Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/46

This sovereign, infallible authority, created for eternity, and in which God is eternally pleased, is the holy Catholic, apostolic, and Roman Church; the mystical body of our Lord, blessed spouse of the Word, whose teachings to the world are the direct inspirations of the Holy Ghost; and which, being placed as it were between heaven and earth, exchanges the prayers of her children for celestial gifts, and unceasingly offers to the Father, for the salvation of the world, the most precious blood of the Son, as a perpetual sacrifice and a most perfect holocaust.

It would not be in accordance with the infinite wisdom of God, who does all things in a complete and perfect manner, to give the truth to the world, and then, re-entering into an eternal repose, leave it exposed to the inroads of time, and subjected to the presumptuous disputes of men. Hence, he conceived from all eternity the idea of his Church, which shone forth in the world, in the plenitude of time, resplendent with that high perfection and sovereign beauty that always exist in the divine mind. Since then, placed on a rocky eminence in the tempestuous sea of life, she stands a luminous beacon to the mariner. She knows in what consists of our safety and in what our danger, our first beginning and our last end; what will cause the salvation and what the condemnation of mankind; and she alone knows it. The only guide of souls, the sole illuminator of minds, the sole director of the will, the sole stimulator and purifier of the affections, she moves hearts and moves them by the grace of the Holy Ghost. In her is neither sin, error, nor weakness; no stain rests on her robe; for her tribulations are triumphs, and the fury of the tempest but serves to lead her into a secure harbor.