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 destroy her,  their  act  would  be  self-destruction. Without her,  there  would  be  no  freedom — "  To  be free,"  says  Washington,  "  a  nation  must  be  virtuous," and the  Church  is  the  Mother  of  virtue. In France, for instance,  the  reign  of  terror  began  only  when  the Church was  banished  or  suppressed. Without her there would  be  no  harmony,  for  harmony  is  the  result of self-sacrifice — a  thing  unknown  outside  the  Church, especially among  politicians. Without her  there would be  no  national  solidity. She is  the  keystone — the very  heart  of  the  nation  at  which  the  destroyer  of truth  would  naturally  aim  as  did  Titus  at  the  Jewish Temple. Without her  there  would  be  no  political honesty. She teaches  that  public  office  is  a  public trust, conferred  not  by  men  but  by  God,  to  be  exercised under  the  ever-wakeful  and  all-seeing  eye  of God  and  not  under  the  public  eye  that  winks  and sleeps betimes. Without her  there  would  be  no patriotism. Religion and  patriotism  are  inseparable. We cannot  say  with  Ruth:  "  Thy  people  shall  be  my people  "  without  adding  with  her:  "  and  thy  God  my God." I love  my  country  because  I  love  the  people in it,  and  it  is  God  and  the  Church  and  not  politicians that teach  me  to  love  my  fellowmen,  even  my enemies. In fact  the  Catholic  Church  is  a  school  of patriotism. It was  patriotism  that  led  to  Christ's being  born  in  a  cave,  to  His  being  circumcised,  to  His paying tribute,  to  His  weeping  over  Jerusalem,  and the noblest  patriot  the  world  has  ever  seen  was  Christ dying on  the  cross. Never were  truer  patriots  than the Apostles  when  they  answered  their  persecutor: