Chapter II. The Transmission of Revelation

§ 7. The Protestant Theory and the Catholic Theory concerning the Mode of transmitting and enforcing Revelation.

Divine Revelation, although destined for all men in all times and places, has not been communicated to each individual directly and immediately. Certain means have been appointed by God for this purpose. Catholics and Protestants, however, hold diametrically opposite views as to what these means are. We shall first state both theories, and then develop and prove the Catholic theory.

I. The Protestant theory takes two different forms, both alike opposed to the Catholic theory. According to the older Protestants, Holy Scripture, the divinely written document of Revelation, together with an interior illumination of the Holy Ghost, is the sole means whereby Revelation asserts itself to the individual. All other institutions or external means of communicating Revelation are the work of man, coming violently between Revelation and Faith, and destroying the supernatural character of the latter. Modern Protestants, however, admit the existence of other means of transmission besides Holy Writ itself, but they deny that such means are ordained by God and participate in the Divine character of Revelation; while some even go so far as to deny the supernatural character of Holy Scripture. Revealed truth is handed down by purely human witnesses, whose authority depends, not on the assistance of the Holy Ghost, but on their natural abilities and industry. Both forms protest—the one in the name of Christian, the other in the name of natural, freedom—against the notion of a Revelation imposing itself authoritatively on mankind; and they also protest against any living and visible authority claiming to be established by God and to have the right to impose the obedience of Faith.

II. The Catholic theory is a logical consequence of the nature of Revelation. Revelation is not simply intended for the comfort and edification of isolated individuals, but as a fruitful source of supernatural knowledge and life, and a sovereign rule of Faith, thought, and conduct for all mankind as a whole, and for each man in particular. God wills that by its means all men should be gathered into His kingdom of holiness and truth, and should obtain, by conformity to His Will, the happiness which He destines for them, at the same time rendering to Him the tribute of glory which is His due. Revelation is especially intended to be a principle of Faith, leading to an infallible knowledge of revealed truth, and also to be a law of Faith, by submitting to which all men may offer to God the most perfect homage of their intellect.

Hence it follows that God should provide efficient means to enable mankind to acquire a complete, certain, and uniform knowledge of revealed truth, and to secure to Himself a uniform and universal worship founded on Faith. This exercise of God’s Jus Majestatis¹ over the mind of man is rightly insisted upon by the Vatican Council against the rationalistic tendencies of the day. Moreover, God could not cast upon the world the written document of His revealed Word, and leave it to an uncertain fate. Had He done so, the purposes of Revelation would have been completely frustrated. The only efficient mode of transmitting Revelation with authority is that the Word of God, after having once been spoken, should be continually proposed to mankind by His authorized envoys, and promulgated in His name and power as the principle and rule of Faith. These envoys are called the Teaching Body; their functions are called the Apostolate.

Thus, according to the Catholic theory, there is a means of transmitting Revelation distinct from Revelation itself and its written document; and this means, having been instituted by God, detracts in no way from the dignity of Revelation, but rather safeguards it. Other means of transmission, such as Scripture and history, are by no means excluded; they are, however, subordinate to the one essential and fundamental means.

§ 8. Further Explanation of the Catholic Theory

I. The promulgation of revealed truth, being an act of God as Sovereign Lord of all creatures, must be made in the name of His sovereign authority and by ambassadors invested with a share of that authority. Their commission must consist of an appointment emanating from God, and they must be armed with the necessary credentials and the power of exacting Faith from those to whom they are sent. Thus qualified, the promulgation may be technically described as official, authentic, and authoritative: official, because made by persons whose proper office it is to publish—like heralds in human affairs; authentic, because with the commission to promulgate there is connected a public dignity and authority, in virtue of which the holder guarantees the truth of his utterances, and makes them legally credible—as in the case of public witnesses, such as registrars; authoritative, because the holder of the commission is the representative of God, invested with authority to exact Faith from his subordinates, and to keep efficient watch over its maintenance.

