The Purpose of the Papacy | Page 3

than anything in this world,--_viz._, to the abiding presence and divine
support of Christ the Man-God.
Verily, there is but one possible explanation, and that explanation is
furnished us, by the words of the promise made by God-incarnate,
_viz._, "Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of
the world" (Matt, xxviii. 20). Yes, I, Who am "the true light which
enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (John i. 9), "will
abide with you for ever, and will lead you into all truth" (John xvi. 13).
If but few persons, outside the Catholic Church, realise the force and
import of these words, it is because few realise the absolute and
irresistible power of Him Who gave them utterance. With their lips
they profess Christ to be God, but then, strange to relate, they proceed
to reason and to argue, just as though He were merely man--one, that is
to say, Who, when He established His Church, did not consider nor
bear in mind man's weakness and fickleness, and who possessed no
power to see the outcome of His own policy, nor the difficulties that it
would engender, nor the future multiplication of the faithful, in every
part of the world. For, did He know and foresee all these things, He
must have guarded against them; and this they practically deny, by
continuing to associate themselves with churches where His promises
are in no sense fulfilled, and where His most solemn pledges remain
unredeemed. We refer to those churches wherein there is no recognised
infallible authority; in fact, nothing to protect their subjects from the
inroads of the world, and from the faults and errors inseparable from
the exercise of purely human and fallible reason.
Those, however, who can put aside such false notions, and awaken to
the real facts, will find the truth growing luminous before their gaze.
History constrains them to admit that it was Christ Who established the

Church, with its supreme head, and its various members. But Christ is
verily God; of the same nature, and one with the Father, and possessing
the same divine attributes. Now, since He is God, there is to Him no
future, just as there is no past. To him, all is equally present. Hence, in
establishing a Church, and in providing it with laws and a constitution,
He did this, not tentatively, not experimentally, not in ignorance of
man's needs and weaknesses, and folly, but with a most perfect
foreknowledge of every circumstance and event, actual and to come.
He spoke and ordered and arranged all things, with His eyes clearly
fixed on the most remote ages, no less than on the present and the
actual. We mortals write history after the characters have already lived
and died, and when nations have already developed and run their
course. But with Christ, the whole history of man, his wars and his
conquests, his vices and his virtues, his religious opinions and doctrines,
had been already written and completed, down to the very last line of
the very last chapter, an eternity before He assumed our nature and
founded His Church. It was with this most intimate knowledge before
Him, that He promised to provide us with a reliable and infallible
teacher, who should safeguard His doctrine, and publish the glad
tidings of the Gospel, throughout all time, even unto the consummation
of the world. Since it is God Who promises, it follows, with all the
rigour of logic, that this fearless Witness and living Teacher must be a
fact, not a _figment_; a stupendous reality, not a mere name; One, in a
word, possessing and wielding the self-same authority as Himself, and
to be received and obeyed and accepted as Himself: "Who heareth you
heareth Me" (Luke x. 16).
This teacher was to be a supreme court of appeal, and a tribunal, before
which every case could be tried, and definitely settled, once for all. And
since this tribunal was a divine creation, and invested by God Himself
with supernatural powers for that specific purpose, it must be fully
equipped, and thoroughly competent and equal to its work. For God
always adapts means to ends. Hence it can never resemble the tribunals
existing in man-made churches, which can but mutter empty phrases,
suggest compromises, and clothe thought in wholly ambiguous
language--tribunals that dare not commit themselves to anything
definite and precise. Yea, which utterly fail and break down just at the

critical moment, when men are dividing and disagreeing among
themselves, and most needing a prompt and clear decision, which may
close up the breach and bring them together.
No! The decisions of the authority set up by Christ are in very
truth--just what we expect to find them--_viz._, clear, ringing and
definite. They divide light from darkness, as