THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
By unity is meant that the members of the true Church must be united in
the belief of the same doctrines of revelation, and in the acknowledgment
of the authority of the same pastors. Heresy and schism are opposed to
Christian unity. By heresy, a man rejects one or more articles of the
Christian faith. By schism, he spurns the authority of his spiritual
superiors. That our Savior requires this unity of faith and government in
His members is evident from various passages of Holy Writ. In His
admirable prayer immediately before His passion He says: “I pray for them
also who through their word shall believe in Me; that they all may be one,
as Thou, Father, in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us;
that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me,”(16) because the unity
of the Church is the most luminous evidence of the Divine mission of
Christ. Jesus prayed that His followers may be united in the bond of a
common faith, as He and His Father are united in essence, and certainly
the prayer of Jesus is always heard.
St. Paul ranks schism and heresy with the crimes of murder and idolatry,
and he declares that the authors of sects shall not possess the Kingdom of
God.(17) He also addresses a letter to the Ephesians from his prison in
Rome, and if the words of the Apostle should always command our homage,
with how much reverence are they to be received when he writes in chains
from the Imperial City! In this Epistle he insists upon unity of faith in
the following emphatic language: “Be careful to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace; one body and one Spirit, as you 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 us all.”(18) As
you all, he says, worship one God, and not many gods; as you acknowledge
the same Divine Mediator of redemption, and not many mediators; as you are
sanctified by the same Divine Spirit, and not by many spirits; as you all
hope for the same heaven, and not different heavens, so must you all
profess the same faith.
Unity of government is not less essential to the Church of Christ than
unity of doctrine. Our Divine Saviour never speaks of His Churches, but of
His _Church_. He does not say: “Upon this rock I will build my Churches,”
but “upon this rock I will build My Church,”(19) from which words we must
conclude that it never was His intention to establish or to sanction
various conflicting denominations, but one corporate body, with all the
members united under one visible Head; for as the Church is a visible
body, it must have a visible head.
The Church is called a kingdom: “He shall reign over the house of Jacob
forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”(20) Now in every
well-regulated kingdom there is but _one king, one form of government, one
uniform body of laws_, which all are obliged to observe. In like manner,
in Christ’s spiritual kingdom, there must be one Chief to whom all owe
spiritual allegiance; one form of ecclesiastical government; one uniform
body of laws which all Christians are bound to observe; for, “every
kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate.”(21)
Our Savior calls His Church a sheepfold. “And there shall be made one fold
and one shepherd.”(22) What more beautiful or fitting illustration of
unity can we have than that which is suggested by a sheepfold? All the
sheep of a flock cling together. If they are momentarily separated, they
are impatient till reunited. They follow in the same path. They feed on
the same pastures. They obey the same shepherd, and fly from the voice of
strangers. So did our Lord intend that all the sheep of His fold should be
nourished by the same sacraments and the same bread of life; that they
should follow the same rule of faith as their guide to heaven; that they
should listen to the voice of one Chief Pastor, and that they should
carefully shun false teachers.
His Church is compared to a human body. “As in one body we have many
members, but all the members have not the same office; so we, being many,
are one body in Christ, and every one members one of the other.”(23) In
one body there are many members, all inseparably connected with the head.
The head commands and the foot instantly moves, the hand is raised and the
lips open. Even so our Lord ordained that His Church, composed of many
members, should be all united to one supreme visible Head, whom they are
bound to obey.
The Church is compared to a vine. “I am the Vine, ye the branches; he that
abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit, for without Me ye
can do nothing.”(24) All the branches of a vine, though spreading far and
wide, are necessarily connected with the main stem, and from its sap they
are nourished. In like manner, our Saviour will have all the saplings of
His Vineyard connected with the main stem, and all draw their nourishment
from the parent stock.
The Church, in fine, is called in Scripture by the beautiful title of
bride or spouse of Christ,(25) and the Christian law admits only of one
wife.
In fact, our common sense alone, apart from revelation, is sufficient to
convince us that God could not be the author of various opposing systems
of religion. God is essentially one. He is Truth itself. How could the God
of truth affirm, for instance, to one body of Christians that there are
three persons in God, and to another there is only one person in God? How
could He say to one individual that Jesus Christ is God, and to another
that He is only man? How can He tell me that the punishments of the wicked
are eternal, and tell another that they are not eternal? One of these
contradictory statements must be false. “God is not the God of dissension,
but of peace.”(26)
I see perfect harmony in the laws which govern the physical world that we
inhabit. I see a marvelous unity in our planetary system. Each planet
moves in its own sphere, and all are controlled by the central Sun.
Why should there not be also harmony and concord in that spiritual world,
the Church of God, the grandest conception of His omnipotence, and the
most bounteous manifestation of His goodness and love for mankind!
