apostleship to those that
were in a strict sense Apostles ; and applied the

' In 1 Epist. ad Tim. cap. iii. Hoin. xi.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF TilE CHURCH. 131

title of the Episcopate to those that were of old
called Apostles. Thus Epaphroditus was Apostle
of the Philippiaiis ; thus Titus was Apostle of the
Cretans, aud Timothy of the Asiatics. Thus the
Apostles and Presbyters who were at Jerusalem
wrote to those in Antioch." So the author of the
Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, which has
been ascribed to St. Jerome,^ on tlie third chapter of
the First Epistle to Timothy, says, " It is a question
why he makes no mention of Presbyters, but compre-
hends them in the name of Bishops. Because the
second order is all but one," i. e. with the first.
Now it must be remarked that both these writers, at
one and the same time, contend for the community
of the names and the distinction of the orders even
in the Apostles' times : so that, if the view of Bishop
Pearson, founded on the testimony of St. Epiphanius
and St. Irenaeus, be at all unsettled by the weight
of their testimony, our conviction of the main point
for which we are seeking, namely, the distinctness
of the Episcopate, must be in the same measure
confirmed.

We will, however, once more take up the passage
in the Book of Acts. The question is — Are the
same persons called by St. Paul both Presbyters
and Bishops ? It is evident, from all that is gone
before, that we cannot arrive at any demonstrative
proof. We must after all rest contented with a pro-
bable conclusion. It seems, then, not an untenable
' Probably by Pelagiiis. 0pp. S. Hieron. torn. v. 1089. ed. Ben.

132 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

opinion that the same persons are not called by St.
Paul " Presbyters " and " Bishops." The reasons of
that opinion are : first, that in the whole Book of
Acts there is no other passage which renders such an
usage of words probable ; and, secondly, that the use
of the words "Bishop" and " Deacon," in the Epistle
to Timothy, so appears to square with the state of
the Church of Jerusalem under the two orders of
Apostles and Deacons as to render the restricted
and appropriate use of the names more probable
than their indiscriminate application ; ^ thirdly,
Theophylact, commenting on the place, says, " It
is to be observed that those whom he before calls
Presbyters he here calls Bisliops, that is, because
Presbyters necessarily oversee the reasonable flock
of the Church, lest any should be weak in faith,
lest any hunger or thirst, or stand in need of re-
proof and restoration ; or he thus calls Bishops them
who were ideally Bishops.''^

And this brings us again upon the words of
St. Irenseus, which I will now give with the com-
ment of Bishop Pearson : " Irenseus did not think
that, the same men in that place were called
' Bishops ' and ' Presbyters,' or that they belonged
to the church of one city. For as he says,
lib. iii. c. 14, ' The Bishops and Presbyters who
came from Ephesus, and the rest of the neigh-
bouring cities, being called together at Miletus.'
According to the opinion of Irenaeus, St. Paul
' See page 122, and the note. * Theophylact. in loc.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 133

called to him both Bishops and Presbyters: he
did not call them too-ether therefore from one
city alone, nor did he call only the rulers of
the second order, nor style them ' Bishops.' This
place in the Book of Acts Chrysostom, Jerome, and
others, in the fourth and following centuries, quote,
and lay as the foundation of their opinions, chiefly
disputing as about one city alone. Irenseus, a writer
of the second century, and much nigher to the
Apostles and Apostolic men, never so mucli as
dreamed of such a thing." ^ To this we may add
that Ireneeus was born proljably at Smyrna, and
about the year a.d. 97-8,^ that is, within thirty or
five-and -thirty years after the visit of St. Paul to
Miletus ; that he was the disciple of Polycarp, who
was Bishop of Smyrna and a companion of the
Apostles ; and that Smyrna was a suffragan church
under the metropolitan jurisdiction of Ephesus.^
All these things are so many probabilities in favour
of St. Irenseus's thorouo-h knowledo-e of the then
condition of the Asiatic churches ; and therefore give
his words a weight that no other uninspired Chris-
tian writer seems to possess on the point in question.
It would follow, then, that the Presbyters from
Ephesus were the Presbytery of that church over
which, if not already at that time, at least within a
time indefinitely short, as we shall see, Timothy is

' Vind. Ignat. c. xiii. See also Bishop Andrewes' Concio ad
Clerum on Acts xx 28. Opuscula, p. 25. The diflSculty, how-
ever, in Tit. i. 5 — 7 still remains.

* Cave's Hibtur. Lit. in vor. Irenseus.

^ Bingham, Orig. Eccl, hook ix. c. iii. ix.

134 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

proved by Holy Scripture to be bishop. At this
convention he was probably present. The Bishops,
in this view, came from the neighbouring cities. But
be this as it may. If any one still prefer the opi-
nion of St. Chrysostom, which has been adopted by
Hooker and Hammond, it will equally accord with
our main aro-ument. We will therefore dismiss the
names, and take up once more the question, whether
the Apostles committed to many, or to one, the
power of ruling and ordaining in the Church.

That the ultimate form in which St. Paul left
the polity of the churches founded by him was an
Episcopate of one person, is, I conceive, put beyond
doubt by Holy Scripture. The Epistles to Timothy
and Titus were written in the years a.d. 64-66,
that is, towards the end of his life, when for that
reason he was providing for the continuance of the
Church by succession, and thereby for leaving it
after his death in the same form in which it had
been settled during his life, when he exercised him-
self the oversight, or Apostolical Episcopate, of all
churches of his planting ; and by these two docu-
ments it is incontestably proved that Timothy was
sole ruler in Ephesus, and Titus in Crete, as the de-
legates, representatives, and successors of St. Paul.

Now the First Epistle to Timothy was written
either when St. Paul passed into Macedonia, leaving
him at Ephesus, or shortly afterwards ; and the
mention of this event is to remind Timothy of his
original appointment to that Church. It was writ-
ten therefore either before or after the summoning

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 135

of the Presbyters from Ephesus to Miletus. Eitlier
w ay the proof will hold that, a little before, or a few
years after that convention, Timoth}^ was bishop
over them, and the supreme government of the
Church was committed to him alone. In fact he
was to them what St. James was to the Presbyters
at Jerusalem ; and lest it should seem that this was
a temporary commission, we have the second Epistle
to Timothy, written, on one supposition, two, on
another, many years after the first, and on any
supposition at the very end of St. Paul's life, when
he was " now ready to be offered, and the time "
of his " departure was at hand."

I forbear in the case of Timothy, as in that of
St. James, to cite the abundant historical evidence
which proves that he was in the strictest sense
Bishop of Ephesus. We are arguing from Holy
Scripture. It will not, however, be amiss to remem-
ber that the argument here offered is in exact ac-
cordance with the whole body of historical evidence,
and any other in diametrical opposition to it.

We will now examine, from the internal evidence
of the Epistles, first, whence he derived his commis-
sion ; and, next, with what powers he was invested
over the Ephesian Presbyters.

As to his commission, we read it was from St.
Paul himself: " I besought thee to abide still at
Ephesus."' But the gift which he received, that is
the grace which accompanied the Episcopate, was
given him by the " hiying on of the hands of the

' 1 Tim. i. 3.

136 THE UNITF OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

Presbytery."^ Here we seem to return into the
original difficulty. Let us first see therefore how
they whose authority is used for the community of
names deal with this passage. St. Chrysostom's
comment is, " He does not here speak of Presby-
ters, but of Bishops, for Presbyters did not ordain
a Bishop." Theophylact repeats his words. Theo-
doret says, " He calls the office of teaching a gift
{j(api(Tixa), and those that were deemed worthy of
the apostolic grace the ' presbytery.' " Now it comes
to this — either they were Bishops, or they were not.
If they were Bishops in Acts xx. 28, they are so
here, and the difficulty vanishes : if not in either
place, we must look for some other solution. And
we need not to look far. In the first chapter of the
second Epistle, St. Paul writes, " Stir up the gift
that is in thee by the putting on of my hands.'' ^
What can then be the meaning of the laying on of
the hands of the Presbytery ? The Apostle declares
himself to be the sole ordainer of Timothy. I say
sole, because he was the sufficient authority ; and
as for the rest, it may be that Silas, Paul's fellow-
Avorker, and St. Luke, the companion of his jour-
neys, and, it may be also, gifted persons, as in the
mission of St. Paul himself to the Gentiles,^ were
joint partakers of the act. And this last supposition
has a direct countenance from the words of St. Paul
to Timothy where he says, " This charge I commit
to thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies

' 1 Tim. iv. 14. * 2 Tim. i. 6. ^ Sets xiii. 1-

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 137

luhich went before on tlieeT^ And, after all, the
Apostle himself declaring that his own hands or-
dained Timothy, why may we not also conceive
that the Presbytery of the Church expressed their
acceptance of their spiritual ruler by joining in the
act?'

' 1 Tim. i. 18. Cump. the prophecy of Agabus on St. Paul.
Acts xxi. 10, 11.

* If, on such a point as this, a conjecture is not of much weight,
yet it can at least do no harm to cite certain remarkable facts
which seem to look towards the supposition in the text. It is well
known that Presbyters, who haveneither singly nor collectively the
power of ordaining Presbyters, are nevertheless permitted by the
Catholic Church to express their consent or concurrence in the
ordination of their brethren by laying their hands, with the Bishop,
on the head of the candidate for the priesthood. It is certain that
such a piivilege has been permitted even in the consecration of
Bishops. We find Pope Pelagius was consecrated by the impo-
sition of the hands of two Bishops and one Presbyter, a priest of
Ostia. (See Mason's Vindication of the Church of England, &c.,
p. 41.) This is on the authority of Anastasius, and admitted by
Baronius and Binius. There is also an answer of St. Gregory the
Great to St. Augustiu, which is even more in point. St. Augustin , in
the early part of his mission in Britain, when he desired to conse-
crate Mellitus and Justus, wrote to ask, " If the Bishops are so far
apart one from another that they cannot conveniently assemble,
whether may a Bishop be ordained without the presence of other
Bishops?" Gregory answered — '' In the Church of England, in
which only thou art as yet a Bishop, thou canst not ordain at all
but in the absence of other Bishops. For when do any Bishops
come out of France to assist you in ordaining Bishops? We will
therefore that you ordain Bishops ; but so that they may not be
far one from another, that there be no such necessity but that they
may hereafter come together at the creation of others. And the
other pastors, whose presence is highly useful, may readily assem-
ble." Bede, Eccl. Hist., lib. i. xxvii. Here pastors evidently are
distinguished from bishops. (See Mason, Vind., pp. 92,93.) We
find in Morinus de Prim.Ord. Exercit. ii. c. iii. vi., the decree of elec-
tion (preserved m the Euchologium), which was read out at the con-

138 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

We will now go on to the powers with which
Timothy was invested. And we may remark at
the outset that, whatsoever share the Presbyters
may have had in the imposition of hands, Timothy
was intrusted with a sole and supreme power over
them.

First, he was charged to witness the true doctrine
of Christ;^ and to take heed that no man should
teach any other : ^ next, he was empowered to exer-
cise discipline over the flock ; to rebuke, reprove,
and exhort ; ^ and, if need be, to reject from the
communion of the Church: again, he was intrusted
with authority to take cognizance of the character
and lives of Bishops,^ Presbyters,^ and Deacons,^
Of Presbyters it is especially said, " Let the elders
(Presbyters) that rule well be counted worthy

secration of Bishops. He gives it as follows : " If the Patriarch be
the consecrator, the decree runs, ' by the suffrage and approbation
of the most sacred Metropolitans, Archbishops, and Bishops;' if a
Metropolitan be consecrator, thus : ' by the suffrage and approbation
of the Bishops most acceptable to God, and the reverend Presbyters.'
When the Patriarch ordains, that is in a patriarchal province, Bi-
shops, Archbishops, and Metropolitans only concur in the election ;
but when a Metropolitan, the Presbyters also." And in this we may
find some precedent, such as it is, for the strange custom of the
Romanists in England and Ireland, who, " during the greater part
if not the whole of the last century," as IVIr. Palmer says, " had
Bishops consecrated by one Bishop and two Priests, which was
done by authority of a bull, permitting, for the " increase of their
eonveniency," that, in lieu of witnesses, two secular priests should
assist. See Palmer's Treatise, vol. ii. pp. 469, 470.

' 1 Tim. vi 12, 13, 14; 2 Tim. i. 13; iii. 14-17.

* 1 Tim. i. 3; vi. 3, 4, 5. M Tim. v. 20 ; 2 Tim. iv. 2.

' 1 Tun. lii. 1. ' 1 Tim. v. 17, 19.

' 1 Tan. iii. 8, &c.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 139

of double honour, especially they who labour in
the word and doctrine. Against an elder (Pres-
byter) receive not an accusation but before two or
three witnesses;"^ and, lastly, Timothy was em-
powered to continue the succession of the Church
by the laying on of hands, ^ that is, by ordination.
The same office may be shown to be vested also
in Titus for his Episcopate over the whole of
Crete. Only one passage, as bearing directly upon
the chief point at issue, need be cited. " For this
cause," says St. Paul, " left I thee in Crete, that
thou shouldest set in order the things that are
wanting, and ordain Presbyters in every city^"^
Now to this single point of ordination we may
henceforward confine our inquiry ; and in the first
place it must be observed, that there is no one pas-
sage in the whole of the New Testament in which
Presbyters are said to lay on hands, except that
which has been already quoted above; and there St.
Paul declares that he himself was the authority of
the ordination — 1 mean in the case of Timothy ; and
in the second place it must be observed that, in the
commissions given to Timothy and Titus, the power
of ordination is intrusted to them alone. In this
one point may be said to lie the dijfere7itia of the
episcopal office.

We have already seen St. Chrysostom, TJieodo-
ret, and Tlieophylact arguing that the Presbytery
were Bishops, because they laid hands on Timothy ;

' See above, page 102. ' 1 Tim. v. 22; 2 Tim. ii. 2.

' Titus i. 5.

140 THE UXITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

and St. Chrysostom asserting that Bishops exceed
Presbyters in the poM-er of ordaining only.

We will now take the evidence of St. Jerome, an
authority trite and acknowledged by all the im-
pugners of the Episcopate. In his well-known
epistle to Evangelus (al. Evagrius), he contends for
the community of names, and is supposed to con-
tend for the identity of orders. The truth"^ is, he
wrote for the purpose of repressing the self-elation
of the Roman Deacons, who, through their riches
and influence in the Church, endeavoured to set
themselves before the Presbyters.^ He proves the
great interval of dignity between a Deacon and a
Presbyter by saying that a Presbyter is almost
equal to a Bishop. This, one would have thought,
should liave sufficiently expressed St. Jerome's
mind, and preserved his isolated words from mis-
interpretation. After giving his view of the origin
of the episcopal order, he adds, " What does a
Bishop do that a Presbyter cannot, except ordina-
tion?"^' And this is the only point we are now

' •' Audio quendam in tantam erupisse vecordiam, ut Diacunos,
Presbyteris, id estEpiscopis anteferret ;" and afterwards: " Si ex
Diacono ordinatur Presbyter, noverit se lucris minorem, Sacerdotio
esse majorem."

* It is remarkable that there are not more than two or three in-
stances (if apparent ordination by Presbyters bearing a sufficiently
probaV)le character to be cited by the adversaries of the sole epis-
copal power. Bishop Stillingfleet, in his Irenicum, a book written
when he was about fuur-and-twenty years old, after showing that
the power of ordination was by the laws of the Church restricted
to Bishops, wishes to prove that nevertheless the ordination of
Presbyters was not declared invalid. From the tract of sixteen

CHAP, IV. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 141

concerned with. Of his other opinions we shall
speak hereafter.

hundred years he brings three cases, two in the fourth and one in
the fifth century. Their value will readily appear.

The first is that of the Abbot Daniel, a.d. 390, who is supposed to
have been made Deacon by Paphnutius, a Presbyter of the desert.
This is on the authority of Cassian, whose words are, " So greatly
did Paphnutius delight in his virtues, that he hastened to equal
with himself in the honour of the priesthood a man whom he knew
to be his peer in merit and the grace of life. For he could by no
means endure that lie should tarry longer in a lower ministry ;
and, desiring to provide for himself a worthy succes^sor, in his own
lifetime, he raised him by the honour of the priesthood." In the
first place, who does not see that the point of the last sentence lies
in the word " superstes," — that Daniel was made Presbyter with a
view to the succession, while Paphnutius was yet alive? In this
there was a departure from the usual course. Plainly it was not
the habit therefore of the superior of the monastery to ordain his
successor. But in truth it is nowhere said that Paphnutius did
ordain him, but " co-sequare" and " provexit" may well consist
with the known and notorious rule in the ordination of monks,
namely, that the Superior should se!ect and send them to the
Bishop in whose jurisdiction the monastery was situated. By the
rule of St. Benedict it is ordered, " If any Abbot should desire to
have a Presbyter or Deacon ordained, let him choose from the
number of his brethren one that is meet to discharge the priestly
office." Reg. D. Bened. cap. 6. See Ca&sian. Coll. 4, 1, note 6.
As to the monasteries of the East, they were not exempt fiom the
Diocesan Episcopate. " Cosequat," and " provexit" can in no way
signify " ordain." So far as in him lay, Paphnutius equalled Daniel
to himself, and preferred him, that is chose him to be made his equal,
and preferred to the priesthood. Without other evidence, and
against the otherwise acknowledged and universal practice of
the Church, and of all monasteries, this not only proves really
nothing, but is even no ground of probable reasoning. I may
add Fleury's account of the case : " Daniel ctait principalement
recommandable par son humilite. Paphnuce le fit ordonner diacre,
le preferant a plusieurs autres plus ages, et lueine ensuite il le fit
(Clever au sacerdoce." Histoire Eccl., lib. xx. c. vii.

The second case is the consecration of Pope Pelagius, in which

142 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

The power of ordination, then, was first reserved in
the hands of the Apostles, and afterwards coinmit-

two bishops and one priest assisted. This case is simplv irrele-
vant. The consecration would have been valid at the hands of
one bishop. The utmost that can be deduced from it is, that the
priest by imposition of hands expressed a subordinate concurrence
in the act of a superior, which was valid without his participation.
But I have considered this case already in the note to page 137.

The third and last case is the only one which presents any diffi-
culty. St. Leo, writing to Rusticus Narbonensis, who had asked
his judgment of some Presbyters who took upon them to ordain
as Bishops, answers — '' Tliose clergymen who were ordained by
such as took upon ihem the office of Bishops in churches belong-
ing to proper Bishops, if the ordination were performed by the
consent of the Bishops, it may be looked on as valid, and those
Presbyters remain in their office in the Church." " Otherwise the
creation (ordination) is to be held null which has neither the
foundation of a place (i. e. a cure or church), nor is confirmed by
authority." So Slillingfleet words it. Now it will be best to give
St. Leo's answer entire, and as it stands: " No reason allows that
they should be regarded as Bishops who are neither elected by the
clergy, nor desired by the people, nor consecrated by the provincial
Bishops, with the approbation of the metropolitan. Wherefore,
since a question oiten arises concerning an honour (i. e. ecclesi-
astical rank) which has been irregularly received, who doubts that
what is not shown to be conferred on them may by no means be
attributed to them ? But if any clergy are ordained by these mock-
bisliops (pseudo-episcopi) in those churches which belong to their
own bishops, and their ordination is made by the consent and
judgment of the bishops (Proesidentium), it may be held as valid,
so that they may continue in the churches. Otherwise the ordi-
nati(m (creatio) is null, being grounded in no place (/. e. a cure or
church), and confirmed by no authority." Now from this it would
seem rather that the " pseudo-episcopi " were not simple Pres-
byters, but men who had olitained some irregular episcopal conse-
cration. For which reason St. Leo recites in full the conditions
of a lawful consecration. What need had he to say this of a mere
Presbyter ? or of any but those who claimed consecration as
Bishops ? There is no mention of Presbyter in the whole epistle.
Now it is as plain as any conjecture can be that these pseudo-epis-

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

143

ted, as in Timothy and Titus, to Bishops. St. Chry-
sostom calls " the power of ordination the chief'est of
all, and that which above all holds the Church to-
gether." ^ It was for this reason that it was reserved
to Timothy over Ephesus and the subject churches,
and to Titus over Crete with its hundred cities.
Wliat St. Cyprian observes on the commission given

copi were Chorepiscopi, who were consecrated not as the provin-
cial bishops, in the full canonical order recited by St. Leo, but by-
one bishop. This practice, which had grown into the churches in
Gaul, was severely reprehended by Damasus, Leo, John IIL and
Leo IIL These Chorepiscopi were consecrated by the Diocesan
Bishops to help them in their labours ; but so that they should not
confirm or ordain without express consent given to that effect by
the bishop of the diocese. To this Leo alludes (consensu etjudicio
Prjesidentium). The Chorepiscopi by degrees violated this re-
striction to such an extent as to bring on their entire suppression.
And the office of Presbyter Chorepiscopus, or Archdeacon, pre-
vailed in their stead. Now, writing of these Chorepiscopi, John
III. says, " All the chief councils affirm that he is no Bishop who
is made Bishop by fewer than three Bishops, with the authority of
the Metropolitan ; and therefore that those whom you call Chor-
episcopi, inasmuch as they are consecrated as we hear by one
Bishop, are no Bishops, and ought not to assume any sacred func-
tion of the pontifical (episcopal) privileges." Morinus de Sacr. Ord.
ad Exercit. iv. c. ii. 8. These are exactly the pseudo-episcopi of
St. Leo. Their consecration was real, by apostolical authority, and
therefore their ordination was not to be iterated ; but their conse-
cration was uncanonical, and therefore every episcopal act was
usurpation except " consensu et judicio Praesidentium." They
were then, or by after-submission of the party ordained, valid, and
accepted by the Diocesan Bishop. That this is St. Leo's meaning
is beyond a doubt ; and his letter, having no reference to simple
Presbyters, is irrelevant to the end for which Stillingfleet adduced

it.

' " Tza.VTb)v uaXiCTTa KvpiioTaTov, Kal o f^iaXiaTa cui't'j^ei t})i' E/okXr/-
mav, TO riou xftpo^J'twi'." Vindic. Ignat. c. xiii.

144 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART f,

first to St. Peter alone is true also here. The
source and springhead of power began from one as
a type and pledge of unity. That the preservation
of unity was the final end of the Episcopate, St.
Jerome again and again asserts, as, for instance, in
his dialogue with the Luciferians, where he argues,
" The safety of the Church hangs upon the dignity
of the chief priest, to whom if there were not given
a power extraordinary and above other men, there
would be made as many schisms as there are
priests." ' And he proceeds further, in the above-
cited Epistle to Evangel us, to give an account of
the first rise of the Episcopate : " That one was
afterwards chosen out and set over the rest was
done as a corrective of schism, lest every man,
drawing Christ's Church to himself, should rend
it."^ And in his commentary on the Epistle to
Titus, he sa3^s, " A Presbyter is the same as a
Bishop, and before that, by the instigation of the
Devil, factions were made in religion, and it was
said among the people, I am of Paul, and I of
Apollos, and I of Cephas, the churches were go-
verned by the common council of the Presbyters.
But after that each one regarded those he had bap-
tized, not as Christ's, but as his own, it was decreed
in all the world that one chosen out from amono- the
Presbyters should be set over the rest, to whom

' Morinus de Oidinat. Sacr. P. iii. c. ii. 3. See also S. Cypr.
Ep. 55.

^ Ad Evangelum, torn. v. p. 803. ed. Ben.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 145

should belong the charge of the whole Churcli, and
thereby the seeds of schism be rooted out."' Now
upon this passage it must be observed that, if taken
to deny the Apostolical institution of the Episcopate,
it is gratis dictum ; having no warrant of history :
it is a theory inconsistent with the teaching of the
three first ages after the Apostles ; and with the plain
declarations of Holy Scripture, which prove that
the sole power of Timothy and Titus was given by
the Apostle himself.

In the next place, it is said that this universal
rule of electing a. single Presbyter to be Bishop arose
upon the schisms of tlie Church. That is to say,
the Apostles acted not by foresight and prevention,
but by after-judgment, to correct an evil which was
both foreseen and foretold. How far this is con-
sonant with the Divine wisdom, by which they were
guided, any plain man will readily decide ; and how
far it is consonant with the evidence of history may
be seen from the fact that the schisms of which
Jerome speaks, at Corinth, arose about a.d. 55, which
is the date of St. Paul's Epistle, and we already find
St. James at Jerusalem, presiding over the Presby-
ters of that Church, and, according to Eusebius,
Euodius at Antioch, who was made Bishop in the
year a.d. 44.^ Now whether the testimony of
Eusebius is intrinsically valid is no question. It
is at least good against that of St. Jerome, nay even

' S. Hierom. in Tit. i. 5.
^ By the Chronology of Syncellus, a.d. 40.

146 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

better, as are all detailed testimonies against sweep-
ing assertions ; and certainly it is more trustworthy
on other grounds, Eusebius being more than half
a century earlier, an Asiatic Greek, and himself
bishop of a neighbouring city.

The fact is that this precedence, from what cause
soever it arose, existed before the schisms which
Jerome imagined to have produced it.' The succes-
sions of the churches of Jerusalem and Antioch are
older than the Epistle to the Corinthians.

And lastly, I would observe that Jerome says
" toto orbe decretum" — it was decreed in the whole
world. In his commentary on Titus, he says : " As
Presbyters know that they are subject to him that
is set over them by the custom of the Church (ec-
clesiae consuetudine), so let Bishops know that they
are greater than Presbyters, rather by custom than
by the nature of the Lord's dispensation." But he
immediately destroys his argument by a parallel be-
tween Moses and the seventy Elders. Surely Moses
had both supreme power and precedence " disposi-
tionis Dominicae veritate." But Jerome says this
was an universal custom, and begun in the course
of the apostolic ministry, and, therefore, he must
mean by the Apostles : yet his words, " decreed in
the whole world," give it an appearance as if it were
the act, not of inspired, but uninspired men.^ If it

' Morinus de Ord. Sacr. P. iii. c. 3. 20.

* In the same Epistle to Evangelus, St. Jerome makes the fol-
lowing statement, which has been eagerly used by the gainsayers

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 147

was SO decreed, let the decree be produced. Or if it
be not forthcoming, let us rather listen to St. Augus-
tin, who, while Jerome was thus writing from the
east, taught another and a sounder rule in Africa.
" What the whole Church holds, instituted by no
council, but always maintained, is most rightly be-
lieved to flow from no authority but that of the

of the Episcopal order : — " At Alexandria, from the time of Mark
the Evangelist to the Bishops Heraclas and Dionysius, the Pres-
byters were always wont to choose one out of their own number
and place him in a higher grade, and call him Bishop, as the army
makes the Emperor; and the Deacons choose of their own number
one whose diligence they know, and call him Archdeacon. For
what does a Bishop do that a Presbyter may not, except ordain?
&c. " From this it has been argued that by election, and without
consecration, a Presbyter became Bishop of Alexandria; which is
contrary to the whole current of historical testimony Even Mo-
rinus is led to suppose this to be Jerome's meaning, because no eccle-
daslical ceremony was used in the consecration of emperors for
some centuries after Jerome's day. His argmnent would then be this :
because the emperors were not consecrated before the practice of
consecrating them was instituted, therefore neither were Bishops,
though the practice of consecrating them was universal and from
the beginning. But in truth Morinus has missed St. Jerome's
meaning. He compares the two elections, not the consequent
ceremonies. All he had to shew was that Presbyters border so
closely on the Episcopate, that they had the right of choosing their
own bishop. In fact it is no more than is possessed by most
churches of Western Europe at this day. But his own words show
this, for whence could the elected Bishop obtain the power of or-
dination, which the Presbyters themselves did not possess ? The
truth is, he had no need to speak of consecration, and therefore
wholly omits it. Moreover it is recorded that St. Mark ordained
Anianus or Ananias to the see of Alexandria ; and that the Patriarch
of that church was consecrated by the neighbouring bishops from
time immemorial. See Hammond, Diss, quatuor quibus Episco-
patus Jura &c. iii. x. Works, vol. iii. 192.

L 2

148 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

Apostles." ' This universal fact of an episcopal regi-
men can be explained by no cause short of an uni-

' Much stress is laid by those who deny the apostolical institution
of orders upon the following passage of Tertullian, in which he is
supposed to reduce the priesthood of the Church to a matter of
internal ecclesiastical discipline. " Are not we laymen also
priests ? It is written — ' He hath made us a kingdom, and priests
unto God and His Father.' The difference between the order
(of Priests) and the people is constituted by the authority of the
Church ; and the dignity which is in the consistory of the priest-
hood is sanctified ; insomuch that where the consistory and the ec-
clesiastical order is not found, thou makest oblation, and baptizest,
and art a priest unto thyself alone. But where three are, although
they be laymen, there is the Church." De Exhort, castitatis, c. vii.

Now a slight regard to the context will clear this difficulty.
In recommending chastity he falls on the subject of second mar-
riages. He says they are forbidden to the priesthood. He sup-
poses an objector to say, " Therefore it is lawful to others whom
he excepts. Sed dices, ergo caeteris licet, quos excipit." ^. e.,
the laity. He answers, " We are foolish if we fancy that what
is not lawful for priests is lawful for laymen. Are not we laymen
also priests.?" &c.

First, then, it is plain that Tertullian means to refute the idei
that in the nature of morals there are two rules, one for priests,
another for laymen. He contends that all moral beings, before
God, are alike.

Next he teaches that the standing priesthood is an expression,
or embodying, of the spiritual actions of the whole body.

And lastly, by " Ecclesise auctoritas," he clearly means to in-
clude the apostolic as much as Jerome does in the " EcclesiEe
consuetudo," and " toto orbe decretnm."

All that Tertullian is concerned to shew is that the difference
between the laity and priesthood has a positive and not a moral
origin — that it is not a differentia per se, but a differentia ex con-
stituto.

For the last words " Where three are, &c.," see St. Cyprian de
Unilate " Dominus enim cum discipulis suis unitatera suaderet, &c."
p. 198. cd. Ben. He means that the Church resides even in its
ultimate integral parts, howevei- small.

And

CHAP. IV. THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 149

versal agency, which was harmonious and alike in
every place. We know of none such since the
mission of the Apostles. They that gainsay must
account for it.'

We may now sum up the evidence of Scripture
on this point. It is plain that the Lord Jesus
Christ himself ordained his Apostles, and that the
Apostles ordained Deacons to be their first assist-
ants ; that in a few years, without any mention of
their institution, a body of Presbyters is found in
the Church, subject to the Apostles, sometimes to
one Apostle ; that to these Presbyters the sole power

And last of all it must be remembered that TertuUiau's book de
Exhort, castitatis was written after he hail turned Montanist, and
committed schism. See Bishop of Lincohrs Tertullian, p. 62.

* For tho?e who have an impression that the Apostles did not
institute the government by Bishops, but that uninspired men after
the Apostles' times introduced it, the following passage from Chil-
lingworth fairly puts an argument which I have never seen as fairly
met. " When I shall see, therefore, all the Fables of the Meta-
morphosis acted, and prove true stories ; when I shall see all the
democracies and aristocracies in the world lie down and sleep and
awake into monarchies ; then will I begin to believe that Presby-
terial government, having continued in the Church during the
Apostles' time, should presently after (against the Apostles' doc-
trine, and the will of Christ) be whirled about like a scene in a
mask, and trans Tormed into Episcopacy. In the meantime, while
these things remain thus incredible, and, in human reason, im-
possible, I hope I shall have leave to conclude thus :

" Episcopal government is acknowledged to have been univer-
sally received in the Church presently after the Apostles' times.

" Between the Apostles' times and this ' presently after ' there
was not time enough ibr any possibility of so great an alteration.

" And therefore there was no such alteration as is pretended;
and therefore Episcopacy, being confessed to be so ancient and
Catholic, must be granted also to be Apostolic. Quod erat demon-
strandum." The .Apostolical Instit. of Episcopacy, Works, 490. ii.

150 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

of ordaining, and ruling the Church, was never
given ; that to Timothy and Titus both of these func- .
tions were committed severally and in full ; that we
once read of Presbyters joining subordinately with
St. Paul in an act of ordination ; that we nowhere
read of their taking any such act as a body without
an Apostle ; and, lastly, that we find, in two or
three passages, the name " Bishop " apparently
given to them.

From all these premises we may conclude, first,
that so long as the power of ruling and ordaining
was restrained in the hands of the Apostles, they
may have acted as Curators of the several Churches
by a sort of vicarious Episcopate — an office still
assigned to Cathedral Presbyteries in the Catholic
Church during the vacancy of any see. If I may
so say, the Episcopate in its lower functions, for
ice noichere read of their ordainitig, was put into
commission : they were none of them severally
Bishops, as Timothy and Titus, but all together
exercised such functions of the Episcopate as they
were severally capable of. They may have there-
fore partaken of the name, as, " sede nondum
constituta," they did of the authority.

Secondly, we may conclude that the power of
ordaining and of ruling the Church was nowhere
committed to more than one alone. The Apostles,
as they possessed the fullness of their divine com-
mission in themselves, so they gave out portions of
it, according to the needs of the Church ; and the

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 151

rest they retained in their own hands, until they
made provision for tlieir departure from the Church
on earth by bequeathing the whole Apostolic au-
thority to their successors. Therefore we find, first,
an order of assistants with powers very limited :
namely, the Deacons.

And next in order, with powers much enlarged,
taking precedence of the Deacons, joining in the
councils of the Church, and all but equal to the
Apostles, to whom, however, they are always found
in a carefully expressed subordination, we find a
body of Presbyters.

The Presbyters, therefore, were the material or
basis of the future Episcopate. Bishops were not
needed so long as the Apostles themselves kept the
oversight of all Churches ; ^ and, therefore, in the
early history of the Church, as contained in the
Book of Acts, we have no record of the act of insti-
tuting a bishopric. As the time drew on for the
departure of the Apostles, they were constituted,
as at Jerusalem ; and therefore it is to the Epistles
to Timothy and Titus, St. Paul's latest writings,
that we must look for the form to which the
Churches of his planting had grown up under his
hand. He had reared the temple to the coping-
stone, and then, as the last act, he fixed the pin-
nacle. He was to depart from them, and he left
Timothy and Titus as his representatives. And this
brings me to the last point I shall touch upon. In

' Morinus de Sacris Ordin. P. iii, c. iii. 15.

152 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

thus commitiing the plenitude of their authority to
one, and only one in each Church, it is evident that
the Apostles acted upon the rule which our Lord
himself had sanctioned by His own practice. .As
a type of unity. He first committed the Apostolic
power to St, Peter, ^ but afterwards to all the

' It is as certain that the precedence of the Church of Rome
has no divine or apostolical warrant, as that St. Peter had a
precedence among the Apostles by the implied disposition of
our Lord. No one who has examined Holy Scripture and the
Fath.ers of the Church can doubt of this ; but the real question
is not whether or no he had a precedence, which all well-instructed
divines admit, but in what that precedence consisted. Whatso-
ever that precedence was, it was a precedence among those who
had received equal power with himself. The same testimonies
which ascribe to him a precedence, assert everywhere with greater
strength and point the equality of all the Apostles.

It is evident from Holy Scripture that the precedence of St.
Peter was a priority in point of time. He first confessed Christ
to be the Son of God, and he first received the promise of the
apostolic power. St. Matth. xvi. 16 — 19. But they all received
it afterwards. St. John xx. 21, 22, 23. He first opened the
apostolic commission at the appointment of Matthias, and at the
day of Pentecost opened the kingdom of Heaven to the Jews, and
at the conversion of Cornelius to the Gentiles. To him was com-
mitted " the gospel of the circumcision," Gal. ii 7 ; i. e. the
office and ministry of tendering the Gospel to the Jews. Through-
out Judaea and Asia and in every place this was first done, and a
foundation of Jewish converts laid, on which the Gentile converts
were afterwards built. Thus the ministrv of St. Peter came first,
that of St. Paul came afterwards, and we find in the Book of Acts
that the preaching of St. Peter is recorded down to the conversion
of Cornelius. Then follows the preaching of St. Paul. The whole
Church, therefore, is built on the Gospel of the Circumcision, the
ministry of St. Peter, and so on St. Peter himself. The interpre-
tation of the words of Christ in Matth, xvi. 18, was very va-
rious in the Catholic Church. St. Augustin interpreted the Rock
either of Peter or of Christ, and invites the reader to make his

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 153

Apostles. They all were what Peter was ; endowed
with an equal share in the fellowship of an equal

choice. He says the former interpretation was in the mouths of
many, being in a song of Ambrose. But he inclines himself to
the latter ; and that in his Retractations, lib. i c. xxi. To this it
should be added that thirty-six Fathers and Doctors of the Church
of all ages and nations in the East and the West, including ten
Popes, interpret the Rock to be the true Faith, Palmer's Treatise,
vol. ii. p. 484.

Now as to the sense of the Fathers. St. Peter is often spoken of
as chief, and leader, and Coryphaeus, &C.5 of the Apostles (jov x"?""
Twv 'AiroaroXiov Kopvipaioc, 'K-kootoXwv KopvipawraroQ, wpoijyopoc,
apxvyoQ, TrpOe^poc, t^ap')(og, TrpoaTaTrjQ, &c. and by the Latins as
Princeps, Primus, &c. (See Nectarius confut. Im[ier. Papae,
p, 119 — 225.) The same titles are given to the other Apostles.
Chrysostom calls Andrew, James, and John Kopvfcuoc in several
places. He calls also James and John " two Coryphaiuses."
Hom.xxxii. in St. Matth. Nectarius defines "Coryphaeus" to be
'• primus ordine inter eos qui sunt ejusdem ordinis." But the
same writers testify also that all the Apostles were of equal power.
St. Cyprian we have already seen saying — " the other Apostles
were what Peter was, endowed with an equal plenitude both of
honour and power." (De Unit. Eccl.) St. Ambrose : " When Peter
heard ' But whom say ye that I am ?' immediately remembering
his place, he takes the precedence — the precedence indeed in con-
fession, not in honour — the precedence in faith, not in order."
" Hear him saying, ' I will give thee the keys,' what is said to
Peter is said to the other Apostles." Chrysostom says — " All in
common were intrusted with the care of the whole world." Cyril
of Alexandria says — " Peter and John were equal m honour to each
other." Victor of Carthage : " 'i'o the Church all the blessed
Apostles, endued with an equal fel'owship of honour and power,
brought multitudes of people." The fifth (Ecumenical Synod de-
clares that " the grace of the Holy Spirit abounded in each of the
Apostles, so that they needed not the counsel of any other in the
things that should be done." Origen, Cyprian, Jerome, Augus-
tine, Etherius, and others, interpret " tlie Rock" of the Apostles
generally (see Ephes. ii. 20 , Rev. xxi. 14). These passages are
given by Mr. Palmer, vol. ii. pp. 480-484; and every one fami-

154 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

authority. Not that they were dependent one on
another, so as to be unable to act except in an
united college. Each severally was absolute. Under
God, he had no one set over him. Each one was a
vicar and vicegerent of Christ. Each one, in every
land wheresoever they were scattered abroad, carried
with him the whole mystery of the Gospel ; all its
truths, and sacraments, and powers. As each one
had in himself the faith, so he had the polity of the
Church in all its plenitude ; and as Christ their Lord
had intrusted His own commission in full to each one
of their body, so did they in like manner. They had
represented Him, and now they constituted repre-
sentatives of Him and of themselves. They there-
fore made over, in like manner, their commission
in full to chosen men, who in their stead should be
to each several Church the Vicars of Christ and of

liar with the Fathers will know that they may be multiplied to a
great extent. But this is enough to show that the precedence of
St. Peter in no way affected the absolute, independent equality of
power in each several Apostle ; and so if it were true, as it can-
not be shown, that any Christian Bishop had succeeded to his
precedence, it could in like manner no way affect the absolute in-
dependent equality of each Catholic Bishop. As St. Paul withstood
St. Peter at Antioch, so might any bishop withstand the successor
of his precedence. I have thought it best to throw these few re-
marks into a note, because the present is not the occasion for en-
tering into a subject of this extent ; and because, having in the text
referred to the precedence of St. Peter, and also the precedence of
the Roman Patriarch (see page 98), between which no connexion
by divine or apostolical appointment can be shown, it is not neces-
sary to introduce these observations into the context of the book. The
precedence of Rome has another origin, and that has been already
noticed. On this point see Thorndike's Epilogue, Book iii. c. 6, xviii.

