APOSTOLICITY.
The true Church must be Apostolical. Hence in the Creed framed in the
first Ecumenical Council of Nicæa, in the year 325, we find these words:
“I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and _Apostolic_ Church.”
This attribute or note of the Church implies that the true Church must
always teach the identical doctrines once delivered by the Apostles, and
that her ministers must derive their powers from the Apostles by an
uninterrupted succession.
Consequently, no church can claim to be the true one whose doctrines
differ from those of the Apostles, or whose ministers are unable to trace,
by an unbroken chain, their authority to an Apostolic source; just as our
Minister to England can exercise no authority in that country unless he is
duly commissioned by our Government and represents its views.
The Church, says St. Paul, is “built upon the foundation of the
Apostles,”(70) so that the doctrine which it propagates must be based on
Apostolic teachings. Hence St. Paul says to the Galatians: “Though an
angel from heaven preach a Gospel to you beside that which we have
preached to you, let him be anathema.”(71) The same Apostle gives this
admonition to Timothy: “The things which thou hast heard from me before
many witnesses the _same_ commend to faithful men who shall be fit to
teach others also.”(72) Timothy must transmit to his disciples only such
doctrines as he heard from the lips of his Master.
Not only is it required that ministers of the Gospel should conform their
teaching to the doctrine of the Apostles, but also that these ministers
should be ordained and commissioned by the Apostles or their legitimate
successors. “Neither doth any man,” says the Apostle, “take the honor to
himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was.”(73) This text
evidently condemns all self-constituted preachers and reformers; for, “how
shall they preach, unless they be sent?”(74) _Sent_, of course, by
legitimate authority, and not directed by their own caprice. Hence, we
find that those who succeeded the Apostles were ordained and commissioned
by them to preach, and that no others were permitted to exercise this
function. Thus we are told that Paul and Barnabas “had ordained for them
priests in every church.”(75) And the Apostle says to Titus: “For this
cause I left thee in Crete, ... that thou shouldst ordain Priests in every
city, as I also appointed thee.”(76) Even St. Paul himself, though
miraculously called and instructed by God, had hands imposed on him,(77)
lest others should be tempted by his example to preach without Apostolic
warrant.
To discover, therefore, the Church of Christ among the various conflicting
claimants we have to inquire, first, which church teaches whole and entire
those doctrines that were taught by the Apostles; second, what ministers
can trace back, in an unbroken line, their missionary powers to the
Apostles.
The Catholic Church _alone_ teaches doctrines which are _in all respects_
identical with those of the first teachers of the Gospel. The following
parallel lines exhibit some examples of the departure of the Protestant
bodies from the primitive teachings of Christianity, and the faithful
adhesion of the Catholic Church to them.
Apostolic Church. Catholic Church. Protestant Churches.
1. Our Savior gives The Catholic Church All other Christian
pre-eminence to Peter gives the primacy of communions practically
over the other honor and jurisdiction deny Peter’s supremacy
Apostles: “I will give to Peter and to his over the other
to thee the keys of the successors. Apostles.
kingdom of heaven.”(78)
“Confirm thy
brethren.”(79) “Feed My
lambs; feed My
sheep.”(80)
2. The Apostolic Church The Catholic Church All the Protestant
claimed to be alone, of all the churches repudiate the
infallible in her Christian communions, claim of infallibility.
teachings. Hence the claims to exercise the They deny that such a
Apostles spoke with prerogative of gift is possessed by
unerring authority, and infallibility in her any teachers of
their words were teaching. Her ministers religion. The ministers
received not as human always speak from the pronounce no
opinions, but as Divine pulpit as having authoritative
truths. “When you have authority, and the doctrines, but advance
received from us the faithful receive with opinions as embodying
word of God, you implicit confidence their private
received it not as the what the Church interpretation of the
word of men, but (as it teaches, without once Scripture. And their
is indeed) the word of questioning her hearers are never
God.”(81) “It hath veracity. required to believe
seemed good to the Holy them, but are expected
Ghost and to us,” say to draw their own
the assembled Apostles, conclusions from the
“to lay no further Bible.
burden upon you than
these necessary
things.”(82) “Though an
angel from heaven
preach a gospel to you
besides that which we
have preached to you,
let him be
anathema.”(83)
3. Our Savior enjoins The Church prescribes Protestants have no law
and prescribes rules fasting to the faithful prescribing fasts,
for fasting: “When thou at stated seasons, though some may fast
fastest, anoint thy particularly during from private devotion.
