Christ's Masterpiece by William F. Robison (1918)

5/25/2018 Christ's Masterpiece by William F. Robison (1918)

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CHRIST S MASTERPIEA Study of the One True Church

S SCHOLASTIC^

WILLIAM F. ROBISON, S.J.Professor of Theology, St. Louis University

SECOND EDITION

B. HERDER BOOK CO.17 SOUTH BROADWAY, ST. Louis, Mo.

AND68 GREAT RUSSELL ST. LONDON, W. C.

,1919


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DEC -2 1953

IMPRIMI POTE8TSti. Ludovici, die 14 Aprilis, 1918

A. J. Burrowes, 8. J.Praep. Provincialis

Prov. Missour.

NIHIL OB8TATSti. Ludovici, die 17 Aprilis, 1918

F. G. Hohceck,Censor Librorum.

IMPRIMATURSti. Ludovici, die 18 Aprilis, 1918

^Joannes J. Glennon,Archiepiscopus

Sti. Ludovici

Copyright, 1918*y

Joseph GummersbachAll rights reserved

Printed in U. 8. A.

VAIL-BALLOU COMPANYINQHAMTDN AND NEW YORK


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TOMY MOTHER


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FOEEWOEDFor many years St. Francis Xavier (Col

lege) Church has been accustomed to helptowards the sanctification of the Lenten season by a series of lectures on doctrinal subjects. Two years ago I decided, as theappointed lecturer, to enter the field of apologetics and to take up the study of thefoundations of our Christian faith. Thelack of clear-cut and definite knowledge ofsome of our Catholic people and the mistynotions about religion so common outside ofthe Church were reasons enough for thechoice of such a subject.Accordingly in the series of two years ago

I treated of Christ s Masterpiece, and studied Catholicity, as being Christianity in theconcrete. Last year, going back a step, Iexamined the grounds of our faith in thedivinity of Jesus Christ, which is really thetap-root of the fair tree of Christian reve-


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FOEEWOEDlation ; and in the Lent just past I took upthe reasons for the necessity of religion ingeneral. The conclusion of this necessarilyshort, but fairly comprehensive view ofapologetics seems a fitting time to yield tothe advice and urgings of those whose opinion I value, and to publish the lectures witha view to wider and deeper good.

It is hardly needful for me to say that Imake no claim to any striking originality inthis presentment of Catholic truth. Thesaying,

quot;

novelty is the sign of error, quot; mightwell warn any one from even the attempt todepart too much from the beaten path. Theordinary theological treatises have furnished the substratum of thought, and special works, like the Dictionnaire Apologe-tique of A. d Ales, have been laid undercontribution.

I have deemed it best to print the discourses just as they were given. Someadvantage might have resulted from a recasting; but the process might also havetaken away from the directness and force ofthe form of the spoken word. Besides, inthe present shape the lectures have the ad-


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FOREWOKDvantage of having been quot; tried out quot; with nolittle resultant good ; and I have thought itunwise to forego a sure advantage for aproblematical improvement.In giving this work of zeal and love to thepublic I am convinced that the doctrine istrue and solid ; I hope that it is put forwardwith clearness and strength ; and I pray thatit may be of help both to those who are ofthe household of the faith, and to thoseearnest and sincere inquirers outside of herblessed fold, who are following after thequot;Kindly Light. quot;

WILLIAM F. ROBISON, S.J.St. Louis University,Easter, 1918.


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CONTENTSPAGE

Foreword L.: v

LECTURE ITHE KING AND HIS KINGDOM

Special importance of apologetics : repels attacks :leads to truth. Three parts in knowledge offoundations. Scope of present inquiry.Christ the King. Gradual revelation of person and mission. Perfection of manhood:contrast with saints. Legate of God. VeryGod. The Kingdom. Meaning. God s dispensation with Israel. Description of Kingdom. Correction of false views of Jews:refutation of later misconceptions. ... 1

LECTURE IITHE GREAT CHARTER OF THE KINGDOM

Christ s words to the Twelve. Their antecedents :their vocation. Attitude of quot;Higher Critics. quot; Teaching power. Authoritative. Infallible. Faith demanded by Christ: exacted by Apostles. Practical application.Sanctifying power. Indirect. Direct. Greatgift of sacramental system. Power ofjurisdiction. Flows from Charter. Ex-


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CONTENTSPAGE

plicit declaration of Christ. The Churcha society. Founded by Christ. Not an unforeseen development. . . .... . 35LECTURE III

SOME PREROGATIVES OF THE KINGDOMReview. Perpetuity. Double aspect of Apos

tles position. Meaning of indefectibility.Adversaries. Christ s will: parables: promise to Peter: to Twelve. One only Church.Proof. Branch theory. Discussion. Necessity. Antecedent probability. Christ sformal declaration. Not only necessary bycommand: a means to end. Can it be supplied? Toleration true and false. ... 68LECTURE IV

THE PRIMATE OF THE KINGDOMOne way to find Church. Primacy: of honor:of jurisdiction. Peter s place among theTwelve. Incomprehensible without primacy.Christ s promise. Words to Peter alone.Contents of promise: foundation: key-bearer. Conferring of primacy. An evasion.Primacy perpetual. Involves infallibility.True and false meanings. Where is Peter?Not in Protestant or Greek churches. Is in

Catholic Church alone. Conclusion . . . 101

LECTURE VTHE SEAL OF THE KING S SIGNETAnother viewpoint. Warning as to controversial

purpose. A parable and its application.


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CONTENTS PAWTwo tests. The moral norm. Sanctity. Itsmeaning and grades. Is a note. Not foundin non-Catholic churches. Their principlesand practice. Holiness of Catholic Church.The juridical criterion: apostolicity withunity in catholicity. Christ s will. Application : non-hierarchical Protestant churches :Episcopal churches: Greek churches. Catholic Church. Same conclusion .... 135LECTURE VI

THE BRIDEGROOM AND HIS BRIDEResume. Another proof according to VaticanCouncil. Special union between Christ andChurch. Body of Christ. Members ofChrist. Christ the head. His preemin

ence. His care for Church. Effects.Bride of Christ. More perfect union than inOld Law. Paul s teaching. Epistle toEphesians. Mother of faithful. Church sbenefits to soul: to body: to society. Relation between temporal and spiritual goods.Foundation of civilization: culture: art:learning. Beneath the cross 171


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CHRIST S MASTERPIECELECTUEE ITHE KING AND HIS KINGDOM

Special importance of apologetics: repels attacks:leads to truth. Three parts in knowledge offoundations. Scope of present inquiry. Christthe King. Gradual revelation of person andmission. Perfection of manhood: contrast withsaints. Legate of God. Very God. The Kingdom. Meaning. God s dispensation with Israel. Description of Kingdom. Correction offalse views of Jews: refutation of later misconceptions.

The holy season of Lent is preeminentlya season of penance and prayer ; a time ofatonement for the evil of our lives and ofpreparation for more godly living in thedays to come ; a period of heartfelt pleadingswith God for strength to be stronger thanour weakness. Penance and prayer tearaway the mask of pretence or hypocrisy fromour souls, and place us in the presence ofGod in the naked reality of our littleness.


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2 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEAs a consequence we are in a more seriousframe of mind ; we are dragged away fromthe frivolity of the reckless world. In thissobriety of spirit we are much better disposed to see the splendid light of the greatdoctrinal truths, which shine through thedarkness of the world s ignorance; withGod s grace we are more ready to followwhither the light leads, and that is alwaysto the feet of our great and loving Lord. Itis for this reason, I take it, that instructionsand sermons are multiplied during this sacred time : it is for this reason that we are toenter upon this course of Lenten Lectures,which will have to do with doctrinal subjects.One of the most important matters of consideration for all at this time of such clashing claims on religious matters is the position of the Catholic Church in the world andher demands upon the conscience of all mankind. In view of this it is my purpose during the present course of lectures to treat ofthat Church of Christ, of her right to ourallegiance, of the reasons of her mighty powers. The Church asks much of her children, unrestricted loyalty, absolute and


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 3irrevocable assent in matters of divinefaith, unhesitating and loving obedience inmatters of discipline ; but she asks no morethan Christ commissioned her to ask. Itwill, therefore, be especially useful to examine the grounds of her claims to our submission and allegiance.

