OCR Text |
Show EXTENT OF TEACHING POWER Christ's Commission to the Aposties j Its Nature Which Church is the j Legitimate Successor Claims of Greek and Latin Church Discussed. j. ;j The platform, upon which all professing Christ- j ians stand t4 decide which is the true representa-tive representa-tive of Christ, is the Bible. Before appealing to S I its decision, it. should he borne in mind that Christ ! came before the Bible, and that the Bible itself is t a summary of His teaching written after he as- r cended to heaven. Ax n record of I lis teaching I and work, one learns that he selected and ordained j teachers, who were to carry on His work "to the f consummation of the world"; that is, till time j ? ceases, or this earthly planet comes to an end. Those teachers he commissioned t j;o forth to the world, teach in His name and evangelize the nations of the earth. They were cloth'-d with His own power. They were the true teacher-;, and the only ones commissioned by Him who had ample authority to give such a commission. This He gave before his ascension into heaven, and the cmmis- j sion, as we find it in the three last vrses of the j last chapter of St. Mathews' gospel, was given to the eleven in the mountain at Galilee, where Christ f had prearranged to meet them. Here, "Jesus com- ; ing spoke to them, saying: All pow r is given to me in heaven and on earth. Going therefore teach f ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. j Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I j ' have commanded you: ami behold I am with you ;r all days, even to the consummation of the world." Taking this commission as the battleground from which is to be decided the vexed question, who still j possess or inherit this commission, or where are to j be found the true teachers of Christianity?? All ', agree that it was originally issued to the twelve j apostles. But was it to last only during their nat- i ural lives, or was it to descend to their successors? That.it was not to die with the apostles is certain for two reasons. (1) If it was limited to the nat- ural life of the apostles, since their death no commission com-mission or authority from God would have existed. f and without a commission or authority from God, no minister of religion has a right to teach his fel- ! low man, or bind his conscience, and by inverse reasoning, nobody is in duty bound to listen to'un- authorized non-commissioned teachers. "How can ; they preach unless they be sent." Evidently, then. the commission was to extend beyond the natural J lives of the apostles. (2) By a careful analysis of the commission, it ; can be learned that Christ, who commissioned the j apostles to "go and teach all nations," promised that he would not abandon them or leave them orphans, or-phans, but. on the contrary, that He "would be with them all days.' even to the consummation of the world." But "the consummation of the world."' ' of which Christ spoke, and during which period He promised to be with his apostles, as a corporate body, has not yet come. Therefore Christ, according accord-ing to His promise, must still be with that, corporate corpo-rate body who inherited from the apostles the power i they received from Christ himself, namely, a commission com-mission to teach all nations. In that legitimate body alone can be found true teachers. Which church is the legitimate successor? This! ! question settles all religious difficulties, brings rest to the mind, and moves all doubts. "When that point is decided, there is no more questioning who j is the true teacher and who is the "hireling." Xo church, which is not identical with the apostolic church, and received its commission from it, and has come down in an unbroken chain, without a missing link frm the days of the apostles, is or can be the church of Christ. It can not be the Greek church, founded by and through the instru- -nentality of Pholius nine centuries after the birth i-of i-of Christianity. The chief cause of the Photian schism was the ambition of many bishops of Constantinople Con-stantinople to increase their ecclesistical privileges in proportion to the increased political importance of their city. General Councils, that of Constantinople Constanti-nople (331) and Chaleedon (4."1). declared that, they ranked next to the Bishops of Rome in authority au-thority and honor. The Popes, however, whose authority au-thority was acknowledged as supreme by the Greek church, persistentiv refused to acknowledge any such claim until the establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Constantinople. This rupture wa caused by the ambition of many bishops of Constantinople, Con-stantinople, who were unceasing in their efforts to increase their ecclesiastical privileges in proportion to the political importance of their city. When the rupture came after being united for 800 years and j acknowledging the universal jurisdiction and au- ; thority of the Pope, they could no more claim to I be ihe legitimate successor of tin- apostles than thr southern states, if successful in their efforts to withdraw from the Union, could claim to be the legitimate successor of the United States. j Up to the time of the disunion of all General f Councils the Prpe. either ir. person or through dele- j gates, presided. The Greek church never que'- 1 tioned his authority and jurisdiction. Since the f disunion there has been no General Council in the Greek church, because there is no headto preside over it. I The Greek schism in the seventh century, to j which attention is sometimes directed, was of short duration, nor was that of Photius entirely success- ful till the eleventh century. Even after that at i the Council of Florenc-p. held in the fifteenth cen- tury under Eugenius IV. the Greek Bishops ab- jured the schism. It had not its foundation, a . some erroneously claim, on the fact that the sue- I cessor Peter claimed any new or extraordinary (Continued on Page 5.) j I I EXTENT OF TEACHING POWER. .. (Continued from page 1.) ' power or authority, because the Greek church, whenever troubled with internicine quarrels, always appealed to the Pope, whose judgment was final. What then When the Roman empire was divided into that of the East and West, and ruled by the' sons of Thedocius the Great, that of the East gained the ascendency in science, art, civilization, because of the incursions of the northern barbarians barbar-ians on the Western empire. Reaching the summit of their glory, their pride revolted at submission to Rome, the home of the Pope, but no longer the seat of the first empire, of the world. X'ow comes a singularly pointed question, name-Iv, name-Iv, whether did the Catholic church separat? from the Greek church, or vice versa, the Greek church from the Catholic church? It is historically evident evi-dent that the Greek church, prior to the schism, agreed with the Catholic on Those points, namely, the supremacy of the. Pope and the Procession of the Holy Ghost, which it afterwards gave as an excuse for the separation. The Greek church changed the Catholic church did not. The Greek church denied what it once professed ; the Catholic Yhurch never changed its profession of faith. How then comes the dilemma? The Greek church, before be-fore the schisnj, formed one corporate' body with the Catholic church. Whilst in union with the Catholic church that church was either true or false. If true, the Crock church erred in senarat- I ing; if false, the Greek church must also be false, because they communed with her for centuries, and by uo process of reasoning can they defend the schism. F. D. |