head and wash thy face, Lent. A Catholic priest They even try to cast
that thou appear not to is always fasting when ridicule on fasting as
men to fast ... and thy he officiates at the a work of
Father, who seeth in altar. He breaks his supererogation,
secret, will repay fast only after he says detracting from the
thee.”(84) The Apostles Mass. When Bishops merits of Christ.
fasted before engaging ordain Priests they are Neither candidates for
in sacred functions: always fasting, as well ordination, nor the
“They ministered to the as the candidates for ministers who ordain
Lord, and fasted.”(85) ordination. them, ever fast on such
“And when they ordained occasions.
Priests in every city,
they prayed with
fasting.”(86)
4. “Let women,” says The Catholic Church Women, especially in
the Apostle, “keep never permits women to this country, publicly
silence in the preach in the house of preach in Methodist and
churches. For, it is God. other churches with the
not permitted them to sanction of the church
speak ... It is a shame elders.
for a woman to speak in
the church.”(87)
5. St. Peter and St. Every Catholic Bishop, No denomination
John confirmed the as a successor of the performs the ceremony
newly baptized in Apostles, likewise of imposing hands in
Samaria: “They laid imposes hands on this country except
hands on them and they baptized persons in the Episcopalians, and even
received the Holy Sacrament of they do not recognize
Ghost.”(88) Confirmation, by which Confirmation as a
they receive the Holy Sacrament.
Ghost.
6. Our Savior and His The Catholic Church The Protestant churches
Apostles taught that teaches, with our Lord (except, perhaps, a few
the Eucharist contains and His Apostles, that Ritualists) condemn the
the Body and Blood of the Eucharist contains doctrine of the Real
Christ: “Take ye, and really and indeed the Presence as idolatrous,
eat; this is My Body and Blood of Jesus and say that, in
Body.... Drink ye all Christ under the partaking of the
of this, for this is my appearance of bread and communion, we receive a
Blood.”(89) “The wine. memorial of Christ.
chalice of benediction
which we bless, is it
not the communion of
the Blood of Christ;
and the bread which we
break, is it not the
participation of the
Body of the Lord?”(90)
7. The Apostles were The Bishops and Priests Protestants affirm, on
empowered by our Savior of the Catholic Church, the contrary, that God
to forgive sins:—“Whose as the inheritors of delegates to no man the
sins ye shall forgive, Apostolic prerogatives, power of pardoning sin.
they are forgiven.”(91) profess to exercise the
“God,” says St. Paul, ministry of
“hath given to us the reconciliation, and to
ministry of forgive sins in the
reconciliation.”(92) name of Christ.
8. Regarding the sick, One of the most No such ceremony as
St. James gives this ordinary duties of a that of anointing the
instruction: “Is any Catholic Priest is to sick is practised by
man sick among you, let anoint the sick in the any Protestant
him bring in the Sacrament of Extreme denomination,
priests of the Church, Unction. If a man is notwithstanding the
and let them pray over sick among us he is Apostle’s injunction.
him, anointing him with careful to call in the
oil in the name of the Priest of the Church,
Lord.”(93) that he may anoint him
with oil in the name of
the Lord.
9. Of marriage our Literally following the The Protestant
Savior says: “Whoever Apostle’s injunction, churches, as is well
shall put away his wife the Catholic Church known, have so far
and marry another forbids the husband and relaxed this rigorous
committeth adultery wife to separate from law of the Gospel as to
against her. And if the one another; or, if allow divorced persons
wife shall put away her they separate, neither to remarry. And divorce
husband and be married of them can marry again _a vinculo_ is granted
to another she during the life of the on various and even
committeth other. trifling pretenses.
adultery.”(94) And
again St. Paul says:
“To them that are
married ... the Lord
commandeth that the
wife depart not from
her husband, and if she
depart that she remain
unmarried.... And let
not the husband put
away his wife.”(95)
10. Our Lord recommends Like the Apostle and All the ministers of
not only by word, but his Master, the other denominations,
by His example, to Catholic clergy bind with very rare
souls aiming at themselves to a life of exceptions, marry. And
perfection, the state perpetual chastity. The far from inculcating
of perpetual virginity. inmates of our convents the Apostolic counsel
St. Paul also exhorts of men and women of celibacy to any of
the Corinthians by voluntarily consecrate their flock, they more
counsel and his own their virginity to God. than insinuate that the
example to the same virtue of perpetual
angelic virtue: “He chastity, though
that giveth his virgin recommended by St.
in marriage,” he says, Paul, is impracticable.
