Works of the Right Rev. Bishop Hay of Edinburgh/Volume 1/Chapter 13
CHAPTER XIII.
Of The Marks Of The Church
Q. What are the marks of the Church of Christ laid down in the Scriptures?
A. They are chiefly these four, as declared in the Nicene creed - that she is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
Q. 2. How does it appear that the Church of Christ is one?
A. This we have seen in the preceding chapter, where the Church is shown to be one body, of which Christ is the Head, and that all her members are united to Him in His body, by having all one and the same Faith, being all in one communion, and subject to one supreme Church authority. It also appears manifest, from the manner in which the Church is constantly represented to us in Scripture; for there she is called the kingdom of God "that shall never be destroyed, that shall not be delivered up to another people, . . . but shall stand for ever," Dan. ii. 44 . She is also called " the city of the living God, . . . the Church of the first-born," Heb. xii. 22 ; of which God says, by His prophet David, "The Lord hath chosen Sion, He hath chosen it for His dwelling. This is My rest for ever and ever; here will I dwell, for I have chosen it," Ps. cxxxi. 13 . St Paul also calls her " the house of God, the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth," i Tim. iii. 15 . Seeing, therefore, that this kingdom, this city, this house of God, shall never be destroyed, but shall stand for ever, it necessarily follows that she can never be divided against herself, cannot possibly consist of jarring sects or separate communions, contradicting and condemning one another, but must always be one body, and all her members must be perfectly united in one faith and one communion; for Christ Himself expressly declares " that every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand," Mat. xii. 25 . St Paul also shows this unity of the Church, when he affirms that " we, being many, are ONE body in Christ," Rom. xii. 5 ; and that there is but " one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one Faith, one baptism," Eph. iv. 4 ; and Christ Himself, in plain terms, says, that " there shall be one fold and one shepherd," John, X. 16 ; which clearly shows that all the members of the Church of Christ make but one body, having all one faith, and are governed by one shepherd.
Q. 3. How is it proved that the Church of Christ is holy?
A. By holiness is meant that the Church of Christ teaches nothing but what is holy and tends to holiness; that she proposes to her children the most powerful motives to induce them to become holy, that she affords them the most efficacious means to enable them to be so, and that great numbers of her children, by following her instructions and using these means, do actually become holy. Now, that all this is essential to the true Church of Christ is manifest from many texts of Scripture: (i.) The prophet Isaiah, foretelling the glories of the Church, as the way or rule to conduct us to eternal happiness, says: " And a way shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy way," Isa. xxxv. 8 ; or, as the Protestant translation has it, " the way of holiness; " and that " the unclean shall not pass over it," to show that it is both holy in itself and conducts to holiness all those that walk therein, and brings them at last to eternal happiness; for it is added: "They shall walk there that shall be delivered; and the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come to Sion with praise; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away," ver. 9, 10. (2.) David also foretells the holiness of the Church, when he says, " Holiness becomes Thy house, O Lord, unto length of days," Ps. xcii. 5 . (3.) St Paul assures us that Christ died for this very purpose, to purify His Church and make her holy: " Christ loved the Church," says he, " and delivered Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life; that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, nor any such thing; but that it should be Holy and without blemish," Eph. v. 25 . (4.) The same holy apostle also teaches that Christ died for the sanctification of her members, and that He " gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works," Tit. ii. 14 ; and hence St Peter says, " You are a chosen generation, a Holy nation, a purchased people," i Pet. ii. 9 .
