ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 



771 



licity as properties of the true church. The 

 Church of Rome claims to possess these properties, 

 and to possess them manifestly, and in conse- 

 quence claims to be clearly recognisable as the 

 true church of Christ. The Church of Rome 

 claims to be one, with the completest and most 

 perfect unity, with unity of doctrine, unity of 

 liturgy, and unity of government. ( 1 ) With unity 

 of doctrine. Roman Catholics all the world over 

 have precisely the same faith : the learned, indeed, 

 may have a larger acquaintance with the doctrines 

 of faith than the illiterate ; but there is nothing 

 believed by the most learned theologian which is 

 not believed, at least implicitly, by the most simple 

 member of the faithful. Every Roman Catholic 

 says, 'I believe whatever the holy Catholic 

 Church proposes for my belief.' (2) With unity 

 of liturgy. In every part of the world the Roman 

 Catholic Church offers the same unbloody sacrifice 

 of the mass, everywhere administers the same sacra- 

 ments, everywhere observes the same great festival 

 days, &c. (3) With unity of government. Roman 

 Catholics, whether living under monarchical or 

 republican governments, whether united to each 

 other or divided from each other by their various 

 national interests, are everywhere in subjection to 

 their pastors and bishops, and above all to the 

 Holy See. Indeed, it has perhaps never been 

 denied that with respect to unity the Roman 

 Catholic Church excels all other churches. The 

 Roman Catholic Church claims to possess visibly 

 the second property of the true church viz. 

 sanctity. She claims to be holy ( 1 ) by reason of 

 the holy doctrines which she teaches. Thus, she 

 insists upon the great truth of moral responsi- 

 bility. She declares that, though man's freedom 

 of will was impaired by the Fall, it was not de- 

 stroyed ; that freedom of will remains, and that 

 no adult can be saved without the due exercise 

 of it. She proclaims that ' faith without works is 

 </ead.' She calls upon her children to confront 

 their evil passions with the weapons of fasting and 

 mortification in their hands ; holds in high honour 

 the ' life of counsels,' the life of voluntary poverty, 

 chastity, and obedience ; and declares that such 

 was the life of the Lord and of the precursor of 

 the Lord. ( 2 ) By reason of the means of holiness 

 which she provides. Prominent amongst these a 

 Roman Catholic would place the sacrament of 

 penance. (3) By reason of the fruit of holiness 

 which she produces. Professing that she has 

 existed from the first, the Roman Catholic Church 

 claims as her own all the saints of past times. 

 She declares that her power of producing saints 

 is strong to this day, and points to a St Francis 

 Xavier, a St Charles Borromeo, a St Philip 

 Neri, a St Francis de Sales, a St Vincent de Paul, 

 and many other saints of more recent times. 

 And whoever is acquainted with the rigorous 

 inquiry which precedes the process of canoni- 

 sation, whatever he may think of the faith of 

 those canonised by Rome, will admit that the 

 (taints of the Roman Church were men of even 

 heroic virtue. The Roman Catholic Church claims 

 to visibly possess the third property of the true 

 church viz. catholicity. She claims to be Catholic 

 rle jure, inasmuch as she was commissioned to 

 ' teach all nations ; ' and also de facto, and this in 

 three ways. (1) With respect to persons. This 

 means that Roman Catholics constitute by far the 

 most numerous body of Christians. (2) With 

 respect to place. Tnis means that the Roman 

 Catholic religion is more or less diffused wherever 

 Christianity prevails. (3) With respect to time. 

 Tli is means that she has existed visibly since the 

 days of the apostles, and that she will exist visibly 

 till the end. The claim of continued existence 

 from the first really merges into the claim of 



apostolicity, which we shall next explain. Her 

 belief in her continuance of existence till the end 

 she bases on Christ's promise of constant assist- 

 ance, which she declares was made to herself. 

 Finally, the Church of Rome claims to possess 

 visibly the fourth property of the true church 

 apostolicity. She claims to be apostolic ( 1 ) as 

 founded by Christ through the apostles, and be- 

 cause her pastors descend from the apostles by a 

 succession which has never been broken. Under 

 this head we may remark that, while many Pro- 

 testant writers have denied that St Peter the 

 apostle ever resided in Rome, on the other hand 

 many well-known Protestant authorities, such as 

 Barrow, Cave, Chamier, Vossius, Baratier, Bishop 

 Pearson, and Winston, have freely conceded this to 

 the Catholics. Whiston states that the fact of St 

 Peter's residence at Rome ' is so clear in Christian 

 antiquity that it is a shame for any Protestant to 

 confess that any Protestant ever denied it. ' Bishop 

 Pearson declares that ' it is wonderful that those 

 can be found who deny that Peter ever was at 

 Rome.' Baratier is still more emphatic: 'All the 

 ancients,' he writes, ' and the great majority of the 

 moderns have undertaken to derive the succession 

 of the bishops of Rome from the apostle Peter. 

 So great in this matter has been the agreement of 

 all that in truth it ought to be deemed a miracle 

 that certain persons born in our day have presumed 

 to deny a fact so manifest.' Besides claiming con- 

 nection with the apostles, by a line of pastors 

 descending from them in uninterrupted succession, 

 the Church of Rome claims to be apostolical (2) by 

 reason of her doctrines. She denies that she has 

 ever surrendered any doctrine taught by the 

 apostles, and she denies that she has ever professed 

 any doctrine which is not contained in divine 

 apostolical tradition. Here it must be remembered 

 that, while the Church of Rome accepts the Word 

 of God alone and exclusively as the Rule of Faith, 

 besides the Sacred Scriptures or written Word of 

 God it admits an unwritten Word of God, which 

 possesses an authority equal to that of the written 

 Word. By the unwritten Word of God Roman 

 Catholics understand a body of truths delivered by 

 Christ to the apostles, and by the apostles to their 

 successors, and which were not in the first instance 

 committed to writing. It is certainly worthy of 

 note that Christ did not write, but preach ; that he 

 did not command his apostles to write, but to 

 preach ; that only five out of the twelve apostles 

 reckoning St Mathias in the place of Judas are 

 recorded to have written anything at all ; that 

 three out of these five St Peter, St James, and St 

 Jude have left us nothing more than brief epistles, 

 written under particular circumstances, and for 

 special reasons ; that more than half of the New 

 Testament was written by inspired men who were 

 not among the apostles to whom the commission 

 was addressed by our Saviour. The church is the 

 depositary, guardian, and living and infallible in- 

 terpreter of both the written and the unwritten 

 Word of God. It may be remarked, in passing, 

 that there would seem to be some analogy between 

 the Roman Catholic rule of faith and the civil 

 constitution of England. According to Judge 

 Blackstone's Commentary, the municipal laws of 

 England are divided into lex nun scripta, the un- 

 written or common law, and the lex scripta, or 

 statute law; and the common law is the 'first 

 ground and chief corner-stone of the laws of Eng- 

 land. ' If the question arises as to how these 

 customs or maxims are to be known, and by whom 

 their validity is to be determined, Blackstone 

 decides that the question must be settled by the 

 judges in the several courts of justice, for these 

 judges are 'the depositaries of the law, the living 

 oracles, who must decide in all cases of doubt.' 