Hence, it is clear that Jesus Christ intended that His Church should have
one common doctrine which all Christians are bound to believe, and one
uniform government to which all should be loyally attached.
With all due respect for my dissenting brethren, truth compels me to say
that this unity of doctrine and government is not to be found in the
Protestant sects, taken collectively or separately. That the various
Protestant denominations differ from one another not only in minor
details, but in most essential principles of faith, is evident to every
one conversant with the doctrines of the different Creeds. The
multiplicity of sects in this country, with their mutual recriminations,
is the scandal of Christianity, and the greatest obstacle to the
conversion of the heathen. Not only does sect differ from sect, but each
particular denomination is divided into two or more independent or
conflicting branches.
In the State of North Carolina we have several Baptist denominations, each
having its own distinctive appellation. There is also the Methodist Church
North and the Methodist Church South. There was the Old and the New School
Presbyterian Church. And even in the Episcopal Communion, which is the
most conservative body outside the Catholic Church, there is the
ritualistic, or high church, and the low church. Nay, if you question
closely the individual members composing any one fraction of these
denominations, you will not rarely find them giving a contradictory view
of their tenets of religion.
Protestants differ from one another not only in doctrine, but in the form
of ecclesiastical government and discipline. The church of England
acknowledges the reigning Sovereign as its Spiritual Head. Some
denominations recognize Deacons, Priests, and Bishops as an essential part
of their hierarchy; while the great majority of Protestants reject such
titles altogether.
Where, then, shall we find this essential unity of faith and government? I
answer, confidently, nowhere save in the Catholic Church.
The number of Catholics in the world is computed at three hundred
millions. They have all “one Lord, one faith, one baptism,” one creed.
They receive the same sacraments, they worship at the same altar, and pay
spiritual allegiance to one common Head. Should a Catholic be so
unfortunate as contumaciously to deny a single article of faith, or
withdraw from the communion of his legitimate pastors, he ceases to be a
member of the Church, and is cut off like a withered branch. The Church
had rather sever her right hand than allow any member to corrode her
vitals. It was thus she excommunicated Henry VIII. because he persisted in
violating the sacred law of marriage, although she foresaw that the
lustful monarch would involve a nation in his spiritual ruin. She
anathematized, more recently, Dr. Döllinger, though the prestige of his
name threatened to engender a schism in Germany. She says to her children:
“You may espouse any political party you choose; with this I have no
concern.” But as soon as they trench on matters of faith she cries out:
“Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no farther; and here thou shalt
break thy swelling waves”(27) of discord. The temple of faith is the
asylum of peace, concord and unity.
How sublime and consoling is the thought that whithersoever a Catholic
goes over the broad world, whether he enters his Church in Pekin or in
Melbourne, in London, or Dublin, or Paris, or Rome, or New York, or San
Francisco, he is sure to hear the self-same doctrine preached, to assist
at the same sacrifice, and to partake of the same sacraments.
This is not all. Her Creed is now identical with what it was in past ages.
The same Gospel of peace that Jesus Christ preached on the Mount; the same
doctrine that St. Peter preached at Antioch and Rome; St. Paul at Ephesus;
St. John Chrysostom at Constantinople; St. Augustine in Hippo; St. Ambrose
in Milan; St. Remigius in France; St. Boniface in Germany; St. Athanasius
in Alexandria; the same doctrine that St. Patrick introduced into Ireland;
that St. Augustine brought into England, and St. Pelagius into Scotland,
and that Columbus brought to this American Continent, and this is the
doctrine that is ever preached in the Catholic Church throughout the
globe, from January till December—“Jesus Christ yesterday, and today, and
the same forever.”(28)
The same admirable unity that exists in matters of faith is also
established in the government of the Church. All the members of the vast
body of Catholic Christians are as intimately united to one visible Chief
as the members of the human body are joined to the head. The faithful of
each Parish are subject to their immediate Pastor. Each Pastor is
subordinate to his Bishop, and each Bishop of Christendom acknowledges the
jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter, and Head
of the Catholic Church.
But it may be asked, is not this unity of faith impaired by those
doctrinal definitions which the Church has promulgated from time to time?
We answer: No new dogma, unknown to the Apostles, not contained in the
primitive Christian revelation, can be admitted. (John xiv. 26; xv. 15;
xvi. 13.) For the Apostles received the whole deposit of God’s word,
according to the promise of our Lord: “When He shall come, the Spirit of
truth, He shall teach you all truth.” And so the Church proposes the
doctrines of faith, such as came from the lips of Christ, and as the Holy
Spirit taught them to the Apostles at the birth of the Christian
law—doctrines which know neither variation nor decay.
