Monday, September 15, 2008
need for the Church
For where the Church is, there also is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there also is the Church and every grace. But the Spirit is Truth (1Jn 5:6). Hence those who turn away from it are not nourished at their Mother's breasts either, so that they might gain life, nor do they have any share in the clear spring flowing from Christ's body (Jn 7:37) but "have dug for themselves leaky cisterns" (Jer 2:13)... Strangers to the truth, inevitably they slide into error and are tossed about by it, nor do they ever possess a firmly established teaching since they prefer to become quibblers with words than disciples of truth. For their foundations are not on the one Rock but on sand.
-- Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-208)
