Church

“ Whenever the word Church is used generally, without any specific qualification, expressed or necessarily implied, it means, by its own force, the visible as well as the invisible Church, the Body no less than the Soul; for the Body, the visible or external communion, is not a mere accident, but is essential to the Church. The Church, by her very definition, is the congregation of men called by God through the evangelical doctrine, and professing the true Christian faith under their infallible Pastor and Head - the Pope. ”

“ Every day I live, the Church seems to me more and more wonderful; the Sacraments more and more solemn and sustaining; the voice of the Church, her liturgy, her rules, her discipline, her ritual, her decisions in matters of Faith and Morals more and more excellent and profoundly wise and true and right, and her children stamped with something that those outside Her are without. ”

“ THE CHURCH.
"What is a Church?"—Let Truth and Reason speak,
They would reply, "The faithful, pure, and meek;
From Christian folds the one selected race,
Of all professions, and in every place." ”

“ ALMIGHTY and Eternal God, we humbly beseech Thee to look down from Thy heavenly sanctuary upon this congregation, and graciously hear these prayers which Thy Church addresses to Thee for us by the ministry of this Thy Priest. Grant us, in Thy infinite mercy, pardon of our sins, health of mind and body, peace in our days, unity and increase of Catholic faith, fervent charity, sincere devotion, patience in suffering and every thing else conducive to Thy glory and our own salvation: through Jesus Christ our Lord. ”

“ Those who have laboured in the church below!
We dare not murmur as we kiss the rod,
Thou art our Helper, save thy church, O God!
Thine is the cause, thy frowns we dare not shun,
In earth and heaven alike, thy will be done! ”

“ The church which gathers this grand race of the future into her bosom, and holds them by her spiritual hand, must, therefore, be a church adapted to the wants, the sympathies, the tastes of working-men. ”

“ The spectacle of a Christian Church poised in beauteous order and strengthened with the might of an unfalteringly aggressive faith, is a subject of unspeakable joy to God, to His angels, and to all true ministers. ”

“ No worshiper goes to the Protestant church, the pretty stone church on the village street, without a glance at the spot where the justice used to stand on Sunday mornings, a symbol of large-hearted, Christian hospitality, and greet the congregation as it straggled in. ”

“ The congregation standing, the Bishop begins the Prayer for the Consecration of the Church
Everliving Father, watchful and caring, our source and our end: All that we are and all that we have is yours. Accept us now, as we dedicate this place to which we come to praise your Name, to ask your forgiveness, to know your healing power, to hear your Word, and to be nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son. Be present always to guide and to judge, to illumine and to bless your people. ”

“ What the church is.⁠This is the true patrimony of the church, to win souls; for the church is not a heap of stones and walls. Christ hath not made you a keeper of castles and forts, but a pastor of souls. ”

“ The Church militant and the Church triumphant become one, and the whole heavenly family, in both, see and adore their common Lord. Neither the world nor the Church is left to the caprices of time or chance. ”

“ My Lords, you have that true image of the primitive Church in its ancient form, in its ancient ordinances, purified from the superstitions and vices which a long succession of ages will bring upon the best institutions. ”

“ Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Grant, we beseech thee, to thy whole Church in paradise and on earth, thy light and thy peace. Amen.
Grant that all who have been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection may die to sin and rise to newness of life, and that through the grave and gate of death we may pass with him to our joyful resurrection. ”

“ And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead: Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, The Lord, and Giver of life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets. And I believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins. And I look for the Resurrection of the dead, And the life of the world to come. ”

“ This is that Church, to which all visible Churches on earth are servants and handmaidens. Whether they are Episcopalian, Independent, or Presbyterian, they all serve the interests of the one true Church. ”

“ It is the Catholic Church only which retains the true worship. This Church is the fountain of truth, it is the house of faith, it is the temple of God. If any one either comes not into this Church, or departs from it, his eternal salvation is desperate. No one must flatter himself obsti­nately, for his soul and salvation are at stake. ”

“ The holy Church confesses Thee, O Jesus Christ, Son of the Lord, and perfects Thy sacraments, and exults in Thy cross, longs for Thee, waits for Thee, and supplicates Thy greatness to exalt her with Thee unto heaven when Thou shalt come at the last day. ”

