Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1901-11-22
THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH.
THE THIRD OF A SERIES
OF LECTURES.
Rev. Father MuIhall Claims That Distinc-
- ton Belongs To The Roman Catholic
Ohurch-The Church Of Christ
Must 30 Catholic Or
U-.-n,nn1

Must 30 Catholic Or
Universal.
A, the lecture on Wednesday evening
at ST. Mary's Church, Father Mulhall
took for his theme "The True Church,
and attempted to prove that the Roman
| Catholic Church is the only true church
of Christ, and that therefore all men are
bound to enter that church if they would
attain eternal life. He said in part
"Last night we proved the divinity of
| Christ. We showed you FIRST that in
Christ was fulfilled all the prophecies OF
the old law relating TO the promised Mes
| siah, and then we showed you that Christ
| proved His own divinity by the prophe-
cies He uttered and the miracles He
wrought in confirmation OF the doctrines
He promulgated.
"Having proved Christ to be God, it
follows that His work must necessarily
be divine. If. therefore. Christ establish
ed a Church, it must necessarily be di-
vine. That He did establish church is
so evident a fact of history that it re-
quires but little augmentation. for in
Matt. XVI-I8, we read OF the promise of
Christ to found His church-'Thou art
Il ClCfg uROI TINS bONh VIII OGltQ my
church, and the gates OF hell shall not
prevail against it..
"And we find the fulfliment OF this
promise in the gathering by Christ of
disciples, and the selection Of the twelve
apostles, commanding them to go forth
and teach all nations, baplizing them in
the name of the Father. and of the Son.
and the Holy Ghost. and behold am
with you always, even to the consuma-
ton of the world History, too, proves
my point, for by far the vast majority OF
men on whom the light ofcivilization has
dawned, call themselves Christians and
lay claims to be followers and believers
in the doctrines taught by Christ. II is
an undeniable fact that Christ establish
ed church on earth and that He made
baptism a necessary condition for mem
bership in that church.
eco FORTH He said 10 the apostles,
and teach all nations. baptizing them in
| the name OF the Father, and OF the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost and again, he
that believeth and is baptized, shall be
| saved; and Ia still stronger terms, unless
| one be born again of water and the holy
| Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of
heaven. Now it is evident that since
| Christ has established a church on earth,
since He has promulgated His doctrine,
| il is His wish and His positive command
that all men should enter that church
and accept His gospel in the manner and
sense in which He taught it, and confided
| it to His apostles. For what design
could Christ have had in founding His
church and sending His apostles forth to
| preach. if men could be saved outside
| His church
"When He sent forth His apostles INTO
the world and said to them 'As the Father
has sent Me, | also send you-preach
the gospel to every creature did He not
| command all men to accept His doctrines
in the sense in which the apostles taught
them And has He not further confirm
ed this when He said, He that hears
you. hears Me, and he that despises you,
despises Me- Consequently, those who
will not accept the gospel OF Christ in
the sense taught by the apostles and their
| successors. refuse to near Christ, and,
| therefore, are not members of Christ S
church. But we have only proved that
| Christ has established a church and that
| all men are bound to enter that church
il they wish to be saved. Now if Christ
| has made membership in His church an
| indispensable condition for eternal lite,
He must have made it possible for all
| men to find that church, for how can
| anyone be pronounced guilty of hell fire
for not doing that which it was impossi-
| BILE for him to do /?
"Christ does not command impossi-
bilities, therefore. in founding His church
| He established her as a visible society,
| consisting of members united under a
visible head 1.-THE apostle) to attain a
common end eternal life) by the pro-
| fession and practice of a common rule of
| faith. But there are huodreds OF churches
| Claiming to be the true church of Christ
| all differing in fundamental doctrines.
| Now 1t stands to reason that all cannot
| be the church of Christ, for Christ can
not contr adict Himself, and it is clear
that one must be true, for the promise of
| Christ. Behold / am with you all days,
| even TO the consumation of the world,
must ever stand. Therefore, according
to the divine promise OF Christ, His church
must exist somewhere on earth, and of
all the churches that claim to be the true
| church of Church, one, and only one
enjoys that distinction.
| "But which one is it? If Jesus Christ
| obliges all men under the penalty of
eternal life to belong to His church, He
must necessarily give all men the means
to recognize and know her with certainty.
He must have endowed her with certain
characteristics or marks by which she
may be easily distinguished among the
many churches that claim to be the
church of Christ. Christ did so endow
His church. From the very nature of
the church and her scope, she must be
one, she must be holy, she must be
catholic or universal, she must be apos-
tolic. The true church of Christ must be
one in faith, for ST. Paul says (Eph. ",
3-5, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
and our Lord wished this unity of faith
| to be like that which exists between the
L Eafher and Himself lEnr hen, do L