CHRISTIAN UNITY The Means of Attaining It ( By A MISSIONARY y New York THE PAULIST PRESS 401 West 59th Street Ca-j>a ff) !) c ' CHRISTIAN UNITY. The Means of Attaining It . BY A MISSIONARY. ^HRISTIAN Unity is much discussed at present, be- cause the need of it is widely felt. Some of the causes underlying the felt need are : the evident waste of men and means in the overlapping of the sects, the power- lessness of other forces to soften the antagonisms of our industrial system, the decline of sectarian organizations relatively to the growth of organizations in the world of business and politics, the decay of faith resulting from the disunion and antagonisms of those who assume to speak in the name of Christ, and the obstacles which disunion and discord are found to place in the way of missions to the heathen world. The seventeenth chapter of St. John's Gospel is more widely studied to-day than it ever was before. It is a true instinct which leads Christians to turn to that chapter for light on the subject. The whole chap- ted is a prayer, Christ prays first for Himself, then for the Apostles, and lastly for all true believers in Him; and the great object of His prayer is Christian Unity; “that they all may be one.’" The following pages are a study of part of this prayer. In the quotations, one or more words are sometimes added in parentheses^ when tlni text or the meaning requires them. 3 have manifested Thy name to the Christ’s Prayer far whom Thou hast given Me out His Apostles. ^orld : Thine they were, and to Me Thou gavest them; and they have kept Thy word. J\ow they have known that all things which Thou hast given Me are from Thee ; because the words Thou gavest Me I have given to them; and they have received them, and have known in very deed that I come out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me; because they are Thine. And all things are Thine, and Thine are Mine ; and I am glorified in them. And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, whom Thou hast given Me, that they may he one, as We also are. While I was with them T kept them in Thy name.’’ Here is a deep dividing line. On one The Dividing Line, side of it is the world; on the other side, the Apostles with Christ. He had separated them from their work in the world, and from kith and kin, and had attached them to Himself. And He mentions four forces which separate them from the world and attach them to Him. ^ First, their vocation : ‘‘the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world.” Secondly, their fidelity to that vocation: “and they have kept Thy word.” Thirdly, their Christian faith : “they have known in very deed that I came out from Thee.” And fourthly, Ills own guardianship of them : “While I was with them^ It iireDt them in Thy name.” With Him as their Head they n separate Society, united with one another by their 4 union with Him. But now He is about to leave them in the world, and His great desire is that they may continue united in the highest kind of unity, ‘'that they may be one, as We also ar^’' After praying for the Apostles, our Christ s Prayer Loj-^j looks at His Church in the cen- for Us. . tunes to come. He sees us. He sees that the dividing line between His Church and the v/orld remains, but also that the vast multitudes of people who have passed over from one side to the other have brought with them those forces of the world which divide men into mutually hostile races, nations, classes, and parties. His own guardianship had been the visible, uniting force in the case of the Apostles, and, after praying that we all may be one. He expresses by the one word “glory’’ the corresponding uniting force in the case of His Church. His words are : “And not for them (the Apostles) only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in Me, that they all (pastors and people) may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me,‘ and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us. . . . And the glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given to them, that they may be one, as We also are one ; I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.” A TTT , ^ TT,. , The unity our Lord prayed and A World-Wide i j r • ^ i i Unity worked for is not a mere local unity. It is a world-wide unity. It embraces all who through the word of His Apostles believe in Him. That is the scope of His prayer. To see what means He adopted, in addition to prayer, to secure the accomolish- 5 merit of His design, it is necessary to know the nature of the glory He gave us for that purpose. The key to all knowledge of Christian Unity is that word : 'The glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them, that they may be one.’’ What glory did the Father give to the Son ? The Gospels record three public manifestations of the glory which the Father had bestowed upon the Son before the period of his seventeenth chapter. On each of these occasions the heavens opened to glorify the Son and to teach us the nature of that glory. At His Birth, in presence of the shepherds, He was glorified as the Saviour of men. At His Baptism the Father sent the Holy Ghost in visible shape upon Him and proclaimed His heavenly Sonship. At the Transfiguration He was glorified as King. A study of these gifts of glory will enable us to understand the glory which makes the Church one. "And there were in the same country shepherds watch- ing and keeping the night-watches over their flock. And behold an Angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of God shone round about them, and they feared with a great fear. And the Angel said to them: "Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people ; for this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will” (St. Luke ii). 