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THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH follows of necessity from the unity of God; for the Church is not a multitude of persons in their separate individuality, but a unity of the grace of God, living in a multitude of rational creatures, submitting themselves willingly to grace. Grace, indeed, is also given to those who resist it, and to those who do not make use of it (who hide their talent in the earth), but these are not in the Church. In fact, the unity of the Church is not imaginary or allegorical, but a true and substantial unity, such as is the unity of many members in a living body.
The Church is one, notwithstand- ing her division as it appears to a man who is still alive on earth. It is only in relation to man that it is possible to recognize a division of the Church into visible and invisible; her unity is, in reality, true and absolute. Those who are alive on earth, those who have finished their earthly course, those who, like the angels, were not created for a life on earth, those in future generations who have not yet begun their earthly course, are all united together in one Church, in one and the same grace of God; for the creation of God which has not yet been manifested is manifest to Him; and God hears the prayers and knows the faith of those whom He has not yet called out of non-existence into existence. Indeed the Church, the Body of Christ, is manifesting forth and fulfilling herself in time, without changing her essential unity or inward life of grace. And therefore, when we speak of "the Church visible and invisible," we so speak only in relation to man.
THE CHURCH VISIBLE, or upon earth, lives in complete communion and unity with the whole body of the Church, of which Christ is the Head. She has abiding within her Christ and the grace of the Holy Spirit in all their living fullness, but not in the fullness of their manifestation, for she acts and knows not fully, but only so far as it pleases God. Inasmuch as the earthly and visible Church is not the fullness and completeness of the whole Church which the Lord has appointed to appear at the final judgment of all creation, she acts and knows only within her own limits; and (according to the words of Paul the Apostle, to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 5. 12) does not judge the rest of mankind ....
Documents of the Church
Anglican Library
"The aim of the Anglican Library is to publish new HTML editions of Christian literature from the Anglican tradition and other works that have traditionally been of interest to Anglicans. In addition, we hope to serve as a guide to Anglican literature located elsewhere on the internet."
Bishop Payne Library / Links to Electronic Resources
"The mission of Bishop Payne Library is to support the research needs of Virginia Theological Seminary faculty and students and to provide a foundation for the Seminary's curriculum. It is a major resource for the study of the Anglican communion and tradition, both for the Seminary community and beyond."
Book of Common Prayer [in various versions]
Boston University Theology Library
Church Fathers
"Most of these works are presented in a rough format. We are currently editing the files so that they conform with the format of the rest of the New Advent website."
Christian Classics Etherial Library
"Classic Christian books in electronic format, selected for your edification. There is enough good reading material here to last you a lifetime, if you give each work the time it deserves!"
Eastern Orthodox Booklets
Materials on Orthodox faith and life, with links to texts in English
ECOLE Initiative
"The Early Church On-Line Encyclopedia (ECOLE) Initiative is a cooperative effort on the part of scholars across the internet to establish a hypertext encyclopedia of early Church history (to the Reformation) on the World-Wide Web."
Oxford University: Internet Resources for the Study and Teaching of Theology
"Part of the University of Oxford's Humanities Computing Unit and one of twenty-four centres promoting and supporting computers in university teaching. This site carries a wide range of information and resources to help you make the most of communication and information technologies for teaching and learning in the humanities and arts."
Pusey House, Oxford and Pusey House Links
The Church is One
Famous essay by Alexei Khomiakov (1804--1860)
Content: Unity of the Church. The Visible and Invisible Church. The Church on Earth One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic. Scripture and Tradition. Confession, Prayer and Deeds. The Creed. The Church and Its Mysteries. Faith and Life in Church Unity. Salvation. Unity of Orthodoxy.
Thesaurus Precum Latinarum
The Thesarus Precum Latinarum is a collection of Latin prayers and Latin hymns with English translations and brief commentaries. The commentaries outline the origins, history and use of many of the items with the prayers themselves being drawn from the entire 2,000 year history of the Church.
Univ. of Virginia Electronic Texts in English
