Page:Petri Privilegium - Manning.djvu/168

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tainty of what he taught was the foundation of that authority; that their 'faith might not stand on the wisdom of man, but on the power of God.'[1] If the people of England indeed believe in 'Jesus Christ and Him crucified,' we shall soon see the unity of faith arising out of our endless confusions: for to believe in Him we must know who He is, that is, that He is God, consubstantial, co-eternal, co-equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost, therefore we must know the Holy Trinity, One God in three persons; and His Manhood, therefore His Incarnation, two perfect natures in One Divine Person, and thereby also the dignity of His blessed Mother as Mother of God. We must believe also what He has done for us, that is, the redemption by His most precious blood; what He has taught us, or the whole undiminished truth which He has revealed; and what He has commanded us, or all the institutions and obligations of His moral and positive law. All these four assemblages of truth are contained in the knowledge of 'Jesus Christ and Him crucified.' No one can be said to know Him who does not know who He is, what He has done, what He has taught, what He has commanded; but no one can know these things who does not know the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the whole doctrine of faith, the whole order of the Church, its unity and authority, the institution of the Holy Sacraments, with all the grace they convey and the obligations they impose. But this is to know the Catholic Faith and the Catholic Church; and as men become once

  1. 1 Cor. ii. 5.