“THE CHURCH

"El

OF THE

f

LIVING GOD
THE PILLAR AND THE GROUND OF TRUTH

”

AN APPEAL TO OUR THINKING AND REASON-

ING FELLOW-CHRISTIANS ' OUTSIDE OF

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

BY

R. M. R.

t

. /

pubi,ishe:d by I'HK

Christian Press Association Publishing Company

NEW YORK



\

Copyright, 1897,

by rev. R.

e-

?



'^2 believe in the holy Catholic Church.^^
• —8th Art. of Apostles’ Creed.

“THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD

THE PILLAR AND THE GROUND OF TRUTH.”

The above is the title given by St. PauP to what
we now commonly call ‘ ‘ The Church. ’ ’ That a body
exists at present, as in the time of the Apostle, known
by this name of “ The Church of the Living God ” or
“The Christian Church,” is what no one can deny.
All men are also in agreement about the purpose of its
existence, namely: i. To duly worship the Supreme
Being; 2. To impart a knowledge of all necessary
supernatural truth; 3. To teach strict morality; 4. To
supply human nature with the necessary supernatural
aids to know and to do all that God requires, in order
to attain everlasting salvation.

Any institution organized for any other purpose, or
that includes not these four, may be a corporation,
club, company or society, but a church it cannot be.
Moreover, no one—especially no Christian—will deny,
that to successfully carry out such purposes, divine

aid is absolutely necessary; for each of them is entirely

beyond the capabilities of human nature. Accordingly,

I. I. Tim. iii. 15.

3

0S8Cfd!%d



4 THJ^ CHURCH OR THE LIVING GOD.

that organization that makes profession of them,

must first, and above all other things, have God for

its author. A mere man-made thing, assuming such
an undertaking on purely human lines, cannot for a

moment be considered or called the
‘

‘ Church of the

Living God.’' No sane body of human beings ever

existed who would make profession of infallibly teach-

ing all truth about the natural order. For the first

thing they should know, if they know anything, is

that, necessarily, they must be ignorant of it them-

selves. How much more ignorant must they be of all

supernatural truth which they have no means either

of. knowing or of distinguishing from error?

Hence it follows that
‘

‘ this Church of the Living

God, the pillar and the ground of truth,” must be

divine, both in its origin, in its characteristics, and in

its endowments.

THE CHURCH OF GOD MUST BE DIVINE IN ITS ORIGIN.

Amongst all the various bodies organized for re-

ligious purposes, there are but two that can claim, or

that do really and unequivocally claim, that God

originated them. These are also the only two whose

claims history supports, and which other creeds will

admit, namely, the Jewish Church and the Christian

Church. The former, their own Scriptures declare,

was but temporary, and preparatory for the latter.

With the coming of their Messiah it passed with all

its endowments, divine revelations, moral code and per-

manent ordinances, into the new and more perfect

dispensation established by Him.



the: church ou god must bk divine;.
5

History tells of the human founders of all other
diu-ches, and quotes Jesus Christ, the Son of the
living God, as the sole originator of the Christian

(called from the beginning) the Catholic Church.

Whilst admitting this genesis, and consequently the
divinity of origin, some—w’ho are called from this
Protestants—^protest that it fell away and ceased to be
God’s Church. If it did, it wanted the first and most
elemental characteristic of all others of God’s works
that we are acquainted with, namely, indestructibility.
Now, we know that the Creator has not left it in the
power of any, or of all His creatures combined, to
destroy the very least of His works

; neither the

smallest atom that floats in the sunbeam, no more
than any of the mighty orbs that revolve in space. How
is it conceivable that He would make an exception in
favor, or rather against, that work about which He
seems to have been more concerned than about any
other ? Of the rest it is said ;

‘
‘ He spoke and they

were made: He commanded and they were created:
He hath established them for ever and for ages of ages:
He hath made a decree and it shall not pass away.”

^

But of the Church, the same inspired Psalmist sang

:

The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains. ’ ’

The Lord loveth the gates of Zion .above all the
tabernacles of Jacob. Yet there are those who
would have us believe that, after God had thus done
everything that He could do to preserve this. His
cherished work, it became corrupted, was disintegrated
and practically destroyed, so that it needed man’s in-
terference to recreate and reestablish it ! This, too,

1. Ps. xlviii. V 6. 2. Ps. Ixxxvi.



6 THE CHURCH OF THE UIVING GOD.

is asserted in the face of the most positive Scripture

evidence that it was impossible.

THE TRUE CHURCH IS INDESTRUCTIBLE.

Indestructibility is a characteristic which- distin-

guishes all the works of God. The opposite is

indelibly impressed on all the works of man. The

former is apparent in the Church’s persistence in the

state the Saviour left it and in its continuity or per-

petuity.

The perpetuity of the Church is repeatedly foretold

in Sacred Scripture. At the Annunciation the angel

said to Mary that the Son who was to be born of her

should “ reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of

His Kingdom there shall be no end.”^ Now, all inter-

preters agree that “ His Kingdom ” is His Church.

To Peter our Saviour Himself said :
‘

‘ Thou art Peter,

and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

”
^ How dare

any one say that they will, or can, or have done so ?

In the final words of St. Matthew’s gospel, our Tord

is reported as saying : “Go ye, teach all nations
. . and behold I am with you all days, even to

the consummation of the world. Here the perpetual

presence of Christ with His Church, without a single

day’s interruption, until the end of the world, is

plainly promised. How then could it fall away ?
So plainly and palpably present has He been, that

even if the Sacred Scriptures contained not a single

sentence promising it, we would be compelled to be-

I, lyUke i. 32, 33. 2, Matt, xvi, 18. 3. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20,



the; true; church is industructibue;.
7

lieve it by the evidences afforded by the Church’s
record of storms encountered, and of battles fought
and won, with such overwhelming odds against her,
that only by divine power could she have con-
quered and survived. And the outcome of all has
been, unlike that of all other deadly conflicts, she

comes out stronger numerically than at any other
time in her past history. To-day she is more vigor-
ous in action, more constant to principle, more
successful in converting, than ever before. No'sooner

the secessions of the sixteenth century com-
pleted in the Old World, than acquisitions in Japan
and the New World compensated for them. Never
did such a galaxy of saints and apostles shine, as
brightened her firmament at the time when there
fell fromOt many that promised to be to her a
special glory and honor. Steadily but surely she is
recovering all the lost ground in England, Ger-
many, Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. To-
day, far from showing signs of that decay which all
others so sadly lament, she was never more healthy;
never was she more compact, more united, more seem-
ingly indestructible. Three hundred millions duti-
fully acknowledge her sway.

The immense resources of wonderfully well-equipped
rival organizations (in a worldly sense), have been and
are being vahily used against her. All combined, they
have yet their first nation to convert. She has con-
verted all the nations of the world that claim to be
Christian, without the exception of even the smallest.
To the temporal power of the popes and the favor

of temporal potentates, her perpetuity was long at-



8 THE CHURCH OE THE LIVING GOD.

tributed. Both have been lost to her, the latter for

over a quarter of a century, and she has suffered no

perceptible detriment therefrom.

Modern discoveries have driven others into practical

rejection of their basic principles, or into
minimizing

or putting them out of sight as the ostrich hides its

head in the sand, in the vain hope of thereby escaping

detection. She stands out in the open, meets and wel-

comes all comers, knowing that any that shall seem con-

tradictory to her teachings will, by impact with her, be

dissipated into thin vapor, like the buffeting
ocean

waves on the rock-bound shore, and serve but to hide

the unsightly view of the old time wrecks strewing
the

ocean, over which she proudly towers.

From science, literature, the arts, she who was their

best, and, for centuries, their only patron and fosterer,

has nothing to fear. All the great
universities and

schools of the Old World, with the exception of a
few

modern ones, owe their origin to her. Vaguer than the

crude histories of Asiatic countries would be the
his-

tory of Europe to-day but for her. The classic works

of Greece and Rome would have perished with these

languages, if she had not preserved both, by the labors

of her ministers. Europe would be but an
unindexed

museum, like India, Egypt and Asia Minor if, in spite

of the invasions of barbarians from the North,
East and

South, whither her light had not penetrated, or where

it had been put out, she had not kept the flame
alight

in her convents and monasteries, until it burst out
into

the blaze of modern civilization, which is of and
from

her. For with the discovery of the art of printing
and

of the New World, its effulgence—solely through her



THE TRUE CHURCH IS INDESTRUCTIBLE.
9

efforts and patronage—reached its mid-day splendor in
the sixteenth century, when the so-called Reformation
almost extinguished it again. And not even yet have
painting, sculpture, and architecture, recovered from the

rude shocks they then received. The little she wms able
to make secure of the great w'orks of art in the museum
of the Vatican, was and is, incomparably, the best in the

world, so that even still, no artist or scholar considers

his education complete, who has not studied there. Ail
this is incontestible evidence of her vitality, at the very

time she was thought to be dead or dying.

But some prophets of ill omen tell us that it is the
developments of the future, that the old Church

cannot outlive. The present and coming freedom of
thought and action will be the death of her old-time

slowness and conservatism. As well predict that the
flywheel will not be able to keep up with the machinery
in the power house. The latter would all go to smash
w'ithout the former, and so would modern society with-
out the restraint of the Catholic .Church. The only
effective check now on its too-fast pace are her doc-
trinal, moral and devotional teachings and practices, and

whatever little of them those carried away wdio broke
loose from her communion. Whilst she can very well
get along without modern society’s ways, it cannot
possibly subsist without her ancient restraints. It will

break up before she does. Besides, her palmiest days
were those when human liberty was most respected.
Hence, she thrives in America and pines in Russia,

Turkey and every place where liberty is trampled upon
and enlightenment despised.

In whatever things modern society is running coun-



lo THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD.

ter to her teaching—as in divorce and education—it
must, sooner or later, come back to her standard or be

wrecked. “ One jot or one tittle shall not pass of the

law, till all be fulfilled
” Ms the decree of her divine

Founder and “ heaven and earth shall pass away before

His word can be made void.” It and its upholder,

the Catholic Church, are indestructible.

Human institutions are continually changing; she is

the one sole institution that changes not. Republican

and autocratic, monarchical and social, she is all kinds

of governments in one, and equally well suited to each,

without altering her own. Hence she saw the

rise, decline and fall of every species of government of

the past, and was at the birth of each new one now

subsisting; she will likewise survive their demise.

Thrones have tottered and fallen ; hers being spiritual,

is not liable to decay. Amidst the universal ruins
of

earthly monuments she is the only one standing proudly

pre-eminent : she is indefectible.

THE TRUE CHURCH IS INFALLIBLE.

Ever so little reflection will convince any one that

the Eord might as well not have founded His
Church

if He had not made it incapable of erring. Man could

not be bound to follow a guide that might lead
him

astray. When the Church took charge of him he was.

straying
;
what great difference could it make to him

whether it was towards the right or towards the
left

his wandering footsteps tended ? God could not
oblige

him to believe, under penalty of damnation
he that

I. Matt. V. i8.



THK TRUK CHURCH IS INRALUIBUK. II

believeth not shall be condemned ''—without giving

him an infallible teacher to make known what he had

to believe, under such an appalling alternative. Thor-

oughly convinced that the Church was such a God-

given teacher, never did her children waver in their

persuasion that she was infallible. This is the reason

that, to the present day, it has not been formally de-

fined as a dogma of faith
;
nor is it likely to be, for

no believer in Christ and His Church can consistently

call it in question. Yet is there no doctrine of Chris-

tianity so universally impugned by those outside the

Church's fold. It is on this account it is here dwelt

upon at length.

That the Church was infallible in Apostolic times, is

what hardly any one bearing the name Christian would

deny. The Apostles' declarations are not and never

were questioned. They were the only authority in the

Church during almost the whole of the first century ;

for the New Testament was not completed until the

close of it. But the early Church had no such need of

infallible teachers as after ages. With the memory of

the words and deeds of the Master still fresh, the Apos-

tles were much less likely to make mistakes than their

successors, who could not possibly keep from error, if

with the Apostles' power of baptizing, confirming,

ordaining, governing, etc.
,
they did not inherit their pre-

rogative of teaching infallibly. Besides, can it be enter-

tained for a moment that God loved less those of the sec-

ond and twentieth centuries, than the few infidels and

idolaters of the first, of whom so dreadful an account is

given by St. Paul :
‘

' As they cared not to have God in

their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate



12 THE CHURCH OP THE EIVING GOD.

sense, to do those things which are not becoming, being

filled with all wickedness, inventors of evil things, diso-

bedient to parents, without affection, without mercy.” ^

Over and above these • presumptive arguments, we

have positive evidence from Scripture, that the Church

cannot err in her teachings. Our blessed Lord, in

constituting St. Peter Prince of His Apostles, says to

him : ‘‘ Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will

build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not pre-
vail against it.

”
^ Christ makes here a solemn predic-

tion that no error shall ever invade His Church; and

if she fell into error, the gates of hell have certainly

prevailed against her.

The Reformers of the sixteenth century affirm that

the Church did fall into error; that the gates of hell

did prevail against her; that from the sixth to the six-

teenth century she was a sink of iniquity. The Book

of Homilies of the Church of England says that the

Church “lay buried in damnable idolatry for eight

hundred years and more.” The personal veracity of

our Saviour and of the Reformers is here at issue, for

our Lord makes a statement which they contradict.

Who is to be believed, Jesus or the Reformers?
If the prediction of our Saviour about the preserva-

tion of His Church from error be false, then He was
not God, since God cannot err. He is not even a
Prophet, since He predicted falsehood. Nay; He is an
impostor, and all Christianity is a miserable failure and

a huge deception, since it rests on a false Prophet.

But if Jesus predicted the truth when He declared
that the gates of hell should not prevail against His

I. Romans i. 28, 2. Matt. xvi. 18.



I'rue; church is INRAUUIBUE). 13

Church—and who dare deny it?—then the Church
never has, and never could have fallen from the truth;

then the Catholic Church is infallible, for she is the

only Church that is acknowledged to have existed

from the beginning, and she alone claims that preroga-

tive. She had for her Architect, that wise builder

mentioned in the Gospel, who built his house upon a

rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the

winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell

not, for it was founded upon a rock.

Jesus sends forth the Apostles with plenipotentiary

powers to preach the Gospel. As the Father,’' He
says, “hath sent Me, I also send you.”^ “Going

therefore, teach all nations, teaching them to observe

all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”^
“ Preach the Gospel to every creature.”^ “ Ye shall

be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea,
and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the

earth.

This commission evidently applies not to the Apos-

tles only, but also to their successors, to the end of

time
;
since it was utterly impossible for the Apostles

personally to preach to the whole world.

Not only does our Lord empower His Apostles to

preach the Gospel, but He commands, and under the

most severe penalties, tho.se to whom they preach to
listen and obey. “Whosoever will not receive you,

nor hear your words, going forth from that house or

city, shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to

you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom

and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that

I. Matt. vii. 24, et seq. 2. John xx. 21. 3. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.
4. Mark. xvi. 15. 5. Acts i. b.



14 the church or the eiving god.

city.^1 If he will not hear the Church, let him be

to thee as the heathen and the publican/
'' He that

believeth shall be saved
;
he that believeth not, shall

be condemned.”^ “He that heareth you, heareth
Me; he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that

despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me.“^

From these passages, we see, on the one hand, that

the Apostles and their successors have received full

powers to announce the Gospel; and on the other, that

their hearers are obliged to listen with docility, and to

obey with internal assent of the intellect. If, there-

fore, the Catholic Church could preach error, would

not God Himself be responsible for the error ? And

could not the faithful soul say to God with all rever-

ence and truth: Thou hast commanded me, O Ford,

to hear Thy Church
;

if I am deceived by obeying

her. Thou art the cause of my error.

But we may rest assured that an all-wise Providence

who commands His Church to speak in His name, will

so guide her in the path of truth, that she shall never

lead into error those that follow her guidance. All

this imports but one thing, that she is infallible.

As this was an extraordinary favor the time and

manner of bestowing it, and the words in which it was

conveyed, betoken its importance. Shortly before His

death, Jesus consoles His disciples by this promise:

“ I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another

VeLvacletey that He may abide wiik youforever.

But when He, the spirit of truth, shall come. He will

teach you all truth. ’ ’ ^

I. Matt. X. 14, 15.

4. lyUke X. 16.

2. Matt, xviii. 16.

5. John xiv. 10; xvi. 13.
3. Mark xvi. 16.



run church is inrauribuk. 15

The following text of the same import, forms the

concluding words recorded of our Saviour in St.

Matthew’s Gospel: ‘'All power is given to Me in

heaven and on earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all

nations, . . . teaching them to observe all things

whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold, I

am with you all days, even to the consummation of the

world,
’ ’ 1

These words of Jesus Christ establish two important

facts : I. A promise that His presence with the Church

will be continuous, without any interval of absence, to

the consummation of the world. 2. A promise to
guard His Church from all error at all times.

And this is also the sentiment of St. Paul in his

epistle to the Ephesians : God
‘

‘ gave some indeed

Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists,

and others Pastors and Teachers, for the perfecting of

the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the build-

ing up of the body of Christ, until we all meet in the

unity of faith, . . . that we may no more be

children, tOvSsed to and fro, and carried about with

every wind of doctrine, by the wickedness of men, in

craft, by which they lie in wait to deceive.”^

As we know that the mission of the Son of God was

to place within reach of every one the means of salva-

tion, there can be no room fora doubt about His having

specially provided for that, which, of all others, is most

essential—a knowledge of God and of the Saviour:
“ This is eternal life that they may know Thee the only

true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent.” ^

This knowledge, certainly, is not merely of the

I. Matt, xxviii, 11-14. 2. Rph. iv. 11-14. 3. Jn. xvii. 3.



i6 THK CHURCH OR THE LIVING GOD.

names “God and Jesus Christ, “ but of all that has

been divinely revealed concerning both. This alone can

be truly called “ knowing God.” To attain it and the

eternal life attached thereto, an infallible teacher is as

necessary to earthly wayfarers as an unerring compass

is to the mariner, who would safely traverse the ocean

to a haven on the opposite shore. Were the needle as

liable to point south, east, or west as north, the ship

guided by it would never reach its destination. Thank

God ! in the infinitely more important voyage to the

eternal shore, the needed reliable guide haj been sup-

plied in an indicator and director that likewise cannot

err—that are infallible.