I say, especially useful ; and there is reason for the word. Time was when the battleagainst truth was waged with regard to someparticular point of divine revelation ; but today the battle has gone further back, as thevery foundations of divine faith are assailed.Now it is not so much a question as towhether God revealed this or that truth, aswhether there is such a thing as revelationat all or any such thing as an authorizedguardian and interpreter of that revelation ;nay, with some the question is whether thereis any God who can make a revelation. Itis the foundations of faith that are assailed ;and there we must turn our defense.Nay, even without reference to attack anddefense thinking men and women should be

able to render an account of the faith thatis in them: they may well broaden and


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4 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEdeepen and strengthen the intellectual foundations on which their faith is based. Andin their efforts in this direction the conditions for grasping the truth and holding itare the will to believe, which is the hungerand thirst after justice, and deep humility,which is the way fixed by God, who knowsthe weakness of our tottering steps.Our purpose in the consideration of thegrounds of faith is not to reexamine whetherthe assent of faith has been well given (thatwould be disloyalty) ; but to see more clearlyhow reasonably it has been given. Whenwe see this in all its evidence, there will beno danger of half-sincerity in the professionof faith; before the sarcastic attacks ofsneering opponents one s faith will not failmerely because he has never taken stock ofthe reasonable foundations of his supernatural assent to divine revelation. If he haddone so, he would see that the act of faithis so far from being the dethronement ofreason, that it is its highest and most glorious exercise : he would see that the most irrational of all men are those who call themselves rationalists: he would be able to de-


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 5fend his faith against those who attack itthrough ignorance or malice: he would beable to stretch forth a helping hand to thosewho are groping in the darkness, and wouldlead them on to the home of peace and lightin the abode of God with men.The three main questions answered by thisfundamental knowledge of the grounds of

faith are these : first, is there a God ? and canHe speak to men? Secondly, has He doneso? In particular, is Jesus Christ the approved messenger of God ? Was the Apostle right when he said: quot;God who in diversmanners spoke in times past to the fathersby the prophets last of all in these days hathspoken to us by His Son quot;? 1 In otherwords, was Jesus of Nazareth the accreditedlegate of God, nay, was He in very truthGod as well as man ? And thirdly, the firsttwo points being firmly established, didChrist commit the safeguard of His revelation and of His religion to a Church withpowers fixed by Himself? What andwhere is that Church ?During the present course of lectures it is

i Heb. I, 1, 2.


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6 CHKIST S MASTERPIECEnot my purpose to dwell at length upon thefirst two points : these will form the subjectsof later courses of lectures, if God so wills.For the present we shall take them for granted; and we need not fear, for they are asfirm as the eternal hills. The existence ofGod is proved beyond the reach of cavil bythe unanswerable arguments drawn from theexistence of the visible world with its lifeand motion; by the manifest design in thevast universe, which demands a wise andpowerful Creator ; by the voice of conscience(so many think), speaking with irresistibleauthority, and leading the mind up to theknowledge of the author of all law; by theuniversal, and hence infallible, conviction ofall mankind as to the existence of a SupremeBeing.The ambassadorship of Christ and Hisdivinity too are proved by His sanctity, Hisdoctrine, His miracles, His prophecies, Hisresurrection ; by the testimony of the Fatherand the Holy Spirit ; by the teaching of theApostles confirmed from on high ; by the factof the miraculous spread of His religion, andby the declaration of His Church, proved


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 7infallible by reasons other than His ownpromise. Tonight by way of preparationfor what is to follow I shall touch upon thelegacy and divinity of Christ, as shown forthin the gospel records, which have for theirgenuineness and accuracy such stronggrounds that to reject them is to reject allpossibility of historical knowledge and allhope of scientific learning. But chiefly during this course I shall consider with you thethird point, namely, whether Christ established a Church with certain fixed powersfor the guardianship of His revelation andHis blessed religion: then we shall studywhat those powers are, and where theyare to be found. As a beginning of thiswork, which I hope may be full of profitfor you and others whom you may influence, let us think upon the King and HisKingdom.And first let us dwell for a while upon thethought of the King, Christ Jesus. ForKing He was. The angel, who brought tothe little maid of Nazareth the tidings of Hiscoming birth, had said that He would situpon the throne of David His father and of


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8 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEHis kingdom there would be no end. 1 HeHimself claimed the majesty of a king,though not of a king of earth. No king ofearth was He ; for when, after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, His enthusiastic admirers would have taken Him andmade Him king, He fled away into the mountain alone. Yet king He was. As He facedthe might of Rome in the person of PilateHe had said: quot;I am a king; but now mykingdom is not from hence. quot; 2 He was theking of truth and love and holiness : and itwas more than the irony of Pilate s beatenpride that spoke from the tablet of the crossand through the lurid light of angry skiesshowed in letters of red against a white background the words, quot;Jesus of Nazareth, theKing of the Jews. quot; 3 Yes, He was theKing of the Jews, the King of the Gentiles,the King of the world.Gradually and with a view to the ways of

prudence in the face of relentless foes Hemade His revelation about His Kingdom andHis own kingly character. Before these

1 Luke I, 32.2 John XVIII, 37, 36.a John XIX, 19.


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 9foes of His He mingled lights and shadows :He showed forth divine truths in such sortthat the ill-disposed were astounded ratherthan touched, disconcerted and silencedrather than swept within the embrace of thelove they scorned. But if only they wouldnot harden their hearts, the light was thereto lead them on to the docility of disciples.To the intimate circle of His own, especiallythe Twelve, He made known more clearlythe mysteries of the Kingdom and the qualities of the King. But before both friendand foe the light was growing up to the timeof the heavenly revelation made to SimonPeter that Jesus was quot;the Christ, the Sonof the living God quot;. 1 And at the end at theofficial interrogation of the highest religiousauthority of the land and with death leeringat Him from behind the faces of His hypocritical judges, He spoke to all the worldwithout any veiling of the truth His missionand His title of Messiah, King of God speople. Christ the King King He was,and glorious as man, as the legate of God, asmore than all this and as very God.

i Matt. XVI, 16, 17.


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10 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEAs man He was the paragon of the race,the perfect one of mankind. With the ex

ception of the few blinded fools, who havetried to foist on the world the senseless myththat Christ never existed, most men, even ofthose who refuse to recognize the real reasonof His supreme excellence, admit Him to bethe pride of the race, the holiest, most lovable, most sacred of the sons of men. Yes,the rationalists and even the scoffers admitall this. From Renan to Harnack there isan undivided testimony that never did manspeak as this man spoke, that He preacheda morality, beside which the systems of allthe philosophers of the world are weak andall but meaningless. He stood for the majesty of God as never man stood before : Hedemanded that one should render to Caesarthe things that are Caesar s, but to God thethings that are God s, not to the God of thephilosophers, but to the God of Abraham andIsaac and Jacob, to the living God, to the perfect God, the merciful God, the loving God,to the God who spurns the foolish service ofempty formalities and looks to the heartwithin, to the God to whom He taught us to


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 11pray,

quot;Our Father, who art in heaven quot;. 1Always there was the closest union between Himself and the Father in heaven.

Yet there s a strange difference betweenChrist and the highest of the saints. Between God and man, as between the spiritand the flesh, there is a lack of proportion,almost a conflict. Judaism had sensed thedisparity: higher light was only to throwout in clearer relief the abyss between thedivine and the human. It is truly an abyss.The higher life of mystics, who are unitedto God through the unrestricted lowering ofself, commences with the annihilation of thehuman before the majesty of the divine. Inthe presence of God the desire of the heartand soul of God s dear ones is for purification and spiritualization : nature must bebrought to its original nothingness beforethe overpowering splendor of the Eternal.But in the Christ we see none of this. Heis at home, where the highest of the saintswere abashed: He is on familiar ground,where Moses must take off his shoes becausethe ground on which he trod was holy: He

i Matt. VI, 9.


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12 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEis at rest, where in later days a Catherineof Siena and a Stanislaus Kostka werecrushed.The Christ did not feel the majesty of the

divine presence less ; but He was at home onthe sublime heights of union with God.Penitent? No: He had no need for penance. After the first fast of forty days asa preparation for His public mission He doesno penance up to the crazing chaos of Hispassion. He denounces sin with the fullconsciousness that He is not touched by it.He is a stranger to evil, to regret, to remorse.Others he exhorts to repentance; He loves.Others he urges to seek; He has attained.In Him we find the union of confidence withreverence the most profound; of a tenderfamiliarity towards God, which needs nopardon, with the clearest view of the evil ofsin and of the demands of divine justice; ofan unshakable security with the deepestsense of what is due to God from man whois His creature.Man He is, true and complete; man ofHis time and of His race, aglow with passionate longings, of which He refuses to have


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 13part only in the meanness and littleness.In the midst of the wildest attacks and themost unsettling enthusiasms He is alwaysmaster of Himself with a transparency ofsoul like that of the limpid stream, whichflows along in clearness and brightness, mirroring the blue sky above. Even when Hespeaks of things beyond human ken, He isalways Himself. He may tell of seeing Satan fall like lightning from the heavens : Heis undisturbed. He may grow indignantover His foes blind absorption in the thingsof earth and their worldly views about theKingdom of God : His self-control never falters. With the anger of the Lion of thetribe of Juda burning in His eyes He maydrive the buyers and sellers from the templeof God : He ever maintains His poise. Hemay reproach Peter for opposing the coming of sorrow; He may rebuke the quot;sons ofthunder quot; for their indiscreet zeal: He neverloses Himself.

