St. Peter, His Name and His Office Part 15

[27] S. Jerome on Gal. ch. 2.

[28] Homily on the text, I resisted him to the face, n. 8, Tom. 3, p. 368.

[29] Pa.s.saglia, p. 232.

[30] De Praese. c. 24.

[31] Cyprian, Ep. 71.

[32] Ep. 82, n. 22.

[33] Pa.s.saglia, p. 240.

[34] Hom. on text, n. 17.

CHAPTER VII.

S. PETER'S PRIMACY INVOLVED IN THE FOURFOLD UNITY OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM.

The doctrine[1] of S. Paul has brought us to a most interesting point of the subject, what, namely, is the principle of unity in the Church. A short consideration of this will shew us how the office of S. Peter enters into and forms part of the radical idea of the Church, so that the moment we profess our belief in one holy Catholic Church, the belief is likewise involved in that Primacy of teaching and authority which makes and keeps it one.

The principle of unity, then, is no other than "the Word made flesh:" that divine Person who has for ever joined together the G.o.dhead and the Manhood. Thus, S. Paul speaks to us of G.o.d "having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, _to gather together under one head all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth_:" at whose resurrection, "He set all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who filleth all in all." And again, "the head of every man is Christ;--and the head of Christ is G.o.d." "And we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another:"[2] as, again, he sets forth at length in the 12th chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, calling that one body by the very name of Christ.

With one voice the ancient Fathers[3] exult in this as the great purpose of His Incarnation. "The work," says S. Hippolytus,[4] "of His taking a body, is the gathering up into one head of all things unto Him." "The Word Man," says S. Irenaeus,[5] "gathering all things up into Himself, that as in super-celestial, and spiritual, and invisible things, the Word of G.o.d is the chief, so also in visible and corporeal things He may hold the chiefs.h.i.+p, a.s.suming the Primacy to Himself, and joining Himself as Head to the Church, may draw all things to Himself, at the fitting time." And again, "The Son of G.o.d was made Man among men, to join the end to the beginning, that is, man to G.o.d;" or, as Tertullian says,[6] "that G.o.d might shew that in Himself was the evolution of the beginning to the end, and the return of the end to the beginning." And Oec.u.menius, "Angels and men were rent asunder; G.o.d then joined them, and made them one through Christ." S. Gregory Thaumaturgus breaks out, "Thou art He that didst bridge over heaven and earth by Thy sacred body." And Augustine,[7] "Far off He was from us, and very far. What, so far off as the creature and the Creator? What, so far off as G.o.d and man? What, so far off as justice and iniquity? What, so far off as eternity and mortality? See how far off was 'the Word in the beginning, G.o.d with G.o.d, by whom all things were made.' How, then, was He made nigh, that He might be as we, and we in Him? 'The Word was made flesh.'" "Man, being a.s.sumed, was taken into the nature of the G.o.dhead," says S. Hilary:[8] and S. Chrysostome,[9] "He puts on flesh, that He who cannot be held may be holden:" "dwelling with us," says Gregory[10] of n.a.z.ianzum, "by interposing His flesh as a veil, that the incomprehensible may be comprehended." "For since,"

adds S. Cyril,[11] "man's nature was not capable of approaching the pure and unmixed glory of the G.o.dhead, because of its inherent weakness, for our use the only-begotten one put on our likeness."

"In the a.s.sumption of our nature," says S. Leo,[12] "He became to us the step, by which through Him we may be able to mount unto Him:"

