F92 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



sure, prevented. In the controversies concerning 

 tradition, and concerning the accounts and the 

 meaning of the Bible, the belief of the church al- 

 ways decided. The actual belief of the church 

 universal, is necessarily the Catholic's last appeal; 

 but what this is may be the subject of controversy. 

 There is, in this case, no better remedy than to as- 

 semble the church, and let her express herself as 

 i- done in councils. The Catholic doubts not that the 

 same Holy Spirit which is promised to the church, 

 even till the end of time, will assist the church, 

 when assembled, in rightly expressing her faith. 

 The council creates no articles of faith. The 

 whole church is unable to do this. The council 

 merely expresses what the church believes, and de- 

 clares that the church has preserved such a truth. 

 '1 he church, in the possession of a revelation 

 handed down by tradition, must declare herself in- 

 fallible. The established religious faith necessarily 

 excludes a conviction of the possibility of the truth 

 of the opposite opinion. If, therefore, the revela- 

 tion, the tradition, is in itself infallible (as the Pro- 

 testant holds the Bible to be infallible), should the 

 church, which expresses this tradition, be less in- 

 fallible ? The church explains the Bible in accor- 

 dance with tradition, of which it is a part and a 

 ropy. What the council 'expresses as a doctrine 

 of faith is a canon. A canon is that which, ac- 

 cording to the judgment of the church, is expressed 

 in the Bible, and has always, and every where, and 

 by all, been believed (semper et ubique et ab omni- 

 bus creditum.) Whenever the church finds one 

 of these requisitions wanting, it establishes no 

 canon. In this way the Bible and tradition are 

 intimately blended. If it is asked, Why does the 

 duirch consider those historical truths which have 

 been handed down by tradition, and attested by 

 the church assembled, as real truths? the answer 

 of the Catholic is, Because her institution is of 

 divine origin, and because a revelation has been 

 delivered to her. Reason here objects, that the 

 conclusion is obtained by arguing in a circle. The 

 Catholic replies, that the objection is made because 

 reason is desirous of having that proved which, 

 resting on itself, is capable of no proof, and which, 

 if it might have been proved and confirmed by 

 evidence external to itself, would fall to pieces, 

 l>ecause it would then be necessary to place reason 

 above revelation. How can the church be cen- 

 sured for laying claim to infallibility, for rejecting 

 the criticism of reason ? If Christianity is a reve- 

 lation, faith can be grounded only upon the testi- 

 mony of the church (which, by means of tradition, 

 hands down revelation, the sacred books, and 

 regulations), and not upon the free investigation of 

 reason, which protests against authority. That 

 one council should, with respect to doctrine, con- 

 tradict another, is an event which is, and must be, 

 inconceivable to the Catholic. This is the funda- 

 mental view of Catholicism. There can, therefore, 

 be only one infallible church. 



1 1 . The Doctrines of atholicisyi.* The Catholic 

 church is the community of saints, which has one 

 faith, one charity, one hope. It believes in the 

 doctrine of the Trinity, the redemption, &c. It 

 bdfevM in free will, immortality, and the moral 

 law. The church is to restore the kingdom of 

 God. The first man was created immediately by 

 God, free from sin, adorned with innocence and 

 holiness, and possessed of a claim to eternal life. 

 This first man sinned, and thereby lost his innocence, 

 holiness, and claim to eternal life. By his sin, all 



VVe continue to give the gtatemeut of the Catholic 



his posterity became sinners before God, and, 

 therefore, in like manner, lost eternal life. In 

 this state of moral corruption, man was not to 

 remain. Called to the kingdom of God, he must 

 become holy and perfect, as God himself is holy 

 and perfect. Revelation assists him in the attain- 

 ment of this high destination ; first, by informing 

 him of what it is necessary for him to know (by en- 

 lightening mankind), and, secondly, by an extraor- 

 dinary internal sanctification (by the consecration of 

 mankind). But man actually attains to his high 

 destination by faith in these doctrines and this 

 sanctification, and by a course of life uninterruptedly 

 continued and regulated accordingly. The Catholic 

 believes in the immortality of the soul, and that it 

 will hereafter be clothed with its body, which God 

 will raise in perfection ; further, that the condition 

 of man in a future state will vary according as he 

 has done good or evil. The wicked are for ever 

 deprived of the sight of God. How those images 

 in the sacred books, which represent this state to 

 the senses, are to be understood, is not decided by 

 the church. The good enjoy God for ever, and 

 are blessed. The state of the good and the wicked 

 commences immediately after death. A middle 

 state is admitted for those souls which were not 

 entirely estranged from the Eternal, which, there- 

 fore, in the other world, still have a hope of ulti- 

 mately becoming united with the Creator. (See 

 Purgatory.) The happy spirits, in the church 

 triumphant, have not ceased to be connected with 

 their brethren in the church militant. A band of 

 love unites both worlds. (See Saints). Every 

 one is rewarded according to those works which 

 he has freely performed, although, at the same 

 time, he has followed the influences of grace ; but, 

 as the Eternal foreknows the actions of men, so he 

 foreknows, likewise, who will attain to happiness. 

 (Controversy concerning predestination, decided by 

 the council of Trent, session VI., canons 12, 15, 17.) 

 A religious mind conceives the world to be entirely 

 dependent upon God, and so revelation represents 

 it. According to this, the world was created by 

 God. Whether the Mosaic cosmogony is to be 

 literally understood, the church has by no means 

 decided. God preserves and governs the world. 

 Hereafter, the world is to be destroyed. Man 

 having been thus instructed by the church respect- 

 ing divine things, men, and the world, it is neces- 

 sary, in the second place, that he should be sancti- 

 fied and consecrated by her. " The Christian 

 standard demands not only an enlightened man, 

 but one who is adorned with holiness; a man who 

 is repelled from God by no polluting stain, but is 

 drawn towards him by a pure nature. It requires 

 a man who comes into connexion with God, not 

 merely by a purely moral intercourse, in a spiritual 

 way, but who, surrounded by the light of God 

 himself, sees and enjoys him, and is exalted above 

 sin, suffering, and death." The founder of our 

 religion, therefore, in the first place, made a uni- 

 versal atonement for mankind ; secondly, ordained 

 means for their purification and sanctification, 

 according to their various necessities. The Saviour, 

 by his death, procured the pardon of sin for all 

 men, justified them, and put it into their power to 

 make themselves partakers of his elevation. Now 

 the particular means for the purification and the 

 sanctification of men are the seven sacraments. 

 (q. v.) These sacraments are the essence of the 

 Catholic mysteries. Without mysteries, man is 

 cold and insensible. The Catholic mysteries, how- 

 ever, differ from the Protestant in this, that the 

 former have a more universal and more settled 

 character, while the latter are suffered to take 





