Page:Petri Privilegium - Manning.djvu/281

Rh of Christianity; they who, under the pretensions of historical criticism, deny the witness of the Catholic Church to be the maximum of evidence, even in a historical sense, likewise ruin the foundation of moral certainty in respect to Christianity altogether. If the historical evidence of the Catholic Church for the stability of the faith in the See and the Successor of Peter be not sufficient to prove, as a fact of history, that the Christian Church has so held and taught, history is altogether a poor and slender foundation for the events and actions of the past. The pretentious historical criticism of these days has prevailed, and will prevail, to undermine the peace and the confidence, and even the faith of some. But the 'City seated on a hill' is still there, high and out of reach. It cannot be hid, and is its own evidence, anterior to its history and independent of it. Its history is to be learned of itself.

The Catholic Church is not only a human and historical witness of its own origin, constitution, and authority; it is also a supernatural and divine witness, which can neither fail nor err. In the natural order of human evidence, it is a sufficient motive to convince a prudent man that Christianity is a divine revelation. This motive of credibility is sufficient for the act of faith in the Church as a divine witness. In the supernatural order, the Church is thereby known to be divine in its foundation, constitution, and endowments. The same evidence which proves Christianity to be a divine revelation proves the Catholic Church to be a part of the faith of Christianity, and to be likewise the incorporation and channel of truth