as we are heirs, according to divine decree, to thrones beyond
the skies, it was necessary, as we have seen, that He who is our Saviour
and Shepherd should have left behind Him in this world of ours a doctrine,
a code, or system of instructions and laws, which should safely direct and
guide us to our royal destiny. Those who lived with Him on earth, those
who heard His assuring, life-giving words, and felt the inspiration of His
example and visible presence needed not to fear for the direction or
safety of their course. The divine, living voice and sacred presence of
their Lord and Master they enjoyed, and care and anxiety fled from their
souls. But not for these alone had the Redeemer come, but for all mankind,
for all who in future were to breathe the breath of human life. He came to
save all, He died for all; and thus the teaching which He gave to the
world, and which He committed to His chosen followers, was for every human
being, even to the end of the world, that through it all might live and
attain to life everlasting.

The doctrine which the Saviour left us, and the laws which He prescribed
were vastly different from the teachings of men. Guiding, saving words of
a Shepherd to his flock, they engendered safety, comfort, peace. Free from
error or mistake, sealed with the seal of Heaven, holding out a promise of
future glory, they exhaled the perfumes of the eternal city, they told of
mansions not built with hands. And since this immaculate doctrine, given
for the souls of men, was to last till the end of time, there was need
that it should be shielded against the assaults of the world and protected
from the influence of our changing human teachings. It could not be
corrected, because it contained no mistakes; it could not be changed or
altered, because it came from the changeless God; it could have no
substitute from the part of men or creatures of any kind, because it was
given by Him who alone was the way, the truth, and the life. Consequently
the truths which the Saviour declared to the world as the only means by
which we can be saved, were at once infallible in themselves, and so
provided for that no human agency, no lapse of years or revolutions of
time and place should ever be able to infringe on their eternal,
changeless character. It was to preserve these truths in their integrity
and freshness that He founded His unerring Church and committed to it the
office of custodian and expounder, under the guidance