Then, let me ask, what chance has a man of
arriving at a right decision on the most important of all
questions--questions concerning his own eternal salvation--who is
thrown into the midst of a world where there is no uniformity of view
on spiritual matters, where every variety of opinion is expressed and
defended, and where every conceivable form of worship has its fervent
supporters and followers.
Or, leaving all others out of account, may we not well ask how the
vast multitudes even of Catholics, scattered throughout such a world
as this, are to maintain "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace" (Eph. iv. 3), to preserve the tenets of their creed intact, and
to discriminate accurately and readily between the teaching of God,
and the fallacious doctrines of men? In dealing with anxious and angry
disputants there is little use to appeal, as Protestants do, to the
authority of teachers who have nothing more to commend them than a
learning and an intelligence but little better than that of their
disciples. Where man differs from man each will prefer his own view,
and claim that his personal opinion is as deserving of respect and as
likely to be right as his adversary's--which is practically what
obtains among non-Catholics at the present day.
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