f a mountain, all look upon the same
mountain, and yet see different views of it; so men see different
sides of a truth. To know a truth perfectly men must see it from every
point of view. And the power of taking such comprehensive views of
truths is granted to few, if any, here on earth. Probably this perfect
knowledge is reserved for us in Heaven; when all, who have loved their
Lord in sincerity, will find that their controversies with one another
here on earth have been due to their imperfect knowledge and limited
views of the truths of God.

CHAPTER IX.

THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH.

"Christ is gone up; yet ere He passed
From earth, in heaven to reign,
He formed One Holy Church to last
Till He should come again.

So age by age, and year by year,
His grace was handed on;
And still the Holy Church is here,
Although her Lord is gone."

A question often arises which is, in no little degree, perplexing to
Christian people. What is the Holy Catholic Church? The words are very
often in our mouths; for they are repeated continually in the Creed.
What do we mean by them?

The teaching of our Lord about His Kingdom, and the description of the
founding of that Kingdom by the Holy Ghost, acting through the
Apostles, are the materials out of which the answer must be formed.
And it is hoped that the readers of these pages have been led to see
this already.

But there are two ways of dealing with this question: first, as an
article of faith; and secondly, as a matter of fact. The Church is an
object on which faith is exercised; but if faith is laid aside
altogether, the facts of the existence of the Church and its rapid
extension in our own day still remain to be considered.

We must deal with it first as an article of the faith. "I believe in
the Holy Catholic Church." It is an article of faith added to our
profession of faith in God, expressing our belief in the reality of
the Gospel. It is like saying, in other words, that we believe that
what our Lord preached was literally true, and has come to pass.
Hereby we declare that the Kingdom which He proclaimed is a real
Kingdom, and that we belong to it as His subjects, and share in the
salvation which He, the long-promised Messiah, came to bring.

We have already considered the grounds on which this faith is based.
We have seen that the Church founded by the Apostles was in reality
and truth "The Kingdom of Heaven," which