ii. 8), and who has the Holy Ghost abiding with
her, century after century, in order that she may be "a witness unto
Christ, in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the
uttermost parts of the world" (Acts i. 8). But we cannot, even in
thought, unite such contradictories, such discordant elements; any
more than we can reduce the strident sounds of a multitude of
cacophonous instruments to one harmonious and beautiful melody.
And if the Catholic Church stands thus alone, again we repeat, it is
because no other has received the promise of divine support, or even
cares to recognise that such a promise was ever made. The Catholic
Church has been the only Church not only to exercise, but even to
claim the prerogative of infallibility: but she has claimed this from
the beginning. Every child born into her fold has been taught to
profess and to believe, firstly, that the Catholic Church is the sole
official and God-appointed guardian of the sacred deposit of divine
truth, and, secondly, that she, and no other, enunciates to the entire
world--to all who have ears to hear--the full revelation of
Christ--_His truth_; the whole truth, and nothing but the truth;
fulfilling, to the letter, the command of her Divine Master, "Go into
the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi.
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