God had sent them. He repeats it with reiterated energy in many parts of his prophecy; insisting in other places, as often and with equal force, that the false prophets were not to be credited; because, though they spoke in the name of God, yet that God had not sent them. Our Redeemer, the great teacher of mankind, would be particularly characterized by this quality, as well in the noted oracle of the dying Patriarch, who announced the continuance of the sceptre in Juda, until he should come who was to be sent; as in the prophetic prayer of Moses: Send, O Lord, whom thou wilt send. Also in the words of his precursor: He whom God hath sent shall speak the words of God: wherefore Jesus Christ studiously exhibits this distinctive quality, as prominent in his own person: But I, says he, have a greater testimony than that of John; for the works themselves which I do, give testimony of me, that the Father hath sent me. When about to raise Lazarus from the dead, he clearly insinuates his motive in performing this miracle to be, that the surrounding multitude might believe that the Father had sent him. On another occasion he proves to the Jews, how justly he ought to be called the Son of God, because the Father had sanctified and sent him into the world. He declared, that eternal life consists in knowing the Father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he had sent. After all which, commissioning his Apostles to preach the gospel to the world, he says: As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. And in his last discourse on the eve of his death: Amen, Amen, I say to you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. The word apostle signifies a man sent. But when the chain of transmissive spiritual jurisdiction is broken by a separation from the visible body of Pastors united under one visible head, Roman Catholics cannot perceive that teachers, so separated, are really sent to instruct them: nor can they of course become their hearers. Are heavy temporal inconveniences a sufficient excuse for Roman Catholics, when, through fear of incurring them, they yield compliance in this point? Such compliance being repugnant to their religious principles, it cannot be fairly required of them, nor lawfully conceded, whatever temporal inconveniences may of copies are to be found even in the Vatican and Alexandrian manuscripts of the Bible. In the Greek New Testament alone, Mr. Mills has discovered thirty thousand various readings. But if, instead of translations absolutely rejected by the Catholic Church, her Vulgate* alone were in use among the separated communions: that Vulgate, which she presents us from the faithful pen of the learned and laborious St. Jerom, and which the most† distinguished opposers of Catholicity have mentioned with respect, it would not yet be lawful for us Roman Catholics to commune in religious matters with separated sects, or to listen to their teachers as our spiritual guides. And why? Besides the reason heretofore assigned, Roman Catholics cannot discover in these teachers that transmissive spiritual authority, emanating through an unbroken chain of succession, from Christ himself and his Apostles; which authority they consider as essentially necessary in every preacher, to constitute him an orthodox minister of the word of God. For as a Roman Catholic cannot allow any other society of Christians to be the true Church, except that which acknowledges the spiritual pre-eminence of one chief Bishop, and holds communion with his See as of indispensable necessity; so, neither can a Roman Catholic conscientiously become a hearer of those, whose commission to preach or expound the gospel is not manifestly and actually derived from that authority. How shall they preach unless they be sent? Among all the illustrious personages under the old law, none took upon themselves the province of public instruction, but such as were called by God, as Aaron was. The prophet Jeremiah rests his own claim to credit, and the claim of the other prophets, upon this particular circumstance, that * St. Jerom undertook and executed this translation at the instance of Pope Damasus. He translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew, and revised the New Testament from the Greek. His labours on this occasion are highly extolled by St. Augustin. + Mr. Whitacre, Doctor Dove, Doctor Humphry, Doctor Corel, Molinens, Pelican, and Beza, respectively wow that the Vulgate is pious and profitable to the Church, faithful to the original, preferable to all other Latin Translations, etc. etc. etc. 1 k te inter nu streched and wi Such complimes long Equiptmt bi Hon principles, it cant be liably disputal of the in fully conceded, whatever tampal inveniem result from their refusal. Let all those who chance to be involved in such trying circumstances, whether placemen, servants, or dependants, be careful to prove, by their edifying conduct, by their honesty, their fidelity, and their uniform attention to their employer's interest and welfare, that the religion of their preference effectually inculcates every Christian Virtue in an eminent degree. No violence will then be offered to their consciences: they will be left at full liberty to adore their God in their own way: they must become respectable and respected in this very act of recusancy. "This shall be unto you a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein."-Isa. xxxv. 8. Prayer. Most gracious and merciful God, who, of thy pure bounty, hast bestowed on me, in preference to so many others, the precious gift of faith, which is the beginning of salvation; who hast made me, before reason could direct my choice, a member of the one only and true Catholic Church, wherein I am secured from error, and guided in the road that leads to eternal bliss. Grant, O my God, that I may never prove so ungrateful as to waver in this faith, or to contradict it by my conduct; but that, till the end of my life, firmly believing what it teaches, and earnestly endeavouring to comply with the duties it lays down, I may merit the eternal reward thou hast promised to those who persevere to the end in the profession of thy faith and the observance of thy commandments. This grace, my God, I ardently implore, through the death and passion of my Saviour Jesus Christ, who, with thee and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen. FINIS. KEATING and BROWN, Printers, 38, Duke Street, Grosvenor Square. |