Chap, iv.] the unity of the church. 155

God ; and on this is founded the rule which is as
old as the Apostolic age. " Wheresoever the Bishop
appears, there let the multitude be, even as whereso-
ever is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church."^
" There is one God and one Christ the Lord, one
Holy Ghost, and so ought there to be one Bishop
in a Catholic Church."^ This, then, is the ultimate
form of organic unity. " The Church departs not
from Christ, and they are the Church (who are) a
people united to the Priest — a flock cleaving to its
pastor ; for the Bishop is in the Church, and the
Church in the Bishop."^ So, in every several
Church, the successor and representative of the
Apostles is the visible centre, type, source, and bond
of unity. He, with his Presbytery and assistant
Deacons, is an image and reflex of the whole
Church — an integral and homogeneous part which
coalesces with every other. And, for collective
unity, all the Bishops of the Catholic Church at
large are one College. They are to the Church of
these latter times what the Apostolic College was
to the Church in the beginning — all equal in sacer-
dotal power, but ordered according to ecclesiastical
use and custom. In and under them the Church
Catholic is one. There is, then, a collective unity
of all particular Churches, with their several
Bishops, in one Catholic body under the Episcopal

' S. Igiiat. ad Sniyrn. ^ S. Cypr. E\i. xlvi.

* S. Cypr. Ep. Ixix. '

156 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

College ; and there is a distributed or several unity
in each particular Church, under its own Bishop.
This unity of the Church, tlierefore, inheres in the
one origin, the one succession, and the one College
of Catholic Bishops ; and here we may leave the
subject of organic unity.

We now come to the second division of this sub-
ject ; namely, the Moral Unity of the Church. By
this expression I would be understood to mean what
is often called the Unity of Communion. The
basis of this unity is the subjective state of the
moral character, and the union of Christian men in
the habits of faith, hope, and charity ; or, as St.
Cyprian expresses it, " Charity, which is greater
than hope and faith, is the bond of brotherhood,
the foundation of peace, the hold and strength of
unity." ^ And St. Augustin, in like manner, says,
" It is manifest that Sion is the City of God : what
is that City of God but the hol}^ Church ? For men
"who love each other, and also their God, who dwells
in them, are unto God a city. As a city is held
together by some law, their law is love ; and love
is God." ^

This moral unity is evidently a law, not only of the
Church and of Revelation, but of nature and of the
constitution of mankind. The moral unity of a
family is the aboriginal type, and the national
unity of a people a partial antitype of the same

' De Bono Patientiae, p. 251. ed. Ben.
* Enanatio in Psalm xcviii.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 157

mystery, which has its perfect fulfilment in the
Catholic Church alone. It is hardly necessary to
recite the types and prophecies, or the parables and
the prayer of our Lord, in which this oneness of
fellowship in love and good will among all the
members of His body is expressed. It will be
enough to refer to two passages only as samples of
many which will immediately be remembered. For
instance, the words of our Lord in St. Mark x.
29, 30, " Verily I say unto you there is no man
that hath left home, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for
my sake and the Gospel's, but he shall receive an
hundredfold, now in this time, houses, and brethren,
and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands ;

and in the world to come, eternal life."

And in St. John xvii. 11 — 21, " Holy Father, keep,
through thine own Name, those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one, as we are ;" and,
" that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us,
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."
One or two passages from uninspired writers may
be subjoined to shew in what they understood this
moral unity of the Church to consist. St. Cyprian,
in his treatise on that subject, writes, " The Lord
says, ' I and the Father are one.' And again, con-
cerning the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, it is
written, ' These three are one.' And does any think
that this unity, which springs from the steadfast-

158 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, [PART I.

ness of the Godhead, cleaves together with heavenly
sacraments, can be rent asunder in the Church, and

separated by the divorce of clashing wills ?

This house and resting-place of unanimity the Holy
Ghost designs and declares in the Psalms, saying,
' God also makes men to be of one mind in one
house.' In the house of God, in the Church of
Christ, they who are of one mind dwell, and they
who are of one and a single heart persevere." ^
St. Augustin, speaking of the Church, says, " The
peace of a family is the well-ordered concord of
rule and obedience in them that dwell together :
the peace of a city the well-ordered concord of
rule and obedience in the citizens. The peace of
the Heavenly City is the fellowship of perfect order
and concord in the enjoyment of God, and of each
other in God." ^

But in a matter so fully known and acknow-
ledged on all hands, it is not needful to do more
than sketch in outline the nature of this moral
unity.

It consists, then, of two great elements : subordi-
nation and charity — i.e., subordination of Christians
to their lawful pastors, and charity towards their
brethren in Christ. These two moral elements
make up the internal unity of Churches. " They
continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in
prayers." Such is the outline of the primary form

' De Unit. Eccl. pp. 195, 196. * De Civ. Dei, lib. xix. 13.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 159

of Christian unity. In the Apostles' doctrine and
fellowship we have the faith and polity, the doctrine
and discipline, as explained in the foregoing part of
this chapter : in the breaking of bread and in
prayers, the moral unity of charity and worship,
which is the subject of this.

The " plebs sacerdoti adunata " is the first con-
dition ; the reciprocal union of all members of the
flock is the second ; and these make up the moral
unity of every section of the Church. In the union
of pastors with each other, and with their Bishop,
consists the unity of a diocesan Church. In like
manner, in the union of many diocesan Churches
tliroughout the several ecclesiastical distributions of
jurisdiction, and of all Churches througliout the
whole world, consists the moral unity of subordina-
tion to the successors of the Apostles, and of charity
with all members in the mystical body of Christ.

Such being the nature of this moral unity, we
may shortly state also in what way it is secured
and ascertained.

The central point of unit}^ is the communion of
the blessed Eucharist, in which Christian men
cherish as well as testify subordination and charity
to their pastor and his flock ; and though the mem-
bers of the several Churches cannot — because of
their primary duty to maintain the first conditions
of unity with their own pastor, and also because of
remoteness of place and diversity of language — •
except in certain cases, hold their actual communion
with the members of other Churches, yet the sacri-

160 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

fice and sacrament of the blessed Eucharist being
one and the same in all places, the very act of ob-
lation and communion is actual unity with all
branches of the Church.

The Eucharist of the whole Church Catholic is
one Eucharist. " We being many are one bread."
" In which very sacrament is represented the natural
union of our people : for in like manner as many
grains gathered, and ground, and mingled in one
make one bread, so in Christ, who is the heavenly
Bread, we know there is one body to which our mul-
titude is joined and united."' And thus, as by one
act, all Churches, from the rising to the setting of
the sun, have communion with each other, through
one and the same sacrifice, in the Court of Heaven.

But, besides this virtual communion, all Churches
may testify their moral unity by communicatory
letters, wliether on matters of pubHc discipHne or
of private interest. Those of public discipline are
such as communicate to other Bishops the con-
secration of any to a vacant see ; or again, the
deposition and degradation of pastors, or the ex-
communication of members of any Church : for
these are matters of public concern, all Churches
being equally bound to ratify and to act upon any
decision or sentence duly and justly pronounced by
lawful authority : any man excommunicated in
one Church being excommunicated in all, and any
Tian absolved in one being absolved in all.

S. Cypr. Ep. 63.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 161

The communicatory letters of a private sort are
those that relate to aids and alms sent to any par-
ticular Church in its emergencies ; or letters, cre-
dential and testimonial, affirming the character
and quality of any member of a Church to any or
all other Churches into the communion of which
he may seek admission.'

Another mode of securing and expressing this
moral unity is in the practice of holding Synods
and Councils, diocesan or general, for common
deliberation and definition ; and in the unanimous
reception and execution of canons and decrees.

The moral unity of the Church, therefore, consists
in a communion of all Churches in worship and
practice, in friendly intercourse and correspondence,
and in all judicial, deliberative, and executive acts.

At the outset of this chapter we proposed to ex-
amine in what the unity of the visible portion of
the Church consists ; and it is now time that we
should sum up the result of the inquiry, and bring
this part of the subject to an end.

We have found it to consist partly of a definite
form of doctrine and discipline delivered to man-
kind by Christ and his Apostles, and partly of the

' " For this was, of old, the glory of the Church, that, from one
end of the world to the other, the brethren of each several Church,
furnished for their journey with a small symbol, found all to be
Fathers and Brethren." S. Basil. Ep. 191.

So Tertullian : " Probant unitatem communicatio pacis, et ap-
pellatio fraternitatis, et contesseratio hospitalitatis." De prtnesc,
Hapr. XX.

162 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART I.

relation and order subsisting among those who re-
ceived it. We have called these the organic and
moral, or the objective and subjective unity of the
Church : the organic or objective unity being the
identity of the church of any age with the church
of the Apostles in the faith and sacraments, and
in the commission received from Christ, and trans-
mitted by lawful succession : the moral or sub-
jective unity being oneness of communion inter-
nally among the several members of each church,
and externally among the several churches through-
out the world.

THE UiNITY OF THE CHURCH. 1 G3

CONCLUSION.

We have now completed the first part of tlie sub-
ject before iis. It is of importance, however, that
we should make some remarks upon the form, as
distinguished from the matter, of the argument
which has been used in the foregoing chapters, be-
fore we pass on to the second part.

It was not necessary to prove that there exists,
among Christians, a doctrine of unity. The only
question to be examined was concerning the nature
and limitations of that doctrine. It is evidently,
therefore, a question not of speculation, or of opinion,
but o^fact ; and as a question of fact it is to be decided
by external or historical evidence. The truth or
falsehood of the doctrine in question is, if I may so
speak, accidental to the inquiiy. We have to ascer-
tain what is, and has been from the beginning, the
belief of Christians respecting the unity of the
Church. Now, in seeking for an answer to this
question we are necessarily constrained to go to the
written documents of the most primitive times.
The first and most obvious, as being in the hands
and mouths of all Christians, is the Catholic Creed.
We were compelled, therefore, to ascertain the an-

M 2

164 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

tiquity of the article which declares the unity of
the Church.

But as this article is capable of many apparent
interpretations, it was necessary to ascertain in what
sense it was interpreted by the Church in the be-
ginning. We were, therefore, compelled a second
time to consult the written documents, partly as in-
terpreters and partly as witnesses ; and these docu-
ments we find of two sorts, inspired and uninspired.
In one sense, it is plainly impossible to treat the
subject as a question of simple history from the
time that the inspired Scriptures are intermingled
with the evidence. They not only attest the histo-
rical fact, but also the truth of any doctrine.

At the same time it must be observed, that in
this inquiry I have adduced Holy Scripture also as
historical evidence. I have not felt myself at liberty
as yet to use any arguments, or any form of argu-
ment, except that which is strictly and simply of an
historical and external sort ; and for this reason :
There either was or was not a doctrine of unity
taught by the Apostles. If there was, that doc-
trine must be found in their own writings, and in
the writings and teaching of their successors. The
question then is one of history. I have endeavoured
to exhibit the doctrine as it is to be found in the
primitive records ; but I have carefully abstained
from touching on the probable moral design, or final
end of this dispensation, and ^Iso from all explana-
tion or reply to objections which might seem to lie

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 165

against it in its consequences. These we shall con-
sider hereafter. At present we have dealt with the
subject as a question of fact ; and if I have drawn
the foregoing proofs from trustworthy documents,
and correctly gathered the sense of the testimonies,
I do not see how any one can refuse the conclusion
— that the doctrine of Catholic unity as here exhi-
bited is derived from the Apostles of Christ. I wish
this to be the more carefully noted, because, in almost
every case I am aware of, the objections of contro-
versialists, and the difficulties of simpler minds, are
to be found either in the form of a priori assump-
tions as to the nature of unity, or in the untenable
consequences which are supposed to follow from the
doctrine above stated : as, for instance — It is al-
leged that God would not tie up His redeeming
grace to any mere form ; or that, if He has, then all
who are without it must be in extreme peril, if not
certainly lost. Of the intrinsic inconclusiveness of
these two forms of objection we shall have to speak
in another place. At present it is only necessary
to remark that, when brought in reply to positive
evidence oi fact^ they are simply irrelevant. I do
not say that objections may not be brought against
the statements already made in this work ; but I may
say that no objections will be relevant, except such
as will show either that the sense of the testimo-
nies adduced has been incorrectly given, or, if cor-
rectly, that the testimonies are themselves without
weight.

PART II.

THE MORAL DESIGN OF CATHOLIC UNITY.

CHAPTER I.

THE MORAL DESIGN OF THE CHURCH AS SHOWN BY
HOLY SCRIPTURE.

INTRODUCTION.

In the foregoing part of this work I have brought
forward the evidence to prove that God, by a direct
act of revelation and appointment, has ordained
one visible body, compacted into one visible form or
polity, which is His Church. Thus far we have
considered only the fact, and not the reason — only
the positive appointment, and not the moral design
of God. As we have therefore found external evi-
dence to convince us that God has thus ordered
His Church, the next step is for us to inquire lohy
He has done so.

That all the works of God are pointed, by His per-
fect wisdom, at some aim, is an axiom as inseparable
from the reason of man as the idea of God Him-
self. We need therefore only to inquire what is the
aim or end of the Divine wisdom in the institution

170 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

of His Church. In seeking an answer to this
question, it is plain that we are not at liberty to
form to ourselves a priori conceptions of His design.
We are so greatly ignorant of the intrinsic nature
of the Divine Mind, of the extent of the causes
which have brought mankind to their present state,
of the condition of man as viewed in combination
with the whole scheme of God's universe, of the
laws and conditions which govern the invisible
world, of the nature of evil, and death, and will,
and of all other mysteries and realities which make
up the constitution of man, and his relation to God,
that we cannot, without presumption, venture upon
a conjecture, antecedently to examining the express
revelation of God, as to the final cause and great
moral design of the particular mode in which He
has been pleased to cast the economy of our re-
demption. This is not said as if any of the pur-
poses of God could be for a moment opposed to the
pure reason and conscience of His creatures. Let
reason and conscience, unclouded by the passions,
and the prejudice of a secret leaning, be fairly left
to work, and they will be found to issue in a perfect
harmony with the Mind from which they have
their being. But there is no part of theology in
which men are guilty of more unfairness than in
the investigation of final causes. Minds at other
times the most equitable are, in such examinations,
found to be warped and biassed. Some early pre-
judice, some collateral effect, some foreseen conse-

CHAP, I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 171

queiice from this or that particular opinion, or some
contrariety to the preference of their own minds,
will make them either wholly reject or even refuse to
examine into the plainest appointment of God. " It
is indeed a matter of great patience to reasonable
men to find people arguing in this manner : ob-
jecting against the credibility of such particular
things revealed in Scripture that they do not see
the necessity or expediency of them. For though
it is highly right, and the most pious exercise of
our understanding, to inquire, with due reverence,
into the ends and reasons of God's dispensations,
yet, when these reasons are concealed, to argue from
our ignorance, that such dispensations cannot be
from God, is infinitely absurd. The presumption
of this kind of objections seems almost lost in the
folly of them ; and the folly of them is yet greater
when they are urged, as usually they are, against
things in Christianity, analogous or like to those
natural dispensations of Providence which are matter
of experience. Let reason be kept to, and if any
part of the Scripture account of the redemption of
the world by Christ can be shown to be really con-
trary to it, let the Scripture, in the name of God,
be given up ; but let not such poor creatures as we
go on objecting against an infinite scheme that we
do not see the necessity or usefulness of all its parts,
and call this reasoning."^

In seeking, then, for the great moral purposes
* Bishop Butler's Analogy, p. 311.

172 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pAKT It.

of God in the institution of His visible Church, we
shall run the least risk of falling into the danger of
private speculations if we keep ourselves exclusively
to what God has Himself taught us of His own de-
signs. We shall therefore take the grounds of our rea-
soning, in this chapter, from Hol}^ Scripture alone.
1. And first, it is, on all hands, confessed that
the final and highest end in which all the works
and ways of God conspire and rest is His own
glory. This we may learn of the heavenly hosts,
whom the beloved disciple heard saying, " Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and
power ; for thou hast created all things, and for thy
pleasure they are and were created." ^ But in
speaking of God's glory we may more easily oflfend,
with St. Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration,
than speak aright ; for " we wot not what to say."
Nevertheless, what God has revealed of Himself we
may with open face behold. The making, then, of
this world was for His own glory. He had delight
to project, as it were, the idea of His own wisdom
before His holy sight ; and out of the deep of His
own Being to breathe the host of several beings
which no eye but His may number. And as
all was very good, so each several being, living
or lifeless, was as a luminous point giving back the
glory of the Eternal wisdom, and the whole uni-
verse of God as a mirror, faultless and blessed, on
which the image of the Everlasting lay in a holy

' Rev. iv. 11.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 173

rest. So the heavens declared God's glory, and
the earth was filled with it, in the day when " the
morning stars sung together, and all the sons of
God shouted for joy."

And that which was the final end of God's al-
mighty work in the making of the world is like-
wise His highest end in its redemption. For what
is it but the making again of His first works out of
the void and formless matter of a fallen world ? And
yet even so His work shall doubtless rise and termi-
nate in an higher perfection than before. That the
glory of God is the end and aim of man's redemp-
tion, Holy Scripture everywhere teaches ; and this
also the ano;elic song- which was heard in heaven
on the same night that the Saviour of man was
born, when the multitude of the celestial choir sang
glory to God in the highest, sufficiently declares.
And we see this, too, in what His prophets and
apostles have testified : as Isaiah that heard the sera-
phim, by the altar of sacrifice, cry, " Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of Hosts. The whole earth is full of His
glory :"^ and as the Lord Himself declared, " I am
the Lord : that is my name : and my glory will I
not give to another."^ And of the gathering of His
redeemed people we read, " I am the Lord tliy God,
the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour : I gave Egypt

for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee

Fear not, for I am with thee : I will bring thy seed
from the east, and gather thee from the west : I will

' Isaiah vi. 3. * Isaiah xlii. 7.

174 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

say to the north, Give up ; and to the south, Keep
not back : bring my sons from far, and my daughters
from the ends of the earth ; even every one that is
called by my name, for I have created him for my
glory." ^ And in like manner the apostles teach us
that we were " chosen in Christ before the founda-
tion of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love: having predesti-
nated us -unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace." ^ That in Christ all the promises of God
" are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of
God by us."^ " For God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."^ "And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us ;
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only
Begotten of the Father." ^ And this glory was not
manifested to us only, but the whole working out
" of the mystery which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who hath created all
things by Jesus Christ," was foreordained " to the
intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
heavenly places might be known by the Church the
manifold wisdom of God." ^ Even they who by the

' Isaiah xliii. 3, 5, 6, 7- ' Eph. i. 4, 5, 6.

^ 2 Cor. i. 20. - 2 Cor. iv. 6. * St. John i. 14.

* Eph. iii. 9, 10.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 175

most direct intuition see the briglitness of the Ever-
lasting, have ever more and more of a deeper lore
to learn by the evolving characters of God's mysteri-
ous hand. The Church, even to angels, is the book
of God's wisdom, and the mirror of His glory. It
must further be noted that this final end of God's
works and ways is nevertheless so nigh to every
redeemed man as to be also the final end of all his
actions. " Ye are bought with a price : therefore
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which
are God's.'" " Whether therefore ye eat, or drink,
or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."^

It is not, however, necessary to multiply proofs
of a point which no man is concerned to deny. It
is evident not only from revelation but from natural
reason, and the testimony of conscience, that all
God's works and ways, in creation and redemption,
in mercy and in power, and all His mysterious eco-
nomy with His Church and people, by the ministry
of apostles, and prophets, and angels, and of His
only begotten Son, all begin and end, as a circle
returns into itself, in His own incommunicable
glory. This then is the chiefest and highest final
cause of all.

2. But there are also ends subordinate, and me-
diate to the highest and last of all ; and these too
we must touch on.

The first and necessary means to the manifesta-
tion of God's glory is the manifestation of His na-

' 1 Cor. vi. 20. * 1 Cor. x. 31.

176 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

ture and character. We may say that the chief
among subordinate ends to which all the works and
ways of God in the redemption of mankind have
been directed is the restoration of a true know-
ledge of Himself; or, in other words, the chief end
of the Church is the restoration to the world of a
true knowledge of God. This is so evident through-
out the whole of Scripture as to need no proof
From the beginning of the positive institution of
His Church, the foundation-stone has been, " Hear,
O Israel : the Lord our God is one Lord ;" ^ and
the first of His commandments, " I am the Lord
thy God ; thou shalt have no other gods before
me :" ^ and so highly did God esteem of this chief
doctrine of His Church, that He fenced it with
the most fearful of all His warnings: " The
Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous
God." ^ This was the rock of the elder, as the
Sonship of Christ is of the later. Church. So St.
Paul teaches us that the wickedness of man lay in
this : " Because that when they knew God they glo-
rified Him not as God, neither were thankful ; but
became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish
heart was darkened : professing themselves to be
wise, they became fools; and changed the glory of
the uncorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed
beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also
gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of

Deut. vi. 4. * Exod. xx. 2, 3. * Dent. iv. 24.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 177

their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies
between themselves : who changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
more than the Creator who is blessed for ever.
Amen. " ^ " After that in the wisdom of God the
world by wisdom knew not God ; it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe:"^ as also St. Paul said at Athens, "As
I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an
altar, with this inscription, ' To the unknown God.'
Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him de-
clare I unto you." ^ We have here in the person of
St. Paul, as it were, a symbol of God's Church in
the world, its mission, and its message. Let this
suffice for the Scriptural proof that the restoration
of the true knowledge of God to the world is the
chief of all the subordinate ends of the Church.

3. The next end of the institution of the Church
is the restoration of man to the image of God. If
it should seem that this end ought to have been
placed before the last, I must beg the reader to con-
sider the following points. First, that the restora-
tion of the true knowledge of God is a means to the
restoration of man to his image. And next, that
whatsoever be the event of this revelation of Him-
self to His creatures. His name shall be glorified.
The glory of the Lord was in the pillar which stood
between the hosts, although the Egyptians were
overwhelmed in the sea, and the Israelites fell in

• Rom. i. 20, 25. * 1 Cor. i. 21. ' Acts xvii. 23.

178 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

the wilderness. St. Paul also says, " Thanks be unto
God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ ;
and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge to
us in every place. We are unto God a sweet savour
of Christ in them that are saved and in them that
perish. To the one we are the savour of death unto
death, and to the other the savour of life unto life." ^
The restoration of the true knowledge of God is an
end broader, and higher, and deeper than the salva-
tion of Saints : for it is also the condemnation of
the ungodly, and the light which for judgment has
entered into the whole world.^ And, lastly, we do
not know what purpose of God it may fulfil in the
transcendent system of His creatures, of which our
world is but a part.

The great mystery of man's restoration to the
image of God, like the mystery of his fall, runs
through the whole of Scripture. It is more than
stated ; it is assumed everywhere ; it is one of the
great moral axioms on which all the word of God is
based. Sayings, at first sight remote, will be found to
be full of it. " God created man in His own image ;
in the image of God created He him." ^ " How can
he be clean that is born of a woman ?" * " I was
shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother con-
ceive me." ^ Our Lord declared it when He said
" I am come that they might have life, and that
they might have it more abundantly." * And St.

' 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16. ' St. John iii. 19, 20, 21.

"0611.1.27. *Jobxxv. 4, 5. ' Ps. li. 5. " St. John x. 10.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 179

John : " Now are we tlie sons of God ; and it dotli
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that
when he shall appear we shall be like Him, for we
shall see him as He is." ' And St. Paul : " We all
with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory as by the spirit of the Lord." ' He " shall
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto His glorious body." ^ " By man came death ; by
man came also the resurrection of the dead : as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive."* " It is sown in corruption, it is raised in in-
corruption : it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in
glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power:
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual
body. And so it is written, the first man Adam
was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a
quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth
earthy : the second man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy such are they that are earthy, and as
is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly ;
and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we
shall also bear the image of the heavenly."^ " Whom
he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be con-
formed to the image of his son." ' " The earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the mani-
festation of the sons of God. For the creature was

' St. John, 1st Ep. iii. 2. ' 2 Cor. iii. 18.

" Phil. iii. 21. * 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22. ' 1 Cor. xv. 42—49.

Rom. viii. 29.

N 2

180 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

made subject to vanity not willingly, but by reason
of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Be-
cause the creature itself also shall be delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty
of the children of God. For we know that the
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. And not only they, but our-
selves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit the redemption of our
body." ^ For he hath made us " partakers of the
Divine nature ;" ~ and " the righteous shall shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."^
The regeneration * therefore of all His works, the
reconstituting of all things under a new head:^
that is to say, the perfection of His creature, the re-
storation of man in body, soul, and spirit to the
image of God, in which he was made at the begin-
ning, is another subordinate end -in the series of
final causes for which his Church was ordained.

4. But there is also another still more proximate
to us; and that is the probation of man's moral
nature. It is not simply the restoration of man to
the image of God, but his restoration under a cer-
tain law and condition that God has willed. The
frame of tliis visible world shall melt with fervent
heat, and we know not whether or no the Everlasting-
may be pleased to recast its fused elements into a

' Rom. viii. 19, 23. * 2 Pet. i. 4.

* St. Matth. xiii. 43. * St. Matthew. ■■ Ephes. i. 10.

CHAP. I.] THE UMTY OF THE CHURCH. 181

holy Paradise. But the nature of man is other-
wise. God has made him in His own image. He
is lord of all the creatures of God, not so much by
his reason, as by his will. The mystery of moral
choice and self-determination is that which is most
truly Godlike in man. It is a pregnant sign of man's
fall that we should distinguish from each other
these transcribed features of the one Divine image —
between the intelligential and elective energies of
our spiritual being. But of this we shall have to
speak more hereafter. It was by the will man fell,
and through the will he must be raised again.
Such is his Maker's law ; and in the reclaiming of
man to Himself, He works through the manifold
actings of volition, and resolution, and moral strife,
and the strength of self-affirming will. He ordains
that man should overcome evil by his own choice ;
that he should deliberately refuse to unite with the
powers that are antagonist to God. The existence of
evil in the universe of God can be solved only by the
freedom of man's will, or by the Manichaean heresy
of two principles. The restoration of man, though
wrought by God, is made, by the participation of
a reclaimed will, to be also the work of each restored
man. His restoration is the free and conscious fix-
ing of his choice on God.

Now it is certain that every living man has in
himself a witness to the great law of moral trial :
he is as conscious of the freedom of his will as he is
of his very life. Apart from Revelation, we have

182 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART H.

more direct intuitive evidence of the freedom of our
will than of the existence of God ; and if we take in
the witness of Revelation, both these primary truths
are alike declared.

The condition of man in Paradise ; the warning
to Noah of things not seen as yet ; the whole life of
Abraham, above all in the sacrifice of his son ; the
whole economy ordained by God through Moses ;
the very idea of sacrifices and a priesthood, of types
and adumbrations, all alike prove that God deals
with man as a free and responsible being placed here
upon a great moral trial. We need do no more
than quote one of many like sayings of God to
his people of old : — " See, I have set before thee

this day life and good, death and evil I

call heaven and earth to record this day against
you that I have set before you life and death, bless-
ing and cursing ; therefore choose life, that both
thou and thy seed may live." '

We may take a further illustration of the pe-
culiar nature of man's probation from two or three
remarkable passages in Holy Scripture : as, for
instance, we read of the prophet that went to de-
nounce King Ahab as follows : — " A certain man
of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour
in the word of the Lord, Smite me, I pray thee ;
and the man refused to smite him. Then said he
unto him. Because thou hast not obeyed the voice
of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou hast departed

* Deut. XXX. 15, 18.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 183

from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he
was departed from him, a lion found him and slew
him." ^ Here was a probation and its award. So
again in the case of the disobedient prophet seduced
by the old prophet in Bethel. And so likewise the
way in which Naaman was proved before he was
cleansed ; and so also in the probation of Joash,
king of Israel. " Now Elisha was fallen sick of the
sickness whereof he died ; and Joash, the king of
Israel, came down nnto him, and wept on his face,
and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of
Israel and the horsemen thereof. And Elisha said
unto him. Take bow and arrows ; and he took unto
him bow and arrows. And he said to the kinof of
Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow ; and he put
his hand upon it. And Elisha put his hands upon
the king's hands, and he said, Open the window
eastward ; and he opened it. Then Elisha said,
Shoot ; and he shot ; and he said, The arrow of the
Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance
from Syria : for thou shalt smite the Syrians in
Aphek till thou have consumed them. And he said.
Take the arrows; and he took them. And he said
unto the King of Israel, Smite upon the ground ;
and he smote thrice and stayed. And the man of
God was wroth with him, and said. Thou shouldest
have smitten five or six times : thou hadst then
smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it, whereas
now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice." ^ Now in
' 1 Kings XX. 35, 36. * 2 Kings xiii. 14—19.

184 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART II.

all these places we see a free moral agent put on
his probation by the secret wisdom of God : we see
great results suspended upon slight and unlikely
conditions ; and this is the nature of the life of
faith. The word and sacraments of Christ are
addressed to the same principle of the heart of man.
It is through a probation of the will and moral
choice that God blesses us, and by blessing restores
man to His favour and to His own image. And as
He did of old, so does He now try His people. " All
the commandments which I command thee this day
shall ye observe to do, that ye may live and mul-
tiply, and go in and possess the land which the
Lord sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt
remember all the way which the Lord thy God led
thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble
thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine
heart, whether thou wouldst keep his command-
ments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered
thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which
thou knewest not ; neither did thy fathers know,
that he might make thee know that man doth not
live by bread only, but by every word that pro-
ceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man
live;" or, in other words, that he walks by faith.
From all that has been said we see that the restora-
tion of man to God's image is a moral work
wrought through a moral probation. And it is
with a purpose of putting man on this trial that
God has shaped all His positive appointments in the

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 185

economy of redemption. This, therefore, is an-
other, and, as regards ourselves, the immediate end
of the institution of the Church.

We may now sum up this present chapter.

We have seen, then, from Holy Scripture that
the highest and final cause of all the works and
ways of God, both in creating and restoring the
world, is His own incommunicable glory ; and that,
as means, if taken in order to this end, or as subor-
dinate ends, if taken by themselves, He has ordered
His appointments so as to restore to the world a
true knowledge of Himself, to restore mankind to the
image of God, and to put man upon a probation of his
moral nature ; and that the positive appointment
or form in which he has provided for the accom-
plishment of these ends is His Church. We have,
therefore, arrived at an outline of His moral design
in constituting this visible body in the earth. The
next point to be inquired is, how the unity of that
visible body is subservient to the great moral design
which we have here ascertained. And this we may
consider in the next chapter.

186 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

CHAPTER II.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH A MEANS TO RESTORE
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.

We have now seen what are the final causes or
ends for which God has been pleased to ordain His
Church ; and it follows that we should now exa-
mine in what way the unity of the Church is sub-
servient to His design.

And, first, as to the highest end of all, which is
His own glory. It is not necessary that we should
adduce further proof, for it will be enough to show
the relation of cause and consequence subsisting
between the Unity of the Church, and the subor-
dinate ends, which in themselves are the conditions
of the highest.

The point, therefore, to be considered is, how the
Unity of the Church subserves the purpose of God
in restoring a right knowledge of Himself to the
world. And it seems self-evident that the property
of Unity is that aspect of the Church, so to speak,

CHAP. II. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 187

which is divinely ordained to witness to the Unity
of God.

And this it does, first, in the way of symbol.
The Church is the type or representative of the one
God.

We shall the better understand this, if we con-
sider the antagonist error with which it was designed
to contend. It is evident that mankind possessed
in the beginning a true knowledge of the Divine
nature. Whether or no before the flood men fell
into Polytheism, we have no proof from Holy Scrip-
ture. It was a tradition among the Jews that the
first declension to this error was as old as the days of
Enoch. A Jewish writer says, " In the days of Enoch
the sons of men grievously erred, and the wise men
of that age became brutish (even Enoch himself
being in the number of them) ; and their error was
this, that since God had created the stars and
spheres to govern the world, and placing them on
high had bestowed this honour on them, that they
should be His ministers and subservient instru-
ments, men ought, therefore, to praise them, honour
them, and worship them." '

The earliest record of idolatry in Scripture is after
the flood, namely, that of Abraham's family, from
which God called him out.^ And this is shown,
also, by the Teraphim which were taken from La-

' MHimonides, quoted by Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 467,
ed. 16*78. See Ecclus. xliv. 16.
* Joshua xxiv. 2.

188 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

ban by Rachel.' It is plain, also, that idolatry
had already become dominant among the nations
of Canaan. It has been much controverted,
from very early times, whether Polytheism and
idolatry had their rise in Egypt or in Chaldaea.
The balance of likelihood seems to incline towards
the former,^ which well agrees with the dim and
unsearchable antiquity of the Egyptian empire.
But howsoever this may be, as a matter of history,
there are certain ideal epochs which may be safely
assumed. As, first, it is evident that in the begin-
ning all mankind knew, by the transmitted light of
the original Revelation, the true nature of God. This
holds equally true of the first generation after Adam
and after Noah. The Holy Scripture teaches us that
the first step to Polytheism was an apostacy, or de-
clension of the moral nature from God. " They
liked not to retain God in their knowledge." The
fear and the lust, which sprang from sin, first
loosened the moral hold which the heart had of
God, and then drew a cloud over the intellectual
sight of man. He had lost the idea of purity and
truth, and the holiness of God was as an unintelli-
gible character. It was visible, but unintelligible.
He had lost the key, and he could not read it. And
this readily explains the strange forgetfulness which
seemed to blot the image of God from man's heart.
The mind of man cannot long remember anything
that it does not either understand or love. Man had
' Genesis xxxi. 19. ^ Cud worth, Int. Syst. pp. 308, 309.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 189

lost both these holds on the knowledge of God.
The creatures of the visible world ceased to be rela-
tive symbols : tliey became absolute beings ; and men
worshipped the hieroglyphic forms when tliey had
lost their meaning. Again, with the right know-
ledge of God they forfeited also the consciousness
of His presence : yet they could not be unconscious
of the powers of Nature. These were present, work-
ing upon them, ministering to them, baffling them,
controlling them ; and to these they bowed down
and worshipped. The ministries and energies
of nature were severed, and impersonated, and
projected before the mind as beings higher than
man.' And hence came Polytheism, which was
the elder brother of idolatry. The same ideal pro-
cess elevated to the rank of gods the passions and
affections of the human soul : they were motive
powers, ever present in all places and to all men,
calming the human heart or lashing it into a storm,
according to an universal law. The universality
and the power of their own mysterious nature
men took for gods external to themselves. From
the same law of the mind, wliich worshipped all
that had power over itself, came also the deifying of
men. All who, by wisdom or power, governed their
fellow-men — all who, in the arts of life, had arisen
as great benefactors of mankind — -the founders of
empires, and the master-minds that sketched out
the lirst platforms of civil polity, — were by an

' Ciidworlh, p. 229.

190 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

over-awed and grateful recollection invested with
accumulated honours, and inscribed among the
gods. It is evident that minds of a higher than
common power wrought up into system, and im-
pressed a form upon the rude materials of popular
misbelief: a strong process of abstraction and a deep
mystical import are found running through the Pa-
gan Polytheism. It was philosophical as well as
fabulous. And this was the work of higher minds
pondering upon the imaginations of other men, and,
by a reflex act, upon their own. Idolatry is a further
step, being a clothing of gross and visible forms
thrown over the abstractions which have otherwise
no representative or symbol. I have dwelt the
longer on this point because it would seem that even
the Pagan world did not altogether lose the idea of
one only supreme God. The deities of Polytheism
were subordinate, finite, and created. There was
still retained the idea of a monarchy over gods and
men, vested in one who was the Ruler of all, and in
some sort acknowledged as the one supreme God.
It may be indeed true that, among the multitude of
grosser and darker minds, many may have risen no
higher than the visible forms of their idolatry, and
others only so far as to apprehend the existence of
finite beings, to whom the sensible idols were as a
material clothing; and this, because to a finite mind
the thought of infinity is strange and burdensome.
So Pliny explains it — " Frail and wearied mor-
tality, mindful of its own infirmity, has thus crum-

CHAF. 11.] THE UNITY OF THE CHUUCH. 191

bled (the deity) into fragments, that every one might
worship those portions he stood most in need of." '
It would nevertheless appear that the reason of man-
kind in all ages has tended again towards a belief in
one supreme, uncreated God, the maker and gover-
nor of all, both gods and men : I say tended towards
the belief, because it was plainly no more than an
approximation to the truth which nothing but a re-
velation from God could restore to the world. If
we examine the language of the most enlightened,
and that in times when the doctrine of the Divine
Unity, intrusted to the Jewish Church, may be sup-
posed to have affected the course of thought even in
the Gentile schools,^ we shall still perceive the trutli
of the Apostle's words, that " the world by wisdom
knew not God." In the Philosophical Schools,
the One Supreme God is " called 6 Atjfxiovpyo^,
the Opifex, architect and maker of the world ;
6 'Hye/uicov Tov ttuvtos kui 'AjO^^/'yeT*;?, the prince and
chief ruler of the universe ; 6 Trpwrog kuI 6 Upcoria-ros
0eo9 by the Greeks; and by the Latins, Primus Deus,
the first God : 6 irpwro's uov9, the first Mind ; 6 Meyag
Geo?, the great God ; 6 Meyta-To^ Aalfxcov and 6 /ne-
yia-To^ Qeoov, the greatest God and the greatest of the
Gods ; o "Y\|/fcrT09, the highest, and 6 viraro^ Qewv,
the supreme of the Gods ; 6 avwraro) Qeog, the up-
permost, or most transcendent God ; Princeps ille
Deus, that chief or principal God ; Geo? Qeoov, the
God of Gods ; and 'Apx'; "jOX'"^*"' ^^^^ principle of

' See Reeves's Apologies, Note, vol. ii. p. 100.
^ Gale's Court of the Gentiles, part ii. !>. 2, c. 8.