"the descent of the Creator to the creature is the advance of believers to things eternal:" and, "it is not doubtful that man's nature has been taken into such connection by the Son of G.o.d, that, not only in that Man who is the first-born of all creation, but even in all His saints, there is one and the same Christ: and as the Head cannot be divided from the limbs, so neither the limbs from the Head. For though it belong not to this life, but to that of eternity, that G.o.d be all in all, yet even now He is the undivided inhabitant of His temple, which is the Church." For all the above is contained in our Lord's own words, "that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee," on which S. Athanasius[13]

says, "that all, being carried by Me, may be all one body and one spirit, and reach the perfect man:"--"for, as the Lord having clothed Himself in a body, became man, so we men are deified by the Word, being a.s.sumed through His flesh." S. Gregory,[14] of Nyssa, has unfolded this idea thus: "since from no other source but from our lump was the flesh which received G.o.d, which, by the resurrection, was together with the G.o.dhead exalted; just as in our own body the action of one organ of sense communicates sympathy to all that which is united with the part, so, just as if the whole nature (of man) were one living creature, the resurrection of a part pa.s.ses throughout the whole, being communicated from the part to the whole, according to the nature's continuity and union." And another,[15] interpreting the words, "that they all may be one,"

"thus I will, that they being drawn into unity, may be blended with each other, and becoming as one body, may all be in Me, who carry all in that one temple which I have a.s.sumed; the temple, namely, of His Body." And lastly, S. Hilary[16] deduces this not only from the Incarnation, but from the Blessed Eucharist. "For, if the Word be really made flesh, and we really receive the Word as flesh, in the food of the Lord, how is He not to be thought to remain in us naturally, since, both in being born a man, He a.s.sumed the nature of our flesh, never to be severed from Him, and has joined the nature of His flesh to the eternal nature under the sacrament of the flesh to be communicated to us."

So deep in the junction of the divine and human natures in our Lord's adorable Person lies the root of unity for that humanity which He purchased with His blood. It is in virtue of this heads.h.i.+p that the whole mystical body is one, and "we all members one of another." By this heads.h.i.+p our Lord nourishes and cherishes the Church, and communicates to her incessantly that stream of grace by which she lives. And as this heads.h.i.+p flows from the union of the G.o.dhead and Manhood, so it is inseparable from His Person, and incommunicable. But He has Himself, in His parting discourse, recorded by S. John, dwelt upon the great sacrament of unity, the result of this heads.h.i.+p, and set it forth as the sign and seal of His own divine mission, and the one convincing proof of His religion's superhuman origin. By following His words we shall see that this unity is not simple but fourfold, and we shall trace the mutual relation and subordination to the divine Heads.h.i.+p of its several kinds.

1. And first, "In[17] that day," says He, that is, after His own resurrection, "ye shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you," whereby He declares that, in the completion of the dispensation, the union between Himself and the faithful shall be such as to image out the mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son. Which again is further expressed, "I[18] am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit.... I am the vine; you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire, and he burneth.

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you." In these words He sets forth that union of mystical influx, by cooperation with which His disciples keep His words and abide in His love, and of which He is Himself the immediate principle.

2. But He does not stop at this interior and invisible union between His disciples and Himself: He speaks likewise of a new and special command, and of a special gift, by which their union with each other should be known. "A[19] new command I give unto you, that you love one another: as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one to another." And again, "This[20] is My command, that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love than this hath no man, that any one lay down his life for his friends.--These things I command you, that you love one another." But the Holy Spirit, whom our Lord was about to send forth, is the efficient principle of the love here enjoined, by His substantial indwelling, as we are told, "The[21] charity of G.o.d is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us." From Him, therefore, bestowed by the Head of the Church, springs that unity of charity, which, being itself internal, is shown in outward signs, and const.i.tutes that distinctive spirit of the Christian people, the spirit characterising it, and a.n.a.logous to the national spirit in civil organization.

3. But our Lord likewise speaks of a third unity, springing from the direction of one and the same divine Spirit. "And[22] I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever: the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him: but you shall know Him, because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you."

"The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind whatsoever I shall have said to you." "It[23] is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you." "But when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will teach you all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but what things soever He shall hear, He shall speak; and the things that are to come, He shall show you. He shall glorify Me, because He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it to you." Of the nature of this unity we may judge by the gifts and offices a.s.signed to that Spirit and Paraclete from whom it springs. Now He is repeatedly termed "the Spirit of truth," and His office, to _suggest_, to _announce_, to _teach_, and _to lead into all truth_.