II. A threefold Divine co-operation is required for the attainment of the end of Revelation: the promulgation must be made under Divine guarantee, Divine legitimation, and Divine sanction. The object of the Apostolate is to generate an absolute, supernatural, and Divine certainty of the Word of God. Moreover, the promulgating body claims a full and unconditional submission of the mind to the truths which it teaches. But this certainty could not be produced, and this submission could not be demanded, except by an infallible body. The intrinsic and invisible quality of infallibility is not enough to convey the authenticity and authority of the Apostolate to the knowledge of mankind—some external mark is required. Christ proved the authority of His mission by miracles, and then instituted the Apostolate. His words and works were sufficient evidence for those who actually witnessed them. For us some other proof is necessary; and this may be either some special miracle accompanying the preaching of the Gospel, or the general moral miracle of the continuity and efficiency of the Apostolate. This subject will be treated at greater length in the treatise on Faith. The sanction of the Apostolate consists in the rewards and punishments reserved hereafter for those who accept or reject its teaching, and is the complement of its authority. Submission to Revelation is the fundamental condition of salvation, and consequently submission to the Apostolate, which is the means of transmitting Revelation, must be enforced by the same sanctions as submission to Revelation itself.

III. The act of promulgation must be a teaching (magisterium), and not a mere statement; this teaching must witness to its identity with the original Revelation, i.e. it must always show that what is taught is identical with what was revealed; it must be a “teaching with authority”—that is, it must command the submission of the mind, because otherwise the unity and universality of the Faith could not be attained.

IV. The subject-matter of the Apostolate is co-extensive with the subject-matter of Revelation. It embraces, besides the truths directly revealed, those also which are intimately connected and inseparably interwoven therewith (cf. § 5). Divine Faith cannot indeed be commanded in the case of truths not directly revealed by God; nevertheless the Teaching Body, the living witness and ambassador plenipotentiary of the Word of God, must, when occasion requires, be empowered to impress the seal of authenticity on subordinate truths also, for without this power the object of the Apostolate would in many cases be thwarted. The Church exercises this power when authoritatively passing judgment on dogmatic facts (facta dogmatica), or applying minor censures to unsound propositions.

§ 9. Demonstration of the Catholic Theory

The Catholic theory that Revelation is transmitted and communicated by means of envoys and teachers accredited by God, is evident a priori, i.e. the consideration of the nature of Revelation and its object shows that no other theory is practically possible. There are, however, other proofs also, which are set forth under the following headings:

I. Proof from our Lord’s words.

1. The documentary proof of the institution of a teaching Apostolate is found in Holy Scripture exactly where we should expect to find it, viz. at the end of the Gospels and at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles.

(a) The first Evangelist, St. Matthew (xxviii. 18, 19), gives the narrative around which all the others group themselves. He shows, first, that the Apostles’ mission is based upon the sovereign power of Christ, and he then characterizes this mission as the visible continuation of the mission of Christ—the working of the Apostolate is described as an authorized teaching of the whole doctrine of Christ to all men of all times; lastly, baptism is stated to be the act by which all mankind are bound to become the disciples of the Apostolate. “All power is given to Me in Heaven and on earth. Going therefore [in virtue of, and endowed with this My sovereign power, “As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you” John xx. 21] teach ye [μαθητεύσατε—make to yourselves disciples, teach as having power; cf. Mark i. 22] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them (διδάσκοντες) to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you (ἐνετειλάμην): and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” It is evident from the text that the promised presence of Christ is intended to secure the object of the Apostolate, and, consequently, that the Apostolate must be infallible. (See Bossuet, Instructions sur les Promesses faites à l’Église; and Wiseman, The Principal Doctrines and Practices of the Church, lect. iv.)

(b) The second Evangelist, St. Mark, describes the “teaching” of St. Matthew as a “preaching,” and mentions, instead of the intrinsic guarantee of infallibility, the extrinsic signs of authority and sanction. “Go ye into the whole world and preach (κηρύξατε) the Gospel to every creature [as an authorized message from the Creator and Sovereign Lord to all mankind as His creatures]. He that believeth [your preaching] and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: in My name they shall cast out devils… . But they [the eleven] going forth, preached everywhere: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed” (xvi. 15–20).

(c) The third Evangelist, St. Luke, draws attention to the mission to “preach,” but afterwards lays special stress on its principal act—the authentic witnessing—and points to the Holy Ghost, of Whom the human witnesses are the mouthpiece, as the guarantee of the infallibility of the testimony. “Thus it is written, and it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead on the third day; and that penance and the remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things, and I send the promise of My Father upon you” (xxiv. 46–49). “You shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts i. 8).