192 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

principles ; to irpwrov al-riou, the first cause ; 6 roSe
TO -n-av yevvrja-ai?. He that generated or created this
whole universe ; 6 K^oaTewj/ tov Trai/ro?, He that
ruleth over the whole world ; Summus Rector et
Dominus, the supreme Governor and Lord of all ;

o ctt] Tram Geo?, the God OVer all ; o Geo? ayevvriTO^,

avToyevt]^, a.vTo<pvr]^, avOuTrocTTaTog, the Ingenerate,
or unmade, self-originated and self-subsisting Deity;
Mova?, a Monad ; to ev kqI avToayaOov, Unity and

Goodness itself; to eireKeiva TtJ9 6v(Tia^ and to inrep-

ovcriov, that which is above essence, or superessen-
tial ; TO eTrUeiva vov, that which is above mind and
understanding ; Sumnium illud et aeternum, neque
mutabile neque interiturum, that supreme and eter-
nal Being which is immutable and can never perish ;

'A|0^^/, Koi TeXo?, Ka\ juecrov, airai/Tcov, the Beginning,

and End, and Middle of all things ; 'Kv kui -jravTa,
One and all things ; Deus unus et omnes. One
God and all Gods. And lastly, to name no more,
^ H^ooVom, or Providence as distinguished from ^vcn^.
Nature."' And this has been declared by some to
be the tone of all Pagans, that there was " One God,
the King and Father of all, and many gods, the
sons of God, reigning together with God."^

It may not be amiss to throw together in a sum-
mary way the views which have been entertained re-
specting the character and intent of the Gentile Poly-
theism : we shall then more clearly see to what par-
ticular points the testimony of thp Church is directed.

' Cudworth, lutell. System, pp. 264, 265.
* Cudworth, p. 2.34.

CHAP, n.] TFIE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 103

And, first, it is remarkable that we find [lebrew
writers, who, it might be thought, would be most
exact in a point which constituted the broad cha-
racteristic difference between the faith of Israel and
the false religion of the Gentile world, adopting a
view more favourable than the facts of primitive
liistory would seem to warrant,

Maimonides, in the twelfth century, writes of the
Gentile idolatry as follows: — "The foundation of tliat
commandment against strange worship is this, that
no man should worship any of the creatures whatso-
ever, neither angel, nor sphere, nor star, nor any of
the four elements, nor anything made out of them :
for though he that worships these things knows that
the Lord is God, and superior to them all, and wor-
ships these creatures no otherwise than Enoch and
the rest of that age did, yet is he nevertheless guilty
of strange worship and idolatry."' In this and in the
following passages, it is asserted that these created
beings were worshipped by them only as ministers
of God's Providence, and mediators between them
and Him. " You know that whosoever committeth
idolatry, he doth it not as supposing that there is no
other God besides that which he worshippeth, for
it never came into the minds of any idolaters, nor
ever will, that the statue which is made by them
of metal, or stone, or wood, is that very God who
created heaven and earth ; but they worship these
statues and images only as the representation of
' Cuthvorth, Int. Syst. p. 468.

194 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART TI,

something wliicli is a mediator l^etween God and
them." ^ And, in another place, " The idolaters
first argued thus in respect of God : that since He
was of such transcendent perfection above men, it
was not possible for men to be united to or to have
communion with Him, otherwise than by certain
middle beings or mediators, as it is the manner
of earthly kings to have petitions conveyed to them
by the hands of mediators and intercessors. Se-
condly, they thus argued also in respect of them-
selves : that being corporeal, so that they could not
apprehend God abstractedly, they must needs have
something sensible to excite and stir up their devo-
tion, and to fix their imagination upon." ^ And in
the same way another Jewish writer explains the
idolatry of Ahab and other kings of Israel and
Judah. They " erred in worshipping the stars on
these two accounts mentioned by Maimonides, not-
withstanding that they believed the existence of
God and His Unity ; they partly conceiving that
they should honour God in worshipping His mi-
nisters, and partly worshipping them as mediators
betwixt God and themselves." ^

And in like jnanner he explains the First Com-
mandment. '* Thou shalt not set up other inferior
gods as mediators betwixt me and thyself, or wor-
ship them, so as thinking to honour me thereby."*
These Hebrew writers reduce the Gentile Polytheism
and idolatry to these three heads : — First, the wor-

' Cudworth, Int. Syst. p. 468. ' lb. ^ lb. p. 469. - lb.

CHAP, ir.] TFIE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 195

shipping the ministers of God, as thinking to honour
Him thereby. Secondly, the worshipping them as
intercessors with God. And lastly, the worshipping
of material representations or memorials of God.
And this view may be gathered also from inci-
dental notices scattered throuo-h their other writino's.
Maimonides, expounding Jeremiah xi. 7, says, " As
if he should say, all the Gentiles knew that Thou
art the only Supreme God, but their error and folly
consists in this — that they think their vanity of
worshipping inferior gods to be a thing agreeable
to Thy will." ' And so Kimchi writes, " Neither
do they worship the stars otherwise than as me-
diators betwixt Thee and them. These wise men
know that an idol is nothing; and though they
worship stars, yet do they worship them as Thy
ministers, and that they may be intercessors for
them." ^ And again on Malachi i. 11: " Altiiough
the Pagans worshipped the Host of Heaven, yet do
they confess Me to be the first cause, they worship-
ping them only as in their opinion certain mediators
betwixt Me and them." ^

We may now take the testimony of Christian
writers; and first that of the Apostle St. Paul.
In writing to the Romans, he charges the Gentiles
with " holding the truth in unrighteousness." The
knowledge of the one God, such as they still had,
they held in the bondage of their impure and
darkened hearts. He then says, " They liked not
' Cudworth, Int. Syst p. 470. * lb. ^ lb.

o 2 ■

196 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. ^PART II.

to retain God in tlieir knowledge " (ev eTrlyvwa-ei),
that is in an habitual, and conscious, or practical —
i. e. a moral knowledge. Wherefore, in the same
chapter, he acknowledges them to possess a know-
ledge of some sort. " Because that which may be
known of God is manifest in them, for God hath
showed it unto them :" (To yvcoa-rov rov Qeov cpavepov
ecTTiv ev avrol's' o yap Geo? avTOL<s ecpavepwcre) — that
is, His eternal power and Godhead manifested
in His created works. They had as it were a
natural, as distinguished from a moral knowledge
of him. Therefore " they glorified Him not as
God," of which adoration the moral knowledge is
a necessary condition : " neither were they thank-
ful." And they fell even to worshipping the works
of His hands ; and " they worshipped and served
the creature (either besides., i. e. in addition to, or
beyond) more than the Creator." Both these senses
ultimately run up into one. They multiplied the
objects of worship, and gave to each several god a
portion of that which is wholly due to the one true
God alone. And this seems plainly the meaning
of St. Paul at Athens, where he charges them with
being " too superstitious," or rather " more than
commonly devout:'^ the excess of this devotion
terminating on objects below the one true God.

The uninspired writers of the Church seem to
adopt the views of the philosophical schools: of many

' For the correctness of this interpretation, see Cudworth, Int.
Syst. p. 471— 474.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 197

passages, we may take the following : — Clement of
Alexandria says, "But that the chief men among tlie
Greeks know God, not according to knowledge (6v
KUT eTriyvdoa-Lv), but according to an indirect mani-
festation, St. Peter declares in his Predication, ' Ye
know, therefore, that there is one God wlio made
the beginning of all things, and has power over the
end : And the Invisible, who seeth all things, who
cannot be contained of any, but containeth all
things, &c. Himself uncreate, who created all
things by the word of His power, that is, according
to the mystical sense of Scripture, by His Son.' Then
he adds, ' Worship ye this God, not as the Greeks
do,' as signifying that the chief of the Greeks wor-
ship the same God as we, but not according to the
perfect knowledge (ov kut eiriyvwcnv TravreXtj) which
they have who have learned by the tradition of the
Son. He does not say, ' Worship not the God
whom the Greeks worship, but, Worsliip Him not as
the Greeks do : changing the mode of the worship
of God, not preaching another God.' What this —
' not as the Greeks do' — signifies, Peter himself will
make plain, adding, ' Because being carried away by
ignorance, and not knowing God as one acccording
to the perfect knowledge, they forming into shapes
those things over which he had given them the
power of use, namely, wood and stones, brass and
iron, gold and silver ... .do worship them.' "
Clement adds, " He dispensed unto us a New
Covenant. For the Covenants of the Greeks and
of the Jews are old. Ye who, in third place, wor-

198 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

ship God after a new manner are Christians. For
he clearly showed, I conceive, that the one and only
God was known by the Greeks after a Gentile
manner, by the Jews after a Jewish, but by us in a
new and spiritual way. Moreover, he shows that
the same God is the giver of both the Covenants,
who was also the giver of the Greek philosophy to
the Greeks, through which the Almighty is glori-
fied by the Greeks." ' Lactantius, also writing
against Polytheism, says, " They affirm these gods
of theirs so to preside over tlie several parts of
the world, as that there is only one chief rector
or governor : likewise it follows that all their other
gods can be nothing else than ministers and officers
which tlie one greatest God who is omnipotent hath
variously appointed and constituted, so as to serve
His command and nod." ^ So also Eusebius o-ives
the following account of the Pagan system : — " The
Pagans declare themselves in this manner, that
there is one God, who with His various powers
fiUeth all things, and passeth through all things,
and presideth over all things, but being incorpore-
ally and invisibly present in all tilings, and pervad-
ing them, he is reasonably worshipped by or in
those things that are manifest and visible." ^ St.
Augustin, in his writings against Faustus the
Manichaean, who had objected to the Christians
that they had borrowed the doctrine of this sole
government of one God from the Pagans, says,

' S. Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. 635.
' Cudworth, Int. Syst. p. 279. ' lb. p. 280.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 199

" Let Faustus therefore learn, or rather they who
are delighted with his writings, that we have not
received the belief of God's sole government from
the Gentiles, but that the Gentiles were not so far
fallen to false gods as to lose the belief of one true
God, by whom all nations of whatsoever kind
exist." ^ He then quotes the words of St. Paul to
the Romans, already cited. We may now take the
testimony of one or two of the later Pagans. It is
not unreasonable to believe that as the truths of the
Gospel prevailed, they so far yielded to the pressure
of Christianity as to throw their Polytheism into a
more abstract and subtler shape. We find them
holding the same language as Maimonides and
Clement of Alexandria. Celsus speaks frequently
of one Supreme God whom he calls the first God
(tov TrpuiTOv Geov), the greatest God (tov ixeyia-rov
Qeov), the super-celestial God (tov v-wepovpaviov
Oeov), and the like. ^ In the same language
Porphyry asserted one Supreme Deity, and one
only, unmade, and self-existent (ayevvt]Tov) prin-
ciple of all things. ^ The Emperor Julian, in like
manner, after asserting that there is one common
Father and King over all, but that the tutelage of
particular regions is assigned to inferior deities, says :
" Whereas in the common Father all things are per-
fect, and one in all; in the particular or partial deities,
one excels in one power, another in another." *

' S. Aug. contra Faust, lib. xx. c. 19.
"" Cudworth, Int. Syst. p. 210. ^ lb. p. 271. ' lb. p. 274.

200 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

In exactly the same tone the philosophers and
learned men among the Pagans, after the time of
Constantine and in the decline of their system,
such as lamblichus, Syrianus, Proclus, Simplicius,
and many others, clearly acknowledged one Supreme
God as the first cause of all things. I will give
one more passage from the letter of Maximus of
Madaura to St. Augustin : — " Forsooth, that there
is one God supreme, without beginning, without
offspring, the Father, so to speak, of Nature,
great and wonderful, who is there so beside him-
self, so diseased in mind, as to deny to be a most
certain truth? It is His energies diffused through-
out tlie world that we invoke with many names,
forasmuch as we all of us are ignorant of His own
proper name. For ' God ' is a name common to all
religions ; and so it is, that whilst we address as it
were His members severally with various suppli-
cations, we evidently may be seen to worship the
whole." ^

The many philosophical theories respecting the
one first cause, the Maker and Governor of the world,
may be reduced at last to two : One, that the Divine
Being was diff*used throughout the world as a quick-
ening soul, which is Pantheism : The other, that He
was a Spiritual Being, superior to the world which
He had created. According to the first theory, the
visible things of creation were manifestations of Him-
self. According to the second, they were only His

' S. Aug. ii. 20.

CHAP. II. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 201

ministers. There remains a still further refinement
of this latter opinion to be noticed. There were
some who taught that the visible creatures were
worthy to be worshipped only as the expressions of
ideas, or patterns in the Divine mind. They taught
that in God there exists an archetypal world, of
which this material world is only the representative.
They contended, therefore, that their worship was
paid, not to the sensible objects, but to the Divine
ideas which are in the mind of God Himself. This
was held by the Emperor Julian, who says, " Plato,
indeed, speaketh of certain visible gods, the sun and
the moon, and the stars, and the heavens ; but
these are all but the images of other invisible gods :
that visible sun which we see with our eyes is but
an image of another intelligible and invisible one,
(tov vonrov KOI nxrj (paivo/nei^ov,) SO likewise the visible
moon and every one of the stars are but the images
and resemblances of another moon and of other
intelligible stars. Wherefore Plato acknowledged
also these other invisible gods inexisting and co-
existing with the Demiurgus from whom they were
generated and produced." ' It is evident also from
Philo that this notion was not peculiar to the Plato-
nizing pagans of the later times, ^ but had been
known long before.

To so high a point did some of the Greek phi-
losophers carry their theology, that we may find
apparent adumbrations of a Trinity in the Unity

- ' Cudworth, Int. Syst. p. 499. * lb. p. 501.

202 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

of the Godhead : I say adumbrations, designing to
express a general and inexact shadowing out of the
true doctrine.

In the arcana of the antient Greek philosophy there
existed a doctrine concerning a Divine Triad. We
find one speaking of three Divine Hypostases (Tpetg

ap-^ai Koi virocrraa-ei^, i. e. to ayaOov, or ev, vov9, '^'^X'?)' ^^
Monad, mind and soul ; and affirming this to be
no new doctrine. '* That these doctrines," he says,
" are not new, nor of yesterday, but have been
very antiently delivered, though obscurely (the dis-
courses now extant being but explications of them),
appears from Plato's own writings, Parmenides
before him having insisted on them." ^

The Triad of Parmenides is thus expressed by
Plotinus: — " Parmenides in Plato, speaking now
exactly, distinguishes three Divine Unities subordi-
nate : the first, of that which is perfectly and most
properly one (to irpooTov %v) ; the second, of that
which was called by him One-many (^ev-woWa) ; the
third, of that which is thus expressed, one and many
(ej/ /cat TToXXa)." '^ The Platonic Triad consisted of
goodness (to ayaQov), wisdom (\6yo^, cro(pia, vovi),
and life, power, and action (^ox*]) ; and these he
taught were absolutely one being, each compre-
hended in the others ; all being self-existent and
eternal, three Hypostases in one Divine nature.^

' Ptolemus, quoted by Cudworth, Int. Syst. p. 546.

* lb. pp. 386, 387.

' lb. pp. 572, 573, 576, 577, 578.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 203

Numenius, who was a later Pythagorean, held
the same tenet as a part of the system of Py-
thagoras ; and Moderatus affirms this Trinity of
principles to be one of the Pythagorean Cabala :
lamblichus also says, " That there were three gods
praised by the Pythagoreans."* It has been thought
that the Pythagorean theology was derived from
the Orphic ; that Orpheus was only the promul-
gator of a still more ancient tenet ; and that Or-
pheus, Pythagoras, and Plato, who all alike held a
Divine Triad, had been initiated into the theology
of the Egyptians : from which it has been supposed
that this was an article of their arcana or Esoteric
theology. Be this as it may, there are some traces
of a Trinity in the Mithraic mysteries derived by the
Persians from Zoroaster; in the Chaldean oracles
of the Magi, and in the Samothracian doctrines ;
and, lastly, the Ternary or Triad, was a number
generally regarded by the Greeks and Pagans as
containing some mystery in nature, and was, there-
fore, used in their religious rites. Aristotle says,
" Wherefore from nature, and as it were observing
her laws, have we taken this number of three,
making use of the same in the sacrifices of the
gods and other purifications." ^

It seems then, first, that a belief in One Supreme
God, invisible, alone uncreated, the Governor of all,
was not altogether lost,

■ Cudworth, Int. Syst. p. 547.
* lb. p. 547. Arist. de Coelo, 1. i. c. 5.

204 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART H.

Secondly, that a multitude of subordinate, finite,
generated, and visible deities was both acknow-
ledged and worshipped either as distinct gods, or
as ministers and mediators between man and the
Supreme God.

Thirdly, that a doctrine concerning a Divine
Triad was held, and transmitted through the secret
theologies and philosophical schools.

But it must be observed that their purest doc-
trine of the Divine unity was held to be consistent
with a belief in, and a worship of, many gods. It
taught no moral relations nor particular providence
of love and mercy. '

We may now go on to examine how the Church
is so constituted, in the particular property of its
Unity, as to restore the true knowledge of God in
the world.

And, first, by the objective Unity of the Faith
the Church has taken up all philosophies and con-
solidated them in one. Whether by the momentum
of an original revelation, or by the continual guid-
ance of a heavenly teaching, or by the natural con-
vergence of the reason of man towards the unseen
realities of truth, it is most certain that all thought-
ful and purer minds were gazing one way : as the
fulness of time drew on, their eyes were more and
more intently fixed on one point in the horizon,
" more than they that watch for the morning ;"

' Mill on the Pantheistic Tlieory, p. 1 ; and Notices of the
Mosaic Law by 11. J. Rose, pp. 25 and 83, 84.

CHAP. II. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 205

and all the lights of this fallen world were bent
towards one central region, in which at last they
met and kindled. The one Faith was rhe focns
of all philosophies, in which they were fused, puri-
fied, and blended. The Monad and the Triad were
transfigured into Three Persons in One God. The
subordination of the Platonic Triad was verified in
the ministrative oflftces of the Son and the Holy
Ghost. The eternity, the uncreated substance, the
infinity of goodness, wisdom, and power, the tran-
scendent majesty, the true personality, and the
moral providence of the One Supreme Maker and
Ruler of the World, was affirmed from heaven.
The scattered truths which had wandered up and
down the earth, and had been in part adored, and
in part held in unrighteousness, were now elected
and called liome, and as it were regenerated, and
gathered into one blessed company, and glorified
once more as the witnesses of the Eternal.

God was manifested as the life of the world, and
yet not so as to be one with the world ; but as
distinct, yet filhng all things. God was manifested
as the source of life to man. The affinity of the
soul of man to God was revealed ; and the actual
participation of man, through the gift of grace,
in the Divine nature, and yet not so as to extinguish
the distinct and immortal being of each individual
soul.

In thus taking up into itself all the scattered
family of truth, the one Faith abolished all the
intermingling falsehoods of four thousand years.

206 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

Therefore it follows, as a just corollary, that in
affirming the unity and sovereignty of God, it an-
nihilated the whole system of many subordinate
deities. It declared absolutely that there is no God
but One ; that all created being is generically dis-
tinct, and has in it no divine prerogative. It taught
mankind that the wisest and the best of earth pass not
the bounds of man's nature ; that the passions and
energies of mankind are, by God's ordinance, parts
of man's own being ; that they are not his lords, but
themselves subject to his control ; that the powers
of nature are no gods, but pressures of the one
Almighty Hand ; and that the visible works of God
are fellow-creatures with man, and put under his feet.

And, as a second corollary, it follows that the One
Faith, in restricting the Divine nature, restricts also
all worship to the One Supreme God.

Joseplius says that Abraham was " the first that
ventured to publish this notion, that there was but
one God, the Creator of the Universe ; and that as
to other [gods], if they contributed anything to the
happiness of men, that each of them afforded it only
according to his appointment, and not by their own
power." He adds : " So far as they co-operate to
our advantage, they do it not of their own abilities,
but as they are subservient to Him that commands
tliem, to whom alone we ought justly to offer our
honour and thanksgiving."* Now, it is to be ob-
served that, in the above passage, the ministrative
office of intermediate divinities is supposed as hypo-

' Josephus, lib. i. vii.

CHAP. II. I THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 207

thetically possible ; Init, iioverthelcss, the great law
of worship is restricted to God alone ; much more,
therefore, when Revelation has proved the falsehood
of the hypothesis. The conduct of Abraliani, as re-
corded in Holy Writ, exactly agrees with this great
principle. In the book of Genesis we read that " he
builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the
name of the Lord." ' In no place do we find a trace
of any other object of religious homage. The dis-
tinctive mark of Abraham's faith was not more his
belief in one only God, than in his restricting all acts
of worship to that one God alone. This was his visi-
ble standing testimony against the worship of inter-
mediate beings, created to be ministers and mediators
between God and man. And so Maimonides writes :
Abraham " began to teach that none ought to be
religiously worshipped save only the God of the
whole world." ^ In like manner, the patriarchal
families first, and the people of Israel afterwards,
served as visible witnesses to this primary law of
the true worship of God. Their whole history was
a providential education, framed for the special pur-
pose of weaning them from the Polytheism of the
Gentiles to the unity of God. To this the three
first commandments of the Law, the institution and
types of the Tabernacle, the prohibition to have more
altars than one, the institution of one temple in
Jerusalem, were all directed. But it is needless in
this treatise to enlarge on a point which every one

' Genesis xii. 8 ; xiii. 4.
^ Cudworth, Int. Syst. p. 467-

208 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [|pART 11.

ever so little familiar with Holy Writ will readily
remember. It is enough to refer to the seductions
of Balaam, the sins of Solomon and Ahab, and of
the later kings of Judah, to remind us that the
transgression which brought down God's wrath
upon His people was the abdication of their high
calling to testify to the world the mystery of the
Divine Unity. They came short of the final end
for which they were elected and constituted a pe-
culiar people. Therefore God first gave them over
to the neighbouring nations for chastisement, and
finally carried them away to Babylon. It is re-
markable that from that time they have never again
fallen into idolatry. Their jealousy for the great
mystery of the Divine Unity we shall have occasion
to notice again hereafter.

The witness which had been so long, and with
such various obscurations, borne by the Jewish
Church, was taken up and perfected by the
Christian. We may treat this witness under two
aspects, the one testifying to the mystery of the
one God, the other to the incommunicable charac-
ter of worship.

The testimony of the Christian Church to the
mystery of the one God runs through the whole
body of the New Testament Scriptures : the " one
God and one Mediator between God and man, the
man Christ Jesus," may be called the differentia of
Christianity as compared with all approximations
to true religion. And as we find this running
through the apostolic writings, so we find it as the

CHAP. II.J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 209

main feature of the primitive history. The Bap-
tismal formula of three Persons and one God, and
the Creed as the expansion of this mystery, is the
rule of faith and sacred tradition of Christendom.
In the writings of St. Irenseus, Tertnllian, and others,
it is treated as equivalent to the whole Gospel.
For, indeed, in the doctrines of the ever-blessed
Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God,
all truth is contained by axioms and corollaries :
" For this is life eternal, to know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent."

Without dwelling longer on this acknowledged
point, we may pass on to the second, namely, the
incommunicable nature of worship. Perhaps the
most pregnant evidence of the severe faithfulness
with which the early Church restrained every form
of worship to the One Invisible God is the charge
of atheism which was rife against the primitive
Christians. The martyrs of Christ are represented
as being put to death all for atheism. The Christian
apologists Athenagoras, Justin Martyr, Arnobius,
and others, reckon atheism among the charges
brought against them by the Heathen. One of the
tests applied to Christians was an abjuration of their
faith in these words, " Away with the Atheists."^
The cause of all this was partly their condemnation
of Polytheism, and partly the fact of their not per-
mitting in their places of worship any visible repre-

' Bingham, Orig. Eccl. B. i. c. ii. 3.

210 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

sentations. This had been the characteristic mark
of the Jews before them.^ That the taint of crea-
ture-worship from time to time fastened itself upon
unstable men is evident from frequent expressions
in the Fathers, and from the Council of Laodicaea,^
which was compelled to make a canon against the
worshipping of angels. In like manner the Council
of Eliberis ^ framed a canon prohibiting all pictures
of the objects of worship, lest they should become a
snare to the mind of the worshipper by drawing it
to terminate on them. Another convincing proof
of the jealous care of the Church in restricting
worship to the one only God may be shown from
the arguments used against the Heathen and the
Arians. By the former they were charged with
worshipping a man that was crucified.* They did
not deny it, but justified the worship by proving
that he was God : against the latter, who taught
that the Son of God was a creature, they answered
that they (the Arians) were thereby worshippers of
the creature even as the Heathen.^ The acts of
worship were cited by them in proof of the God-

" Nil prseter nubes et Coeli numen adorant,"

Juv. xiv. 97.
So also Tacitus — " Judsei mente sola, lummque Numen intelli-
gunt — summum illud et aeternum, neque mutabile, neque interitu-
rum : igitur nulla simulacra urbibus suis, nedum templis sinunt."
Hist. V. 5.

* Concil. Laod. can. xxxv. apud Bevereg. Synod : also Theo-
doret in Col. ii. 18.

^ Concil. Elib. can. xxxvi. Ed. Albaspin.

* Bingham, Orig. Eccl. B. i. c. ii. xvi.
" Cudworth, Intell. Syst. pp. 627, 628.

CHAP, ir.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 211

head of our Lord Jesus Christ,' the axiom being
unquestioned that worship is an exckisive and in-
communicable prerogative of God.^ Neither did
they allow of subordinate senses of the term. Wor-
ship with them was an idea generically different
from all other forms of reverence or veneration. It
was not the idea of worshipping inferior beings as
the one God — an error into which not even the more
enlightened Heathen ever fell — but the worshipping
them at all, that the Church condemned.' They
knew no distinction between worship religious or
not religious, supreme or subordinate : with them
all worship was in itself religious and supreme."
This, then, was the great canon of the Church, that
God alone is to be worshipped, and by this unity
of worship, through the faith and sacraments, she
has ever borne her witness in the world to the true
knowledge of the One Supreme God.

The next point to be considered is in what man-
ner the objective unity which consists in the organic
system of the Church subserves the end of mani-
festing the true knowledge of God to the world.

' Bingham, Orig. Eccl. B. xiii. 2.

* " All worship is prerogative, and a flower

Of His rich crown, from whom lies no appeal

At the last hour.
Therefore we dare not from His garland steal
To make a posie for inferior power."

Herbert's Poems — To All Angels and Saints.
^ Origen contra Cels. lib. viii. c. 26, Ed. Ben.
* It is remarkable that the Jews and Mahometans charged the
Christians of the eighth century with dishonouring the Unity of
God by idolatry, and the worship of many inferior beings.

p 2

212 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PAPtT II.

And, first, it is evident that the " oneliness" of the
Church — the fact, I mean, that there is one and
one only visible body, endowed with divine func-
tions and prerogatives — is an earthly type of the
one only Divine Being.

The Heathen religions were manifold, and their
churches, if we may so call the congregations of the
initiated, were many. The Persians, Egyptians,
Greeks, Romans, Teutones, though they had some
common basis, had nevertheless a superstructure of
Polytheism so various as to forbid intercommunion
between the several sects. By the necessity of an
ideal law, the multiplicity of gods produced a mul-
tiplicity of religions. Even in the same nation, and
between neighbouring cities, the breaches of unity
were many and irremediable.' Polytheism being a
multiplicity of wills, every several deity being a seve-
ral principle of volition, separation of worship and
division of worshippers was inevitable. The mul-
titude of sects was the expression of a multitude of
objects of worship; and, by the inverse law, the
oneliness of the Church is the image of the One
only God.

But in the next place we may find a further and
deeper proof of the unity of God in the objective
organic unity of the Church.

As in the natural world the marks of design be-
speak an intelligent Author, and tlie unity of design

' Juvenal, xv. 1.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 213

the unity of the agent, so in the organic system of
the Church.

The Hght of natural reason \\as enough to show
to the philosophic Heathen that there must be one
" and one only" first cause of all. They saw that two
first causes would impose on each other a mutual
limitation ; that so both would be finite, and there-
fore neither could be eternal. To the eternity of
any being they saw that infinity is absolutely ne-
cessary : they saw, therefore, that the cause of all
must be absolute and one ; and that, therefore, one is
the mystery of all good and of all perfection ; that
one is the number which measures all numbers, but
is itself immeasurable. The force of reason, there-
fore, compelled them into an acknowledgment of
one Supreme God. But tliey saw also the image
of the Divine Unity in the material world : they
saw the laws and powers of nature at unity with
each other and with themselves; ^ and some believed
the world itself to be, as it were, God — some that
God dwelt in it as life in a material body— some
that the complex unity of nature was a sensible
expression of the multiform unity of the Divine
ideas. We have already seen St. Clement of Alex-
andria arguing that " whatsoever is most highly
precious is praised in respect that it stands alone,
being a likeness of the one first principle;" and that
the transcendency of the Church, like the principle

' Cudworth, Int. Syst. pp. 372, 373 : also Gale's Court of the
Gentiles, B. 3. c. 9.

214 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

by which all things consist, which also surpasses all
other things, and has nothing like or equal to it,
is in its unity. So he says again : " His will is (His)
work, and is named the world : so also His desire
is the salvation of men, and is called the Church."^
And in another place he says the Church is " the
Divine will on Earth as it is in Heaven."

It is plain, then, that both the world and the
Church being from the same Author, we should
expect to find a parallel of analogous laws ; and
such, indeed, we find pervading the constitution of
both. There is the same unity and harmony — the
same adaptation of means to ends — the same prin-
ciple of order and succession. What the laws of
definite proportion are in the natural world, such
the primitive ordinances of God are in His Church ;
both being expressions of His perfect will, arbitrary
in their aspect to us, but hiding a mystery of
wisdom, and a depth of purpose immutably true
and right. What the law of form and structure is
to the world of matter, such is the organized polity
of God's moral creation — a polity which is whole
in all its members, as Nature in her most perfect
forms repeats herself in every part. For instance :
the lines of natural descent, and the relations of sub-
ordination and equality, are types of the succession of
Spiritual Fathers, and of the fellowship of Brethren,
through the mystery of our second birth. In like
manner we find certain moral characters impressed

' Peedag. torn. i. 114.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 2l5

on the animal world, and no one can doubt that
the instincts even of irrational creatures ought to be
comprehended under this moral idea. The provi-
dence of the ant, the architectural cunning of the
beaver, the mathematical skill of the bee, are all
scintillations, as it were, of an higher intelligence ;
and the universal sameness of these instincts refers
them all alike to one higher Mind. In the same man-
ner, in each reasonable soul, the mystery of con-
science, the consciousness of right and wrong, and
of the moral consequences of each, the idea of retri-
butive and distributive justice, the first foot-prints,
as it were, of a moral Governor pervading all His
responsible creatures, plainly mark out the unity of
their Author and their Judge. And these unerring
universal types of His moral law, contrasted with
the infinite variations of individual character, and
with the ten thousand shades of moral diversity which
lie between right and wrong, so numerous that
the infinitely diverse countenances of mankind are
oftener alike than their infinitely varying characters
— this contrast of one universal form impressed alike
on all with the individual types which all so vari-
ously exhibit, as certainly refers that which is uni-
form to an unity of will, as that which is multiform
to a multitude of volitions. Wheresoever there is
no higher principle at work than the imperfect will
of man, there must be variance and contradiction :
harmony and unity attest the presence and wil 1 of
God.

216 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

And as from the unity of the world we know the
unity of its first cause, so from the unity of its ope-
ration we know the unity of its Ruler. The Divine
monarchy is a truth which even Polytheists could
not overlook. And this monarchy is forced into
the light of our reason by the visible sameness of
the moral government of the world. As the moral
nature of individual men exhibits upon it the traces
of God's law, so likewise do the aggregates of moral
beings, whether in domestic or political society.
The unity of political justice is a fact which the
philosophers and orators of old clearly saw and
reasoned on.^ They saw that there was a monarchy
over moral beings, guiding and governing their
manifold and entangled actions ; and they knew
that this simple and unerring procedure was the
express law and order of one Supreme Ruler.
The monarchy of Providence was no less distinctly
visible than the monarchy of creation. In like
manner, by the same process, and by the same

' Est quidem vera lex recta ratio, naturae congruens, diffusa in
omnes, constans, sempiterna : quae vocet ad ofScium jubeudo,
vetando a fraude deterreat, quee tamen neque probos frustra jubet
aut vetat, nee improbos jubendo aut vetando movet. Huic legi
nee abrogari fas est, neque derogari ex hac aliquid licet, neque
tota abrogari potest : nee vero aut per Seiiatum aut per populum
solvi hac lege possumus : neque est quaerendus explanator, aut
interpres ejus alius ; nee erit alia lex Rom;e, alia Athenis, alia
nunc, alia posthac ; sed et omnes gentes, et omni tempore una lex
et sempiterna et immutabilis continebit; unusque erit communis
quasi magister et imperator omnium Dens, ille legishujus inventor,
disceptator, lator. — Cic. de Republica, lib. iii. xxii.

CHAP. II. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 217

proofs, we shall find the monarchy of God exhibited
in the economy of redemption. It is admitted that
the " singularity' or " oneliness' of God's Church be-
fore Christ's coming, and the unity of its hierarchical
structure, testified to the monarchy of God. The
testimony of the Church Catholic is to the same
point, and compels assent by its universality.
The national and internal unity of Israel among
the multitude of nations was a faint proof com-
pared with the all-embracing, all-absorbing Church
of Christ, which takes up into itself all nations,
languages, people, and tongues, all schools and phi-
losophies, all codes and polities, and assimilates and
blends them into one. The testimony of the Church
Catholic to the monarchy of God is therefore
twofold : first, in the unity of its organic structure ;
and next, in its uniting virtue.

In its organic structure we find the miraculous
phenomenon of a body of moral agents, a third part
of all mankind, united for eighteen hundred years, in
all regions of the world, under one definite law, and in
one definite polity. The same proof wliich refers to
God the sameness of universal instincts, and to man
the diversity of political system, must in like manner
solve the organic unity of the Church by referring it
to the one ordaining Mind, It is plainly impossible,
on the same laws of reasoning with which we treat
other phenomena of the world, to refer the organic
unity of the Church Catholic to any other or lesser
cause. The universal law of succession, and the uni-

218 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

versal rule of a nionarchical episcopate, absolutely
demand a sole and uniform cause ; and though we
are now speaking chiefly of the political structure of
the Catholic Church, we may not omit the unity of
the Faith, of the moral law, and of the Divine wor-
ship. No consistent theory has ever been ventured
on to explain the unity of the Faith on any principle
which will not ultimately refer it to the unity of the
Divine mind. Whether we acknowledge the Church
to be a divinely ordained polity, or whether we sup-
pose it to be no more than the result of a concurrent
instinct of mankind, will matter but little in this
view. Either way its unity and universality be-
speak the unity of God. If Christianity were no
more than an instinct pointing to the world unseen,
and preparing for a future state, it must be referred
for its author to the moral Governor of the world.
To take the particular features of this one great
fact : we find, in the midst of an endless variety and
conflict of philosophical theories, an objective ideal
system which is at unity with itself, spread abroad
in all lands, and impressing itself upon minds the
most various in learning and power: we find also,
in the midst of unnumbered discrepancies of con-
stituted right, a system of preceptive morality uni-
versally acknowledged even by those that uphold
the most various economical and political systems.^

' Neque enim quia et in orbe terrarum plerumque regna divi-
duntur, ideo et. uuitas Christiana dividitur, cum in utraque parte
Catholica inveniatur Ecclesia. S. Aue. de unit. Eccl. xiii.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 219

We find, in the midst of numberless ways of ador-
ing and propitiating the multitude of unseen
beings, one form of worship, harmonious even
in the minor features of its internal order, rising
up and binding all nations into one. With these
facts before us, I say it is impossible to con-
clude otherwise than that the diversities of philo-
sophy, morality, and religion, are the natural off-
spring of the reason, the conscience, and the ima-
gination of man, biassed and moulded by the mani-
fold energy and inclination of the individual will,
and that the unity of faith, morality, and worship, in
the Catholic Church is the stamp of the one Di-
vine intelligence upon the responsible creatures of
His hand.

And because it is sometimes attempted, by those
who reject the organic polity, to resolve the unity
of the Catholic Church into an unity of will and
spirit, it is worth while to observe, that with Ca-
tholic Christians there can be no question whether
this unity of will and spirit be, in fact, contained in
the design of God. About this there is no contro-
versy ; nay, they against whom it is wont to be ob-
jected hold and urge this truth even more strongly
than others. The question is, whether there be not
another unity subserving, in the nature of means, to
this great end. But of this we shall speak hereafter ;
at present we have to observe — first, that they who
labour to prove that the Church Catholic- has not
an organic unity, do, in fact, break down one argu-

220 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART 11.

ment for the Divine monarchy, no less than they
who should deny the marks of design in the natural
world by teaching the fortuitous concurrence of
atoms, and the contingent nature of all specific
forms. The visible directness of this parallel may
well make men look again to the soundness of their
reasoning : for it is certain that the unity of God is
not more shown in the uniform structure of tlie
visible world and in the unity of the Divine opera-
tions over all rational and irrational creatures, than
in the objective unity of the worship, faith, and
polity of the Church. And, upon examination, it
will further appear that this great law of philoso-
phical reasoning is no more than the inductive pro-
cess contained in the argument from universal tra-
dition, or, in more technical words, in the test of
Vincent of Lerins : " Quod semper, quod ubique,
quod ab onmibus." Next, that their ideal principle
inclines to the polytheistic : for they that held many
inferior deities, held also a supreme monarchy,
wliich was indeed over all, but was not manifested
alike in all parts of the world ; whence every nation
became a Church to itself with infinite lesser vari-
eties, but still holding the one common bond of a
supreme worship. And, lastly, this mode of arguing
has an affinity to that of the Arian and Socinian
schools. For those who deny the consubstantial
unity of three Persons, explain away the proofs of
Holy Scripture into unity of mind and will ; and
they who deny the organic unity of the Church, ex-

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 221

plain away all passages which speak of oneness or
schism into a mere agreement of charity and spirit.

We have now traced out the relation between the
outward unity of the Church in its organic system
and the true knowledge of the unity of God : we
may therefore go on to see how the inward or
moral unity is designed to subserve the same end.