Q. 4. How does it appear that the Church of Christ is Catholic?
A. The word Catholic signifies universal, and means that the Church of Christ is not confined to one corner of the world, or to one nation, as the Jewish church was, but is made for all nations and for all countries, so as to embrace the whole world; which is explained in the following manner from the Scripture: (i.) That the Church -was instituted by Jesus Christ to be diffused through all nations, and propagated to the utmost bounds of the earth. Thus He gave the pastors of the Church express commission to carry the light of His Gospel everywhere: " Go ye," says He, " and teach all nations," Mat. xxviii. 19 . "Going into the world, preach the Gospel to every creature," Mark, xvi. 15 . "And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth," Acts, i. 8 . Yea, Christ Himself assures us that He suffered for this very end: " Thus it behoved Christ to suffer," said He to the eleven, " and to rise again from the dead the third day; and that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem," Luke, xxiv. 46 . (2.) That the Church being intended for this purpose, and being of this diffusive nature, must possess in herself the means and qualifications necessary for propagating the faith of Christ among all nations, and for converting all mankind to Christianity. These in the beginning were apostolic men, men burning with zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, who, leaving all to follow Christ, cheerfully sacrificed their own ease, their life itself, and undenvent all dangers and difficulties, in order to convert souls to Christ: men eminent for their holiness of life, and on whom God bestowed the gift of miracles, as proofs of their commission, and to confirm the truth of what they taught. Apostolic men of this kind, then, must never be wanting in the true Church of Christ, as the means appointed by Him for converting the world to His Church. Thus the prophet Isaiah foretells the perpetuity of apostolic pastors in the Church, and their continual zeal for the propagation of the Gospel, in these words: Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the day and all the night; they shall never hold their peace. You that are mindful of the Lord, hold not your peace," Isa. lxii. 6 . And the success of their labours is thus described: " Thy gates shall be open continually: they shall not be shut day nor night, that the strength of the Gentiles may be brought unto thee, and their kings may be brought," Isa. lx. 11 .
That the gift of miracles shall not be wanting to many of these apostolic labourers Christ Himself assures us; for when He gave the apostles and their successors the commission of teaching all nations, He immediately adds, " And these signs shall follow them that believe. In My Name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands upon the sick and they shall recover," Mark, xvi. 17 . And that this gift of miracles was chiefly promised to those who preached the Word, in confirmation of what they taught, is plain, from the first performance of the promise; for it is immediately added that "they going forth preached everwhere, the Lord working withal, and confirming the Word with signs that followed," ver. 20. On another occasion He says: "Amen, amen, I say unto you, he that believeth in Me, the works that I do he shall do also, and greater than these shall he do, because I go to the Father," John, xiv. 12 . (3.) In consequence of this, the Church must, from the beginning, be propagating the faith of Christ, and from time to time be converting nations, till at last she be spread over the whole universe; thus, " From the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. My name is great among the Gentiles," Mai. i. 2 . "All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord, and all the kindred of the Gentiles shall adore in His sight; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall have dominion over the nations," Ps. xxi. 28 . "Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession," Ps. ii. 8 . And of the kingdom of Christ, according to the Protestant translation, Isaiah says: " Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever," Isa. ix. 7 . And, in the New Testament, St Paul says to the Colossians, " The truth of the Gospel is come to you, as also it is in the whole world, and bringeth forth fruit and groweth," Col. i. 6 . From which it is evident, that to be Catholic or universal is an essential quality of the Church of Christ; that she is not and cannot be confined to one corner or nation, but is more or less spread over all the known world, and is the Church of all nations.
Q. 5. How does it appear that the Church of Christ is Apostolical?
A. By the word Apostolical is meant, that the Church of Christ was founded by the apostles, and received the doctrine of her Faith, the powers of the priesthood, and the mission of her pastors from them at the beginning; and that she must continue to the end of the world in the profession of the same Faith and doctrine, and in a continual uninterrupted succession of the priesthood, and mission of her pastors, so that the apostolical doctrine, priesthood, and mission, remain with her for ever.