Yes, even as man Christ went beyond thepossibility of anyone ever surpassing Him.As I said before, even from those who refuseto see in Him anything superhuman, His


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14 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEgrandeur of soul has forced expressions ofregard that declare Him the hero of humanity. He was that to the scoffer Renan : Heis that to Harnack, the most noted of thereligious rationalists of today. The Berlinprofessor recognizes in Jesus of Nazarethno more than a mere man, but a man who isthe wonder of the ages. He says of Him:quot;He lived in religion, and it was the breathto him in the fear of God ; his whole life, allhis thoughts and feelings, were absorbed inthe relation to God. . . . He remained kindand sympathetic to every living thing. . . .He is possessed of a quiet, uniform, collecteddemeanor, with everything directed to onegoal. . . . Entrusted with the greatest ofall missions, his eye and ear are open toevery impression of the life around him, aproof of intense calm and absolute certainty.. . . His was an inner freedom and a cheerfulness of soul in the midst of the greateststrain, such as no prophet ever possessed before him. ... He who had not where to layhis head does not speak like one who hasbroken with everything, or like a heroic penitent, or like an ecstatic prophet, but like a


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 15man who has rest and peace for his soul, andis able to give life and strength to others.He strikes the mightiest notes ; he offers menan inexorable alternative ; he leaves them noescape ; and yet the strongest emotion seemsto come naturally to him, and he expressesit as something natural ; he clothes it in thelanguage in which a mother speaks to herchild quot;. 1 Truly indeed might men say ofChrist, as they did : quot; Never did man speaklike this man quot; ;2 and they might have added :quot;Never did man live as this man lives ; neverdid man love as this man loves quot;. He wasin all truth the perfection of humanity.And He had His mission to mankind ; forHe was the ambassador of God to men. TheFather had sent Him, even as He with allpower given to Him in heaven and on earthwould send His own to continue His work.Yes, He was sent, and He sought not Hisown will, but the will of Him who sent Him ;nay, His very food was to do the will of theheavenly Father. He came that men mighthave life and might have it more abund-iHarnack. What is Christianity? pp. 36-38 English trans.2 John VII, 46.


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16 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEantly ; He came to save that which was lost,to lead back the sheep that had wandered, togather the sheep that were not of the fold,but must be brought to the flock, until thereshould be but one fold and one shepherd.He was the Good Shepherd. He was thegate as well : to pass through Him was salvation and life ; to seek to enter the fold exceptthrough Him was an act of brigandage. Hewas to bring holiness and salvation to all bythe means which He determined : He was tocontinue the application of His redemptionthrough the channels which He Himselfwould fix. In a word, He was not merely ameans of spiritual progress and of religiousenlightenment; He was the Mediator, oneand necessary, between God and man; Hewas not only a way to heaven, but the Way :He not only led to life ; He was the Life andgave it to men. Of a truth He had a mission; He was God s legate. Yet great aswas His mission, confirmed from heaven, Hewas greater than His mission; for He wasvery God.The full grandeur of Christ s revelationis grasped only by him, who holds to the


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 17divinity of Jesus of Nazareth. Even Saba-tier (later fallen like so many others fromthe integrity of truth) realized that the fulness of Christ s mission includes the truthof His divinity ; for he said : quot; Is Jesus onlya man ? Then, no matter how great we makehim, Christianity loses its character of absolute truth and becomes a philosophy. IfJesus is the Son of God, Christianity remains a revelation quot;. 1Now the very same unshakable arguments,which establish the ambassadorship of Christand which all but the most blinded must admit, prove His divinity. By the proofs, towhich I referred in the beginning, but whichit is not within the scope of our present purpose to develop, among others, by His sanctity, His doctrine, His miracles one and all,but especially by His resurrection from thedead, by the moral miracle of the spread ofHis religion, He demonstrated the fact thatHe was what He claimed to be. Now, Heclaimed that He was more than man, morethan a legate of God; He claimed that Hewas very God.

i Quoted by Grandmaison, Jesus Christ.


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18 CHRIST S MASTERPIECELook at the gospel record. The Law wasthe object of a veneration, which in Christ s

time had verged into a superstition thatwould have subjected even Jahve Himself tothe Thora. Even in the day of its declaration to men Moses, the mouthpiece of thedivine Lawgiver, was subject to the Law.But Christ puts Himself above the Law. 1He reads the secret thoughts of men ; He forgives their sins by an independent power,and proves by miracle His right to thispower of remission. 2 He claims for Himself preexistence before this mortal life,8preexistence in the unity of God, for He andthe Father are one.4 He demands frommen absolute allegiance to Himself, and alove that goes beyond the love for father andmother and those nearest and dearest.6 Tobe persecuted for Him is to be persecutedfor justice ; to render testimony to Him is torender testimony to truth.6 Blessed theiMatt. V, 21, 27, 31, 38.2 Matt. IX, 2ff.s John VIII, 56.* John X, 30.B Luke XIV, 26, 27.Matt. V, llff.


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 19man who shall suffer in His service: woebetide him, who shall deny Him; for he shallbe rejected by the sovereign and incorruptible Judge, who can destroy body and soulinto hell. 1 The least of His disciples shallbe greater than the greatest of the Old Dispensation. 2 He is greater than the Temple and the Law of the Sabbath, greater thanthe prophets ; 3 yea, He is the Christ the Sonof the Living God,4 the indispensable Mediator between God and man, the Judge whowill pronounce judgment on all men according to their relations with Himself.5 Hemakes promises, which God alone could redeem: He demands for Himself what Godalone has a right to exact. Wise and goodand lovable and accessible as He is, He is allours in one part of His life, consubstantialwith our humanity: and on the other handHe is all divine, the worthy object of ourunconditioned homage of adoration, veryGod.

1 Matt. X, 22, 28.2 Matt. XI, 2-11.3 Matt. XII, 6; XIII, 16-18.* Matt. XVI, 16.6 cf. Luke VII, 36 ff.


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20 CHRIST S MASTERPIECESuch is the King. He is all this to us : Hemust be all this to everyone, who will not

turn his back upon the evidence of His rightto be what He claimed to be. He is King,human and divine, quot;and of His kingdomthere shall be no end. quot; *And His Kingdom? quot;The Kingdom of

God quot; or quot;the Kingdom of heaven quot; orsimply quot;the Kingdom quot; (they are all thesame thing) was the great subject of thepreaching of the Master and of the Apostles ; and because of the ministry of Christthat Kingdom was at hand and in the verymidst of men. The Kingdom? It meantthe sway and domination of God in the soulsof men ; but that sway by faith and love andgrace was wrapped up in the workings ofthe exterior organization which Christ instituted. The Kingdom of God is practically identified with the Church and its effects. Christ called His Kingdom HisChurch, which all must hear under penaltyof being classed with the heathen and thepublican.2 He would build His Churchon Peter, and would give to him the keys

i Luke I, 33. 2 Matt. XVIII, 17.


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 21of this Kingdom of heaven in its earthlystage. 1 The days would go on amid trialsand sufferings and triumphs and glories;and after all this would come the day,of which Paul said: quot;Afterwards the end:when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father, when He shallhave brought to naught all principality andpower and virtue. For He must reign quot;.2That would be the glorious stage of theKingdom of God in the bliss of heaven, thetransformation of the Church militant intothe Church triumphant.

Christ was much more than the founderof a school, much more than the exploiter ofa form of doctrine : He was the inauguratorof a kingdom. Not by the wildest flights ofimagination could the work of a Plato, aPythagoras, a Socrates have been called thefounding of a kingdom. But Christ s chiefwork, after the accomplishment of the atonement of His overwhelming redemption, wasto inaugurate the Kingdom of God, thatwould know no end.

iMatt. XVI, 18, 19.a I. Cor. XV, 24, 25.


