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Page 8
On the other hand, with the greater extension of the Church, would
naturally come an increased crop of heresies. For, cockle may be sown,
and weeds may spring up, in any part of the field, and the field is
now a hundred times vaster than it was. Now, it is extremely important
that as fast as errors arise they should be pointed out, and rooted up
without delay, and before they can breed a pestilence and corrupt a
whole neighbourhood. But the complicated machinery of a great
Ecumenical Council, which involves prolonged preparation, considerable
expense, and a temporary dislocation in almost every diocese
throughout the world, is too cumbersome and slow to be called into
requisition whenever a heresy has to be blasted, or whenever a
decision has to be made known.
Hence we cannot help recognising and admiring the Providence of God
over His Church, in thus simplifying the process, in these strenuous
days, by which His truth is to be maintained and His revelation
protected. For the fact--true from the beginning, _viz._, that the
Pope enjoys the prerogative of personal infallibility--is not only a
profound truth; but a truth for the first time formally recognised,
defined, promulgated and explicitly taught as an article of Divine
faith. Consequently, without summoning a thousand Bishops from the
four quarters of the globe, the Sovereign Pontiff may now rise in his
own strength, and proclaim to the entire Church what is, and what is
not, consonant with the truths of revelation. This is evident from the
Vatican's definition, which declares that "THE POPE HAS THAT SAME
INFALLIBILITY WHICH THE CHURCH HAS"--"Romanum Pontificem e�
infallibilitate pollere, qu� divinus Redemptor Ecclesiam suam in
definiend� doctrin� de fide vel moribus instructam esse voluit". Words
of the Bull, "PASTOR �TERNUS".
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 4: See _Life of Cardinal Manning_, vol. ii., p. 452.]
CHAPTER III.
WATCHMAN! WHAT OF THE NIGHT?
The most sacred deposit of Divine Revelation has been committed by
Jesus Christ to the custody of the Church, and century after century
she has guarded it with the utmost jealousy and fidelity. Like a loyal
watchman, stationed on a lofty tower, the Pope, with anxious eyes,
scans the length and breadth of the world, and, as the occasion
demands, boldly, and fearlessly, and categorically condemns and
anathematises all who, through pride or cunning, or personal interest
and ambition, or love of novelty, attempt to falsify or to minimise or
to distort the teaching of Our Divine Master. Without respect of
persons, without regard to temporal consequences, without either
hesitancy or ambiguity, he speaks "as one having power" (Matt. vii.
29). And while, on the one hand, every true Catholic throughout the
world, who hears his voice, is intimately conscious that he is hearing
the voice of Christ Himself, "who heareth you, heareth Me" (Luke x.
16); so, on the other hand, every true Catholic likewise knows that
all who refuse to obey his ruling, and who despise his warnings, are
despising and disobeying Christ Himself. "Who despises you, despises
Me" (Luke x. 16). Thus, the Sovereign Pontiff, as the infallible
source of religious truth, becomes at the same time the strong bond of
religious unity: for, just as error divides men from one another, so
truth always and necessarily draws them together. In this way the Pope
becomes the connecting link which unites over 250,000,000 of men: and
the foundation stone (or petros--Peter) of the mystical building
erected by God-incarnate ("Upon this rock will I build My Church,"
Matt. xvi. 18). He is the foundation, that is to say, which supports
it, and keeps its various parts together, in one harmonious and
symmetrical whole, and against which the angry surges rise, and the
muddy waves of error for ever beat, yet ever beat in vain: for "the
gates of hell [Satan and his hosts] shall not prevail against it". Who
doubts this denies the most formal and unmistakable promises of the
Eternal Son of God, and makes of Him a liar.
Our non-Catholic friends close their eyes to these patent facts,
and--with great peril to their salvation--refuse to see even the
obvious. As the Jews of old were so blinded by their prejudice,
jealousy and hatred of Him, whom they contemptuously styled "the Son
of the Carpenter," that they steadily refused to consider the justice
of His claims, and could not (or would not?) bring themselves to
understand how clearly the Scriptures bore witness to His divinity,
and how marvellously the prophecies and predictions (the words of
which they accepted), were fulfilled in His Divine Person; so now
Protestants steadily refuse to consider the claims of Her whom they
contemptuously style "the Romish Church," and are so prejudiced and
full of suspicion, if not of hate, that they too cannot bring
themselves to understand how She, like her Divine Founder, bears upon
her immortal brow the distinctive and unmistakable impress of her
supernatural origin and destiny. The Incarnate Son of God, who never
asks, nor can ask in vain, implored His Heavenly Father, that all His
followers might be one, and why? In order that this marvellous unity
might ever be fixed as a seal of authenticity to His Church, and be to
all men a permanent sign and proof of her genuineness.
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