The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

;200 CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME.plies," says Dens, " that the Church is diffused over theworld, or is universal in point of place, nation, and time ;"and he quotes, in proof, the song of the redeemed in theRevelations, that is, according to the current of Protestantinterpreters, the song of those who had triumphed over Antichrist:— " Thou hast redeemed us out of every tribe, andtongue, and people, and nation."" That this mark belongsto our Church," continues Dens, " appears from the circumstancethat in all places and in every nation Catholics arefound, who, although divided in respect of place, are joinedunder the government of the Roman pontiff. Moreover,there have been, and there will be, Catholics in all ages."*The same writer, following Bellarmine,-f- repudiates the claimof other bodies to rank as members of the Church, on theground that they are limited to certain districts,—that thetime when they took their rise is known,—and that they arediverse in name, taking their appellatives generally fromtheir founders." We trace our descent from Peter, the princeof the apostles, say the Romanists, and our Church has spreadand flourished in the earth ever since the fisherman foundedit at Rome : you come from Germany, and were not, tillLuther gave you being."There is one question, which, accordingto the Rev. Stephen Keenan, will effectually gravelevery Protestant. " Ask him," says he, " where the trueChurch was before the time of Luther and Calvin? "JIt issufficient to ask in return. Where were the wells which Abrahamhad digged, before Isaac cleared out the rubbish withwhich the Philistine herdsmen had filled them ? Rome, toshow that she has existed in all ages since the apostolic era,* Theologia Mor. et Dog. Petri Dens, vol. ii. p. 122. Romanist writers,and Bellarmine among the rest (torn. ii. lib. iv. cap. iv.), sometimes holdthe name as proof of the thing. They are called Catholics; therefore theyare so. We are likewise entitled to reason,—We are called Refonmdtlierefore we are so. " We be Abraham's seed," said the Jews. " Ye areof your father the devil," replied Christ.t Bellarm. Opera, tom. ii. lib. iv. cap. v. vi.X Controversial Catechism, or Protestantism Refuted, chap. iii.