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22 CHRIST S MASTEEPIECEquot;The Kingdom of God quot; or quot;the Kingdomof heaven quot; was a notion revealed by Godand well known to the people with whom

Christ lived ; it had come down to them fromages long past. The covenant of the MostHigh with Abraham and with Israel hadmade this race the chosen people, quot;the spouseof God, quot; and had centred in it the religiousdestiny of the world. . In spite of the adulterous infidelities of the chosen spouse Godwould show mercy, and through Israel Jahvewould reign and His lordship would be acknowledged by all mankind. By right Hisglory extended as far as His sovereign dominion ; but in fact too the day would come,when His majesty would be confessed by allthe world. Yes, Jahve would have His day ;and Israel, the instrument of His glorification, would forever be exalted with Hisglory. And the one who was to bring aboutthis glory, was the Messiah, the one who wasto be sent, the anointed of God, the Christ.That was the revelation of God.The prophets did not see all that was inthe purpose of God; yet at times theyglimpsed the purpose of the Eternal. Espe-


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 23cially Isaias, as he foretold the ways of the6 Servant of Jahve, quot; the Man of Sorrows,was portraying the real outlines of the

* Chosen One of God. But the people withtheir masters would not see the truth ofGod : they disfigured the correct idea of theKingdom and of the King. According totheir notion Israel was to sway the world inall the might of earthly power, before whichthe lords of the world would crouch andcringe in trembling subjection. The glorification of God s people would come withworldly magnificence amid portentous manifestations, bordering upon the weird andthe theatrical, and the splendors of the rejuvenated world would rival the chimericalimaginings of the quot;golden age. quot;As He so often declared, Christ came tofulfill the promise of the Kingdom of God.He taught how false was the carnal, worldly,material concept of the Kingdom, entertained by His contemporaries: but it wasthe expected quot;Kingdom of heaven quot; that Hecame to inaugurate.In the temptation of Christ at the veryoutset of His public life there was a clear


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24 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEattempt to draw Him into the egotistic, carnal, marvelous notion of the Kingdom; andthe attempt was made by the great antagonist, quot;the enemy, quot; the leader of that otherkingdom, 1 which was drawn up in battlearray against the Lord and against HisChrist. Satan had his kingdom with hisminions faced against the King of the Kingdom of God. Not only was the power ofthe Christ over His infernal adversaries amark of the advent of the Kingdom ; 2 butthe establishment of the Kingdom was likea gigantic duel, a frightful conflict to thedeath and without quarter, wherein thewicked one would be conquered, his pretended rights crushed, his power broken andhimself put to endless rout. quot;When astrong man armed keepeth his court, thosethings are in peace which he possesseth.But if a stronger than he come upon him, hewill take away his armor in which he trustedand will distribute the spoils. quot; 3 Satan wasthe strong one ; but Christ was the stronger

1 Matt. XII, 26.2 Luke XI, 20.a Luke XI, 21, 22.


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 25one who would overcome Mm : and the fightbetween the leaders meant the fight betweentheir kingdoms and their followers. quot;Hethat is not with me is against me ; and he thatgathereth not with me, scatter eth. quot; 1As Christ fought the powers of evil, Hewas making provision for the continuanceof the struggle after He Himself would havewon the glorious victory on the hillside ofCalvary, and for the application of the fruitsof victory after He had gone to the glory ofHis triumph. Gradually and more explicitlyHe taught the true nature of the Kingdom,and by His teaching prepared an antidoteagainst the poison of false doctrine, whetherof the Jews who rejected Him and His mission or of others in the days to come, whowould misconceive the character of the workthat the Father had given Him to do.He corrected the false notion of the Jews.Far from being magnificent in its advent andits manifestation the Kingdom was to beginhumbly and without drawing to itself thenotice of the thoughtless and careless: itwould not make its appeal to the sword or to

i Luke XI, 23.


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26 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEprodigies. 1 In its origin it would be likethe grain of mustard seed, almost imperceptible in its smallness. Grow indeed itwould, until it would become a great tree, inwhich the birds of the air might build theirnests ; but its very growth would be slow andgradual; nay, it would be almost as unnoticed as the action of the yeast within a massof flour. 2 In the Kingdom of Christ thelimitations of race and blood were abolishedonce and forever: His Kingdom was to benot merely Jewish ; it was to be world-wide.And as for the glory of the King, it wouldnot be the glory of this world. His glorywould be won through the pangs of humiliation : His triumph would be measured by themagnitude of His failure. For not onlyafter the resurrection did the Master say toHis own: quot; Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and so to enter into Hisglory? quot;; 3 but before the end of His mortallife He told them over and over again withrepeated insistence and in spite of theirfailure to understand (or perhaps because

i Luke XVII, 20. 3 Luke XXIV, 26.a Matt. XIII, 31 ff.; Mark IV, 26 ff.; Matt. XIII, 33 ff.


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 27of it) , that the Son of Man would be deridedand spat upon and scourged and crucified,and on the third day He would rise again.His way to glory was the path of ignominy ;His throne of everlasting sway would be theblood-stained cross of the executed malefactor. Truly, Christ corrected the false notionof the Kingdom, held by the Jews of Hisday, a Kingdom carnal, worldly, material,splendid with the trappings of earthly pomp.And the blessed Master also condemned inadvance the wild vagaries of later years,and first, the fantastic theory of men likeLoisy. Alas for him Once he stood at thealtar of God and with his priestly lips calledthe Son of God down from heaven : later heforgot the splendor of the Savior of theworld and made of Christ a fool, who livedin the midst of chimerical dreams, hesitant,bloodless, a gentle maniac who went the wayof weak humanity, died for a wild vision, wascast into the ditch and rotted and was nomore. According to the wise ( ?) ones ofthis school of Loisy s the Kingdom preachedby the Christ was to come only when theimpending overturning of earthly things


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28 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEwould have introduced Israel s hope and thesway of God. These critics, glorying in theirown enlightenment, tear apart the Christ, asthey dissect the gospels and reject whateverdoes not accord with their preconceivedopinions.They misrepresent Christ s teaching.The Master did indeed tell of the splendid,

heavenly glory of His Kingdom which wasunto everlasting and which would reach itscrowning perfection at the glorious adventof His last coming. 1 But He did not saywhen that glorious advent was to have place.That time was not to be made known, andmeanwhile all were to watch and pray andbe ever ready. 2 Yet before that celestialperiod of His Kingdom there was to be astage adapted to the conditions of this worldof ours. During this time there were to bewithin that Kingdom the good and the bad,the wise and the foolish ; and wheat and thecockle were to grow together up to the dayof consummation. 3 There was to be a pe-

1 Matt. XXV, 31 ff.2 Mark XIII, 32, 33.Matt. XIII, 24-43.


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 29riod of slow progress of the gospel sspread, 1 of trials and persecutions, 2 of theacquiring of merit,3 all of which are incompatible with the notion of a Kingdomexclusively heavenly.Far from merely preaching a doctrine ofabsolute unconcern for the things of thisworld, Christ, as we shall see more clearlylater on, made provision for the continuanceof His work and left behind Him a Church,which was His Kingdom, to do until the endof time the things that He had begun. Ina word, His Kingdom was to have its finaland complete glory only when He wouldcome again at the end of time to judge theliving and the dead; but there was to be apreparatory period of whose duration Hewould give no information. Yet for all thatHe did give sufficient indications of its longcontinuance, during which it was to bringthe souls of men to Himself and to theFather.And it was to bring them to God not asiMatt. XIII, 32 ff.

2 Matt. V, 10-12.3 Matt. XVI, 24-27.


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30 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEisolated units, but as a collective, united organization. His Kingdom was not altogether spiritual and interior. It was thatin a supreme degree : the mere conning of thewords of the Master in His quot; Sermon on theMount quot; shows that. There He proclaimsblessed those whom the world esteems themost wretched of men : He urges His followers to sublime and sacred holiness, to a perfection like that of the Father who is inheaven ; yes, the very prayer of the childrenof the Kingdom begins with the words, quot;OurFather who art in heaven. quot; 1 But for allthat His Kingdom is a kingdom. It is anexterior, organized collection of the sons ofthe Kingdom ; not an intangible, imaginaryunion of souls that have learned to look toGod with the sentiment of filial piety, yet areisolated from one another in their relationto the Spirit of God. Later on we shall seemore distinctly that Christ s Church is atrue society with everything that goes tomake up such a social organization. Butalready we can understand from Christ sdescription of His Kingdom that the exterior

i Matt. VI, 9.


