.

"In case of obscurity or doubt concerning what is the divinely
revealed truth, or whether what prompts the soul is or is not an
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recourse must be had to the Divine
Teacher or criterion, the authority of the Church. For it must be
borne in mind that to the Church, as represented in the first
instance by St. Peter, and subsequently by his successors, was made
the promise of her Divine Founder, that 'the gates of hell should
never prevail against her.' No such promise was ever made by Christ
to each individual believer. 'The Church of the living God, the
pillar and ground of Truth.' The test, therefore, of a truly
enlightened and sincere Christian will be, in case of uncertainty,
the promptitude of his obedience to the voice of the Church.

"From the above plain truths the following practical rule of conduct
may be drawn: The Holy Spirit is the immediate guide of the soul in
the way of salvation and sanctification; and the criterion, or test,
that the soul is guided by the Holy Spirit, is its ready obedience to
the authority of the Church. This rule removes all danger whatever,
and with it the soul can walk, run, or fly, if it chooses, in the
greatest safety and with perfect liberty, in the ways of sanctity."

"The practical aim of all true religion is to bring each individual
soul under the immediate guidance of the Divine Spirit. The Divine
Spirit communicates Himself to the soul by means of the sacraments of
the Church. The Divine Spirit acts as the interpreter and criterion
of revealed truth by the authority of the Church. The Divine Spirit
acts as the principle of regeneration and sanctification in each
Christian soul.

"Such an exposition of Christianity, the union of the internal with
the external notes of credibility, is calculated to produce a more
enlightened and intense conviction of its divine truth in the
faithful, to stimulate them to a more energetic personal action; and,
what is more, it would open the door to many straying but not
altogether lost children, for their return to the fold of the Church.
The increased action of the Holy Spirit, with a more vigorous
co-operation on the part of the faithful, which is in process of
realization, will elevate the human personality to an intensity of
force and grandeur productive of a new era in the Church and to
society; an era difficult for the imagination to grasp, and still
more difficult to describe in words, unless we have