The Second Sunday after Easter.
Rural Sermon.
On Heaven.—VI.
The unity and concord of the Heaven-dwellers.
John x. 16. There shall be onefold and one shepherd.
1. And when will that happy time at last arrive, when the fold will be but one, and one the Shepherd, so that once more all shall be of one heart and of one soul among those that believe?
Alas! the fold of Christ has ever been broken through: Nicolaitans and Corinthians in apostolic times, then Gnostics, Manichæans, Arians, Donatists. These were followed by Iconoclasts, Albigenses, Hussites and sects of this age, which I will not name[1].
Shall there ever be discord in the faith? Shall we in the same fold be ever severed in heart? . . . Unity is not to be found here: not here, but in Heaven, where the Pastor is one, and the God triune; where the flock is twofold, human and angelic. Of the concord of the blessed shall I now speak. . . .
2. There is not so great a variety among garden flowers or meadow herbs, among forest trees, among fishes of the sea or birds of the air, among meats at a feast or nations upon earth, as there is among the saints. Yet, though so great is the variety, great also is the harmony. The Psalmist, considering the won-
- ↑ Notice the gentle and loving spirit of the Jesuit here; he avoids giving offence without retiring from his position.
