Father, art in me and I in thee," so much quoted in this present age as if corporate union were the test of the fulfilment of the words. Huss's treatise presents an entirely different test of Christian unity. He must not be pressed too far. Nevertheless, it is plain that he laid stress on particular churches[1] and made the bond of union between them and between their members predestinating grace and an active life of Christian virtue.
VI. The Canon Law. The authorities used in this treatise are the Scriptures, accredited writers of the church, the canon law and Wyclif. Among the accredited writers frequently quoted are Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory the Great, Bernard, and Peter the Lombard. It is noticeable that Bonaventura's name is not mentioned at all, whereas Wyclif's Treatise on the Church quotes him at least sixteen times, and, for some reason, Huss draws upon Thomas Aquinas much less than did his English precursor.
With few exceptions the places where these quotations are found in the volumes of Migne and the Nicene Fathers series have been noted, and also the references to the canon law as they are found in Friedberg's edition.[2] The verses of the Scripture texts, which in Huss’s time had not yet been marked, have been supplied. All this matter, which the translator is responsible for, is enclosed in brackets, as also an occasional brief explanation.
Like the sacramental system, the universities and the cathedrals, the body of the canon law was one of the imposing constructions of the Middle Ages. It had as its first and chief compiler Gratian who, about 1150, was teaching church law in Bologna as Imerius was teaching Roman law.
- ↑ The XXXIX Articles of Religion speak of "every particular or national church" as having authority, etc.
- ↑ A. Friedberg, Corpus juris canonici, 1879–1881, 2 vols., pp. 1468, 1340, is pronounced by the Catholic canonical writer, P. Hergenröther, Lehrbuch d. kath. K.-rechts, p. 192, "the best edition." A description of the canon law will be found in Friedberg's Introd. to vol. I and in Hergenröther, pp. 172–196. For a history of the subject of the treatment, see the elaborate work of J. F. von Schulte, Die Gesch. der Quellen und Lit. des canon. Rechts, Stutt., 3 vols., 1875–1880.
