149 Except, perhaps, Rev. H. W. Beecher. who thinks that God is glorified by the variety of sects. 150 See John xxi. 25; II. Thess. ii. 14. 151 III. Kings xiv. 19. 152 Dialog. 3, 14. 153 Deut. xvii. 154 I. Cor. x. 11. 155 Prov. viii. 15. 156 Matt. xvi. 13-19. 157 Rev. i. 18. 158 John xxi. 15-17. 159 Matt. x. 2; Mark iii. 16; Luke vi. 14; Acts i. 14. 160 Acts iii. 161 Acts ii. 162 Acts x. 163 Acts i. 164 Acts xv. 165 Acts xii. 166 Gal. ii. 11. 167 Gal. i. 18. 168 Socrates’ Ecclesiastical History, B. II., c. xv. 169 Epist. 113. 170 See Butler’s Lives of the Saints—St. Olave, July 29th. 171 Ps. lii. 172 Gen. xi. 4. 173 Numb. xxiv. 5. 174 Conc. Vat. Const. _Pastor Æternus_, c. 4. 175 Conc. Vat. Const. _Dei Filius_, cap. 4; Coloss. ii. 8. 176 Matt. xvi. 177 Matt. xvi. 178 Ibid. 179 Luke xxii. 31, 32. 180 John xxi. 16, 17. 181 Matt. viii. 20. 182 Acts iv. 34, 35. 183 Sometimes called Stephen II., as Stephen, his predecessor, died three days after his election, whose name is omitted in some calendars. 184 III. Kings xxi. 3. 185 II. Kings xii. 186 I dare say you could have found, a few years since, some persons in the United States who entertained a holy fear lest the Pope should one morning land upon our shores, and take forcible possession of our country. A venerable clergyman once informed me that when he went to pay his respects to President Pierce, who then occupied the White House, his Excellency remarked to him: “I had a visit from a nervous gentleman, who asked me whether I was making any preparations to resist the approach of the Pope. I replied that so far I had taken no steps, but that no doubt I would be prepared to meet the enemy when he arrived. The man retired more composed, though not fully satisfied.” 187 Some of the evils that were predicted to follow from the occupation of Rome by a foreign power have been too speedily realized. Already several convents and other ecclesiastical institutions have been seized and sold, and their inmates sent adrift. A number of colleges founded and endowed by the piety of foreign Catholics have been confiscated. Public religious processions through the streets of Rome have been prohibited. These and other outrages are perpetrated by a government which solemnly pledged itself to maintain inviolate the sovereign rights of the Holy Father when it took forcible possession of his city in 1870. From the events that have already transpired, we shall not be surprised to see the Pope still more seriously hampered by a monarch who has unscrupulously violated his former guarantees. 188 Memoir of Pope Sixtus V., by Baron Hübner, Vol. II., ch. 1. 189 When these lines were written, Pius IX. was the reigning Pontiff. He died February 7, 1878.