If then such were the powers invested in
him, how much more fully still must this authority be inherent in the
Vicar of Christ himself, who is the supreme head upon earth of the
entire Church of God.
It is this prompt amputation of the diseased members, before the
hideous canker has time to spread, that has kept the Church of God
pure to this day, while heretical bodies have fallen into greater and
greater spiritual decay. It is because she fearlessly and resolutely
insists upon all her children accepting the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, that she presents to the world, century
after century, with miraculous clearness and perspicuity, the Divine
hall-mark of unity.
6. Outside the true Church of God there is no recognised voice strong
enough to enforce any uniformity of belief. Though the Pope's
authority was acknowledged throughout England for over one thousand
years, yet at the time of the so-called Reformation, that Voice of
God, speaking through Peter, was admitted no longer. Hence, as
Cardinal Manning most truly observes: "The old forms of religious
thought are now passing away in England.
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