THE TRUE CHURCH IS ONE.

How could it possibly be otherwise, unless the self-

contradictory assumption be made, that there are two

supreme beings ? In the supposition that there may be

more than one true Church, is included, that they

either agree in those four constituents of a church, or

differ. In the former case they would be practically

one
;

in the latter contradictory, and, therefore, all

wrong, save one. Yet, singular to tell, there are many

Protestants, who hold—or say they hold— that many,
or all of the various churches, although directly con-

tradicting each other, may be the Church of God, or

branches of it. With those who would thus stultify

reason it is difficult to argue. Yet many of these think

they have a monopoly of it, and show it by adducing a

simile as proof oi a divine truth: “ As many roads

may lead to the same place, so the various churches are

so many ways to the one heaven,” Now, as we have



THE TRUE CHURCH IS ONE. 17

seen, and as the least reflection will show : Man is the

wayfarer, heaven is his destination
;
the only way thereto

is that which the Saviour pointed out : “I am th« way,

the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father

but byMe.”^ In many other places He repeats the
same thing. He never said that His Church—much
less any church—could be the way. And, neither
literally nor figuratively can they be said to be

;
no

more than the sign-post by the roadside, whose duty is

merely to point out the way to the various places.

This the one only Church of God does, for the one only

way, to the one only heaven. God help the poor

traveller accosted at the crossing and directed to as

many ways as there are “churches” ! By the time

he has tried them all, his life’s span may be ended.

There is, however, no need of his doing so. A simple
and effective means is indicated by reason, and sanc-

tioned by it in every other quest for truth.

Moreover, this means is the only test of truth we

have, and is at the same time of universal application.

It is unanimity of teaching. To it we are indebted for

all the truth we claim to know in the arts, sciences,

and philosophy. All that we rely upon in history,

astronomy, architecture, medicine—in fact everything
we give assent to, has been acquired, not from the

thoughts and notions of individuals or coteries, but

from the practically unanimous consensus of those

professing to know them. What justification then

can we claim if we proceed otherwise in the matter of

religion ? Hence, if the least doubt concerning our

position arises—and a sane mind must doubt without
I. John xiv. 6.



l8 THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD.

this assurance—it is a duty imposed by reason and
sanctioned by religion, to make inquiry about where

this unanimity of teaching may be found. It exists in

but one place, the one holy Catholic Church, wherein,

as St. Paul reminded the Ephesians, there is
‘

‘ one

body and one spirit . . . one Lord, one faith, one

baptism, one God and Father of all.”^

This oneness in body, spirit, faith, baptism, wor-

ship and means of grace, it is that constitutes the

unity of the Church, that mark of truth which none

can be excused from inquiring after, and which only

the wilfully blind cannot perceive the absence or

presence of.

The Saviour of the world was most precise in indi-

cating this unity amongst His followers, as the mark

by which the world would know and believe Him,

and what they said of Him. Immediately before

His Passion He said : “I pray for them also who

through their word shall believe in Me ; that they all

may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me and I in Thee,

that they also may be one in us ; that the world may

believe that Thou hast sent Me.”^ Certainly this

prayer of Jesus for His true followers was heard, and

wherever they are, they will show that it has been.

There will be no divisions between them in religious

matters. They will be as devoid thereof as Jesus and

His eternal Father are. Only children of the Catholic

Church are thus united. They alone claim to be, as

indeed they are, all one in belief, in worship, in means

of grace and moral observance. No differences of any

kind on doctrinal points, exist asaongst those hundreds

I. Kph. iv. 4. 2. John xvii. 20, 21.



THE TRUE CHURCH IS ONE. 19

of millions of every tribe, nation
and tongue under

heaven. To find a single congregation belonging
to

any other denomination, who are so, would be
impos-

sible. Yet St. Paul ranks such divisions,
conten-

tions and sects, amongst the things that
exclude from

the kingdom of God : Now the works of the flesh

are manifest, which are . . . enmities,
conten-

tions, emulations, wraths, quarrels,
dissensions, sects,

etc.
,
of the which I foretell you, as I have

foretold

you, that they who do such things shall not
obtain

the kingdom of God,”^ and warns the Ephesians
to

be especially on their guard against
them : “Be

careful to keep the unity of the spirit in the
bond of

peace.
” ^

Even when only seeming differences arose in
the

past, the whole Church mourned them as the worst
of

calamities. Differences amongst others, that would
be

considered trifling, called forth the prayers and efforts

of every child of the Church; nor were they
at rest

until the last vestige of discord had disappeared.
The

rebellious who scorn every warning, and insist on

their own views, despite the decisions of the Church,

are summarily dealt with. Dike rotten branches,
they

are lopped off, no matter what consequences may

result, even though it be the loss of whole provinces

or countries.

In all these nineteen centuries this unanimity of
teach-

ing has remained unaltered. Not one article of
her

many creeds has the Catholic Church had to modify,

much less recall, or attempt to explain away. The least

item of her teaching has yet to be found erroneous.

I. Gal. V. 20, 21. 2. Eph. V. 3.



20 the: church OE' tihc riving god.

and the moment one mistake is proved against her, she
goes down to rise no more. But the heavens will fail
first. She is as unchangeable as her Founder, the un-
changing God of truth.

Not less essential than unity of faith is unity of
government. All the members must be united together
by well defined and unequivocal bonds of superiority and
subordination. And than those clear and plainly marked
articulations, joining together all the members of the
Catholic Church, there could be none more perfect.
Whilst all her children, whether rich or poor, learned
or Ignorant, civilized or semi-barbarous, know them-
selves to be on a perfect equality before God, each flock
is subject to a pastor; the pastors are under the bishop;
the bishops are subordinate to the universal pastor, the
Vicar of Christ, who himself is the invisible head of
the Church. Thus is the mystical body of Christ per-
fected m grace and symmetry worthy its incomparable
dignity of Spouse of the Lamb. It is not a disjointed
or monstrous caricature, as it certainly would be, did
the jarring sects, amongst whom every doctrine of
Christianity is affirmed and reciprocally denied, con-
stitute it.

This idea of the Church being the mystical body of
Christ, pervades the whole New Testament and is
referred to by St. Paul ia at least twelve places^
Know you not that your bodies are the members of

Christ. ... Or know you not that your bodies
are the temples of the Holy Ghost? ”i Again in
Chap. xii. verses 12, 13, and indeed throughout this
whole chapter, the same idea pervades — he says :

I. I. Cor. vi. 15-19.



YHe: "TRUEi CHURCH IS ONH. 21

'
‘

P^or as the body is one and hath many members and all

the members of the body whereas they are many, yet are

one body: so also is Christ. For in one spirit we are all

baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles

whether bond or free.
’

' Farther down, verses 27, etc.

,

he states again :
‘

‘ Now you are the body of Christ, and

members of members. And God indeed hath placed some

in the Church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly

doctors. . . . Are all apostles ? Are all prophets ?

Are all doctors ?
’

’ etc. He here plainly implies that

regular hierarchical order referred to above, as one of

the elements of the Church’s unity.

Only in the Catholic Church is this perfect unity of

government found; from the beginning it subsisted

thus. Unique and unparalleled in its kind, it unites

all in a spiritual kinship which no discrepancies other-

wise can sever. Hence it is, that emigrants from

every clime under heaven, flocking to our shores,

although they And everything else new and strange,

are at once at home in all things pertaining to their

religion, if they happen to be members of the Catholic

Church.*

All the other various figures under which the Church

is referred to in the Sacred Scriptures convey this same

idea of unity, and find their verification in the Catholic

Church alone. It is called a kingdom: “ He shall reign

over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom

there shall be no end.”^ Now in every well-regulated

* On this and the following marks of the Church we have

freely drawn on Cardinal Gibbons’ incomparable work, The

Faith of Our Fathers, which we earnestly recommend to

the perusal of our readers.

I. Euke i. 32,



22 THK CHURCH OU THE UIVING COD.

kingdom there is but one king^ oneform ofgovernment^

one uniform body of laws, which all are obliged to ob-

serve. In like manner, in Christ’s spiritual kingdom,

there must be one Chief to whom all owe spiritual al-

legiance
;
one form of ecclesiastical government; one

uniform body of laws which all Christians are bound to

observe, otherwise anarchy would prevail
;
for,

'' every

kingdom divided against itself shall be made deso-

late.’^"

Our Saviour calls His Church a sheepfold. ‘‘ And

there shall be made one fold and one shepherd.

What more beautiful or fitting illustration of unity can

we have than that which is suggested by a sheepfold ?

All the sheep of a flock cling together. If they are

momentarily separated, they are impatient till reunited.

They follow in the same path. They feed on the same

pastures. They obey the same vShepherd, and fly from

the voice of strangers.

His Church is compared to a human body. As in

one body we have many members, but all the members

have not the same office; so we being many, are one

body in Christ, and every one members one of the

other.

The Church is compared to a vine, all whose

branches, though spreading far and wide, are neces-

sarily connected with the main stem, from whose sap

they are nourished.

The Church, in fine, is called in Scripture by the

beautiful title of bride or spouse of Christ, and the

Christian law admits only one wife.