6 Christ. Our Saviour' The Epistle to the Hebrews shows at Through His gi'eat length that it is by His priest- Priesthood. hood that Christ is the Saviour. ''And whereas indeed He was the Son of God, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered; and being consummated He became to all that obey Him the cause of eternal salvation, called by God a High-Priest accord- ing to the order of Melchisedech. . . . He hath an everlasting priesthood whereby He is also able to save for ever them that come to God by Him, always living to make intercession for us. . . . But Christ having come a High-Priest of the good things to come, through a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands—that is, not of this creation, nor by the blood of goats or of calves, but by His own Blood, entered once into the Holies, hav- ing obtained eternal redemption.’’ In Christ, therefore, the titles Saviour and Priest are identical in meaning. It was at the moment of Incarnation that His priesthood was given and accepted. '‘Christ did not glorify Himself that He might be' made a High-Priest ; but He that said unto Him : Thou art My Son : this day have I begotten Thee.” And the Son accepted, saying: "Behold I come to do Thy will/O God” (Heb. x). His ordination as Priest took place when '‘a body had been fitted unto” Him. And at His Birth the glory of His priesthood was manifested to the world, as told by St. Luke. If the word Apostles had been translated into English instead of being transferred bodily from the Greek, we should speak of them as The Sent. They are called Apos- tles because they were sent. What the word implies de- pends on what they were sent to do. Christ tells in His 7 prayer what they were sent to do. ''A*s Thou didst send Me into the world, even so have I sent A Minister Must them into the world.'' The Father Be Sent. world, in the first place, as Priest of salvation; and the Son sent the Apostles into the world as priests of ministration—that is, as His ministers in placing that salvation within reach of each succeeding generation. '‘And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them." The Apostles did not glorify themselves that they might be made priests ; but He who said to them : This do in commemo- ration of Me. The Prayer was uttered immediately after the Last Supper. At that Supper He had instituted Chris- tian Public Worship. He had ofifered up His own Body and Blood under the forms of bread and wine, and then said to the Apostles: This do in commemoration of Me. The priesthood, with all that it involves, is one gift of glory to the Church. And this gift makes powerfully for unity in various ways. The dignity of the priesthood and the* reverence it develops are uniting forces. Racial and social dififerences tend to disunion in religion. One race hates or despises another. The rich go in one direction, the poor in another. In both race and class differences oppression often widens the breach. Now, the priest may belong to a despised race or class, but none can despise him, unless he is per- sonally unworthy ; and the respect shown to him raises his race or class in the esteem of others. In a lecture given at Oxford University, Mr. James Bryce, M.P., well known 8 The Priesthood a Unitive Force. to Americans by his work The American Commonwealth, said: ‘It is worth remarking that in respect if not of their prac- tical treatment of the backward races, yet of their attitude towards them, Roman Catholics have been more disposed to a recognition of equality than have Protestants. The Spaniard is the proudest of mankind. He treated the aborigines of the New World as harshly as ever the Teutonic peoples have done. But he does not look down upon, nor hold himself aloof from, the negro or the Indian, as the Teutons do. Perhaps this may be owing to the powers of the Catholic priesthood and the doctrine of Transubstantiation. An Indian or a negro priest — and in Mexico the priests are mostly Indians—is raised so high by the majesty of his office that he lifts his race along with him.’’ The history of England after the Norman conquest is an instance of this same force acting on a large scale. For some generations the bitterest enmity existed between the victorious Normans and the conquered Saxons. Ma- caulay’s phrases are anti-Catholic, but his narration of the facts may be taken as accurate : “It is remarkable that the two greatest and most salutary social revolutions which have taken place in England—that rev- olution which, in the thirteenth century, put an end to the tyranny of nation over nation, and that revolution which, a few generations later, put aji end to the property of man in man — were silently and imperceptibly effected. They struck contem- porary observers with no surprise, and have received from his- torians a very scanty measure of attention. They were brought about neither by legislative regulation nor by physical force. . . . . It would be most unjust not to acknowledge that the chief agent in these two great deliverances was religion; and it may perhaps be doubted whether a purer religion might not 9 Have been found a less efficient agent. The benevolent spirit of the Christian morality is undoubtedly adverse to distinc- tions of caste. But to the Church of Rome such distinctions