Perpetuity, or duration till the end of time, is one of the most striking marks of the Church. By perpetuity is not meant merely that Christianity in one form or another was always to exist, but that the Church was to remain forever in its _integrity_, clothed with _all_ those attributes which God gave it in the beginning. For, if the Church lost any of her essential characteristics, such as her unity and sanctity, which our Lord imparted to her at the commencement of her existence, she could not be said to be perpetual because she would not be the same Institution. The unceasing duration of the Church of Christ is frequently foretold in Sacred Scripture. The Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that Christ “shall reign over the house of Jacob _forever_, and of his kingdom _there shall be no end_.”(101) Our Savior said to Peter: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”(102) Our blessed Lord clearly intimates here that the Church is destined to be assailed always, but to be overcome, never. In the last words recorded of our Redeemer in the Gospel of St. Matthew the same prediction is strongly repeated, and the reason of the Church’s indefectibility is fully expressed: “Go ye, teach all nations, ... and behold I am with you _all days_, even _to the consummation_ of the world.”(103) This sentence contains three important declarations: First—The presence of Christ with His Church—“Behold, I am with you.” Second—His constant presence, without an interval of one day’s absence—“I am with you all days.” Third—His perpetual presence to the end of the world, and consequently the perpetual duration of the Church—“Even to the consummation of the world.” Hence it follows that the true Church must have existed from the beginning; it must have had not one day’s interval of suspended animation, or separation from Christ, and must live to the end of time. None of the Christian Communions outside the Catholic Church can have any reasonable claim to _Perpetuity_, since, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, they are all(104) of recent origin. The indestructibility of the Catholic Church is truly marvellous and well calculated to excite the admiration of every reflecting mind, when we consider the number and variety, and the formidable power of the enemies with whom she had to contend from her very birth to the present time; this fact alone stamps divinity on her brow. The Church has been constantly engaged in a double warfare, one foreign, the other domestic—in foreign war against Paganism and infidelity; in civil strife against heresy and schism fomented by her own rebellious children.