ed doctrines diametrically opposed to one
another, and the true Church must be one in faith. And besides, the less
relationship you claim with many of these seceders the better for you, as
they all advocated errors against Christian truth, and some of them
disseminated principles at variance with _decency_ and morality.

The Catholic Church, on the contrary, can easily vindicate the title of
Apostolic, because she derives her origin from the Apostles. Every Priest
and Bishop can trace his genealogy to the first disciples of Christ with
as much facility as the most remote branch of a vine can be traced to the
main stem.

All the Catholic Clergy in the United States, for instance, were ordained
only by Bishops who are in active communion with the See of Rome. These
Bishops themselves received their commissions from the Bishop of Rome. The
present Bishop of Rome, Pius IX., is the successor of Gregory XVI., who
succeeded Pius VIII., who was the successor of Leo XII. And thus we go
back from century to century till we come to Peter, the first Bishop of
Rome, Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Christ. Like the Evangelist
Luke, who traces the genealogy of our Savior back to Adam and to God, we
can trace the pedigree of Pius IX. to Peter and to Christ. There is not a
link wanting in the chain which binds the humblest Priest in the land to
the Prince of the Apostles. And although on a few occasions there happened
to be two or even three claimants for the chair of Peter, these
counter-claims could no more affect the validity of the legitimate Pope
than the struggle of two contestants for the Presidency could invalidate
the title of the recognized Chief Magistrate.

It was by pursuing this line of argument that the early Fathers
demonstrated the Apostolicity of the Catholic Church, and refuted the
pretensions of contemporary sectaries. St. Irenaeus, Tertullian and St.
Augustine give catalogues of the Bishops of Rome who flourished up to
their respective times, with whom it was their happiness to be in
communion, and then they challenged their opponents to trace their lineage
to the Apostolic See. "Let them," says Tertullian, in the second century,
"produce the origin of their church. Let them exhibit the succession of
their Bishops, so that the first of them may appear to have been ordained
by an _Apostle, or by an apostolic man who was in communion with the
Apostles_."(99)

And if the Fathers of the fifth century considered i