Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/119

they made him drain even to the last dregs of ignominy, on the cross, after having loaded him with insult in the hall of judgment.

Being crucified by the Jews, the Son of God called the gentiles unto him, and they came. Yet after his coming, as before he came, the world followed the path of perdition, and remained seated in the shades of death. His most holy Church inherited from him the privilege of suffering persecution and outrage, and was insulted and persecuted by nations, kings, and emperors. Out of her own bosom came forth those great heresies which encircled her cradle, like monsters seeking to devour her. It is in vain that they are crushed by the divine Hercules. The tremendous battle between the divine and human Hercules, between God and man, is renewed. The rage of the servants of evil equals the ardor of the people of God, and success alternates. The battle-field is so vast that on the continents it stretches from sea to sea, and on the sea extends from continent to continent, until it covers the world from pole to pole. The conquering hosts of Europe are conquered in Asia, and the vanquished in Africa triumph in America. There is no man whatever, whether he knows it or not, who is not enlisted in this furious combat; no one who has not an active share in the responsibility of defeat or victory. All are alike engaged in this struggle; the galley slave in his chains, and the king upon his throne, the poor and the rich, the healthy and the sick, the wise and the foolish, the captive and the free, the old and the young, the civilized and the savage. Every word that is uttered is inspired either by the world or by God, and forcibly proclaims, either implicitly or explicitly, but always distinctly, either the