Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 2.djvu/517

Rh 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."

"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