Summa de Ecclesia

Plainly, without all doubt, what has been said concerning the permanence of the holy universal Church must be held with unshaken faith. For as Bernard says on the Song: the end of all things hangs; take her away, and in vain does this lower creature await the revelation of the sons of God; take her away, and neither the patriarchs nor any prophets will be consummated, since Paul says he so provided for us that they should not be consummated without us. Take her away, and the glory of the holy angels themselves will limp for the imperfection of their number, nor will the city of God rejoice in her integrity. Answer must therefore be given to the reasons. ^{1 2} To the first and second, which were drawn from the two authorities of Jeremiah, it is answered that what the prophet says there is to be understood on account of the rarity of faith and the fewness of good men which there was at the time when Jeremiah himself prophesied — not that faith and justice had wholly perished, since even at that time there were some faithful and just, as Jeremiah himself, though they were few in comparison with the evil. To the third, which is drawn from the saying of Daniel, it is answered almost in the same way. For the prophet Daniel does not seem to speak of the consummation of the whole world, but of the final desolation of the city of Jerusalem, in which was the place of sanctification — as Christ himself also seems to expound, Matt. 24. But that city was first laid waste by Titus and Vespasian; afterwards her ruins were raised up, and those who before had fled and hidden in the mountains and caves, with the Romans returned, dwelt within the walls of the city; then Aelius Hadrian set his image on the walls of the temple, that is, in the place where the temple had been, that it might be adored; they broke it, unwilling to bear so great an injury — at which Aelius, indignant, overthrew the city utterly. But rightly was that statue called an abomination, because, as Jerome says, an abomination is in truth called an idol; and there is added, of desolation, because the idol was set in the desolate and deserted temple, as the Gloss says. And thus the argument is not to our purpose. But if the saying of Daniel is taken of the consummation of the world, and by the abomination he means Antichrist, the man of sin, who, sitting in the temple, will exalt himself above all that is called God, 2 Thess. 2, it is not to be understood that faith will wholly fail: for as is written in Ecclesiasticus 4, faith shall stand forever. For always with some the faith of the Church will remain firm and unchangeable even unto the end of the world. Thus Christ, praying to the Father, promised to most blessed Peter the apostle, whom he was about to delegate as his vicar, the pastor of the universal Church, saying: I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, Luke 22. But as to its being said that the victim and sacrifice shall fail, this was perhaps said for this reason, that when that most savage persecution of Antichrist presses, the victim of the sacrifice will not be offered openly, and therefore may be said to fail in the aforesaid authority of the prophet.

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To the fourth, which was taken from the Gospel of Matthew, it is answered that in the time of Antichrist charity will not so grow cold as to fail wholly from the Church, though indeed in many. Hence the text does not say simply that charity shall grow cold, but that of many; it does not say of all. Indeed, at that time charity is believed to be most fervent with some, who will be found most perfect servants of Christ, most glorious martyrs. Hence Prov. 15: he shall make firm the bounds of the widow, that is, of the Church, widowed of the visible presence of the bridegroom; for he will strengthen his last soldiers in the time of Antichrist by patience and constancy. And in Rev. 1 it is said: his feet like unto brass, as in a burning furnace of fire; and the last faithful in the time of Antichrist will be like unto brass, because in the furnace and fire of tribulation they will be melted down and purged like brass, which, the more it is kindled, is adorned with a purer color. Of which time Cassiodorus on psal. 30 says: the Church will begin to be more fruitful when she is led to the end of the world; for then by the sufferings of the elect the number of the blessed will swiftly be filled.

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To the fifth, which was taken from Luke, it must be answered in like manner that that was said on account of the rarity and fewness of the faithful which there will be in the time of Antichrist, on account of the greatest tribulation which will prevail at that time — of which in Matt. 24.

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To the sixth it is answered by denying the consequence. For although faith can fail in some particular persons, yet in general it will never fail. Hence in 3 dist. 6 Thomas favors our proposition with these words, saying: that the faith of the Church militant should wholly fail is not possible with God ordaining — who says in Matt. ult.: I am with you even unto the consummation of the world — thus holy Thomas. Hence we say that just as the singulars of a universal, although they are corruptible, yet the universal is incorruptible — because if it is not saved in one of its individuals, it is saved in another by nature — so also we say concerning faith, and consequently concerning the Church: that if it is not saved in one, it is saved in another by grace, with divine providence favoring. Therefore, just as there was no time after the Church began in which there was not someone who pleased God, so neither will there ever be in the future even unto the consummation of the world.

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To the seventh it is answered that even if, speaking absolutely, it is possible for the whole Church militant to fail from faith, yet considering the divine providence of his ordination, faith will ever remain undefiled in her even unto the consummation of the world; it is not possible for her to fail. For divine providence is never deceived in its disposition. Hence God will never permit all the faithful to fall from faith, nor will he so permit some to fall but that he raises up others — according to Job 34: he shall break many and innumerable, and make others stand in their stead.

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To the eighth it is answered that the Church of the Jews never so failed but that there still were some just in her, in whom whole faith and sincere charity persisted inviolate; but Scripture speaks thus absolutely because in comparison with the evil the number of the good was at that time very small. Moreover, although the Church which was in the Jews failed as regards the sacraments and ceremonials of that law — because the law and the prophets were until John, Matt. 11 — yet not as regards the nation, since the Church herself which is among Christians was gathered from both peoples, namely of the Jews and of the Gentiles, as the Apostle testifies in many places; and the first disciples of Christ were the firstfruits of all believers, who came from the race of the Jews, as was recalled above from the Apostle in 2 Thess. 2. Not therefore did the whole Church of the Jews so fail that none of them remained in the Church. Hence the Apostle says in Rom. 11: has God cast away his people? Far be it. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people which he foreknew — where the Gloss says thus: for if I say the Jews are unbelieving, yet not all; and thus God cast them off in part, yet not wholly, because me and other predestined he did not cast off — thus the Gloss.

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To the last it must be said that in Christ's Passion faith did not so fail but that it so remained in someone; for it remained most whole and undefiled in the glorious virgin, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, as Anselm seems to say in his book Why God Became Man. Hence Master Alexander of Hales, at the end of his third book in his exposition of the Apostles' Creed, says that the opinion of those who say that the Church stood in the virgin alone in the time of Christ's Passion seems true to him. Hence too Lord William, in the book called The Rationale of the Divine Offices, says that the candle which is hidden in the office of matins in the last days of Holy Week signifies the faith of Christ which remained in the virgin alone, through which afterwards all the faithful were taught and enlightened.