In fact, our common sense alone, apart from revela-

X. Matt. xii. 25. 2. John x. i6. 3. Rom. xii. 4, 5.



THB Truk church is houy. 23

tion, is sufficient to convince us that God could not be

the author of various opposing systems of religion.

God is essentially one, and is Truth itself. How could

the God of truth affirm, for instance, to one body of

Christians that there are three Persons in God, and to

another that there is only one Person in God ? How

could He say to one individual that Jesus Christ is

God, and to another that He is only man. How can

He tell me that the punishments of the wicked are

eternal, and tell another that they are not eternal?

One of these contradictory statements must be false.

'' God is not the God of dissension, but of peace.’'

Perfect unity and harmony prevails in the laws

which govern the physical world that we inhabit, and

in our planetary system. Each planet moves in its

own sphere, and all are controlled by the central sun.

Why should there not be also unity, harmony and con-

cord in that spiritual world, the Church of God, the

grandest conception of His omnipotence, and the most

bounteous manifestation of His goodness and love for

mankind ?

How sublime and consoling is the thought, that

withersoever a Catholic goes over the broad world,

whether he enters his Church in Pekin or in Mel-

bourne, in Eondon, or Dublin, or Paris, or Rome, or

New York, or San Francisco, he is sure to hear the

self-same doctrine preached, to assist at the same sac-

rifice, and to partake of the same sacraments !

THE TRUE CHURCH IS HOLY.

Various bodies may have various aims, the True

Church can have but one, the sanctification of its mem-



24 the: church of thf uiving god.

bers; hence, St. Peter calls the Christians of his time

a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy na-

tion^ a purchased people.^’

^

The example of the divine Founder, Jesus Christ,

the sublime moral lessons He has taught, the Sacra-

ments He has instituted—all tend to sanctification.
Behold the sublime Model that is placed before us !

It is not man, nor angel, nor archangel, but Jesus

Christ, the Son of God, “ who is the brightness of His

glory, and the figure of Plis substance. His up-

lifted image in our churches admonishes us to
‘

‘ look

and do according to the pattern shown on the Mount.
’ ’ ^

And from that height He seems to say to us : “Be ye

holy, for I the Ford your God am holy.”^ “Be ye

perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”^

“ Be ye followers of God as most dear children.”

®

It was to sanctify the world that Christ came into

it, and sent forth apostles to preach. For this, temples

are built in every nation, and missionaries go forth to

the extremities of the globe. God, says St. Paul,

“gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and others

Evangelists, and others Pastors and Doctors, for the

pe7'fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for

the buildmg up of the body of Christ until we all meet

unto the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son

of God unto a perfect man. ”7 The moral law is the

highest and holiest standard of perfection ever pre-

sented, and furnishes the strongest incentive to virtue.

The same divine precepts delivered through Moses to

the Jews, on Mount Sinai, the same salutary warn-

I. Pet. ii. 9. 2. Heb. i. 3. 3. Exod. xxv. 40.

4. Lev. xix. 2. 5 * Matt. v. 48. 6. Eph. v. i.

7. Epb. iv. 11-13.



THE TRUE CHURCH IS HOLY. 25

ings which the prophets uttered throughout Judea,
the same sublime and consoling lessons of morality

which Jesus gave on the Mount, these are the lessons

which the Catholic Church teaches all the year round.

The Catholic preacher does not amuse his audience
with speculative topics or political harangues, or any

other subjects of a transitory nature. He preaches
only “ Christ, and Him crucified.”
This code of divine precepts is enforced with as

much zeal by the Catholic Church as rvas the deca-
logue of old by Moses, 'when he said : ” These words,
which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart;
and thou shalt tell them to thy children; and thou
shalt meditate upon them, sitting in thy house, and
walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising.”

The first lesson taught to children in our Sunday-
schools is their duty to know, love and serve God, and
thus to be saints. Not only are Catholics instructed
in church, but they are exhorted to peruse the Word
of God, and manuals of devotion, at home. The
saints of the Church, whose lives are there recorded,
serve like bright stars to guide them .over the stormy
ocean of life to the shores of eternity. These books of
piety are adapted to every want of the human soul,
and are a fruitful source of sanctification. So admir-
able and excellent are they that there is nothing like
them in all the world outside of the Church. In fact,
whatever of good may be found in others, whatever
of real devotion, of wise teaching, of sublime perfec-

tion there may be, are all traceable to Catholic sources.
The best part of the Episcopalian ” Book of Common
Prayer,” is but a translation from the old Catholic



26 THE CHURCH OE THE LIVING GOD.

Missal and Breviary. “The Imitation of Christ’’ is

entirely Catholic, although published in a mutilated

form as Protestant; as are other Catholic works of de-

votion. The Catholic Church alone has a system of

scientific theology, any one of whose countless vol-

umes is available for every Catholic student, whilst

not one of all the non-Catholic productions of one sect

is acceptable to any of the others.

Not only does the Church supply all, and more than

all, the motives for virtuous living others may boast of,

she also affords abundant means of sanctification they

are strangers to, in her public and private prayers and

devotional exercises of various kinds. In her fasts,

abstinences, sublime ceremonies, religious societies, and

orders of so many varieties ; but, above all, in the

divine sacrifice and seven sacred sacraments, there is no

spiritual need that is not royally provided for there.

From all these motives and means she reaps the most

abundant fruits of holiness. In every age and country

she is the fruitful mother of saints. Our Ecclesiastical

calendar is not confined to the names of the twelve

Apostles. It is emblazoned with the lists of heroic

martyrs who “were stoned, and cut asunder, and put

to death by the sword
’

’

;
of innumerable confessors and

hermits who left all things and followed Christ ; of

spotless virgins who preserved their chastity for the

kingdom of heaven’s sake. Every day in the year is

consecrated in our Martyrology to a large number of

saints. And in our own times, in every quarter of the

globe and in every department of life, the Church con-

tinues to raise up saints worthy of the primitive days

of Christianity.



THEJ I'RUE) CHURCH IS HOUY. 27

If we seek for apostles, we find them conspicuously

wherever there is a pagan or unbeliever to be converted,

or a stray-away from the fold to be brought back. This

it is that fills our churches with the poor, the outcast,

the sinner, for whom no one else cares. Every year

records the premature deaths of young priests and

young virgin toilers, amongst the sick, the orphan, the

outcast, as well as of those who shed their blood

amidst unheard of tortures in infidel lands. The

worldly possessions of most of these, unlike the well-

equipped, well-housed, well-cared-for Protestant mis-

sioner, who goes with all soothing domestic comforts,

are often confined to a few books and the clothes on

their backs.

Of these and the myriad hidden saints of the Church,

those outside of it never hear; having only eyes to see

the few scandal-givers, and ears^to hear only what may

be reproachful. They forget that amongst so vast

a body, so varied, so prolific (because strictly living up

to the moral law) many necessarily are not all they

ought to be
;

this, however, is not because of the

Church’s teaching, but rather in defiance of it: ''It

must needs be that scandals come.” Amongst the

humbler classes they are apparent; amongst the rich

and refined they are better concealed. Regarding both

it ought be—but it is not oftentimes borne in mind
that as God does not, neither can the force

anyone’s conscience. " Behold I set before you the

way of life and the way of death. ’ ’ The choice rests

with the individual, and should be attributed to him,

not to the Church that has to endure him, even when

it cannot cure him.



2cS THK CHURCH . OF THR GIVING GOD.

Walking in the footsteps of her divine Spouse, the

Church never repudiates sinners, no matter how griev-

ous or notorious may be their moral delinquencies; not

because she connives at their sin, but because she

wishes to reclaim them. She bids them never to

despair, and tries to weaken their passions, at least, if

she cannot altogether reform their lives. Mindful

also of the words of our Lord : The poor have

the Gospel preached to them,” the Church has

a tender compassion for the victims of poverty, which

has its train of peculiar temptations and infirmities.

Hence, the poor and the sinners cling to her, as they

clung to our Lord during His mortal life.

We know, on the other hand, that sinners who are
guilty of gross crimes which shock public decency, are

virtually excommunicated from Protestant Commun-

ions. And as for the poor, the public press often

complains that little or no provision is made for them

in Protestant Churches. Who ever saw a poor person

enter an Episcopal Church or the poor in general, any

but Catholic Churches? The parables descriptive of

the Church which our Lord employed, clearly teach

that the good and bad shall be joined together in the

Church as long as her earthly mission lasts. The

kingdom of God is like a field in which the cockle is

allowed to grow up with the good seed until the harvest-

time;^ it is like a net which encloses good fish and bad

until the hour of separation comes. ^ So, too, the

Church is that great house ^ in which there are not only

vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay.

I. Matt. xi. 5.

4. II. Tim. ii. 20.

2. Matt. xiii. 24-37. 3. Ibid. xiii. 47.



the: Truk church is cathouic. 29

The occasional scandals existing among members of

the Church do not invalidate or impair her claim to

the title of sanctity. The spots on the sun do not mar

its brightness. Neither do the moral stains of some

members sully the brilliancy of her
‘

‘ who cometh

forth as the morning star, fair as the moon, bright as

the sun.”^ The cockle that grows amidst the wheat

does not destroy the beauty of the ripened harvest.

