By Very Rev. THOMAS S. PRESTON, V.G.,
2. If this vitality of the church proceed from the breath of God, and depend upon His continual presence, it cannot tail. It is everlasting. It proceeds not from a temporary union of the Sanctifier with the intelligence of man; but, as we have seen, from a substantial union with the regenerate in their corporate capacity. The church is always the body of Christ, and can never lose its vital union with the Holy Ghost. This union is indissoluble, and, like the union of the two natures in the one Christ, it cannot be sundered. Then, though individual members may perish by separation from the body, the church can never decay, grow old, or perish. It may suffer, and become the object of the world's attack. The battle around it may rage with violence; the gates of hell cannot prevail. It cannot fare worse than the adorable Humanity in Gethsemane, and on the cross. It will live till the latter day, amid " the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds." It has stood firmly united to the rock of Peter on which Christ built it, while all man's strongest works have crumbled to decay ; and the powers which have arrayed themselves against it have been ground to powder. Its life is the miracle of our world, the proof that "God is in the midst thereof, and that it shall not be moved, though the earth be troubled, and the mountains be removed into the heart of the sea." Psalm xlv. 3,6. The life of the Christian Church is the proof incontestable of her divine character. "For this cause," says St. Ignatius, "did the Lord take the ointment on His head, that He might breathe incorruption upon the church." Epistle to the Ephesians. To this end are the words of St. Cyprian : "The church is one which, having obtained the grace of eternal life, both lives for ever, and gives life to the people of God." The language of St. Chrysostom is the rehearsal of our arguments : "The church is stronger than heaven. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. What words Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. If thou believe not the word, believe the facts. How many tyrants would fain have overcome the Church! And they prevailed not. Where. are those that warred against her ? They are unnamed; they are buried in oblivion. But where is the church ? She shines brighter than the sun. She is immortal."St. Chrysostom The continued existence of the church is a manifest proof that her life is in God. So when we profess our faith in the Holy Ghost we immediately add our confession of " one holy, Catholic Church." We only know the divine Spirit through the church, and we cannot really believe in the Holy Ghost, unless we also believe in the Church which He sanctified, and in which He is communicated to us.