That the Church shall always preserve the apostolical doctrine we have seen above, when explaining the rule of faith; and that she shall never want a succession of true pastors, inheriting the same priestly powers and mission which she received at first from the apostles, is manifest from these considerations: (i.) Because true pastors, properly empowered and lawfully sent, are a necessary part of the Church, and instituted by Jesus Christ, " for the perfecting the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ," Eph. iv. 12 ; consequently such pastors will never be wanting in her, according to the Prophet: " Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never hold their peace," Isa. lxii. 6 . (2.) Because the Scripture assures us that " no man taketh the honour of the priesthood upon himself but he that is called by God, as Aaron was," Heb. V. 4 ; much less can any man possess the powers of the priesthood, unless they be given to him by those who have power to confer them. Thus St Paul writes to Titus, " For this cause I left thee at Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting, and shouldst ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee," Tit. i. 5 , (3.) That none who have these priestly powers can lawfully exercise them unless they be authorised and commissioned to do so by being lawfully sent. Thus the apostles received their mission from Christ, who said to them, " As my Father sent me I also send you," John, xx. 21 . In like manner they sent others to succeed themselves, with power also to send others after them, as St Paul and Barnabas were sent by the pastors of the church at Antioch, and their doing so was declared to be the work of the Holy Ghost: "Then they, fasting and praying, and imposing their hands upon them, sent them away. So they, being sent by the Holy Ghost, went to Seleucia," Acts, xii. 3
Paul himself sent Titus as above - that is, authorised and commissioned him to govern the church in Crete, and ordain pastors in it under him; and he says, in another place, " How can they preach unless they be sent?" Rom. x. 15 . This, then, is the door by which the true pastors of Christ's flock enter - to wit, when lawfully ordained and sent, or commissioned by the chief pastors of the Church: for all who take that office upon themselves, without entering by the door, are declared by Christ Himself to be " thieves and robbers," John, x. I. From which it is manifest, that as true pastors are an essential part of the Church of Christ, and will never be wanting in her, therefore there will be in the Church a continued uninterrupted succession, or transmission of the priestly powers and mission given at the beginning by Jesus Christ Himself to His apostles, to the end of time.
Q. 6. Are there any other proofs to show that these four marks belong to the true Church of Christ?
A. There are several other texts of Scripture which show it; and it is also proved from the creeds: for the Apostles' creed contains, as an article of Divine faith, that the Church is holy and Catholic. " I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church." And the Nicene creed contains all the four; I believe "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church." Now the Church of England affirms, in the eighth of her 39 Articles, that these " creeds ought thoroughly to be received and believed, for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture."
Q. 7. Are there any other marks of the Church of Christ besides these four contained in the creed?
A. There are also two others which deserve a particular notice, because they serve, in a most convincing manner, to distinguish the true Church of Christ from all separate congregations; and these are, that she is perpetiial in her duration, and infallible in her doctrine. We have seen above, in the chapter on the rule of faith, that the Church of Christ is infaUible in what she teaches; that " the words once put in her mouth at the beginning shall never depart from her from henceforth and for ever;" that Jesus Christ is " with her pastors to the end of the world; "' and that the " Holy Ghost," the " Spirit of truth, abides with her for ever," to " teach her all truth." All which not only show her infallibility, but also her perpetual duration to the end of time. But, besides these, we have also many other testimonies of Scripture, which directly prove that the Church of Christ can never fail, but will continue upon earth, as long as the world endureth. Thus, Christ " shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end," Luke, i. 32 . And this was foretold by the royal prophet in these words, spoken by God Himself: " Thy seed will I settle for ever, and I will build up Thy throne unto generation and generation. . . . I will make Him My first-born high above the kings of the earth, and I will keep My mercy for Him for ever, and My covenant faithful to Him. And I will make His seed to endure for evermore; and His throne as the days of heaven. And if His children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgment; if they profane My justice, and keep not My commandments, I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes; but My mercy I will not take away from Him, nor will I suffer My truth to fail; neither will I profane My covenant, and the words that proceed from My mouth I will not make void. Once have I sworn by My holiness: I will not lie unto David; His seed shall endure for ever; and His throne as the sun before Me; and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven," Ps. lxxxviii. 5 , 28.
What this covenant is which God makes with Christ, the true David, we are told by the prophet Isaiah as follows: " And there shall come a Redeemer to Sion, and to them that return from iniquity in Jacob, saith the Lord. This is My covenant with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is in Thee, and My words that I have put in Thy mouth, shall not depart out of Thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of Thy seed, nor out of the mouth of Thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever," Isa. lix. 20 . In which texts we see a most solemn promise of Almighty God, both that the seed of Christ, His Holy Church, shall continue for ever, and that she shall never fail to teach the true doctrine once put in her mouth. The prophet Daniel also declares the perpetuity of Christ's kingdom upon earth in these strong terms: " In the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and His kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people; and it shall break to pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever," Dan. ii. 44 .
