The San Francisco call., 1896-02-15


church must also be one. And as that. truth
was to be brought to the knowledge of all men,
the church, which is its guardian, must have
From this it follows: This oneness and ideil-
tity of proof is preserved for the human race
only in the Catholic system by the principle of
authority. Without this principle the church
would have ceased to exist before the close Of
the first century; without it scarcely vestige
OF divine truth would exist at the present day.
The church acted on this principle from the
very beginning OF her hist tory.
THE FIRST HERErrcs.
The first heretics who opposed the Christian
society quoted Scripture in defense OF their
doctrine, doctrines which all Christians of the
present day admit to be not only essentially
repugnant 10 Christianity, but destructive to
civil society. Yet they supported their system
by Scripture texts. What seems to us in oppo-
sltlon to the Scripture was, according to them,
Did the fathers of the church bring certain
passage to confute them, they proposed an
other. Was learned explanation gwen
against them, they had one in reply. Man
stood against man, the Scripture on both sides.
What was to be done in the case-or rather
what was done? Did the church of the second
the faithful that they might discover the
truth? Did she proclaim the principle of
private. judgment? By no means. She told
them that above the letter of the Scripture
there was higher rule of faith-the living
word, the common faith of the church handed
down from the beginning, with which Scrip
ture must agree and be interpreted in con-
formity with it; that it was hers to decide
when disputes arose, and at her decision all
doubts were to cease.
THE CHURCH DECIDES.
After the Gnostic sects had disappeared new
sects arose. Their adherents marshaled texts
OF scriptures with the same ease and deXterity
as the Gnostics had done in the preceding
century. In due time the church comes forth
from her silence and decides. And as centuries
go by the same manner of proceeding is Ie-
peated. Every form of doctrine is propounded.
Every article of Christian faith is in turn
rejected. II some maintain that as there is
but one nature in the Trinity so there can be
but one person, others are found who maintain
that as there are three persons so there must
be three natures. If some assert that eternal
lie can be gained without supernatural grace,
others are found who assert that grace alone
is sufficient and that mans free will has no
part in the work of salvation. If some main
tain the eternity of the pains of hell others de-
clare that they are but temporary. Now all sects,
from the Gnostics to those whose origin is of
yesterday, hold the Bible to be the sole rule of
faith, not, indeed, as it Is Interpreted by the
but by the private judgment of the individual.
That there is radical defect in system
which has produced such results, that such a
system is not calculated to preserve the unity
of Christian faith, but rather to produce dis
sensions among Christian people, no one can
deny. such system necessarily tends to
create in the intellect uncertainty respecting
the most important truths of the Christian
order, and is incapable of uniting in one
Christian society all the members of the human
family who were to be the one fold, and Of
which Christ was to be the chief shepherd.
CHRIST, 1HE SAVIOR OF The WORLD,
Never laid an injunction on his followers that
his teachings should be committed to writing
During the years of his public ministry he al
his apostles to make his teachings known to
all men 1T was in these words: "Go and teach
all nations whatsoever ! have commanded
you" By the preaching of the word was di-
no fot fo ha TEoif y,
hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ
Rom. KIT.
OF the apostles five only are known to have
written-St. Matthew, ST. John, ST. Peter, st.
James and st. Jude. The greater portion of
the New Testament was written by those who
did not belong to the apostolic college. Even
st. James and st. Jude, have left us but few
short letters written to particuler churches,
not in obedience to any divine command, hut
urged thereto by special and local reasons. If
our Lord had left such command, would it
not have been very proper, yea, most neces-
sary, that his followers should have given the
world complete exposition of all the doc
trines which Christians should believe?
Would it not seem proper that they should
have come to some understanding among
themselves, and in one gospel, or in one epis-
tie addressed to the whole church have emu
merated all the articles OF faith upon which
the Christian system is founded?
NOT PREMEDITATRD.
But such q course seems to have been far
from their thoughts. If we examine care
fully the four gospels we find no mention, or
even 1ntimat1on, OF any premeditated plan.
They seem to be anxious to give the faithful
churches and at the request of the faithful of
them few general outlines OF our Lords life
and actions. st. John, called the beloved
apostle, who had rested on the bosom OF his
Master, and who, from his close companion
ship with him, might seem to have imbibed
more fully than the other apostles the secrets
OF his sacred heart, mentions comparatively
bnt few details OF our Lords life and closes
his gospel with the avowal that he had not
given complete narrative of it. "BuI there
are also many other things which Jesus did
which, if they were written every one the
world itself, !! think, would not be able to con-
tain the books that should be written" ST.
Luke, In the Acts of the Apostles, relates that
during the forty days which intervened be.
tween our Lords resurrection and ascension.
"He appeared to his apostles and spoke Of the
kingdom of God'
OF how much interest, yea, of how much i'm
portance to mankind, that they should know
what our Lord had deigned to communicate to
his apostles respecting the kingdom of God.
But, with the bare mention of the fact, the
subject is dismissed by the inspired writer
What is true of the four gospels is equally true
OF the other writings of the New Testament
They all suppose Christian society," with a de-
fined form OF government, with teaching
power and with an authority to impose belief
in the truths committed to its keeping ST.
Luke, in his Acts of the Apostles, is mainly oc-
cupied in chronicling the labors of st. Paul.
and mentions but rarely those OF St. Peter,
WHO WAS TecOBHlZeu Dy Slt as the mead OF the
church. The epistles of St. Paui do not bear
the character of comp plete exposition of divine
faith.
NOT INTENDED FOR PUBLICATION.
They were not intended to be published, In
some of them he admits their incomple teness
and expresses his intention of supplementing
them On some future occasion by oral teach.
ing.
If the Holy Scriptures form the sole rule of
faith they would have been complete and
would have been written so clearly that even
the duilest might, without any difficulty, ap-
prehend their meaning. But such is not the
case. The Scriptures are difficult to under
stand. Without the authority of the church
which explains them no passage of them but
can be made to bear several interpretations
Do not the many sects into which Protestant
ism Is divided bear testimony of the fact? Do
not all of them quote Scripture in their behalf?
Do not all found their teachings on one or
other text? A learned German writer says that
the Bible is more "difficult to understand than
the works of Homer, Thucydides or Polybius.
and requires a knowledge of Hebrew, Syriac,
Greek and Latin, as well as q knowledge of
history, geography and even of natural sci
enees"
The most learned commentators, after years
of study and research, do not agree among
themselves respecting the meaning Of the most
important passages of the New Testament
Within fifty years after the rise of the Re-
formation, 200 different interpretations were
given of the four words, "This is my body" A
similar diversity of Interpretation may be
found concerning every other important text.
LOGIC OF THE DIFFERENCE.