thwarts us not in the use but in the abuse of our liberty. Nor must we make our limited understanding the measure of God's omnipotence. " The power of God," says St. Augustine, " to move our free wills whither it pleaseth Him is greater than our own." God said of David: "Thou shalt be king," but were not the Israelites afterwards free in electing him? Christ came on earth to die for mankind, but did not the Jews crucify Him of their own accord? And if the Lord decreed that His Church should never change, never die, are we less free in sustaining her? No surely, for having all things present to Him in His eternity, and foreseeing and foreordaining that in every age a certain portion of humanity aided by His grace should preserve intact the visible body of His Church, the Saviour could well say of her in the words of the Psalmist: "Thou art ever the selfsame and thy years shall not fail."
But did Christ found an indestructible Church? Brethren, as well might one ask: Did He found a Church at all? For wherever in Holy Writ, be it in figure or prophecy or Gospel history, we read of the establishment of Christ's Church, we never fail to read also of her continuous and unchangeable existence. She is the tree of life of the New Law, whose leaves and blossoms shall never decay, and whose perennial fruit must nourish men's souls in the vigor and freshness of an eternal youth. The Royal Psalmist sings of her as the sworn covenant of God with His people, of which He shall never repent; as His throne on earth that shall never fall, as His kingdom
