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Show LEO XIII AND THE WORLD'S PEACE. The report that the Holy Father is about to issue an Encyclical in which he will urge all Sovereign Powers to resort to arbitration for the prevention of war, and will invite the Catholic Hierarchy throughout the world to use their influence for the diffusion of principles prin-ciples of peace, elicits from one of our correspondents the expression of the hope that as the Church did away with slavers, so it will put an end to war. The reference is certainly suggestive of ; hopefulness. There was a time in the life of mankind when slavery seemed as inevitable aa war. But thanks to j the influence and exertions of the Church, slavery has become a thing of the past. Its removal was not the work of a s ear or of a century. Slavery Slav-ery was one of the features of a low , moral and mental condition. Before it could be banished from the world it was necessars to raise the moral perceptions per-ceptions of the human race and clarify thought. This the Church did with infinite in-finite patience and perseverance. The slave was supposed to bejong to his master, body and sould. She taught him that he was responsible to God for his own soul; she secured for him all the rights and privileges of a Christian. Chris-tian. The sanguinary games and Immoral Im-moral plays in which he figured she relentlessly condemned. Then she ameliorated the laws which affected him, and labor having become free, the doom of slavery was sealed. It may take a long period to inspire men with the conviction that war should be avoided whenever just arbitration is possible, but the championship of the idea by the Sovereign Pontiff may, we feel sure, be regarded as a pledge of its future acceptance. I |