The sanctity of Jesus was not sullied by the presence

of Judas in the apostolic college. Neither can the

moral corruption of a few disciples tarnish the holiness

of the Church. St. Paul calls the Church of Corinth

a congregation of saints,^ though he reproves some

scandalous members among them . ^

THE TRUE CHURCH IS CATHOLIC.

That Catholicity is a prominent note of the Church,

is evident from the Apostles’ Creed, which says : “I

believe in the holy Catholic Church.” The word

Catholic, or universal, signifies that the true Church is

not circumscribed in its extent, like human empires,

nor confined to one race of people, like the Jewish

Church, but that she is diffused over every nation of

the globe, and counts her children among all tribes

and peoples and tongues of the earth.

This glorious Church is foreshadowed by the Psalm-

ist, when he sings: ”A11 the ends of the earth shall

be converted to the Tord, and all the kindreds of the

Gentiles shall adore in His sight; for the kingdom is

the Lord’s, and He shall have dominion over the
nations.

’ ’ ^ The prophet Malachy saw in the distant

I. Cant. vi. 9. 2. I. Cor. i. 3. I. Cor. v. 4. Ps. xii.



30 THE CHURCH OP THE HIVING GOD.

future this world-wide Church,when he wrote: “ From

the rising of the sun, to the going down, my name is

great among the Gentiles
;
and in every place there is

sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean obla-

tion : for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith

the Lord of hosts.
’ ’ ^

That the Church was to be for all, is evident from

the following : “Go ye, therefore, and teach all

nations.""^ “ Go ye into the whole world, and preach

the Gospel to every creature."^ “Ye shall be wit-

nesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and

Samaria, and even to the uttermostpart of the earth.'

The prophecies were fulfilled. The Apostles scat-

tered themselves over the surface of the earth, preach-

ing the Gospel of Christ. “Their sound,” says St.

Paul, “ went over all the earth, and their words unto

the ends of the whole world.” Within thirty years

after our Saviour’s crucifixion, the Apostle of the

Gentiles was able to say to the Romans: “I give

thanks to my God through Jesus Christ because your

faith is spoken of in the entire world ;
”—-spoken of

assuredly by those who were in sympathy and com-

munion with the faith of the Romans.

St. Justin, martyr, about one hundred years after

Christ, St. Irenaeus at the end of the second century,

and all writers since, bear evidence to the spread and

acceptance of the Gospel.

This catholicity, or universality, is not to be found

in any, or in all, of the combined communions sepa-

rated from the Roman Catholic Church, nor in any false

religion
;
nor is there the slightest likelihood of any-

I. Mai. i. II. 2. Matt, xxviii. 19. 3. Mark xvi. 15. 4 Acts
i. 8.



the true church is apostoeic. 31

thing bearing the name or semblance of religion, that

will captivate men’s hearts and win their allegiance, as

Catholic Christianity has done. She is perfectly safe,

therefore, in her possession. The few sects that from

time to time usurp the name “ Catholic,” only draw

on themselves the ridicule of the world. In the first

and only bearer of it, is it verified and likely to re-

main. She has now so filled the world that there is

not room for another Catholicity. Hence, but little

need be said on this mark of the true Church, until

the impossible comes to pass, i. e., some other body

makes good its claim to universality in doctrine, in

time and space.

THE TRUE CHURCH IS APOSTOLIC.

In the Creed framed in the first Ecumenical Council

of Nicsea, in the year 325, we find these words: ” I

believe in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic

Church.”

This note of the Church implies, that the true

Church must always teach the identical doctrines once

delivered by the Apostles, and that her ministers must

derive their powers from the Apostles by an uninter-

rupted succession. Consequently, no church can claim

to be the true one whose doctrines differ from those of

the Apostles, or whose ministers are unable to trace,

by an unbroken chain, their authority to an Apostolic
^

source; just as our Minister to England can exercise

no authority in that country unless he is duly commis-

sioned by our Government, and represents its views.

The Church, says St. Paul, is ” built upon the



32 THE CHURCH OR THE LIVING GOD.

foundation of the Apostle/’^ so that the doctrine

which it propagates, must be based on Apostolic teach-

ing. Hence St. Paul says to the Galatians: '' Though

an angel from heaven preach a Gospel to you beside

that which we have preached to you, let him be

anathema.’'^ The same Apostle gives this admoni-

tion to Timothy: The things which thou hast heard

from me before many witnesses, the same commend to

faithful men who shall be fit to teach others also.
’ ’ ^

Timothy must transmit to his disciples only such doc-

trines as he heard from the lips of his master.

Not only is it required that ministers of the Gospel

should conform their teaching to the doctrine of the

Apostles, but also that these ministers should be

ordained and commissioned by the Apostles or their

legitimate successors. Neither doth any man,'' says

the Apostle, take the honor to himself, but he that is

called by God, as Aaron was."^ This text evidently

condemns all self-constituted preachers and reformers
;

for, how shall they preach, unless they be sent?

Sent, of course by legitimate authority, and not directed

by their own caprice. Hence, we find that those who

succeeded the Apostles were ordained and commis-

sioned by them to preach, and that no others were per-

mitted to exercise this function. Thus we are told

that Paul and Barnabas
‘

‘ had ordained for them

priests in every church.
'

' ^ And the Apostle says to

Titus :
‘
‘ For this cause I left thee in Crete, . . .

that thou shouldst ordain priests in every city, as I

also appointed thee." Even St. Paul himself, though

I. Eph. ii. 20. 2. Gal. i, 8. 3. II. Tim. ii. 2. 4. Heb. v. 4.

5. Rom.x. 15. 6. Acts xiv, 22, 7. Tit. i. 5.



the: true church is apostouic. 33

miraculously called and instructed by God, had hands

imposed on him,^ lest others should be tempted by his

example to preach without Apostolic warrant.

The subjoined table, compiled from recognized his-

torical records, tells which one amongst the
"

‘ churches

can make good its claim to this acknowledged mark of

the true Church.

NAME .

Anabaptists ......

Baptists

Cambellites, or Christians

Methodists,

Presbyterians ......

Episcopalians

Lutherans

Unita’n Congrega’nalists.

Congregarionalists, . . .

Quakers

FOUNDER. DATE.

Nicolas stork . . . 1521

Roger Williams . . 1639

Alex. Campbell . . 1813

John Wesley .... 1739

General Assembly . 1560

Henry VIII .... 1534

Martin Euther . . . 1524

Celarius About 1540 . .

Robert Brown . . . 1583

George Fox .... 1647

Catholic Church .... Jesus Christ, the Son of the

lyiving God, and Redeemer of the World, who alone

was competent to found a Church, and who had no

more need of man’s meddling to improve, refound, or

reform it, than God had of his assistance when He

formed the material universe, in the beginning of all

things. Indeed, on this latter, it would be less pre-

sumptuous for him to try his skill, than on that greater.

I. Actsxiii. 2, 3.



34 THE CHURCH
OE THE LIVING GOD.

sublimer, supernatural realm, the
comprehending of

whose mysteries is absolutely beyond
the ken of his

feeble reason.

From the above it will appear , that all the churches

save one, had their origin fifteen
hundred years too

late to have any pretension to the
title

‘
‘ Apostolic.

But it is said:
** Although their public history dates

from the time assigned, their origin is
traceable to the

Apostles.” This is impossible.- First
of all, the very

name betrays their recent birth; for who ever
heard of

a Baptist or an Episcopal, or
any other Protestant

Church, prior to the Reformation?
Nor can you say:

<
< existed in every age as an invisible

church.
’ ’

Your concealment, indeed, was so
complete, that no

man can tell, to this day, where you lay hid for
sixteen

centuries. But even if you did exist, you
could not

claim to be the Church of Christ; for
our Ford pre-

dicted that His Church should ever be as
a city placed

upon the mountain-top, that all might see
it, and that

its ministers should preach the
truths of salvation from

the watch-towers thereof, that
all might hear them.

It is equally in vain to say
that you were allied in

faith to the various Christian
sects that went out from

the Catholic Church from age to
age; for these sects

proclaimed doctrines diametrically
opposed to one

another, and the true Church must be
one in faith.

And besides, the less relationship you claim
with many

of these seceders, the better
for you, as they all ad-

vocated errors against Christian
truth, and some of

them disseminated principles at
variance with decency

and morality

.

The Catholic Church, on the contrary,
can easily



THE true church has a head.
35

vindicate the title of Apostolic, because, as all histo-

rians assert she derived her origin from the Apostles.

Every priest and bishop can trace his genealogy to the
first disciples of Christ with as jnuch facility as the

most remote branch of a vine can be traced to the

main stem.

THE TRUE CHURCH HAS A HEAD.

