the prophecy that had been made in regard to her, and "was shooting
out great branches" (Mark iv. 32) and becoming more extended and more
prolific than all her rivals. She enlarged her boundaries and spread
farther and farther over the face of the earth, while the number of
her children rapidly multiplied in every direction.

In course of time, the immense continents of America and Australia,
together with New Zealand and Tasmania and other hitherto unknown
regions, were discovered and thrown open to the influences of human
industry and enterprise. And as men and women swarmed into these newly
acquired lands, the Church accompanied them: and new vicariates and
dioceses sprang up, and important Sees were formed, which in time, as
the populations thickened, became divided and sub-divided into smaller
Sees, till at last the number of Bishops in these once unknown and
distant regions rose to several hundreds.

Thus the whole condition of things became altered; and the calling
together of an Ecumenical Council--a very simple affair in the
infancy of the Church--was becoming daily more and more difficult. Not
so much, perhaps, by reason of the enormous distances of the dioceses
from the central authority, for modern methods of locomotion have
almost annihilated space, but because of the immense increase in the
number of the hierarchy that would have to meet together, whenever a
Council is called.

On the other hand, with the greater extension of the Church, would
naturally come an increased crop of heresies. For, cockle may be sown,
and weeds may spring up, in any part of the field, and the field is
now a hundred times vaster than it was. Now, it is extremely important
that as fast as errors arise they should be pointed out, and rooted up