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the same, after His resurrection,' Feed my sheep.' He builds His Church on one. And though He gives an equal power to all the Apostles, saying, 'As my FATHER hath sent me, even so send I you. Receive ye the HOLY GHOST. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted to him; whosesoever sins ye retain, they shall be retained :'-yet in order to indicate the principle of unity, he has by his own act established the origin of that unity in the person of one individual. There was no distinction between St. Peter and the other Apostles, but all participated together in honour and power; yet the selection of one individual is the first act in the Church, that the Church may be itself shown to be one and this one Church the HOLY SPIRIT hath in the Song of Songs designated and declared, 'My dove, my spotless one, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, elect of her that bare her.'"

3.

Episcopacy is a witness for Unity.

"He who holds not this unity of the Church, does he think that he holds the faith? When a man struggles against the Church, and resists it, does he suppose that he continues to belong to it? For surely the blessed Apostle St. Paul teaches the same thing, and indicates the sacredness of unity in these words: '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.' This unity it is our duty to hold and vindicate with firmness, especially we bishops who preside in the Church, that we may approve our Episcopal authority to be founded in one indivisible principle. Let no man injure the brotherhood by deception; let no man corrupt the truth of our faith by faithless concessions. Episcopal authority is founded in one principle; and the tenure of this authority, however disturbed, is associated with a recognition of its indivisible principle. The Church, too, is one, though multiplied far and wide by its naturally prolific

tendency in like manner as the sun has rays many, yet one light; and the tree has many boughs, yet their strength, from the root upwards, is a single property; and when many streams flow from one head, a character of multiplicity may be developed in the copiousness of their discharge, and yet the unity of their nature must be recognised, in the fountain they proceed from. Divide the ray from the sun, and the principle of unity will negative their separation; lop the bough from the tree, it will want strength to blossom; cut the stream from its fountain, the remnant will be dried up. Thus the Church, invested with light from the LORD, sends out her rays over the whole earth; and yet the light is one, disseminated every where, with no separation of the original body she stretches forth the rich luxuriance of her branches over all the world, and pours out her onward streams, and spreads into the distance; yet is there one head, one source, one mother, in all the instances of her eventful fecundity."

4.

The Church is ordained by Christ as the fountain of spiritual life.

"It is from her we receive our birth: her milk is our nourishment; her breath, our life. The spouse of CHRIST is a spotless spouse; she is incorruptible, and pure; she recognises but one home, and secures by her purity the sanctity of but one alliance. She keeps us as the property of GOD, and vindicates to His sons their royal inheritance. Whosoever separates from the Church declares himself an alien, and cuts himself off from the inheritance which the Church promises. He cannot obtain the reward which CHRIST gives, who leaves the Church which CHRIST has established he is an alien: he is impure: he is an enemy. GOD is no more our FATHER when we cease to be children of the Church. If any one of those escaped who were without the ark of Noah, then will he escape, who trespasses beyond the pale of the Church. The LORD hath given us these words of warning, 'He who is not with me, is against me; and he who gathereth

not with me, scattereth.' He who breaks the peace and concord of CHRIST, sets himself against CHRIST. He who gathereth elsewhere but in the Church, scattereth the Church of CHRIST."

5.

One God and Saviour, one Church.

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"The LORD saith, 'I and the FATHER are one;' and again, of the FATHER, the Son, and the HOLY GHOST, it is written, and these Three are One.' And does any man believe that this unity, resting in strength from above, and formed by the consecration of Heaven, can be cut asunder in the Church, and separated by the opposition of clashing opinions? He who holds not this unity, holds not the law of God, holds not the faith of FATHER and SoN, holds not the truth unto salvation. This consecration of unity, this bond of union inseparably coherent, is exhibited in the place in the Gospel, where the coat of our LORD JESUS CHRIST is left entire by persons casting lots for it: so that the garment, instead of being parted, becomes a single possession, and is delivered over complete and perfect. Holy Scripture has these words: 'But for the coat, because it was not sewed, but woven from the top throughout, they said one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots whose it shall be.' Here unity descended from the top, to denote that it proceeds from heaven and from the FATHER. And it was out of the question for the receiver or possessor of it to rend it, but he took possession of the whole piece, as a complete and united substance. He wears not CHRIST's garment, who cuts and sunders CHRIST's Church. Now, on the other hand, when, on Solomon's death, his kingdom and people were divided, Ahijah the prophet meeting Jeroboam the king in the field, divided his garment into twelve parts, saying, Take unto thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, Behold, I rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee, and two tribes shall belong to him, for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen, to place my name there. When the twelve

tribes of Israel were divided, the prophet Ahijah rent his garment. But because CHRIST'S people cannot be rent, his coat being woven and conjoined throughout, was not divided by its owners. United, conjoined, co-entwined, it shows the inseparable concord of us, the people who put on CHRIST: So that in this holy instance of his garment, he manifests the unity of the Church."

(To be continued.)

OXFORD,

The Feast of St. Andrew.

[FOURTH EDITION.]

These Tracts are continued in Numbers, and sold at the price of 2d. for each sheet, or 7s. for 50 copies.

LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. G. F. &. J. RIVINGTON,

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE.

1840.

GILBERT & RIVINGTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London.

TRACTS FOR THE TIMES.

RECORDS OF THE CHURCH.

No. XX.

THE HOLY CHURCH THROUGHOUT ALL THE WORLD DOTH ACKNOWLEDGE THEE.

St. Cyprian on the Unity of the Church, (continued).

6.

The one Church Catholic, and one only, in every place. WHO then is the criminal and the traitor, who so mad and reckless a schismatic, as either to credit the practicability, or venture on the attempt of putting asunder what GOD has made one; this garment of the LORD, the Church of CHRIST? He teaches, He warns us, in His Gospel, "There shall be one fold and one shepherd." And does any suppose that there can be, in one place, either many shepherds, or many folds? So too the Apostle, suggesting the same unity, implores and exhorts us: "I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that ye be joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment." And again He says, "bearing one another's burthens in love, doing all to preserve the unity of the SPIRIT, in the bond of peace." Think you that any can stand and live, who retires from the Church, and forms for himself other habitations and a different home? whereas, it was said to Rahab, in whom was prefigured the Church, "Thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all the house of thy father, thou shalt gather unto thee into thine house, and it shall come to pass, whosoever shall go abroad beyond the door of thine house, his blood shall be on his own head." So the Paschal sacrifice contains this simple mandate in the law of Exodus, that the lamb which is slain,

VOL. II.

A

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