(d) Whilst the synoptic Gospels chiefly describe the universal propagation and first diffusion of the doctrine of Christ, St. John, the fourth Evangelist, points out especially the unity, conservation, and application of the doctrine. He narrates, as the last act of our Lord, the appointment of a permanent visible Head of the Church. St. Peter is chosen to take the place of Christ, with power to feed mankind with the bread of doctrine (xxi. 15–17), and to lead them in the light of truth. The apostolic organism thus receives a firm centre and a permanent consistency. The abiding and invisible assistance of Christ announced in St. Matthew to the members of the Apostolate is here visibly embodied in His supreme representative to whom it was especially promised (Matt. xvi. 17–19; Luke xxii. 31, 32). Moreover, the very figure of a shepherd feeding his lambs and sheep contains an allusion to the authority and sanction of the promulgation of the Word (cf. John x. 11 sqq.; Ps. xxii.; Ezech. xxxiv. 23).

Thus the last Evangelist comes back to the point from which St. Matthew started: “All power is given to Me in Heaven and on earth.” The mission of the Apostolate is an emanation from and a continuation of the mission of Christ, and consequently the functions of both are described in similar terms. Our Lord Himself is spoken of as a Doctor and Master, teaching as one having power (Mark i. 22); a Preacher of the Gospel sent by God to man (Luke iv. 16–21); a Witness, giving testimony to what He saw with the Father (John viii. 14–18); and, lastly as the Shepherd of the sheep (John x. 11).

2. The beautiful picture of the institution of the Apostolate given at the end of the Gospel narratives is brought out more clearly when viewed side by side with the previous teaching of our Lord.

The mission described in Matt. xxviii is represented in John xvii. 17, 18, as a continuation of the mission of Christ Himself: “Sanctify them in truth: Thy word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” Moreover the coercive authority spoken of by St. Matthew and St. Mark is mentioned by St. Luke x. 16 (cf. John xiii. 20; Matt. x. 40) on the occasion of the first preparatory mission of the seventy-two disciples. “He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me.” And the promise of the Holy Ghost, Who, according to St. Luke’s narrative, was to support and strengthen the testimony of the Apostles, is made at great length in St. John’s account of our Lord’s discourse at the Last Supper, in which the duration, importance, and efficacy of the Holy Ghost’s assistance are declared. “And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive: … but you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you” (xiv. 16, 17). “These things have I spoken to you, abiding with you. But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things into your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you” (ibid., 25, 26). “But when the Paraclete cometh, Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, Who proceedeth from the Father, He shall give testimony of Me: and you shall give testimony, because you are with Me from the beginning” (xv. 26, 27). “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will teach [ὁδηγήσει] you all truth” (xvi. 13). It is plain that these promises were made to the Apostles as future propagators of the Faith, and the stress laid upon the functions of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of truth, as Teacher and Witness, as Keeper of and Guide to the truth, is intended to show that the transmission of Revelation was to be endowed with all the qualifications required for its object, and especially with infallibility. Lastly, the Pastor appointed by Christ (John xxi. 15–17) had been previously designated as being strengthened in Faith in order to confirm his brethren, and as the rock which was to be the indestructible foundation of the Church (Luke xxii. 31, 32; Matt. xvi. 18).

These passages taken together may be summarized as follows. After accomplishing His own mission, Jesus Christ, in virtue of His absolute power and authority, sent into the world a body of teachers and preachers, presided over by one Head. They were His representatives, and had for their mission to publish to the world all revealed truth until the end of time. Their mission was not exclusively personal—it was to extend to their successors. Mankind were bound to receive them as Christ Himself. That their word might be His word, and might be recognized as such, He promised them His presence and the aid of the Holy Ghost to guarantee the infallibility of their doctrine; He promised external and supernatural signs as vouchers for its authenticity; finally, He gave their doctrine an effective sanction by holding out an eternal reward to those who should faithfully adhere to it, and by threatening with eternal punishment those who should reject it.