Hence, whenever it has been defined that any point of doctrine pertained
to the Catholic faith, it was always understood that this was equivalent
to the declaration that the doctrine in question had been revealed to the
Apostles, and had come down to us from them, either by Scripture or
tradition. And as the acts of all the Councils, and the history of every
definition of faith evidently show, it was never contended that a _new
revelation_ had been made, but every inquiry was directed to this one
point—whether the doctrine in question was contained in the Sacred
Scriptures or in the Apostolic traditions.
A revealed truth frequently has a very extensive scope, and is directed
against error under its many changing forms. Nor is it necessary that
those who receive this revelation in the first instance should be
explicitly acquainted with its full import, or cognizant of all its
bearings. Truth never changes; it is the same now, yesterday, and forever,
_in itself_; but our relations towards truth may change, for that which is
hidden from us today may become known to us tomorrow. “It often happens,”
says St. Augustine, “that when it becomes necessary to defend certain
points of Catholic doctrine against the insidious attacks of heretics they
are more carefully studied, they become _more clearly understood_, they
are _more earnestly inculcated_; and so the very questions raised by
heretics give occasion to a more thorough knowledge of the subject in
question.”(29)
Let us illustrate this. In the Apostolic revelation and preaching some
truths might have been contained _implicitly_, _e.g._, in the doctrine
that grace is necessary for every salutary work, it is implicitly asserted
that the assistance of grace is required for the inception of every good
and salutary work. This was denied by the semi-Pelagians, and their error
was condemned by an explicit definition. And so in other matters, as the
rising controversies or new errors gave occasion for it, there were more
_explicit_ declarations of what was formerly _implicitly_ believed. In the
doctrine of the supreme power of Peter, as the visible foundation of the
Church, we have the _implied_ assertion of many rights and duties which
belong to the centre of unity. In the revelation of the super-eminent
dignity and purity of the Blessed Virgin there is implied her exemption
from original sin, etc., etc.
So, too, in the beginning many truths might have been proposed somewhat
_obscurely_ or _less clearly_; they might have been _less urgently
insisted upon_, because there was no heresy, no contrary teaching to
render a more explicit declaration necessary. Now, a doctrine which is
_implicitly, less clearly, not so earnestly_ proposed, may be overlooked,
misunderstood, called in question; consequently, it may happen that some
articles are now universally believed in the Church, in regard to which
doubts and controversies existed in former ages, even within the bosom of
the Church. “Those who err in belief do but serve to bring out more
clearly the soundness of those who believe rightly. For there are many
things which _lay hidden in the Scriptures_, and when heretics were cut
off they vexed the Church of God with disputes; then the hidden things
were _brought to light_, and the will of God was made known.” (St.
Augustine on the 54th Psalm, No. 22.)
This kind of _progress in faith_ we can and do admit; but the truth is not
changed thereby. As Albertus Magnus says: “It would be more correct to
style this the progress of the believer in the faith than of the faith in
the believer.”
To show that this kind of progress is to be admitted only two things are
to be proved: 1: That some divinely revealed truths should be contained in
the Apostolic teaching _implicitly, less clearly explained, less urgently
pressed_. And this can be denied only by those who hold that the Bible is
the only rule of Faith, that it is clear in every part, and could be
readily understood by all from the beginning. This point I shall consider
farther on in this work. 2. That the Church can, in process of time, as
occasions arise, _declare, explain, urge_. This is proved not only from
the Scriptures and the Fathers, but even from the conduct of Protestants
themselves, who often boast of the care and assiduity with which they
“search the Scriptures,” and study out their meaning, even now that so
many Commentaries on the sacred Text have been published. And why? To
obtain more light; to understand better what is revealed. It would appear
from this that the only question which could arise on this point is, not
about the possibility of arriving by degrees at a clearer understanding of
the true sense of revelation, as circumstances may call for successive
developments, but about the authority of the Church to propose and to
determine that sense. So that, after all, we are always brought back to
the only real point of division and dispute between those who are not
Catholics and ourselves, namely, to the authority of the Church, of which
I shall have more to say hereafter. I cannot conclude better than by
quoting the words of St. Vincent of Lerins: “Let us take care that it be
with us in matters of religion, which affect our souls, as it is with
material bodies, which, as time goes on, pass through successive phases of
growth and development and multiply their years, but yet remain always the
same individual bodies as they were in the beginning.... It very properly
follows from the nature of things that, with a perfect agreement and
consistency between the beginnings and the final results, when we reap the
harvest of dogmatic truth which has sprung from the seeds of doctrine sown
in the spring-time of the Church’s existence, we should find no
substantial difference between the grain which was first planted and that
which we now gather. For though the germs of the early faith have in some
respects been evolved in the course of time, and still receive nourishment
and culture, yet nothing in them that is substantial can ever suffer
change. The Church of Christ is a faithful and ever watchful guardian of
the dogmas which have been committed to her charge. In this sacred deposit
she changes nothing, she takes nothing from it, she adds nothing to it.”