are peculiarly odious, for they are incompatible with other dis- tinctions which are essential to her system. She ascribes to every priest a mysterious dignity which entitles him to the reverence of every layman; and she does not consider any man disqualified, by reason of his nation or his family, for the priest- hood. Her doctrines respecting the sacerdotal character, how- ever erroneous they may be, have repeatedly mitigated some of the worst evils which can afflict society. That superstition cannot be regarded as unmixedly noxious which, in regions cursed by the tyranny of race over race, creates an aristocracy altogether independent of race, inverts the relation between the oppressor and the oppressed, and compels the hereditary master to kneel before the spiritual tribunal of the hereditary bondman. To this day, in some countries where negro slavery exists. Popery appears in advantageous contrast to other forms of Christianity. It is notorious that the antipathy between the European and African races is by no means so strong at Rio Janeiro as at Washington. In our own country this peculiarity of the Roman Catholic system produced, during the Middle Ages, many salutary effects. It is true that, shortly after the bat- tle of Hastings, Saxon prelates and abbots were violently de- posed, and that ecclesiastical adventurers from the Continent were intruded by hundreds into lucrative benefices. Yet even then pious divines of Norman blood raised their voices against such a violation of the constitution of the Church, refused to accept mitres from the hands of the Conqueror,, and charged him, on the peril of his soul, not to forget that the vanquished islanders were his fellow-Christians. The first protector whom the English found among the dominant caste was Archbishop Anselm. At a time when the English name was a reproach, and when aiP civil and military dignities in the kingdom were sup- posed to belong exclusively to the Conqueror, the despised race learned, with transports of delight, that one of themselves, Nicholas Breakspear, had been elevated to the Papal Throne, and had held out his foot to be kissed by ambassadors sprung 10 from the noblest houses of Normandy. It was a national as well as a religious feeling that drew great multitudes to the shrine of Becket, the first Englishman who, since the conquest, had been terrible to the foreign tyrants. A successor of Becket was foremost among those who obtained that Charter which secured at once the privileges of the Norman barons and of the Saxon yeomanry. How great a part the .Catholic ecclesias- tics subsequently had in the abolition of villanage we learn from the unexceptionable testimony of Sir Thomas Smith, one of the ablest Protestant counsellors of Elizabeth. When the dying slave-holder asked for the last Sacraments, his spiritual attend- ants regularly adjured him, as he ’loved his soul, to emancipate his brethren for whom Christ died. So effectually had the church used her formidable machinery that, before the Re- formation came, she had enfranchised almost all the bondmen in the kingdom except her own, who, to do her justice, seem to have been very tenderly treated”’ {History of England , vol. i.) The Mass a Bond of Unity. This last sentence is significant. It happens at times that the normal influence of the Church is in advance of the individual action of ecclesiastics. This seems to have been the case also in the Philippines. It shows that the Church has an inner life of her own, and does not subsist merely in the men who, for the time being, fill her offices. The Sacrifice of the Mass, which priests are ordained to ''do in com- memoration’’ of Jesus on the Cross, is a uniting force. Christian unity is threefold, being unity in faith, worship, and organization. The Mass gives unity of worship. No matter where a Catholic goes, in any foreign country, whether he understands the lan- guage of the people or not, he can and does unite with them in worship at Mass and feels at home. The Mass is the otfering to God of the Victim of the Cross, who’ is 11 present on the altar under the forms of bread and wine ; and that highest of worship is everywhere and always the same. All sorts and conditions of men are equal in presence of the Infinite, except so far as degrees of grace or of sin may differ, and at Mass this humble-mindedness is felt. The Catholic poor feel as much at home in the Cathedral of New York as do the wealthy contributors. The Mass lifts worshippers to a height from which they can be in communion with the whole spiritual world. All Christians are as one in reserving the best they have in public worship for God alone. Those who have nothing higher than prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to offer in worship do not feel at liberty to use these in public venera- tion or invocation of any saint. The awful majesty of the Most High would seem to them lowered if they did. But the Sacrifice of the Mass, which can be offered to none but God, makes us free to use the lower worship of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving in veneration and invocation of Saints and Angels, and prevents any possible confusion of thought regarding the infinite distance between God and any creature. It is through the Mass especially that we have access to ‘'the company of many thousands of An- gels, and to the assembly of the first-born who are written in the heavens, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, and to Jesus the Media- tor of the New