39. Rom. xii. 3-5.
POLITICAL WRITINGS 231
Apostles: "They were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common." ^^ Let us love what we sing: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" ^^ that so they may know, by their own experience, with what perfect truth their mother, the Catholic Church, calls out to them what the blessed apostle writes to the Corinthians: "I seek not yours, but you." 38
this world no one is righteous by his own righteousness,—that is, as though it were wrought by himself and for himself; but as the apostle says, "According as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." But then he goes on to add the following: "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same otfice; so we, being many, are one body in
Christ." 3® And according to this doctrine, no one can be righteous so long as he is separated from the unity of this body. For in the same manner as if a limb be cut off from the body of a living man, it cannot any longer retain the spirit of life; so the man who is cut off from the body of Christ, who is righteous, can in no wise retain the spirit of righteousness, even if he retain the form of membership which he received when in the body. Let them therefore come into the framework of this body, and so possess their own labours, not through the lust of lordship, but through the godliness of using them aright. But we, as has been
36. Acts iv. 32. 37. Ps. cxxxiii. 1. 38. II Cor. xii. 14. d. Letters, CLXXXV, 42-44. 39. Rom. xii. 3-5.