And, first, it is obvious that the phenomenon of
the Catholic Church, a body gathered out of all
nations into one accordant and enduring fellowsliip,
is a moral miracle of the first magnitude. The
whole history of the world presents a series of
empires rising and falling, sometimes crushed by
the weight of a mightier kingdom, and sometimes
broken up from within by the force of inward col-
lisions. The whole history of each several empire
— the Assyrian, the Persian, the Greek, and the
Roman — is little more than a baffled endeavour to
impose a constraining bond of unity on the repug-
nancies of the moral world. Even the last iron
despotism, which was stronger than all before it,
failed in the task. By the might of fear and force,
it held, for a while, in awe a larger portion of mankind
than any empire which had gone before it. But at
the very heart of its power all the most direct antago-
nists of unity reigned supreme. The isolation of the
individual will was universal ; and the repulsive force
of selfishness was ever at work to make the isola-
tion still more complete. The conflict of kingdoms
was only an aggregate expression of the clash of

222 * THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

individual wills. That such was the condition of
the Heathen world is known to all ; and that the
first phenomenon of abiding unity appeared in the
Jewish Church, There was a something which even
the Heathen could not but acknowledge, though
they could not understand it. But the full display
of unity and permanence was reserved for the
Church Catholic, It was this the Prophet Daniel
wrote of when he said, " In the days of these kings
shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which
shall never be destroyed." Its imperishableness
was the counter-signature of its Divine origin. As
unity is an attribute of eternity, so is it the cause
of imperishableness. Mankind stood in need of
some common basis, which should be one and the
same in all, to hold in check the tendency of imper-
fect natures to dissolution. And this was the func-
tion of the Church.

By the original sin of man, then, there was called
into energy a repulsive power, which sunders the
moral nature of man from his fellows. Sin has a
direct tendency not only to repel man from God, but
man from his kind. The whole race tends morally to
isolation, as the dying body tends to the dissolution of
its several parts. Hence comes the fall of kingdoms,
the division of households, and the inward strife of
man. They who have made a state of nature a
state of war, have erred through the darkness of
their natural reason ; for the state of nature is God's
ordinance, and has in it the relations of subordina-

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 223

tion tmd equality, and in its result is order. What
half-sighted philosophers have imagined to be his
aboriginal state, is but the perpetual defeat of this
Divine ordinance of nature, and the moral repulsion
of man's individual will. But their testimony is
useful to our purpose, as showing how predominant
a force in the moral world is the repelling power
of individual wilfulness.

The function of the Church, therefore, is to restore
to mankind a principle of moral cohesion. And this
God has been pleased to do by taking up and carry-
ing on to perfection His own original ordinance.
The moral unity of a family is His own natural
work. The political unity of a state is the expan-
sion of a family. In the moral cohesion of the
Church is contained both these forms of the one
principle, perfected and spread abroad over the face
of the world. And this moral power, which holds to-
gether elements by nature so repulsive, is a miracle
as great as the perpetual sustaining of the frame of
creation, and as the continuous energy of the Divine
will, which " hangeth the world upon nothing."^
There is manifestly a superhuman power brooding
upon man, and raising him above himself; and this
witness for the Divine Unity was the matter of our
Saviour's prayer, when He asked of His Father, in
behalf of His Universal Church, " That they all may
be one, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee,
that they also may be one in us ; that the world

' Job xxvi. 7.

224 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

may believe that Thou hast sent me." ' This was to
be the standing miracle in proof of His divine mis-
sion. The mutual love of Christians was a mystery
related even to that of the Divine nature. It was even
more wonderful to the world, and yet it was undeni-
able. Any form of speculative truth is less perplex-
ing to the reason of man than the moral perfection of
man's nature to his stunned and selfish heart : the
conscious enmity of an evil will is more opposed
to charity, than the perplexity and weakness of the
reason to any transcendental mystery. The world
could not deny the visible unity of the Church : but
" the light shined in darkness, and the darkness
comprehended it not."

The first great expression of this moral unity was
the common worship, and the intercommunion of
all Christians and all Churches in the one universal
form of adoration. And the central point of this
worship was the Holy Eucharist. But besides these
joints and bands of the great miracle of charity, the
Church silently testified at all times, by the habitual
tenor of its practice, for the life of every Christian
man was a type of the unity of God. The universal
love of all, the various sympathy in joy and sorrow,
the denial and subjugation of self for the sake of
others, the forgiveness of injuries, the quenching of
resentment, the love of enemies, were rays ema-
natin"- from some central brio-htness. Their un-
earthliness and their inclination revealed their

' St. John xvii. 21.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 225

advent to be from heaven, and their origin to Ix^ in
God. Now we find the early writers pointedly using
tliis argument to confirm themystary ] the Divine
Unity ; and also the mystery of the Divine nature,
to prove the duty of moral unity. Of the latter
St. Cyprian gives an example : " The Lord says,
' I and the Father are one.' And again, concerning
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it is written,
' And these three are one.' And does an}^ man
believe that this unity, which is derived from the
steadfastness of the Divine nature, and coheres by
heavenly sacrament^^, may be rent asunder in the
Church, and separated by the repulsion of clashing
wills ? He that holds not this unity, holds not the
law of God, holds not the faith of the Father and
the Son, holds neither life nor salvation."'

Of the other form of the argument the following
passages will serve as examples. St. Athanasius, in
rescuing out of the hands of the Arians the prayer of
our Lord, cited above, says, " He did not say, ' That
they may be one as we are,' meaning that we should
be made such as He is ; but that, as He, the Word,
is in His own Father, so we also, having received a
certain impress, and looking unto Him, may become
one with each other in unanimity and in the Unity of
the S[)irit, and not be discordant as were the Corin-
thians, but be of one heart as were those five thou-
sand in the Acts, who were all as one person

We being of one kindred with each other (for we are
' S. Cypr. de Unit. Eccl. c. 2.

22G THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART 11.

all begotten from one, and the nature of all men is
one) become one with each other in the disposition
(of our mind) having as our pattern (or archetype)
the oneness of nature which is between the Son and
the Father."^ So St. Augustin, speaking of the ga-
therino; too:ether of all nations into one to serve the
Lord, says, " In this he answered him, namely, in
unity ; for whosoever is not in unity answers him
not. For He is one. The Church is unity. Nothing
answers to one but unity." ^ And in another place,
writing on the Holy Trinity, he says, " He would
have His own to be one, in Himself, because in
themselves they cannot be one, being severed from
each other by various lusts and desires and im-
purities of sin. Wherefore they are cleansed by the
Mediator that they ma}^ be one in Him, not only
by that same nature through which all are made of
mortal men to be the equals of angels, but also
throuoh the same and into the same blessedness
which conspires with a perfect concord of will into
one spirit, being fused, as it were, by the fire of
charity. This is,the intention of His words, ' That
they may be one, as we are one.' That as the Father
and the Son, not only by equalit}^ of substance, but
by will, are one, so also they between whom and
God the Son is mediator, not only for that they are
of the same nature (i. e. ainomj themselves), but also
by the same fellowship of love, may be one."^ St.

' S. Athati. Orat. iii. contra Arian. 20. Ed. Ben.
* S. Aug. ill Psal. ci. 8. ^ De Trinilate, lib. iv. viii.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 227

Cyril of Alexandria, in his Commentary on St. John,
confuting the error of the Arians, says, on the same
text, " This we shall necessarily repeat, that Christ,
assuming the unity of substance which the Father
hath with Him, and He with the Father, as an
image or type of the unity of undivided love and
agreement of mind, which is perceptible in the
union of soul, would mingle us together as it were
with each other, by the virtue of the holy and con-
substantial Trinity, that the universal body of the
Church may be perceived to be one by the coalition
and concourse of two people into the constitution of
one perfect (body), which grows up in Christ."
So Theophylact, who may be taken as representing
the expositors of the Greek Church, says, " ' That
the world may believe that Thou hast sent me ;'
forasmuch as by the concord of my disciples it shall
be manifested of me the Teacher that I am sent
from God. But if they contend with one another,
men will not say that they are the disciples of the
Peacemaker." Then, after quoting the verse, he
adds, " What glory does He say He gave them ?
The glory of miracles, of doctrine, of teaching; and
that other glory of unity of mind, that they may be
one. For this glory is greater than that of miracles.
For as we adore God with wonder, because in His
nature there is neither strife nor conflict, and this
is the greatest glory, so, saith He, let them be con-
spicuous, that is to say, by reason of their unity of
' S. Cyril. Alex, in Joan. Ev. lib. xi. 11.

228 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART IF.

mind."^ These passages are sufficient to show in
what way the early Christians argued from the
unity of the Godhead to the subjective unity of the
Church, and by the converse : the one form exhi-
biting the principle, the other the symbol ; the
unity of the Godhead being both the archetype and
the cause ; the unity of the Church the consequence
and the expression. And this will be sufficient for
our present purpose.

From what has been said, it is not difficult to
perceive the ideal relation between the unity of the
Divine nature and the unity of the Church. The
visible phenomenon is in a manifold way declaratory
of the invisible mystery: as, for instance, in the unity
of its doctrine, which expressly teaches the oneness
of the Divine nature ; in the unity of its worship,
which is uniform, and incommunicable, as the prero-
gative of God alone ; in the unity of organic struc-
ture, which, like the framework of the universe, be-
speaks one causative and conserving principle; in
the unity of what may be called the universal laws,
conditions, instincts, and energies of the Church,
as those of the world may be called the universal
ordinances, deposits, and traditions of nature ; and,
lastly, in the subjective unity of mind and action,
which has no type, as it can have no cause, but in
God Himself. In all these ways, dogmatic, organic,
energetic, and moral, the One Holy Catholic Church
is the earthly witness of the One Holy Trinity, God
over all, blessed for ever.

' Theophyl. in loc.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 229

CHAPTER III.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH A MEANS TO RESTORE

MAN TO THE IMAGE OF GOD.

We may now proceed to the next point, which is to
ascertain in what way the Unity of the Church is a
means of the restoration of man to the imaoe of
God.

And, first of all, we must take into the present
chapter the conclusion of the last. It is obvious
that a right knowledge of God is a necessary con-
dition of the restoration of man to the image of God.
And we have already seen how the Unity of the
Church is the divinely ordained means of restoring
that right knowledge. The reason, however, we
are now in search of is of a more particular and
proximate kind.

By the image of God is to be understood that
holy state in which man was created. The test and
distinguishing mark of this state was the unity of
the will of man with the will of God : and in this

230 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

tinity is potentially involved vi^hat was never actu-
ally manifested, namely, the unity of every several
will with the wills of all mankind.

By the disobedience of the first man, or, in other
words, by the collision of his will with the will of
God, these unities were altogether marred. Every
man born into the world brought with him into life
a several will as far estranged from the will of God
as the will of the first who fell. The multiplication
of mankind, therefore, was the multiplication of
disuniting principles. Every man, as he is severed
from God, is severed also from his fellows; and
holiness, which consists in love to God and man, in
submission and brotherhood, was marred in its prin-
ciple, and became impossible. To restore man there-
fore to holiness it was necessary to restore him to the
moral unities which are its conditions and security.
As these moral unities were the divine characters of
the first creation, so are they of the second — that is,
of the redemption and restoration of man. It is
evident that the Unity of the Church is, as it
were, the restored unity of the primordial creation.
It is the will of God re-impressing itself as at the
first upon the creatures from which it had been
erased. And such is the uniform language of Holy
Scripture. The prophets prophesied of the coming
redemption as a power which should purge natural
and moral evil out of the creatures of God, ^ which
should heal and abolish the diseases and imperfec-

' Isaiah xi. 6.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 231

tions of man, ^ and spread abroad new heavens and
a new earth. ^

The mystery of our Lord's birth teaches us the same
truth. As in the creation God made the first Adam
of the virgin earth, so in the restoration he made the
manhood of the second Adam of the substance of a
virgin mother. Either was respectively the first
principle of a creation ; Adam of the first, Christ of
the second : St. Paul, speaking of both ci'cation and
redemption, calls our Lord the " first born of every
creature,"^ and " the beginning:"* again he says,
" The first man is of the earth earthy, the second
man is the Lord from Heaven." ^ In the Epistle to
the Hebrews he draws the parallel further, showing
that the subjection of all creatures to the dominion
of Adam was typical of the sovereignty of Christ in
the second creation. ® St. John, in the Apocalypse,
writes from His own mouth H^is title, " The begin-
ning {apxh, the originating principle) of the creation
of God.'"^ Therefore also St. Paul declares the
redemption in Christ to be " a gathering together
again " ® of God's creatures " under one head" (avuKe-
(paXaiwa-ig). Our Lord himself calls it the " regene-
ration ;" ^ and the being made partaker in it, being
" born again ;" ^° and of the man that is in Christ,
it is said that he is "a new creature, old things are

' Isaiah XXXV. 6. * Ibid. Ixvi. 22.

* Phil. i. 15. ' lb. 18. ' 1 Cor. xv. 47.

" Heb. ii. 6—9. ^ Rev. iii. 14. ^ Eph. i. 10.

" St. Matth. xix. 28. '" St. John in. 3.

532 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

passed away, all things are become new ;" ' and
that we are looking for " a new heaven and a new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness ;" and he that
sat on the throne, " from whose face the earth and
the heavens fled away, and there was found no
place for them," ^ said, " Behold I make all things
new."^ It would be easy to multiply almost to
any extent passages of the like kind, showing that
the redemption of mankind is a new creation from
the fallen nature of the old. And hence it is evi-
dent that the law of unity which pervaded the
first pervades also the second creation of God. And
the Unity of the Church, therefore, is in very deed
tlie Unity of God's primordial work ; and is the
means of restoring and sustaining in man the image
of God in which he was created.

But to follow out this inquiry further, it may
first be observed that by the Unity of the Church
all its members are gathered under one Head, who
is the exemplar and type of all. As Adam in the
old creation, so Christ in the new, is the pattern
and form of man. The types of God's image are
not many, but one only. He is " the image of the
invisible God." And the oneness of the type im-
presses a law of unity on the body of those that are
made like to it. The Unity of the Church therefore
is the representative of the unity of this image ; and
not the representative only, but the result and con-
sequence. Conformity to one and the same idea is
' 2 Cor. V. n. ' Rev. xx. 1 1. ' Rev. xxi. 5.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 233

unity in all beings, how many soever they be.^ On
one side therefore the unity of the type is the cause
of unity in the Church, which is the hidden unity
of saints in virtue of conformity to one common
Lord. But in another sense the Unity of the
Church is a means to conform mankind to the one
universal type. And this is the point we are most
concerned with, for the other is self-evident. The
objective Unity of the Church is a means of re-
storing mankind to the image of God, first by
gathering all men into one common family. " Of
one blood he made all nations ;" but they became
severed and split asunder into many. The national
will carried out and multiplied the disuniting forces
of the individual will. Nations were as gigantic
men. Their collective distinctness from other na-
tions gave them a sort of individual being. Every
nation had its own type, its own standard, its own
prescriptions, its own traditive moralities, its own
sympathy and antipathy. It was a great moral
phenomenon of accumulated disunion, instinct with
a life, the first condition of which was an energy
antagonist to all other nations. By the objective
Unity of the Church all these struggling powers
were gathered and held in one. Mankind became
once more an individual being. The one net was
let down and enclosed a great multitude of all sorts,
both good and bad ; but with all their internal di-
versities they were still but one draught. The
' Orig. in Oseam, torn. iii. p. 439. Ed. Ben.

234 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

absolute oneness of mankind in body, soul, and
spirit, and the unity of all in one common tyj3e
from which all were in the beginning derived, is
the true basis of unity in the society of the redeemed.
This basis the Church, by binding all in one, has re-
stored to the world. It is the bond of unity among
the families of man ; and by this they are knit
again into the oneness of their common origin. This
then is the first ordering and disposing of mankind
towards the recovery of the one common type and
image of God.

But, in the next place, the objective unity of the
Church is a means to the restoration of God's
image to mankind, by superinducing upon the
families of man, thus knit in one, a common rule of
life, and a common object of worship and imitation.
The one doctrine and discipline of Christ is a prin-
ciple of oneness and assimilation which imposes on
all mankind, how divided soever by national and
particular diversities, one governing and controlling-
power. The one Church, having its seat upon the
springs of man's moral nature, checks and suspends
the antagonist energies of individual and national
will. It propagates one ideal standard of human
perfection, to which all men alike tending are
brought into unity with themselves. The expan-
sion of what may be called the natural afliections of
the Christian family, so that the members of Christ
shall in all lands find father and mother, and bre-
thren and sisters ; and the promised extinction of

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 235

warfare when men shall turn from the acts of
bloodshed to the peaceful tillage of God's earth, are
dispositions towards the moral renovation of the
world, on which God's image shall be once more
perfectly impressed. The unity of the principle of
regeneration through "one baptism for the remission
of sins" works as the leaven throughout the mighty
mass. And, as St. Irenaeus says it is as " a precious
deposit of the Spirit of God in an excellent vessel,
itself ever new, and ever renewing the vessel in
which it is. For this gift of God is intrusted to the
Church, as for the inspiration of His creatures, to
the end that all members who receive it may be
quickened with life." ^ It is everywhere alike, work-
ing by one heavenly virtue, and conforming the
spirits of men to one common type. In like manner
the one faith constrains the intellectual energies of
men into one attitude of homage to eternal truth ;
and the one organic polity assimilates the moral
habits of all nations into one order and inclination.
This unity of mankind is in itself a part of the Di-
vine image in which man was created, of which one
leading feature is intrinsic unity.

But to go somewhat further into detail. It is
evident that the restoration of the image of God to
man, as it is a moral work, must needs be wrought
under the conditions which control man's moral
nature.

There is needed, therefore, first of all, a system

' S. Iren. lib. iii. xxiv.

236 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

which shall truly jDresent to the reason and con-
science of man a knowledge of the Divine image.
From what has been said in the last Chapter it is
evident that the unity of the Divine mind is ex-
pressed by the unity of all His works ; and among
them all, especially by the unity of that which is
His latest and most perfect work, the Church. It is
certainly hard to conceive that the knowledge of this
unity could be propagated throughout the world by a
number of distinct bodies : or, if for once propagated,
that the knowledge could be preserved and handed
on. The history of the old religions, and of the philo-
sophic sects, the series and mutations of schools, are
enough to show that in multiplicity there is always
diversity. At the beginning the}^ were diverse
from each other, having no principle of agreement :
in the end they were diverse from themselves,
having no principle of transmission. The iso-
lated tradition of particular sects, schools, nations,
churches, has never been known to hold its iden-
tity from first to last. They have each one forfeited
somewhat, and some have forfeited nearly all of the
Divine type they were founded to convey. Nothing
but a multiplicity of members organically one has
ever yet preserved whole and unchanged its deposit
of truth. The consent of the Church Catholic has
done so. The unity of the Church, therefore, is a
necessary condition to the preservation of that
knowledge of the Divine mind which is a neces-
sarv condition to man's restoration to the Divine

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 237

image. But, to pursue this further, it may be added,
that the one type of man's perfect nature to whicli
all must be conformed, namely, the image of Jesus
Christ, contains in itself the complete idea of moral
unity. It exhibits the nature of man under the
two aspects of its perfection in the unity of obe-
dience to the will of God, and in the unity of
charity with mankind ; and, for the exhibition of
this perfect example to the world, God has been
pleased to guide His chosen servants both in their
words and acts. It is not to be conceived that
He should guide them in the use of language, and
leave them without guidance in the determination
of their actions ; for it is by positive and visible
institutions, not less than by words and parables,
that the truth is bodied forth. It is evident that,
as some words more truly than others express the
mystery of Christ's perfect manhood, so do some
symbolical institutions. And, as we must believe
that, of all symbolical institutions by wdiich this
mystery could be expressed, the most exact and
expressive would be chosen, so we must believe
that the same would be ordained as the universal
symbol and expression of the universal type. It
stands to reason, therefore, that, as Christ is the ex-
press image of God in man's nature, so the body,
which on earth is ordained to represent and trans-
mit the exact knowledge of that one exemplar, must
be itself perfectly framed, and adapted for its re-
presentative office ; and as what is perfect is one,

238 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

therefore its leading feature must be unity of con-
stitution. The Unity of the Church, therefore, is a
foremost condition to the exact representation and
faithful transmission of the type of the image of
God in Jesus Christ, to whom mankind must be
conformed.

Hitherto I have spoken of the Church only as a
mode of expressing and preserving a knowledge of
the Divine image; we must next regard it as a
means of impressing it upon mankind, and as a
discipline through which the moral nature of man
is trained and likened to the image of God.

We have in part forestalled this topic, in speak-
ing of the unity which is superinduced upon the
nations of the world by the imposition of a com-
mon bond and rule of life. But we may now go
more fully into particulars, and trace out the rela-
tion between the organic Uiiit}'^ of the Church and
the discipline of the moral nature in each several
man.

The perfection of man's nature consisting in the
unity of his will with the will of God and with the
wills of his fellow-men, it is evident that the moral
discipline, be it what it may, by which he must be
reduced to this twofold unity, must be so framed as
to bear upon his moral nature on these two sides of
it. Now we have already seen that the two rela-
tions which constitute the unity of the Church are
those of subordination and equality; of subordi-
nation to an authority standing in the place of God,

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 231>

and of equality with all who are in like manner
gathered into one. The first relation, that of
subordination to an authority ordained of God, is a
moral corrective of the rebellious energies of the
will by which in the beginning it revolted against
God. Pride, self-trust, impatience of control,
hankering after things forbidden, and all the mani-
fold lower forms of these several sins, are met by a
power of direct repression in the authority which
God has ordained in His Church. God requires
of us a renunciation of self-will, and He has there-
fore constituted an order which shall bear rule
over His people, and shall bring them under the
yoke of obedience to Himself. And in this is our
chief conformity to the example of Christ, whose
obedience on earth was opened with *' Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God;" and closed with " not my
will, but thine, be done."

In like manner also the second relation, of equal-
ity, is a moral corrective of the evil motions which
propagate sin and strife. The love of precedence,
the lust for the highest place and the largest share,
and the sins of force and fraud which minister to
pride and covetousness, are directly encountered
and repressed by the claims and duties of equality.
The habits and energies of mind demanded and
disciplined by this relation are those that constitute
one of the highest degrees of likeness to the example
of Christ, and therefore to the image of God. Low-
liness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearance one of

240 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART 11.

another, and charit}^' are the graces wliicli are quick-
ened and trained in the discipline of the one body :
in it every form of self-denial is fostered and per-
fected after the example of Christ, who said, " If I
your Lord and master have vt^ashed your feet, ye
oug^ht also to wash one another's feet."^

There is, then, an express adaptation of the or-
ganic unity of the Church to the nature of fallen
man, an adaptation so designed by the wisdom of
Him who made mankind, that it acts as a direct
and searching corrective of the chief faults of his mo-
ral being. It meets him at the two points at which
he is ever departing from the perfect law of his na-
ture, and from the image of God : it meets him, and
checks, and throws him in upon himself, and, by a
continuous discipline, keeps up the conscious effort
to renounce and to deny the self-will of his isolated
nature. From childhood to old age, through all
the stages and seasons of life, intermingling with all
toils and pleasures in the throng of his fellow-men,
and in solitude with God, the unity of the Church
bears steadily down upon his individual will, re-
ducing it to the bent and posture of its original
unity with God and man.

Now it must be observed, further, that the per-
fection of this moral discipline lies not more in its
intrinsic nature than in the sanction by which it is
ordained. It might be thought that the voluntary
submission of the will to Pastors chosen and ac-
' Eph. iv. 2, 3, 4. * St. John xiii. 14.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 241

knowledged by the body of the Church, oj- by the
individual man, and the mutual forbearance of mem-
bers combined in a voluntary society, would not
only work out the same, but cause a more perfect
moral discipline, inasmuch as under both aspects it
would be a voluntary submission and forbearance.
But it is this which, in fact, vitiates the whole. In
any form of Christian community, except only the
one Church, the basis of unity is the choice of the
individual will. The very idea of submission and
forbearance, chosen by the individual will, implies
its correlatives of personal independence and active
selfishness as objects which might equally be chosen.
To make the better choice may be an act of the indivi-
dual will, as full of self-trust and self-determination
as the sin of Adam. The sanction of Catholic unity
is the will of God : it is a Divine discipline, and
the submission and the equality exacted by it are
exacted of all men alike, both willing and unwilling,
in the name of God. No man may choose whether
or no he will be a son of God, and a brotlier of
Christ. This God has resolved, by the fiat of His
Divine will, in electing us to the gift of regenera-
tion in the unity of His Church. Tlie same argu-
ment may be applied, therefore, to every form of
unity, how nearly soever it may approach the true,
if it fall short never so little ; for that falling short, be
it only in things which men call indifferent, forfeits
the direct sanction of God. He is not its author ; and
though, in His merciful [)rovidence, He ma}^ become

242 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART IT,

in some sense its administrator, even as He is of all
things, how imperfect soever they be, which tend to-
wards the good of His creatures, yet there are visible
tokens to be seen upon all communities of Chris-
tians, whether congregated by a conscious choice,
or holding together in a lingering semblance of
unity after the true bond of unity is broken, wit-
nessing plainly, by the imperfect character of the
results, that they are not the divinely appointed
means of restoring man to the image of God.
They have, for the most part, lost somewhat of the
objective type — somewhat of the mystery of the
perfection of man's nature in the manhood of Jesus
Christ; or, if they have retained a formal acknow-
ledgment of the truth, they have lost the moral per-
ception of its meaning. When the subjective habit
of faith has grown slack in themselves, and the spirit-
ual perceptions of the mind blunted, they must sink
back upon a lower level. Their highest types of
character will be defective in the master-features of
Christ's likeness. Among those that are severed
from the unity of the Church may often be found a
rigid morahty, but little of the unearthly temper
which marks the Catholic Saints. We often see
strict truth, integrity, and benevolence, but little of
the conscious awe of God's invisible presence, the
subjugation of passion, and denial of self, which
distinguishes a Saint from a Philosophic Morahst.
We shall often see, likewise, much zeal, forward-
ness, and energy in action, but little of the meek-

CHAP, rir.] THE UNITV OF THE CHURCH. 243

ness, self-withdrawal, and devout humility wliicli is
the crowning- glory of Christ's example. In fact, out
of the unity of the Church we see the commoner
virtues, which the world in part knew before Christ's
coming, carried higher by the strength of Christi-
anity; but of the higher graces, which the world
never dreamed of, and which were manifested in
Christ only, we can trace but faint lines anywhere
except in the one Church alone. The reason of
this seems evident. In no other body is there the
divinely-adjusted discipline for the will of man. The
plastic energy by which the character of Christ is
remoulded in the moral nature is baffled for want
of the organic structure through which the fitness
and harmony of moral truth prescribe its action ;
just as the animal life fails of throwing out the
highest forms of health where the bodily organiza-
tion is maimed or wanting. We see, then, the exam-
ple of our blessed Lord himself exhibited under the
twofold aspect already spoken of: He stood between
His Father and His brethren ; to Him he was
subordinate in all the powers of His will ; for their
sakes He denied Himself in all the sinless prompt-
ings of our manhood. So in like manner the pas-
tors of His Church stand between Him and their
flock. To Him they are subject in all the workings
of the heart and will ; for their flocks' sake they
renounce their own desires, and choice, and self. And
in like manner every member of the Church Catholic
is placed between his Lord in heaven and his fellow-

R 2

244 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

men on earth ; and in tlie particular Church where
the gift of regeneration has assigned his lot, between
his pastor and his brethren. The same twofold rela-
tion is to be traced in all these several forms of
discipline. The moral nature of man is under the
same conditions in all, and the resulting character
is therefore alike. And this will explain why in
the Church Catholic the traditionary type of cha-
racter is the most perfect of all ; because, with the
exact transmission of the true objective idea, the
subjective habit of the Church is ever sustained at a
point of approximation which ensures a purer and
truer perception of its moral completeness. The one
perfect type is, if I may so say, connatural to the one
bod}^ of Christ; and the whole lineage of Catholic
saints will evince this truth. Their universal like-
ness each to all the rest, and all to their one ex-
emplar, is an after-proof of exceeding strength,
attesting the perfect design of the one great Law-
giver, who hath so framed His Church as to mould
the moral elements of man into one predestinated
form, conforming them " to the image of His Son,
that He might be the first-born among many
brethren."^ To bring out this great mystery more
clearly, Ave may take a parallel, such as St. Ignatius
and St. Cyprian, both branded by the gainsayers of
organic unity as rigid sticklers for forms and exter-
nal systems, as credulous or ambitious monarchists
in Church government. No two saints of old are

' Rom. viii. 29.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 245

more identified with the particular kind of unity we
are now speaking of. In ecclesiastical history, and
in religious controversy, they are tlie main points of
rally and assault. One in the East, the other in
the West, nearly two hundred years apart in age,
unlike in every other circumstance and condition of
life ; but one in the unity of Christ's Church ; one
in rule of faith, and habit of obedience ; one in
likeness to each other, and to their common type ;
like in obedience and in charity, in the bent and
temper of the mind, in the active and passive graces
of Christ's likeness ; one in saintliness and in mar-
tyrdom. Where shall we find such a parallel between
any two Christians severed from the unity of the
Church ? Or to take another parallel in St. Athana-
sius and St. Augustin, the great teachers and bishops
of Alexandria and of Hippo. These come nearer to
ourselves in the character of their life. They were
neither of them martyrs. Their life was made up of
common events. It was uncommon only in the mea-
sure of earnest, endless striving for truth, which was
day by day crucified afresh before their eyes. They
were, as the world judges, stubborn controversialists.
Athanasius contended half a century about an iota,
and Auffustin half his life for what men now call an
external form or accident. He declares with his own
mouth that in the faith and sacraments of Christ
the Donatists were as right as himself. But these
saints were contending in defence of an objective sys-
tem vital to the work of God in man. Each through

246 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART U.

a long life, St. Atliaiiasius to nearly eighty years,
St. Augustin to seventy-six, prayed, fasted, cate-
chised, taught, wrote, disputed in conference and in
synod, enduring the cross for the Church of Christ.
They were shadows of their Master, striving to win a
gainsaying world to wisdom. " In Athanasius there
was nothing observed throughout the course of that
long tragedy other than such as very well became
a wise man to do and a righteous to suffer.
So that this was the plain condition of those
times ; the whole world was against Athanasius,
and Athanasius against it : half an hundred of years
spent in doubtful trial which of the two in the end
would prevail, the side which had all, or else the
part which had no friend but God and death — the
one a defender of his innocency, the other a finisher
of all his troubles." ' Augustin for forty years con-
tended ao^ainst the falsehood and violence of a
throng of heretics. On him, in Africa, fell the
unbroken assault of Manichseans, Donatists, Cir-
cumcellians, Pelagians, Arians, and Heathen : lie
lived to see his country swept over by invading
armies ; and in his old age, when shut up in Hippo
by the legions of the Vandals, prayed that God
would either save his city from the siege, or release
him from this troubled life : when God, it seems,
knowing that the last light of the African Church
was flickering, heard the latter prayer, and in the
third month of the siege took him to his reward ; and
' Hooker, Eccl. Pol. B. v. xlii.

CHAP. III. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 247

SO he died even as he had lived, shut up in the midst
of troubles. Now, in these two great saints there was
one only character. Though variously tried, there
was one principle and attitude of mind. They in-
tensely contemplated one and the same divine idea ;
and by gazing they grew into its likeness. They
were moulded by the continuous pressure of the
same discipline, conformhig them to the same
exemplar ; in themselves they had the subordinate
features of individual character, but in Christ they
were as a twofold reflection of the same image cast
on either side.

But there is also a further reason. The objective
unity of the Church is a means to the restoration of
man to the image of God, not only because it most
truly expresses and transmits that one Divine image
in the example of Christ, and because, through grace,
it conforms the moral nature of man by a continual
discipline into the likeness of that same image which
it expresses, but because, by a deeper and more in-
ward process, it acts upon the moral nature of man
and reduces it to an inward unity with itself. The
unity of the Godhead, as it is the principle, so it
is the law of all subordinate beings. They are,
as their first cause is, each several one an unity.
Now the unity of the Godhead is twofold. The
first, as we have said, is in the fact that besides
Him there is none other God. The second is the
oneness, or integrity, or wholeness, in which consists

248 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART H.

perfection ; as the unity of the three Persons in the
ever-blessed Trinity.

Iij like manner, every several moral being is one.
Each one is as it were a shadow cast from the Divine
Unity, or a finite light kindled from the infinite
fount of light. The multitude of beings is no more
than a repetition of unity ; the finite for the infinite.
In this consists the unity of individual consciousness.
As the Eternal spake, saying, " I am," so He has
given to every moral being to be a shadow of His own
incommunicable existence. We are ourselves, and
not another. No other is partaker of our individual
consciousness ; of our living unity. On this finite
symbol of Himself God impressed His own image ;
and man became a reason, a moral judge, a respon-
sible agent, or, in one word, a will. In this is the
light of the Divine Unity reflected with the directest
ray. Every several being is a self-ruling principle
of moral action. What God is to the creation and
course of the world, each several man is to the
work of his hands, and the government of his living
powers.

It must be further considered, that, as the Divine
image has an intrinsic unity of nature, so in its
impression upon man is the same unity transmitted.
We do but speak at random when we go beyond
what God has spoken of Himself; but we may,
nevertheless, contemplate goodness, wisdom, and
power, as the confluent attributes of one Being,

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 241)

and the confluent energies of one will. We may
conceive how God is a law unto Himself; how the
subjective goodness and wisdom of God are the
objective good and true, which are co-eternal with
the will of God ; and thus how there is in every
Divine energy an harmonious intercommunication
of all moral characters which inhere in the one
eternal Being.

In like manner, in the soul of man God im-
pressed His own intrinsic unity. His moral and
intellectual natures, the one enlightened by wisdom,
the other instinct with goodness, and the will,
issuing forth in harmony with both, make up the full
stamp of the archetypal seal, which is the image or
character of God.^ The spiritual being of man thus
coalesced into one absolute whole. The whole man
partook altogether of every act. As by the unity of
energy and sensation the whole body partakes in
every act and passion, so the whole inner nature,
by supremacy^ and subordination, intercommunica-
tion and correspondence of parts and functions,
thought, felt, and spoke, and acted as one indivisible
whole. The will in the moral reason ruled supreme
over all affections and passions of man. There was
the unity of a spiritual monarchy, with internal
order and spontaneous obedience. He was even as
God, a law unto himself. lie had one will, coinci-
dent with the will of God. It streamed forth in one

' Cudworth's Immutable Monil. p. 36.
** Rutler's Sermons on Human Nature, Serm. ii.

250 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

right line between the parallel currents of wisdom
and goodness. The sin of man began and ended
in a breach of this intrinsic unity. The revolt of
his lower passions dethroned the rational and moral
will, and usurped each one a share in the principle of
volition. "^ When a man, who is a unity (monad), sins,
he becomes manifold, being abscinded from God, and
severed into parts through falling from his own one-
ness."^ His one will becomes a multiplicity of wills,
as a flame, beaten down in its ascent, is severed into
many flames, and turns every way ; so the will of
man, averted from God, reaches out around, and is
drawn on all sides by objects of sense, and becomes
the slave of many lusts. The multiplicity of wills
in one being is sin, because where there is multipli-
city there must be evil, for good is one ; ^ there
must be collision, for evil is self-destructive ; there
must be distraction, for it is intrinsically repulsive.
This inward anarchy is the moral opposite and
conscious antagonist of the Divine image. As it
expelled it in the beginning, so it resists its restora-
tion now. The nature of man must be once more
reduced to its intrinsic unity, before the image of
God Ccm be again impressed upon it. Now the
two generic forms in which sins exhibit themselves
are usurpation upon the majesty of God, and usurpa-
tion upon the equal rights of other men. The specific
kinds are beyond number. They are as many as

' Orig. in Oseam, torn. iii. 439.
^'ladKoi jity yctfi cnrXwQ travTolairipQ he kukoi. Aristot. Eth. Nic. ii. 6.

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 251

the manifold lusts of man's heart, multiplied by all
the gradations of intensity, and by all the inex-
haustible combinations of circumstance, condition,
and aggravation. What is needed, therefore, is a
power to subdue, and to repress the human will ; and
this the Church provides. By her authority, as God's
vicar on the earth, she subjugates the whole energy
of man which struggles against the will of God. By
her inward discipline she checks and, through grace,
subdues to the conscience the aggressive and impor-
tunate affections of our nature. These two forces are
perpetually compressing, as it were, the distracted
spirit of man to an unity with itself; and by this
they strengthen the natural powers of the soul. The
authority of God arms the converted will with a new
force to coerce the lower appetites ; the discipline of
the Church weakens the lower appetites by check and
by repression, and so drives them under the inward
sway of conscience. It is by this equable pressure
that the dislocated members are reduced to their
natural site and functions. By the illumination of
the intellectual nature through the one objective
doctrine, and by the purifying of the moral nature
through the one objective discipline, the will is
once more enthroned supreme, and its energies
united with the will of God. Obedience passes, by
little and little, from deliberation and conscious
effort to a ready and almost unconscious volition.
It becomes like the docility and innocence of child-
liood ; and the unity of the Church is the mould

252 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, [pART II.

in which this character is recast. The adaptation
of the outward system to this result is obvious to all
who remember that by the gift of regeneration we re-
ceive the grace of sonship from God ; and by the or-
ganic system of the Church is expressed the father-
hood of God and the brotherhood of all mankind. We
are placed, as it were, under the discipline of child-
hood. It is the very discipline of a household dilated to
a Church ; the original discipline of nature strength-
ened and stretched abroad by the hand of God, so
as to hold all men under one common Father.
The lineas:e of natural birth has neither virtue nor
commission for more than the discipline of natural
childhood ; but the lineage of Faith, which is the
Church, a body visible, organized, articulated as
the family of man, takes up the whole aggregate
of moral life, and carries on its training for a riper
state, to which this world is as a childhood. The
objective unity of the Church, therefore, has the
same direct adaptation to the perfect restoration of
the Divine image in man, as the objective unity of a
family has to develop the gift of regeneration into
the rudiments of that image ; being the natural dis-
cipline of humanity enlarged and transfigured. And
on this we need only remark, further, that the vo-
luntary aggregations of men into communities pro-
fessing Christianity are no more Churches, than an
arbitrary combination of fathers and children under
one roof are a family. The one constitutive prin-
ciple is wanting, which is the will of God knitting

CHAP. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 253

them in one by a revealed or natural sanction.
Thev have not the first element of moral unity.
They have no relation to each other ; no fatherly
authority, no brotherly claims. The very essence
of a family is natural order, based upon the duties
of submission and the rights of equality. God is
the author of these relations by the appointments of
nature. The lines of parental authority are a silent
revelation, as divine as the voice of God at Sinai ; and
the polity of a family is as exactly ordained of God as
the pattern which was shown to Moses in the Mount.
Without this authorship and sanction there could be
no parental authority, and no filial obedience, and,
therefore, no moral discipline of the will. For this
reason the divinely constituted polity of the Church
effects what no other system can.