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 31and collective element is essential to it. Itis as external and collective that His Kingdom is portrayed in many parables, like theparable of the field of the father of the family, 1 of the net cast into the sea,2 of the tenvirgins going in procession to meet the bridegroom,3 of the vineyard,4 of the greatsupper.5But men like Harnack, perverting historyin the interest of so-called higher criticism,have dared to mutilate the gospel record andto cast out what does not chime in with theirprejudices against the presence of any supernatural element. They extol individual liberty under the action of God ; but they makeof that liberty independence from the willof Christ. God does in truth inspire the sentiment of filial reverence for the Father ofall; but He also gives the love for the fraternal bonds, which unite the friends of theChrist into one great Kingdom ; He grantsa humble esteem for authority, which de-

1 Matt. XIII, 24-30, 36-43.2 Matt. XIII, 47-50.3 Matt. XXV, 1-13.* Matt. XX, 1-15; XXI, 33-45.B Matt. XXII, 2-14.


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32 CHRIST S MASTEEPIECEmands submission only to secure the preservation and unsullied transmission of the eternal good things acquired by the Christ, asagainst the absolute failure of the individualists, who make the whole of Christianityconsist in what is only a part, though theflower of the doctrine of Him who is Masterand King.The constitution of Christ s Kingdom,quot;the Great Charter of the Kingdom, quot; weshall consider next time. For the presentlet it have sufficed to have looked in the largeat the Kingdom of Christ.As a conclusion of our reflections let usresume what we have seen thus far. Christdid not merely preach a doctrine ; He established a kingdom and gave the lie to thosewho still prate about a religion without authority, or even of a religion without dogmas. It is very fashionable to dilate uponsuch generalities, and against the true account of the gospels to describe what is supposed to be the real history of the development of Christianity into a Church beyondand against the will and intention of ChristHimself. This fashion permeates the writ-


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THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM 33ings and sermons of many who call themselves ministers of Christ s gospel; it findsits way into much popular literature. Butwhilst entertaining itself and its adherentsby its intellectual gymnastics, it violates theprinciples of true science and holds at naughtthe lessons of real history. For Christ isnot only a teacher: He is a King and Heestablished His Kingdom. That Kingdommeans the sway of God over the souls ofmen, not indeed in isolated individualism,but in the exterior and collective unionwhich brings about holiness through meansleft by the King. This sway has its periodof uncertain, though lengthy duration herebelow, and shall have its glorious and endless consummation, when the Lord shallhave come again at the close of time andshall have ended forever the conflict betweenHimself and the quot; prince of this world, quot; 1between quot;the gates of hell quot; and His ownKingdom from which the smallest atom ofevil shall have been purged away.Let us reverence, aye, let us adore theKing. Let us take Him at His own valua-iJohn XII, 31.


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34 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEtion, not according to the estimation of thosewho are satisfied with a sterile admiration,which refuses to bow down before Hisclaims. Let us open our hearts to His lightand His love, that He may keep us near Himin His Kingdom here and hereafter ; and letus pray for all mankind with the sweet wordstaught us by the King, quot;Thy Kingdomcome quot;


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LECTURE IITHE GREAT CHARTER OF THE KINGDOM

Christ s words to the Twelve. Their antecedents:their vocation. Attitude of quot;Higher Critics. quot;Teaching power. Authoritative. Infallible.Faith demanded by Christ: exacted by Apostles.Practical application. Sanctifying power. Indirect. Direct. Great gift of sacramental system. Power of jurisdiction. Flows from Charter. Explicit declaration of Christ. The Churcha society. Founded by Christ. Not an unforeseen development.

Even a schoolboy or a schoolgirl knowsof that incident which looms big in Englishhistory as the foundation of the most highlyprized liberties of the nation, the wresting of the Magna Charta from the rapaciousand wily King John. In the beginning ofthe thirteenth century, in 1215, the baronsof the land with Cardinal Stephen Langtonat their head met their king on the plains ofRunnymede and forced him to grant themthe Great Charter, which for seven hundredyears has been the basis of English consti-

35


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36 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEtutional liberty. It has also been at the rootof the freedom which we Americans valueso highly ; for it is the anticipation and thegroundwork of the Declaration of Independence and of the primary principles of theConstitution of our country. Rightly, then,do we value it above the wealth of earth andthe splendor of pomp and power: quiteproperly would we stake much upon the defense of the rights which are guaranteed byits provisions. It is the palladium of ourliberty and the lasting glory of home andcountry.But there is another Great Charter, whichis far more valuable than even the greatcharter of our civic liberties. This is theGreat Charter of the Kingdom of Christ.This charter was not wrested from an unwilling monarch: it was granted out of thedepths of undying and unfathomable loveby the King of whose Kingdom there shallbe no end. On the mountain of Galilee thischarter was given by the Master to Hischosen ones, and contains the constitution ofHis Kingdom upon earth, His blessedChurch, which was to bring men from the


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THE GREAT CHARTER 37darkness to the light, from misery to happiness, from slavery to the true freedom ofthe children of God.In our last lecture we considered the char

acter of Christ the King, the sacredness ofthe transcendent sublimity of Christ theman, the hallowed authority of Christ thelegate and ambassador of God, the adorablemajesty of Christ the Son of God. It wasnot necessary for us to dwell at any greatlength and in minute particularity upon theproofs of all this sacred dignity ; because forus it was and is a matter of faith divine, heldwith the unshaken and unshakable certaintydue to divine revelation. Neither was itthen our purpose to examine at length thereasons which call for this submission ofour minds in the obedience of faith. AsChristians we took these reasons as alreadyestablished and reserved their special consideration for another time. Still we didlook upon them sufficiently, and at the sametime we examined the teaching of the Masterwith regard to His Kingdom in its largeroutlines.We saw that He corrected the carnal, ma-


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38 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEterial notion of the Jews, who hoped for aMessiah, who with theatrical splendor ofearthly pomp would raise Israel to theheights of political grandeur. We hearkened to Him, as He showed us the falsenessof the wild vagaries of those who, makingof Him a madman and a fool, hold that Hedreamed of an unfulfilled majesty of divinesway soon to be accomplished in the universal upheaval of existing conditions ; thatHe looked for the immediate advent of thepower of God to crush the foes of His cause,and to usher in the celestial blessedness ofa kingdom which was to have no part inthe things of earth or with the livingsons of men; that He died deceived, ifnot a deceiver, and went the way ofall flesh into the corruption of unbrokendeath.We learned from His holy lips the hollow-ness of the claims of those erring ones, whodeclare that He never dreamed of foundinga Church which would be His Kingdom;that He did no more than bring before menthe realization of their sonship to God ; thatHe taught a morality without dogma; and


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THE GREAT CHARTER 39that the Church arose as the result of naturalevolution from the impulse given by Him tothe souls of men, aided by Greek philosophyand Roman political power. From theKing we learned that His Kingdom wasreally and truly a kingdom ; that it was notmerely the sway of God in the individualsoul, but that it had an exterior element ofcollective organization, whereby its children are bound to one another and to Godand are brought to holiness by the meansfixed by the King; that His Kingdom wasto have a preparatory stage of trial and combat before the arrival of the glorious periodof consummation in the mansions of theFather.Let us now study more in detail the con

stitution of this Kingdom: especially let ustry to fathom the depths of the GreatCharter of the Kingdom, whereby Christgave to His chosen ones the mission and commission to carry on His work for the everlasting welfare of His loved ones.The forty days of sweet communion ofthe risen Lord with His dear ones weredrawing to a close. He had spoken to them


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40 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEof the Kingdom of God ; He had completedHis instructions to them; He had blessedthem with mighty powers for the upbuilding of the Kingdom; and soon He was toleave them in His bodily presence and ascend to the glory of the Father. And nowon the mountain in Galilee that He quot;hadappointed to them quot; He stood in the midstof the Apostles and spoke the words whichare the Great Charter of Christianity.For He said : quot; All power is given to me inheaven and in earth: going therefore teachye all nations, quot; (or, as the older Greek version of St. Matthew s original gospel has it,quot;make disciples of all nations quot;), quot;baptizingthem in the name of the Father and of theSon and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them toobserve all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and behold I am with you alldays even to the consummation of theworld. quot; 1

These were glorious words, and they arestill ringing down the ages, still justifyingthe labors and sacrifices and tears and bloodof the lovers of the Master, who are spend-

i Matt. XXVIII, 18-20.


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THE GREAT CHARTER 41ing all their efforts for the spread of HisChurch, while on their lips and in theirhearts is the prayer which is the battle-cryof the army of the King, quot;Thy Kingdomcome quot; It was the King who spoke, He towhom all power was given in heaven andin earth; it was the blessed Christ, whomwe have already considered as the paragonof mankind, the legate and ambassador ofGod, with the universal approbation of Godupon His every word and act, yes, theChrist who is very God Himself. And itwas in the consciousness of supreme and allembracing power that He spoke to His ownand sent them upon their mission, partakersof the rights that are His own. quot; All poweris given to me. . . . Going therefore teachye all nations. quot; Were men under obligation to hearken to the words of the Masterand to heed them? Then were they boundto do the same to the message of these chosenones.For chosen ones they were. It was aftera night spent in the prayer of God that the

Christ had called His disciples around Himand had chosen from their number twelve


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42 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEwhom He called Apostles/ Simon andJames and John and the rest, who wouldhenceforth form a body apart from all others by their nearness to Him, by their sharein His ministry, by the intimate relationsbetween themselves and Him.During the three years of the public min

istry of love and mercy Christ preparedthem by word and example for the workwrhich was to be theirs. He sent them uponpreparatory missionary excursions topreach the Kingdom of God with the powerof miracles to confirm the word they spoke.2He promised them wonderful gifts for whatwas ahead. And after the awful cataclysmof the passion He had come to them in theglory of His risen life, had established theirfaith upon an unshakable foundation, andsolaced them in their abandonment. Hehad made them the associates of His ownmission; for on the evening of the firstEaster day He had said to them: quot;As theFather hath sent me, I also send you. quot; 3