“ Do you discard every church title but that "which the mouth of the Lord hath named" (Isa. 62:2) , even the name of the Father, in which Christ and the apostles kept the church (John 17:6,11,12; Acts. 20:28; 1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Tim. 3:15) ? Do you honor the divine head of the church by rejecting every creed but the one that "is given by inspiration of God;" every door that is opened and shut by men; and every spirit but the Sanctifier; and every motive but the love of God and humanity? ”

“ The Church rests, not on any sacerdotal authority or human organisation, though many have laboured thus to narrow its limits and define its character; it depends for its origin, life, and perpetuity on union with the Deity. It is based on the Divine love, fostered by the Divine Spirit, shielded by Omnipotence, and illumined and adorned by the Divine glory. It exists for purely spiritual purposes, is the depositary of he revealed Word, the channel of Divine communication to man, the sanctuary of salvation.
2. The Church is Divinely sustained.—Founded in God, it is every moment sustained by Him. ”

“ I believe the holy Church, which is the Body of Christ; that is to say, a certain Congregation of all Men throughout the whole World, who agree in the Faith of the Gospel, who worship one God the Father, who put their whole Confidence in his Son, who are guided by the same Spirit of him ”

“ The church, as understood in modern times in all its compartments, is constituted, has its existence by, and is based upon, the clergy and its sacraments, not an accomplished redemption and the presence and power of the Holy Ghost; a clergy, which is called the ministry, and even the church. ”

“ There is a Church Triumphant in which are God and the Saints, the Angels, and the Souls of the Saved. There is another Church, the Church Militant, in which are the Pope, the Vicar of God on earth, the Cardinals, Prelates of the Church, the Clergy and all good Christians and Catholics: this Church, regularly assembled, cannot err, being ruled by the Holy Spirit. ”

“ The holy church is compared to a net cast into the sea because she is committed to fishers and because every one is drawn up through her from the waves of this present world to the eternal kingdom lest they sink in the depths of eternal death. ”

“ The gospel which we preach is the gospel of life and salvation. The Church which we represent is the Church and Kingdom of God, and possesses the only faith by which the children of men can be brought back into the presence of our Father and God. ”

“ Hence, it is evident that the universal holy church is Christ's one and only bride, the virgin to be in the end most chaste, whom the Son of God bound to himself in matrimony out of eternal love and by the grace of adoption, and the church we firmly believe, saying with the Creed, "I believe one holy catholic church," and about which the word is added in the second Creed, "and apostolic [church] ." ”

“ The Church of God, the one Bride of Christ, is confounded with the thousands of churches that have occupied their places on earth, from whom whenever the life and power of the Spirit is gone, the candlestick is removed, leaving untouched and untarnished the glory of the Lamb’s Wife. ”

“ That Church, however scattered and divided throughout the world, is but one building, founded on the Old and New Testaments; having but one sacrifice, the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
3. Of this glorious Church every Christian soul is an epitome; for as God dwells in the Church at large, so he dwells in every believer in particular: each is a habitation of God through the Spirit. In vain are all pretensions among sects and parties to the privileges of the Church of Christ, if they have not the doctrine and life of Christ. ”

“ And I do not suppose ye are ignorant that the living Church is the body of Christ: for the scripture saith, God made man, male and female. The male is Christ and the female is the Church. And the Books and the Apostles plainly declare that the Church existeth not now for the first time, but hath been from the beginning: for she was spiritual, as our Jesus also was spiritual, but was manifested in the last days that He might save us. ”

“ That the church, as such a community of priests, is employed in the praise and worship of God—an idea, also, which finds abundant countenance in the New Testament. (c) That, in a series of visions having a designed reference to the church, it was natural to introduce some symbol or emblem representing the church, and representing the fact that this is its office and employment. ”

“ Especially, as we have seen, is it interesting to the Catholic as acknowledging the visible church as our Lord's own creation, as the direct fruit of his teaching, and the destined instrument of his purposes. ”

“ So is the Church of God. In some saints it works miracles; in others gives voice to the truth; in others, again, maintains the [pg 100] virginal life; in others keeps conjugal fidelity; in these one thing, in those another; each have their proper work, but all alike live. Now, what the soul is to the human body, that is the Holy Spirit to the body of Christ, which is the Church: what the soul does in all the limbs of an individual body, that does the Holy Spirit in the whole Church. ”

“ On these days the design of the Church is to call her members, by prayer and fasting, to invoke the Divine aid and blessing on the choice and commission of ministers of the gospel. The deep interest every Christian heart should feel in a matter of such infinite moment, should secure for these days the pious observance of the members of the Church. ”