Summa de Ecclesia

¹

With the antiquity of the Church set forth above — when we declared that she began from the beginning of the human race — let us now open out how she will last unto the consummation of the world in faith and holiness, teaching, prelateship, and sacraments. Of the firmness and durability of the Church even unto the end of the world the prophet speaks in psal. xlvii, saying thus: in the city of our God, God founded her forever. On this word Aug. says thus: but perhaps this city, which held the world, will at some time be overthrown — far be it. God founded her forever. If therefore God founded her forever, why do you fear lest the firmament fall. Likewise the illustrious prophet Isaiah, speaking of the time of the divine incarnation, says in ch. 9: a little child is born to us, and a son is given to us; and below: his empire shall be multiplied — the Gloss: in the faithful — and of peace there shall be no end — the Gloss: that is, of the saints, although they are sometimes troubled. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom he shall sit, to confirm and strengthen it in judgment and justice from henceforth and forever. Likewise the angel, agreeing with the prophet, says in Luke 1: the Lord God shall give him the seat of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever — the Gloss: in the whole Church, which through faith and confession of Christ belongs to the lot of the patriarchs, whether in those born of the lot of the patriarchs or in those cut off from the wild olive and grafted into the good olive — thus the Gloss — there follows: and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Moreover concerning this duration of the Church it is most openly found in Hosea 2, where the Lord says to his holy Church: I will espouse thee to me in faith forever. Therefore the marriage of Christ and the Church will last forever. But that there is marriage between Christ and the Church the Apostle most clearly shows in Eph. 5, where repeating that verse of Gen. 2, they shall be two in one flesh, he adds: this is a great sacrament, but I speak in Christ and in the Church — the Gloss: the conjugal union is a sign of the spiritual unity of Christ and the Church. But that the faith and charity of the universal Church will never fail even unto the consummation of the world is clear from what the Truth promises to blessed Peter in Matt. 16, saying: upon this rock I will build my Church; there follows: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her — the Gloss: hell shall not separate her from my charity and from faith. Likewise in Luke 22 the same Lord promises to the same apostle, saying: but I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not. The faith of Peter, therefore, will remain even unto the end. Likewise in the person of the Church it is said in Song 3: I held him, and I will not let him go, until I bring him into my mother's house — the Gloss: that is, of the synagogue, that he may dwell there through faith and grace — and into the chamber of her that bore me, that he may rest there, namely, according to the Gloss. But this will be in the end of the world, when the remnant of Israel shall be saved — Isa. 10, and also the Apostle in Rom. 9 — concerning which the same Apostle says thus in Rom. 11: when the fullness of the Gentiles has entered, then all Israel shall be saved. Therefore it follows that faith and charity will always be in the Church. Hence Bernard, treating the aforesaid word, I held him, nor will I let him go, etc., on the Song, thus confirms our proposition, saying: from then and henceforth the Christian race has not been lacking, nor faith from the earth, nor charity from the Church. The rivers came, the winds blew, and they beat against her, and she did not fall, because she was founded upon the firm rock — but the rock was Christ. Thus neither by the wordiness of philosophers, nor by the cavils of heretics, nor by the swords of persecutors, could she, or will she ever, be separated from the charity of God which is in Christ Jesus — thus Bernard.