1 Luke VI, 12-16.2 Luke IX, 1, 2.3 John XX, 21.


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THE GREAT CHAKTEK 43And now after all this He gave them theirmission and commission to all the world, before which they were to take His place.The words of the King are clear andcogent as He speaks the Great Charter ofthe Kingdom: quot;Going therefore teach yeall nations quot; and the rest. So manifest istheir content that it need hardly surpriseus that those, who will not heed, should feelthat they must call in question the fact thatChrist uttered them. And so indeed we findthe rationalists and some of the quot;highercritics quot; denying their place in the gospeland the reality of their utterance by Christ.God help them I do not intend to go intothis matter now: it is beyond the scope ofour present considerations. Suffice it to sayon the one hand that there is not a singlecritical reason of any sound value whichwould exclude the words in question fromthe gospel record, and to put them asidewould be to reject the whole of the gospelnarrative, and by consequence all historicalknowledge about events of days gone by;and on the other, that to deny the fact oftheir utterance bv Christ for the reasons


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44 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEwhich naotite the denial of Liberals andModernists is to put away the possibilityof the supernatural, to close the gates toGod s redemption of a fallen race, and tosink down into the bottomless abyss of everlasting despair.To escape the force of the Great Chartereither one must deny the correctness of therecord, and that is absolutely unscientific ;or one must deny the character of theKing, and for Christians that is blasphemous, and for others it is the closing of theeyes of the soul to the light which streamsforth from Him, who is the very Light ofthe world.To the Apostles, then, who constituted a

distinct body (as is evident from the name,Apostle, and the number, the Twelve),Christ gave a threefold power, and by thevery fact was the author of a real societyor organized social body with definite functions and fixed rights and duties. Let uslook at this threefold power.The first power was the teaching power.Christ Himself was a teacher. He was thegreat prophet who taught the way of God


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THE GREAT CHARTER 45in truth; and as the Father had sent Him,He sent His Apostles to make disciples ofall the children of men, to teach all thingswhatsoever He had commanded. Thisteaching power, which was given to them,was one which bore with it the sanction ofGod and the obligation of submitting to itin absolute and irrevocable assent. This wemight have inferred from the fact thatChrist sent the Apostles with all the powergiven to Him in heaven and in earth. Butbesides this correct inference we have theclear words in which He Himself pointedout the obligatory character of the teachingof the Twelve. For, according to the account of St. Mark, Christ said to His Apostles : quot;Preach the gospel to every creature.He who believeth quot; (with a practical faithwhich includes the other things prescribed) ,quot;he who believeth and is baptized, shall besaved: he who believeth not, shall be condemned. quot; 1

So, it was not an empty office of teaching,to which men might or might not listen according to their own sweet whim; it wasiMark XVI, 15, 16.


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46 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEobligatory. Men would be acting withintheir rights when they demanded the credentials of the Christian teachers. But whenthese credentials had been put before themand had been recognized as valid, then to believe or not to believe was no longer a thingdependent upon their own good-pleasure : itwas a duty which bore the sanction of eternallife or eternal damnation.Such too was the Apostles idea with re

spect to the power conferred upon them bythe Master. They looked upon it as theirchief work to teach mankind by the preaching of the gospel: they demanded quot;the obedience of faith quot; 1 not to one or anotherpoint of their heaven-delivered message, butto all that Christ had committed to them.After recording the words of their sending,St. Mark says: quot;But they going forthpreached everywhere, the Lord workingwithal. quot; 2 And in the Acts of the ApostlesSt. Luke tells us that quot; every day theyceased not in the temple and from house tohouse to teach and preach Jesus Christ. 3

1 Rom. I, 5.2 Mark. XVI, 20. Acts V, 42.


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THE GREAT CHARTER 47Listen too to the words of St. Paul: quot;Leta man so account of us as the ministers ofChrist quot;: 1 quot;woe is unto me if I preach notthe gospel quot; : 2 quot;we have received . . .apostleship for obedience to the faith in allnations. quot; 3 Note that Paul demanded entire intellectual submission in obedience tothe word of God authoritatively proclaimed : t Therefore we also give thanks toGod without ceasing, because that when youhad received of us the word of the hearingof God quot; (the word which you heard fromGod through us), quot;you received it not asthe word of men, but (as it is indeed) theword of God. quot; 4In view of this commission of the Christ

and this conduct of the Apostles what mustan unprejudiced mind think of the maun-derings of those who prate about the libertyof the human intellect, a liberty which tothem means independence and license ?what of the folly of indifferentists who prattle about one religion being as good as an-

1 1. Cor. IV, 1.2 I. Cor. IX, 16.3 Rom. I, 5.4 I. Thess. II, 13.


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48 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEother? what about those who compromisequot;the deposit of faith quot; by their misguidedcharity of toleration ? But, it may be said,the Church of Christ must be tolerant.Yes, but as the Master was tolerant, as theApostles were tolerant. She must show toleration for the weakness of her erring children and for the cowardice of her stumblinglittle ones; but she cannot show tolerationfor deliberate infidelity to Christ s word,since that would be to deny His wisdom orHis sovereignty ; she cannot make dickeringcompromises with regard to the treasure oftruth, which she has been appointed toguard. She must speak with unmistakablevoice, strong with the authority given to herby the King of truth, and she must proclaimHis gospel to all nations and to every creature.What is more, that voice of hers is not onlyauthoritative ; it is infallible. This does notmean that she will be preserved from all sin ;but it does mean that in the exercise of hermission of teaching she will be guarded fromthe possibility of error. It does not meanthat she will forever be the recipient of new


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THE GREAT CHARTER 49revelations; but it does mean that she willkeep unsullied what has been committed toher care. It does not mean that the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God will make herwords the very words of God; but it doesmean that in her human speech she willnever contradict the wisdom from on high.This infallibility, this freedom from thepossibility of error in the accomplishment ofthe mission given to the Twelve is basedupon the promises of Christ the King: thewords of the Great Charter hold the pledge.quot; Going therefore teach ye all nations . . .and behold I am with you all days even tothe consummation of the world. This isthe promise; and it is the promise of GodHimself. We Christians can see this readily enough, since to us Christ the King isvery God. But even for those who do notyet recognize the divinity of the Master,these words are the words of one who is atleast the legate of God with universal divineapprobation upon His words and deeds ; andhence at least indirectly and mediately thesewords hold the promise of God, who promises what Christ promises.


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50 CHRIST S MASTERPIECENow the expression, quot;I am with you, quot;when spoken by God, bears a very definite

meaning, which was well understood by theApostles; for in the language of Scripturethese words always mean that God will bringto a successful issue the thing of which thereis question, when He speaks the words, quot;Iam with you. quot; It will not be necessary andit would take too long to enlarge upon thistruth ; yet it is unquestionably a truth. IfGod promises to be with one in war, victoryis assured by the divine pledge: if Godpromises to be with one in an errand ofprophetic message, the success of the embassy is secured. And so when God promises to be with the Twelve in their work ofteaching to all mankind the truths committed to them by the Christ, the triumphantcertainty of that teaching is so solid thatthere can be no question of defection. Thepower of God will be ever near to supplement the feebleness of human instrumentsin the teaching of truth, and the gatewhereby error might enter is closed forever.Before the glorious day of mission from

the mountain in Galilee the Master had


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THE GREAT CHARTER 51promised that the Spirit of God would bewith His Apostles in the prosecution of theirwork. quot;The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost,whom the Father will send in my name, Hewill teach you all things, and will bring allthings to your mind, whatsoever I shall havesaid to you. quot; 1 quot;It is expedient for youthat I go : for if I go not, the Paraclete willnot come to you: but if I go, I will sendHim to you. . . . But when He, the Spiritof truth is come, He will teach you alltruth. quot; 2 And with this efficacious assistance of the divine Spirit of truth it couldand can never be that error should becoupled.

Christ might, indeed, have made manydifferent provisions for the safeguard ofHis revelation. He might have given infallible individual guidance to each separate soul, as some of our separated brethrenmistakenly maintain that He does: fromtime to time as the years went by He mighthave sent prophets to call back the wanderers to the truth which they had lost or aban-iJohn XIV, 26.2 John XVI, 7, 13.


