River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-02-18
Which is Christ's Church?
Continued from last week.

Body, how then can there be more
than one Church? He prayed most
earnestly, just before His passion,
for unity. est. John xvii. 21-23).
Saint Paul warns against divisions.
Il Cor. iii. 500 History shows
that the u n e ar din 6 of the
Christian world for 1000 years, was
that it was G d S design there
should be but one Church. Schism
has always, till 800 years ago, been
regarded as sin of deep import.
But only the same two so regard it
to-day.
1t will not do to say that practic-
ally all the churches are one; that
their divisions are not real - that
all are right. The Trinitarian and
the Unitarian cannot both be right;
the churches that baptize infants
and those who do not; the episcopal
and the non-episcopal. To contend
that they are is to insult common
sense, is to ignore the fact that
there is such thing as truth.
But, it may be objected, admitting
all that has been claimed to be true,
the Anglo and the Roman Catholic
Churches have departed very far
from the Church as it existed in the
days of the Apostles. Suppose for
the sake of the argument that this
is granted; it does not alter the case
at all. The question is: Which is
the Church of Christ? Our object is
to simplify, not to solve the prob
lem. Confessedly not one of the
Protestant churches can be, for not
one of them even claims TO answer
to the tests. The question is one of
simple history, of fact. 1t does not
matter how corrupt man may have
become, it does not affect the fact
that he is his fathers son. The
fact of modern religious society
initiating the Church Christ found
ed, does not make it the Church
Christ founded,sor any part of it.
Nor on the other hand does close
resemblance constitute sonship. If
one of the West India Islands were
to adopt the Constitution of the
United States as first accepted, and
model its government in perfect
conformity to that of this country
in the first decade of it's existence,
that would not make it a part of the
United States. 1t must be received
into union; it must be in historical
continuity with this country, or, no
matter how beautiful and exact the
likeness to it may be, it is in no
sense a part of it. Likeness and
sameness are very different things.
On the other hand, the bad charac-
ter and immortality of ONE of the
government officials in times past,
touches in no way the fact that this
is the same Government that was
founded by the Fathers of the Ma
ton. No more does the bad per-
sonal character of some of the Bish-
ops and clergy of the Catholic
Church, touch the historical fact
that the Catholic Church to-day and
the Church of 1900 years ago are
one.
1t has not been the purpose of
these articles to enter into the do
main of controversy, or to offend
any one. Tue points to which at
tention has been called are perhaps
the only ones in regard to which the
Catholic Church and all the Protest
ant bodies are in almost perfect and
cordial agreement; they do not pro-
fess to date back to the time of
Christ, to have the Apostolic Sue
cession, to hold the Catholic Faith,
to have the Catholic Sacramento,
to be in Organic Unity with the
Apostolic Church, and we agree with
them.
No attempt has been made here to
substantiate the claims that the
Catholic Church makes; the object
has been simply to clear the ground,
to simplify the problem, by setting
forth certain factors that must of
necessity be found in the Church
which Christ founded, and then
showing that of the hundred or
more churches in this country all
but two confess that they have not
these essential points. This being
admitted by themselves, the busy
man looking for the Church which
Christ established can safely pass
them by, and give his attention to
the investigation of the two bran
ches of the Catholic Church that, at
least, make the claim. - Adv.