The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-11-09
AT THE CATHEDRAL.
An Eloquent Sermon by the Rev. Father
McAulNfe.

The services at the cathedral yester-
day morning were specially impressive.
Father John ]. Clifford celebrated the
mass and the music was better than
usual Miss Bertha Roth and her bro
Their, Eugene Roth, sang the offertory.
Father McAuliffe preached an excellent
sermon from the text, 1.-THE kingdom of
heaven is likened to a man that sowed
good seed in his field Matt. xiii, "a
Father McAuliffe said in part: My
brethren, Jesus Christ in the continu-
alton of the discourse explaining this
parable to the apostles tells us that
the sower is the Son of God, that Is,
Himself; that the field is the world, and
that the good seed signifies the word
Of God, or rather the effect OF the word
of God-that is, the children of the
kingdom, or the good Christians pro-
duced by the preaching of the apostles
and their successors. The kingdom of
which Christ here speaks is the church,
which he himself established. The chill
dren of the kingdom, therefore, are the
members of this church. But besides
the church of Christ there is a multi
tude of religious societies in the world,
each of which claims to be the true
church of Christ. Which of these re-
ligious societies can assert with truth
that it is the true church. which is re-
ally the church established by
Christi" / answer. it is the one that
has the marks of the true church; that
is, unity, sanctity, catholicity and apos-
tolicity.
Now of these four marks the one to
which objections are so often raised Is
that of the sanctity or holiness of the
church. For her enemies continually
point to the fact that many
20 hi f1 n II
to their obligations, and VIC
late the engagements they have made at
their baptism to renounce the vanities
of the world and to observe the teach
ings of the holy faith. But this is no
argument against he sanctity of the
church. for the good and the bad. the
just and the unjust, the saint and the
sinner, may exist in the church together
as Christ himself plainly signifies in
the parable in this Sundays gospel,
wherein he orders his servant to per-
NIT the wheat and the cookie to grow
up together until the harvest time, lest
in pulling up the cookie they pull up the
wheat also. But the church does not
depend for its sanctity ON the sanctty
OF it's members because its founder
Is holy, it's doctrine is holy, it's sacra-
ments are holy.
The true church must be holy in her
founder. She must have founder who
ny HIS SdUClily VI lie dEu ny HllfdcleS
proves himself to be sent by God, for
otherwise God could not require us to
believe in matters pertaining to eternal
salvation. She must be holy in her
doctrine. she must teach only what
makes man really good and pleasing
to God. and reject and forbid what is
wrong and displeasing to him. The rea-
son of this is evident The doctrine of
the true church is of divine origin. 1t
must, therefore, be good and holy, be-
cause nothing but what is good can
come from God. If, therefore. there be
doctrines that are not holy in any re-
ligious denomination, it is a palpable
sign that it is not the church of Christ.
The true church of Christ must possess
all the means necessary for the saliva
ton of mankind. Christ established the
church for the avowed purpose of lead
ing all men to sanctif1caton and saliva
ton. If a religious society be destitute
Of this means she cannot be the church
of Christ.
The true church must be holy in
her members. A healthy tree brings
forth good fruit so the church of Christ
must produce saints. There must be
saints in the church who confirm their
sanctity by miracles "And these signs
shall follow them that believe: in my
name they shall cast out devils, they
shall speak with new tongues, they shall
take up serpents. and If they drink any
deadly thing it shall not harm them;
they shall lay their hands upon the sick
and they shall recover" IF a denomina-
ton can show no saints who wrought
miracles it cannot be the true church
OF Christ.
The Catholic church is truly holy. for
she has a holy founder. Jesus Christ. ne
who is holiness tself. '1oved the church
and delivered himself for it, that he
might sactify it. cleansing it in the
laver of water, in the word of life that
he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having a spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be
holy and without blemish." Jesus Christ.
the founder of the church. is God. there
fore holy He is the source Of all
sanctity; all holiness proceeds from him
as pure water flows from an Undecided
fountain.
The church is holy in her doctrine
everything taught by Christ is holy and
conduces to holiness In support of the
doctrine taught by the church, Jesus
Christ performed many miracles. The
doctrine of the church is true and hfly,
for God would not work miracles in
proof of false doctrine, nor support error
by the work of omnipotence. Every
thing taught by the church is true. Her
morality leads to holiness and renders
man perfect. But the teachings of some
n nv IN iv,o fa,c hot Fol< oy1 T.