This summary is a complete answer to certain difficulties drawn from detached texts of Holy Scripture, and likewise fills up the gaps in isolated passages. The picture we have drawn corresponds exactly, even in minute details, with the theory of the Catholic Church on the Apostolate. Certain points, as, for instance, the infallibility of the Apostolate in matters indirectly connected with Revelation, are at least implicitly and virtually contained in the texts quoted. There is even reason to maintain that the words, “He shall lead you into all truth” (John xvi. 13), imply the promise of the infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost in all truths necessary to the Church. It should also be noted that, although these passages, as a whole, apply to the future of the Christian dispensation, some of them apply chiefly to its commencement, e.g. the signs and wonders, and the ocular evidence of the Apostles. The transitory elements can, however, be easily distinguished, and are therefore no argument against the perpetuity of the essential elements required for the permanent object of Revelation—the salvation of all mankind.

II. Proof from the writings of the Apostles.

The writings of the Apostles represent the Apostolate as an accomplished fact, destined to endure in all its essential elements until the end of time.

1. The theory is set forth especially in Rom. x. 8–19 and Eph. iv. 7–14. In the former passage, St. Paul insists on the necessity and importance of the apostolic preaching as the ordinary means of transmitting the doctrine of Christ. “The word is nigh thee [i.e. all men, Jews and Gentiles], even in thy mouth, and in thy heart. This is the word of faith which we preach. For, if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved… . For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him of Whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent? … Faith then cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ [as preached by those who have been sent]… . But I say. Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the whole world.” “But all do not obey the Gospel [preached by the Apostles], for Isaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?”

In writing to the Ephesians the Apostle describes how the organic body of living teachers is by its manifold functions the means designed by God to produce the unity, firmness, and security of the universal Faith. He speaks more particularly about the organization of the Apostolate, as it existed in his own day, when the Apostles were still living, and the extraordinary graces (charismata) were still in full operation. His description is not that of the ordinary organization, which was to endure for all ages, but, in spite of this, it is plain that what he says of the importance of the earlier form, may also be applied to that which was to come. “And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists [both graces peculiar to the first epoch], and other some pastors and doctors [this alludes to the ordinary teachers, the bishops appointed by the Apostles] for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all meet together into the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ: that henceforth we be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. iv. 11–15). The Apostles were the foundation of the whole organization; after their death their place was taken by the successor of St. Peter, to whom the other pastors stand in the same relation as the first bishops stood to the Apostles.

2. In practice, the Apostles announced the Gospel, and carried on the work of their ministry; they represented themselves as the ambassadors of Christ (Rom. i. 5; xv. 18; 1 Cor. ii. 16; iii. 9, etc.), and, above all, as witnesses sent to the people by God; they proved the Divinity of their mission by signs and wonders, as Christ promised them (1 Cor. ii. 4; 2 Cor. xii. 12; 1 Thess. i. 5, etc.); they demanded for the word of God, to which they bore authentic and authoritative witness, the obedience of Faith (ὑπακοὴ πίστεως, Rom. i. 5), and claimed the power and the right to enforce respect for it: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God unto the pulling down of fortifications, destroying counsels (λογισμούς), and every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ, and having in readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be fulfilled” (2 Cor. x. 4–6). They apply the sanction established by Christ, “He that believeth not shall be condemned,” and themselves pronounce the sentence. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema” (Gal. i. 8).

The mode of promulgation, in its essentials, was to be permanent, and not to cease with the Apostles, as may be gathered from the principles laid down by St. Paul (Rom. x.) and from the fact that the Apostles appointed successors to themselves to watch over and keep the doctrine entrusted to them. “Hold the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me … Keep the good thing committed to thy trust by the Holy Ghost Who dwelleth in us” (2 Tim. i. 13, 14). They add the commandment to appoint further successors with the same charge. “The things which thou hast heard of me by many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men who shall be fit to teach others also” (2 Tim. ii. 2). The practical application of this system is thus described by St. Clement of Rome, the disciple of the Apostles: “Christ was sent by God, and the Apostles by Christ. Therefore they went forth with the full persuading power of the Holy Ghost, announcing the coming of the kingdom of God. Through provinces and in towns they preached the word, and appointed the first fruits thereof, duly tried by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of them that should believe… . They appointed the above-named, and then gave them command that when they came to die other approved men should succeed to their ministry” (Ep. i. ad Cor., nn. 42, 44).