This unity, therefore, is opposed to the division produced by ignorance and error, and so is the unity of faith, or Christian profession. Thus our Lord promises, besides the unity of charity, that of faith, the efficient principle of which, as well as of the former, is contained in the communication of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true in the supernatural order of divine gifts, than in the order of nature, that the first cause produces its effects by means of second causes. And here, as often as the Lord promises the Spirit of truth, He promises Him _to the Apostles_, and a.s.sures His perpetual abidance with them and the successors in their charge, thus, "That He may abide with you for ever:" "He shall abide with you, and shall be in you:" "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind which I have said unto you:" "Whom I will send unto you from the Father:" "I will send Him unto you:" "He shall lead you into all truth:" "He shall show you the things that are to come." And so the unity of faith may be expected from its _supreme_ cause, the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, _through the medium_ of the Apostles and their legitimate successors: the Holy Spirit in its _ultimate_, but they its _subordinate_ principle: He is the _source_, but they the _channel_. Thus to trust to the invisible action of the Spirit, but to despise the office and direction of the teachers ordained by Christ, in the very virtue of that Spirit, is to reject His divine inst.i.tution, and to risk a s.h.i.+pwreck of the promised gift of faith and truth.

For in exact accordance with our Lord's words here, S. Paul has set forth not only the inst.i.tution, but the source, as well as the end and purpose, of the whole visible hierarchy. It is inst.i.tuted by our Lord, as an act of His divine heads.h.i.+p; its source is in "one and the same Spirit dividing to every one according as He will;" its end and purpose is, "the edifying the body of Christ, until we all meet into the unity of faith."[24]

Each of these points is important. Our Lord's divine heads.h.i.+p over the Church, all encompa.s.sing, as it is, and the spring of all blessing and unity, does not dispense with the establishment of a visible hierarchy, but rather is specially shown therein. And again, the Holy Spirit is the source and superior principle of all spiritual gifts to all, but yet He acts _through_ this hierarchy. He is the spirit who maintains faith and truth, but it is by the instruments of His own appointing.

Now these three points, the bestowal of all spiritual gifts and offices by Christ in virtue of His mystical heads.h.i.+p, the Holy Spirit being the one superior principle of such gifts and offices, and His manifold operation therein through the visible hierarchy, are set forth most distinctly in two pa.s.sages of S. Paul, the twelfth chapter of the First to the Corinthians, and the fourth chapter to the Ephesians. "To every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the giving of Christ. Wherefore he saith, Ascending on high He led captivity captive; He gave gifts to men. Now that He ascended, what is it but because He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. And He gave some Apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of the ministry, unto the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all meet into the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of G.o.d, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ; that henceforth we be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive. But doing the truth in charity, we may in all things grow up in Him who is the Head, even Christ; from whom the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together, by what every joint supplieth, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in charity." "And the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man unto profit. To one indeed by the Spirit is given the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another, faith, in the same Spirit; to another, the grace of healing, in one Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the discerning of spirits; to another, divers kinds of tongues; to another interpretation of speeches. But all these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as He will. For as the body is one, and hath many members; and all the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body, so also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free, and in one Spirit we have all been made to drink."[25]

Thus, then, we have been brought by the words both of our Lord and of S. Paul, through an inward invisible unity, that of mystical influx from the vine to its branches, and again, that of charity, and that of faith and truth, to an outward and visible unity, one of social organization, called forth by the great Head for the purpose of exhibiting, defending, maintaining, and conveying the former, since it is expressly said that He gave it "for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of the ministry, unto the edifying of the body of Christ," and in order that "we may be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine." And the inward source and cause of this unity are indeed invisible, being the Holy Spirit of G.o.d, sent down by Christ, when He ascended up on high, to dwell permanently among men, but its effects are external and most visible, even the growth of a body "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ," a body which has an orderly arrangement of all its parts, and a hierarchy of officers to continue till the end of all. And the function of this hierarchy is one never to be superseded, and which none but itself, the organ of the Holy Spirit, can perform, namely, to bring its members "to meet in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of G.o.d." As our Lord says, in the promise, before His pa.s.sion, "I will ask the Father, and He shall give you (the Apostles) another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of truth," so S. Paul of the accomplishment after His ascension, "He gave some Apostles and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors," yet "all these things worketh one and the same Spirit." For as the divine Head took to Himself a body, bridging thereby the worlds of matter and of spirit, and as "in Him dwelt all the fulness of the G.o.dhead _corporally_," so in His Church, in perfect a.n.a.logy with the Archetype, the visible is the channel of the invisible, and the outward organization is instinct with inward life, and the hierarchy is the gift of the mystical Head, and the instrument of the one sanctifying Spirit. To think otherwise, to disregard the external framework, under a pretence of exalting the inward spirit, is to undo so far the work of the Incarnation, and to renew the insanity of those early heretics who in one way or another would "dissolve"

