The Irish standard., 1898-04-02
AN ARGUMENTATIYE SERMON.
Those Who W0nld Be Saved Must
Believe the Apostles.
SALVATION OF PRoTEsTANTs.
Persons Invincibly Ignorant May
Escape Damnation.

The sermon by Rev. Patrick Danehy
at the Cathedral last Sunday evening
had for its theme the question, (Which
Is the True church," He took for his
text John xviii, 20-21, II pray that they
all may be one, that the world may be-
lieve that thou hast sent me-" Follow
ing is a summary of the discourse:
"God lays upon man no impossible
obligation. When he required of all men
to hearken to his church, he made it
possible for all men to find and recognize
that church. The most salient mark by
which she may be known, the one upon
which shall speak this evening, is
unity.
Ills eminence, the late Cardinal Man.
ming, wrote: For the day when l be-
came convinced that one meant one and
not two, my conversion to the Catholic
church was complete Our Lord prayed
that we might all be one, even as the
Father and he are one. He speaks of
the church emphatically as one. I will
build my church, not my churches. He
speaks of it as his kingdom, his house,
his sheepfold. st. Paul goes even fur
ther and calls the church the body Of
Christ All Christians believe this
truth.
"There Is not the same unanimity as
to the nature of this oneness. Various
theories have been enunciated, too nu-
merous to be told here, with the hope
Of explaining how churches, though vari-
Gus. may still be one. But the whole
question for the inquiring mind is not
what theory about the one church Of
Christ is held at London, Berlin or Mos
COW, but how Christ made his church
one. Tt is a question of fact. Now when
we consider what Christ did, we find
that he made 1t one society under one
supreme teaching and law-making au-
thority. Upon this rock will build my
church, Perfect agreement in faith with
that one teacher, entire obedience to
that chief law-giver are conditions laid
down by him for membership in his
church.
He regarded it as his own body, his
mystical body, of which he is the head.
AS all the members while united with the
body form but one organism, SO are all
the members of the church to remain
forever united to that church which
Christ established. 1t is to be forever
as strictly one, as the human body is
one.
"All the members Of the church were
to be one in faith. All men are required
to come to this one church by holding
fast the same faith. Faith is the first
tie tEat unites man to God. We can no
more think of church unity with many
faiths than we can conceive of one ma
tion with many constitutions. We might
with equal right say that our own coun-
try and Canada and Mexico are one
country because all three are in sense
American, as that men of many creeds
are all in the one true church. because
they all call themselves Christians.
Our divine Lord provided the means
for ensuring this perfect unity of faith.
This he provided for his church when
he empowered her bishops as his duly
commissioned representatives to teach
all his doctrine with all his own certain
ty and authority. He required of all
men faith in his teachings, promising
eternal reward to those who believe.
and eternal punishment to them that do
not. When he sent forth the apostles
he gave them the selfsame mission to
teach that he had received from the
father, and enjoined upon all under the
same dread sanction the duty of faith in
their teaching. No least doctrine taught
by them might be rejected any more
than If it was Christ himself who taupht
It, Those who would be saved must be-
hevo the apostles, since they who would
refuse to believe them are condemned
Hence, II any man accept, indeed. most
OF the doctrines which they teach, but
reject even one, he has no faith in their
teaching; he believes only his own iudg-
ment and not the divine voice speaking
IN them. For in setting up his own
reason to decide what of their teachings
ne snail and what he shall not accept,
he denies altogether their appointment
by God to teach revealed truth.
But Christ was not content with es-
tablishing an infallible teaching ministry
IN his church. He did more. He Or
dained that through this same ministry
the world should be sanctified and saved.
This divine work is done through sacred
worship, the sacraments and salutary