"Let us go back to the beginning of the sixteenth century. Either there was a Church of God then in the world, or there was not. If there was not, then the Reformers certainly could not create such a Church. It there was, they as certainly had neither the right to abandon it, nor the power to remodel it."—J.K. Stone.
Transcriber's Notes: Fixed a few obvious typos in the text:actually for actully, origin for orgin; and changed thecase of "sees" to "Sees".
It may seem an impertinence on the present writer's part to indite apreface to the work of a brother Bishop; and it would be a stillgreater one to pretend to introduce the Author of this little book tothe reading public, to whom he is so well and so favourably known by astately array of preceding volumes. Nevertheless Bishop Vaughan hasbeen so insistent on my contributing at least a few introductorylines, that, for old friendship's sake, I can no longer refuse.
It is a remarkable and outstanding fact that never before in thehistory of the Church has the Roman Papacy, though shorn of everyvestige of its once formidable temporal might, loomed greater in theworld, ruled over such vast multitudes of the faithful, or exerciseda greater moral power than at the present day. Never has theconscious unity of the whole world-wide Church with its VisibleHead—thanks to the marvellous developments of modern means ofcommunication and transport—been so vivid, so general, so intense asin these times. Not only does "the Pope's writ run," as we may say, bypost and telegraph, and penetrate to the inmost recesses of every partof the globe, so that the Holy See is in daily, nay hourlycommunication with every bishop and every local Catholic community;but never has there been a time when so many thousands, nay tens ofthousands of Catholic clergy and laity, even from the remotest lands,have actually seen the Vicar of Christ with their own eyes, heard hisvoice, received his personal benediction. Well may we say to Pius X.as to Leo XIII.: "Lift up thy eyes round about and see; all these aregathered together, they are come to thee; thy sons shall come fromafar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou seeand abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when themultitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of theGentiles shall come to thee" (Isaias, lx. 4, 5).
But not only is the present position of the Papacy thus unique andphenomenal in the world; as the Author of this little book shows inhis first part, its career across the more than nineteen centuries ofthe world's chequered history, from Peter to Pius X., is no lessunique and no less phenomenal. This is a fact which may well rivet theattention, not of the Catholic alone, but of every thinking man, be heChristian or non-Christian, a