Q. 8. In which of all the Christian societies which at present divide the Christian world, are all these marks of the Church of Christ found?
A. The smallest attention will immediately show that they are to be found in the Catholic Church, and in no other society of Christians whatsoever, and therefore, that she alone is the true Church of Christ:
(i.) The Catholic Church is one body, whose members are all united together in one and the same faith, in the same communion, and governed by one and the same supreme authority. And this is the more to be remarked, when we consider that, though those of her communion be exceedingly numerous, and spread throughout the whole known world, and differ from one another in almost everything else - in their country, in their language, in their customs, in their government, and in their worldly interests, yet they are all most perfectly united in religion: they everywhere believe the same Divine truths, profess the same faith, teach the same doctrine, preach the same Gospel; so that, wherever any one of that Church goes, throughout the whole world, he always finds himself at home with those of that communion, as to religion. But, on the other hand, no sooner does any sect break off from that Church, as several have done in all preceding ages, than immediately the curse of division seems to be entailed upon them. We need only consider those of our own day, the followers of Luther and Calvin, who are divided and subdivided without end, and every day are splitting more and more, insomuch that, even in those who are of the same country, under the same government, using the same language, having the same customs and the same common interest, yea, very often in the same family, you will scarcely find half-a-dozen holding the same belief on all points of religion. The different sects among them mutually condemn each other, and refuse to join in communion, and those who live under the same denomination seldom or ever have in all points one common faith. No wonder: the very principle upon which all separate sects proceed, leaving every one at liberty to judge according to his own fancy, without any fixed ground to stand upon, must necessarily lead them to endless divisions; whereas the Catholic Church has in its own bosom the principle of union among all its members - a fixed, invariable, and infallible rule, instituted by the Son of God to bind it together.
Neither do they differ in matters of small importance only, but in tenets which they themselves hold to be of the greatest consequence to Christianity: such as church government, the blessed Eucharist, free-will, and the like; so that, according to some, it is a Divine truth that Jesus Christ instituted bishops, priests, and deacons, with due subordination to govern His Church; but, according to others, that is a falsehood and an error; for they hold it as a Divine truth that Jesus Christ put all the pastors of the Church upon a perfect equality. According to some, none have power to preach the Word, and administer the Sacraments, but such as are lawfully ordained by a bishop who has received his authority by a continual uninterrupted succession from Christ and His apostles. According to others, any man may take upon himself the ministry, preach the Word, and administer the Sacraments as lawfully and as validly as any bishop in England. The Lutherans teach as a Divine truth, that the true Body and Blood of Christ are really and substantially present in the blessed Eucharist, along with the bread and wine. The Calvinists reject this as a false doctrine, and hold that there is nothing in the Holy Eucharist but mere bread and wine, as a figure of the Body and Blood of Christ; and so of other articles.
These sects have often carried their differences to such a height as to excommunicate and anathematise each other, scarcely looking upon one another as Christians. Thus Luther, the great apostle of the Reformation, anathematised Zuhiglius for denying the real presence, and declared him to be totally possessed by Satan on that account. Several attempts were made by these conflicting sects to bring about a reunion among themselves, and conferences were frequently held for that end, but all to no purpose; how much soever they pretended to agree in words, every one followed his own way. Their worldly interest was the mainspring of their seeking an agreement, as they were afraid, when disunited, of being overpowered by those Catholic states against which they had rebelled; and therefore their agreement was in appearance only. For whenever that fear was past, they divided as much as before, and have still continued to divide and subdivide to this day. Ashamed, however, of the contemptible figure they make on this account, when compared with the unity of the Catholic Church, the modern device they have fallen upon is the vain pretence that all their different parties, though holding such opposite and contradictory faiths, make up but one church of Christ; as if Christ had revealed one thing to one party, and the very reverse to another, and all their opposite tenets were equally the truths of God! There is, indeed, one point, and only one, on which they all agree, and that is, their inveterate aversion and opposition to the Catholic Church; for as Herod and Pilate, though enemies, combined together against the Lord and against His Christ, so all the various sects that ever separated from the spouse of Christ, however much they disagree among themselves, have never failed to join together in opposition to her, and to combine, as much as in them lay, for her destruction.