There is not, there never was, there cannot be, any

well ordered body composed of human beings, without
a head. A church is no exception. Whilst Christ our
Eord, the founder of the one, only, true Church was
on earth. He was its sole, supreme, visible head. Had
He not provided another on withdrawing His visible
presence, it would hardly have survived Him. The
Church of God of the old dispensation was so
provided. There were priests and Eevites ordained

to minister at the altar; and there was, also, a supreme

ecclesiastical tribunal, with the high priest at its

head to rule the faithful. All matters of religious

controversy were referred to this tribunal; and in

the last resort to the high priest, whose decision was
enforced under pain of death. “If there be a hard

matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause

and cause, leprosy and leprosy, . . . thou shalt

come to the priests of the Eevitical race, and to the
judge, . . . and they shall show thee true judg-
ment. And thou shalt do whatever they say who pre-
side in the place which the Eord shall choose, and thou

shalt follow their sentence. And thou shalt not decline
to the right hand, or to the left. . . . But he that

will refuse to obey the commandment of the
priest, who ministereth at the time, . . . that man



36 THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD.

shall die, and thou shall take away the evil from

Israel.”^ From this it is evident that the high priest

had supreme jurisdiction in religious matters.

Now the Jewish synagogue, as St. Paul testifies, was

the type and figure of the Christian Church; for, “ all

things happened to them (the Jews) in figure. We

must, therefore, find in the Church of Christ a spiritual

judge, exercising the same supreme authority as the

high priest wielded in the Old haw. For, if a supreme

Pontiff was necessary, in the Mosaic dispensation, to

maintain purity and uniformity of worship, the same

dignitary is far more necessary now to preserve unity

of faith among the various peoples composing the

Church.

But some may say :
‘
‘ We do not deny that the

Church has a Head. God Himself is its ruler.” This

is evading the real question. Is not God the Ruler

of all governments? ‘‘By Me,” He says, ‘‘kings

reign, and lawgivers decree just things. He is the

recognized Head of our Republic, and of every Chris,

tian family in the land; but, nevertheless, there is

always presiding over the country a visible chief, who

represents God on earth.

In like manner the Church, besides an invisible

Head in heaven, must have a visible Head on earth.

The body and members of the Church are visible ; why

not also the Head? The Church without a supreme

ruler, would be like an army without a general, a

navy without an admiral, a sheepfold without a shep-

herd, like a human body without a head, or any of

2. Prov. viii. 15.I. Deut. xvii.



THK TRUK CHURCH HAS A HKAD

.

37

the many sects that are daily dividing and subdividing,

tossed about by every wind of doctrine.’'

But have we any positive proof that Christ did

appoint a supreme ruler over His Church ? To those,

indeed, who read the Scriptures with the single eye of

pure intention, the most abundant evidence of this

fact is furnished. Tike all the great leading events of

the New Law we have the Promise of this appointment,

the Fulfilment of the promise and the Record of the

appointed head exercising his functions.

Promise of the Primacy, Our Saviour, on a certain

occasion, asked His Disciples, saying: “Whom do
men say that the Son of man is?” And they said:
‘

‘ Some say that Thou art John the Baptist; and others,

Elias; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the Prophets.

Jesus saith to them: But whom do ye say that I

am? ” Peter, as usual, as the leader and spokesman,

answering, said: “Thou art Christ, the Son of the

living God. And Jesus answering said to him: Blessed

art thou, Simon Bar-Jona : because flesh and blood

hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father who is
in heaven. And I say to thee : that thou art Peter,

and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Kndi I will

give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven :

and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be

bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose

on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.”^ Here we

find Peter confessing the Divinity of Christ, and in

reward for that confession he is honored with the

promise of the Primacy,

I. Matt. xvi. 13-19.



38 THE CHURCH OE THE LIVING GOD.

The word Peter, in the Syro-Chaldaic tongue, which

our Saviour spoke, means a rock. The sentence runs

thus in that language: Thou art a rock, and on this

rock I will build My ChurchP Indeed, all respectable

Protestant commentators have now abandoned, and

evQn ridicule, the absurdity of applying the word

rock to any one but to Peter; as the sentence can bear

no other construction, unless our Lord’s good grammar

and common sense are called in question.

Our Lord continues: And I wil give to thee the

keys of the kingdom of heaven,” etc. In ancient

times, and particularly among the Hebrew people, keys

were an emblem of jurisdiction. To affirm that a man

had received the keys of a city, was equivalent to the

assertion that he had been appointed its governor. In

the Book of Revelation, our Saviour says that He has

the keys of death and of hell,”^ which means that He

is endowed with power over death and hell. In fact,

even to this day, does not the presentation of keys

convey among ourselves the idea of authority ? If the

proprietor of a house, on leaving it for the summer,

says to any friend: ‘^Here are the keys of my

house,” would not this simple declaration, without

a word of explanation, convey the idea, ” I give you

full control of my house. You may admit or exclude

whom you please. You represent me in my absence ? ’ ’

Let us now apply this interpretation to our Redeemer’s

words. When He says to Peter: ” I will give to thee

the keys,” etc., He evidently means: I will give thee

supreme authority over My Church, which is the

citadel of faith. Thou and thy successors shall be My

I. Rev. i. i8.



'the: True church has a head.
39

visible representatives to tbe end of time. And be
it remembered, that to Peter alone, and to no other
Apostle, were these solemn words addressed.

Fulfilment of the promise. After His resurrection

“Jesus saith to Simon Peter: Simon, son of John,
lovest thou Me more than these ? He saith to Him !
Yea, lyord. Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith
to him. . Feed My lambs. He saith to him again :
Simon, son of John, love.st thou Me? He saith to Him:
Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith
to him : Feed My lambs. He saith to him the third
time . Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me ? Peter was
grieved because He had said to him the third time

:

Lovest thou Me ? and he said to Him
: Lord, Thou

knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee.
He said to him : Feed My sheep.” i

By these words, uttered in presence of the other
apostles, the duty was confided to Peter— and, of
course, to his successors, as long as the Divine Shep-

herd’s flock survived of caring for the whole of It,- the

lambs—the weak and tender portion of it by which
are understood the faithful; and the sheep—those who
nourish, shelter and preserve them—by which are
understood the pastors. Sheep and lambs—the whole
flock—are bound to hear and heed Peter’s voice as
they would that of the Divine Proprietor Himself.
Neither Peter, nor the popes his successors, ever claimed
to be anything more than shepherds, under the Supreme
Pastor, to whom they are responsible for all the flock.
ExeTcise of the Primacy

,

In that inspired history of
the leading events subsequent to the Ascension, the Acts

I. John xxi. 15-17.



40 I'HE) CHURCH OR THR UIVlNG GOD.

of the Apostles—the first twelve chapters are (Jevoted
to Peter, and, incidentally to some of the other apostles.

His name is everywhere pre-eminent. It always stands

first in the lists of the Apostles, while Judas Iscariot

is invariably mentioned last. ^ Peter is even called by St.

Matthew the first Apostle. Now Peter was first neither

in age nor in priority of election, his elder brother

Andrew having been chosen before him. The mean-

ing, therefore, of the expression must be, that Peter

was first not only in rank and honor, but also in

authority.

Peter is the first Apostle who performed a miracle.^

He is the first to address the Jews in Jerusalem while

his Apostolic brethren stand respectfully around him;

upon which occasion he converts three thousand souls.
®

Peter is the first to make converts from the Gentile

world in the persons of Cornelius and his friends.^

When there is question of electing a successor to

Judas, Peter alo7ie speaks. He points out to the Apos-

tles and disciples the duty of choosing another to suc-

ceed the traitor. The Apostles silently acquiesce in

the instructions of their leader.® In the Apostolic

Council of Jerusalem, Peter is the first whose senti-

ments are recorded. Before his discourse,
‘

‘ there was

much disputing.” But when he had ceased to speak,

‘
‘ all the multitude held their peace.

”
® St. James and

the other Apostles concur in the sentiments of Peter

without a single dissenting voice. This same St. James

is cast into prison by Herod, and afterward beheaded.

He was one of the three most favored Apostles. He

I. Matt. X. 2; Mark iii. 16 ; Duke vi. 14; Acts i. 14.

3, Acts ii. 4 » Acts X. 5 *
Acts i.

2. Acts iii.

6. Acts XV.



THK true church has A HEAD. ' 4

1

was the cousin of our Lord and brother of St. John.

He was most dear to the faithful, yet no extra-

ordinary" efforts are made by the faithful to rescue him

from death. Peter is imprisoned about the same time.

The whole Church is aroused. Prayers for his deliver-

ance ascend to heaven, not only from Jerusalem but

al^o from every Christian family in the land.^

Against this overwhelming evidence of Peter’s pri-

macy, there is quoted the one solitary fact, that Paul,

as he tells us himself,
'

‘ withstood Peter to his face.”

What if he did ? Paul would do the same to the Roman

Emperor. Perhaps, in his fiery impetuosity, he would

do so even to the Divine Master Himself. Whilst this

over-zealous act of Paul is quoted ad nauseam that

other mark of deference which he showed St. Peter as

his chief, and which much more plainly testified his

inferiority and his honest acknowledgment of it, is over-

looked.
'

‘ I went,
’

’ he says
‘

' to Jerusalem to see Peter

and I tarried with him fifteen days.
’ ’ ^

If the Church were to consist solely of the compara-

tively few that lived in the Apostles’ time, the question

of the continuance of Peter’s privileges in his succes-

sors, would never have been raised. And that it should

have arisen amongst those who believe in the constant

perpetuity of the Church, is something very difficult

to reconcile with consistency.

