Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE SECOND AGE OF THE MARTYR CHURCH.269This capital point of the ever-living teachingoffice he further dwells on :" The Faith received in the Church we guardin it, which being always from the Spirit of God,like an admirable deposit in a good vessel, * isiyoung* J O itself, 7 and makes young */ O the vessel inwhich it is. For this office on the part of God30 isintrusted to the Church as the breath of life wasgiven to the body, in order that all the membersreceiving may be quickened, and in this is placedthe communication of Christ, that is, the HolySpirit, the earnest of incorruption, the confirmationof our faith, and the ladder by which we ascendto God. For,"says he, in the Church God hasplaced Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, and all the remainingoperation of the Spirit; of whom all thoseare not partakers who do not run to the Church,but deprive themselves of life by an evil opinionand a still worse conduct.For where the Churchis, there also is the Spirit of God : and where theSpirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace :but the Spirit is Truth. Wherefore they who arenot partakers of Him are neither nourished untolife from the breasts of the mother, nor receivethat most - pure fountain which proceeds from theBody of Christ, but dig out for themseterns from earthly ditches, and from the filthdrink foul water, avoiding the Faith of the Churchlest they be brought back, and rejecting the Spirit30 " Hoc enim Ecclesice creditum est Dei munus."