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Show DOGMA AN INDISPENSABLE PART Of EA1TII In all Demonstrated Truths the Teacher Is j Infallible Knowiedge and faith Differ j What is Guaranteed to the Church I When licr Responsibility Ceases. i (Written for The lutennountain C.nii.;lic. Reason demands .lo-m.!. lie-ma require- an infallible teacher. There; ore. in religious unii-i unii-i tors, there must lie an i:i.aiiii!' ieacher. In all I the natural scienees, philosophy, etc. to remove ! doubt and reach truth, there mu-t be demonstrative ovidence which prove-, as three angles ot a tri- ; angle equal two right angles, that the proposition i advanced is true, and therefore certain. lhe es-j es-j tablished truth becomes a dogma, or settled prin-! prin-! ciple. The teacher.- who establishes tr.e truth, is infallible. Knowledge, thus acquired, differs from j faith, which is a supernatural virtue whereby mm t must believe without doubt whatever God has revealed re-vealed to man. and the reason is that God reveals it. Faith, in its hist analysis, rests, not in its adaptability o human wants, or its sublime morality, but on the authority of God. who can ' neither deceive nor be deceived, and who makes j known his will to man. When reason is satisfied ; j that the revelation ha come from God, then it ' accepts 011 His authority, as dogmatic, whatever doctrine it may contain. It was on the authority : of the Father that the Son rested His claims to the belief of the world in the doctrines which In: ( I preached. "My doctrine." he said, "is not Mine. j but His who sent Me." He makes frequent appeals to his Father's authority, which all who admit the existence of a Supreme Being must, concede to be 'true, and therefore satisfactory to reason. He makes Himself the uniting link between the Father and the Apostles, whom he selected to per-JPXmiliLli per-JPXmiliLli divine, tnissioii. In this transition the authority of the Father passes from the Son to the Apostles. (1) The Son claimed and estab- j lished the authority- of the Father. "All power is i given to Me iu Heaven and on earth." lie ecu- su,-ed those who did not acknowledge His author- if, and pointed out their inconsistency in reject- I ing His authority, and submitting at the sumo j time to teachers who were usurpers. "I am come ! in the name of My Father." he said, "and you re- j ceive Me not; if another shall come in his own t name, him you will receive." (-) He transmits , that authority to His Apostles. "As the Father 1 hath sent Me. I also send you." The authority of 1 the Father, through the Son. is transferred to the ; Apostles, and, as that authority is divine, he ex- . acy for the Apostles from the faithful the same f obeNnce that He demands for Himself, becauso I it is obedience to God, or submission to His will. "He that heareth you heareth me, and he that heareth Me heareth Him that sent me." He gave : the reason also in his la.st prayer why the faithful I should accept the authority of the Apostles: "Be- ! cause the words which Thou gavest Me. 1 hav t given to them and they have received them, aud have known in very deed that L came out from j Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send r Me." The Apostles then being, as St. Paul ex- presses it. "ambassadors of Christ." demanded obedience to their authority, not as men, but be- ' cause the doctrine which they preached "was in- deed th Word of God that worketh in those that f believed." Admitting the foundation of the Christian edi- ' fice. namely, the divine authority of Christ, then : ? it follows that His Church, which He com mi.- sioned to teach, and that this authority, which in- eluded infallibility, rested entirely on His presence, who was the living truth. Hence His commission ' f to them was accompanied with these significant ' 5 words: "For I am with you ail davs unto the con- ' I summation of the world." Then it follows that the ; I authority of the Apostles was derived, not so much .' from the legal commission, as from the presence ' of Christ with them and in them, as their very I light aud life. They had their light in His light, : and spoke to others the words which He spoke ' j- internally to them. This was the real foundation j j of their authority. Hence they who despised tboif authoritative teaching, despised that of their Mas- ' j ter, and they who despised Him despised IIU ' Father who sent Him. f Here resting the ease as far as the Apostls? ? are concerned, there can he no alternative but to ' ! admit their divine authority, and their infallibility ' in proclaiming God's word, or rejecting Christi- " ; anity. But the inquiry nust extend beyond the natural lives of the Apostles, who were sLnply mem- ' bers of the Church established by Christ, and which was to be Catholic, both in time and space. The Church and Christianity are the fame. Some erroneously er-roneously suppose that the Church, which is an or- ganic body, is made up of its official head and churchmen, who consecrate their lives to God, to serve as officers of the Church. Hence, viewing the Church, not as she is, but as they suppose her to ; be. they judge her wrongfully, by attributing to the Church the frailties and misdeeds of individual members. The Church, when properly understood ' ! and viewed from the standpoint of her divine Founder, derives her authority from God. is infallible, infal-lible, and, by virtue of the indwelling "Word mado ; flesh" is indefectible. These three attributes, which are essential for her existence, point the divine element, ele-ment, and clearly prove that the authority which ? she claims is not merely external, nor is she. viewed in the Catholic sense as an external institution which may arbitrarily use her authority in defining dogmas of faith. Her constitution, aa well as her , l very existence for twenty centuries, rests on the 1 Incarnation. Hence in all her teaching there is to: '' be found the mark of holiness. ; j . (Continued on Pag 4.) T i DOGMA AX INDISPENSABLE PART OF j . FAITH. I (Continued from Page 1.) I But the authority claimed, "exercised and con- j ceded by the early Fathers and Doctors of tha Church, we arc told, was abused bv those who, from time to time, filled the chair of Peter Hero again the objectors or accusers -must be confined to the dmue element of the Church, which simph-dchncs- what God has revealed. But this author- 1 itv lyhyine Therefore it is impossible to abuse. A f Jt is God who commands and teaches through her, and we have His word that she will not abuse tho power bestowed on her. I dofinin dosmaslof l?Z of T fr TV?1 U is n th human T?mfc W1G ?h"rch hat .T,aU but thc Spirit of Truth, Who as to abide with her for all time. God's word and promise cannot fail. nor could He possibly pos-sibly abuse His own authority, infused into the very institution of the Church. The misdeeds and disloyalty of rebellious citizens do no? k sSu .our exalted idea of the Constitution of t I e Cn e States ; much less should the misdeeds ansin of members of he Church.be used as an .r0nt against her tor she more than the bjecro condemns con-demns all abuses, and tr ,.a to win souls to God |