Christ; for there is no less "one Body," than there is "one Spirit."

But if His heads.h.i.+p of mystical influx is _alone_ and _immediately_ sufficient, as is so often objected, for the maintenance of external unity, to what end is the creation of this visible hierarchy? For the objection that the invisible heads.h.i.+p of Christ renders a visible heads.h.i.+p unnecessary, and indeed an infringement on His sole divine prerogative, whatever force it may have, tells not more against an oec.u.menical head of the Church, than against every order and officer of the hierarchy. These all, and with them the whole system of sacraments as well as symbols, become alike unnecessary and even injurious, if each member of the mystical body be knit to Christ _immediately_ without any outward framework. And with what face especially can those maintain that the bishop is the visible head of each diocese, and in being such does not contradict, but ill.u.s.trate, the heads.h.i.+p of Christ, who yet deny that there is one in the whole Church put in the like place over bishops, and see in such an appointment an infringement on the office of Christ? Such an argument is so profoundly illogical and inconsistent, that one has difficulty in believing it to be seriously held, or is hopeless of bringing conviction to those who cannot see an absurdity.

Let those, then, who confound together the supreme Heads.h.i.+p of Christ over His Church, whereby He communicates to it life and grace, with the inferior and subordinate heads.h.i.+p of external unity, see to what their objection tends. It stops at nothing short of destroying the whole visible hierarchy, and the sacramental grace of which it is the channel. Holy Scripture, on the contrary, tells us in these pa.s.sages that the providence by which the Church is governed resembles that by which this outward universe is ruled, in the subordination of second causes to the supreme cause. Christ repeats as Redeemer His work as Creator, to give life and force to these second causes, and while He works in the members of His body both "to will and to do," bestows on them the privilege of cooperating with Him. Thus the dignity of supreme Head which belongs to Christ, and is incommunicable, no more takes away the ministry of the external head who is charged with the office of effecting and maintaining unity, than it impedes the ministry of "apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and doctors," to whom Christ entrusted the Church, that by their means it might be brought to sanct.i.ty and perfection.

4. And these words bring us to the fourth unity mentioned by our Lord. For not until "He ascended up on high" did "He give gifts to men." And this visible hierarchy, the sign and token of His mystical Heads.h.i.+p, and fostering care, is by Him quickened and informed with the Holy Spirit, when He is Himself invisible at the right hand of the majesty of G.o.d. This absence, too, is what He foretold, saying, "And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee; Holy Father, keep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given Me; that they may be one, as we also are. While I was with them, I kept them in Thy name.--And now I come to Thee."--These words of our Lord show that it was His will that His believers should be no less one among each other, by an outward and visible union, than they were one by the internal bond of charity, the guidance of one Spirit of truth, and the influx of the one Vine. And so far we have seen that, to guard and maintain that unity under the guidance of the Spirit of truth, He called forth the visible hierarchy, in all its degrees. But what, then, was the external root and efficient principle of this visible hierarchy, when He was gone to the Father? Did He not likewise provide for the loss occasioned by His own absence, which He had foretold? The argument of S. Paul proves that He did so provide, as well as His own words. For S. Paul declares the Church to be "one Body." Was it then a body without a head, or a body with a head invisible? Or did the Lord of all, having with complete wisdom framed His mystical body in all its parts and proportions, and having set _first_ Apostles, and then in their various degree, doctors and pastors, in one single, and that the main point, reverse the a.n.a.logy of all His doings? Did He appoint every officer in His household, except the one who should rule all? Did He construct the entire arch, save only the keystone?

