The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-12-16
DIR. Piss en- the Doctrines Of the Roman

DR.. Pise en- the Doctrines OF the Roman
Catholic Church,
This gentleman, on Sunday last delivered his
fourth lecture on this subject, in Brooklyn taking
for his text the epistle to the Hebrews chap xiii,
" 8, in which st. Paul warn them against false
doctrines, "Bs not carried away with strange and
various doctrines" that ID. to keep pure that faith
which had been taught them by tradition before the
epistle was written. He then proceeded with
continuation Of his remarks on the subject Of ira
dition commenced on the previous Sunday, defining
what the Church meant thereby. There were GER
tain essential requisites. 1t must be that which
was taught by the fathers of the Primitive Church,
unanimously, v~o eowsessS; secondly, spTts, or
openly and clearly thirdly, eqSeste; and, fourtay,
ygsergawe. Not the opinion Of any individual,
rs We found that some Of the fathers entertained
opinions that were afterwards condemned and
futed. For instance, st. Cyprisn was Of opinion
that baptism administered by hereto, was invalid,
which was afterwards condemned and rejected by
the Church. Any doctrine which was confirmed by
a Council of that church-he meant general Coun-
ci-required the faith Of all succeeding Christians.
He had before allued to the first great Council, held
BY the apostles at Jerusalem, to settle the yexed
que ,n whether circumcision was necessary, met
and decided it, and that decision Of the
Council Was infallible. So future Councils
had been held to settle other opinions which
upon that of the divinity of Jesus Christ, and his
equality with the Father, which dispute would
never have been set at rest, II the principle had
been admitted OF judging for ourselves after read
certain passages in Scripture were obscure, the
divinity of Christ was An essential point OF faith,
and this had been held by every Christian believer
ever since; at least every Orthodox Christian.
The council was again invoked at Constantine
pie upon another point as to the divinity of the
Holy Ghott; again, at Ephesus, as to the lawful
ness of styling the Virgin Mary "the mother of
Cod" and again ut Calcedon, when the question
was raised whether Christ had two natures-hunan
and divine. These decisions, after seeking the
ancient writing Of the fathers, to see what tho
church had always taught on the subject, were
deemed infallible That was what was meant by
Saint Gregory the Great "a man
venerated by Christians of all ages) held so sacred
that in the fifth century. he hesi.ated not to de.
clare that he believed fervently in tho edctf of
the four councils Of Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus,
and Calcedon, as he did in the four Gospels;
he would have said the same of all succeeding
general councils, had he lived in the present day,
down to the last that of Irene. He then passed
10 another question, SIS faith necessary"
There was no more important inquiry than this
to the Christian inquirer after truth. Man was
placed upon the earth for no other purpose than to
please God, and st. Paul says in 7th chapter and
9th verse, epistle to the Hebrews, "Withous faith
we cannot please God, and faith was therefore in
dspensabIy necessary without it no spiritual lifo
could be sustained. On another point can faith
exist without coed works! Certainly it could exist
without practice, and We were told it was nothing
without charity. st. John mentioned many Phari-
sees who believed, but were afraid to confess Christ
to lead good lives. There might, on the other
hand, be good works without faith, and they were
not to be deemed simple, though insufficient for sal
walton. The sacred writers praised the nurses who
IN 1aot he ipfa hu n-da
but sheltered them and st. Augustine appl iuded
the Romans, and attributed their temporal pros
perity and success to their moral virtues. Good
works alone, though net worthy Of everlasting life,
were therefore rewarded by temporal blessings -
This the teaching of the Church with regard to
good works.