The authority and prerogatives of temporal rulers

pass to their successors, as a matter of course, no mat-

ter how the succession be regulated. Why should not
Peter’s primacy of honor and jurisdiction, and all the

other privileges essential to the government of Christ’s

I. Acts xii. 2. Gal. i. 18.



42 - THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD.

kingdom on earth similarly pass to liis successors ? In

it, as in other kingdoms, rebels have risen up, chal-

lenged and denied them. They are, however, only

rebels; and their rebellion has served but to make more

clear, precise and better defined what they impugned.

All ecclesiastical history, the writings of all the

Fathers, the constant practice and universal consensus

of the whole Church, bear evidence to the reality of

Peter’s primacy. The order, harmony and perfect

unanimity . within the Church, in the midst of the

deepening chaos spreading around her, are results

of it, that testify trumpet-tongued to the wisdom

of the divine Appointer of it, and ought to win the

admiration instead of the unreasonable opposition of

so many who claim to be believers and followers of

the Divine Master. They attribute the equipoise

between authority and submission, which they must

admit, exists in the Church, to other causes. Why

not attribute it to that which, by analogy with other

things it should be ascribed to, namely, this peculiar,

constitution which the Founder of the Church formu-

lated and His Spirit maintains ?

The claims of the Popes to the primacy or headship

of the visible Church have never been concealed, or

minimized, or even denied excepting by those who had

to suffer from its exercise. Every age, every Christian

country’s history and its monuments, testify to this.

You might as well write the history of America with

the Presidents left out, as record the religious history

of any people omitting the Pope’s supremacy, in decid.

ing matters of Church government, in disputes concern-

ing jurisdiction, as well as in doctrinal, moral and con-



THK HEJAD OI^ THB CHURCH IS INRAUUIBUK. 43

troversial questions of every description that may have

arisen.

Had the Pope sided with the Reformers of the

sixteenth century
—^which was impossible—they would

have been well pleased to acknowledge his supremacy;

when he did not, they rejected it, and like all disap-

pointed contestants before and since, sought reasons for

denying it: a thing their followers have been busied

about ever since.

THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH IS INFALLIBLE.

The fate of the Catholic Church, like that of its

Divine Founder, has ever been to be misunderstood

and misrepresented. Not one of her dogmas has

escaped this; and the last one defined, has come in for

its full share of what has been invaribly doled out to

each of its predecessors on being promulgated. Hence

it becomes necessary before stating what is precisely

meant by the Pope’s infallibility to tell first what it

does not import.

I. The infallibility of the Popes does not signify

that they are inspired. 2. Infallibility does not

mean that the Pope is impeccable, or especially exempt

from liability to sin. 3. The Divine assistance is

guaranteed to the Pope, not in his capacity as private

teacher, but only in his official capacity, when he

judges of faith and morals as Head of the Church. If

a Pope were to write a treatise on Canon Taw, his

book would be as much open to criticism as that of any

Doctor of the Church. 4. Finally, the infallibility

of the Popes does not extend to the natural sciences,

such as astronomy or geology, unless where error is



44 the church of the living god.

presented under the false name of science, and arrays

itself against revealed truth. Nor does it regard purely

political questions, such as the form of government a

nation ought to adopt, or for what candidates its

citizens ought to vote. It does not, therefore, interfere

with civil allegiance; but leaves that matter where it

found it and where it always was, according to the

teaching of St. Paul : “Let every soul be subject to

higher powers; for there is no power but from God
;

and those that are, are ordained of God.’’^

What then, is the real doctrine of the Infallibility of
the Pope ? It simply means that the Pope, as succes-

sor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, by virtue of

the promises of Jesus Christ, is preserved from error

of judgment when he promulgates to the Church a

decision on faith or morals.

The Pope, therefore, be it known, is not the maker

of the divine law; he is only its expounder. He is not
the author of revelation, but only its interpreter. All

revelation came from God alone through His inspired

ministers, and it was complete in the beginning of the

Church.

In a word, the Sovereign Pontiff is to the Church,

though in a more eminent degree, what the Chief Jus-

tice is to the United States. The latter having, with

his associate judges, duly examined into a disputed

point of law, pronounces judgment upon it. His

decision is final, without appeal an^ practically infal-

lible. Without such a court, such an authority,

and such a spokesman to utter decisions and settle

constitutional questions, government would come to

I. Rom, xiii, i.



HEAD OE THE CHURCH IS INEAEEIBEE. 45

a standstill, and law would be but a dead letter.

Every litigant would, as a matter of course, decide in

his own favor, and we would have in the civil order,

the sad spectacle presented by the warring sects in the

religious world to-day. The framers of our splendid

Constitution seem to have taken the divine constitution

of the Catholic Church as their model, for they pro-

ceeded, consciously or unconsciously, on similar lines.

When a dispute arises in the Catholic Church con-

cerning an undefined doctrine, law, or the sense of the

Scripture, instead of '‘fightingit out,'’ and splitting

up over it, the subject is referred to a supreme tri-

bunal, of which the Sovereign Pontiff is the head and

mouthpiece. Before deciding the case, he gathers

around him his venerable colleagues, the cardinals of

the Church
;
or he calls a council of his associate

judges, the bishops of Christendom
;
or he has re-

course to other lights which the Holy Ghost may sug-

gest to him. Then, after mature and prayerful delib-

eration, and the use of all available means for finding

out the truth, he pronounces judgment, and his sen-

tence is final, irrevocable and infallible.

By means of this infallible court, the Church's mar-

vellous unity is preserved throughout the world.

Hence tliis doctrine is the keystone in the arch of

Catholic faith, and, far from arousing opposition, it

ought to command the unqualified admiration of every

reflecting mind.

These explanations being premised, let us now

briefly consider the grounds of the doctrine itself.

The following passages of the Gospel, spoken at

different times, were addressed exclusively to Peter:



46 the; church or the living god.

“Thou art Peter; and on this rock I will build my
Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against

it.’’^ I, the supreme Architect of the universe,

says our Saviour, will establish a Church which is to

last till the end of time. I will lay the foundation of

this Church so deep and strong, on the rock of truth,

that the winds and storms of error shall not prevail

against it. Thou, O Peter, shalt be the corner-stone
of this Church. It shall never fall, because thou shalt

never be shaken
;
and thou shalt never be shaken,

because thou shalt rest on me as foundation.
“ And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom

of heaven.” Thou shalt hold the keys of truth, with
which to open to the faithful the treasures of heavenly

knowledge. “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth

shall be bound also in heaven.
’

’ The judgment which
thou shalt pronounce on earth I will ratify in heaven.

Surely the God of truth is incapable of sanctioning an
untruthful judgment.

Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he

may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee
(Peter) that thy faith fail not; and thou, being once

converted, confirm thy brethren.” It is worthy of

note that Jesus prays only for Peter. And why for
Peter in particular? Because on his shoulders was to

rest the burden of the whole Church. Our Lord prays

for two things: i. That the faith of Peter might

not ever fail
;

2. That Peter would confirm his breth-

ren in the faith, “in order,” as St. Leo says, “that

the strength given by Christ to Peter should descend

on the Apostles.
’ ’

I. Matt. xvi.



THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH IS INFALLIBLE. 47

We know that the prayer of Jesus is always
heard. Therefore the faith of Peter will always be

firm. He was destined to be the oracle which all
were to consult, pence we always find him the prom-

inent figure among the Apostles, the first to speak,

the first to act on every occasion.

In the presence of the other Apostles after His

resurrection our Lord after interrogating Peter con-

cerning his love for Him said: “ Feed My lambs; feed
My sheep. ’ ’ Peter is appointed by our Lord the uni-
versal shepherd of His flock—of the sheep and of the
lambs, that is, shepherd of the Bishops and Priests as

well as of the people. The Bishops are shepherds,

in reference to their flocks; they are sheep, in reference

to the Pope, who is the shepherd of shepherds. The

Pope, as shepherd, must feed the flock, not with the

poison of error, but with the healthy food of sound

doctrine; for he is not a shepherd, but a hireling, who
administers pernicious food to his flock.

This position and this prerogative of Peter and his

successors, have always been admitted and acted upon

in the Church. Superabounding evidence of this is at

hand; but could not be advantageously given in such a

brief popular sketch as this. Any Catholic contro-
versial work will furnish it.

That the Church in its first Council, viz., that at

which all of the Apostles were present, was infallible,

is what no Christian ever denied, and, if so, by what

strange inconsistency can they suppose it fallible in

any similar Council, composed of these Apostles’

successors ? Nor will it be claimed that everything

which was said, or each one’s expressed opinion was



48 THE CHURCH OE THE UlVING GOD.

infallible in the one no more than in the other. In-

deed, the only account we have of the first is in the

Acts of the Apostles, . . . and implies the con-

trary. What then but Peter’s decision was thus

divinely protected, and what but his successor’s deci-

sion or approval is so still ? No council was ever con-

sidered valid without this sanction, but, in giving it

may he not alter, and might he not err, if God’s

special protection were not always at hand to sav_e His

Church from the dreadful consequences of such a

catastrophy? That it has never failed, according to

our Lord’s prayer and promise, is the unchanging

belief of the Church. This word ‘‘Infallibility”

expresses it. How foolish to be staggered now by the

sound of it, as those outside seem to have been, on the

solemn promulgation of the decree defining it, after

the General Council of the Vatican in 1870.