² But that in the Church even unto the consummation of the world the good will always be found mingled with the evil, and conversely, is openly established in that evangelical parable of the tares which the enemy oversowed, where, when the servants said to the householder: wilt thou that we go and gather them up, the householder, in the figure of the Lord, answered, saying: suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: gather up, etc. But the harvest, as the master of truth himself expounds, is the consummation of the world — Matt. 13. Therefore even unto the consummation of the world, in the Church the wheat, that is, the good, and the tares, that is, the evil, shall dwell together. Moreover that teachers will always remain in the Church even unto the consummation of the world, who may defend, protect, and fortify her with the sword of the word of God and with holy teachings and with all the armor of the strong, like vigorous soldiers and most brave warriors, the Lord attests through the prophet Isaiah in ch. 33, saying thus: look upon Zion, the city — the interlinear Gloss: that is, the present Church — there follows: thy eyes shall see the tabernacle — the Gloss: which signifies the present Church — which can in no way be carried away, nor shall its nails be taken away — the Gloss: that is, the teachers by whom she is held fast. Moreover this same thing seems to be gathered from what the Apostle says in 1 Tim. 3: which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth — which was said for this reason, because in the holy teachers whom she always has, as a most straight and immovable pillar, she is so strong in herself and sustains others by her teachings lest they fall into errors. Hence in Song 4 it is said to the Church: thy neck, that is, the company of teachers through whom thou dispensest the word of God and joinest the faithful into thy body, is like the tower of David, which is built with bulwarks, namely of the diverse virtues with which the life of teachers ought to shine. A thousand shields hang from it, that is, the whole company of divine words by which, as by shields, the blow of the devil is repelled and the cunning and craft of heretics are overcome; the armor of the strong, because whatever of perfect virtue or perfect wisdom is sought elsewhere for guarding the health of the soul is found perfectly in her, as in ch. Legimus, dist. 77. But that the Church will last even unto the consummation of the world as regards prelateship, so that there are always some prelates in her, is clear from Isa. 62, where the prophet thus speaks to the Church: the nations shall see thy just one, and all kings thy glorious one, that is, thy savior, namely Christ; and there shall be called to thee a new name, because from Christ she is named Christian. Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of thy God. But it is clear that the crown and diadem import the dignity of principate and the dignity of the prelateship of the Church, which will ever shine in her even unto the consummation of the world — in proof of which there follows in the prophet: thou shalt no more be called forsaken, etc. Moreover the Apostle most openly marks this in Eph. 4, saying: he himself, namely Christ, gave some apostles, and some prophets, and others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers, unto the perfecting of the saints in the work of the ministry, unto the edification of the body of Christ, until we all meet in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ — where the Gloss says: this prelateship and ordination will last until in the day of judgment we all meet in one and undivided faith. Moreover this same thing is made most clear to us from what the same Apostle writes in 1 Cor. 15: afterwards the end, that is, the consummation, when he shall have delivered the kingdom to God and the Father, that is, when he shall have led believers to the contemplation of God the Father, according to the Gloss; when he shall have emptied all principality and power and virtue — the Gloss: while the world lasts, angels are set over angels, demons over demons, men over men, for the profit of the living or for deception; but with all gathered in, all prelateship will cease, because it will not be necessary — thus the Gloss. Therefore principate in the Church, and prelateship through succession, will be continued as long as the present world shall last — which is most of all to be believed concerning the authority of the Roman Church, in which the Lord placed the principate of the allotted Church, according to ch. do not err, dist. 11 — of whose everlasting principate blessed Jerome thus speaks, as in ch. this is the faith, to have, 24 q. i: the holy Roman Church, which by the Lord's providence has always remained immaculate, and with blessed Peter the apostle bringing aid, will remain in the future without any insult of heretics, namely prevailing, and will persist firm and immovable at all time — so those words. Moreover that the Church will always remain even in her sacraments even unto the end of the world we gather more clearly than light from the very fountain of Sacred Scripture. Hence in Jer. 31 — which the Apostle also adduces in proof of the difference of the Old and New Testaments in Rom. 8 — the prophet thus speaks of the time of Christ's advent: behold, days shall come, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, that is, a new law, not according to the pact which I made with your fathers in the day when I took their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt — the Gloss: here it is prophesied that the Old Testament will not remain, but that there will be a new one, of whose perpetuity it is said at the end: the sanctuary of the Lord shall flourish, and shall not be destroyed any more forever. Moreover the Apostle proves this in Heb. 7, where, being about to commend the new law, he argues for its immutability even unto the consummation of the world from the perpetuity of Christ's priesthood, saying: the Lord swore, that is, he established with unshaken truth, and he will not repent, that is, he will not change what was done: thou art a priest forever. There follows: in so much is Jesus made sponsor of a better testament — the Gloss: for as the priesthood of Christ excels the Levitical priesthood, so too his law excels the old. And below: as he remains, so too the law which he brought, in which there is true remission and perpetual grace — which, because the old law could not give, it was excluded. But that the new law will remain forever he shows from the pontiff, because he is one — which he would not be unless he were immortal — thus the Gloss. Moreover the Apostle treats this most clear truth, that is, in 2 Cor., saying thus: as often as you shall eat this bread and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord until he come — the Gloss: to judgment — and this will not be changed until then, as were the sacraments of the Jews. It appears, therefore, that the Church will not fail in her sacraments even unto the consummation of the world — which reason itself also shows. For since it was most fitting, and thus mercifully provided for us by divine piety, that medicine should always run together with disease, and the sacraments themselves are ordained as a certain medicine against the diseases of sins by the supreme physician himself, our Savior Jesus Christ, and the manifold diseases of sins never fail nor will fail in the human race so long as we are in this corruptible present life, we must needs say that there will always be sacraments in the Church. And thus the principal proposition is clear: that the Church, after she began, will last even unto the consummation of the world. From what has now been said, the error of those who say that the Church has already perished, and of certain pseudo-prophets asserting that she will fail in a short time, is most clearly refuted. Blessed Augustine recalls their error on psal. ci, saying thus: but this Church which was of all nations and now is not, has perished — this they say who are not in her. O shameless voice: she is not because thou art not in her; see lest thou therefore art not, for she will be even if thou art not. This abominable voice, detestable, full of presumption and falsehood, supported by no truth, enlightened by no wisdom, seasoned with no salt, vain, rash, headlong, pernicious, the Spirit of God foresaw, and as if against them, when announcing unity, said: in the assembling of the peoples together, and kings, to serve the Lord. And when he had added in response, surely his praise, everywhere Jerusalem our mother, recalled from pilgrimage, fruitful with many sons rather than she who had a husband — since indeed they were to say: the Church was and is not — he says: declare unto me the fewness of my days. What is it that I know not, since they who depart from me murmur against me? What is it that the lost contend that I have perished? For certainly they say this: because I was and am not. Announce unto me the fewness of my days; I do not ask of thee those eternal days. They are without end; where I shall be, those I do not ask. Announce unto me temporal days, the fewness of my days — how long I shall be in this world — announce unto me, on account of those who say: the Scriptures are fulfilled, all nations believed, but the Church apostatized and perished from all nations. What is this: declare unto me the fewness of my days? And he announced, nor was that voice empty. Who announced but the way itself? How did he announce? Behold, I am with you even unto the consummation of the world — Matt. ult. — thus Aug.