Did He make a bishop to represent His person, and be the centre of visible unity in every diocese, but none to represent that person in the highest degree and to be the centre of unity to the whole Church? Was it the end of His whole design "to gather together in one the children of G.o.d, that were dispersed," in order that there might be "One Fold," and did He fail to add, "One Shepherd?" Yet S.

Paul declares that "there are many members, but one body." How can the distinct and diverse members be reduced to the unity of a body, but by the unity of the head, as the efficient principle? In accordance with which we may observe that never is the image of a body used in Scripture to represent the Church, but it is thereby shown to be visible; and never is it compared with a body as a type, but that body is shown complete with its head. Such are the well-known images of one House, Kingdom, City, Fold, and Temple, to which we have had so often to appeal. Even the unity of things in themselves dissimilar is derived in Scripture from the unity of the Head. Thus the man and the woman are said in marriage to be one, and that in a great mystery, representing Christ and the Church, but this, because "the husband is the head of the wife." And Christ is said to be one with the faithful, because "the head of every man is Christ:" and G.o.d one with Christ, because "the head of Christ is G.o.d." If, then,[26] the Church is one body, it receives, according to the reasoning of Holy Scripture, that property from the unity of its head.

But such a one body, while yet militant upon earth, S. Paul declares it to be, setting forth at the same time the various orders of its hierarchy. Is it then a body complete, or incomplete? With a head or without one? For it is no reply to say that it has indeed a head, but one invisible. That invisible heads.h.i.+p did not obviate, as we have seen, the necessity of a visible hierarchy: why then does it obviate the like and even more striking necessity, that the hierarchy too must have its visible head? If it was, so to say, the very first act of our Lord's supreme heads.h.i.+p over all to the Church--the very token that He had led captivity captive--to quicken the visible ministry which He had established by sending down the Holy Spirit to abide with it for ever, is the one place most necessary in that ministry to be the only one left vacant by Him? Is the one officer most fully representing Himself to be alone omitted?

"The _perfecting_ of the saints" (a metaphor taken as we have seen, from the exact fitting together of the stones in a building,) and "the edifying of the body of Christ," are described as the end to be reached by those to whom "the work of the ministry" is committed, but as this applies in a higher degree to the Bishop than to the priest, so it applies in the highest of all to the Bishop of bishops.

Again, G.o.d's method of teaching by symbols, which runs through the whole Scripture, and the inst.i.tution of Sacraments, proves to us His will to lead us on from the visible to the invisible, and to make the former a channel to the latter. For "we are all baptized into one body," and the outward act both images and conveys the inward privilege. And again in the highest conceivable instance, "because the head is one, we being many are one body, who all partake of that one bread."[27] In like manner the outward unity of the Church must accurately represent, and answer to the inward, which, we know, is derived from the Person of Christ, who is its head. And so that Person must be specially represented in the outward unity.

And this is one reason why no unity of a college, whether of Apostles, or of Bishops, will adequately express that visible heads.h.i.+p of which our Lord's Person is the exemplar. For the root of all lies in a personal unity, that of the G.o.dhead and Manhood, and therefore a merely collective or representative unity cannot express it. And if the Apostle wrote, "G.o.d hath set in the Church _first_ Apostles," yet he also wrote that the grand result, "the perfecting of the saints, and the edifying of the body of Christ," was due to the ministry, not only of Apostles, but of prophets, evangelists, pastors, and doctors, each in their degree; they all conspire to a joint action, which does not impede the existence of distinct orders in the hierarchy. And his expression that the Apostles are _first_ in this hierarchy, without defining their mutual relations to each other, does not exclude those other pa.s.sages of Scripture which _do_ define those relations, and which make Peter among the Apostles "the first," "the ruler," "the greater," the Judah among his brethren, the foundation of the whole building, and the one shepherd in the universal fold. And the more so because S. Paul uses three expressions of the Church, two of which are _relative_, but one _absolute_. He calls it "the body of Christ," and "Christ," which are relative; but he also calls it "one body," which is absolute.