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52 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEdoned, as He did for the Jews. He mighthave done this ; but He did not. That is notwhat He promised, and history has shownthat that is not what He has done. He appointed His Apostles as authoritative teachers and He gave to them the prerogative ofinfallibility. And, with all humble reverence be it said, Christ had to give such aninfallible voice in view of what He demanded of mankind with respect to theteaching of the Apostolic College. For under pain of eternal damnation He demandedfaith, the absolute, unrestricted, irreform-able assent of the mind to His revelation aspreached by the Twelve.And this unconditional assent, which wasto be without reservation, the Apostles demanded from men. They might all havesaid what Paul did say to the Galatians:quot; Though we or an angel from heaven preacha gospel to you besides that which we havepreached to you, let him be anathema. quot; 1There was to be no possibility for correction,because there was to be no possibility of amistake.

i Gal. I, 8.


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THE GREAT CHARTER 53Now, not even God Himself could exactsuch an absolute assent from man and un

der such a terrible sanction, unless man wasassured of the impossibility of error undersuch guidance. Otherwise God s wisdomand absolute holiness would be violated.For then, although God made man s mindfor truth, man would be bound to bow downhis intellect in absolute assent where possibly error might lurk, and, should the assent happen to have been given to falsehood,the mind would forever be held back fromtruth and chained to error by the irrevocablecharacter of the act demanded of it ; and thiswould be subversive of the wisdom and therectitude of the Most High. Since, then, itwas precisely this irrevocable and absoluteassent that Christ demanded from men withregard to the teaching of the Apostles, andsince He did not guarantee the individualinfallibility of each of the faithful, He couldnot have done otherwise than bestow on Hisauthorized teachers the gift of entire freedom from error in the accomplishment ofthe mission entrusted to them.And right here, without entering upon a


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54 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEpath of controversy, which in the spirit ofcharity it will be well to postpone until itcannot be avoided, we may well desire thatthis unshakable truth of the infallibility ofthe teaching power of Christ s Churchshould be taken to heart by all, as theystudy Christ s revelation about that Church.The rule of faith for His followers is theliving voice of the Apostles; it is not theHoly Scripture, though that Scripture issacred with the holiness of God s own word.There was no Scripture of the New Testament when the Apostles began to carry outthe injunction of the Master for the propagation of the quot;gospel of the Kingdom. quot;Christ Himself did not write ; He taught bypreaching : and His command to the Twelvewas not quot;Going therefore write and distribute the word, quot; but quot;Going thereforeteach ye all nations, quot; quot;preach the gospel toevery creature. quot;The Apostles fulfilled the mandate ofChrist. All of them fulfilled it ; yet not onehalf of the Apostolic College left writingswhich are part of Holy Scripture; and allof them looked upon the preaching of the


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THE GREAT CHARTER 55word, not its writing, as the great work forwhich they were commissioned. Sacredand worthy of love and veneration as is theHoly Book, it is not absolutely necessaryfor the preservation of revealed truth.Even had it never existed; even though byan impossibility it should perish, we shouldlose none of God s revelation, so long as theliving voice of the teaching-body establishedby Christ was true to its mission: whereason the other hand without this teaching-body even the sanctity of Scripture wouldnot be sufficient to preserve unsulliedthrough the ages the revelation of Christthe King.

Again, if Christ s Church is to last forever with the constitution that He gave itunaltered to the end (and that it is so tolast we shall consider in the next lecture, aswe dwell on quot;Some Prerogatives of theKingdom quot;), the church which today holdsthat it is His true Church, must lay claimto definitive, authoritative, infallible pronouncement upon His revelation. It doesnot, of course, follow that a church isChrist s true Church just because it claims


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56 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEto have this power ; but it does follow fromthe constitution of Christ s Church that achurch which does not lay claim to such aprerogative, which does not dare to give afinal and irreforinable decision on matterstouching divine revelation, is not and cannot be that true Church. For it would havebeen unfaithful to its destiny ; it would havethrown away its Great Charter; it wouldhave spurned the high glory of the Twelve ;it would have ceased to be, even if it ever hadbeen, the Church of Christ.

It is the teaching power which standsforth prominently in the Great Charter ; butit is not the only power therein contained:there is the power of sanctifying by religiousrites and there is the power of spiritual jurisdiction. These we must consider briefly;and first the power of sanctifying. Christhad come that men quot;might have life andmight have it more abundantly quot;; 1 He hadcome quot;to save that which was lost, quot; 2 tobring men to holiness here and finally toperfected sanctity in the everlasting joy ofiJohn X, 10.2 Matt. XVIII, 11.


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THE GREAT CHARTER 57His Father s home. His hallowed doctrine,safeguarded by the teaching power of HisChurch, was to help to this sanctification ;nay, He had said, quot;This is eternal life thatthey know Thee, the only true God, andJesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. quot; 1 Butin His great and overwhelming love for menHe instituted sacred external rites, whichnot only tended indirectly to holiness ofsoul, but wrought this sanctification immediately and directly : and these sacred ritestoo He placed in the hands of the Twelve.In the words spoken on the mountain inGalilee He referred to but one of these rites,

to that one which is the door to the household of the family of God, the sacred initiation into the Kingdom, the holy sacramentof baptism. It was, and the Apostles latershowed how they understood the Master,it was His own baptism in the name of thetriune God, distinct from the ablutions ofthe Jews and from the baptism of John theBaptist. It was the condition for disciple-ship and necessary for life everlasting. Itwas the baptism of which He said, quot;Unless aUohn XVII, 3.


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58 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEman be born again of water and the HolyGhost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom ofGod quot; 1 here or hereafter.The records of the New Testament tell of

other rites of the same sacred character, as,for instance, of the quot;imposition of hands quot; 2for the giving of the Holy Ghost, of thequot; breaking of bread quot; 3 in the Eucharisticbanquet, of the judicial power of the forgiveness of sins.4 We need not enter hereupon a lengthy consideration of these rites,which are the sacraments of the Church ofChrist, because it is not necessary for theobject now before us. In the study of thesacramental system it is seen from Scriptureand tradition that the sacraments are sevenin number, each and all instituted by Christfor the salvation of the souls of men and forhelp in their every need from the cradle tothe grave.

It is a wondrous gift of love from God toman, is this sacramental system. By it manenters into supernatural life, regenerated in

1 John III, 5.2 Acts VIII, 14-19; XIX, 1-6.s Acts II, 42 cf. I. Cor. X, 16.* John XX, 22, 23.


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THE GREAT CHARTER 59God : he is sealed unto the conflict for truthand holiness : he is raised up again, if he hasfallen in the fight: he is fed with quot;the cornof the elect and the wine springing forthvirgins quot;: 1 he is prepared for the last struggle against the foe whose hatred is withoutend and without truce: he is provided withthe ministers of his God-given religion: hereceives the benediction and the consecration of heaven upon his love and the helpdivine to raise up unto the Lord children,who are to be the sons and daughters ofGod. Truly, we who are of the dear oldChurch can never thank God enough for thisgift which is ours: we can never prayenough, until those who have it not areblessed with this seven-fold channel ofcelestial grace.What in heaven s name would we do without these means of strength supernal?More especially, what would we do withoutthe Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, whereour Savior Himself is really present tosolace, to support, and to come into ourhearts and make us stronger than our weak-

iZach. IX, 17.


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60 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEness ? Oh, let us use these sacraments witheager desire and whole-hearted love, and letus pray that the Kingdom of God may cometo those who are outside, and who eventhough guiltless in their ignorance are deprived of the overflowing riches of the loveof Christ.

This ministerial power, then, for the sanctifying of the souls of men by the religiousrites instituted by the Christ is the secondpower committed to the Apostolic Collegeand contained in the Great Charter of Christian freedom and holiness. And the thirdpower is that of spiritual jurisdiction, thepower of ruling in the realm of the soul.The Apostles had the duty of teachingall nations, baptizing them and teachingthem to observe all things whatsoever Christhad commanded: and together with thisduty they had the right of demanding thatall men submit themselves to their teachingand receive the sacred rite of baptism untoinitiation into life divine. Those who hadcomplied with their obligation of hearingthe Apostles as they would have heardChrist Himself and who had received


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THE GREAT CHARTER 61Christian baptism, by the very fact weresubject to Apostolic authority and werebound to render obedience in all things,which pertained to leading lives in accordance with the teachings of the Master. TheApostles office was not merely an office ofpreaching, authorized indeed, but withoutany obligation on the part of the hearers.This false position of some erring hereticshas already been disproved by the words ofChrist, who taught that men were bound tohear. Furthermore, in addition to their authoritative and obligatory proposition ofChrist s revelation it was part of the Apostolic office to safeguard this teaching bylaws, enforced by such penalties as werefitted to the attainment of the end proposed.They were the approved Christian teachers; and by consequence they were to rulethe children of the Kingdom with the authority of the King, who had sent them asHe had been sent by the Father with allpower given to Him in heaven and in earth.During the days of the public ministryChrist had promised to the chosen Twelvethis jurisdiction in the things of the soul.