(2.) With regard to holiness: This shines forth in the Catholic Church in the most eminent degree. All her doctrines are consistent. Like the component parts of a perfect arch, they so fit and adhere together, mutually supporting and supported by each other, that no flaw can be detected, not a shadow of inconsistency or contradiction can be discovered in them - an evident mark of truth! Every article of her faith is holy in itself, and so conducive to true holiness that she challenges her greatest adversaries to show the slightest blemish or imperfection in anything she really teaches; and the strongest proof of their inability to do so is, that, not daring to attack her true doctrines, by calumny and misrepresentation they accuse her of things which she condemns and detests, and then combat phantoms of their own raising. As for holy persons, she justly glories in having great numbers of such in her communion, whose eminent virtues have been the admiration of all who know them, and have been frequently attested by God by innumerable miracles wrought through their means, and at their intercession. On the other hand, no sooner did any sects break off from her communion, and set up a separate faith, than evident contradictions and falsehoods appeared in their tenets. Many of them tended to the subversion of morals, or were insulting to the Divinity; and as for holiness of life among their members, attested by miracles, they never so much as pretend to it: nay, the general cry among them is to disclaim and deny all miracles whatsoever since the primitive ages, conscious of their own inability to procure them.
(3.) The Catholic Church alone possesses, as her undivided property, the glorious character of Catholic. In her communion alone, numbers of holy apostolic men have abounded in all ages, who, leaving all they possessed or could expect in this world, and burning with zeal for the conversion of souls to God, have dedicated themselves entirely to carry the light of the Gospel to those who " sat in darkness and in the shadow of death," and to bring heathen nations to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. In consequence of this, from the very beginning she has always been extending the sacred standard of the Gospel; and by her alone were all the heathen nations converted that have ever as yet been brought to the Christian faith: and though in different ages several who had enjoyed the happiness of being in her communion have, through the unsearchable judgments of God, been cut off from it, yet scarcely ever did this happen than other nations, in much greater numbers, were called in their place to her bosom. Witness the great defection in these latter ages, which had scarcely begun when the discovery of the East and West Indies opened a door to carry the Gospel to those parts, where multitudes were.__ converted to her faith, insomuch that at present she is spread over the whole known world. In many flourishing countries no other religion is known; and. in others, where a different religion is established, great numbers of her communion are generally to be found: by all which the very name of Catholic is so appropriated to her that no sect pretends to assume it. The various sects are seldom to be found entire throughout one whole nation. They are generally confined to one province or corner; they take their names from their founders, their tenets, or some particular circumstances; and in several parts of Christendom their very names are unheard of and unknown.
(4.) The Catholic Church alone is truly apostolic, not only in the continual preservation of the sacred doctrine delivered to her by the apostles, which, by the very rule of her faith, can never be altered, but also in the constant uninterrupted succession of lawful pastors, with all the sacred powers of the priesthood and mission derived from the same source. This is so palpable a truth, that the Church of England (which alone among the modem religions claims the power of ordination) acknowledges that whatever she has of the priestly powers she received from the Catholic Church, in which alone they have been transmitted to the present time, without interruption, from the apostles. It is true, indeed, that the Church of England claims the power of holy orders in her ministers, but this is at best a very doubtful point, and absolately denied by the Catholic Church. As for all the other sects, they do not so much as pretend to it; and their founders, conscious of their own total want of the priestly powers, endeavoured to turn orders and missions into ridicule, rejecting the very name of Priest from their communion, and usurping an authority to which they could show no title, much less could they derive their assumed authority from the apostles. They paid no regard to the words of St Paul: " How shall they preach unless they be sent?" Rom. X. 15 . But, taking this office upon themselves, they must be classed with those false prophets of whom Almighty God complains: " I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied," Jer. xxiii. 21 . They did not enter by the door appointed by Jesus Christ, and used by the apostles. What, then, can they say to show they are not the thieves and robbers mentioned in St John, X. 1 , instead of true pastors?