Now, these expressions are not to be severed from each other, as if each by itself would convey the whole idea of the Church, which rather is to be drawn from them all together. In answer to what the Church is, we must not say that it is _either_ "the body of Christ,"

_or_ mystically called "Christ," _or_ set before us as "one body,"

for it is _all_ of these at once, relatively "Christ," and "the body of Christ," and absolutely "one body."

As, then, the former expressions show that the Church is one _in reference to Christ_, so the latter shows that it is so _in itself_, and _simply_. For as the Church is called "Christ," and "the Body of Christ," because it is one with Christ by mystical union, drawing its supernatural life from Christ its head, so it is called "one body," because in the variety of members and parts, of which it consists, no one is wanting to its being one body in itself, and to its being seen to be such. But it would neither be so, nor seem to be so, if it were without a visible head, the origin and principle of its inherent visible unity. And so where the Church is called by S. Paul "one Body," he declares that it has a visible head.

Thus it is that the inherent notion of the Church, as one visible body, and the whole dispensation by which visible things answer to invisible, as their archetypes, demand one visible head. Now to this _inherent_ necessity let us add the force of _positive_ teaching.

When our Lord in almost His last words to His Church prays to His Father, "while I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name--but now I come to Thee," what does He but suggest the appointment of another visible head to take that place which He was leaving? and further, what does He but name one to that high dignity, when He calls him "the greater" and "the ruler" among his brethren, commits them to him to be confirmed by him, and makes him the shepherd of the whole flock? What else had He done but prepare them for such a nomination, when He promised _one_ that he should be the foundation of His Church, and the bearer of the keys? What else did Christians from the beginning see in such an one, when they called him the _head_, the _centre_, the _fountain_, the _root_, the _principle_ of ecclesiastical unity?

Let us remark, once more, as a confirmation of the above, that the archetype of visible unity in the Church, which our Lord sets before us in His prayer to the Father, is no other than that most high and solemn of all things conceivable, the mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son. "Holy Father, keep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We also are;" and again, for all successive generations of the faithful, "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."

Now the relation established by our Lord between Peter and the rest of the Apostles, by appointing him the visible head of the Church, and between Peter's successor and all bishops, does represent, so far as earthly things may, and in a degree which nothing else on earth reaches to, the mutual relation of the three divine Persons to each other. For as these are distinct, but inseparable, so, too, are the Apostles. As the fulness of the G.o.dhead is _first_ in the Father and _then_ in the Son and in the Holy Spirit, so the fulness of power _first_ promised and given to Peter, is _then_ propagated to the other Apostles united with him. As in the Father the economy of the divine Persons is summed up under one head, and gathered into a monarchy, so in Peter is gathered up the fulness of ecclesiastical power, which, through union with him, is one in all, as the Church is one, and the Episcopate one. Moreover, as it is the dignity of the Father to be the exemplar, principle, root, and fountain of unity in the Trinity, so is it the dignity of Peter to be the exemplar, principle, root, and fountain of visible unity in the kingdom of G.o.d, which is the Church. This is alluded to by Pope Symmachus, thirteen hundred and fifty years ago: "There is one single priesthood in the different prelates, (of the Apostolic See) after the example of the Trinity, whose power is one and indivisible."[28] And long before him S. Cyprian: "The Lord says, 'I and the Father are one.' And again it is written of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 'And these three are one.' Is there a man who believes that this unity, coming from the divine solidity, cohering by heavenly sacraments, can possibly be broken in the Church, and torn asunder by the collision of adverse wills? This unity he who holds not, holds not the law of G.o.d, holds not the faith of the Father and the Son, holds not the truth unto salvation."[29]

Whereas, then, all unity in the Body of Christ, the Church, is derived ultimately from the person of its Head, the Word Incarnate, that unity is yet four-fold in its operation, and the efficient principle of one sort is not to be confounded with that of another.

