|
There are others still who make this promise not even to all who have
received the sacraments of the baptism of Christ and of His body, but
only to the catholics, however badly they have lived. For these have
eaten the body of Christ, not only sacramentally but really, being
incorporated in His body, as the apostle says, "We, being many,
are one bread, one body;" so that, though they have afterwards
lapsed into some heresy, or even into heathenism and idolatry, yet by
virtue of this one thing, that they have received the baptism of
Christ, and eaten the body of Christ, in the body of Christ, that
is to say, in the catholic Church, they shall not die eternally, but
at one time or other obtain eternal life; and all that wickedness of
theirs shall not avail to make their punishment eternal, but only
proportionately long and severe.
|
|