__O Lux beatissima!__ exclaims the Church. O most blessed Light! fill the depths of the hearts of Thy faithful. Break forth, Christian soul, into singing, and with rapture praise the Holy Ghost. Yes, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove! may we never cease to invoke Thee in our needs, and praise Thee for the comfort Thou dost bring us. The words of the Psalmist are upon our lips: "Oh! how Thou hast multiplied Thy mercies, O my God! The children of men shall put their trust under the covert of Thy wings. {121} They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure. For with Thee is the fount of life; and in Thy light"--O Lux beatissima!--"we shall see light." [Footnote 37] [Footnote 37: Ps. xxxv. 8-10.] --------------- {122} Sermon VIII. The Duty Of Upholding The Pope's Temporal Sovereignty. (Preached On The Feast of Pentecost, 1870, When A Collection Was Made For The Holy Father.) Zach. vi. 13. "__He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a Priest upon his throne__." We celebrate on this day the foundation of the Catholic Church. For it was on this day that the Holy Ghost came down on the Apostles to bestow those gifts of grace which make the Catholic Church a reality. This descent of the Holy Ghost was the fulfilment of prophecies made by the ancient prophets of the old law, who, under the figures of Sion and Jerusalem, have described the Holy Roman Church, and the universal Church under her obedience, diffused through out the world. In their inspired visions respecting the building of the second temple, among others, they have foretold the foundation, the extension, and the glory of this true and everlasting Church and kingdom of Christ upon the earth. {123} As, for instance, the prophet Zacharias, sent by God to build the walls of Jerusalem and the second temple, has foretold the institution of the sovereign pontificate of the Bishops of the Roman Church, the Vicars of Christ, who unite the priestly and the royal dignity in their persons, in the words of my text. "And thou shalt take gold and silver: and shalt make crowns, and thou shalt set them on the head of Jesus the son of Josedec the high-priest. And thou shalt speak to him, saying: BEHOLD A MAN, THE ORIENT IS HIS NAME: and under him shall he spring up, and shall build a temple to the Lord. Yea, he shall build a temple to the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; AND HE SHALL BE A PRIEST UPON HIS THRONE." This is the kingdom of Jesus Christ, called by the prophet THE ORIENT, which he exercises through his Vicars, the Roman Pontiffs, and which is a spiritual sovereignty, with a temporal sovereignty annexed, as is shown by the words, "a priest upon his throne," as well as by the emblem of the two crowns, one of gold and one of silver.