And, once more, the difference between a civil
and a domestic polity lies chiefly in this. The
civil can coerce outward but not inwaixl obedience ;
it can reach the acts but not the aftections of men ;
it can prescribe for the broader but not for the
finer moralities of life. The civil governor can but
mould the frame or skeleton of the outward con-
duct: all that makes up life and character is beyond
his power. This only the suasion and correction
of domestic discipline, that is of fatherhood, can
reach and fashion ; and therefore it is that in fami-
lies men's characters are formed, but in states only
their actions are governed. But the one Church,
which is an expanded family under the father-

254 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART II.

lioocl of God, can do both. It forms by an out-
ward or political coercion the exterior course of
obedience, and it shapes by a lighter and unerring
hand the full lineaments of Christ's image. Its
correction reaches the unwritten moralities : it
enters into the inner heart of man ; it forbids un-
forgiving thoughts ; it commands a man to render
good for evil, blessing for cursing ; it obliges him
to love God and man, and it rebukes him if he
disobey. It works as the presiding wisdom of a
father, and broods with the creative energy of the
Divine presence over the moral world as it rises
again towards the image of God.

To sum up this Chapter : it may be said that the
objective Unity of the Church is a means of re-
storing man to the image of God, by expressing
and transmitting the knowledge of that image in
the manhood of Christ : by impressing it upon man
through the one gift of regeneration, and the
one organic discipline : by uniting all nations in
one body, and bringing them under one rule and
power : by correcting the exorbitances of human
actions, and reducing the moral nature of man to
unity w4th itself: in which unity of the rational
and moral will consists the image of God in man.
The Unity of the Church, therefore, may be called
the Sacrament of the Divine image, being a means
ordained of God, through Christ, for restoring it to
the moral being of mankind.

CHAP. rV.J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 255

CHAPTER IV.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH A PROBATION OF THE
FAITH AND WILL OF MAN.

The next point to be shown is, how the Unity of
the Church is a means in the moral probation of
man.

It is evident, as I have said before, that the work
of our redemption in us is a transcendent mystery,
of which the will of man is the centre. We must
believe that the fall both of ano;els and of men is
the alienation of the will from God ; and that our
redemption is the reclaiming of it from the bondage
of evil. It follows, therefore, upon this, that the
whole scheme of our redemption should be so framed
as to address itself directly to the principle of voli-
tion. By baptism the will is not extinguished, but
regenerated ; by our after-discipline it is not over-
borne, but strengthened to perfection. The argu-
ment of the last Chapter may be here taken as the

256 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

basis of the present, and we may rest upon it,
while we confine ourselves to tracing out one of its
features, which is a trait so leading and prominent
as to be almost specifically distinct.

In the first place, then, we may observe that the
Unity of the Church is a probation of the faith of
man — as an object proposed to his belief. That
God should interpose to save man at all is of course
a probation of faith : that He should undertake to
save man in this or that particular way, or in this
and in no other way, e. g. through the one sacrifice of
His Son, is a further probation of our faith. Unbe-
lievers, both heathen and apostate, have cavilled at
the way of our redemption through Christ : at the
unobviousness of its intrinsic eflficacy : at the seem-
ing inconsecutiveness of the ideas of His death and
of our forgiveness : at the narrowness and exclusive-
iiess, if I may so speak, of the scheme which shuts
out every other form of propitiation and acceptable
obedience. It is plain, therefore, that not only is
the fact of our redemption, but the unit}' of the way
of our redemption, a probation of the faith of man.
Now our present argument is ulterior and parallel
to this : as it has pleased God to ordain one sacri-
fice as the meritorious cause of our redemption, so
He has ordained one Church as the channel of its
communication to mankind. It is a probation of
man's faith, therefore, to believe that to this one
Church alone, and to no other community, sect, or
body, is the virtue of the Divine Sacrifice, and the

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHTTRCH. 257

authority of God to apply it to the spirits of men,
intrusted.

As for instance : the heathen of old had in every
several nation their mode of propitiation, and their
philosophy of life. But in the midst of them all
was the Jev^ ish people as a consecrated shrine, in
which alone dwelt the presence of God. To this,
such as had faith were proselyted : God having
made provision, not for the recognition of other
systems, but for the absorption of them into one.
In like manner, at the promulgation of the Gospel,
the same line of unity was carried on. Salvation
was not declared to be in other modes of propiti-
ation, but all nations were called to partake of the
one Church, in which was enshrined the one altar,
and the one only Sacrifice. The Church, therefore,
presented itself to the nations as a great visible
phenomenon, as one vast overspreading shadow
cast from the one invisible mercy-seat, in the shelter
of which alone there was salvation for mankind.
It came to them as a whole, as a sacrament of
hidden grace, as a sole messenger of glad tidings.
Their probation was to receive it or reject it as a
whole ; and they were either saved or not saved
accordingly. " If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to
them that are lost." " We are unto God a sweet
savour in Christ, both in them that are saved and
in them that perish." They were either baptized
or not ; they either washed away their sins or not ;
they were either regenerated or not; they were either

258 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART 11.

saved in the one Church or not : they had no
other to turn to : no sacred mystery, no philosophic
school : there was only one " name under heaven
given among men whereby they might be saved ;"
and the power of that name was enshrined in the
one Church, at the advent of which all other reli-
gions everywhere fell prostrate, and all other philo-
sophies were abolished.

It was the Unity of the Church that demanded
this unity and singleness of choice, and thus
summed up their probation into one decision of the
will. They could not accept one part and reject
another; they could not take the doctrine and
refuse the dicipline of the Church : it was as the
voice and the form of one heavenly being, like the
angel visitors of old. Every attempt to cull out,
and to accommodate any portion or feature of the
evangelical phenomenon, produced a heresy or a
schism ; and the Church disowned both as spurious
offsets, as mere mocking phantoms personating the
one only Church of God. Along the whole stream
of her history the Church moved on in solitude,
accepting nothing but an absolute submission, and
an universal homage from all the powers of man to
all the mysteries of God. Not only the Gnostic,
Ebionite, and Arian heresies which violated the
unity of truth, but the Novatian and Donatist
schisms which swerved from the unity of form, alike
cut off the originators and maintainers of their error
from the one body of Christ. Tlieir attempt was to

CHAP, rv.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 259

retouch the perfect and unchangeable ordinance of
God. In so doing they fell from it altogether.
The same also was the probation of Constantine.
Men sometimes speak as if he had made choice
of the Church Catholic from a throng of other
Christian bodies, and advanced it to a special pre-
cedence. But he knew no choice save only Chris-
tianity in the Church or Paganism without it. To
the Church, as God's only representative and vice-
gerent upon earth, he yielded up himself and his
imperial power.

In truth it is an easier thing to believe that God
will save man in a multitude of ways than that
He has ordained but one. There is an innate
readiness in mankind to believe that they shall
stand well with God in all ways ; and an equal
unwillingness to believe that it shall go hard witli
them in any. Tlierefore it is that the limitation
implied in propounding one Divine ordinance as
the way of salvation crosses every other predisposi-
tion of man's natural heart. It seems to him un-
reasonable and arbitrary. He sees much that bears
the semblance of truth and goodness in other
systems, and he compares and measures, and con-
cludes the difference to be not in kind but in
degree. And yet men who so reason believe in the
Divine institution of the Holy Sacraments, They
can believe that baptism alone confers a title to
Christianity, and yet cannot believe that the Church
alone contains an authority to baptize. The man

•260 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, [PART 11.

that believes in one baptism for the remission of
sin, but not in one Church for the salvation of
mankind, is plainly inconsistent in his reasoning.
One baptism is a condition as arbitrary and exclu-
sive as one Church. It would be hard for them to
say why the rejection of baptism when offered to
them involves a greater failure in the moral pro-
bation than a rejection of the Church. Nay, it
would be easier to prove against them, by reason-
ing a priori from what seems fit, and likely too,
that God has constituted on earth one and one only
authoritative witness of Himself, than that he has
tied remission of sins to one, and that not so much a
moral as a merely positive ordinance. And so indeed
it will be found at last, that the objection, although
made apparently against this or that particular way
in which it is alleged that God has ordained the
salvation of the world, is made in fact against the
idea of God's ordaining any positive way at all.
In the full career of objection men are hardly
aware of the moral habit which impels them. The
idea that the authority of God is by revelation
lodged anywhere at all among men is a greater
difficulty to man's heart, than that it is lodged in
this or in that, or in any one only bod}'. The first is
a question of the fact, the latter is only an after-
adjustment of the mode or degree of the expansion
or contraction of the area of the mystery which is
admitted to exist. Here is the real struggle. It is
the unconscious pantheism of our nature striving
to re-assert its ascendancy within the precincts of

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 261

Christianity, and urging men to believe that the
will and presence of God, if expressed anywhere,
is expressed everywhere : that the authority of
God, if intrusted to one particular body, is in-
trusted equally to all. But this is in fact to get
rid of the whole idea : for by such an intellectual
process other Christian communities are not raised
to the direct sanctions of the Catholic Church ; but
her positive and direct institution is denied or ex-
plained away to reduce her also to the permissive,
unauthoritative character of the rest. It exacts too
much of the lurking incredulity of man to believe
that the Pastors of the Church are directly com-
missioned from heaven : that their office is " not of
men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God
the Father, who raised him from the dead." ' This
brines too near the contact between heaven and
earth. Men see around them others, it may be, more
learned, more devoted, more self-denying, more un-
wearied in good works, more effectual in persuasion,
and they cannot believe these to be without commis-
sion and the others to possess the authority of God.
And thus the doctrine of the Apostolical Succession,
which is the Unity of the Church under its primary
aspect, is after all a probation of faith. The very
idea of a lineage transmitting the authority which
God gave to His Son Jesus Christ is an object and
article of belief requiring not more conviction of
reason than docility of heart. Where one man

' Gal. i. 1

262 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART H.

rejects it at the dictate of the mind, judging by evi-
dence, multitudes reject it at the instigation of the
heart, failing at the probation of believing in the con-
tinuous presence of God's direct authority. We shall
find this indocility and lack of faith running through
their views of the whole work of redemption. As,
for instance, there are many who altogether dis-
believe the power of absolution. They mask their
incredulity under a jealousy for God, as they who
objected to our Lord, " Who can forgive sins but
God only ?" ^ But on this axiom there is no con-
troversy. The only question is, whether or no God
has intrusted to any upon earth the power to for-
give sins. And this returns into the Apostolical
Succession, and that into the Unity of the Church,
which, after all, lies at the bottom of their probation.
So ag-ain there are others who believe that there
exists in the Church a power of absolution, and yet
cannot define what it is. They cannot believe it to
be authoritative, like the absolution of the Apostles;
nor yet unauthoritative, like the declarations of lay-
men. They are perplexed and sometimes irritated :
they chafe against the pretension, and yet cannot
deny it altogether ; as being in a strait between
usurping upon the prerogative of God and dimi-
nishing the authority of the Church. Now in this
case also the question returns into the idea of one
divinely-commissioned body speaking in the name
of God. The probation is to believe that there is

' St. Mark ii. 7.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 2G3

such a body on earth, and that it alone has the ple-
nary authority of Him who said, " As my Father
hath sent me, even so send I you." '

We shall the more evidently see how this, after all,
is no more than a simple probation of faith, if we
consider how much apparent Christianity there is
in the world without any faith at all. To become a
Christian in the beginning of the Gospel was a con-
scious act of the individual choice and will. And so
it is still in the conversion of adults. But as these
are the rare and outlying exceptions, the whole
body of Christendom is by an act of God made
Christian without any conscious act of choice.
Generation after generation grows up among the
objects of faith, and as the energy of the reason and
the heart unfold, every several reality of faith, unless
slighted, becomes a direct probation of the will.
The Unity of the Church is an article of the Bap-
tismal Creed, and an object of faith as truly and
fully as the article of the Incarnation, or Resurrection
of Christ. These articles are by perfect Christians
consciously accepted one by one, until the whole is
incorporated in the moral nature. Oftentimes they
are held implicitly : sometimes they are in part
secretly rejected : sometimes they may be reduced to
the smallest remainder which will consist with a con-
tinued profession of Christianity : sometimes they
are so faintly held as rather to be not denied than
believed. And yet we shall find all these several

' St. John XX. 21.

264 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

classes of persons living, more or less, a seemingly
Christian life. They fulfil the obligations of per-
sonal and economical morality : they observe the
rights of political justice : they are blameless sons,
fathers, citizens : they mix in the communion of the
Church and partake of her ministrations, but their
outward life is rather a coincidence with her morial
scheme, than a consequence of her spiritual grace.
Now such men, looking around them, and seeing
in other communities all they are conscious of in
themselves, having no aspiration, no sympathy, no
weakness which might not be satisfied as well with-
out as within the Church, cannot but regard the
Church as only one of many like communities, per-
haps the oldest, it may be the best, the most con-
formable to society as a whole, and the most helpful
to the ofiftces of civil government, and yet, after all,
only one of a number all equally wanting in direct
authority from God. The Unity of the Church
is the matter of their probation. They neither
believe it as a mystery, nor yearn after it as the
stay of their soul. It is the same habit which
makes other men deliberately reject or indolently
sHght the Sacraments of Christ : they neither believe
in their mysterious power, nor feel their own need
of the proffered grace. The Unity of the Church
may be viewed as the one all-comprehending Sacra-
ment of the Person of Christ, from the side of which
Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist flow forth as
the water and the blood. All these doctrines then

CHAP. IV.] THE UNIfY OF THE CHURCH. 265

are objects of faith ; and by propounding them to the
world, the faith of man is put on trial before God.

We may now go on to another topic. The Unity
of the Church is a continuous probation of the
moral habit of man as a discipline of the will. We
have already trenched upon a portion of this subject
in showing how the Unity of the Church acts as a
plastic discipline in the restoration of man to the
Divine image. We shall now examine the ethical
process of that discipline. By the objective Unity
of the Church, which is the direct institution of
God, He has gathered into one body a large por-
tion of mankind. He has so disposed that one
body into an organic and articulated system, as to
develop a perfect internal order of supremacy, sub-
jection, and mutual relation of parts. The proximate
final aim of this objective unity is, as I have said,
the subjective or moral Unity of the Church : they
are as cause and consequence, or rather as means
and end.

The simplest form of this principle is the in-
ternal unity of a single Hock under its pastor. In
every such body there is an aggregation of indivi-
dual wills, of which each severally contains a dis-
turbing force, tending perpetually to a disruption
of unity. Of this St. Augustine speaks in ex-
pounding the mystical import of the miraculous
draught of fishes. " The two ships," he says, " did
not sink, but were in danger of sinking. Why
in danger? Because of the multitude of fishes.

266 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

By this is signified that by the multitude which the
Church should afterwards gather together disci-
pline should be endangered ; and this is added in
the account of the draught of fishes, that the nets
were broken by the multitude of fishes. What
do the broken nets signify but the schisms which
should come? There are therefore three things
signified in this draught of fishes — the mixture of
good and evil men, the pressure of multitudes, and
the separation of heretics." ' " Let us see if there
be not gathered in the Church such a multitude,
that the grain scarcely appears in so great a mass
of chaflf. How many robbers, how many drunk-
ards, how many cursers, how many frequenters of
theatres ! Do not the very same men fill the
churches who fill also the theatres? and for the
most part seek by seditions in the Church the very
same things they are wont to seek in the theatres ?
and if anything of a spiritual kind be spoken or
enjoined they resist, and contend against it, follow-
ing after the flesh and fighting against the Holy

Ghost Then it follows that the nets were

broken. The nets being broken, heresies and
schisms are made. The nets enclosed all; but the
fish, impatient and unwilling to come to the food
of the Lord, wheresoever they can, free themselves
and break and go out. And these nets were spread
abroad everywhere ; but they who break them break
them in parts. The Donatists broke them in Africa,
' S. Aug. Serm. ccli. In dieb. Pasch. v. 1034.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 267

the Arians broke them in Egypt, the Photiniaus
broke them in Pannonia,theCataphryges broke them
in Phrygia, the Manichaeans broke them in Persia.
In how many places was the net broken and yet those
whom it enclosed it drew to shore. It drew them
to shore, indeed ; but did it bring them that broke
the nets ? All the bad went forth. Only the bad
went forth, though there yet remained both good
and bad." ' In this we have a vivid expression of
the moral probation of men through the objective
unity of discipline. It is the fine and fragile bond
which gathers them in one, strong enough to hold
the willing, and to check the faint struggles of an
uncertain resistance, but yielding a ready outlet to
the stubborn and the violent. This thread of unity
by its very frailty is the finer and severer probation
of the will. It is a " law of liberty" prompting the
inner man at the suggestion of Christ's example.
The evangelical axioms, " Whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them," " Look
not every man on his own things, but every man also
on the things of others," " Be subject one to another,"
" Obey them that have the rule over you, and sub-
mit yourselves," " Whosoever will be great among
you let him be your minister," — these and the like
first laws, enjoining subordination and brotherhood
in Christ, prescribe to us the tempers which, as they
conserve the Unity of the Church, so are they
tested and ascertained by tlie unity of discipline.

' S. Aug. Serm. cclii.

268 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART II.

There is also in the order of the Church a pro-
bation of our intellectual nature, for the right con-
duct of which we are responsible. The tend-
ency of all men is to put subjective opinion in
the place of objective truth. This is directly en-
countered by the delivery of a dogmatic faith
embodied in creeds and Catholic traditions ; and
the probation of the moral reason is brought to
a point by the subjection of men as learners to
an order of men who are divinely commissioned
to teach. Against this ordinance of Christ the
whole throng of indocile, self-trusting, irreverent,
contemptuous dispositions of the heart rise in re-
bellion. And so it was foreseen ; and for the mor-
tification and rooting out of these tempers this very
ordinance was designed ; and their revolt manifests
His wisdom who ordained it as a test to detect and
a curb to check them. The whole lineage of he-
resies, and the whole history of schism, is but a
continuous attestation that the pastoral office is the
institution of Him who knew what was in man.
The idea of humbly learning God's truth, and of
passively receiving sacramental mysteries from the
hands of a man like ourselves ; of submitting to
counsel, reproof, rebuke, correction, at the judg-
ment of a fellow-sinner, is a test and probation
of our moral habit, which by its searching and
salutary virtue attests itself to be of God. In
this way, then, the objective Unity of the Church
tries man in the two points of moral duty least

CHAP. IV.J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 269

akin to his fallen nature — forbearance and submis-
sion.

The same remarks, it is plain, will apply in like
manner to the fellowship of pastors under their supe-
riors in every subdivision of the Catholic Church,
until we reach the college of Catholic bishops, by
whom the whole is governed. The absolute irre-
sponsibility of every Catholic bishop, so long as he
shall administer his Church within the rule of
canonical order, and keep himself free from pravity
of doctrine and viciousness of life, is an axiom as
self-evident as the absolute equality of the Apostles.
Within the limits above prescribed they owe an ac-
count to God alone.^ Now, as it is through their
pastor that the members of every several flock are in
unity with each other, so it is through the bishop that
every several Church is in unity with the Church
at large. The bishops, therefore, are likewise on a
probation of mutual forbearance and forgiveness
one with another. It was to warn them especially
against the love of precedence and lust of dominion
that our Lord washed His Apostles' feet. He fore-
saw how naturally they leaned towards the de-
pression of others and the elevation of themselves ;
and how surely these motives would afterwards
ripen into ambitious usurpation and antichristian
aggression. Therefore in the apostolic college He
instituted the seminal principle of Catholic unity,
namely, a precedence among equals, and by His

' S. Cyp. Ep. xxxi. and Coucil. Carthag. p. 330. ed. Ben.

270 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART IT.

example taught the moral habit which alone can
keep it whole and undivided. The mutual relation,
therefore, of Catholic bishops in the universal
Church is the same test of brotherly equality ; and
tliey, too, have a master in heaven to whom they
must render account of all their trespasses against
His ordinance and His example.

And in this way it is that Christ weighs the
spirits of all His servants. The balanced order in
wliich He has disposed them is so delicate and nice
that it will indicate the lightest swaying of the will.
They are so poised between the harmonised powers
of a manifold influence that self cannot stir without
detection. And this wonderful scheme is a divine
work. The contrivances of man are cumbrous,
irregular, and self-defeating. None could devise
it*but He only " who doth bind the sweet influences
of the Pleiades, and loose the bands of Orion."
The faults and defects of human systems betray
themselves by bringing on their own dissolution ;
e. g. the secessions from voluntary and defectible
societies end in absolute extinction : but in the
one indefectible Church they work out the mind
of God: while they seem to defeat, they do but
fulfil His purpose. " There must be also heresies
among you, that they which are approved (o/
SoKijULoi, the tested, or tried) may be made mani-
fest.'" "They went out from us, but they were
not of us ; for if they had been of us, they would

' 1 Cor. xi. 19.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 271

no doubt have coiitinued with us; but they went
out, that they might be made manifest that they
were not all of us."^ They that separate from tlie
Unity of the Church condemn themselves; they
lay open their own moral disease before men and
angels; they prove in deed what they deny in
word, that their moral habit has an antipathy to
equality and to submission ; that their will is not
at unity with God. By this principle we may
solve all the phenomena of contention between
Christian men and Christian Churches from the
beginning of the Gospel. The objective Unity of
the Church, as the net, has enclosed them in a con-
tinuous probation. It has done its work both when
it has held them fast and when it has let them
break through. Either way they were made mani-
fest ; either way they were approved or reprobate.
While men liave disputed against unity it has
proved them : it casts upon them a spell of self-
detection : itself abiding inviolate, it suffers them to
depart convicted of themselves : for what is this pro-
bation of man but the presence of Him " whose fan
is in His hand," who even now in the midst unseen
is thoroughly purging his floor, against that day
when He shall " gather His wheat into the garner,"
and "burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

In the course of these remarks, then, we have seen
that the objective unity of doctrine and discipline is
a means ordained of God to work out the subjective

' 1 St. John ii. 19.

272 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

Unity of the Church. Now from this principle will
follow two consequences of the greatest moment ; and
to these, therefore, we must advert. And, first, it is
evident that the objective unity cannot be wholly
forfeited without a forfeiture of the subjective unity,
and therein of all that is essential to the being of
the Church. I say wholly, because there are faults
and failures of a particular and limited kind which
we must hereafter examine severally and with at-
tention, I speak now of the casting off of the doc-
trine and discipline of the Church whether by an in-
dividual, or by a nation. It is plain that by so doing
they forfeit the presence of the Church altogether,
just as much as they who reject the consecrated
elements make forfeit of the Sacraments of Christ.
What is it that distinguishes a Christian from a
Heathen people, but the possession and transmission
of that objective system of truth and practice, or,
in other words, of doctrine and discipline which
was " once delivered to the saints"? By forfeiting
them, howsoever much of lingering truth and mo-
rality they may retain, the nation becomes de-
christianized, as Trypho, the Jew, by the rejection
of the Mosaic, and the adoption of the philosophic
system, denationalized and disinherited himself
from the family of Abraham. Such, too, is the con-
dition of many countries in Africa and the East, from
which the Cliurch was swept away by the flood of
the Arabian Antichrist. The reason of this is plain.
The revelation of tlie Gospel is an ordinance of

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 273

God. It comes from above ; is external to the
mind and heart of man ; is propagated by a series
of acts, such as ordination, succession, sacraments ;
is embodied in documents such as the Scriptures
and rituals. The cessation of these mystical acts is
a breach in the line, and a forfeiture of the hold
which was before maintained on the original insti-
tution of Christ. The Church as an external ordi-
nance, although it is in many other respects unlike,
may be compared to a lineal succession of a govern-
ing power and an organic civil polity. When these
are forfeited, there is an actual extinction of the
first idea of a kingdom. The people yet remains, but
without unity and without government. The nation
yet subsists in its elements, but the individual na-
tional life is gone. As a body or system it is pe-
rished. This, in the words of our Lord, is the
removing of the " candlestick out of his place."

The next conclusion is this, that the subjective
unity may be forfeited without a forfeiture of the
objective unity. It is obvious that the forfeiture of
the Sacraments involves a forfeiture of the grace of
the Sacraments. But the converse is not true. The
grace of the Sacraments is often baffled and re-
pelled, while the Sacraments remain perfect. Simon
Magus received Baptism, though he received not
the grace of Baptism.' So in the body of the

' " Nihil profuit Simoni Mago visibilis baptismus cui sanctifi-
catio invisibilis defuit." S. Aug. Quaest. in Levit. Ixxxiv. torn,
iii. 524,

274 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART 11.

Church at all times the grace of the Sacraments is
perhaps baffled and forfeited by the majority of
adult Christians, though the Sacraments are still in
full power and authority testifying against thera.
So again with the objective Unity of the Church,
which is the means, and may be called the sacrament,
of subjective or moral unity ; the sins and divisions
of men may render ineffectual all its grace and
discipline. This we see continually and in almost
every flock : there are everywhere members who by
schismatical tempers are perpetually forfeiting the
grace of moral unity, while none of them commit
acts which involve excommunication ; and as with
the individual members of a particular Church, so
is it with the collective members of the Church uni-
versal. The peace and amity between churches
has been oftentimes broken, sometimes bj'' the sins,
and sometimes by the misunderstandings of pastors
and bishops. A total suspension of communion has
sometimes lasted for many years, without either side
incurring the sin of formal heresy or schism, which
alone separate a Church from the body of Christ.
And what has lasted long may last always, without
the cutting off of either from the objective Unity of
the Church. Although the channels of communion
on earth are cut asunder, yet the lines of ascent and
descent from earth to heaven, by which the com-
munion of sacrifice and grace is interchanged be-
tween the faithful and their unseen Head, are open
and sure.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 275

And this will be the more evident if we consider
that, while external unity is of the nature of an
ordinance, internal unity is of the nature of duty.
It is the matter of probation even as chastity, meek-
ness, personal consistency, and the like. It admits,
therefore, of degrees ; it may be more or less per-
fect : or, again, it is as the health of the body com-
pared with its organic structure : or, again, as the
internal peace of a family compared with its he-
reditary lineage, its primogeniture, paternal au-
thority, and the like. Now God has secured none
of these things absolutely. They are the subject-
matter of trial and contingent possession ; and,
therefore, the analogy of His works forbids us to
look for subjective unity as an inseparable condition
of the Church. And what the analogy of God's
works would lead us to expect, the testimony of
God's word confirms to us. Scripture contains
neither pledge nor promise that the moral Unity of
the Church shall not be broken. Nay, the divisions
in the Corinthian Church prove the reverse. Unity
is a duty : it is the subject of admonition, exhorta-
tion, and prayer. It was the subject of tlie prayer of
our blessed Lord, which is not, therefore, frustrated
and refused because His Church has from time to
time forfeited His inward peace. His prayers on
earth and His intercession in heaven are both in
harmony with the laws of man's moral probation.
Our Lord prayed that His disciples might be one,
yet Paul and Barnabas parted asunder in conten-

T 2

276 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART II.

tion. He prayed that they might be led into all
truth, and yet Peter and Barnabas dissembled at
Antioch. And what we thus find confirmed by
Scripture, we find also proved, in fact, by history ;
but of this we shall speak hereafter in its own
place.

God has promised that His one Church shall be
always visible, not that it shall be always internally
united. The parables of the wheat and the tares, and
of the good fish and the bad, are prophecies that
there shall always be the elements of moral division.
That these should for a time prevail is according to
the nature of probation, and the experience of the
Church from the beginning. A body always visibly
one, though not always morally one, there shall be
even to the end of the world. " There is no security
for unity, except as the Church is declared by the
promises of God, which, being built on a hill, can-
not be hid." ^ Therefore St. Augustin urges on all
good men the duty of bearing with the mixture and
fellowship of the wicked, and the guilt of separating
from the Church on the plea of withdrawing from
evil men.^ It is certain that, as the mastery of
disease brings on death, and the dominion of sinful
habits ends in apostacy, so the absolute prevalence
of internal division must terminate in a forfeiture
even of the objective Unity of the Church. It is by
moral decline that the churches of Christ first fit
themselves for excision from the one body: in the

' S. Aug. contra Ep. Parmen. lib. iii. 5. * lb.

CHAP. IV.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 277

end they may be left without the very beiug or
rudiments of the Church.

Now, from all that has been said, it follows as a
sort of corollary that in the objective Unity of the
Church, and in no other way, is salvation offered to
mankind. But as this is a subject of great extent
and difficulty, it must be reserved for a separate
chapter, which, in the order of this argument, will
find its natural place at the beginning of the third
part.

278 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

CONCLUSION.

From what has been said in the last three chapters
we may deduce some general conclusions, and thus
bring this portion of the subject to an end. My en-
deavour has been to show what moral purposes the
Church of God, and especially that particular cha-
racter of it with which we are chiefly concerned,
w^as designed to effect. Although it is unsafe to
assume this or that particular result to be the end
of the Divine conduct, yet the great axiom, that
infinite Wisdom never acts without a purpose, is so
much the more commandingly self-evident in the
scheme of man's redemption, that we cannot do
amiss in seeking from God Himself a knowledge of
His final purposes; and this we have done by taking
Holy Scripture as our guide in the inquiry. It has
been made evident, I trust, that in the whole insti-
tution and character of the Church, God has a
complex moral end in view ; that the probation of
man, the recovery of the Divine image in his moral
being, the restoration of the true knowledge of the
one God to the world, and, through this concatena-
tion of means, the glory of His holy Name, is the

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 279

aim and intention of the Divine Author and Ruler
of the Church. I have endeavoured further to show
how this aim and intention is subserved and accom-
plished by the character of unity in particular.

1 have the more strongly insisted upon this point
because there is a direct tendency in the human
mind to assume, almost unconsciously, that we suf-
ficiently understand the whole scope and bearing of
God's dealings as to be able to estimate the com-
parative importance of the several parts, and their
obligation upon our consciences in the shape of
duty. Hardly anything is more common than to
hear men arguing that this or that portion of the
Divine economy might have been otherwise, that it
is an accident or non-essential, that it is separable
from the moral idea of redemption, that it is the ex-
ternal form, the mere shell of the system. The effect
of such language is to lead other minds, and, insen-
sibly, our own, first to undervalue, next altogether
to fail of seeing, the true design of God in the parti-
cular features of His dispensation : then to assume
that what seems to us without a moral purpose is
mutable ; that it might be changed, under certain
conditions; that it may be dispensed with, under the
actual present conditions in which we find ourselves
or others to be; and, lastly, that what may be formally
dispensed with, may be, under a plea of necessit}^
informally broken through. Now the first fault in
this accumulating error is the assumption that we
so far know the mind of (jod as to distinguish be-

280 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

tween what is necessary and what is accidental,
what is moral and what is positive, what is subject
to our control, and to what, by a Divine ordinance,
we ourselves are subjected. I will give one preg-
nant instance, among many. The visible polity of
the Church is called an external form : it is assumed
to be an accident to our participation in Christ, and
to our renewal in His likeness. It is said, indeed, that
it may not be lightly changed, nor without urgent
cause and necessity ; but these are mere words.
They only break the fall of the sound, for in reason
they mean nothing more than that the positive in-
stitutions of God are subjected to the will of man,
so that if he see necessity (of which necessity he is
also to be the judge) he may change or reverse
them. It is, in fact, the argument of those who re-
ject the material Sacraments ; and, in their mouths
alone, it is consistent, and has, whether good or
bad, a principle of its own. In others, who hold to
the institution and absolute obligation of the Holy
Sacraments on all to whom the duty is sufficiently
propounded, the argument is a mere confusion and
inconsistency, as I shall endeavour to show by the
following reasons : —

In the first place, the polity of the Church, in-
cluding the Apostolical succession as its primary
condition, and what is vulgarly called Episcopacy
as its aspect or countenance, has been shown to be
an organic part of the great phenomenon of ob-
jective unity, through which the Holy Spirit works

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 281

out, in the moral nature of man, the purpose of the
Divine mind. It is to the presence of Christ what
the structure of the body is to the living soul. It is
so united to Christ, and filled with His quickening
spirit, as to partake not more of the character of a
moral discipline, imposed upon us as a test of our
obedience, than of the individuality of a moral being
to whose living energies a material form, though
accidental, it may be, in the counsel of his Maker, is
necessary to its condition as a creature after it is
made. It is therefore the necessary moral means to a
given end. They that speak so lightly of it assume
that this end is accomplished in some other way, of
which no account can be given that will not equall}^
overthrow the doctrine of the Holy Sacraments as
means of grace. Assuming that this end is in other
ways accomplished, the organic polity of the Church
is treated as a development, a bodying forth, an
accidental clothing of the mind and principle of
Christianity. And here, in fact, is the question : —
Is the Church a means to an end, or is it a sepa-
rable consequence of that end which may be other-
wise effected ? Are we, by means of the Church,
made partakers of Christ ; or, being otherwise made
partakers of Christ, are we, as it may happen, made
partakers of the Church? Or again, are we, by
means of Baptism, made partakers of Christ; or,
being otherwise made partakers of Christ, are we,
as it may be or not, made partakers of Baptism ?
Baptism is either a means to make us partakers of

282 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

Christ, or it is not.* If not, then how are we made
partakers of Him ? If it be, it is so as the door of
the Church, the lesser Sacrament opening into the
greater, " which is His body, the fulness of Him that
filleth all in all." And a participation in the Sacra-
ment, so to speak, of the Church is as generally neces-
sary to salvation as a participation in the Sacrament
of Baptism. Both are equally binding in their obli-
gation, equally moral in their character, and equally
mystical in their energy and effect.

It is scarcely necessary to observe, in the next
place, that the polity of the Church is subject to
no control or judgment of man ; and is absolutely
immutable, except by the authority of God alone.

It would be hardly possible that any one, with
the whole typical analogy of the Elder Church in
Holy Scripture before his eyes, should have ven-
tured on the thought of its mutableness, if he were
not first to assume that the organic polity of the
Church is not a means to any moral and mystical
end ; or to imagine that he can discover the fulfil-
ment of all the Divine mind in the moral condition
of those Christian communities which have made
forfeit of their inheritance in the one visible Church.
I say he could not venture to assert that an ap-
pointed means to a transcendent end, and that too of
a moral and mystical kind, could be mutable to man,
who is himself to be the subject of its operations.

' See the Catechism and the Baptismal Office of the Church of
England.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 283

This would be a fancy of the iniagiiiation like his of
whom the prophet says, " He maketh a god, and
worshippeth it : he maketh it a graven image, and
falleth down thereto."' Surely their intellectual
error is no less gross who change the polity of the
body of Christ, and set up a system devised by the
wit and moulded by the will of man, and call it a
Church. It would be a mere will-worship to sub-
mit to it. And further, it is to be remembered that
4;his error is not a calm theory, drawn out by
a priori likelihood, or propounded as a probable
speculation by unbiassed minds ; but it is a scheme
wrung out, by an after-effort, from the difficulties
in which men entangle themselves, and is the self-
justifying retrospect of minds already pledged to
make a case. But into this we cannot enter now :
it is mentioned only to lay bare the weakness and
unsoundness of the scheme.

It only remains to affirm, on the strength of all
that has been said, that the One Holy Catholic
Church is an institution divine in its original, and
sacramental in its character : that is, moral, mys-
tical, immutable, and necessary to the salvation of
all to whom it is sufficiently propounded.

And with this conclusion we may leave the
second part of the subject.

' Isaiah xliv. 14, 15.

PART III.

THE

DOCTRINE OF CATHOLIC UNITY APPLIED

TO THK

ACTUAL STATE OF CHRISTENDOM.

CHAPTER I.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH THE ONLY REVEALED WAY

OF SALVATION.

In the first Part of this work I endeavoured to
show the nature of the Unity of the Church con-
sidered as a matter of fact : in the second, I at-
tempted to ascertain its idea and moral design : in
this third and last Part, I shall go on to examine
what may be called the faults or anomalies in the
actual state of the Church as compared with the
doctrine of unity here laid down.

But I would not be thought to do so for the
purpose of adding fresh proof to what has been be-
fore established. The doctrine stands upon its own
positive evidence. By this it must stand or fall.
It is equally irregular either to affirm or to object
on apparent a posteriori arguments. The proof of
the principle lies in the first Part : its moral import
in the second ; and my intention is to apply it in

288 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

the last, on which we are now entering. The ap-
pHcation of the principle, however, is of no small
moment, for it will be found that almost all popular
objections to the Catholic doctrine of unity are
drawn from the supposed difficulties which result
on applying the rule to the existing state of Chris-
tendom. It is thought to disinherit of their portion
in the One Church many large bodies of Christian
people ; to invest with this inestimable birthright a
larger body who are deemed to have fainter traces
of the ancestral character ; and to render doubtful
the legitimacy of our own Catholic and Apostolic
branch of the one true. Church.

Into all these several topics we shall enter in due
order ; and that we may do so with the fullest
apprehension of the principle before us, I will take
up a point which was dropped at the end of the
last, and reserved for the present Part.

We there saw that in the objective Unity of the
Church, and in no other way, is salvation offered
to mankind;' or, in other words, that the One Holy
Catholic Church is an institution divine in its
original, and sacramental in its character — that is,
moral, mystical, and immutable, and necessary to
the salvation of all to whom it is sufficiently pro-
pounded.

In bringing this principle to bear on the actual
state of the world, we are met by two remarkable
phenomena : the one, that to two-thirds of all man-

' Page 283.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 289

kind this revealed way of salvation has never been
proposed at all ; the other, that of the remaining
third, a large body, perhaps nearly one-sixth of the
whole, do not belong to the visible Unity of the
Church. If, then, the one only Church be the one
only way of salvation, what must we believe of their
condition before God ? This question has so many
aspects and so many shades of difference, that no
one general answer can be given. We must, there-
fore, carefully distinguish the several forms of the
question, and reply to each in order.

And, first, of the great majority of mankind to
whom this way of salvation has never been pro-
posed at all. It is plain that we need not dwell
long on this part of the subject. This mystery in
the dealings of God is a stumbling-block to the
Deist and the Infidel, but to no Catholic Christian.
To him, indeed, it is an inscrutable secret at vari-
ance with his own anticipations. But Holy Scrip-
ture throws lights enough, if it be only athwart the
difficulty, to indicate the solution. In the ages
before Christ's coming, it is evident that God had
true servants known to Himself scattered abroad
throughout the world. Such was the condition of
men in the patriarchal times down to the call of
Abraham. And after this peculiar investiture of
one family, God did not withdraw himself from
men of other nations. The history of Job and of
his friends is a sufficient proof of this. The vision
of warning to Abimelech ; the dreams of Pharoah

290 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

and Nebuchadnezzar, and the history of Balaam,
are all evidences that God held communication with
those to whom He intrusted no formal revelation
and no positive institutions.* So again we find the
providential government of God extended over the
kingdoms of the heathen. The prophet Jeremiah
denounces God's punishment against all nations
that would not serve the king of Babylon.^ St.
Paul also asserts that the Gentiles were " a law unto
themselves;" and that they should be judged ac-
cordingly. The difference between them and the
chosen people of God seems to be this. To the
Jews was intrusted the office of transmitting and
testifying the promise of a Saviour ; and to them
was given the pledge that He should be born of
their lineage after the flesh. And this St. Paul de-
clares when he answers his own question : " What
advantage, then, hath the Jew, or what profit is
there of circumcision ? Much every way. Chiefly
because that unto them were committed the oracles
of God." ^ They were to the nations what the tribe
of Levi was to Israel, the bearers and keepers of
the Lord's tabernacle. In like manner, at the first
preaching of the Gospel, St. Paul found among the
Gentiles at Antioch many that were " disposed to
eternal life."* And in the city of Corinth the Lord
had much people.^ All these things strongly sup-

' See Newman's History of the Arians, 87 — 91.