There is the _mystical_ unity, which consists in the perpetual divine influx from the great invisible Head to His members; there is the _moral_ or _spiritual_ unity of charity, consisting in the presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, and these two are internal, and in closest correspondence. There are two likewise external, which may be called the _civil_ or _political_ unity, consisting in the public profession of the same faith, the same truth, for what the _law_ is to temporal states, the _faith_ is to the great spiritual kingdom of Christ; and this unity is indeed inspired by the Holy Spirit, but is maintained by Him through the visible hierarchy; and lastly, correspondent to the unity of faith, there is the _visible_ unity of external organization, the immediate or efficient principle of which lies in the visible heads.h.i.+p over the Church attached by the Lord to S. Peter's chair. The latter two, while they correspond to each other, are indeed subordinate to the former, the unity of faith to that of charity, as the unity of the visible heads.h.i.+p to that of the invisible; yet the very truth of the Body which the Lord has a.s.sumed, and in which He reigns, and the whole a.n.a.logy of His dealings with men, and the sacraments whereby He makes us "partakers of the divine nature," warn us that it is of the highest importance for us to see how external unity is the channel of internal, and the visible the road to the invisible. No words can be more emphatic to this effect than those with which the Apostle introduces the description of the visible hierarchy, and the divine heads.h.i.+p which called it forth. "There is _one Body_ and one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One G.o.d and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all." From which he goes on to say, "Ascending up on high, He gave gifts to men--some Apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers." And lastly, "the Head over all things to the Church," is "the Saviour _of the Body_."[30]

But if this be so, we can say nothing more highly to exalt S.

Peter's office in the Church, for he is the great bond and stay of this outward unity, as even[31] enemies confess. As surely as in a real monarchy the person of the sovereign ties together every part of the political edifice, and is endued with majesty because he is at once the type of G.o.d, and concentrates in one the power and dignity of the whole community, so it is in that divine structure in which "the manifold wisdom of G.o.d" is disclosed to all creation. The point of strength is felt alike by friend and foe. On the Rock of Peter has fallen every storm which the enmity of the evil one has raised for eighteen hundred years; but yet the gates of h.e.l.l have not prevailed against it. In the Rock of Peter, and the divine promise attached to it, every heart faithful to G.o.d and the Church trusts now, as it trusted from the beginning. Many temporal monarchs in their hour of pride have risen against S. Peter's See, but the greatest of them all[32] declared that no one had ever gained honour or victory in that conflict, and he lived to be the most signal instance of his own observation. "G.o.d is patient, because He is eternal," and the Holy See prevails in its weakness over power, and in its justice over cupidity, because while temporal dominion pa.s.ses from hand to hand, and stays not with any nation, following the gift of G.o.d which the poet calls fortune,

Perche una gente impera, e l'altra langue, Seguendo lo giudizio di costei Che e occulta, come in l'erba l'angue,--(DANTE, _Inferno_.)

the visible kingdom of Christ, which is His Church, lasts for ever, and is built upon the rock of Peter. The long line of descendants, from Constantine and from Charlemagne, have in their turn impugned and ill.u.s.trated this glorious privilege of the Papal See. What is there so stable in an empire of commerce, or so solid in the nicely-balanced and delicate machinery of a const.i.tutional monarchy, as to exempt them from the action of an universal law, or to ensure their victory in the doomed contest with the Vicar of Christ?

Mightier things than they have done their worst, have oppressed, triumphed, and become extinct, and if it be allowed them in the crisis of their trial to crucify Christ afresh, He will yet reign from the cross, and "draw all men unto Him."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In this chapter I have availed myself of Pa.s.saglia, b. 1, c. 25, and b. 2, c. 11.

[2] Eph. i. 9, 22; 1 Cor. xi. 2; Rom. xii. 5.

[3] See Petavius, De Incarn. Lib. 2, c. 7 and 8, for the following quotations.