de by side with those of Charles Borromeo and
Ignatius Loyola; and instead of a divided army of Christians, we should
behold today a united Christendom, spreading itself irresistibly from
nation to nation, and bringing all kingdoms to the knowledge of Jesus
Christ.
Chapter IV.
CATHOLICITY.
That Catholicity is a prominent note of the Church is evident from the
Apostles' Creed, which says: "I believe in the Holy _Catholic_ Church."
The word _Catholic_, or Universal, signifies that the true Church is not
circumscribed in its extent, like human empires, nor confined to one race
of people, like the Jewish Church, but that she is diffused over every
nation of the globe, and counts her children among all tribes and peoples
and tongues of the earth.
This glorious Church is foreshadowed by the Psalmist, when he sings: "All
the ends of the earth shall be converted to the Lord, and all the kindreds
of the Gentiles shall adore in His sight; for the kingdom is the Lord's,
and He shall have dominion over the nations."(56) The Prophet Malachy saw
in the distant future this world-wide Church, when he wrote: "From the
rising of the sun, to the going down, My name is great among the Gentiles;
and in _every place_ there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My name a
clean oblation; for My name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of
Hosts."(57)
When our Savior gave commission to his Apostles He assigned to them the
whole world as the theatre of their labors, and the entire human race,
without regard to language, color, or nationality, as the audience to whom
they were to preach. Unlike the religion of the Jewish people, which was
national, or that of the Mohammedans, which is local, the Catholic
religion was to be cosmopolitan, embracing all nations and all countries.
This is evident from the following passages: "Go ye, therefore, and teach
_all nations_."(58) "Go ye into the _whole world_, and preach the Gospel
to every creature."(59) "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea, and Samaria, and even _to the uttermost part of the
earth_."(60)
These prophecies declaring that the Church was to be world-wide and to
embrace even the Gentile nations may not strike us today as especially
remarkable, accustomed as we are now to meet with Christian civilization
everywhere, and to see the nations of the world bound so closely together
by social and commercial relati
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