^ Jerem. xxvii. 8. ' Rom. iii. 1, 2.

* Acts xiii. 48. Ttrayfiipoi. * Acts xviii. 10.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 291

port the assertion of Clement of Alexandria already
quoted, that God had given many dispensations, one
to the Greeks, one to the Jews, and the last to
Christians. Now although, by the promulgation
of the Gospel, and the universal commission to
evangelize all nations, the condition of the Heathen
is changed, yet certainly it is not changed for the
worse. Because God has intrusted to His Church
some better thing for them, He has not therefore
withdrawn anything they before enjoyed. We may
assume then, at least, that they are as before ; and
that they, whom the One Church has never ga-
thered into her precinct, may yet be drawn by the
One Great Spirit, and saved by the unseen virtue
of the One Great Sacrifice. There is nothing in
Holy Scripture warranting us to believe that the
benefit of the atonement, offered for the sin of the
world, is necessarily restricted to those who have
explicit offers of salvation. It is revealed, indeed,
that there is no other meritorious cause of salva-
tion than the blood-shedding of Christ alone; but
we are not told that the relation towards God
even of those that never come to a knowledge of
redemption may not be altogether changed. But
although we may have this hope, the Church is no
less bound to go forth and preach to them the
one faith, and the only salvation in the one Church
of Christ, than if God had openly revealed what
He has absolutely kept secret from us — I mean, the
rule of His dealings with them. We may hope that

292 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

they may be saved ; but we do not know the manner
or the conditions of their salvation. We know one
only way ; and that they have not. We know that
there is " none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved :" that
" there is one God, and one Mediator between God
and man, the man Christ Jesus :" that the ministry
of reconciliation was committed to tlie one Church ;
to which " the Lord added daily such as should be
saved." But beyond this nothing is revealed.

We ma}?^ now pass on to those with whom we
are chiefly concerned, namely, such as have had
the One Church sufficiently proposed to them. And
of tliese there are two classes : the one, of those who
at once and for ever reject the salvation offered to
them ; the other, of those who for a time receive it,
i. e., they who are never at all in the One Church,
and they who, having been members of it, afterwards
depart from its unity. Now St. John the Baptist
has declared : — " He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on
him." ^ And St. John the Evangelist : — " He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life." ^ And our Blessed Lord
Himself : — " He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved ; and he that believeth not shall be
damned." ^

We may apply this rule, first, to those who have

St. John iii. 36. * 1 St. John v. 12. ' St. Mark xvi. 16.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 293

never at all entered the One Church, even though
sufficiently proposed totthem. Such were the un-
believing Jews and Heathens in the beginning, and
at this day. They rejected the whole mystery of
Christ, both the One Sacrifice and the One Church ;
and their rejection was an act of direct energetic
opposition to the will of God. Whether or not any
such shall be delivered from the wrath to come we
know not. God has revealed nothing more than
we have recited above, and that has an awful aspect.
He that perfectly knows man's moral state will un-
erringly discern the shades of moral incapacity,
indisposition, and resistance. He will adjust the
award according to the probation of each, who, to
the eyes of men, seem to have failed in the trial.
And here we may leave this subject.

Our chief difficulty lies in the case of those who
have been members of the One Church, but are
again separate from it. And of these there are
many classes. There are some whose separation
may be said to be involuntary, such as persons
excommunicated by an act of the Church herself;
and catechumens, who are as yet kept without by
her authority ; and others, whose separation is vo-
luntary, such as heretics and schismatics, who sever
themselves by an act of their own.

Now of excommunicate persons, also, there are
many grades, such as those who are finally and for
ever cut off from the Unity of the Church for the
greatness or the iteration of their sins. Of such

294 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

the Church pronounces that she is unable any more
to assure them of God's mercy ; and so she leaves
them to God's inscrutable judgment : such again
are those whose separation is of a corrective or
penitential kind, being terminable and with a view
to restoration, after one, five, ten, twenty years, or
by the communication of the Holy Eucharist even
on a death-bed.^ In all these cases the Church by
her act indicates hope " that the spirit may be
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."® Indeed, all
such persons may be said to belong to the Unity of
the Church, though the enjoyment of their inherit-
ance is for their chastisement suspended, as Canaan
was the inheritance of the Jews, when, for their un-
belief, they were turned back to wander forty years
in the Avilderness. Of catechumens, also, it may be
believed that tliev are in the Church in desire and
intention, though not in fact, and, dying in that
state, shall as surely be saved ^ as the penitent thief
to whom the sacrament of regeneration, through
the impossibility of the case, was wanting/

We now come to those whose separation is vo-
luntary.

And first of heretics. The matter of heresy is
denial of the faith : the form of it a pertinacious
denial after sufficient admonition. It is evident,
therefore, that errors in doctrine are not neces-

' Bingham, Orig. Eccl. B. xix. c. i. s. 3. * 1 Cor. v. 5.

' Bellarmin. de Ecclesia milit. lib. iii. c. 3, 5.

S. Aug. de Baptismo, lib. iv. xxii. xxiii.

CHAP. 1.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 295

sarily heretical : for the error may be in some
mere theological opinion, or in some point unde-
termined by the Church, or, even if determined,
through error of fact in the man who denies it.*
The matter of heresy, therefore, may be said to be
denial of the Baptismal Creed, or any part of it, on
condition of believing which a man is made par-
taker of Christ in baptism, and a member of the
Catholic Church.^ It is evident also that a man
through error of fact, or through want of right
knowledge, for the communication of which others
are responsible, may hold erroneously some articles
even of the Baptismal Creed. Yet if he hold them
to himself he is no heretic.^ So again even though
he propound his error, yet, if not sufficiently ad-
monished by the Church, he is no heretic : * nor
even if, when admonished, he should without per-
tinacity, or persevering in the publication of his
error, remain in confusion and perplexity.^ But
after separating off all these several gradations of
error, there will yet remain the pertinacious denial
of the baptismal faith, after due admonition, which
is both material and formal heresy, and is equivalent
in its moral character to an original rejection of

' Palmer's Treatise on the Church, vol. i. pp. 104, 108.

* Laud's Conference with Fisher, p. 2*1, fol. 1686.
" lb. pp. 205, 206.

* S. Aug. de Bapt. contra Donat. : " Istum nondum haereticum
dico, nisi manifestata sibi doctrina Catholicae fidei resistere malu-
erit." lib. iv. xvi.

* S. Aug. Ep. xliii. torn. ii. 88, ed. Ben.

296

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

BajDtism, which on the condition of that profession
was at the first administered. The heretic puts
himself into a state in which the Church would
have been bound to refuse the Sacrament of Holy-
Baptism. Even Simon Magus believed or pro-
fessed to believe according to the tenour of this
necessary condition. Heresy is therefore an active
opposition to the authority of' the Church of God
as a teacher of Divine truth.

The other class we have to consider are schis-
matics. And this is a far simpler question, for
schism consists not so much in an intention as in a
matter of fact. There are, it may be, men of a
temper far more schismatical in the Unity of the
Church than in a state of separation from it; for,
indeed, the ultimate and highest form of schism is
an energetic opposition to the authority of God
ruling in His Church. But it is not necessary to
suppose that every act of schism is prompted by
such a conscious temper; though in all cases it is
involved implicitly in the fact, be the agent never
so unconscious. The proximate motive, however,
is often some inferior form of indocility, impatience,
resentment against the person of those that bear
authority, self-elation, mortified vanity, and the
like. Nevertheless, whatsoever may be the motive
in the heart of the separatist, his act is a visible
rending of a visible unity, and as such is in all
cases schismatical. By its very nature it cannot
be latent, as heresy : it promulges itself in its first

CIIAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 297

beginnings ; and publicity is inseparable from its
continuance. When a man ceases to show himself
in places of scliismatical worship and conference,
he has, in all exterior senses, ceased to be a schis-
matic ; and the active habit of schism is at an end.
So long as it is continued, the man as fully de-
prives himself of the Sacraments of Christ as if he
had never entered the Catholic Church. He cuts
off the ordained channels of grace between Christ
and his soul as absolutely as if he had never drawn
nigh to them. He has proclaimed, so far as his
individual acts avails, an entire suspension of in-
tercourse between heaven and earth. It is not
necessary that I should speak of the moral evil
which flows as a consequence from his act. We
are concerned with his personal state alone. All
that we can say is, that we know of no way by
which he can be saved but through the Church
only, and that this way he has rejected. We have
already seen how strongly and broadly the Catholic
doctrine, that out of the one Church there is no
salvation, was taught in the first ages.

It is always to be observed that this is a decla-
ration, not a judicial doctrine. It testifies affirma-
tively the Revelation of God, but does not venture
to decide the ultimate award of any living soul.
All that it declares is, that out of the Church there
is no revealed way of salvation. It does not say
that there is no inscrutable working of God's
Spirit, no actual saving of moral beings. The

298 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART HI.

Catholic sense of this doctrine may be expressed in
the following propositions : —

First. That God has revealed no other way of
salvation but by faith in Christ.

Secondly. That He has committed the ministry
of reconciliation, that is, of interceding with Him,
and of assuring mankind of pardon, to no other
body than the one Church.

Thirdly. That to no other body on earth has
been intrusted a Divine commission to witness the
mysteries of Revelation, or to administer the Sacra-
ments of Grace.

Fourthly. That no other body is ordained of
God to be tlie moral discipline restoring the Divine
image to the soul of man.

Fifthly. That no other body on earth is divinely
set for the moral probation, for the rising and fall-
ing of mankind.

And lastly. As a consequence from all these, that
they who separate themselves from it, separate
themselves from the way of probation, the moral
discipline, the Sacraments of grace, the witness of
truth, the ministry of reconciliation, and the only
revealed way of partaking in the sacrifice of Christ.

This will be more simply evident if we consider
that faith in Christ is a moral and practical habit ;
that the Unity of the Church is the line of obe-
dience marked out by Christ for our faith to
follow. And faith without obedience is a moral
contradiction. And here we may take a distinction

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 299

recognised by Catholic writers, and most expressly
taught by St. Augustin, namely, that there is a
difference, perceptible to the moral judgment,
though not to the senses, between the Catholic
Church and the mystical body of Christ. It must
not for a moment be supposed that this distinction
in an}' way countenances the error of those who
have fancied to themselves a visible and an invi-
sible Church on earth, so as in effect to divide the
One Church into two.^ The distinction above
made is between things distinguishable but not
divided (entia interdistincta sed indivisa), as the
body and soul of an individual man, or the symbol
and grace of a sacrament, or a moral nature and
a moral habit. The visible Church is the one body
of men united by the profession of the same faith,
and by communion in the same sacraments, under
the jurisdiction of their lawful pastors.^ In this
definition there are three parts. By the profession
of a true faith all Heathens, Jews, and Heretics
are excluded ; by the communion of sacraments all
excommunicated persons and catechumens not yet
admitted ; by the jurisdiction of lawful pastors all
schismatics, even though they hold to the doctrines
of Christianity. There are included in the defini-
tion all other persons, even though they be evil
and reprobate men. Therefore no internal virtues
are required to constitute any man a member of

' Field on the Church, b. i. c. 10.
" Bellarm. de defin. Eccl. lib. iii. 2, 9.

300 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

the One Church, but only an external profession
of the faith, a participation in the sacraments, and
a subjection to the lawful jurisdiction of the
Church. The Church, therefore, is a body of men
visible and palpable as the body of the Roman
people, or the kingdom of France, or the republic
of Venice.^ And yet, though no internal virtues
are required to constitute any man a member of
the One Church, all graces and virtues, such as
faith, hope, and charity, are enshrined in the
Church ; but not so as to constitute a Church
within a Church, so making two, but as parts or
properties of the One Church. The distinction,
then, taken by St. Augustin is as follows : — " That
the Church is a living system in which there is
soul and body ; the soul is the inward gift of the
Holy Ghost, faith, hope, charity, kc. ; the body
the external profession of the faith and participation
of the sacraments. Whence it follows that some
belong both to the soul and to the body of the
Church, and so are united to Christ the head both
outwardly and inwardly, and they belong to the
Church in the most perfect manner ; for they are,
as it were, living members in the body, although
they partake, some more and some less, of life, and
some have only so much as the beginning of life,
having, as it were, sense but not motion, such, for
instance, as have only faith without charity. Again,
some are of the soul, but not of the body, as cate-
' Bellarm. de defin. Eccl. sect. 10.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 301

chumens, and excommunicate persons, if they liave
faith and charity, which is possible. Lastly, some
are of the body and not of the soul, as thej'^ who
have no inward virtue, and yet from some hope or
worldly fear profess the faith and communicate in the
sacraments under the jurisdiction of lawful pastors."^
And these are as diseases, or bad humours in the
human body. The rule drawn from this distinction
by St. Augustin may be collected from the following
passages. Speaking of the mixture of good and
evil men in the visible Church, and correcting an
unexact mode of defining it, he says: "This rule
may be called the rule concerning the mixed
Church ; which rule demands a watchful reader,
when Scripture, although it is already speaking to
others, seems still to speak to those whom it was
before addressing, or concerning those of whom it
was before speaking, as if the body of both sorts
were one by reason of the commixture in this life
and joint participation of the sacraments."^ "That
Church which has now a mixture of evil men is
not different from the kingdom of God, where there
shall be no admixture of the wicked, but one and
the very same holy Church now under one, here-
after under another condition, now having evil

' Bellarm. de defin. Eccl. sect. ii. Bellarmin refens only to the
Breviculus CoUationis, &c., No. 3, where indeed this doctrine is
strongly affirmed. It is, however, much more clearly and variously
illustrated in St. Augustin's other works against the Uonatists, as
cited in the text.

* De doctrina Christiana, lib. iii. c. 32.

302 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

men mingled in it, then having none ; as now it is
mortal, because made up of mortal men, then
immortal, because there shall be in it no one who
can die, even so much as after the flesh, any more ;
as there are not therefore two Christs, because He
first died and afterwards dieth no more. The same
way of speaking is used of the outward and inward
man, which though they be diverse, cannot be
called two men; how much less can it be called
two Churches when they are the very same saints
who now endure the wicked, who are mingled with
them, and die to rise again ; but then shall have
no wicked mingled with them, and shall never die
any more."^ " In the Song of Songs the Church is
thus described : ' A garden enclosed, my sister,
my spouse, a fountain sealed, a well of living water,
a Paradise with the fruit of apples.' This I dare
not understand, save of the holy and just, not of
the covetous, and fraudulent, and thieves, and
usurers, and drunkards, and envious men, who,
nevertheless, liave a common baptism with the just,

with whom they have not a common charity

Are these then the thorns in the midst of which she
(the beloved) is as a lily, as is said in the same
Song? In so far as she is a lily, she is also a
garden enclosed, and a fountain sealed : that is, in
those just ones who are Jews in secret by the cir-
cumcision of the heart (for all the beaut}" of the
King's daughter is within), in whom is the certain
' Brevic. Coll. cont. Don. iii. x.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 303

number of saints predestined before the world was

made There are also some even of that

number who still live wickedly, or lie sunk in
heresies and heathen superstitions, and yet even
there ' the Lord knoweth them that are His ;' for in
that infallible foreknowledge of God, many who
seem without are within, and many who seem
within are without. Of all those therefore who, so
to speak, are inwardly and in secret within, con-
sists that ' garden enclosed, that fountain sealed,
that well of living water, that Paradise with the
fruit of apples.' To these belong the gifts vouch-
safed of God, in part exclusively, as in this world
unwearied charity, and in the world to come life
everlasting ; but, in part, in common with the evil
and perverse, as all other gifts, among which are
also the Holy mysteries."^ Speaking of those who
had received Baptism among heretics, and were
afterwards reconciled to the Church, he says, " It
may therefore be that some who are baptized with-
out, through the foreknowledge of God, are reputed
rather as baptized within, because there (i. e., in the
Church) the water first began to avail for their
salvation ; for neither in any other way can they
be said to be saved in the ark but by water. And
again, some who seem to be baptized within, by the
same foreknowledge of God, are more truly reputed
to be baptized without ; forasmuch as, through
abuse of Baptism, they perish by water, which then

' De Bapt. contra Don. lib, v. xxvii. and vi. iii.

304 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

befell none but those that were without the ark.
Certainly it is plain that what is said of within and
without in the Church, must be understood of the
heart, not of the body ; forasmuch as all who are
within in heart are saved in the unity of the ark by
the same water, by which all who are without in
heart, whether without in body also or not, perish
as enemies of unity." ^ So in another place: —
" According to His foreknowledge, who knoweth
whom He predestinated, before the world was made,
to be conformed to the image of His Son, many
also who are openly without, and are called heretics,
are better than many, and they good Catholics."^
And again : — " According to the foreknowledge of
God, as many sheep wander without, so many
wolves prowl within."^ I will add only one more
most remarkable passage, which will complete our
outline of St. Augustin's distinction. On the 10th
chapter of St. John he says, " According to the
foreknowledge and predestination of God, how many
sheep are without, how many wolves within ; and
how many sheep within, how many wolves without.
What did I say ? How many sheep without ! How
many now live in sensuality who shall be chaste ;
how many blaspheme Christ who shall believe in
Christ; how many drink themselves drunken who
shall be sober ; how manj^ rob others of their goods
who shall give away their own : but now for a time

' De Bapt. contra Don. v. xxviii.
* De Bapt. iv. iii. ' Ibid. lib. vi. i. ■

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

305

they hear the voice of others, and follow others.
Also, how many within give praise who shall blas-
pheme ; are chaste, who shall defile themselves; are
sober, who shall drown themselves in drink; who
stand, but shall fall: they are not sheep.'"

Now, upon these passages we may observe, —
First, that St. Augustin contrasts the diametrical
moral opposites of good and evil men within and
without the Church.

Secondly, that he contrasts, with equal clearness,
the diametrical opposition of the visible state of
those that are or are not members of the Church.
Good and evil are not more contrasted by him than
within and luithout.

Thirdly, that he also uses the terms " within "
and " without " in a figurative sense, i. e., in heart,
but not in body : " corde sed non corporey

Fourthly, that he recognizes within the visible
Church an invisible communion of saints.

And, lastly, that he believed in a moral Provi-
dence working out the predestinated results of the
foreseen probation of man.

Now all this may be resolved up into the one
principle already insisted on, namely, that the one
visible Church is of the nature of a sacrament,
both representing and making men partakers of the
salvation which is in Christ, namely, forgiveness
through his blood-shedding and restoration to His
image. The distinction, therefore, between the
' In S. Joan. Ev. ex. line iii. pt. ii. 600,

300 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III-

visible Church and (he invisible communion of
saints is no more than the distinction between po-
tentiality and actuality. All members of the visible
Church are regenerate in holy baptism ; they are
in the first disposition towards the mind of Christ ;
they are srints hi posse. Even those whose lives
are openly profane and evil, until in God's myste-
rious economy of probation they justly forfeit the
capability of recovery,^ are of the nature of saints.
I say of the nature, because though they are capa-
ble of the energies and habits of holiness, they do
not possess them. They hold their capability in
unrighteousness ; but they who by docile following
of the spirit of God become holy in energy and
habit, are saints in esse, in realized and actual holi-
ness. They are one with Christ by a conscious
moral choice, by the deliberate election of the con-
science, and by the fast cleaving of the heart.
Their wills are energetically one with His will ;
and they are partakers of an incorporation and
co-adunation of body, soul, and spirit, which tran-
scends the sense and understanding. To take, once
more, an illustration often used already. The one
visible Church is to this invisible communion what
the visible partakers of the blessed Eucharist are
to the invisible fellowship of those who verily and
indeed receive the body and blood of Christ : they
are the elect fruit of the elect vine, the ripeness of
the regenerate seed. And this blessed company

• Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6.

CHAP. I.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 307

make up the true mystical body of Christ,' of
which the visible Church is but the symbol and
ministrative cause, subordinate to the spirit of God.
We have now made good a distinction which will
serve as a principle to adjust in some measure the
phenomena of Christendom with the doctrine here
laid down.

We must revert once more to the distinction of
unity into objective and subjective, and take in
order the anomalies which are found without and
within the Church of Christ. We will consider
first the case of those who have wholly forfeited the
objective unity both in doctrine and discipline ;
then of those who have made a partial forfeit;
that is, first, of the doctrine, retaining the disci-
pline, secondly, of the discipline, retaining the doc-
trine ; and next, the state of those who have retained
the objective unity both in doctrine and discipline,
but have lost the subjective unity of communion
and intercourse.

' Stapleton, quoted by Field, on the Church, p. 17.

X 2

308 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

CHAPTER II.

THE LOSS OF OBJECTIVE UNITY.

The first case we have to consider is the case of those
who have wholly forfeited the objective unity both
of doctrine and discipline. Such, for instance, are
the sects who have rejected the mystery of the pro-
per Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and those
who have rejected the Holy Sacraments.

In the first place we may observe that these sects
are not necessarily formal, but only material, heretics.
The first originators of their error were gnilty of the
heresy and the schism ; but their descendants have
inherited their actual state without partaking neces-
sarily of its moral cause. It is, indeed, true that, as
each man grows up to the full development of his per-
sonal responsibility, he may appropriate to himself
the act of his forefathers by his own direct conscious
act of moral consent and choice. He may also perti-
naciously defend his error against suflficient admo-
nition. But it is possible — indeed, almost certain —
that among the descendants of the first propounders
of the delusion, there are many whose moral nature

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 309

has never been exercised by any form of probation
in the matter of their error. At every remove from
the first impulse the momentum of active participa-
tion declined. In a few generations it was exhausted ;
and their successors inherited a corrupt tradition,
rather with passive acquiescence than with conscious
approval. By this involuntary apostasy a grave
injury was inflicted on their moral being. The bias
of their mind was insensibly and involuntarily de-
termined to a false idea. Their free disposition,
which should have been reserved for the impressions
of truth, was pre-occupied by error ; and their intel-
lectual nature received false stamps and characters,
and erroneous inclinations. No one can say how
deep and lasting an injury is wrought in the texture
of the human mind, when its first action is to coalesce
with delusion and falsehood. It seems to sear and to
distort it almost beyond recovery. With this moral
indisposition come also intellectual hindrances. The
constant action of a false system, and the absolute ex-
clusion of truth, make ignorance invincible. Often-
times they may have never heard a surmise of any
form of truth except their own inherited belief; or
they have heard of it only with contempt and oppo-
sition. Their better feelino;s are enlisted in a war-
fare against truth, conceived to be falsehood. All
these are mitigating pleas in their moral probation.
Add to these the spiritual penury to which they
were born, the moral destitution of their fathers'
home ; no witness for truth, no sacraments of grace,

310 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

no gentle suasion, and moulding pressure of a spi-
ritual discipline ; and there can hardly be conceived
an immortal being in a state more impoverished
and desolate.

Now, nothing can be more certain than that
among such sects there are to be found many ap-
proximations to the reality of Christian life. We
find a solid morality, a great love of truth so far as
it is known, real self-denial, energy and zeal in
works of benevolence, and uprightness of conscience
before God. Of these there are abundant instances ;
so many and so visible, indeed, as to betray some
minds, more active than enlarged, into a theory
that the common measure of everyday temptations
is reduced in their case by the Enemy of Truth,
whose cause their very virtues tend to serve.
Although this may be among his arch-devices,
yet it will not account for the undeniable forms of
obedience in those who escape from his dominion.
There can be but one only Author of good in them ;
that is, the same who out of the moral anarchy even
of the regenerate educes the unseen unity of saints.
Wheresoever we see forms of Christian obedience
among those who have lost the doctrine and dis-
cipline of the Church, they are so many moral
miracles : they are revelations in fact ; which are,
therefore, no way contrary to God's revelation in
word. He has promised to sanctify man through
His Church ; He has not declared that He will
sanctify none in other ways. Through His Church

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 311

we know both the conditions and the means ; beyond
His Church we know neither : yet who is he that
shall deny a visible fact because he cannot see how
God has done it, and yet believe in sacraments and
miracles? The wisdom of God is manifold ; and of
all the ways of bringing about the same end, He has
revealed but one. And while we know of no other,
and can trust ourselves to no other, and dare teach
men to rely on no other, yet we may well believe
He has reserved many more ways in His own power.
We who see men under the energy of God's Spirit
without His sacraments, may well hope tliat they
shall partake of salvation without His Church. It
is in accordance with all that God has revealed of
Himself to believe that, in His moral government
over His moral creatures, He proceeds by the broad
rule of natural equity, on which even His super-
natural economy is grounded ; and that the virtues
of the one all-atoning Sacrifice prevail even for
those who by no act of their own have been dis-
inherited of their portion in His visible Church.
That they belong to the body of the Church is con-
trary to all evidence and testimony of the Prophets,
Apostles, and of Christ Plimself. That by His mer-
ciful and mysterious working, who knits in one the
mystical company of saints, they are made uncon-
scious partakers of the soul of the one Church, is no
less accordant with the first axioms of the illuminated
reason, than with the tender mercies of God.

We must now (consider the case of those who

312 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

have forfeited only in part the objective Unity of
the Church ; and first, those who have in part for-
feited the unity of doctrine, but retained the disci-
pline.

The Nestorian, and Monophysite, and Monothe-
lite churches in Egypt, Abyssinia, Syria, Armenia,
and the East, may be taken as instances. These
churches ceased to communicate with the Uni-
versal Church after the Councils of Ephesus and
Chalcedon. The forfeiture of objective doctrine
related in both cases to the mode of the Incarnation
of our Lord. The errors were both of a speculative
kind, but in their inferential consequences of a
practical effect. They were condemned by oecume-
nical synods, and pertinaciously maintained by
those Churches ; and the result was a breach of
communion. What, then, is the condition of these
bodies ? Do the}^ or do they not, belong to the One
Church ? They forfeited the truth in one primary
article of faith ; but they retained the Apostolical
Succession of orders, and the transmitted power to
perform all functions contained in the ministerial
character. Now it must be considered, first, that
the objective unity of doctrine and discipline is a
deposit intrusted by Christ to His Church ; and
" it is required of stewards that a man be found
faithful."^ It is the probation of the churches that
they should keep this deposit whole and undefiled.
The Nestorian and Monophysite Churches were

' 1 Cor. iv. 2.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 313

found untrusty in one leading feature of their
charge : as stewards they were proved unfaithful :
they were condemned by the judgment of the Ca-
tholic Church ; and they returned this sentence by
anathema. Since that time they have stood aloof,
handing on unchanged the tradition of a mutilated
faith.

As, then, the being of the Church consists in an
objective system, instituted and ordained of God, it
must be admitted that these churches, by forfeiting
one portion of it, have forfeited their inheritance in
the unity of the one visible body. Their con-
demnation, and the suspension of communion
which followed, were the consequences of their
forfeiture. This, and not what may be called the
judicial award, is the cause of their abscission. So
much for their formal condition.

We must now consider their moral state. It in
no way derogates from the force and exactness of
the dogma that in the One Church alone there is
salvation, to believe that God may and does from
these mutilated churches gather out many unto
everlasting life. The reasons of this hope or judg-
ment of the heart are manifold : as, first, that one
of the moral ends of the Church itself is the salva-
tion of mankind. We may well believe, therefore,
that the merciful purpose of God, declared in the
election of these Eastern nations to regeneration
through His Church, shall not be wholly turned
aside. That they were once members of the One

314 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

Church is a recorded witness of God's good will
towards them. And can we doubt that He who
looked in mercy on Nineveh, a heathen city, and
Himself pleaded for their salvation with his over-
zealous prophet, saying, "Thou hast had pity on
the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured,
neither madest it grow ; which came up in a night
and perished in a night : and should not I spare
Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than
six score thousand persons that cannot discern be-
tween their right hand and their left hand ; and
also much cattle ?" ^ — can we doubt, I say, that He
who chose out those people by the predestination of
His grace to the salvation which is in Christ, who
planted and tended them well nigh four hundred
years, and from them gathered precious fruits in
their season, should still look with a stedfast eye of
mercy on the hundreds of thousands among them
who could not discern their right hand from their
left ? First it must be remembered that, in the
original breach, the responsible agents were those
to whom the government of the churches was com-
mitted, and with them such also as consciously par-
took of their false teaching and pertinacious schism.
But how many moral beings, children and women,
simple and unlearned people, whose chief sin was
too great docility, were unconsciously and passively
involved in the consequence of this breach, God
alone can know. We are forced at the outset to

' Jonah iv. 10, 11.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 315

believe that He was more merciful to them than
their natural pastors. It is the light of faith shining
in the reason that leads us to believe that multi-
tudes in these lapsed churches yet belonged, in
spirit and in truth, to the soul of tlie one true
Church : they belonged to it in preparation of
heart, in conscious intention, and in stedfast though
erroneous belief.

We may next observe that, as multitudes were
guiltlessly involved in the first breach, so their chil-
dren were born to be the inheritors of a state wliich
was not imputed as a sin even to their parents; and
further, that of those whose forefathers had by con-
scious assent become partakers of the schism, the
moral state was widely different. The sins of parents
cleave to their children in the way of penal conse-
quence ; but the children are not necessarily par-
takers by direct moral consent; they may become
so, and often do ; but, in the case of churches
which fall as landslips from the Church Universal,
there must be, in all ages, many who represent the
simple and unlearned of the first generation which
was passively rent from the visible body; and who
to the simplicity and unlearned docility of their
forefathers add the accumulated unconsciousness of
the evils which attach to their inherited condition.
If there be any truth in the rule that moral guilt
grows less at every remove from the first authors of
a schism, it must hold good in such a case.

We now come to another question contained in

316 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

this form of the case, namely, whether or no the
discipline which is retained entire, including the
orders and sacraments of Christ, be valid and
effectual to the engrafting of men into Him and
the sustaining of communion with Him ? The
negative arguments are either that the apostolical
authority is annulled by heresy, or that it is sus-
pended by the schism.

Now on this subject the judgment and practice
of the Church has varied ; and by its variations
has shown that there was no fixed and immutable
rule. The Greek Church in earlier times admitted
the orders of heretics, whom in later times she was
wont to reordain : the Latin Church seems almost
invariably to have admitted the orders of such
heretics as used the Catholic rite, and had them-
selves derived orders from the Church/ Pope
Felix was ordained by Arians.^ In the East, the
Nestorians, Eutychians, Severians, Jacobites, and
Acephali were received upon a simple condemna-
tion of their heresy and its author. They neither
rebaptized nor reordained them.' Of the Nes-
torians St. Gregory writes : " Let them anathema-
tize Nestorius with all his followers, and other
heretics : let them promise to receive also the vene-
rable synods which the Universal Church receives,
and without doubt receive them into the Church,

' Morinus de Sacr. Ord. pars iii. exerc. v. c. xi. sect. 5.
* Mason's Vindic. of the Engl. Min. p. 154, fol. 1728.
^ Morinus, ib. c. xii. s. IT

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 317

preserving to them their own orders."^ So also
were the Arians received;* so also the Pelagians
were treated by the judgment of St. Leo ;^ so also
were the Monothelites dealt with by the seventh
synod/ It is evident, then, that the succession and
orders of these churches, although deemed unlaw-
ful as being contrary to the canons, were held to
be valid as being conferred by men validly conse-
crated, and by a rite containing all things essential
to the sacramental nature of holy orders.

Now in respect to baptism the question is of an
easier kind. After the great controversy respecting
schismatical baptism, which man}^ of the Eastern
Churches held with the African to be invalid,^ it was
finally ruled, in the West, that Baptism conferred
with the right form, matter, and intention was to be
accounted valid." This recognition of Baptism did
not involve a recognition of orders in the adminis-
trator. Even in cases where the orders were held
to be null, the Sacrament of Baptism was accepted.''
They degraded the clergy, but received the laity
with the chrism only. As this is a question of
some moment, it may be well to state explicitly the
reason of this rule as it is given by St. Augustin.
It must always, however, be borne in mind that he
is writing, not of laymen, but of those who had de-

' Morinus de Sacr. c. xi. s. 1.
^ S. Hicrom. Dial, contr. Lucif. ' Morinus, iii. c. x. s. 8.

* lb. c. xi. s. 2. ' Ih. c. xii. s. 4, 5.

« Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. c. 58. s. [3]. Ed. Keble.
' Courajer's Defence of the English Ordinations, pp. 294, 295.

318 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

rived orders from the Catholic Church. He says,
" that the Baptism of Christ cannot be annulled by
any perversity of man, whether he be the giver or
the receiver of it ;" and immediately adds, that the
reason why the bishops or pastors in St. Cyprian's
time had doubted the vahdity of the Baptism given
by heretics and schismatics was " because the Sa-
crament was not distinguished from its effect and
use. And because the effect and use of the Sacra-
ment — namely, in liberation from sins and upright-
ness of heart — was not found among heretics, the
Sacrament itself was thought not to be there. But
when they turned their eyes to the multitude of
chaff within the Church, they also who, in the
unity of it, are perverse and live evil lives, would
seem neither to have power to give, nor even to
have, remission of sins, because not to the evil, but
to the good sons it was said, ' whosesoever sins ye
remit, they are remitted unto him, and whosesoever
sins ye retain, they are i-etained;' it was sufficiently
clear to the pastors of the Catholic Church diffused
throughout the world, by whom afterwards the
original custom was confirmed with the authority
of a plenary council, that they nevertheless may
have, and give, and receive the Sacrament of Bap-
tism ; that also a sheep, which was wandering
without, and had received the Lord's mark from its
deceitful spoilers without, when it comes to the
salvation of Christian unity, is to be corrected of its
error, freed from its bondage, healed of its wound,

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 319

but the Lord's mark upon it is to ])e rather ac-
knowledged than rejected, forasmuch as many, who
are ostensibly within, but are themselves indeed
wolves, imprint the very same mark upon wolves
like unto themselves." * And a little after he adds,
" I say that both good and bad may have, may
give, and may receive the Sacrament of Baptism ;
the good, indeed, usefully and unto health, but the
bad hurtfully and penally, since that (the Sacra-
ment) is equally perfect in each ; and its equal in-
tegrity in all is not affected by how much worse
the man may be who has it among the evil, as
neither by how much better the man may be who
has it among the good. And for this reason it is
not affected by how much worse he be who gives
it, as neither by how much better ; nor by how
much worse he be who receives it, as neither by
how much better ; for the Sacrament itself, both in
those that are not equally righteous and in those
that are not equally unrighteous, is itself equally
holy."^ St. Augustin's argument is this : tlie
unworthiness of the minister does not destroy
the integrity of the Sacrament ; there are wolves
within as without ; heresy and schism without
the Church are as sin and an evil life within it ;
as these do not annul it, so neither do the other
faults. But he is speaking of ordained men in
both cases. " For it is the Sacrament of Baptism
which he has who is baptised, and it is the Sacra-
ment of conferring Baptism whicli he has who is
' De Bapt. contra Don. vi. 1. * lb. sect. 2.

320 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART III,

ordained. And as he who is baptized, if he depart
from unity, does not lose the Sacrament of Baptism,
so he that is ordained, if he depart from unity, does
not lose the Sacrament of conferring Baptism." ^
" For both are sacraments ; and both are given to
a man with a certain consecration ; the one when
he is baptized, the other when he is ordained ; and
therefore it is not lawful to iterate them in the Ca-
tholic Church."^ " But if it (baptism) may be had
out of the Church, why may it not also be given ?
If you say, It is not rightly given out of the Church,
we answer. As, though it be not rightly had, 3'et it
is had ; so, though it be not rightly given out of the
Church, yet it is given. But as by reconciliation
to unity that begins to be had beneficially, which
before was had out of unity without benefit ; so by
the same reconciliation to unity, that begins to be
beneficial, which out of the Church was also given
without benefit. It is not, however, right to say
that that which was given was not given, or that
any man should be wrongfully said not to have
given it, when it is confessed that he gave what he
had received." ' He pursues this explanation still
further in the following passage : — " As the union
of bodies is by continuity of place, so the consent
of wills is a sort of contact of minds. If, there-
fore, a*man who departs from unity has a will to
do anything other than that w^hich he received in
unity, in that thing he departs, and is separated ;

' De Bapt. contra Don. lib. i. c. 1.
* Contra lit. Farm. lib. ii. 13.

CHAP. 11.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 321

but whatsoever he desires so to do, as it is done
in unity, when he has received and learned it, in
that he abides and is united. Therefore they in
some thing's are with us, but in some things have
gone out from us. Wherefore those things in which
they are with us, those we do not forbid them to
perform ; but in those wherein they are not with
us, we exhort them to come that they may have, to
return that they may recover them. We do not,
therefore, say to them, ' Do not administer' (baj)-
tism), but ' Do not administer it in schism ;' nor
to those who are going to be baptized, ' Do not re-
ceive' (bapiisjti), but ' Do not receive it in schism.' " '
And afterwards, in answer to tlie Donatist wlio
demanded whether or no their baptism was valid
to beget sons to God, intending the dilemma, if it
regenerate, then ours must be the true Church ; if
not, then why do not Catholics re-baptize those
whom they draw away from us ? St. Augustin
says : — " As if it (baptism) had the power of regene-
ration in that point wherein it is separated, and not
in tliat wherein it is united. For it is separated from
the bond of charity and peace, but it is joined in the
oneness of Baptism. Therefore it is the one Churcli
that alone is called Catholic; and whatsoever of its
own it possesses in the communions of those divine
bodies who are separated from its unity, through
that which it has of its own in them, it does itself
regenerate, not they. For it is not their separation
' De Bapt. contra Don. lib. i. 2.

322 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART HI.

which regenerates, but that which tliey have re-
tained among- themselves from the Church, which
if they let go also, they do not regenerate at all.
The Church, therefore, whose sacraments are re-
tained, regenerates in all."* And the ultimate
principle of their judgment he states in the follow-
ing axiomatic form : — " Like as baptism, so do orders
remain perfect in them ; because the fault was in
the separation, which, by the peace of unity, was
corrected ; not in the sacraments, which, where-
soever they are, are still sacraments," - (quse ubi-
cumque sunt ipsa sunt). From this, then, it is
plain that the sacraments of such Churches as have
forfeited somewhat of the doctrine, but retained the
discipline of Christ, have the integrity of sacra-
ments. Their Baptism regenerates, and yet not as
being theirs, but as the Baptism of the Church, which
they still retain ; and yet again, though it regene-
rate, its full effect and use is some way suspended
until the regenerate man be reconciled to the Unity
of fhe Church. But here we may take up and
apply a rule we have before laid down, namely,
that such as are in a state of which they are neither
the conscious authors nor pertinacious maintainers,
in which, too, they are either greatly hindered by
any high degree of adverse moral circumstance, or
absolutely holden in invincible ignorance, who also,

' De Bapt. cont. Don. lib. i. c. 10.

