All these considerations convince us that Leo has been an all-round great Pope. He has been a Leader among men. He has left the impress of his spirit on his age. His life has spanned one of the most critical periods of human activity. When the old order had been completely changed, in the rearranging of the new elements and in the re-establishing of new forces there was need of one with more than human wisdom to guide our ways and to direct our feet. If ever in the world there was need of a providential man; of one whose feet, while planted on the earth, yet whose head was above the clouds, and whose heart was in touch with divine things, it was during this marvellous age of ours; and Leo has been such an interpreter of divine wisdom to the children of men. His long life has covered the nineteenth century; there were wrapped up in him the experiences of men and things through this most fateful of all eras; and it has been permitted to lap over into the twentieth century, so that with the wisdom of the past he may point out the ways to greater triumphs in the years to come.
His Message to the Twentieth Century is one of the most thrilling documents that have been sent out to the world. It ranks with the Magna Charta of English history or the Declaration of Independence of our own, and in the years to come it will be enshrined as they are in the hearts of multitudes of people:
"To reject dogma is simply to deny Christianity. It is evident that they whose intellects reject the yoke of Christ are obstinately striving against God. Having shaken off God's authority, they are by no means freer, for they will fall beneath some human sway.
"God alone is life. All other beings partake of life, but are not life. Christ, from all eternity and by his very nature, is 'the Life,' just as he is 'the Truth,' because he is God of God. If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire, and he burneth (John xv. 6).
"Once remove all impediments and allow the spirit of Christ to revive and grow in a nation, and that nation shall be healed.
"The world has heard enough of the so-called 'rights of man.' Let it hear something of the rights of God.
"The common welfare urgently demands a return to him from whom we should never have gone astray; to him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life,—and this on the part not only of individuals but of society as a whole."
Leo, Great Pontiff of the age, thou mayest well lay down the burden of thy four score years and ten! Thou deservest well of humanity. You have been a great leader in the Church of God. The weary pilgrimage of a desert land is over, and from Nebo's height there stretches before you the Promised Land of rest and joy and everlasting bliss.
"Hail, Champion of the Faith! whose beacon light,
Held high in trembling hands, illum'ned the world
With such a blaze as ne'er before hath shone,
E'en from the torch that Gregory upheld
Or Pius kindled. Hark, the swelling sound
From many million throats! Thy children see
The Signal, and in serried legions stand
Before the grateful world, and with one voice
Demand for thee, Great Father and Great Friend,
The joy and peace that is thy due."