This proof from Scripture by no means presupposes the inspiration of the books of the New Testament; it is enough for our present purpose to assume that they are authentic narratives. We thus do not fall into the vicious circle of proving the Apostolate from the inspired books, and the Inspiration of the books from the Apostolate. Nor do we make use of the authority of the Church in interpreting the texts. Their meaning is sufficiently manifest without any such help.

III. Historical proofs.

But we have historical proofs of unimpeachable character that already, in the first centuries, the Catholic Rule was held by the Fathers. St. Irenæus, Origen, and Tertullian taught that, in consequence of the mission given to the Apostles, their successors preached the word with authenticity and authority; that the preaching of these successors infallibly reproduced the preaching of the Apostles; that, consequently, Ecclesiastical Tradition was to be followed, notwithstanding any private appeal to Holy Scripture or to any other historical documents.

1. St. Irenæus insists upon these points against the Gnostics, who appealed to Scripture or to private historical documents.

(a) He insists upon the existence and importance of the mission of the Apostles, and also upon the succession in the Apostolate: “Therefore in every church there is, for all those who would fain see the truth, at hand to look unto, the tradition of the Apostles made manifest throughout the whole world; and we have it in our power to enumerate those who were by the Apostles instituted Bishops in the churches, and the successors of those Bishops down to ourselves, none of whom either taught or knew anything like unto the wild opinions of these men. For if the Apostles had known any hidden mysteries, which they apart and privately taught the perfect only, they would have delivered them before all others to those to whom they entrusted even the very churches. For they sought that they whom they left as successors, delivering unto them their own post of government, should be especially perfect and blameless in all things.” He then demonstrates the continuity of succession in the church of Rome: “But as it would be a very long task to enumerate, in such a volume as this, the successions of all the churches; pointing out that tradition which the greatest and most ancient and universally known church of Rome—founded and constituted by the two most glorious Apostles Peter and Paul—derives from the Apostles, and that faith announced to all men, which through the succession of (her) Bishops has come down to us, we confound all those who in any way, whether through self-complacency or vain-glory, or blindness and perverse opinion, assemble otherwise than as behoveth them. For to this church, on account of more potent principality, it is necessary that every church, that is, those who are on every side faithful, resort, in which (church) ever, by those who are on every side, has been preserved that tradition which is from the Apostles… . By this order and by this succession both that tradition which is in the Church from the Apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is a most complete demonstration that the vivifying faith is one and the same, which from the Apostles even until now, has been preserved in the Church and transmitted in truthfulness.” After mentioning other disciples and successors of the Apostles, he continues: “Wherefore, since there are such proofs to show, we ought not still to seek amongst others for truth which it is easy to receive from the Church, seeing that the Apostles have brought together most fully into it, as into a rich repository, all whatever is of truth, that every one that willeth may draw out of it the drink of life… . But what if the Apostles had not left us writings: would it not have been needful to follow the order of that tradition which they delivered to those to whom they committed the churches—an ordinance to which many of the barbarian nations who believe in Christ assent, having salvation written, without paper and ink, by the Spirit, in their hearts, and sedulously guarding the old tradition?” (Adv. Hæres., l. iii., 3, 4).

(b) Irenæus then shows that the preaching of the Apostles, continued by their successors, contains a supernatural guarantee of infallibility through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. “The public teaching of the Church is everywhere uniform and equally enduring, and testified unto by Prophets and by Apostles, and by all the disciples, as we have demonstrated, through the first and intermediate and final period, and through the whole economy of God and that accustomed operation relative to the salvation of man, which is in our faith, which, having received from the Church, we guard (quam perceptam ab ecclesia custodimus); and which by the Spirit of God is ever in youthful freshness, like something excellent deposited in a beautiful vase, making even the very vase, wherein it is, seem newly formed (fresh with youth). For this office of God has been entrusted to the Church, as though for the breathing of life into His handiwork, unto the end that all the members that partake may be vivified; in this [office], too, is disposed the communication of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit, the pledge of incorruption, the ladder whereby to ascend unto God. For in the Church, saith he, God hath placed Apostles, prophets, doctors, and every other work of the Spirit, of which all they are not partakers who do not hasten to the Church, but by their evil sentiment and most flagrant conduct defraud themselves of life. For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and every grace: but the Spirit is truth. Wherefore they who do not partake of that [Spirit] are neither nourished unto life from a mother’s breasts, nor see the most clear spring which proceeds from Christ’s body; but dig unto themselves broken cisterns out of earthy trenches, and out of the filth drink foul water, fleeing from the faith of the Church lest they be brought back; but rejecting the Spirit that they may not be instructed” (lib. iii., c. 24).