• Do some think that Infallibility, as defined, is too

great a prerogative to confer on any one man ? It is not

as great as that of Inspiration, which each writer of

the Scriptures and all of the Apostles enjoyed. If it

is not too much to admit that God made so many the

organs of His revealed Word, surely it is not too much

to believe, that, for its sake and our sakes, He did

something equally necessary, namely, to provide an

infallible guardian and interpreter of it. Thus it has

ever seemed to the Holy Ghost and to the
‘

‘ Church,

the pillar and the ground of truth.
’

’ Hence the clear-

ing away forever of all doubt about the matter, by

her solemn dogmatic, irreformable, infallible defini-

tion, “that when the Roman Pontiff speaks ex cathedra

—that is, when he, using his office as pastor and doc-



THK TOAD OP THE CHURCH IS INFATOIBTO. 49

tor of all Christians in virtue of his Apostolic office,

defines a doctrine of faith and morals to be held by the

whole Church, he, by the divine assistance promised to

him in the blessed Peter, possesses that infallibility

with which the divine Redeemer was pleased to invest

His Church in the definition of faith or morals, and

that, therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiffs
are irreformable in their own nature and not because
of the consent of the Church’’ (‘‘ Pastor ^ternus,

”

Cap. 4).

From this it must not be concluded that the Pope is,
in spiritual matters, like an absolute monarch in tem-

poral concerns. There are many things he cannot do,
nor dogmatically define. He cannot annul the divinely
constituted order in the Church. His power of defi-

nition is limited by a multitude of irreformable defi-

nitions made by councils, by his predecessors and by

the ordinary exercise of the Church’s magisterium.

The Church claims infallibility in three other ways,
and hereby she affords an easily recognized proof that

God is the author of each; for, if He were not, con-
tradiction would immediately result, a thing that has

never yet happened. She. exercises it : i. Through

her general councils
;

2. Through the unanimous voice

of the bishops dispersed throughout the world, but

united with the Pope; 3. Through her ordinary and

uniform preaching, teaching and believing.

Of one thing then we may feel quite assured, that God
who has thus provided for preserving His revelation
from corruption, will take further care, that this means

will not be abused, or be rendered nugatory by any

conceivable misuse of it. For ‘‘unless the Ford build



50 THE -CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD.

the house they labor in vain who try to build it. Un-

less the Lord keep the city he watcheth in vain that

keepeth it.” (Ps. cxxvi. i, 2). And here the Lord

Himself is the designer, the builder, the watcher.

ARE ALL OBLIGED TO BELONG TO THE ONE ONLY TRUE

CHURCH,

Some things are so necessary for salvation that, no

one, under any circumstances, can attain it without

them. Of this class is baptism, without which, either

actually by water, or equivalently by martyrdom, or,

in the absence of both, by desire, no one can enter the

kingdom of heaven, as our Lord assured Nicodemus :

‘
‘ Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy

Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
’ ’ ^

Such things are called necessary as means. Other things

are necessary because of a divine precept commanding

them. Of this class is the obligation on all of belong-

ing to the true Church, who have come to a sufficient

knowledge of it, to be persuaded that it is the real,

true Church of Christ. If they only suspect that it is,

or are in doubt concerning it, there is a positive obliga-

tion on them, to inquire until their minds become fully

convinced one way or the other, or they feel a.ssured,

that what they suspect to be the true Church of Christ

is really so or not . After due deliberation and examina
-

tion, should they fail of finding the true Church, or

mistake some other for it, they are then said to be

in invincible ignorance; and as God, who is infinitely

just, binds no one to the impossible, they are, as far as

I. John iii. 5.



ARE AEE OBLIGED TO BELONG TO THE TRUE CHURCH. 5 I

this matter is concerned, in the way of salvation, in

that state.

But, alas ! this is poor consolation, merely to be in

this respect^ in the way of salvation. Without the sac-

raments, the holy sacrifice, all the incomparable

benefits of the communion of saints, and all other

means of God’s providing, how are they going to

practise virtue, overcome temptations, comply with

essential duties, persevere in the state of grace, or

recover it when lost, by other means than those or-

dained by Him who perfectly knew and perfectly pro-

vided in His Church only, all those aids and means of

grace weak humanity requires ?

Perfect contrition, it is true, remits actual sin, with-

out the sacrament of penance, but outside of the Cath-

olic Church it is lost sight of, and people are commonly

exhorted to believe their sins forgiven, to put on

Christ, to trust in Him, etc., although, whilst doing

this, they may yet retain the whole guilt of their sins,

and go thus before God to be condemned for them.

Besides, how can any one be ever certain of his having

perfect contrition, especially as it includes the love of

God and a determination to do whatever He requires?

Hence, comes in, even for the invincibly ignorant (as

they are rather loosely designated), the obligation of

searching further, and making sure that they have

complied with all that God requires for eternal salva-

tion. No chances can lawfully be taken where so

great an affair is concerned. Eternal happiness or

eternal misery being involved no risks must be run.

Furthermore, it is the duty of all to accept the

Christian religion, because God, by the very fact that



52 . THE CHURCH OF THE EIVING GOD.

He has revealed it, imposes on all the obligation of
accepting it, £/C[ually essential is it to receive and
adhere to it, under the form it has pleased God to
present it. Now this form was that appointed by
Jesus Christ. And here it is to be observed, that He
never commanded His doctrines or precepts to be com-
mitted to writing; much less did He command to be
read what others wrote; and least of all, to put our

own interpretation on what was read. But, as all
the world knows. He carefully instructed His
Apostles, formed them into a society along with
the disciples and commissioned them with the very

same authority with which the Eternal Father had

invested Himself, ^ to “go into all the world and
Preach the gospel to every living creature, teaching

them to observe all things whatsoever He had com-
manded

;

’ ’

2 promising that whosoever believed them

and was baptized, should be saved and threatening

that whosoever did not, would be condemned. * He
furthermore declared that this society would endure

until the end of time, and that the Holy Ghost

would always remain with them. #

No one believing His word, can consistently doubt
for one moment, that there is an obligation upon all

mankind under penalty of eternal separation from Him
to receive their teaching, and follow their directions.

Conspicuous in this teaching, had always been,

their insistence on belonging to “ the household of the

faith.’’ In fact this is what conversion to Christianity

implied. Nothing could be more foreign to their

thoughts, than the idea of a man going about and teach-

2. Matt, xxviii. 19. 3. Mark. xvi. 16. 4. John xiv. 16.
I, John XX. 21.



AREi Alviy OBIylGKD 1^0 BEjI^ONG TO TH]^ TRUK CHURCH. 53

ing whatever hK "thought well of, and then telling his

auditors to join any sect of the many, that, even from

the beginning, manifested themselves to the great grief

of the Apostles. For to them and their successors, as

there was but one Ford, one faith, one baptism, one

God and Father of all, there was and could be only

one Church, one sole society of which their Divine

Master was, and still is, the life and soul.

This society He Himself designated His kingdom.
His Church; and we have already seen that it is no other

than the One, Holy, Apostolic, Catholic Church. All,

therefore, are obliged to belong to it, and for those who

knowingly, deliberately and intentionally remain out-

side of it, there can be no salvation. For it is the

only one vrhich was moulded and fashioned by the

Master’s own hand and in which every soul must be

cast, that would bear the Christ-like form that can

alone gain admission into heaven. What any one else
may think, or we ourselves imagine, must count for

nought before God
;

for the way of salvation ordained

by the Redeemer can alone be the correct one.

That the Church He founded alone teaches this way
was never doubted by the converts of the Apostles or

their successors. The onl}" exceptions were the ambi-

tious founders of sects, who started out with the

arrogant assumption, that they were called upon to im-

prove, correct, remodel, or even create another way,

on the presumption, forsooth, that the Ford—unlike
the sect-maker—did not provide for the preservation
of His way sufficiently, and that, consequently, men

were able to spoil it. What madness ! The Ford can

preserve the heavens, the earth and all His other works,



54 "THE) CHURCH OU THK UIVlNG GOD.

from man’s impotent attempts. Tljis one work, the

most necessary and important of all—the way of salva-
tion provided in His Church—He did not, or could not!

Christ expressly declares the duty of submitting to

His Church. “If he will not hear the Church let

him be to thee as the heathen and the publican. ’ ’ ^

But those who “will not hear the Church’’ are, in
the first instance, they who knowing her to be God’s
work and refuse to belong to her. Not man, but Christ

the I/Ord, the judge of all men, declares such, to be

no better than
‘

‘ the heathen and the publican
’

’

;
no

matter what their pretentions, no matter what their

sentiments, intentions or associations otherwise. Of

this, as of some other of His teachings, there are those

who assert, that it “ is a hard saying: who can hear

it ?
’’ and “ many hearing it went away and walked no

more with Him ’’—and, sad to tell. He let them. Vel
Ecclesia Catholica, vel nulla,

I. Matt, xviii. 17.



CONTENTS.

The Church of God must be Divine in its Origin

The True Church is Indestructible

The True Church is Infallible

The True Church is One

The True Church is Holy ....
The True Church is Catholic

The True Church is Apostolic

The True Church has a Head

The Head of the Church is Infallible

Are All Obliged to Belong to the One Only True

Church

PACK

• 4

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• 23

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• 31

• 35

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• 50