always been restored. To be protected by the power of Christian nations—first by one, then by another—has always been their providential lot. It could not be otherwise. The Divine Founder of the Church has so disposed it that His kingdom should not be numbered among the nations; nor its head, though supreme over all Princes, hold his own by temporal might or military power. Vicissitudes which would have destroyed all other dynasties fall lightly upon the throne of the Pontiffs. Subverted again and again, it is as often restored in undiminished authority. It does not, therefore, make us afraid to see the armed bands of revolution closing round the remnant of the territory, and aiming at the seizure of Rome. What has been often, may be again: but we pray on in confidence; knowing that so long as there is a Christian world, so long the temporal power will survive. It is not the might of any nation which sustains it, but the instinct of faith and the dictate of justice which pervade and govern the Christian nations of the world. When these are extinguished or enfeebled, the anti-Christian revolution may prevail against the temporal power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ: but till then, never. It maybe menaced and persecuted, but it will endure. If it be now again overthrown, we believe that it will be again set up. Such is our confidence, and for this we pray. As I said last year, we go out to battle with not so much as a sling and a stone, but with a string of beads, a superstitious multitude.
But there are still other thoughts which press upon me to-day. Our Lord has prepared us for
