eople. This is a base calumny, which a
slight acquaintance with ecclesiastical history would soon dispel.

The truth is, the most unrelenting enemies of the Church have been the
princes of this world, and so-called Christians princes, too.

The conflict between Church and State has never died out, because the
Church has felt it to be her duty, in every age, to raise her voice
against the despotic and arbitrary measures of princes. Many of them
chafed under the salutary discipline of the Church. They wished to be rid
of her yoke. They desired to be governed by no law except the law of their
licentious passions and boundless ambitions. And as a Protestant American
reviewer(302) well said about forty years ago, it was a blessing of
Providence that there was a spiritual Power on earth that could stand like
a wall of brass against the tyranny of earthly sovereigns and say to them:
"Thus far you shall go, and no farther, and here you shall break your
swelling waves" of passion; a Power that could say to them what John said
to Herod: "This thing is not lawful for thee;" a Power that pointed the
finger of reproof to them, even when the sword was pointed to her own
neck, and that said to them what Nathan said to David: "Thou art the man."
She told princes that if the people have their obligations they have their
rights, too; that if the subject must render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar's, Caesar must render to God the things that art God's.

Yes; the Church, while pursuing her Divine mission of leading souls to
God, has ever been the defender of the people's rights.

St. Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, affords us a striking instance of the
strenuous efforts made by the Catholic Church in vindicating the interests
of the citizen against the oppression of rulers.

A portion of the people of Thessalonica had committed an outrage against
the just authority of the Emperor Theodosius. The offence of those
citizens was indeed most reprehensible; but the Emperor requited the
insult offered to him by a shocking and disproportioned act of
retribution, which has left an indelible stain upon his otherwise
excellent character. The inhabitants were assembled together for the
ostensible purpose of witnessing a chariot race, and at a given signal the
soldiery fell upon the people and involved men, women and children in an
indiscriminate massacre, to the number of about seven thousand. Some time
after the Emperor presented himself at the