The Faith of Our Fathers

Authority O

faith and morals, and in her teaching she is preserve

One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. Preaching the same creed everywhere and at all times; teaching holiness and truth,

he close of the first century. There is no just ground for denying to the Apostolic teachers of the nineteenth century in which we live a prerogative clearly possessed by those of the first, especially as the Divine Word nowhere intimates that this unerring g

tians; Christ died for us as well as for them and we

nfallible apostolate of the first century," for an infallible book is of no use to me wit

t. Peter Prince of His Apostles, says to him: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."115

tury she was a sink of iniquity. The Book of Homilies of the Church of England says that the Church "lay buried in damnable idolatry for eight hundred years or more." The

Christ is not God, since God cannot lie. He is not even a prophet, since He predicted falsehood. Nay, He is an

; then the Catholic Church is infallible, for she alone claims that prerogative, and she is the only Church that is acknowledged to have existed from the beginning. Truly is Jesus that wise Architect m

117 "Going therefore, teach all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."118 "Preach the Gospel to eve

so to their successors, to the end of time, since it was utterly i

from that house or city, shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for that city."121 "If he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as

cility and to obey not merely by an external compliance, but also by an internal assent of the intellect. If, therefore, the Catholic Church could preach error, would not God Himself be responsible fo

Church to speak in His name will so guide her in the path of truth

cere inquirer, and under circumstances which add to the majesty of His [pg 069] word. Shortly before His death Jesus consoles His disciples by this promise: "I will ask

power is given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, ... teaching them to observe all

using the interjection, behold, unless when He has something unusually solemn and extraordinary to communicate. An important announcement is sure to follow this word. "Behold, I am with you." These words, "I am with you," are frequently addressed in Sacred Scripture by the Almighty to His Prophets and Patriarchs, and they always imply a special presence and a particular super

rd His Church from error. Second-A promise that His presence with the Church will

stors and Teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all meet in the unity of faith, ... th

s think it an unwarrantable assumption for the Church to claim inf

ether you are listening to truth or falsehood. If you are in doubt you can have no faith, for faith excludes doubt, and in that state you displease God, for "without faith it is impossible to please God."129 Faith and infallibility must go [pg 071] hand in hand. The one cannot exist without the ot

iven day. The mariner, guided by his compass, knows, amid the raging storm and the darkness of the night, that he is steering his course directly to the city of his destination; and is not an infallible guide as necessary to conduct you to the city of God in heaven? Is it

gize to the world for simply declaring that she speaks

lso in numbers are the Founders of the religious sects existing in our country. A Pantheon as vast as W

they had professed, and if they were endowed with the gift of speech, you would find that no two of them we

ing your soul's salvation in submitting to the teac

r only guide, who are "ever learning and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth."130 You are not, like others, drifting helplessly over the ocean of uncertainty and "carried about by every wind of doctrine." You are not as "blind men led by blind guides." You are not like those who are in the midst of a spiritual desert intersected by various by-paths, not knowing which to pursue; but you are on that high road spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, which is so "str

ensibly in the name of religion and morality, but which, in reality, are subversive of morality and order, which are the offspring of fanaticism, and serve as a mask to hide the most debasing passions. Neither Mormons nor

e Church are personally impeccable or not subject to sin. Every teacher in the Church, from the Pope down to the humblest Priest, is liable at any momen

s, therefore, incapable of reform. Is it not the height of presumption for men to attempt to improve upon the work of God? Is it not ridiculous for the Luthers, the Calvi

His Church. It is time enough for little men to take cha

t was resolved that the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception would be reconsidered and abolished at the approaching General Council; in fact, that the definition was a mistake, and that the blunder of 1854 would be repaired in

t it is a marvelous fact worthy of record that in the whole history of the Church, from the nineteenth century to the first, no solitary example can be adduced to show that any Pope or General Council e

is the organ of the Holy Ghost. She is the Representative of Jesus Christ, who has said to her: "He that heareth you heareth Me; he that despiseth you despiseth Me." She is the Mistress of truth. It

ild is bound by natural and divine law to obey his mother, though she may sometimes err in her judgments, how much more strictly are not w

n them the regenerating waters. If she is our Mother, where is our love and obedience? When the infant seeks nourishment at its mother's breast it does not analyze its food. When it receives instructions from its mother's lips it never doubts, but instinctively believes. When the mother stretches [pg 076] forth her hand the child follows unhesitatingly. The Christian should have for his spiri

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