(5.) The Catholic Church alone has had a perpetual being from the times of the apostles to this present day, without the smallest alteration or innovation of her faith in any one article of revealed truth. Her most inveterate adversaries are forced to acknowledge her existence for many ages before the Reformation, but they could never show any period when she first began to be what she now is. Some carry her up to the fifth, fourth, third, or second ages; and some admit that she began to put on her present form even in the time of the apostles. But she justly despises all their conflicting statements; and as she certainly was the true Church of Christ when St Paul wrote his epistle to the faithful of the city of Rome, and declared that "their faith was spoken of through the whole world," Rom. i. 8 , so she holds that she has never ceased to be so since that time. The very rule of faith she follows, the promises of Jesus Christ, the history of all ages, the writings of the great lights of Christianity, the Holy Fathers, which remain to this day, the numbers of heresies which have always broken off from her, and the fruitless attempts of her adversaries to show the contrary, convincingly prove that she is still the same, and that her faith has never varied. On the other hand, all the separate communions that ever have been, or are at present in the Christian world, can never trace back their existence beyond a period long after the apostles. They all went out from the great body of Christians that was before them, and had been from the beginning. Those who appear in the earlier ages of the Church have long since sunk into oblivion, and now exist no longer. Those of more modern date were many ages after Christ before they were so much as heard of in the world, and their authors, separation, and particular tenets, the opposition they met with, their subsequent divisions and subdivisions, are all recorded in the histories of their times, and show how far they are from having even the shadow of a claim to a perpetual existence from the times of Christ and his apostles.
(6.) As to infallibility in preserving the faith once delivered to the saints, the Catholic Church is the only society of Christians which not only claims it, but has always exercised it, and acted on all occasions as alone possessing that high prerogative. Others are obliged not only to renounce all claim to it themselves, but even to deny that Christ left such a privilege to His Church; and they make their separation on the ground that the Church had actually fallen into error. The very groundwork of their defection is the assumption that the gates of hell have prevailed against the Church of Christ; that the "words once put in her mouth" have gone out of her mouth; that "Jesus Christ has not continued with her pastors in teaching all nations; " that the " Spirit of truth has failed to teach her all truth; " that she is no longer " the pillar and ground of truth: " in a word, that God Almighty has abandoned His Church, broken His covenant with her, and failed to fulfil all the sacred promises. While they thus deny infallibility to the Church of Christ, they renounce, indeed, all claim to it themselves; but tell us that we must receive their fallible word, and, in opposition to all God's sacred promises, must believe, because they assert it, that the Church of Christ has fallen even into damnable errors, and that they are sent to reform her!
Thus it appears that all the marks and characters of the true Church of Christ are to be found in the Catholic Church, and in her alone: therefore we justly conclude that she alone is the true Church of Christ, the house of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth, out of whose communion there is no ordinary possibility of salvation; and consequently, that from her we are to receive the true Faith of Christ - that is, the knowledge of those great truths of eternity which He revealed to the world, and the belief of which He requires of all as an essential condition of salvation.
Q. 9. Is this true Faith, or the belief of those sacred truths which Christ revealed, alone sufficient to save us?
A. By no means; it is, indeed, one condition, and a most necessary one, being the foundation of all other duties; but it is not the only condition. In order to obtain salvation, Christ absolutely requires not only that we believe what He has taught, but also that we obey what He has commanded in His holy law. Thus He expressly says, " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," Mat. xix. 17 ; and St Paul assures us that " Christ is become the cause of eternal salvation to all that obey Him," Heb. v. 9 .
Q. 10. On what must our obedience be grounded?
A. On charity, or the love of God, which must be the motive of our obedience, according to the words of our Saviour, " If you love Me, keep My commandments," John, xiv. 15 ; and hence St Paul declares, that in Christ Jesus nothing will avail us without these two essential conditions of faith and love that shows itself by works: " In Christ Jesus," says he, " neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith that works by charity," or love, Gal. v, 6 . Again, he says, " Though I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing," i Cor. xiii. 2 . St James also declares that " faith without works is dead, being alone," and that " by works a man is justified, and not by faith only," James, ii. 17 , 24. This clearly shows that these two conditions, faith and obedience through love, are both expressly required by Almighty God as conditions of salvation; and these two include the whole sum of our duties.