The Faith of Our Fathers

toli

he first Ecumenical Council of Nic?a, in the year 325, we find thes

each the identical doctrines once delivered by the Apostles, and that her minis

ters are unable to trace, by an unbroken chain, their authority to an Apostolic source; just as our Minister to Englan

n angel from heaven preach a Gospel to you beside that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema."71 The same Apostle gives this admonition to Timothy: "The things [pg 039] which thou hast heard

elf-constituted preachers and reformers; for, "how shall they preach, unless they be sent?"74 Sent, of course, by legitimate authority, and not directed by their own caprice. Hence, we find that those who succeeded the Apostles were ordained and commissioned by them to preach, and that no others were permitted to exercise this function. Thus we are told that Paul and Barnabas "h

, first, which church teaches whole and entire those doctrines that were taught by the Apostles; second

hers of the Gospel. The following parallel lines exhibit some examples of the departure of the Protestant bo

Catholic Church. P

8 "Confirm thy brethren."79 "Feed My lambs; feed My sheep."80 The Catholic Church gives the primacy of honor and jurisdictio

n upon you than these necessary things."82 "Though an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema."83 The Catholic Church alone, of all the Christian communions, claims to exercise the prerogative of infallibility in her teaching. Her ministers always speak from the pulpit as having authority, and the faithful receive with implicit confidence what the Church teac

rdained Priests in every city, they prayed with fasting."86 The Church prescribes fasting to the faithful at stated seasons, particularly during Lent. A Catholic priest is always fasting when he officiates at the altar. He breaks his fast only after he says Mass. When Bishops ordain Priests they are always fasting, as well a

ame for a woman to speak in the church."87 The Catholic Church never permits women to preach in the house of God. Wome

, as a successor of the Apostles, likewise imposes hands on baptized persons in the Sacrament of Confirmation, by which they receive the Holy Ghost. N

nion of the Blood of Christ; and the bread which we break, is it not the participation of the Body of the Lord?"90 The Catholic Church teaches, with our Lord and His Apostles, that the Eucharist contains really and indeed the Body and Blood of J

e ministry of reconciliation."92 The Bishops and Priests of the Catholic Church, as the inheritors of Apostolic prerogatives, profess to exercise the minist

the Lord."93 One of the most ordinary duties of a Catholic Priest is to anoint the sick in the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. If a man is sick among us he is careful to call in the Priest of the C

mandeth that the wife depart not from her husband, and if she depart that she remain unmarried.... And let not the husband put away his wife."95 Literally following the Apostle's injunction, the Catholic Church forbids the husband and wife to separate from one another; or, if the

he says, "doeth well. And he that giveth her not doeth better."96 Like the Apostle and his Master, the Catholic clergy bind themselves to a life of perpetual chastity. The inmates of our convents of men and women voluntarily consecrate their virginity to God. All t

elf which Church enforces the doctrines o

demonstrate that she alone can trace her pedigree, generation after generation, to the Apostles,

palians, Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists. The other Protestant denominations are comparatively insig

the church which bears his name. He was born a

f Pope Clement to grant him a divorce from his lawful wife, Catharine [pg 044] of Aragon, that he might be free to be joined in wedlock to Anne Boleyn. I

ivorces," meaning Henry's divorce from his wife and England's divorce

tence of the Church of England as a distinct body, and her final se

true and faithful minister," and gives him the credit for having abolished

s Wesley were students at Oxford. They gathered around them a number of young men who devoted themselves to the frequent reading of the Holy Scriptures and to prayer. Th

a tabular statement exhibiting the [pg 045] name and founder of each denomination, the place and date of i

lace of Origin. Founder.

Stork 1521 Vincent L. Milner

Williams 1639 "The Book of

New Hampshire Benj.

Corp Close of 18th century Rev. A. D. W

d States General Conferenc

ns Virginia Alex. Campbel

Wesley 1739 Rev. Nathan Bangs i

nt Branch of the Meth. E

w York Do. 1820 Rev.

Baltimore Do. 1830 Ja

Delegates from Methodist denomi

Scotland General Assembl

iladelphia General Assembly

y VIII 1534 Macaulay and

er 1524 S. S. Schmucker in "

ists Germany Celatius Abou

ngland Robert Browne 1

eorge Fox 1647 En

am Penn 1681 Ame

Jerusalem Jesus

rigin since the year 1500. Consequently, the oldest body of Christians among us, outside the Catholic Church, is not yet four

or any other Protestant church, prior to the Reformation? Nor can you say: "We existed in every age as an invisible church." Your concealment, indeed, was so complete that no man can tell, to this day, where you lay hid for sixteen centuries. But even if you did exist you co

s proclaimed doctrines diametrically opposed to one another, and the true Church must be one in faith. And besides, the less relationship you claim with many of the

derives her origin from the Apostles. Every Priest and Bishop can trace his genealogy to the first disci

d thus we go back from century to century till we come to Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Christ. Like the Evangelist Luke, who traces the genealogy of our Savior back to Adam and to God, we can trace the pedigree of Pius IX. to Peter and to Christ. There is not a link wanting in the chain which binds the humbles

hops of Rome who flourished up to their respective times, with whom it was their happiness [pg 049] to be in communion, and then they challenged their opponents to trace their lineage to the Apostolic See. "Let them," says Tertullian, in the

e times that number of Roman Pontiffs who have sat in the chair of Peter! I would affectionately repeat to my separated brethren what Augustine said to the Donatists of his time: "Come to us, brethren if you wish to be engrafted in the vine. We a

g