“doeth well. And he
that giveth her not
doeth better.”(96)
We now leave the reader to judge for himself which Church enforces the
doctrines of the Apostles in all their pristine vigor.
To show that the Catholic Church is the only lineal descendant of the
Apostles it is sufficient to demonstrate that she alone can trace her
pedigree, generation after generation, to the Apostles, while the origin
of all other Christian communities can be referred to a comparatively
modern date.
The most influential Christian sects existing in this country at the
present time are the Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians
and Baptists. The other Protestant denominations are comparatively
insignificant in point of numbers, and are for the most part offshoots
from the Christian communities just named.
Martin Luther, a Saxon monk, was the founder of the church which bears his
name. He was born at Eisleben, in Saxony, in 1483, and died in 1546.
The Anglican or Episcopal Church owes its origin to Henry VIII. of
England. The immediate cause of his renunciation of the Roman Church was
the refusal of Pope Clement to grant him a divorce from his lawful wife,
Catharine of Aragon, that he might be free to be joined in wedlock to Anne
Boleyn. In order to legalize his divorce from his virtuous queen the
licentious monarch divorced himself and his kingdom from the spiritual
supremacy of the Pope.
“There is a close relationship,” says D’Aubigné, “between these two
divorces,” meaning Henry’s divorce from his wife and England’s divorce
from the Church. Yes, there is the relationship of cause and effect.
Bishop Short, an Anglican historian, candidly admits that “the existence
of the Church of England as a distinct body, and her final separation from
Rome, may _be dated_ from the period of the divorce.”(97)
The Book of Homilies, in the language of fulsome praise, calls Henry “the
true and faithful minister,” and gives him the credit for having abolished
in England the Papal supremacy and established the new order of
things.(98)
John Wesley is the acknowledged founder of the Methodist Church. Methodism
dates from the year 1729, and its cradle was the Oxford University in
England. John and Charles Wesley were students at Oxford. They gathered
around them a number of young men who devoted themselves to the frequent
reading of the Holy Scriptures and to prayer. Their methodical and exact
mode of life obtained for them the name of _Methodists_. The Methodist
Church in this country is the offspring of a colony sent hither from
England.
As it would be tedious to give even a succinct history of each sect, I
shall content myself with presenting a tabular statement exhibiting the
name and founder of each denomination, the place and date of its origin,
and the names of the authors from whom I quote. My authorities in every
instance are Protestants.
Name of Place Founder. Year. Authority
Sect. of Quoted.
Origin.
Anabaptists Germany Nicolas 1521 Vincent
Stork L.
Milner,
“Religious
Denominations.”
Baptists Rhode Roger 1639 “The Book of
Island Williams Religions” by
John Hayward.
Free-Will New Benj. 1780 Ibid.
Baptists Hampshire Randall
Free New York Benijah Close Rev. A. D.
Communion Corp of Williams in
Baptists 18th “History of all
century Denominations.”
Seventh-Day United General 1833 W. B. Gillett,
Baptists States Conference Ibid.
Campbellites, Virginia Alex. 1813 “Book of
or Campbell Religions.”
Christians
Methodist England John 1739 Rev. Nathan
Episcopal Wesley Bangs in
“History of all
Denominations.”
Reformed Vermont Branch of 1814 Ibid.
Methodist the Meth.
Episcopal
Church
Methodist New York Do. 1820 Rev. W. M.
Society Stilwell, Ibid.
Methodist Baltimore Do. 1830 James R.
Protestant Williams, Ibid.
True Wesleyan New York Delegates 1843 J. Timberman,
Methodist from Ibid.
Methodist
denominations
Presbyterian Scotland General 1560 John M. Krebs,
(Old School) Assembly Ibid.
Presbyterian Philadelphia General 1840 Joel Parker, D.
(New School) Assembly D., Ibid.
Episcopalian England Henry VIII 1534 Macaulay and
other English
Historians.