Testament, and to the sprinkling of Blood which speaketh better than that of Abel/' The rich vari- ety of devotions thence resulting help to limit the en- croachment of worldly interests and to form auxiliary bonds of union in societies, confraternities, sodalities, fes- 12 tivals, and other ''joints and bands'’ knitting the Church together. Communion a Bond of Unity. Holy Communion, the joint-partaking of the Victim of Sacrifice, is a uniting force. It unites the faithful with our Lord, and therefore with one another. "For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all who partake of the one Bread" I. Cor. x). The effect of the Bread of Life, as stated in vi. of St. John, is; "abideth in Me and I in Him." The effect of the "glory" given for unity is : "I in them and Thou in Me." A common political interest can bring people together ; but fails to bridge the social gulf. A common religious interest is a stronger bond of union ; but nothing short of sincere mutual respect can make intercourse mutually beneficial and lasting when people are far apart socially. Now, when the Lord of Heaven comes to people in Holy Communion, He thereby lays the foundation of this sin- cere mutual respect. The respect or reverence for per- sons thus honored at the Table of the King counteracts undue regard or undue aversion for social superiority. The sense of equality thus engendered is very noticeable in Catholic countries. In his Encyclical on the Holy Eucharist Pope Leo XHI. says : "Very beautiful and joyful too is the spectacle of Chris- tian brotherhood and social equality which is afforded when men of all conditions, gentle and simple, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, gather round the holy altar, all sh”vring alike in this heavenly banquet. And if in the records of the Church it is deservedly reckoned to the special credit of its first ages that the multitude of be- 1 '^ The Offices of a Priest. Hevers had but one heart and one soul (Acts iv. 32), there can be no shadow of doubt that this immense blessing was due to their frequent meetings at the Divine Table; for we find it recorded of them: ‘They were persevering in the doctrine of the Apostles and in the communion of the breaking of bread’ (Acts ii. 42).” The priesthood in the Church is an association by power-sharing with Christ. Its first function is to offer tip Sacrifice in worship and administer Holy Communion. Its second function is to exercise the power given by Christ, when He breathed on the Apostles and said to them : “Receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained.” The same power is spoken of by St. Paul (II. Cor. v.) : “All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” This ministry of recon- ciliation is a uniting force. It reconciles men to God, and therefore unites them with one another. Family quarrels and disputes between neighbors give way to peace and renewed friendship all over the world, every day of the year, through the action of this ministry. In the Church, as in every other society, unity is bound up largely with the action of the men in office. A society is strong when it develops a deep sense of responsibility in its officers, and this can only be done when they have real powers to exercise. Such powers bind the officers to the members, and the members to the officers. Now, Christ developed this sense of responsibility in the officers of His Society by placing in their hands real spiritual powers. He gave 14 them power to forgive sins. What is it that makes a Catholic priest brave promptly any sort of dangers to him- self when called to minister to the sick and dying? He may be very far from being naturally a man of heroic mould; but he does not hesitate, because he is conscious that the salvation of a soul may depend on his ministry of reconciliation. Such services attach the people to the priest, and form one of the joints and bands,’’ as St. Paul calls them, which knit the Church together. The prac-» tice of hearing confessions keeps the priest in touch with the real moral and spiritual needs of the people. When he preaches he is not as one beating the air. He knows what is needed. Novelties have no attraction for him. The miseries of the sin-laden soul are too clearly realized to permit of his wandering far from the only remedy, "‘Christ and Him crucified.” Not that he can make use of particular knowledge gained in the confessional—that is not allowed ; but the general impression which remains after all particular facts are forgotten has a wonderfully steadying eflfect, and is one of the forces which make for unity, because it removes the danger of unreality. Again, all selfishness is antagonistic to unity. The selfishness of pride is lessened by the practice of confession, and the morbid selfishness which a bad conscience always engen- ders is relieved. The whole sacramental system united with the priest- hood is a uniting force in another way. In every society there is variety of conduct in the members. Some are zealous, others are lukewarm. Some are loyal to the society, others are disposed to rebel. Some are ever hope- ful, others are always critical and fault-finding. Some are 15 good, others bad. There must be some arrangement for keeping weak members from falling below a rninimum requirement for membership. Civil society would fall into anarchy to-morrow if the law courts ceased to inflict punishment. Hence, a penal code is a necessary bond of union in every society. But how can a spiritual society inflict punishments which