casuists to run riot in the city which is intrusted to us to guard?  Not thus will we be disloyal to our trusts.  Men have souls to save, and we will come to the rescue with any weapons we can lay our hands upon.  The Church is the only hope of the world, not merely in our unsettled times, but for all ages.  And hence I, as the guardian of those spiritual principles which lie at the root of all healthy progress in civilization, and all religious life, will not tamely and ignobly see those principles subverted by dangerous and infidel speculations, even if they are attractive to cultivated but irreligious classes.”

Such may have been the arguments, it is not unreasonable to suppose, which influenced the great Leo in his undoubted persecutions,—­persecutions, we should remember, which were then indorsed by the Catholic Church.  They would be condemned in our times by all enlightened men, but they were the only remedy known in that age against dangerous opinions.  So Leo put down the Manicheans and preserved the unity of the faith, which was of immeasurable importance in the sea of anarchies which at that time was submerging all the traditions of the past.

Leo also distinguished himself by writing a treatise on the Incarnation,—­said to be the ablest which has come down to us from the primitive Church.  He was one of those men who believed in theology as a series of divine declarations, to be cordially received whether they are fully grasped by the intellect or not.  These declarations pertain to most momentous interests, and hence transcend in dignity any question which mere philosophy ever attempted to grasp, or physical science ever brought forward.  In spite of the sneers of the infidels, or the attacks of savans, or the temporary triumph of false opinions, let us remember they have endured during the mighty conflicts of the last eighteen hundred years, and will endure through all the conflicts of ages,—­the might, the majesty, and the glory of the kingdom of Christ.  Whoever thus conserves truths so important is a great benefactor, whether neglected or derided, whether despised or persecuted.

In addition to the labors of Leo to preserve the integrity of the received faith among the semi-barbaric western nations, his efforts were equally great to heal the disorders of the Church.  He reformed ecclesiastical discipline in Africa, rent by Arian factions and Donatist schismatics.  He curtailed the abuses of metropolitan tyranny in Gaul.  He sent his legates to preside over the councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon.  He sat in judgment between Vienna and Arles.  He fought for the independence of the Church against emperors and barbaric chieftains.  He encouraged literature and missions and schools and the spread of the Bible.  He was the paragon of a bishop,—­a man of transcendent dignity of character, as well as a Father of the Church Universal, of whom all Christendom should be proud.