Lutheran Germany Martin Luther 1524 S. S. Schmucker
in “History of
all
Denominations.”
Unitarian Germany Celatius About Alvan Lamson,
Congrega- 1540 Ibid.
tionalists
Congrega- England Robert Browne 1583 E. W. Andrews,
tionalists Ibid.
Quakers England George Fox 1647 English
Historians.
Do America William Penn 1681 American
Historians.
Catholic Jerusalem Jesus 33 New Testament.
Church
From this brief historical tableau we find that all the Christian _sects_
now existing in the United States had their origin since the year 1500.
Consequently, the oldest body of Christians among us, outside the Catholic
Church, is not yet four centuries old. They all, therefore, come fifteen
centuries too late to have any pretensions to be called the Apostolic
Church.
But I may be told: “Though our public history as Protestants dates from
the Reformation, we can trace our origin back to the Apostles.” This I say
is impossible. First of all, the very name you bear betrays your recent
birth; for who ever heard of a Baptist or an Episcopal, or any other
Protestant church, prior to the Reformation? Nor can you say: “We existed
in every age as an invisible church.” Your concealment, indeed, was so
complete that no man can tell, to this day, where you lay hid for sixteen
centuries. But even if you did exist you could not claim to be the Church
of Christ; for our Lord predicted that His Church should ever be as a city
placed upon the mountain top, that all might see it, and that its
ministers should preach the truths of salvation from the watch-towers
thereof, that all might hear them.
It is equally in vain to tell me that you were allied in faith to the
various Christian sects that went out from the Catholic Church from age to
age; for these sects proclaimed doctrines diametrically opposed to one
another, and the true Church must be one in faith. And besides, the less
relationship you claim with many of these seceders the better for you, as
they all advocated errors against Christian truth, and some of them
disseminated principles at variance with _decency_ and morality.
The Catholic Church, on the contrary, can easily vindicate the title of
Apostolic, because she derives her origin from the Apostles. Every Priest
and Bishop can trace his genealogy to the first disciples of Christ with
as much facility as the most remote branch of a vine can be traced to the
main stem.
All the Catholic Clergy in the United States, for instance, were ordained
only by Bishops who are in active communion with the See of Rome. These
Bishops themselves received their commissions from the Bishop of Rome. The
present Bishop of Rome, Pius IX., is the successor of Gregory XVI., who
succeeded Pius VIII., who was the successor of Leo XII. And thus we go
back from century to century till we come to Peter, the first Bishop of
Rome, Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Christ. Like the Evangelist
Luke, who traces the genealogy of our Savior back to Adam and to God, we
can trace the pedigree of Pius IX. to Peter and to Christ. There is not a
link wanting in the chain which binds the humblest Priest in the land to
the Prince of the Apostles. And although on a few occasions there happened
to be two or even three claimants for the chair of Peter, these
counter-claims could no more affect the validity of the legitimate Pope
than the struggle of two contestants for the Presidency could invalidate
the title of the recognized Chief Magistrate.
It was by pursuing this line of argument that the early Fathers
demonstrated the Apostolicity of the Catholic Church, and refuted the
pretensions of contemporary sectaries. St. Irenæus, Tertullian and St.
Augustine give catalogues of the Bishops of Rome who flourished up to
their respective times, with whom it was their happiness to be in
communion, and then they challenged their opponents to trace their lineage
to the Apostolic See. “Let them,” says Tertullian, in the second century,
“produce the origin of their church. Let them exhibit the succession of
their Bishops, so that the first of them may appear to have been ordained
by an _Apostle, or by an apostolic man who was in communion with the
Apostles_.”(99)
And if the Fathers of the fifth century considered it a powerful argument
in their favor that they could refer to an uninterrupted line of fifty
Bishops who occupied the See of Rome, how much stronger is the argument to
us who can now exhibit five times that number of Roman Pontiffs who have
sat in the chair of Peter! I would affectionately repeat to my separated
brethren what Augustine said to the Donatists of his time: “Come to us,
brethren if you wish to be engrafted in the vine. We are afflicted in
beholding you lying cut off from it. Count over the Bishops from the very
See of St. Peter, and mark, in this list of Fathers, how one succeeded the
other. This is the rock against which the proud gates of hell do not
prevail.”(100)