Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/362



356 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

But the mission of Christ is to save that which had perished; that is to say, not some nations or peoples, but the whole human race, without distinction of time or place. The Son of man came that the world might he saved by Him} For there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved? The Church, therefore, ^j g^ bound to communicate without stint to all men, and to transmit through all ages, the salvation effected by Jesus_Christ, and the blessings flowing therefrom. Where- fore, by the will of its Founder, it is necessary that this Church should be one in all lands and at all times. To justify the existence of more than one Church it would be necessary to go outside this world, and to create a new and unheard-of race of men.

That the one Church should embrace all men every- where and at all times was seen and foretold by Isaias, when looking into the future he saw the appearance of a mountain conspicuous by its all-surpassing altitude, which set forth the image of "the house of the Lord" â€” that is, of the Church. And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains.^

But this mountain which towers over all other moun- tains is one; and the house of the Lord_ to which all na- . tion^ shall come to seek the rule of li^dng is also one. " And all nations shall flow unto it. And. many peoples shall go, and say: Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach its His ways, and we will walk in His paths.*

Explaining this passage, Optatus of Milevis says: "It is written in the prophet Isaias : ' From Sion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' For it is not on Mount Sion that Isaias sees the valley, but on the holy mountain; that is, the Church, which has raised it- self conspicuously throughout the entire Roman world

'John iii. 17. ^^Acts iv. 12 ^Isa. ii. 2. â– â€¢ Isa. ii. 2, 3.