shall at once Disciplinary Power be spiritual and effective ? Officers can of the Sacraments. - . , , .... be punished by dismissal, but ordinary members cannot thus be reached. Our Lord solved the problem for His Church by making the Sacraments the ordinary channels of special graces and favors from Him. Without those graces the soul is dead, and to appear be- fore the Judgment Seat in that state means eternal death. To exclude one from the Sacraments thus becomes a severe punishment, and is found in fact to be effective. It is never inflicted unconditionally. There is always that condition that on repentance and reparation (if necessary) the backsliding member regains his right to the Sacra- ments. The power conveyed by the words, ‘‘whose sins you shall retain they are retained,’’ is used frequently in dealing with those who are unwilling to comply with all the essential duties of a Christian. The world is jealous of this power, and thinks that men should not be entrusted with it ; but Christian Unity without powers of this kind is as impossible as is the solar system without the force of gravity. The Principle of Christian Life. John was baptizing in the Jordan. Jesus came with others to be baptized, and then, for the second time, the heavens opened to glorify the Son of Man. The Holy 16 Ghost descended in bodily shape as a dove, remaining upon Him; and the voice of the Father in heaven said: ‘Thou art My beloved Son ; in Thee I am well pleased.’" The glory here witnessed to is twofold: (1) the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost, and (2) the divine Sonship. This twofold glory Christ gave to His Church that it might be one. 1, Every society has a spirit or prin- u ciple of life. Otherwise it is a corpse, not a living body. What gives to civil society its enduring life is our social human nature, and the spirit of a business corporation is the love of gain. Now, the Church of Christ diflfers from all other societies in this, that its animating principle is a divine Person dwelling in it. Our Lord sent His 'own Spirit to abide in the Church and to be to the Church what the soul is to the body of a man, so that His Church is in very truth the Body of Christ, as St. Paul calls it. “All these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as He will. For as the body (of man) is one and hath many members, and all the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body; so also is (the Body of) Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one Body. . . . Now you (Christian people) are the body of Christ” (I. Cor. xii.) By this indwelling of the Holy Ghost the Church is a living or- ganism, and, and its corporate activities, such as the administration of the Sacraments, have thence a divine efficacy. “I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever.” He still abides with those included in that “you.” The 17 comment of St. Augustine in the fourth century is very suggestive : ‘‘What the soul is to the body of a man, that the Holy Ghost is to the body of Christ, which is the Church. What the Holy Ghost does in the whole Church, that the soul does in all the members of one body. But see what ye have to beware of, to watch over, and to fear. In the body of a man it may happen that a member, the hand, the finger, or the foot, may be cut off. Does the soul follow the severed member? While it was in the body it was alive; cut it off, its life is lost. So a man is a Christian and a Catholic while he is alive in the body; cut off, he becomes a heretic. The Holy Ghost does not follow the amputated limb. If therefore ye would live by the Holy Ghost, hold fast charity, love truth, desire unity, that ye may attain to eternity .’’—Sermon on Pentecost Day, That this indwelling of the Holy Ghost is included in the Gifts of Glory may be proved from II. Cor. iii., and the numerous texts quoted in proof by Newman, Serm. 18, vol. iii., Parochial and Plain, How it makes for unity is as evident as it is difficult of analysis. How is a tree one ? How is any organism one ? All we can say is that the Spirit of God has on earth a Body, a social Body, and that this Body is one. “One Body and one Spirit” is St. Paul’s description of the Church. But Scripture does inform us fully as to some aspects of the unity ef- fected by the Spirit. Christ said to the Apostles: “I will not leave you orphans : I will come to you. . . . The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name. He will teach you all things, and bring 18 The Promise of the Spirit. all things to your mind, whatsoever I have said to you/’ Unity of faith through possession of the Truth is evi- dently one intended effect of the indwelling Spirit of Truth. Christ significantly calls this unity peace, and St. Paul : ‘'Be careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace/' We know by experience and history that diversities of faith mean war, often in the military sense of the word, and always in the social and mental sense. Personal Union With God. 2. The Divine Sonship ,—Christian unity is not the unity of a race or a nation. Neither is it, on the other hand, built on the basis of our common humanity. If this had been a suitable basis for a world-wide unity in religion, the institutions of the Old Law would not have been restricted to one nation. A new basis had to be created, and Christ created it. For “as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” ; and therefore, in their degree, like unto Him of whom St. John adds: “We saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Elsewhere in Scripture the gift of divine sonship imparted to Christians is variously spoken of as “grace,” “glory,” “life,” “regeneration,” “the new man,” “partakersof the divine nature.” It is a new life which manifests itself in the to Another activities of faith, hope, and charity. It is not simply a new way of life that can be learned, but a new life super-added by gift to the natural life of man. By this gift the Church is, in the strictest sense, a brotherhood. All sons of God are brothers of Jesus Christ. We are more intimately related one to another by this bond of brotherhood than we are by our common descent from Adam. The latter can be the basis of a world-wide political unity or world power only when naval and military force overawes, and even then the expansion is limited, and the imperial power must often content itself with the externals of loyalty. But our brotherhood in Christ is the basis of a world- wide body politic, a spiritual empire, which secures unity in faith, worship, and discipline, without the aid of one gun on sea or land. This body politic is the Catholic Church. To become a citizen of this Empire the natural man has to be born again. ‘^Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.'' When the new life thus received is allowed to develop and is suitably nourished, it gives the person pos- sessing it a power of attraction which is an added uniting force. It is the power of holiness, and a conspicuous ex- ample of it in the world was the personality of Pope office he said: 'T have made my last will and testament, and I have named you the executors of it. As it is somewhat com- plicated I think it advisable to give you the outlines in Leo XIII. A parable shall introduce this chapter. A certain very rich man, known as Mr. King, wished to contribute to the welfare of his country. One day he invited some of his friends to visit him, and when they were seated in his 20 advance. You are to take a billion dollars of my money and invest it. The annual proceeds of this amount you are to distribute, in the manner directed by the will, among the poor of this state for three hundred years.’’ One of the friends interrupted him, smiling: ^'Mr. King, w'e are willing to act for you in this patriotic design—at least I am ; but you surely do not expect us to live three hundred years?” “No,” replied Mr. King, “I do not expect any of you to live so long; but by the terms of the will you are formed into a corporation, and it is the corporation which will, I hope, live for three hundred years. I have ar- ranged for the appointment of successors in office, and also for the addition of others to your number when need of them is felt.” Another of the friends had been thinking of the whole scheme, and did not quite like it. He said : “It seems to me that the work imposed upon the cor- poration is not likely to prove an unmixed benefit to the country. The beneficiaries under the will are the poor of this state. But will not the undeserving poor of other countries flock in, attracted by the prospect of aid from the corporation?” “I have forseen that objection,” replied Mr. King. “If the work of the corporation attracts good . citizens, so much the better, even if they be poor; but, as you say, there must be discrimination. Considering the motives which actuate politicians in times of election contests, I fear I cannot leave it to the public authorities to draw the line. I have therefore provided that all those who are to benefit by the provisions of my will must become mem- 21 bers of this corporation and form one society with you — not all distributing officers, of course, but all one society. Now, to become and remain members of this society they must possess certain qualities and perform certain duties which will be effective in enabling you to discriminate.” The friends were still far from conviction that the scheme was feasible. One of them remarked: 'This society, when fully organized, will cover the whole state. It is easy to imagine divided interests. One section will claim, for instance, that other sections are getting more of the benefit than their due share. Fault will be found with the management of the fund, with the distribution of proceeds, with the conduct of officials. Disputes may result in complete rupture of the society, each side claiming control of the fund. The means of the society may be wasted in litigation, and the poor of the society may not know where or how to obtain the intended benefit.” "That,” replied Mr. King, "is an aspect of the matter to which I have given much thought. I cannot wholly prevent disputes and divisions; but I have made provision that the poor may at least always know where to look for redress. It is necessary to provide that, in case of rup- ture, there will be no reasonable doubt as to which of the separated bodies will continue to be my society. You will, of course, have a president. Now, I have not left it to you to elect the first president. I have named him myself, and have given to him such powers that his co-operation and sanction will be essential to the opera- tions of the society. His successors in office will suc- 22 Our Lord Desired Unity. ceed to his powers, so that on whichever side he is there is my society/’ Thus, any large scheme of benefit to men must reckon with the various interests, prejudices, selfishnesses, and local jealousies inherent in human nature. Careful or- ganization may not alone suffice to save it from ship- wreck on these