It is an amazing fact, this undivided unity of the Church; yet to the Catholic it presents no wonderment. He knows that Christ established only one Church; and from the very fact that he is a Catholic he knows his is it is not a new one. It is nearly as old as the Church itself. Hardly was the Church established than the human element began to assert itself and to sow the seeds of disunion. The apostles were confronted with it, and dealt with it as the Catholic must deal with it today. And indeed, from a purely worldly standpoint, the position is a logical one. Religion is pre-eminently Our Lord's business, and it belongs to Him to define the terms and the manner in which it is to be-carried out. He did define it, when He appointed St. Peter as the visible foundation on which He would build His Church. "Thou art Peter"
Our Lord had said to him "and upon this rock I will build My Church." (I should add in parenthesis that in the language which Our Lord used the word for "Peter" and the word for "rock" are identical).
My Church, He called it over and over again; and over and over again He returned to the idea. My Church, My Kingdom, My vineyard, My sheepfold. Always as one. Nor is He merely explicit in the matter. To borrow a word from-modern religious controversy, Our Lord was utterly intolerant of all other religious systems.
There is no Question Some years ago an attempt was made to settle this much vexed question. -A theory was thought out by which the entire Christian world might be regarded as one Church, namely, the distinction between funda mental and non-fundamental doctrines, But the theory, well-meant though it is, is wrong in principle. It cannot be a question of whether this Or that doctrine is a fundamental: but is it the teaching of Christ? If it is, the matter is settled; be it little or great, no human authority can discard it. Non-Catholic bodies try to save the theory by asserting that these so-called non-fundamentals are not the teaching of Christ at all, but were invented by the Church at a later date. But here again they are countered by the unanswerable fact of Our Lord's guarantee to safeguard His Church all days—and by the terms of that guarantee the Church simply could not fall into error. And that is the deciding factor in the whole issue.
It is for this reason that the Church cannot take part in the Reunion-of-Christendom congresses which are held from time to time. She cannot do so, for such congresses can hope to reach their purpose only by a spirit of compromise, a sort of give-andthe Church cannot compromise. As the trustee of Christ's teaching she dare not surrender or modify even one iota of it. The heavens and the earth may pass away, as Our Lord Himself said, but His word shall not pass away.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.