Catholic: an Essential and Exclusive Attribute of the True Church

The God of Truth cannot have revealed contradictory doctrines. Sects proclaiming contradictory doctrines cannot all be right, though all may be wrong. In like manner the same essential attribute cannot be predicated in the same sense of two religious societies having fundamentally different principles of belief and of worship. ?Catholic? was decreed to be a note of the Christian Church fifteen hundred years ago by its teachers assembled in General Council. ?The Protestant Episcopal Church? in the United States created in the year 1789, now lays claim to the name Catholic. But this is already in the possession of the Roman Church. To try and establish who is the lawful possessor, is the object of this little work.