Perchè una gente impera, e l'altra langue,
Seguendo lo giudizio di costei
Che è occulta, come in l'erba l'angue,—(Dante, Inferno.)
the visible kingdom of Christ, which is His Church, lasts for ever, and is built upon the rock of Peter. The long line of descendants, from Constantine and from Charlemagne, have in their turn impugned and illustrated this glorious privilege of the Papal See. What is there so stable in an empire of commerce, or so solid in the nicely-balanced and delicate machinery of a constitutional monarchy, as to exempt them from the action of an universal law, or to ensure their victory in the doomed contest with the Vicar of Christ? Mightier things than they have done their worst, have oppressed, triumphed, and become extinct, and if it be allowed them in the crisis of their trial to crucify Christ afresh, He will yet reign from the cross, and "draw all men unto Him."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In this chapter I have availed myself of Passaglia, b. 1, c. 25, and b. 2, c. 11.
[2] Eph. i. 9, 22; 1 Cor. xi. 2; Rom. xii. 5.
[3] See Petavius, De Incarn. Lib. 2, c. 7 and 8, for the following quotations.
[4] Hippolytus, quoted by Anastasius, p. 216.
[5] Irenæus, Lib. iii. 18, and iv. 37.
[6] De Monogamia, c. 5.
[7] Augustine, 21 Tract. in Joannem.