Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1903-1917, 1908-01-29

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thing? Unless faith be merely sub
jective, without any objective real
ity, there must be the same doctrine
for all. st Paul mentions faith in
connection with baptism and God
which are to us objective realities
and the conclusion would be that all
objective faith is one, and all who be-
long to the Church of Christ must
hold it as such. Unity of objective
faith is essential and without it nc
so-called moral unity" will last long
and as matter of fact it does not
last despite the assertions made SC
frequently that Protestants are unit
ed in the essentials.
The necessity of objective unity
lead to another subject--the preser-
walton of unity. The Catholic church
claims that it is done only through a
center of unity and that center OF
unity is the papacy with the popes as
legitimate successors of st Peter to
whom she claims that Christ gave the
primary of jurisdiction as well as OF
honor.
The primary of jurisdiction is the
bone of contention and 1t is not
strange that Professionalism has ever
tried to break down that stronghold
of Catholic doctrine. What is the
Catholics foundation for this theory?
Space forces me to be brief in stating
1t and | cannot do the subject full
justice.
In st Matth xvi, IS, 49, we read:
Thou art Peter and upon this rock
/ | will build nht,rah anH tho
Of hell shall not prevail against it.
And | will give to thee the keys OF
the kingdom of heaven and whatso-
ever thou shalt bind upon earth shall
be bound also in heaven and whatso-
ever thou shalt loose upon earth it
shall be also loosened in heaven"
In st Luke xxi, 81, 32) we read:
Simon, Simon, behold Satan had
desired to have you that he may sift
you as wheat. But | have prayed
for thee that thy faith fail not, and
thou being once converted, confirm
thy brethren"
In John xxi 1910 we read that
Christ committed to St Peter the care
of both lamb and sheep. In these
texts we have four things ascribed,
! Wa nat 1uI lSL lOuuueu HE
church upon Peter, made him and
him alone the foundation stone, that
! through him the church is to be kept
united in government and doctrine.
! That Christ made st Peter key-bear-
er In His kingdom and the power of
the keys is the complete jurisdiction
in His church. That through the
prayer of Christ the faith of st Peter
Is to remain pure and strong to
strengthen the faith of his brethren
and that both the lamb and the
sheep, that is, all are subject to the
| jurisdiction of Peter
What confirms the giving of juris-
diction to Peter is that while the
other apostles were commissioned to
preach the gospel, to forgive sins, to
baptize it is only Peter who was
made the rock, the keybearer, the
confrmer of his brethren, the shep-
herd. And the continual exercise of
the papal supremacy SO evidenced by
| the steady witness of history is a
good proof that it was not usurp-
ton. 1t was in possession at the
time of the reformation and to it ap-
peals were made for final settlements
by ARMS, Nesbourin, even bYx Luther
himself. Is it at all probable that
the various nations would for fifteen
centuries tolerate a usurped power
unless they recognized in that power
the headship of this church. may
be told that they did abide by the
decision of the reigning pope. That
Is true, but neither do all abide by
the decision of the supreme court and
yet that does not effect the legitimate
jurisdiction of the court.
Nor will it do to say that Christ is
the head of the church and that
there's no need of any other. If the
church were an invisible institution
that would be we'll enough, but | as
sumo that Christ intended to estab-
fish visible church, otherwise He
spoke uselessly when He said: He
that heareth you, heareth Me-" and
+ he that will not hear the church let
him be to thee as the heather and the
publican. His church was to be seen
and known Of all men. And a visible
church must have a visible head for
1t would otherwise be a monster and
invisible headship is no usurpation
unless we suppose that all earthly
sovereignty is usurpation for Christ
as king of kings, and lord of lords, is
the head of all earthly realms. Nor
can we claim equal authority for all
the apostles because st Paul tells us
tEph ii, 20) built upon the founda-
tion of the apostles and prophets
Jesus Christ. Himself. being the chief
cornerstone" for surely the apostles
and prophets were not foundation in
the same sense as Christ, nor were
the prophets teachers of Christ In the
same sense as the apostles. Both
prophets and apostles were secondary
foundations. but among the apostles
as secondary foundation there is
primary and supremacy given to
Peter, the chief shepherd TO whom
Christ gave the charge of his whole
flock, pastor and people. sheep and
lambs. AS to Peter being rebuked by
st Paul Il Is we'll to remember that IL
was a point of discipline and not OF
faith that was in question.
4 have not dwelt upon the popes as
the legitimate successors of ST Peter
both because Ii would take too long
and also because il is generally ad-
mitted that despite the great sehism
OF the west, the succession has not
been broken. | come to consider the
question Of st Peter being at Rome
Prof Goodwin Smith tells that the
bulk Of testimony is that st Peter
was never at Rome and DIR Davenport
follows suit by saying: THE eyi.
dence that Peter was ever bishop OF
Rome rests on very slight historical
/ fnsfimnnN - The rnRenrE Of the as.