* Contra Ep. Parmen. lib. ii. 13. For the judgment of the
Councils of Aries and Nice, see Waterland's Works, vol. x. p. 128.

CHAP, II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 3'23

in simplicity of intention and preparation of heart,
seek both to know and to do the will of Christ, that
all such surely belong to the soul of the One
Church, and have unconscious communion witli
His mystical body, and direct spiritual fellowship
with Himself. What is here said of Baptism will
apply also to all other sacraments and sacramental
rites. To such as are thus morally disposed, we
may hopefully believe that, though uncanonical,
they are both valid and efficacious.

It must be further observed that, whether valid
or not in its mj^stical nature, the discipline of the
Church remains among them as a moral institution
bearing upon the formation of the individual cha-
racter. The pastoral jurisdiction is still a repression
of indocility ; and the Eucharistical action the test
of peace and brotherhood. The ascetic and peni-
tential rules are still moral powers for the purifi-
cation of man's nature. If we should believe such
Churches reduced to the level of ethical gymnasia-
it is evident that there is a high moral benefit still
undoubtedly inherited. And this is a disposing
cause, and ancillary to the divine life of faith. If it
be not the pledge, it is the handmaid of higher reali-
ties. And if these bodies be darkened by the cloud-
ing over of truth, yet we may not err in hoping
that to their pastors also, who, as it were, keep their
flocks by night, there may come glad tidings and
brighter lights by the secret ministries of mercy.
The dognin, therefore, that in the One Church

Y -2

324 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART HI,

alone there is salvation, in no way hindei's our hope-
fully believing that many belong to the soul of the
One Church who, by forfeiting a portion of their
trust, have fallen from the one visible body ; nor is
the objective exactness of this dogma as a revealed
verity infringed by such a hope.

We now come to another and more difficult form
of the same question, namely, the state of those
who have made forfeit of the discipline, but re-
tained the doctrine of the Church.

I am well aware how startling at first sight must
be such a contrast. Men are so thoroughly and
inveterately used to speak of doctrine as the one
thing needful, and of discipline as a thing unneces-
sary, that the very propounding of the subject may
almost seem like announcing a prejudged con-
clusion.

I must, therefore, once more fall back upon a
position taken up in the first part of this work. In
entering upon the subject, I adopted the familiar
distinction of the great mystery of Christ into doc-
trine and discipline, under an express protest. I
stated that, although sufficiently clear to work with,
it was a distinction essentially unexact. The use
of it has hitherto admitted no fallacious ambiguity,
because the whole current of our reasoning has
been directed against the popular errors which lurk
under its shelter. It is a common axiom that dis-
cipline may be changed, but doctrine never; and
this is true, so long as by discipline is understood

CHAP. II. j THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 325

only the detailed orders and rules of administration
which the apostolical authority may develop out of
itself, such as the penitential code, and the like.
But when taken to include what are commonly, but
most unmeaningly, called forms of Church govern-
ment, it is absolutely untrue. Throughout this
work I have endeavoured to prove that the organic
polity of the Church is a divine institution, positive,
indeed, in its nature, but moral in its design ; that
it is not subject to man, but man to it; that he
may not re-cast it, forasmuch as it is ordained to
re-mould his very being ; that it is, therefore, abso-
lutely and universally binding, and immutable.
There is no reason which will clear a m.an for re-
jecting the apostolical succession, which will not
also acquit him for rejecting baptism ; there is no
reason to establish the right of men, without suc-
cession from the Apostles, to administer the Holy
Eucharist, which will not justify the taking away
of the cup. The positive institutions of Christ,
being moral as a continuous probation, and mys-
tical in their complex effect, are binding in all their
parts. To touch them in one point is to mutilate
them in all. It is a usurpation of the will of
man upon the will of Christ, and a subjecting of
the mould to the nature which it is ordained to
shape. So much as to the positive and moral
nature of discipline.

But we must look also to its mystical design.
Once more it must be asked, Are the Sacraments of

326 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

Christ to be called doctrine, or discipline? If doc-
trine, why shall we not call Confirmation and the
Apostolical Succession also doctrine ? Why shall
we not call the Church itself doctrine ? Did Christ
institute Baptism and the Lord's Supper? Did He
not also institute the Church ? Who was it that said,
" As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you ?"
What is the doctrine of Christ but the relation of
what He did and suffered for us, presented to our
understanding? Now, I ask, did He, or did He not,
ordain a means of applying to mankind, and to
each man severally, the benefit of His blood- shed-
ding? If He did so, what is that means ? There is no
alternative but to assert either that He did, or that
He did not ordain, such a means ; and that the means
ordained is either by presenting truth to the human
understanding only, or by some further mode of
making man a partaker in what he so understands.
Is the mere process of understanding alone a suf-
ficient application of the blood of Christ to the soul
of man ? Or does each man, by an act of his own
will, apply it to himself? Is it man's work or God's
work ? Now these questions must be answered by
those that would retain the popular theory of doc-
trine and discipline as things separate and hete-
rogeneous. They that believe that it is God who
applies the benefits of His Son's death to the souls
of men, (and I know not how any Christian can
dispute it,) believe also that He has ordained a
certain and definite means for applying it. They

CHAP. IJ.l THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 327

believe also that the means of applying it is as
absolutely necessary, though in another category,
as the thing applied ; and they believe the discipline
of the Church, which includes the Holy Saci'a-
nients and the Divine authority to apply tiieni, to
be that means. They cannot, therefore, separate
doctrine from discipline an}' more than truth and
grace from the means through which this twofold
blessing is declared and delivered to them. They
are as the structure of the eye to the light of
heaven, diverse in nature, but absolutely conjoined
by a Divine order as the condition of sight ; or,
once more, the whole Church, including doctrine
and discipline, is to them the manifold means
through which the presence of Christ impresses
itself upon the whole nature of man. It is so com-
mingled as to reach his understanding, will, affec-
tions, imagination, sight, and sense. The whole
man is a partaker of the Church as also of the re-
demption which by the Church is applied to him. It
is the more reverent way thus to look upon the insti-
tutions of Christ ; to believe that they are the gar-
ments of His own unseen })resence ; that they are
one sacred indivisible whole, to be reverently ap-
proached with feet unshod as upon holy ground ;
to be gazed on with penetrating contemplation ; to
be handled even as when Thomas, with a better in-
structed faith, drew near to behold his Lord. They
that so boldly divide these things may be indefinitely
near the temper of those of whom it is written,

328 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

"They parted my garments among them, and upon
my vesture did they cast lots."

We may now return to the question before us,
i. e. the case of those who have forfeited the disci-
pline, retaining the doctrine of the Church.

The instances are such communities of Christians
as, from various causes becoming separated from
the local jurisdiction of the Church, established
Presbyterian, or other still more imperfect, forms of
Church government. They may be described gene-
rally under the heads of Lutherans, Zuinglians, and
Calvinists ; in which designations may be included
the bodies Avhich separated themselves from the obe-
dience of the British Churches.

I will not at present raise the question whether
or no these bodies have indeed retained the integrity
of doctrine. We will assume it, and deal with the
case as if it were proved.

It is not my intention to enter at large into the
causes or the mode of the original separation. The
question before us is far more extensive, and might
be treated as a mere hypothesis. Still I am bound
to say that, on the one hand, the just causes of com-
plaint, which made Luther first address the bishops
of Brandenburg and Mersberg, and his steady
appeals through every gradation of ecclesiastical
order to the award of a general council ; and
on the other, the violent and corrupt administration
of Leo X., ending in an excommunication against a
man whose cause was still unheard, seem effectually

CllAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 329

to clear both him and those who for his sake were
cli-iven from the unity of the Church from the guilt
of schism. Be this, however, as it may, it is not to
be denied that the Protestant bodies, partly through
the sustained hostility of their adversaries, and partly
through their own fault, soon began to justify as
true and right a condition which they ought to
have lamented as the pressure of a hard necessity.
They formed, and pleaded for, and perpetuated their
imperfect system, as if of Divine authority ; and by
these after-acts cancelled not a little of the early
justness of their cause. There can be no doubt that
many who were involved in the effects of the excom-
munication, though violently driven from the unity
of the visible Church, were not cut off from the unity
of Christ's mystical body. It is an undeniable rule
that an excommunication, clave errante, though
effectual as to its visible results, is as to all invisible
effects absolutely null. This was doubtless true of
many in the beginning of the separation ; but at
the same time the Protestant bodies did not, like
the Nestorian Churches, fall off as integral members
of the Church universal, but were formed by the
personal separation of individual men. It can
hardly be thought that so large a proportion were
unconsciously involved. Their societies were com-
pacted together by the conscious self-addiction of
responsible persons. And yet it may be pleaded in
mitigation that their cause was just and righteous,
and the behaviour of their adversaries was harsh

330 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

and prejudiced. With this we may leave the subject
of their first separation.

It does not yet appear how it can be proved
that these communities have retained the suc-
cession derived from the Apostles, and, with this,
the authority of Christ to minister sacraments
in His name. They constituted a ministry of
their own, and continued the use of Baptism and
the Supper of the Lord. What are we to judge of
sacraments as used among them ? It w^ill be re-
membered that the reasoning under the last section,
relating to the validity of baptism administered by
heretics and schismatics, in all cases applied only
to the baptisms of ordained men. Nothing hitherto
said expressly relates to the baptism of unordained
hands. The principles on which St. Augustin argued
for the validity of such sacraments are these : first,
that they were administered by men possessing holy
orders ; and, secondly, that, when administered, both
baptism and orders impress an indelible character.
But there is yet another question to be considered,
namely, whether or no the Church acknowledged
the baptisms of those who had never received the
'•'jus dandi,'" or authority to administer the sacra-
ment. The principle of the Church was as follows :
The authority to baptize was given to the Apostles,
to be conveyed to those whom they should see fit to
invest with it. They invested the bishops of the
Church with the same power of administering and
of transmitting the power. The bishops of the

CHAP. II. j THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 331

Church at first so far restrained it to themselves as
to suffer no presbyter to baptize without their con-
sent. When the baptism of presbyters had become
common, still it was withheld from deacons : to
them, however, in the absence of the bishop and
priest, or in cases of necessity, the privilege was
conceded. In cases of necessity, and in the absence
of bishop, priest, and deacon, a Catholic layman,
authorized by the bishop, might give baptism. So
far, and no further, the privilege of baptizing was
extended within the unity of the Church. The
baptism of a deacon without license was unca-
uonical ; of a layman without license was a
usurpation likened to the sin of Uzziah : yet the
baptism, being given, was not iterated, because of
its indelible character. We must now go on to the
cases of baptism given out of the unity of the
Church, and without authority. They are of two
kinds : first, baptisms administered by ordained men
in heresy or schism ; next, baptisms given by men
unordained, unlicensed, and without the Church.
This is the only form of the case with which
we are now concerned. We shall, however, better
understand the mind of the Church upon the
point, if we take up the subject where we left it
in the last section, and carry it on until we come
to the question before us.

We have already seen that, in virtue of the inde-
lible character of orders, the validity of baptism was
allowed in the case of heretical and schismatical

332 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

clergy. We will now consider how far the Church
has permitted the intervention of laymen.

In the Apostolical Constitutions, which may be
taken to represent the sense of the Church in the
first ages, laymen are expressly forbidden to baptize."
By Tertullian it is said that laymen have an in-
herent right to baptize in virtue of their own bap-
tism, but a suspended right in virtue of the insti-
tution of the priesthood :^ which argument, while it
contends for the abstract validity of the act, denies
the ordinary lawfulness. The Council of Eliberis
gave permission to laymen, having their own bap-
tism perfect (which may mean either being in full
communion with the Church, or in opposition to
clinic baptism), and not being bigamists (being
thereby also susceptible of holy orders), to admi-
nister baptism in foreign travel, or when no Church
is near, to a catechumen in necessity of sickness ;
and yet so that, in the case of life being prolonged,
they should bring the baptized person to the bishop
for imposition of hands. ^ In this permissive canon
there are no less than seven distinct limitations ;
two in point of place, two in the administration,
two in the subject, and one in case of survival.

' Const. Apost. lib. iii. c. 10.

^ " Dandi quidem habet jus summus sacerdos qui est episcopus :
dehinc Presbyteri et Diaconi ; non tamen sine Episcopi auctori-
tate, propter Ecclesiae honorem, quo salvo, salva pax est. Alioquin
etiam laicis jus est." De Baptismo, xvii.

^ Albaspin de Veter. Eccles. Ritibus. Not. in Can. 38. Concil.
Elib., p. 318.

CHAP. 11. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 333

No better proof can be given of the sense of tlie
Spanish Church, at least. In a passage ascribed to
St. Augustin, the same doctrine is held, namely,
that by delegation through the bishop a layman
may baptize. He gives also an instance, such as
the Council had in view, namely, of baptism admi-
nistered by a layman on board a ship in a storm ;
and concludes that it may be done in extreme
necessity.' In like manner he says, arguing for
the validity of schismatical baptisms, " Although
even a layman, compelled by necessity, should give
to a dying man that which, when he himself re-
ceived it, he learned how it is to be given, I know
not how any one will piously say it should be
repeated. If it be done, indeed, with no compelling-
necessity, it is an usurpation of another's office ;
but if necessity compel, it is either no fault, or a
venial one."^ St. Jerome also, speaking of the
necessity of the sacerdotal order as a means of unity,
adds, '* Hence it came tliat, without the chrism and
order of the bishop, neither presbyter nor deacon
have a right to baptize ; which often, if necessity
compel, we know to be permitted to laymen.""* It
is plain that both St. Augustin and St. Jerome speak
of Catholic laymen ; and the latter of a permitted
license, otherwise deeming it a usurpation. A
parallel expression may be found in the Epistle of
Gelasius. Indeed, without more reference, it may

' Ap. Gratian de consecrat. Diet. 4, 36, quoted by Bing-
ham, Scholastieal Hist. c. i. 13.
* Contra Ep. Farm. lib. ii. 13.
' Adv. Luciferianos, torn. iv. 295, ed. Ben.

334 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART HI.

be stated that it was a prevalent rule to acknowledge
baptisms administered by laymen, with license, in
cases of necessity, and in the unity of the Church.
There is one more step to be considered, namel}^
how the Church was wont to regard the baptism of
a layman given without license or necessity. St.
Augustin puts this case as an hypothesis, and says,
" What has been given cannot be said to have been
not given ;" and, on the principle of the indelible
character of baptism, adds that it is not to be
iterated : but he declares it to be usurped, unlawful,
and, unless repented of, pernicious to the giver and
receiver.' He then goes on to say, that there is
another question concerning baptism administered
by men who are not themselves Christians, of which,
without the authority of a council, he says he will
not venture an assertion ; and then adds : " But
concerning those that are separated from the unity
of the Church, there is now no question but that
they both have and may give baptism, and that they
have and give it to their own destruction, out of the
bond of peace. For this has been already discussed,
considered, defined, and confirmed, in the unity of the
whole world. "^ This mention of an oecumenical synod
must refer to the Council either of Aries or of Nice ;
and by this we may fix the line and the limits of St.
Augustin's argument: for both judged by the same
rule. By the Council of Nice it is ordered that the
Novatian clergy should be received in their orders,
and therefore, of course, with tlieir baptisms. And

' Contra Ep. Parmeu. lib. ii. 13. * Ibid.

CHAP. 11.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 335

this was all St. Augustin was labouring to establish
against the Donatists. His hypothesis of usuiped
lay baptism, given out of the Church, was conlirmed
by no council, but only the schismatical baptisms of
men having valid orders ; and the argument was as
follows : — If we acknowledge among ourselves the
usurped baptisms of laymen, how much more the
unlawful baptisms of ordained men among you.
Thus far, from antiquity, there is no warrant to
believe that usurped baptism by unordained men in
schism was acknowledged to be valid. I say as yet,
because we will next consider an hypothetical case
put by St. Augustin, and his own resolution of it.
He proposes the following series of questions : —
Ought the baptism of a man not himself baptized
to be acknowledged ? Does the state of mind in the
receiver affect the integrity of the sacrament ; as,
for instance, when it is received in simulation, or
without simulation ? If in simulation, whetlier de-
ceitfully, as in the Church, or in that which is
thought to be the Church ; or in sport, as in a
theatre ? And which is the more sinful, to receive
baptism deceitfully in the Church, or without deceit
in heresy or schism ; that is, without simulation of
mind ? or again, in heresy with deceit, or in a
theatre with faith, if so be any one in the act should
be moved with sudden piety ? After many hypo-
thetical comparisons or contrasts of this sort, he goes
on to say : " But it is safe for us not to venture
forward with rashness of judgment into those things

336 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [pART HI.

which have neither been begun in any Catholic
provincial council, nor determined in any plenary
council ; but to assert that only with confidence
which, under the government of our Lord God and
Saviour Jesus Christ, has been confirmed by the
consent of the Universal Church. However, if anj'^
one should urge me to say what I should judge if
I were present at any council in which a question
on these points should be raised, and none had
spoken before me whose opinions I should rather
follow — if I were then so affected as I was when I
spoke as I have done, I should by no means doubt
that they had received baptism who, wheresoever,
and by whomsoever, had received that rite conse-
crated by the evangelical word, without simulation
on their own part, and with a certain faith : although
it would not avail for their spiritual salvation, if they
lacked charity by which they should be engrafted
into the Catholic Church. For ' though 1 have faith
to move mountains, and have not charity, I am
nothing.' As also, passing by the determinations of
our forefathers (the Council of Carthage), I doubt
not that they have baptism who, though they receive
it deceitfully, yet receive it in the Church, or where-
soever the Church is thought to be by those in whose
society it is received, concerning whom it is said,
' They went out from us.' " ' He then adds, that
the other questions concerning simulation and
mockery God only can determine. I think it may

' De Bapt. coiit. Don. lib. vii. 53.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 337

be said that we have now the full evidence which
may be drawn from the first four centuries in favour
of the validity of baptisms administered uncanoni-
call}, and in usurpation of office. It amounts to
this : —

1. That lay baptisms by licence, and in the unity
of the Church, are to be recognized.

2. That lay baptisms without licence or necessity,
but in the unity of the Church, are censured, but
admitted.

3. That baptisms by ordained men in heresy or
schism are valid, but unlawful.

4. That baptisms by uuordained men out of the
unity of the Church are usurpations, and yet not to
be iterated, for this reason, that the Sacrament has
still an integrity in itself.

But it is to be observed that this last conclusion
is no determination of the Church, but only an opi-
nion given by St. Augustin under protest and with
submission. It was, therefore, a point undefined.

We mav now adduce the counter-evidence: —

1. Every Christian writer for three hundred
years, with the only exception of TertuUian, and
that in one passage alone, asserts the absolute un-
lawfulness of a layman's assuming any sacerdotal
office, which the Apostolical Constitutions, the entire
testimony of St. Cyprian, the arguments of St. Basil
and Pacian and others, plainly show.

2. The whole scheme of first principles on which
the Church was founded confirms the same rule ;

338 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 1_PART III.

as, for instance, the divine and proper nature of the
priesthood as distinguished from the spiritual and
virtual priesthood of all Christians. Writers but
slightly acquainted with the testimonies of antiquity
have almost always fallen into a confusion on this
point. They have taken up the one passage in
Tertullian, and the other in St. Jerome, in which
they both quote the words of the Apocalypse, *' who
hath made us kings and priests unto God," as
showing that all Christians are priests. But the
passage would prove equally well that all Christians
are kings; and so it does, but not in the sense
required by the parties adducing it. Granted that
all Christians, spiritually and virtually, are kings
and priests. In that, then, the clergy and laity are
equal. A bishop, or a priest, or a deacon, is a
king and a priest by inherent right as much as a
layman ; but they have something further which
that layman never had, and never can have, except
as they themselves received it ; and that is, a divine
commission and authority to stand in Christ's stead
between God and man. This no man has, nor can
have, by baptism alone ; and no man, how hardily
soever he may have asserted it, has ever ventured
the attempt to prove it by evidence from Christian
records, or even to meet the refutative evidence by
which the error is overthrown. It were as good,
because God called the people of Israel " a kingdom
of priests," ^ to deny the divine appointment of the

' Exodus xix. 6.

CHAP. IJ.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 339

Aaronic priesthood. A further and a final proof
of this may be found in the fact that, throughout
the whole mass of all that constitutes the history,
records, laws, documents, of Christianity, there is
not one that does not declare ordination and the
consecration of the Eucharist by a layman to be
absolutely null. By the same rule all sacerdotal
functions were alike vested in the priesthood
alone.

Upon all these grounds, therefore, upon the
Divine commission restricting sacerdotal functions
to the priesthood of Christ, upon the limitations
imposed even on priests and deacons in the minis-
tering of Baptism, upon the complex and manifold
limitations under which, in extreme necessity alone,
a lay hand was licensed to baptize ; upon the strong
determination of the African and Eastern churches
annulling all baptisms even of ordained men out
of the unity of the Church, which determinations,
though reversed, show plainly enough the current
of belief; upon the bare and hypothetical reasoning
by which St. Augustin ultimately decides that no
baptism administered with all things necessary to
its integral perfection should be iterated ; upon the
fact that the early Church made no determination
on the validity of baptism by laymen in a state of
schism, because no such case was ever propounded
for decision : upon all these grounds we may safely
conclude that such baptisms are tlius far doubtful.

As a contrary determination has for some cen-

z 2

340 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

turies prevailed in the Roman Church, it may be
right to notice it in this place. By Pope Nicholas
it was determined, and afterwards declared by the
Council of Florence, that in case of necessity it is
lawful for any man or woman, whether Christian or
Pagan, to baptize, if only there be present the right
form, matter, and intention.^ The reason assigned
by Bellarmine is this : " Since there is not required,
in the minister of baptism, faith, probity, or orders,
there is no reason why the baptism which is minis-
tered by a Pagan or a Jew should not be true
baptism, if those things be present which are neces-
sary to the essence of baptism." ^ He afterwards
observes, that the rule given by Tertullian and Je-
rome, that a man may give what he has received, is
untrue, for so a Presbyter might ordain a Presbyter,
and a deacon a deacon. He then adds, that it is
not a good argument to say that a man cannot give
what he has not himself received ; for so, unworthy
ministers could not convey justification to others :
and he sums up as follows : — " Therefore it is not
required that he who is to minister baptism should
have baptism formally in himself; but it is enough
if he have it virtually and ministerially, as all have
who have the use of reason, speech, and hands, so
as to speak by design, and sprinkle water." ^

Now upon this determination there are many
things to be observed : as, first, that the primitive
Church did for ages most strictly inhibit baptism

' Bellarm. de Sacr. Bapt. c. vii. 7. * lb. ' lb. s. 8.

CHAP. 11.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 341

to all women ; ' that there is no evidence that the
baptism of women was received when usurped ;^
that the practice of indiscriminate baptism crept in
through a misapplication of one text of St. John/
as the practice of infant communion was declared
necessary to salvation from the seventh century
onward through a misapplication of another;^ that
it is abhorrent from the instincts of Christianity to
conceive that a Pagan may, uncalled and uncon-
verted, minister a Sacrament of Christ.

It is to be further observed that Bellarmine
speaks too freely when he says that a General
Council, as St. Augustin desired, has determined the
doubt which he did not venture to resolve : for it is
well known that the Council of Florence was not
general either by representation or reception ; that
it was a synod got up against the Council of Basle;
that it was attended by only a few bishops, who left
the Council of Basle, and by the Pope's court and
followers ; that the French Church and kingdom
did not then acknowledge it, nor do the Galilean "
or Eastern Churches acknowledge it now.

Neither was the Council of Trent, in which this
decision is virtually renewed, a General Council.

Therefore the question is as open now as in St.
Augustin's day. It seems evident, then, that if
the baptisms of unordained men out of the unity

' Bingham's Scholastioal History of Lay Baptism, ch. i. s, 17.

* lb. s. 18. " St. John iii. 5. " lb. vi. 53.

* Launoii Epist. hb. viii. c. 39.

342 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [^PART III.

of the Church cannot be shown to be invalid,
neither can they be shown with certain reason to
be valid ; and, therefore, although the Sacrament
may not be iterated, it may, as in a case of doubt,
be conditionally given to such as are reconciled to
the unity of the Church.

But it must be further observed, that in the
texture of the evidence, which seems to favour the
validity or actuality, if I may so speak, of all bap-
tisms administered with the right form, matter, and
intention, are interwoven also frequent assertions
of the suspended efficacy, or even of the perilous
effect of baptisms which are given, received, and
had out of the unity of the Church. Repentance
and reconciliation are declared to be necessary to
give to such baptisms their saving power. ^

We are now in a condition to go on with the
inquiry as to the rites and sacraments of the com-
munities which have forfeited the discipline of the
Church.

It seems that in these bodies the authority trans-
mitted by succession from the Apostles is lost, and
with it the primary idea of all acts done by commis-
sion from Christ. That in cases of absolute necessity
a community should confine ministerial functions to
one or more, without pretending to invest them with
sacerdotal powers which it does not, either taken
severally or as a body, possess, would be, I conceive,
not only a lawful but commendable act, as testify-

• S. Aug. ut supra, pp. 320, 321.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 343

iiig to their own incompetence to renew what Christ
alone began, their desire of its restoration, their
deliberate endeavour to follow the Divine analogy,
and to come as near as possible to the form of the
Divine institution. We may readily believe that
such a conduct would have the silent power of a
commendatory prayer interceding with God for
deliverance from their straits, and a restitution of
His own gifts. We need hardly, therefore, enter
upon a formal justification of the provisional steps
taken by Luther and others at the beginning of
their great movement. If they had seen no way
of regaining the shelter of the Apostolical Succes-
sion, there was still a safe, though a sad, resource
for them. They might have well commended them-
selves to God's mercy, as those who are smitten by
unjust excommunications. But, in fact, their ulti-
mate difficulties were not so great as some would
make them appear. It is easier to show that they
were pressed by a necessity at the outset than in
the after- course of their proceedings. It cannot be
doubted that they might have obtained valid con-
secrations ;^ but they deliberately rejected the apos-
tolical discipline, and constituted a new ministry, to
which it appears that they re-ordained priests and
even bishops who had received Catholic ordination.
From this point in their course they must find their

' Jer. Taylor, Episcopacy asserted, p. 106; and Skinner's Eccl.
Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii pp. 129—137, where ten Bishops hold-
ing the reformed doctrines are named.

344 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

own defence. In what sense they possess the present
authority of Christ among them, by what commis-
sion they administer baptism, confirmation, absolu-
tion, orders, the Holy Eucharist, in Christ's stead and
name, we know not. What decision soever we may
make in favour of a baptism so received, it is cer-
tain that the Catholic Church has never for a moment
admitted the validity of confirmation, absolution,
orders, or the Eucharist by the hands of unordained
men. Granting that their baptisms are to be re-
ceived, what shall be said of the whole line of
Christian ordinances by which the path of redeemed
man is marked out to heaven, and the generations
of the Church by a spiritual lineage perpetuated
and bound in one ?

And this case becomes the stronger when we
turn our thoughts from the Lutheran and Calvinist
bodies abroad to schismatics from the British
churches. In behalf of the foreign communities it
may be pleaded that they were excluded by unjust
excommunications, and that their exclusion was
perpetuated by an iron necessity galling their con-
science to the very quick. Not so they that sepa-
rated from the British churches : they were not ex-
communicated, but self-severed from the Catholic
Church : they did not withdraw from churches
tainted with Roman errors, but from bishops wit-
nessing the pure word of God : they had neither
necessity nor justifying plea for their separation.
It was a deliberate schism, beginning not in a

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 345

secession which, as a landslip, carries with it in-
voluntary and unconscious sufferers, but in a per-
sonal, several, conscious choice and election. The
individual will was energetically active, and almost
every several man responsible for his acts. Now of
such self-aggregated bodies all that we can safely
assert is, that the baptisms they administer should not
be more than conditionally supplied. For so long
as they persist in schism and rivalry, and in seeking
the overthrow of the branches of the Catholic
Church in Great Britain, they must strip them-
selves of every plea of necessit}' or of ignorance.
Such seems to be the conclusion inevitable to all
who prefer rather to be guided by Catholic rule
than by the wayward, self-trusting calculations of a
private spirit. And it must be confessed that this
reduces the mystical character of the Sacraments
and other rites used by these communities to a diffi-
cult question, of which I shall attempt no decision.
We may now go on to consider the moral cha-
racter and effect of these self-constituted systems.
If there be any truth in what has been already urged,
the discipline of the Church is an effectual probation,
and means of moulding the character of men, in
virtue of their one chief condition, namely, that it
is not of man, but of God. It is as the relations of
fatherhood and brotherhood which nature ordains,
unchangeable and sacred, compared with voluntary
associations, of which every member comes in or
goes out as likes him best. In the former there is

346 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART IH.

settled authority, and binding ligatures, and pe-
remptory laws of obedience and forbearance. In
the latter there is no authority but such as men
have made for themselves, no brotherhood but such
as they have chosen. So soon as the yoke galls,
or the curb checks, the individual will withdraws
itself. It escapes from the probation so soon as
the discipline makes its first approaches felt. It is
obvious that, wheresoever the will of man is free to
withdraw from its guide and ruler, it guides and
rules itself. In those communities, therefore, which
have made forfeit of this moral government, we
should expect to find what in fact we do see, — the
traditionary types of character clouded and lowered ;
the judgments of men moulding and debasing the
revealed rule ; the corrective powers weakened ; the
individual will overgrown to a principle of moral
anarchy ; the intellect excited into a craving activity,
impatient of external evidence, veering and changing
about in the currents of individual bias and prejudice.
Perhaps the leading phenomenon of such commu-
nities will be found to be the overwrought energy
of the intellect, laborious in destruction, and too rest-
less ever to build up any positive truth. The very
nature of man, losing its unity with God in the
unity of His Church, is at jar and bickering with
itself; and its direct tendency is to baffle its own
powers, and to reduce itself to nothing.

And, lastly, we may take up what was before
only thrown out in passing. As a result of this

CHAP. II.J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 347

moral decline, we find also in all such bodies as
have forfeited the discipline of the Church, that they
have lost also even that which they seemed to retain.
"Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away
even that he hath."* We find in every case that
they have forfeited, more or less, the doctrine also. It
is not to be thought that there are nowhere to be
found men who retain the doctrines of Christian
redemption ; but that, as a whole, the bodies which
have lost the discipline of Christ have sunk into
rationalism, Socinianism, and infidelity. It would
be easy to specify other errors destructive of sanc-
tity, but these are the broader and more theological
features of their declension, and to them I would
confine myself. In very deed, unity is the sacra-
ment of truth. It is by unity that it is conserved
and transmitted ; by abruption and isolation that it
is exhausted and extinguished. The state of doc-
trinal teaching in these bodies in Germany, Poland,
Switzerland, many parts of France, Great Britain,
and America, will shew that the unity of doctrine,
the one faith once delivered to the saints, is not
among them. Many of them have ceased to witness
for Christ's Godhead, manhood, and sacrifice ; that
is, for the faith in which " he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not
shall be damned."

Now it is plain that, by their original forfeiture
of the one discipline, tliey virtually and initially

' St. Matthew xiii. 12.

348 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

forfeited the whole deposit of Christ. The first loss
drew all others after it. Although the fidl declen-
sion was not seen at once, the mystical, moral, and
doctrinal systems perished together. They lingered
on as bodies of which the organic frame is maimed ;
and they died rather by a natural than by a mys-
terious law. Even after their virtual extinction as
Christian Churches, there was, as in the corpse of
the dead, a lingering warmth, which made a mock-
ing promise of life ; till that too fled, and they were
left in the cold torpor of heresy or unbelief.

What may be the change in the condition of such
bodies, consequent upon the breach of their relation
of faith with God, is a mystery which must be left
to His inscrutable mercy. What must be the con-
dition of all men who make forfeit of the moral
media, so to speak, of salvation, it is easier to judge.
It is evident that the loss of truth and discipline
must put the moral nature of man at a disadvantage
indefinitelv g-reat. If the restoration of the rio-ht
knowledo:e of God in the face of Jesus Christ be a
means to restore the Divine image to the soul of
man, if the Church be so formed by the wisdom of
God as to teach and to train the moral nature of
man into His own likeness, it is evident that the
rejection of it must involve a loss by natural conse-
quence, so far as those means are contemplated, of
the designed results. And if it be also a probation
of man's faith, then failure in the trial must have
some consequence in the world unseen.

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THK CHURCH. 349

Nevertheless, the fruits of the Spirit of God,
though often cunningly simulated by unsanctified
men, have a stamp and character which in the
main are surely to be known ; so that God may be
seen oftentimes revealing His merciful purpose in
the manifest righteousness of men whose outward
lot is most adverse to a Christian's hope. Where-
soever these are seen, they are to be acknowledged
with thankfulness. Though in many circumstantial
conditions unlike Cornelius, yet their acceptance
may be assured to us by his. The analogy of God's
revealed design in the Gospel may persuade us of a
truth, which the actual precedents of His dispensa-
tions may not be enough to prove, namely, that as,
in the elder economy. He admitted many approxima-
tions to salvation in those who were not true par-
takers of its visible sacraments, so now among all man-
kind, whether in nations never as yet converted, or
in bodies which have been disinherited by the act of
their forefathers, we may confidently trust that many
belono" to the soul of the one true Church who have
never been made partakers of its visible body. And
here I must note, once for all, a deep and injurious
fallacy, which is often imposed upon high and
Christian minds. The doctrine of Catholic unitv,
as stated in this work, is represented to them as
highly uncharitable, and at variance with the love
of God, because it is assumed that all communities
which have forfeited their inheritance in the one
body have thereby forfeited the character of a Church,

350 * THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

and that all believers in Christ in these communities
have forfeited their hope of salvation. It is therefore
assumed to be the more charitable conclusion, that
the one Church is of a latitude to comprehend them
also in its visible pale. Some would have it to con-
sist of all Christian people ; but this is only shifting
the difficulty of the question : some, of all who be-
lieve the essentials of the Gospel ; but no two men
can agree in stating what these essentials are : some,
of all who live a holy life ; but this denies even the
visibleness of the Church : and some, again, of all
who believe the ultimate facts of the Gospel ; but
this would hold in its embrace those that deny the
Godhead of our Redeemer. All these mutually ex-
clusive and self-destructive theories are so many
attempts to bring the outl^^ing phenomena of God's
continuous providential and unrevealed government
under the positive institution of His revealed will. As
if we must know all His ways ; as if God's wisdom
were either not manifold, or were revealed to the
last idea. And this is often done out of a mistaken
feeling of charity ; and, as such, it deserves no
sharper check than that which Peter received, when
feelings of care and charity for a brother apostle led
him to press forward beyond the line of Christ's
declared mind, " What is that to thee ? Follow
thou me."^ But we will pass from the temper
which predisposes men towards this charitable hope,
to the paralogism by which they impose upon their

' St. .John xxi. 20 — 22.

CHAP. II. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 351

judgment. They believe it, because they hope it.
But it must be remembered that hope and belief are
not relative things. Hope and fear, belief and dis-
belief, are the real antagonists. We believe or
disbelieve according to the evidence for any fact ;
we hope or fear according to the character and con-
sequences of the fact either proved, or probable
upon the evidence proposed. Our hope may not,
any more than our fear, overrule our belief. Either
way we are merely deceiving ourselves ; the feeling
of our nature is usurping a tyranny over our reason
and conscience. In fact, they who disbelieve the
eternity of punishment because they fear it, and they
who believe the indefinite theory of Catholic unity
because they hope it to be true, must be classed in
the same category, though the moral affections be
diametrically opposed. In both cases, evidence is
made to yield to the wishes, and the reason to the
will.

Again, it must be remembered that the endeavours
of modern times to construct a theory which shall
embrace all the anomalies of Christendom are most
narrow and partial. It is argued that the condition
of so large a body of Christians, perhaps thirty or
forty millions in number, who have forfeited the
Apostolical succession, claims at our hands some
concession. Whether we are appointed of God to
make such concessions from His institutions, whe-
ther this giving of largess of that which is another's
may not bring us under the condemnation of the

352 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART IH.

steward who wasted his master's goods, is a matter
to be considered by all serious men. But waiving
this j3oint, it seems always forgotten that all Chris-
tendom for fifteen hundred years, and more than
five-sixths of Christendom from the Apostles to this
day, have ever stayed their belief on the promises
of Christ made to His one Catholic Church. They
that are concerned to establish a looser theory, how
numerous soever when taken by themselves, are a
small fraction of the Christendom of to-day, and as
a handful compared with the multitudes of Chris-
tians who from the beginning have lived, hoped,
suffered, and died in another trust.

But, lastly, I have endeavoured to show that the
supposed consequences of this Catholic doctrine do
not in fact flow from it. It is one thing to assert
that there is no proof that God has revealed another
way of salvation besides the one Church, and
another thing to say that all concerning whom God
has revealed nothing shall certainl}^ be lost. This
no man dare say ; nor does it follow from the prin-
ciple here affirmed. The shallowest logician can
tell us that between the propositions, " All that live
faithfully in the one Church shall be saved,*' and
" None that are out of the one Church shall be
saved," there is neither by conversion nor by in-
ference any imaginable connexion.

But, once more, let it be observed that we have
ascertained a plain and sufficient principle, by which
we may well and surelv believe in the salvation of

CHAP. II.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 353

all those who bring forth the fruits of repentance and
faith, and of no others, whether they be heirs of the
one Church, or disinherited of their birthright, or
never so much as included within the precincts of
Christendom. In all such the one inscrutable Spirit
dwells, and they are one in an unconscious and
invisible unity ; while the conscious and visible
unity of the Church Catholic stands unshaken.
This will remain a fact, a phenomenon, a mystery,
a sacrament, a witness of manifold wisdom revealed
and unrevealed, to the world's end. At the same
time we have seen reason to believe that they who
forfeit the unity of the Church place themselves, or
are placed by others, at a grave disadvantage — it
may be in a great peril ; and this by the forfeiture of
the mystical, moral, and doctrinal media, and helps,
to holiness and everlasting life. And this great law
the analogy of all God's dealings, natural and re-
vealed, confirms ; as, for instance, disease following
sin, inherited poverty, and the like : and, again, the
removing of the candlestick for the fathers' sins,
the state of the Asiatic and African Churches, the
folds of Cyril and Clement, of Cyprian and An-
gustin, at this day.

2 a

354 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART HI.

CHAPTER III.

THE LOSS OF SUBJECTIVE UNITY.

It now remains for us to consider the last form of
the subject before us, namely, the condition of those
Christian churches which, retaining the objective
unity of doctrine and discipline, have forfeited the
subjective unity of inter-communion.

I have already shown that this subjective unity
is one proximate final end for which the objective
unity is ordained ; and that it is the matter of pro-
bation, duty, and responsibility to the individual
Christian, and to the several churches of the Ca-
tholic communion.

