On the Unity of the Church

by Rev. P. Rafferty, 1849

Note: Scripture references are based on the Latin Vulgate. English translations of the Latin Vulgate include the Douay-Rheims Bible and the Knox Version.

That the true church of Christ is always one, and can be but one in her faith and communion, appears from many texts of Scripture. Song of Solomon vi.9,10. “My dove, my undefiled is but one – fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners.” St. John x.16. “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, (viz. the Gentiles, who were then divided from the Jews,) them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” Ephesians iv.4,5. “There is one body, and one spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Romans xii.5. “We being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” St. John xvii.20,21. “Neither pray I for these alone (the apostles), but for them also that shall believe in me through the word, that they all may be one.” Nor could the church or kingdom of Christ, long subsist without this unity. “For every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand." St. Matthew xii. 25

Hence, where this unity is wanting, it is a certain mark that the true church of Christ is not there. And consequently that scheme of Protestants must fall to the ground, which maintains, that the church of Christ is not in one only communion; but is a collection of many disagreeing sects divided from each other in faith and communion: for here is no unity, and consequently, this cannot be the true system of the church of Christ, which, according to the Scripture and creed, is ever one.

For the same reason the reformation in general, or the reformed church taken in that latitude as to comprise the whole collection of Protestant sects, cannot be the true church of Christ; because it wants this mark or property of unity. Luther to his dying day looked upon the Zuinglians, and all that denied the real presence, as heretics and aliens from the church of God. (See his lesser confession, and his theses against the Lovanists, t.7, fol 503, 2.) His followers have inherited the same notions to this day, with regard to Calvinists. The Church of England Protestants look upon the dissenters as schismatics; and the dissenters avoid the communion of the established church, as not sufficiently purged from superstition and idolatry. Can this be the one fold of Christ? Or can his sheep run so many opposite ways?

Nay, so far are Protestants in general from this unity, which is one of the marks of the church of Christ, that there are scarce the least footsteps of it to be found in any one sect or denomination of them: for, pick out which you please of these sects, and examine into their whole system of faith, and you will find no agreement either with one another, or with the first authors of their sect. In so much that, if you go to consult any two ministers, experience teaches they do not both agree throughout in their notions of religion; and neither the one, nor the other with the first reformers, whose systems they have all forsaken; nor are their disagreements in matters of small moment, but of the highest importance: some in every sect are Arians with relation to the Trinity; many are Latitudinarians; great also are their differences with relation to “Church government, church authority, the necessity and nature of the sacraments, the presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper; free will; predestination; and the state of souls departed; the necessity of faith in Christ for salvation; lay baptism, &c.” The last of which controversies, as it is decided by most of the divines of the English Protestant church, unchristians, and consequently unchurches, not only all Dissenters, but also all the Lutherans and Calvinists, who having no bishops, consequently, in the system of these divines, have no other ministers than mere laymen.

Nor is there any way left amongst Protestants, for their church to put an end, by her authority, to these contests of her children; since they can never be persuaded that they are obliged to pay any greater deference to her decisions, than their forefathers, the first reformers, were to the decisions of the whole church then in being.

Chapel of the Benedictines of the
Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat
Mendiola, Manila
(c) Vincent Domingo

But how is it then with the Catholic Church, with regard to this unity, which is one of the properties of the true church of Christ? Why she is one, by the union of all her children in one faith, and one uniform profession of faith, unalterable and inviolable, viz., that published by Pius IV, in maintaining every article whereof, all Catholics throughout the world unanimously agree. She is one by the union of all her children in one communion. And for the maintaining this one faith and communion, she has one visible head, and is guided by one church authority, to which all her children are bound to assent; and by which all disturbers of unity, and innovators of faith, are cut off from her unity.

So that the followers of the Catholic Church, in point of unity, have clearly many advantages above Protestants. 1st, because all Catholics agree in one confession or profession of faith: Protestant churches could never yet agree in any one such confession. 2dly, because all Catholics, however spread throughout the world, are in one and the same communion: Protestants are divided into many separate sects, which refuse to communicate one with another. 3dly, because all Catholics have one visible head of the church, one apostolic see, the centre of unity, to which all are subject, and in which all are united. Protestants, as the learned Sir Edward Sands long ago complained, (Relations of the Religions of the West,) “are as severed, or other scattered troops, each drawing different ways, without any means to pacify their quarrels; no patriarch, one or more, to have a common superintendence or care of their churches, for correspondence and unity: no ordinary way to assemble a general council of their part, &c.” 4thly, because Catholics embrace a rule of faith which must maintain them in unity, viz., the Word of God, as interpreted to them by the Church, to whose authority they all hold themselves bound to submit: so that if any dispute arise, when once the Church has interposed her judgment, whosoever presumes to dissent, is no longer looked upon by Catholics as one of their society, but as a heretic and a schismatic. Protestants, on the other side, maintain a rule of faith, which, human weakness considered, is utterly inconsistent with unity in religion, and cannot but be a perpetual source of endless divisions. Such is the Scripture, or Word of God, as interpreted by each one's private judgment. For when Protestants appeal to Scripture, as the only rule of faith, they do not mean the Scripture, as interpreted to them by the church; for if they had gone by this rule, their reformation would have been stifled in the very cradle ; much less they mean the Scripture as interpreted by any particular minister or preacher; but as interpreted by every Christian of sound judgment, who has, according to the principles of the reformation, a right to interpret it for himself, and is no more obliged to follow the interpretation of Luther, for example, or of Calvin, or of any other divine, synod, or church, if their interpretation seem not to him agreeable to the true meaning of God's word, than they were obliged to follow the interpretation of the Catholic church. Whosoever disallows of this truly Protestant rule of faith, must condemn the reformation begun by a single man, in opposition to the whole world: and whosoever maintains this rule must consequently allow all those who steer by it to be true Protestants, however disagreeing their principles in religion may otherwise be, nay, though there were not two of them all that agreed in any one single article, except this, of taking the Bible alone, as interpreted by themselves, for their rule of faith. Which indeed is the source of all their disagreements; so that there can be no hopes of their ever being united in one body, as long as they follow this rule of faith. So much have Catholics the advantage over Protestants in this point of unity.

As to disputes amongst Catholic divines, which our adversaries sometimes allege, in order to disprove the unity of the church: it may suffice for an answer to this objection, to remark two things. 1st, that these differences are never in matters decided by the church; and consequently are only in matters of opinion, never in matters of faith. 2dly, that these school questions make no breach of communion, and consequently divide not the unity of the church. Can Protestants say as much of the differences that are amongst them, which have no communion one with another?