which was founded by the Apostles and endures to our time, retaining and holding whatsoever the Chair of Peter hath delivered, does deliver, or shall hereafter deliver, in faith and religion; upon which [Chair, the Church] is so built by Christ the Bridegroom, that in those things which are of faith it cannot err.'
The 25th Article runs:—
'Those things are to be held by a firm faith which are declared not only by express Scripture, but also which we have received to be believed by the tradition of the Catholic Church, and which have been defined in matters of faith and morals by the Chair of Peter, and by General Councils legitimately congregated.'[1]
The great Western schism, and the erroneous opinions in the Council of Constance, had their legitimate development in the Protestant Reformation: and this, by separating part of Germany and England from the Church, cleansed its unity of an infection which threatened not unity alone, but the foundations of faith. We are often told, with much pretension of wise and benevolent counsel, not to draw too tight the conditions of communion, or to define too precisely the doctrines of faith. No doubt this advice was given at Constance, Florence, and Trent. But the Catholic Church knows no policy but truth; and its unity is extended, not by comprehension of error, but by the expulsion of all that is at variance with the health and life of faith. We shall see hereafter how this plea was put forward in
- ↑ Roskovány, De Rom. Pontif. tom. ii. 35.
