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ELLIOTT ELLIOTT
ELLIOTT ELLIOTT
OPTICIANS OPTICIANS
PgAPIfRTH•4 hF
Piccadilly Arcade Perth
John CRON mgr. Ex-Maui:f Bros'
swdeof
Tel.
NO. 8,203.
Tel. B7988
B7988 PERTH,WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER 24, 1945.
SEVENTYSECOND YEAR.
PRICE THREEPENCE.
Christ Un mistakably Claimed UNIVERSAL EMPIRE God's Kingdom on Earth is Specially Vested in the Church *What His Sovereignty Could Mean to Social and Public Life From the pages of Holy Scripture, and universally the tempo ral as iw•ell as the spiritual order. This complete it is clear that Jesus Christ claimed a dominion He possesses as flan by kingdom and that He claimed the ful lnatural right . But it is one thing to est power in this kingdom . Moreover , possess a right and quite another to the kingdom which He claimed was a exercise that right, " It would be a un iversal empire over all greatness ani grave error ," writes the Holy Father, mate and inanimate ,over everything temporal and spiritual . All Christians have always admitted this claim , be. cause Christ is God, and in virtue of His divine nature must be the Sover eign Ruler of the whole universe. Is this, then,all that we mean by the Kingship of Christ, and had the Holy Father,when he wrote his Encyclical and instituted the Feast to celebrat e His Kingship,no other purpose in view but to assert once more a trut h admitted by all who believe in the "The Lamb that was Divinity of Jesus Christ? slain is worthy to reThe Kingship of Christ consists, we ceive power and divneed scarcely say,in a threefold power inity and wisdom and' which is essential to lordship. Thi s is sufficiently clear from the scriptural strength and honour: testimony adduced below concerning to Him be glory and the universal dominion of our Redeem . er, and moreover it is a dogma of faith empire for ever and that Jesus was given to man ,not only ever." as our Redeemer,but also as a law . giver, to whom obedience is due. Not only do the Gospels tell us that He made laws, but they present Him to us in the act of making them. Those who keep them show their love for their Divine Master, and He promises that they shall remain in His love (John, xiv ., 15 ;xv. 10 ). He claim ed judicial power as received from His Father, when the Jews accused Him of breaking the Sabbath by the miracu lous cure of a sick man. " For neither doth the Father judge any man; but "to say that Christ has no authority hath given all judgment to the Son" whatever in civil affairs,since, by virtJohn v. 22). In this power is in tue of the absolute empire committed cluded the right of rewarding and pun to Him by the Father,all things are in ishing all men living, for this right is His power. Nevertheless,during his inseparable from that of judging. Ex life on earth He refrained from the executive power, too,belongs to Christ , ercise of such authority,and although for all must obey His commands - none Ile Himself disdained to possess or to may escape them, nor the sanctions care for earthly goods, He did not, nor He has imposed." does He to-day ,interfere with those The Kingdom of Christ. who possess them ." He might have Before we consider the nature of the come to rule over man as an earthly Kinedom of Christ,it will be well to king,but He chose willingly not to exrecall that there are two things be ercise that right. It was not to reign tween twhich we must clearly distin . as a temporal king that He came into guish when treating of the subject of the world; He wished to exercise an Christ' s power, one is the question of immeasurably higher kingship, for He right, the other is the question of said of Himself : "I am come that they fact. may have life, and may have it more Complete Dominion. abundantly" ( John x. 10). As we have seen, the sphere of Therefore when we come to the quesChrist' s dominion embraces absolutely
MERCERS AND • DRAPERS 215-219 William Street, Perth
tion of fact , it is quite clear that Christ did not intend to establish an earthly kingdom . Before Pilate, He expressly declared: " My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to' the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from hence" ( John xviii .30). When Peter drew the sword in the Garden of Gethsemani to defend his Master,Christ reminded him that He was unwilling to exercise earthly power and to defend Himself by force,
people, filled with enthusiastic admiration of His miracle of the multiplication of the loaves ,wished to make Him king, Jesus fled to the solitude of the mountain ( John vi. 15). A (Spiritual Kingdom. His kingdom, though in the world, is not of the world. " This kingdom is primarily spiritual and concerned with spiritual things. That this is so the' above quotations from Scripture amply prove,and Christ by His own action confirms it . On many occasions, when the Jews and even the Apostles wrongly supposed that the Messias would restore the liberties and the kingdom of Israel, He repelled and denied such a suggestion .. , The gospels present this kingdom as one which men pre. pare to enter by penance ,and cannot actually enter except by faith and by baptism, which, though an external rite,signifies and produces an interior regeneration . This kingdom is opposed to none other than to that of Satan and to the power of darkness. It demands of its subjects a spirit of detachment from riches and earthly things and a spirit of gentleness. They must hunger and thirst after justice, and more than this,they must deny themselves and carry the cross. "Christ as our Redeemer purchased the Church at the price of His own Blood; as priest He offered Himself, and continues to offer Himself as a victim for our sins. Is it not evident, then , that His kingly dignity partakes in a manner of both these offices?"
saying, " Put up again thy sword into its place . .. Thinkest thou that I cannot ask my Father, and He will give \le presently more than twelve legions ofAngels?" ( Matt ,xx%i .52.53 )., He refused to interfere in secular affairs, for when " one of the multitude said to Him: Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me," Jesus answered: " Who hath appointed me judge, or divider, over you?" ( Luke xii. 1314 ). Neither would He enter into the political contrpversy between the Jews and the Romans,for when His enemies tried to ensnare Him, by forcing Him to decide whether it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not, the answer of Christ was: " Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" IMatt . xxii. 21). Finally, when the
E. LUISINI
His Kingdom on Earth. This spiritual kingdom of Christ is invisible in the soul of each individual, where He reigns by His grace. But the Saviour founded a visible society, the Catholic Church, to carry on His work and to guard His interests. The Church is,therefore, in a special sense His kingdom on earth . It is "in the world" though not "of the world" for its origin is divine and its object goes beyond all temporal interests. In things purely spiritual , then, the Church is supreme and can tolerate no interference with them from any earth• ly power. In those things into which the spiritual or moral factor largely enters, and with regard to matters necessary for the success of its work, or without authority over which the fulfilment of its mission would be very difficult,the Church must always pre. vail over every other power. With purely temporal things the Church of Christ does not concern itself. But, as we know from its practice, it can never give way on such matters as the moral educatioq of children, or on tho sanctity of the marriage bond. (Continued on Back Cover.)
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