Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/332

his will is moved, it is God who gives the power to use his will; that when he makes an effort, it is because God strengthens him; so that without this continual sustaining aid man stumbles and falls; that there is to be a resurrection of the dead, and then final judgment; that there is a heaven and a hell, eternal punishment and everlasting felicity. They proclaimed all these wonderful dogmas and then announced that the whole world would receive them, in spite of the opposition of princes, kings, and emperors. They proclaimed that on account of these doctrines an innumerable host of illustrious confessors, of celebrated doctors, of chaste and delicate virgins, and glorious martyrs, would suffer torments and death. And finally, that the folly of the cross would be so contagious that it would spread among all nations, to the utmost confines of the earth.

All these extraordinary things have been believed by men ever since the day when, amid the darkness which shrouded the trembling earth, the great tragedy, that lasted three hours, was enacted on Golgotha. There that declaration was accomplished, which God made through Osee, saying, In funiculis Adam traham eos, in vinculis charitatis;^[1] and men have fallen into this snare of love, which was so tenderly spread for them by the Son of the living God. Man by nature revolts against omnipotence, rebels against justice, and resists mercy; but he lovingly yields to the imploring and sorrowful accents of one who dies for him and who loves him even in death. Why persecutest thou me? This is that voice, at once terrible and tender, which continually reproaches sinners, and these endearing, sweet, and