the apostles, to teach them all things, and to bring to their remembrance all that He had said to them. This Spirit of Truth was to abide with them ‘Tor ever”; but as the apostles were not to live for ever on this earth, the promise was not meant to apply only to them individually, but to their successors, the Popes and Bishops of the Church. The Spirit of Truth which, according to the promise, abides for ever in the Church, preserves intact in her the Truth taught by Jesus Christ, keeps her from error, and therefore renders the Church infallible.
The wonderful Unity of the Church. For nothing did our Lord, before His death, pray more earnestly than that all who believe in Him might be one; and this unity for which He prayed was to be an outward unity such as could be recognised by the whole world. Our Lord willed to found a united Church; so that only a Church which is inwardly and outwardly, invisibly and visibly one, can be the true Church founded by Jesus Christ. There is but one Church which has all these marks! It is indeed a marvellous thing how the Catholic Church can be universal and at the same time one; for the enduring unity under one head of the faithful, of all ages, climes, and languages, could never have been brought about by natural means. The unity of the universal Church proves her to be the creation of God, and proves that He who founded her, our Lord Jesus Christ, is indeed the Son of God.
The Necessity of Faith. “No man cometh to the Father but by Me”, said our Lord. It follows from this that no one who does not believe in Him can come to the Father, or attain to life everlasting. “This is eternal life”, Jesus went on to say, “that they may know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”
The Necessity of Grace. Only that vine-branch which is united to the vine, and which is nourished by sap from it, can bear fruit. In like manner we must be united to our Lord Jesus Christ by sanctifying grace, if we wish to bring forth good and meritorious works; for only sanctifying grace can give to our actions a higher and supernatural value. He who is not in a state of grace can, indeed, perform good actions, such, for instance, as almsgiving, but his good actions have not the full supernatural value, and cannot merit heaven; and he who dies out of the grace of God, that is, who is not united to our Lord by sanctifying grace, will be lost, and must be punished for ever in hell. For doing good works and winning heaven, the state of sanctifying grace is, therefore, an elementary necessity; but beyond this habitual state we need the help of God’s grace for the performance of every thing that we do; for, says our Lord “without Me (i. e. without My help and grace) you can do nothing (to merit heaven)”. This grace is called actual and assisting grace.
