ority of the Church to propose and to
determine that sense. So that, after all, we are always brought back to
the only real point of division and dispute between those who are not
Catholics and ourselves, namely, to the authority of the Church, of which
I shall have more to say hereafter. I cannot conclude better than by
quoting the words of St. Vincent of Lerins: "Let us take care that it be
with us in matters of religion, which affect our souls, as it is with
material bodies, which, as time goes on, pass through successive phases of
growth and development and multiply their years, but yet remain always the
same individual bodies as they were in the beginning.... It very properly
follows from the nature of things that, with a perfect agreement and
consistency between the beginnings and the final results, when we reap the
harvest of dogmatic truth which has sprung from the seeds of doctrine sown
in the spring-time of the Church's existence, we should find no
substantial difference between the grain which was first planted and that
which we now gather. For though the germs of the early faith have in some
respects been evolved in the course of time, and still receive nourishment
and culture, yet nothing in them that is substantial can ever suffer
change. The Church of Christ is a faithful and ever watchful guardian of
the dogmas which have been committed to her charge. In this sacred deposit
she changes nothing, she takes nothing from it, she adds nothing to it."

Chapter III.

THE HOLINESS OF THE CHURCH.

Holiness is also a mark of the true Church; for in the Creed we say, "I
believe in the _holy_ Catholic Church."

Every society is founded for a special object. One society is formed with
the view of cultivating social intercourse among its members; a second is
organized to advance their temporal interests; and a third for the purpose
of promoting literary pursuits. The Catholic Church is a society founded
by our Lord Jesus Christ for the sanctification of its members; hence, St.
Peter calls the Christians of his time "a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, _a holy nation_, a purchased people."(30)

The example of our Divine Founder, Jesus Christ, the sublime moral lessons
He has taught us, the Sacraments He has instituted--all tend to our
sanctification. They all concentre themselves in our soul, like so many
heavenly rays, to enlighten and inflame it with the fire of devo