(c) Lastly, Irenæus links together the Apostolic Succession and the supernatural guarantee of the Holy Ghost. “Wherefore we ought to obey those presbyters who are in the Church, those who have a succession from the Apostles, as we have shown; who, with the succession of the episcopate, have received according to the good will of the Father the sure gift of truth; but the rest who depart from the principal succession, and assemble in any place whatever, we ought to hold suspected either as heretics and of an evil opinion, or as schismatics and proud, and as men pleasing themselves; or, again, as hypocrites doing this for gain’s sake and vain-glory… . Where, therefore, the gifts of God are placed, there we ought to learn the truth, [from those] with whom is that succession of the Church which is from the Apostles; and that which is sound and irreprovable in conversation and unadulterated and incorruptible in discourse, abides. For they both guard that faith of ours in one God, Who made all things, and increase our love towards the Son of God, Who made such dispositions on our account, and they expound to us the Scriptures without danger, neither uttering blasphemy against God, nor dishonouring the patriarchs nor contemning the prophets” (lib. iv. 26).

2. Origen, in the preface to his work De Principiis, states the principle of the Apostolate in the Church in the following pregnant terms: “There being many who fancy that they think the things of Christ, and some of them think differently from those who have gone before, let there be preserved the ecclesiastical teaching which, transmitted by the order of succession from the Apostles, remains even to the present day in the churches: that alone is to be believed to be truth which in nothing differs from the ecclesiastical and apostolical tradition.” And commenting on Matt. xxiv. 23, he says, “As often as they [heretics] bring forward canonical Scriptures in which every Christian agrees and believes, they seem to say, ‘Behold in the houses is the word of truth.’ But we are not to credit them; nor to go out from the first and the ecclesiastical tradition; nor to believe otherwise than according as the churches of God have by succession transmitted to us… . The truth is like the lightning which goeth out from the east and appeareth even into the west; such is the truth of the Church of God; for from it alone the sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”

3. Tertullian treats of this subject in his well-known work De Præscriptionibus. “[Heretics] put forward the Scriptures and by this their boldness they forthwith move some persons; but in the actual encounter they weary the strong, catch the weak, send away the wavering anxious. We therefore interpose this first and foremost position: that they are not to be admitted to any discussion whatever touching the Scriptures. If these be those weapons of strength of theirs, in order that they may possess them, it ought to be seen to whom the possession of the Scriptures belongs, lest he may be admitted to it to whom it in no wise belongs… . Therefore there must be no appeal to the Scriptures, nor must the contest be constituted in these, in which the victory is either none or doubtful, or too little doubtful. For even though the debate on the Scriptures should not so turn out as to confirm each party, the order of things required that this question should be first proposed, which is now the only one to be discussed, ‘To whom belongs the faith itself; whose are the Scriptures; by whom, and through whom, and when and to whom was that rule delivered whereby men became Christians?’ for wherever both the true Christian rule and faith shall be shown to be, there will be the true Scriptures and the true expositions and all the true Christian traditions” (nn. 15, 19).

IV. The Divine legitimation of the Apostolate.

A strong argument in favour of the Divine origin of the Apostolate, stronger even than the proof from the Holy Scriptures and early Fathers, may be drawn from its actual existence and working in the Catholic Church.

If the power over the human mind and the infallible possession of Divine truth claimed by the Catholic hierarchy did not really come from God, the claim would be a horrible blasphemy, and the hierarchy would be the work of the devil. But if this were the case, it would be impossible for the Church to do all the good which she does, to contribute so wonderfully to the sanctification of mankind, and to be so constantly and so energetically attacked by the enemies of Christ. God would be bound to oppose and extirpate this monster of deception, which pretends to be the work of His hands and to be guided by His Spirit. He could not allow it to prevail so long, so universally, with such renown and success among the very best of mankind. But, far from doing this, God marvellously supports the Apostolate and confirms its authority from time to time by supernatural manifestations. These, of course, demonstrate the Divine origin of the Church as a whole, but they also demonstrate the Divine origin of the Apostolate which is the means of communicating the Faith which the Church professes.

Notes