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 herself to an ever-varying environment; by the force with which she resists foes, whether from within or from without; at all times maintaining her vigor, despite the corruptions of her children and the hatred and persecution of the world; thus manifesting herself as the city of God, the kingdom of Christ,—a spiritual empire in which there is an imperishable principle of supernatural life and of indefectible strength. The unity of her organization and government, the harmony of her doctrines, the consistency of her aims and purposes, the sublimity of her ideals, the persistency of her efforts to mould the minds and hearts of men into conformity with the will of God, make appeal to what is best in human nature.

Her catholicity, too,—her diffusion throughout the world, her assertion and maintenance of the whole body of revealed religion; her ability and readiness to assimilate and consecrate to divine uses whatever is true or good or fair in nature and in art, in literature and in science, in philosophy and in the teachings of history; holding nothing alien to her constitution or to the ends for which she exists, that may be made to declare God's power and mercy and wisdom, or to render less dark and helpless and sorrowful the lot of His children on earth,—this also is a plea to which generous souls must hearken. Then, her claim of infallible authority,—of the gift to utter with inerrancy divine truth to an erring race, asserting at once the highest social principle and the supernatural character of the society established by Christ; setting herself, as the organ of the Holy Spirit, in the highest place, as the interpreter of the doctrines of salvation, even though they be consigned to inspired books, since books can never be the fountain head of right belief or the tribunal of final resort for a body of living men,—this also compels attentive and serious minds to reflect and to weigh whether the denial of the infallibility of the Church does not lead, with the inevitableness of a logical conclusion, to the denial of revelation.

Her history, which carries us back to the origins of the modern world, bringing us face to face with the Roman Empire at the zenith of its power and splendor, when the little band that walked with Jesus of Nazareth by the shores of the Sea of Galilee and over 19