The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

26 THE FAITH OF OTJR FATHERS.So did our Lord intend that all the sheep of His foldshould be nourished by the same sacraments and thesame bread of life ;that they should follow the samerule of faith as their guide to heaven ;that theyshould listen to the voice of one Chief Pastor, andthat they should carefully shun false teachers.His Church iscompared to a human body. 1 Inone body there are many members, all inseparablyconnected with the head. The head commands andthe foot instantly moves, the hand is raised and thelips open. Even so our Lord ordained that HisChurch, composed of many members, should be allunited to one supreme visible Head, whom they arebound to obey.The Church iscompared to a vine, all whosebranches, though spreading far and wide, are necessarily connected with the main stem, and fromitssap they are nourished. In like manner, ourSaviour will have all the saplings of His Vineyardconnected with the main stem, and all draw theirnourishment from the parent stock.The Church, in fine, is called in Scripture by thebeautiful2title of bride or spouse of Christ, and theChristian law admits only of one wife.In fact, our common sense alone, apart fromrevelation, is sufficient to convince us that Godcould not be the author of various opposing systemsof religion. God is essentially one. He is Truthitself. How could the God of truth affirm, for in-1Kom. xii. 4, 5. 2Apoc. xzi. 9.