Page:Rome and the Revolution - Manning.djvu/12

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utter, whose antecedents and impieties I will not recite. He has made himself conspicuous by enmity against the Church and the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Within the last three weeks this man has been twice described by those who guide the public opinion of this country in the words which follow: as a man of 'almost Godlike self-denial,' and, again, 'of a boundless goodness.' I had thought that there was but One Infinite, 'that none is good but God alone.' What comes next is still more portentous—his 'goodness passeth all understanding,' which would appear to be an attribute of our Divine Redeemer borrowed from the language of St. Paul. We have here the two standing face to face before us. The one the object of the world's enmity, the other the object of the world's admiration, or rather of the world's apotheosis or deification. Now, these two persons represent two systems, two principles, two spirits. They are the legitimate heads of 'the mystery of piety,' and 'the mystery of impiety,' as the Apostle describes them. On the one side is the Vicar of Christ, and all that are united to him by the laws of supernatural justice. On the other, the antagonist of Christ, and all who are banded together against His Church on earth. Between these there can be no reconciliation or compromise. There is an intrinsic enmity, an essential variance, derived from their very nature. We have not far to seek for the reasons of this enmity.

First, this enmity, it is directed against the revelation of Christianity, as such, which, by making known the truth, has limited the licence of the human reason. The revelation that there is one