"You see," went on Mistress Margaret, "that is what we Catholics believe
our Saviour meant when He said that the gates of hell should not prevail
against His Church."
But Isabel was not content. She broke in:
"But why are not the Scriptures sufficient? They are God's Word."
The other put down her embroidery again, and smiled up into the girl's
puzzled eyes.
"Well, my child," she said, "do they seem sufficient, when you look at
Christendom now? If they are so clear, how is it that you have the
Lutherans, and the Anabaptists, and the Family of Love, and the
Calvinists, and the Church of England, all saying they hold to the
Scriptures alone. Nay, nay; the Scriptures are the grammar, and the
Church is the dame that teaches out of it, and she knows so well much
that is not in the grammar, and we name that tradition. But where there
is no dame to teach, the children soon fall a-fighting about the book and
the meaning of it."
Isabel looked at Mistress Margaret a moment, and then turned back again
to the window in silence.
At another time they had a word or two about Peter's prerogatives.
"Surely," said Isabel suddenly, as they walked together in the garden,
"Christ is the one Foundation of the Church, St. Paul tells us so
expressly."
"Yes, my dear," said the nun, "but then Christ our Lord said: 'Thou art
Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.' So he who is the only
Good Shepherd, said to Peter, 'Feed My sheep'; and He that is _Clavis
David_ and that openeth and none shutteth said to him, 'I will give
thee the keys, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven.
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