The first instance we may take is that of the
Donatist schism. It is true that this case does not
fall with absolute strictness under the enunciation
of our present question ; and yet it is for the most
part included in it, and it has no approximation to
any other division of the subject. The Donatist
schism is an example of the forfeiture of subjective

CHAP. Ill] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 355

unity in a particular Churcli by the establishment
of a rival succession of bishops. Only one of these
could be the lawful succession, though both were
undoubtedly valid. It is unnecessary to go further
into the history than to state that, on the vacancy
of the see of Carthage, a division was made in the
choice and consecration of a successor. Caecilianus
being lawfully elected and consecrated, the antago-
nist party objected that one of his consecrators,
Felix of Aptungus, had been a traditor in the Dio-
clesian persecution. This, with other accusations
against Caecilianus, formed their pretext for electing
and consecrating Majorinus. There were thence-
forward two successions in the African Churches,
and afterwards in Gaul and Rome also. In Africa
the Donatist body for a time were the majority, and
their bishops out-numbered the Catholic. The rival
succession maintained itself for more than a hun-
dred years. The characteristic temper of the two
bodies is remarkable. The Donatists denounced
the Catholics as idolatrous and defiled, re-ordained
and re-baptized all converts, assumed exclusively to
themselves the title of Catholic, and taught that
the whole Catholic Church, except themselves, was
fallen from Christ. It is not to our present purpose
to go into the detail of their pride, covetousness,
violence, and rebellion. I am speaking of them
only as a phenomenon in relation to the objective
Unity of the Church. On the other hand, the
Catholics acknowledged them as Christians, called

2 a2

356 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

them bretliren,^ recognized the orthodoxy of their
faith and the validity of their Sacraments. They
denied only that they belonged to the one Church,
and that because they had broken the bond of unity
by erecting a rival succession and a rival altar in
churches of apostolical foundation. Their act of
internal schism cut them off from the unity of their
own churches, and thereby from the Church uni-
versal. It must be always borne in mind that their
schism began by withdrawing from the communion
of their lawful bishops. It was a schism in a
Diocese, and a rivalry of successions in a Diocesan
Church. To this we may apply most of our con-
clusions respecting those who have forfeited the
objective Unity of the Church. It is true that the
Donatists possessed a valid succession and valid
Sacraments. Even though their schism was most
stubborn and turbulent, yet still the Catholics ac-
knowledged in them all that was of God, all that
belonged to the Church, all tliat they had carried
with them out of the unity of the one body of
Christ. They declared that their acts were valid,
though the efficacy was suspended. The saving-
power, they taught, was in the one Church, to
which by reconciliation, with imposition of hands,
they might still be joined, so as to make the Sacra-
ments received in schism avail to the salvation of
their souls. To the Donatist clergy they offered

' S. Aug. de Baptismo, lib. i. xv. See also Letter of Bishop
Bedell to Mr. Waddesworth, Life, p. 284.

CHA1>. III.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 357

a recognitioD of their orders, and to their bishops
the next succession after the death of the present
Catholic possessor of the see. To these principles
the Catholic Church still adhered, even after the
repeated decisions of councils and appeals had con-
demned the Donatists as formal and pertinacious
schismatics, and after the bloody and anti-christian
acts of their adherents had confirmed the justice of
the sentence in the face of Christendom.

The next form of the question is that of forfeited
unity, or suspended communion between two or
more apostolical Churches. It is to be observed
that, as the last was internal, so this is external
separation. Of this there may be two kinds ; as,
for instance, when the Churches so at variance are
either still in communion with some third portion
of the Church universal, or not.

Of the former kind was the breach between Victor
and the Roman Church on one side, and Polycrates
and the Asiatic Churches on the other, on the
subject of the quarto-deciman rule ; and also, at a
later time, between Stephen and St. Cyprian on the
subject of re-baptizing ; and between the Roman
and African Churches on the subject of appeals.
In the latter case St. Augustin, Eugenius, Ful-
gentius, were all involved in upholding the apo-
stolical commission of the African Churches, and in
all probability departed this life while as yet the
breach was unhealed.^ In these cases both parties

' Laud's Conference with Fisher, pp. 113, 114. Ed. 1686.

358 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

were still in communion with other and the same
churches.

Of the latter kind is, first, the division of the
Eastern and Western Churches. Althou2:h for some
time they still continued partially to communicate
with other churches, yet at the last they were com-
pletely divided. The Christian world was sundered ;
and the two o;reat members had no third or common
body to unite them. They were in point of extent so
nearly equal that each claimed to be the greater;^ and
no one can venture to award between them. They
mutually charged each the other with heresy and
schism ; and history abundantly proves that they
were both in fault — the Greeks by violence, the
Latins by ambition : the Greeks denouncing the
addition of the words " Filioque" as heretical, which
they are not ; the Latins requiring the acceptance
of them as if they had the sanction of a General
Council, which they do not possess : but be the
faults of the Greek Churches never so great, they
cannot be laid in the balance against the usurpation
of a supreme pontificate by the Bishop of Rome.
This attempt of the Roman Patriarch to subject the
four Eastern Patriarchates to his exaggerated juris-
diction is a claim which, so long as persisted in,
must throvv' upon the Roman Church the sin of
keeping open an inveterate schism. The most
learned and candid writers of that communion have

' Nectarius adv. Imp. Papae, 253. Palmer's Treatise on the
Church, vol. i. p. 203.

CHAP. III. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 359

long ago acknowledged that the conduct of the
Roman Church in thrusting bishops and clergy into
the Eastern Churches was unjustifiable on any
principle but that of providing Latin rites for
members of the Latin Church dwelling or detained
in the East ; and that the vain theory on which it
is persevered in is one chief cause of irreconcileable
alienation.^ For seven or eight hundred years this
separation has been complete ; and for four hundred
all systematic efforts at reconciliation may be said
to have ceased.^ Now no man can diligently exa-
mine and sum up the charges on either side without
being thoroughly satisfied that, if a more petulant
temper be found among the Greeks, yet the for-
mal and positive causes of division are to be laid
to the charge of the Roman Church. One instance
will suffice, namely, in the extravagant and intoler-
able claim of universal supremacy.

Upon these grounds, it may be safely concluded
that on neither side is there either formal heresy or
schism of such a kind as to cut either of them off from
the one visible Church, and from communion with
the one Head of the Church in heaven. Although
on both sides a most grievous wrong and wound is
done to the body of Christ, yet on both sides there
may be salvation. Both, with their respective ob-
scurations of the light of truth, and with the virtual

' Fleury, Sixieme Discours sur I'Histoire Ecclt5siastique, s. ix.
vol. xviii. p. xiv.

* From the Council uf Florence, a..d. 1450.

360 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

denial of parts by consequence, yet retain the whole
faith. Both, with their characteristic irregularities,
retain the whole discipline of Christ. In the ob-
jective unity they are still one; in their great moral
probation they have grievously fallen : without
doubt, the peculiar faults of both are aggravated
and made inveterate by division. The suspension
of communion has deprived them of the mutual
check and mitigating influence of each on the other,
by which they might both have ripened to per-
fection. In the stead of this healthy discipline have
come between them the irritations of defeated
ambition and jealous resentment. Although the
moral habit of both Churches is severely injured by
this unholy strife, yet they have Sacraments both
valid in themselves and efficacious to the saving of
souls ; they have the true knowledge of God, and
the perfect traditionary type of the divine image,
and the divinely-appointed discipline and probation
of man's moral being. They are, in fact, members
of the One Holy Catholic Church, and, though
their mutual fellowship is suspended, they have all
other blessings of which the One Church is the
shrine and treasury.

I now come to the last form of the question in
hand, namely, the suspension of communion be-
tween the Roman and English Churches. The
same chief causes which divided the Eastern from
the Western Churches divided also the Western
Church itself. It would seem as if the same causes

CHAP. 111.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 361

of provocation, when they were baffled by the
Greeks, fell with a more intolerable weight upon
the West of Europe. The same exaggerated claim
of universal jurisdiction was the cause of division
in both cases. This is more conspicuously so in
the West, where, through the silent working of ages,
and by the aid of closer sympathies and bonds of
mind and language, the doctrinal teaching of the
Roman Church had for the most part quietly esta-
blished itself. There was no question about lea-
vened bread in the Eucharist, or about " Filioque"
in the Creed, or the fire of purgatory. The whole
matter resolved itself into the claim of supreme
jurisdiction. If any man will look down along the
line of early English history, he will see a stand-
iup- contest betw^een the rulers of this land and the
bishops of Rome. The Crown and Church of Eng-
land, with a steady opposition, resisted the entrance
and encroachment of the secularized ecclesiastical
power of the Pope in England. The last rejection
of it was no more than a successful effort after many
a failure in struggles of the like kind. And it was
an act taken by men who were sound, according to
the Roman doctrines, in all other points.^ Questions
of Faith had hardly as yet arisen in tiie Church of
England when it released its apostolical powers from
the oppression of a foreign and uncanonical jurisdic-
tion. The corrections in doctrine and usage which

' Bramhuirs Works, ' Just Vindication of the Church of
England,' p. 62.

362 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

were afterwards made were neither the causes of the
beginning nor of the continuance of the division.
It was believed that the state of the Anglican Church
would have been for the most part confirmed by the
See of Rome on the submission of the Queen/ There
is no one point in which the British Churches can
be attainted of either heresy or schism. As for
heresy, they openly profess the canonical Scriptures,
the Catholic Creeds, the first six General Councils,
rejecting, with the Council of Frankfort, the se-
venth, which alone, in addition to the first six, is
received by the Greek Church ; and with the Greek
Church, rejecting all subsequent councils of the
Western Church untruly pretending to be CEcume-
nical. With these also they acknowledge all true
apostolical traditions, and submit themselves in
preparation of mind to the definitions of a free and
lawful General Council. This is enough, if the
confession of their adversaries were wanting, to
clear them of heresy. As for schism, they have
done no more than take from off their neck a yoke
whicli Christ never laid upon it, and that, too, not
when it was meekly imposed, but when, through
the wickedness of men, it became intolerable. Where
is the charity and the ingenuousness of Romanist
writers, who make much ado to show that the
Bishop of Rome was from the beginning possessed
of a lawful patriarchal jurisdiction over the British
Churches ? This is not the question. Even if that,
' Camden's Hist, of Elizabeth, pp. 46, 47.

CHAP. III. J THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 363

which has not yet been proved or made so much as
likely, were conceded, it would not establish the con-
clusion which they would impose on unwary minds.
To a patriarchal power limited by the canons of
the Church, and exercised in conformity with them,
it remains to be seen what objection the English
Church mioht have to raise. But this is an issue
to which it has never been honestly brought. Pre-
misses are advanced to show a patriarchal juris-
diction, but, " currente rota," in the conclusion we
find a supreme pontificate. The Eastern Churches
never denied to the Bishop of Rome his lawful
patriarchal power. They professed it, and ofl'ered
all precedence to it. Neither has the Anglican
Church been called on to del^ate the issue on this
footing. She has rejected — what the Eastern
Churches rejected before — the arrogant pretence
of an universal pontificate rashly alleged to be of
divine right, imposed in open breach of apostolical
traditions, and the canons of many councils. Tlie
Churches of the East are not schismatical for their re-
jection of this usurpation ; neither are the Churches
of Britain. But they are guilty of the schism that
obtrude this novelty as the condition of Christian
communion. Nor, again, would the British Churches
be open to the lightest imputation of schism, if they
were, with the usurped pontificate, to remove also
the supposed patriarchal jurisdiction of the Bishop
of Rome. For the patriarchal authority is itself
founded on the very canons to which the pontiff

364 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PaRT III.

refuses to submit. The defeat of his canonical pri-
vileges is with himself. He will not exercise them
as they are intrusted to him ; and the canons de-
mand obedience on no other condition.

The attempt to impose an uncanonical juris-
diction on the British Churches, and a refusal to
hold communion with them except on that con-
dition, is an act of formal schism. And this is
further aggravated by every kind of aggression :
acts of excommunication, and anathema, instiga-
tions to warfare abroad, and to rebellion and schism
at home, are the measures by which the Roman
Church has exhibited its professed desire to restore
unity to the Church of Christ. It must never be
foi-gotten that the act of the Bishop of Rome, by
which a most grievous and stubborn schism was
begun in the English Church, was taken not in the
character of patriarch, but in the title of Supreme
Pontiff. The same bull which made a schism in
every English diocese professed to depose also the
Queen of England. It was a power to give away
not sees, but thrones also ; and the effect of this
has been, as in the East so in England, to erect
altar against altar, and succession against succes-
sion. In the erection of schism in diocesan churches,
in the exclusive assumption of the name Catholic, in
the reordination of priests, and in restricting the
One Church to their own communion, there has
been no such example of schism since the schism of
Donatus.

CHAP, fir.j THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 305

TJje conduct, also, of the English Church is
strictly parallel with tliat of the African. She
acknowledoes the members of the Roman Church
as Christians, calls them brethren, recognizes their
faith and Sacraments, admits their orders, and re-
ceives those that come to her communion without so
much as conditional baptism. She acknowledges
the body of Christ in all churches which are neither
in heresy nor schism ; she excommunicates none ;
she prays for all, and is, in heart and desire, at
unity with those that refuse communion to her. So
much, then, for the imputations of heresy and
schism.

The suspension, therefore, of communion between
the Churches of England and Rome is no hindrance
to the obtaining of salvation on both sides. It would
be beyond my present purpose to go into the ques-
tion of the comparative openness of the way to life
in the two Churches, of the means of knowledge
and grace, and the fostering and disposing causes
which tend towards salvation. All that need be
shown is that on both sides the whole objective
system of doctrine and discipline, a valid and law-
ful succession, with valid and efficacious sacraments,
are retained ; so that no man can perish but through
sins of his own, which would alike destrov him in
the purest Church of the earliest times. That such
is the condition of the Roman Church, in spite of
the corrupt traditions and ensnaring doctrines with
which it is darkened and disfigured, we gladly ac-

366 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. [PART III.

knowledge. And whatsoever the designing or the
deceived among them may say of the English
Church, she knows too well the Catholic traditions
to lend much heed to their unreasonable crimina-
tions. She is clear from any position or practice
which can bring her under even the surmise of
heresy and schism ; and in all her dealing with
those that anathematize her, she would follow His
temper who bids us render '" not railing for railing,
but contrariwise blessing." Such being her state
and posture of heart, she freely enjoys spiritual
communion with Christ the Head of all, and with
His mystical body, the " garden enclosed, the foun-
tain sealed, the spring of living water," and with
all the saints of God in the court of heaven.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 367

GENERAL CONCLUSION.

Having now gone, as far as I have been able,
through the course of the subject, I may shortly
state the sum of the Catholic doctrine of unity, and
with a few obvious remarks bring this work to an
end.

We have seen, then, that there is a doctrine of
unity, which, as a part of the Gospel of Christ, is
the matter of a Christian man's belief: we have
found that doctrine to be a part of the first elements
of Christian faith, professed by every candidate for
baptism : we have found also that the testimony of
inspired and uninspired men delivers to us one defi-
nite and consistent scheme of unity, which accords
both with the moral design of God revealed in
Holy Scripture, and with the moral government of
God unfolded in the history of mankind. The one
Church, then, is the one only body to which, by the
act of God, the salvation of Christ is by revealed
pledges assured ; and this one only body is proposed
to us as an object both of faith and of sense. It is
an object of faith in so far as it is invisible; and an

368 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

object of sense in so far as it is visible in the world.
It is invisible in so far as it comprehends retro-
spectively all saints, from righteous Abel to this day,
now gathered in the world unseen ; and prospectively
all who by the election of God shall hereafter be
made members of it unto the end of time. It is
visible in so far as, throughout the whole world,
there is a body of men professing the Catholic faith
under their lawful pastors ; although to each man
only that particular portion in which his own re-
generation has been ordained is truly visible. But
it is this member of the Church Catholic which is
to each man the witness of the whole. It is to him
the symbol of the whole object of faith, and the
representative of the whole subject of sense. The
Diocesan Church is to him the pledge of the Churcli
Universal, — ecclesia in Episcopo. His own pastor,
and the altar where he communicates in the Eucha-
ristical sacrifice, is the test and the centre of all
duties and obligations of love and loyalty ; and to
it he does the homage which he owes to the one
holy Church throughout all the world. Such is
the actual and the representative character of every
Catholic altar. It is both an integral portion and
a proxy of the whole Church, and a discipline and
probation of the whole man.

Now, upon the sum of this doctrine I would
make one or two remarks. And, first of all, it
must be observed that the doctrine of unity here
affirmed is grounded Hj)on the positive ordinances

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 369

and revelations of God. It is a doctrine antecedent
to the realization of unity in tlie Church ; an ob-
jective idea declared by revelation antecedent to its
objective manifestation in the world. The import-
ance of this remark will be felt when it is remem-
bered how easily and almost certainly the mind of
man is biassed by the phenomena, whether truly or
falsely apprehended, which appear before his eyes.
The understanding is perpetually usurping upon
the reason, first thrusting upon it false deductions,
and then limiting its clearer and broader perceptions
by the narrow reach of observation. As so many
instances of this may be taken the many theories of
Catholic unity ; each one being a consequence of some
imaginary principle assumed either a pi^iori, from
anticipations of what it should be, or, a postei'iori,
from observation of the existing anomalies of Chris-
tendom. There can be no doubt that most theories
of Church unity are nothing more than either pious
and charitable endeavours to adjust a scheme which
shall embrace all professing Christians, or a refined
hypothesis which shall serve some proximate design.
There can be no doubt that the reason why many
minds abandon the doctrine of unity, as it was be-
lieved by Christendom for fifteen hundred years, is
that they are at a loss how to square with it the
anomalies of the last three centuries. But for the
unhappy rending of the Western Church, no man
would have any more dreamed of gainsaying the
mystery of the visible Church than of the visible

2 B

370 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

Sacraments. Men's minds have been bribed by their
wishes, or perplexed by their difficvilties, into lower
and looser conceptions of unity. The doctrine here
affirmed is affected by no such prejudice. It is a
definite and substantive part of the original revela-
tion ; a mystery, a positive institution, having its
basis in the wisdom and will of God. Its partial
realization in the world, its many seeming defeats,
and apparent anomalies, make no more against the
truth and certainty of it than the contravention of
immutable morality, the difficulties in the probation
of individual men, and the partial extent of Chris-
tianity against the Gospel itself.

And this brings me to a second remark, namely,
that this doctrine of unity can be shown to be false
only by evidence the same in kind with that by
which it has been here shown to be true, namely,
by the Holy Scripture, and by the consent and
practice of the Church, down to the time when the
first anomalies arose on the face of Christendom.
It must be perfectly obvious to every reasoning
mind, that the condition of a part of Western Europe
during the last three centuries cannot avail to un-
settle the fixed rule of the Catholic Church for
fifteen hundred years. We may, indeed, be unable
to find any common term under which to bring
both the Apostolical Churches and the self-originated
communities of Christendom. It is impossible to
find any scheme which shall not either exclude
those communities from the unity of the Church,

THE UNITY or THE CHURCH. 371

or assert a right in man to make and unmake the
conditions of his own probation. It is very true
that the later history of the Church presents us with
anomalies we know not how to deal with ; we can-
not explain, classify, or neglect them. They meet
us in the attitude of objections ; and they put our
faith on trial. But, after all, they are to the Church
no more than the inconsistencies and eccentric move-
ments of individual character. These also are facts
too visible to be denied, too exorbitant to be brought
under the one law which harmonizes our moral life :
they must be reserved to the judgment of Him who
weigheth the spirits. So with the communities of
Christians who have broken from the unity of the
one Church. They are too visible to be overlooked,
too full of anomaly to be brought under the rule
which runs through the one Church of Christ.
They must be remanded to the judgment of Him
that walketh in the midst of the GolcJen Candlesticks.
Let us "judge nothing before the time ;" still less try
to escape our difficulties by changing the ordinance
of God. It may be that in this very perplexity lies
a great part of our own moral probation.

And, lastly, the doctrine of Catholic unity is both
definite in itself, and direct in its bearing upon prac-
tice. It is as definite as all the other articles of our
baptismal creed ; and it thereby delivers the minds
of Christian men from the entanglements of a thou-
sand controversies. The Catholic Christian is not
set to seek out the one Church, forasmuch as by his

2 B 2

372 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

baptism he is already incorporated in it. He sees
its oneness and its holiness in the Catholic and
Apostolic faith and discipline. They are to him the
landmarks of the old way, in which his feet already
stand. The multiplicity, conflict, novelty, and nar-
rowness of all other schemes and s^^stems keep him,
by a play of repulsive forces, in the one aboriginal
and universal way of life. It is direct in its bearing
upon practice, forasmuch as it is not more a rule of
faith than of obedience. The duty of submission
and forbearance, of maintaining unity, of keeping
aloof from all acts and assemblies of schism, flows
directly out of a belief in one holy Church. It is
rather a life than a creed ; and such is the simplicity
and plainness of the way, that " the wayfarer though
a fool shall not err therein." The baptized man that
steadfastly believes his baptismal creed, and in con-
trition of heart both meetly partakes of the holy
Eucharist and watchfully lives in accordance with
the rule of that holy mystery, is not far from the
kingdom of heaven. These, and no others, are the
true conditions of Catholic unity, the only necessary
terms of Catholic communion. More than this the
Church has no power, and less than this she dare
not fail to require of all Christian men. All other
theological verities and opinions ought to be faith-
fully taught ; and exterior submission to all true
definitions may be exacted of her members. She
may impose silence on doubtful questions, and yet
leave the interior assent of men free unto themselves.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 373

For all unity, save in the objective doctrine and
discipline, is a moral liabit, not grounded on agree-
ment of opinion, but producing it; resting upon the
unity of will to which it is pledged, that if in any
thing we be otherwise-minded God shall reveal even
that unto us.

And as these are the terms of unity among the
members of each several Church, so are they among
the several Churches of the one collective body.

Here, then, we may leave the subject of this
work ; believing and hoping that, although for our
sins the Church be now miserably divided, it may
yet be once more united. Let us only believe that
it still retains the powers of recovery : we are di-
vided because we have so little faith in the grace
of unity. Let us steadfastly trust that our long-
lost heir-loom will once more be found when by
the grace of God the pride and arrogance, the self-
ishness, and contentious spirit of man are brought
down to the primitive traditions of the one holv
Catholic and Apostolic Churcli.

Limilon : Printed by Wh.i.iam Clowk.s and Sons. Stamford Street.

33j) ti)t £iamc ^utl;or.

1. THE ENGLISH CHURCH, its SUCCESSION, and

WITNESS for CHRIST. A Sermon preached at the Visitation of the Arch-
deacon of Chichester. 1835. Rivingtons.

2. THE PRINCIPLE of the ECCLESIASTICAL COM-
MISSION. A Letter to the Lord Bishop of Chester. 1838. Rivingtons.

3. THE • RULE of FAITH. Second Edition. 1839.

Rivingtons.

4. NATIONAL EDUCATION. A Sermon preached at
the Cathedral Church of Chichester. 1838. Rivingtons.

5. THE PRESERVATION of UNENDOWED CANON-

RIES. A Letter to the Lord Bishop of Chichester. 1840. Rivingtons.

6. THE SANCTITY of CONSECRATED PLACES. A

Sermon preached at the Consecration of St. Mark's Church, Horsham. 1841.
Mason, Chichester.

7. THE MORAL DESIGN of the APOSTOLIC MINIS-
TRY. A Sermon preached at an Ordination in tlie Cathedral Church of
Chichester. 1841. Murray.

8. A CHARGE delivered at the Ordinary Visitation of the

Archdeaconry of Chichester. 1841. Murray.

9. THE MIND of CHRIST the PERFECTION and

BOND of the CHURCH. A Sermon preached at St. Peter's Church, Brighton.
1841. Mason, Chichester.

10. THE UNITY of the CHURCH. 1842. Murray.

11. A CHARGE delivered at the Ordinary Visitation of the
Archdeaconry of Chichester. 1842. Murray.

LATELY PUBLISHED.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF

THE LITURGY AND RITUAL

OF THE

mxittti €i)xmi) of englantr auli Srelanti,

BEING

SERMONS AND DISCOURSES SELECTED FROM THE WORKS OF EMINENT
DIVINES WHO LIVED DURING TPIE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

By James Brogden, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. 3 vols, post 8vo., iT.v.

BIBLICAL RESEARCHES IN PALESTINE,

MOUNT SINAI, AND ARABIA PETR^A,

BEING

A JOURNAL OF TRAVELS UNDERTAKEN IN REFERENCE TO BIBLICAL

GEOGRAPHY.

By the Rev. Dr. Robinson. With New Maps and Plans. 3 vols. 8vo., 4.5s.

THE STATE IN ITS RELATIONS WITH THE

CHURCH.

By the Riglit Hon. VV. E. Gladstone, M.P. Fourtli Edition. 2 vols. Svo., 18»-.

CHURCH PRINCIPLES CONSIDERED IN
THEIR RLSULTS.

By the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P.. 8vo. 12.?.

LATELY PUBLISHED.

BISHOP HEBER'S PARISH SERMONS;

ON THE LESSONS,. THE GOSPEL, OR THE EPISTLE,

For every Sunday and principal Festival in the year.

Fourth Edition. 2 vols, post 8vo., 16*.

BISHOP HEBER'S HYMNS FOR CHURCH

SERVICE.

Written and adapted for every Sunday in the year.
Eleventh Edition. 16mo., 2s.

THE BOOK OF THE CHURCH.

By Robert Southev, LL.D. Fifth Edition, revised, with Notes containing
References to the Authorities, and an Index. 8vo. 12*.

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY,

FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE EXTINCTION OF PAGANISM IN

THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

By the Rev. H. H. Milman. 3 vols. 8vo., 36s.

THE POPES OF ROME,

DURING THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES.

TraJislated from the German of Leopold Ranke. By Sarah Austin.
Second Edition. 3 vols. 8vo., 36s.

THE NESTORIAN CHRISTIANS,

SETTLED IN
OOROOMIA, KOORDISTAN, ANCIENT ASSYRIA, AND MEDIA,

With Evidence of their Identity with the Lost Tribes of Israel.
By A. Grant, M.D. With Map, 8vo. 8s. 6d.

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

ALBEMARLE STREET
Jllv, 1842.

MR. MURRAY

HAS RECENTLY PUBLISHED,

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LITURGY AND RITUAL

OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND;

Being Sermons and Discourses selected from the Works of Eminent Divines during
the Seventeenth Century. By James Brogden, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge.

3 vols, post 8vo. 27*.

TI.

EDWIN THE FAIR. A Tragedy.

By Hexry Tavler, Esq., Author of " PHILIP VAN ARTEVELDE." Fcap. 8vo. 7s.

III.

EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND;

With an Account of the Cod Fishery — Fog Banks — Sealing Expedition, &c. — and

a Geological Survey of the Island.

By J. B. Jukes, F.G.S. 2 vols, post 8vo.

IV.

BOTANY FOR LADIES;

A Popular Introduction to the Natural Svstem of Plants. By Mrs. Loudon.
With 150 Illustrations. Fcap. Ovo. 8s.

SPEECH OF LORD ASHLEY

In the House of Commons, on Tuesday, 7th Juno, 18-42, on moving for leave to bring
in a Bill to make Regulations respecting the Age and Sex of Children and Young
Persons employed in the MINES and COLLIERIES of the United Kingdom. 8vo, 2*.

VI.

REMARKS ON MEDICAL REFORM,

In a Letter to the Right lion. Sir James Graham, Bart. By Sir Ja:mes Clark,
Bart., M.D., Physician in Ordinary to the Queen, and to Prince Albert. 8vo, \s.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

TII.

LOCKHARrS SPANISH BALLADS.

Embellished in a new and perfectly original manner, with coloured Titles, Borders,
ornamental Letters and Vignettes. A new Edition, Quarto, 2/. 2s.

" A more appropriately as well as beautifully embellished Volume never was ofifered to the world.'
— Edinburgh Review.

Till,

CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE.

BY LORD BYRON'.

A new Edition, with Sixty Engravings by Finden, from Drawings made on the spot ;

and a Portrait of Lord Byron never before engraved.

Royal Octavo, 21. 2s. Proofs on India Paper, 31. 3s.

IX.

MR. MURR.A.Y'S CHEAP AND POPULAR EDITION OF

LORD BYRON'S TALES, POEMS, AND DRAMAS,

I^ow Publishing Weekly at Sixpence each.

1. THE GIAOUR.

2. THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS.

3. THE CORSAIR.

4. LARA.

5. THE SIEGE OF CORINTH.

C. BEPPO.

7. MAZEPPA.

8. THE ISLAND.

9. PARISINA.

10. PRISONER OF CHILLON.

The above have already appeared, and will be followed by

11 to 15. CHILDE HAROLD'S PIL-
GRIMAGE.

16. MANFRED.

17. MARINO FALIERO.

18. HEAVEN AND EARTH.

19. SARDANAPALUS.

20. THE TWO FOSCARL

21. THE DEFORMED TRANS-

FORMED.

22. CAIN.

23. WERNER.

&c. &c.

ESSAYS AND ORATIONS,

Delivered at the College of Physicians. By Sir Henry Halfoud/ Bart. M.D.

Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo, 6s. 6d.

XI.

NUG.E METRICtE.

Latin Poems and Translations. By Sir Henry Halford, Bart. M.D.

Fcap. 8vo, 3f. 6J.

XII.

HYMNS FOR CHURCH SERVICE;

Written and adapted for every Sunday in the Year. By the late Bishop Heber,

Eleventh Edition. IGmo, 2s.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

xiir.

FRAGMENTS IN PROSE AND VERSE.

By the late Miss Elizahetii Smith. With a Memoir by II. M, Bowdleu.
New Edition. Post 8vo, lOs. Gd.

XIV.

THE PEASANTRY OF THE BORDER.

An Appeal in their Behalf. By the Rev. Dr. Gilly, Vicar of Norhani, and Canon
of Durham. Second Ed'Uion. With Plans, Estimates, &e. 8vo, 4s,

" Give them good CoUages, and help them to educate their children."

XV.

INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL AND VISITS TO THE RUINED CITIES OF

CENTRAL AMERICA, CHIAPAS, AND YUCATAN:

By John L. Stephens, Esq. With 78 Plates. New Edition. 2 vols. 8vo, 32s.

XVI.

A RESIDENCE AT CABOOL.

By the late Sir Alexander Burnes. With numerous Plates. 8vo, 18s.

XVII.

PALESTINE, MOUNT SINAI, AND ARABIA PETR^A ;

A Journal of Travels, undertaken in reference to Biblical Geography.
By Edward Robinson, D.D. With New Maps and Plans. 3 vols. 8vo, 2/. r>s.

XVIII.

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS,

Their Manners and Customs. Derived from Sculptures and Monuments still existing,

compared with ancient Authors. By Sir Gardner AVilkinson. G vols. 8vo, Gl. Qs.

*;»;* A JWu" Edition of the First SKitihs has just been published, and may be had separately.

XIX.

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND,

From the Death of Queen Anne to the Reign of George the Second.
By the Right Honourable Lord Maiion. Second Edition. 3 vols, 8vo, 36s.

XX.

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY,

From the Birth of Christ to the Extinction of Paganism in the Roman Empire.
By the Rev. H. H. Milman, 3 vols. 8vo, 36s.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

XXI.

THE LIFE OF SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY;

His Correspondence and Diary. Edited by his Soxs.
Portrait. Third Edition. 2 vols. fcap. Cvo, 12s.

XXII.

THE FACTORY SYSTEM;

Illustrated in a Series of Letters to the Right Hon. Loud Ashley, M.P.
By William Dodd, a Factory Cripple. Fcap. 8vo, bs.

xxiii.
A TREATISE,

In which the elementary properties of the ellipse are deduced from the properties
of the circle, and geometrically demonstrated. By the Duke of Somerset.

With 80 Diagrams. 8vo, 9*. C(/.

XXIV.

THE NESTORL\N CHRISTIANS IN OOROOMIA,

The Mountains of Koordistan, Ancient Assyria, and Media. By Asauel Grant, M.D,

With a Map. 8vo, 8s. 6rf.

XXV,

LETTERS FROM THE BALTIC.

By a Lady. With Etchings. Second Editioti. 2 vols. Post 8vo, 20s,

XXVI.

A RIDE ON HORSEBACK TO FLORENCE,

Through France and Switzerland. In a Series of Letters. By A Lady.

2 vols. Post 8vo, iCj.

XXVII.

THE AGRICULTURAL CLASSES

Of Great Britain and Ireland ; with the Parliamentary Reports and Eviilencc, from

1U33 to 1840 ; and Remarks by the French Editor. Published at Yicnn.i. With a Preface

by Hlnhv Drummond, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo, 21*.

XXVIII.

AUSTRIAN LOMBARDY, the TYROL, and BAYARIA.

By John Barrow, Esq. Post 8vo. 10*. Grf.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

XXIX,

THE YEAR-BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY

FOR YOUNG PERSONS.

By Mrs. LoTDox. 'Witli 4') niustriitions. IGnio, 4j.

• XXX.

CAIRO, PETUA, AND DAMASCUS.

From Notes during a Tour in those Countries. By John G. Kinxear, Esq.

I'ost Ovo, Os. Gd.

XXXI.

THE MANNERS OF THE JAPANESE.

Described from the Accounts of Recent Dutch Tx-avellers. Post 8vo, 9*. 6d.

XXXII.

FRAGMENTS FROM GERMAN PROSE WRITERS.

With Biographical Notices. By Sarah Austin. Post 8v0j 10s.

XXXIII.

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE GERMAN.

By Henry Reeve and John Edward Taylor. Fcap. Ovo, 2s. Gd.

XXXIV.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PAINTERS.

By Henry Reevk, Esq. Post Cvo, is.

XXXV.

LETTERS FROM ITALY.

With Skctclies of History, Literatui-e, and Art. By a Lady.
Second EdUion. 2 vols. I'ost iJvo, 17^.

XXXVI.

HAND-BOOK OF NEEDLEWORK.

By JIiss Lambert (of New Burlington Street). With Woodcuts. Post 8vo, lO^-. G(/.

MR. IVIURRAY^S HAND-BOOKS.

THE FOLLOWING ARE ALREADY PUBLISHED.

HAND-BOOK FOR HOLLAND, BELGIUM, PRUSSIA, NORTH

GERMANY, AND THE RHINE TO SWITZERLAND. Map. Post 8vo, 10*.

HAND-BOOK FOR BAVARIA, AUSTRIA, TYROL, SALZBURG,

STYRIA, AUSTRIAN AND BAA'ARIAN ALPS, AND THE DANUBE,
FROM ULM TO THE BLACK SEA. Map. Post 8vo, 10*.

HAND-BOOK FOR SWITZERLAND, SAVOY, AND PIEDMONT.

New Edition, thoroughly revised. Map. Post 8vo, 10*. {Just ready)

HAND-BOOK for DENMARK, NORWAY, SWEDEN, and RUSSIA.

jSIaps and Plans. Post 8vo, 12*.

HAND-BOOK FOR MALTA, THE IONIAN ISLANDS, GREECE,

TURKEY, ASIA MINOR, AND CONSTANTINOPLE. Maps. Post 8vo, 15*.

HAND-BOOK TO THE PUBLIC GALLERIES OF ART, IN AND

NEAR LONDON. Post 8vo, 18*. Containing-

THE NATIONAL GALLERY J WINDSOR CASTLE ; HAMPTON COURT J
DULWICH GALLERY; MR. SOANe'S MUSEUM J BARRY's PICTURES.

HAND-BOOK OF ITALIAN PAINTING : from the Age of Con-

6TANT1NE THK GREAT tO the PRESENT TiME. PoSt 8V0, 12*.

HAND-BOOK TO WINDSOR AND ETON : being a Guide to the

Palace, Picture Gallery, and Gardens. Fcap. 8vo, 5*.

HAND-BOOK to HAMPTON COURT and NEIGHBOURHOOD:

being a Road-book to the Palace, and a Gi'idk to its Picture Gallery and
Gardens. Fcap. 8vo, 2*. 6rf.

ALB EMARLE STREET,

July 1842.

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH;

A Treatise. By Henry Edward Manning, Archdeacon of Cluchestor. 8vo,

MEMOIRS OF THE LATE FRANCIS HORNER,

With his Correspondence. By Leonard Horner, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo.

THE BIBLE IN SPAIN.

By George Borrow, Author of the « GIPSIES IN SPAIN." Post 8vo.

HISTORY OF JOSIAH.

By the Author of " Gideon, the Man of Mighty Valour." Fcap. 8vo.

THE JEWESS:
A TALE FROM THE SHORES OF THE BALTIC.

By the Author of " Letters from the Baltic." With a Plate.

Feap. 8vo.

CHEMICAL MANIPULATION;

Being Instructions to Students in Chemistry, on the Methods of performing
Experiments of Demonstration or Research with accuracy and success.

By M. Faraday, F.R.S. Third Edilion, revised. 8vo.

FOOD AND ITS INFLUENCE ON HEALTH AND

DISEASE. ,

By Matiiew Truman, M.D, Post 8vo.

NORWAY AND ITS LAPPS;

With a few Hints to the Salmon Fisher in Norway. By John Milford, Esq , Author
of " Peninsular Sketches," « Observations on Italy," &c. 8vo.

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

ASIA MINOR, PONTUS, AND ARMENIA:

Being Researches in tliose Countries ; with their ANTIQUITIES and GEOLOGY.
By W. I. Hamilton, M.P. Map and Engravings. 2 vols. 8vo.

EXERCISES IN LATIN ELEGIACS;

Oi% a Collection of English Notes, admitting of Easy Version into Latin Hexameters
and Pentameters. By the Rev. W. Oxenham, Assistant Master of Hari'ow School.

r2mo.

MR. MURRAY^S HAND-BOOK GUIDES.

NORTHERN ITALY,

THE STATES OF SARDINIA, GENOA, AND THE RIVIERA, VENICE,

LOMBARDY, AND TUSCANY.

With a Map. Post 8vo.

SOUTHERN ITALY;

THE PAPAL STATES, ROME, NAPLES, AND SICILY. With a Map. Post 8vo.

FRANCE.

NORMANDY, BRITTANY; THE RIVERS LOIRE, SEINE, RHONE, AND
GARONNE; THE FRENCH ALPS, DAUPHINE, PROVENCE, AND THE
PYRENEES. With a Map. Post 8vo.

SWITZERLAND, SAVOYS AND PIEDMONT.

Second Edition. With a Map. Post 8vo.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY,

ITS ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND ASSOCIATIONS.
Fc.ip. 8vo.

HAMPTON COURT AND NEIGHBOURHOOD.

A Road-book to the Palace, and Guide to its Picture-Gallery and Gardens.

Fiflh Edition. Fcap. 8vo.

Bradbisry & Evans,] [Printers, Whitefrlars.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

Los Angeles

This book is DUE on the l^st date stamped below.

Illlll

3 115801217 8744

o =
o =
o =

en =
CD m
o ^

CD =

i'^