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Rh the intrinsic worth and positive character of Christianity as a divinely revealed religion, external circumstances also contributed to the rapid propagation of the religion of Christ. He discovers that the coming of the Desired of Nations had been prepared directly, through "the Law and the Prophets," among the chosen people of Israel, indirectly also among the Gentiles. This indirect preparation was first a negative one; the ancient world had to realize the limitation of the natural powers; it had to experience that all progress in philosophy, art and politics could neither quiet the mind nor satisfy the heart, and was utterly unable to save either the individual or the family, the state or society. But there was also a more positive preparation of the Gentile world. The Greek methods of philosophy, especially those of Plato and Aristotle, in spite of their many shortcomings, became efficient means with which the early champions of the Church successfully combated the errors and absurdities of paganism and logically defended the doctrines of Revelation. Thus Plato, in the words of Clement of Alexandria, was a παιδαγωΥὁς εἱς Xριόν, a teacher who prepared the way for Christ. Origen, Eusebius and St. Augustine see a special providence of God in the conquest of the world by the Roman Empire. It is this tracing of God's working in history which Father Kropf suggested to the teacher, and it is in this light that he has to study the history and literature of Greece and Rome.

With ancient history and the classics, the teacher has to connect the study of antiquities. Those who have heard it said again and again that the Jesuit