Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/371



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 365

^ison, infect the real^and simple faith taught by Our Lord 'ari3~1iande(I "do^'fi by apostolic tradition." *

The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is sho"v\Ti by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were jv-gnt tQâ€žhpld, as outside Catholic communion^ jand alien to the Church, wTioe~ver~ would "recede in thejeast degree from any~point of doctrine proposed by her authori- tatTve^^Hgigtenum. Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodoret, drew upTa long~l]ST of the heresies of their times. St. Augustine notes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is by the very fact cut off from Cathohc unity. "No one who merely disbeheves in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard him.self as a CathoHc or call himself one. For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are not set out in this work of ours, and if any one holds to one single one of these he is not a CathoHc." ^

The need of this divinely instituted means for the preser- ,-Yation of imify, about which We speak, is urged by St. JiauLin his epistle to the Ephesians. In this he first ad- monishes them to preserve wdth every care concord of minds : Solicitous to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.^ And as souls cannot be perfect^ united in charity unless minds agree in faith, he wishes all to hold the same faith : One Lord, one jaith^ SLiid this so perfectly one as to prevenf"all Sanger of error: 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; * and this he teaches is to be observed, not for a time only, but until we all meet in the unity of faith . . . unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ.^ But, in what has Christ placed the primary principle, and the means of preserving this unity? In that â€” He gave sorne apostles


 * Auctor Tract, de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos.

^ S. Augustinus, De Haeresibus, n. 88. * Eph. iv. 14.

' Eph. iv. 3, et seq. * Eph. iv. 13.