The New and Old Testaments.What are the truths of the Faith defined and taught by the Church, which must be especially embraced, accepted, and promoted in today’s world?
That God, the origin and end of all things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of reason from the created world, and that, therefore, his existence can also be demonstrated from the visible works of creation, as a cause from its effects.
That the external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and especially miracles and prophecies are the surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion. Also that these same proofs are well adapted to the understanding of all eras and all men, even the men of this age.
That the Church—guardian and teacher of the revealed word—was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ when he lived among us, and that the Church was built upon Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy, and his successors for the duration of time.
That the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport. Thus a true disciple of Christ must entirely reject the heretical' misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously.
That faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source.