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62 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEAfter speaking of the necessity of humilityfor fruitful participation in the Kingdomand of the value of the souls of those whowere to be brought to God, the Master spokeof fraternal correction in the spirit of charity. From this He passed on to the authoritative process against the stubborn, whowere to be treated with summary severity;and He gave the reason for the hardness ofpunishment against the recalcitrant. quot;Butif thy brother offend against thee, go andrebuke him between thee and him alone;. . . and if he will not hear thee, take withthee one or two more, that in the mouth oftwo or three witnesses every wTord maystand. And if he will not hear them, tellthe Church: and if he will not hear theChurch, let him be to thee as the heathen andthe publican, quot; 1 let him be cut off from association with the elect of God. And wrhythis severe penalty? Because the offenderwould not quot;hear the Church, quot; would notobey the Church ; because of persistent disobedience to the powTer of the Apostles.Yes, it was disobedience against constitutediMatt XVIII, 15-17.


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THE GREAT CHARTER 63authoritative jurisdiction. quot;Amen, I sayto you, whatsoever you shall bind uponearth, shall be bound also in heaven; andwhatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shallbe loosed also in heaven. quot; 1 Thus didChrist promise to them the power of binding and loosing, the power of imposing abond or taking it away, evidently not thephysical bond of chains of iron, but themoral bond of obligation, which holds thewill of man under the sway of jurisdictionalpower.This power of governing the children ofthe Kingdom the Apostles exercised withthe full consciousness of the reality of theirauthority. They made laws; they judgedthe transgressors of these laws ; they threatened and inflicted penalties in the case ofthose who violated their mandates.

So, these are the contents of the GreatCharter: these are the three powers committed by the King to the Kingdom which isHis Church. He determined those whoought to be the members of His Church,all mankind: He determined those who

iMatt. XVIII, 18.


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64 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEwould actually be members of His Churchand remain such, those who after baptismguarded the subjection to the threefoldApostolic power : He determined the end andthe manner in which that end was to be attained : He gave the authority which was toconserve the Church. And therefore Hewas the author of His Church, which Hefounded in the form of an organized society. Facts: all this is shown by facts.In view of these facts how shallow the system, how hollow the claims of rationalistslike Harnack, Loisy and their like, whomaintain that the Christian Church grew upas something which more or less naturallyresulted from the work of Christ, but quitebeyond, and even against His intentionWe have seen how He did intend to found,and how He actually founded His Kingdom,which is His Church, as a true external,collective, social organization, independentof earthly power, a real, perfect society.Yet men like those to whom I have referred make Paul, and not Christ, the realauthor of the Christian Church, altogetheragainst the intention and will of the Master.


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THE GREAT CHARTER 65They extol Paul as the wonder of the ages,because he dared to cast aside what theycall quot;the husk 7 of the teaching of Jesus,who according to them had never dreamed ofa universal Kingdom, and because he wasgreat enough to make of Christianity aworld-religion. They praise the otherApostles because quot; after a bitter strugglethey associated themselves with Paul s principles. quot;

2 The honeyed sweetness of praiselike this is full of the venomous bitterness ofblack poison ; for the Apostles are lauded forhaving consciously taken steps, which wereneither foreseen nor intended by Him fromwhom they held their commission. Such anattitude of mind, such a manner of conductcould be understood in the Apostles, if theyhad been rationalists who looked on Christas a poor deluded man: it is inconceivablein the face of concrete fact ; for the Apostlesmost certainly preached the Christ as veryGod and carried out to their dying breaththe injunction laid on them by Him.In our following lecture we shall con-

1 Harnack, What is Christianity? p. 182 English trans.2 id. ib.


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66 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEsider quot;Some Prerogatives of the Kingdom/ among others, its perpetual continuance to the end of time and its necessityfor all men : the essential constitution of theChurch as set forth in the Great Charter isnow clear. As we recognize the littlenessof our own feeble minds in grappling withgreat truths of eternal import; as we lookdown the paths of history and see the aberrations of even mighty intellects, when theyspurned the help of God, we may well thankthe King of truth for giving to His Churchthe powrer of authoritative and infalliblepromulgation of His sacred words of good-tidings. As we realize our colossal weakness in the face of the trials of life and before our enemies, who are quot;the spirits ofwickedness in the high places, 71 wre maywrell pour forth the expression of loving andhumble gratitude for Christ s gift of thepower of sanctification by ministerial rites,which keep us close to the divine all throughthe days of our sojourning and lead us on insafety to our heavenly home. And as wecome to see with deeper insight the direlEphes. VI, 12.


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THE GREAT CHARTER 67catastrophes which owe their birth to theuncurbed license of false independence, wemay well hold fast to our heart of heartsour loyal submission to the sacred power ofjurisdiction, with which the Master blessedthe Twelve. That power is to rule our soulsin the ways of God, lest we depart from thispath of peace and wander away into thedarkness, where death and despair are lurking to overwhelm the unwary. Yes, as weprize the glorious heritage of the freedomof the children of God, let us reverence andlove the King for His gift of the GreatCharter, and by our humble docility, ourappreciative love, our unswerving obediencelet us lead lives worthy of the children of theKingdom.


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LECTUEE IIISOME PREROGATIVES OF THE KINGDOM

Eeview. Perpetuity. Double aspect of Apostles position. Meaning of indefectibility. Adversaries.Christ s will: parables: promise to Peter: tothe Twelve. One only Church. Proof. Branchtheory. Discussion. Necessity. Antecedentprobability. Christ s formal declaration. Notonly necessary by command: a means to end.Can it be supplied ? Toleration true and false.We have considered the Great Charter of

Christ s Kingdom, and have studied the essential constitution of the Church, whichthe Master founded for the preservation andpropagation of His revealed religion. Wehave seen that by the will of Christ, and notas the result of natural evolution of a movement, which was inaugurated by Him butdeveloped beyond and against His intentions, there was founded an organized socialbody with definite powers and functions.These powers are all included in the Master s words of mission, which form theMagna Charta of Christianity ; and they are

68


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SOME PREROGATIVES 69three in number. First, there is the powerof teaching with authority the gospel ofChrist to all mankind, in such, sort thateveryone is bound under the sanction of salvation or damnation to hearken to the wordsof the accredited witnesses. By the powerof God the definitive pronouncements of theApostolic College in matters of divine revelation are preserved from the possibilityof error through the gift of infallibility.Secondly, the Apostles received the power ofministering to the salvation of the souls ofmen through the religious rites, which Christinstituted to apply to men the fruits of Hissuperabundant redemption. And thirdly,the Twelve were gifted with the power ofjurisdictional sway over the souls of mento keep mankind from the wanderings ofhuman pride and human weakness in thepathway of faith and morals.

Possessing these powers from the King,the Apostolic Body constitutes the noblerpart of the society, founded by Christ forthe good of the children of men : these threerights, held by them, are the essentials in theconstitution of the Church of Jesus Christ.


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70 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEHowever, in order to come to a clearer andmore comprehensive idea of the Kingdom ofthe King, we must go a step farther and consider quot;Some Prerogatives of the Kingdom, quot; some of the special qualificationsaffecting the gift of the threefold power.These prerogatives, and let me state them atonce for the sake of clearness, are: perpetuity or unfailing continuance, unicity orthe exclusion of other churches than the oneChurch of Christ from the institution ofGod, and the necessity of this Church for allmankind in order to come to the eternal destiny of unmeasured joy in the home of theFather.And first we must consider the unbroken,continued permanence of the Church of theMaster. From the very outset let us remember that we are not to exercise our imaginative ingenuity in conjuring up all thepossible ways in which Christ might haveproceeded in the accomplishment of the purpose of His love for men. As we have seenbefore, He might have provided many waysfor the safeguard of His revelation and re-


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SOME PREROGATIVES 71ligion ; but He chose one way, and that wayconsisted in the establishment of an organized body with the definite powers, whichwe have considered. Similarly in the present connection, Christ might have given toHis Apostles certain powers, which theywould exercise during the period of theirmortal life, in such a way that other provision would be made for the ages that wereto come before quot;the world would be rolledup as a scroll. quot; But we are not to considerwhat He might have done : we are to look atwhat He actually did do.Now as a matter of actual fact, we findfrom the unshakable records of the gospelhistor}^ that the powers of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling men in the realm of thespirit were not to cease with the death ofthe Apostles. These loved ones of the Lordwere indeed to go the way of all flesh : theywere to bow down their heads beneath thestroke of death in the glorious confessionunto blood of their loyalty to the Masterwhom they loved. Yet their work was togo on and on through the passing years un-


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72 CHRIST S MASTERPIECEtil the crack of doom and the magnificentadvent of the King in quot;much power andmajesty. quot; 1The Apostles bore a twofold character, towhich we must give attentive consideration.On the one h

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Christ's Masterpiece by William F. Robison (1918)