7. This sacrament of unity, this bond of a concord inseparably cohering, is set forth where in the Gospel the coat of the Lord Jesus Christ is not at all divided nor cut, but is received as an entire garment, and is possessed as an uninjured and undivided robe by those who cast lots concerning Christ’s garment, who should rather put on Christ.23    The above reading of this passage seems hopelessly obscure; and it is not much mended apparently by substituting “ipsam” for Christum, unless “potius” be omitted, as in some editions, in which case we should read, “who should put it on.” Holy Scripture speaks, saying, “But of the coat, because it was not sewed, but woven from the top throughout, they said one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots whose it shall be.”24    John xix. 23, 24. That coat bore with it an unity that came down from the top, that is, that came from heaven and the Father, which was not to be at all rent by the receiver and the possessor, but without separation we obtain a whole and substantial entireness. He cannot possess the garment of Christ who parts and divides the Church of Christ. On the other hand, again, when at Solomon’s death his kingdom and people were divided, Abijah the prophet, meeting Jeroboam the king in the field, divided his garment into twelve sections, saying, “Take thee ten pieces; for thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten sceptres unto thee; and two sceptres shall be unto him for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to place my name there.”25    1 Kings xi. 31. As the twelve tribes of Israel were divided, the prophet Abijah rent his garment. But because Christ’s people cannot be rent, His robe, woven and united throughout, is not divided by those who possess it; undivided, united, connected, it shows the coherent concord of our people who put on Christ. By the sacrament and sign of His garment, He has declared the unity of the Church.

VII. Hoc unitatis sacramentum, hoc vinculum concordiae inseparabiliter cohaerentis ostenditur quando in Evangelio tunica Domini Jesu Christi non dividitur omnino nec scinditur, sed sortientibus de veste Christi quis Christum indueret, integra vestis accipitur, et incorrupta atque indivisa tunica possidetur. Loquitur 0505A ac dicit Scriptura divina: De tunica autem, quia de superiore parte non consutilis, sed per totum textilis fuerat, dixerunt ad invicem: Non scindamus illam, sed sortiamur de ea cujus sit (Joan. XIX, 23, 24). Unitatem illa portabat de superiore parte venientem, id est de coelo et a Patre venientem, quae ab accipiente ac possidente scindi omnino non poterat, sed totam simul et solidam firmitatem inseparabiliter obtinebat. Possidere non potest indumentum Christi qui scindit et dividit Ecclesiam Christi. Contra denique cum, Salomone moriente, regnum ejus et populus scinderetur, Achias propheta Jeroboam regi obvius factus in campo, in duodecim scissuras vestimentum suum discidit dicens: Sume tibi decem scissuras, quia haec dicit Dominus: Ecce scindo regnum de manu Salomonis, et 0505B dabo tibi decem sceptra, et duo sceptra erunt ei propter servum meum David et propter Hierusalem civitatem quam elegi ut ponam nomen meum illic (III Reg. XI, 31, 32, 36). Cum duodecim tribus Israel scinderetur, vestimentum suum propheta Achias discidit. At vero, quia Christi populus non potest scindi, tunica ejus per totum textilis et cohaerens divisa a possidentibus non est. Individua, copulata, connexa ostendit populi nostri, qui Christum induimus, concordiam cohaerentem. Sacramento vestis et signo declaravit Ecclesiae unitatem.