22. This faith, and every part of it, is
impressed upon us by the evidence of the Gospels, by the teaching of
the Apostles, by the futility of the treacherous attacks which heretics
make on every side. The foundation stands firm and unshaken in
face of winds and rains and torrents; storms cannot overthrow it, nor
dripping waters hollow it, nor floods sweep it away. Its
excellence is proved by the failure of countless assaults to impair
it. Certain remedies are so compounded as to be of value not
merely against some single disease but against all; they are of
universal efficacy. So it is with the Catholic faith. It is
not a medicine for some special malady, but for every ill; virulence
cannot master, nor numbers defeat, nor complexity baffle it. One
and unchanging it faces and conquers all its foes. Marvellous it
is that one form of words should contain a remedy for every disease, a
statement of truth to confront every contrivance of falsehood.
Let heresy muster its forces and every sect come forth to battle.
Let our answer to their challenge be that there is One Unbegotten God
the Father, and One Only-begotten Son of God, perfect Offspring of
perfect Parent; that the Sun was begotten by no lessening of the Father
or subtraction from His Substance, but that He Who possesses all things
begot an all-possessing Son; a Son not emanating nor proceeding from
the Father, but compact of, and inherent in, the whole Divinity, of Him
Who wherever He is present is present eternally; One free from time,
unlimited in duration, since by Him all things were made Reading
sint., and, indeed, He could not be confined
within a limit created by Himself. Such is the Catholic and
Apostolic Faith which the Gospel has taught us and we avow.