rocks; but without careful organization disaster is swift and inevitable; and the more far- reaching the scheme the more elaborate the organization must become. Our Lord foresaw all our difficulties and divisions in religion, and He foresaw especially the tre- mendous dividing power of race and nationality. Never- theless He prayed and worked for a world-wid^ unity. Is it possible to think of Him providing for this unity and at the same time leaving the essential element of organization to efforts and disputes of men ? The fruitless efforts made in our day to unite bodies which are alike in faith and worship, as well as in race and language, show that a divinely provided organization is essential to unity. Even if unity in faith and wor- ship could be otherwise secured, the evils of sectarianism would still flow from numerous independent organiza- tions. Such bodies, when in contact, are essentially an- tagonistic, no matter how much alike they may be. St. Paul says : ‘‘Let the peace of Christ dwell in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body.” That is, one body, one organization, is the divinely appointed means of peace. The unity with which Christ repeatedly com- pares the unity of His Church is that between Him and the Father, “that they may be one as We also are.” Now, 23 the unity of Father and Son is a unity of substance as well as of mind and spirit, and the corresponding unity of the Church must be organic as well as mental and spirit- ual. Hence our Lord speaks to the Apostles as to a cor- poration having a perpetual succession : ‘'I am with you even to the end of the world.’’ 'The Holy Ghost will abide with you for ever.” "You will Unity for All Time, sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” This last sentence was addressed to the Apostles when Judas was still one of the twelve, though it could not apply to him personally. It included him only as one of the corpora- tion. St. Peter so understood it, for his first act of au- thority was to move in the appointment of a successor to Judas (Acts i.) To expect to find elaborate organic pro- visions in the Gospels would be to look upon Christ as a man, whereas He is God made man. The universe is marvelously elaborate, but the creative act which brought it into being was far from elaborate. If you wish to know who made the world, the clearest informant is the Book of Genesis; but if you wish to know what kind of world it is that God made, the better wav is to examine the world itself. This is what men of science do, and they are right. Similarly, if you wish to know who created the Church, the clearest informant is the New Testament; but if you wish to know what kind of Church it is that Christ created, the more scientific way is to ex- amine the Catholic Church of to-day, especially since an organism like the Church develops from within, as does a grain of mustard-seed, and is more easily understood in a state of maturity than in its first stages of growth. 24 However, many have denied that this Church is the work of God, and Christ has deigned to let us see enough of His creative act to make that denial unreasonable. Christ is a King; He was proclaimed a King at His birth, and He was put to death for claiming to be King. His kingdom is the kind called imperial. His subjects are not a homogeneous people, nor confined to one territory. They are in Heaven as well as on earth, and all power is given to Him in Heaven and on earth. To see His Kingdom of Angels and Saints in Heaven men have to pass through death; but one day He Christ s Kingdom Apostles that some of them, even before tasting death, would see this Kingdom of God. ‘‘And it came to pass that about eight days after these words He took Peter and James and John, and went up into a mountain to pray. And whilst He prayed His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistening. And His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. And, behold, two men were talking with Him. And they were Moses and Elias appearing in majesty; and they spoke of His decease which He should accomplish in Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep. And awakening they saw His glory, . . . And a voice came out of the clouds saying : This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him.” It was such glimpse as mortal man could bear; but it gave to the Apostles ocular proof that in the life beyond the grave Christ is King, the centre and light of a King- dom in Heaven, with power to call the highest there to attend upon Him. Hence St. Peter says .in his second 25 epistle: ‘'We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; but have been made eye-witnesses of His Majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, this voice coming down to Him from the excellent glory : This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye Him.’’ Christ refers to His Throne in Heaven when He speaks of the time when “in the regeneration the Son of man will sit on the Throne of His Majesty.’’ He came to extend this Kingdom on earth, to acquire a new Kingdom by right of conquest. Secular powers extend their sway by shedding the blood of others, Christ extended His by shedding His own. And the Kingdom on earth thus founded He committed to the Apostles. The Kingly glory which the Father had given to -Him and manifested on the Mount of Trans- figuration, He gave to the Apostles, saying: “I dispose to you, as My Father hath disposed to Me, a Kingdom that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingd(