Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/116



110 CHRISTIAN CONSTITUTION OF STATES.

for the common good of all. But if those who are in authority rule unjustly, if they govern overbearingly or arrogantly, and if their measures prove hurtful to the people, they must remember that the Almighty will one day bring them to account, the more strictly in proportion to the sacredness of their office and pre-eminence of their dignity. The mighty shall be mightily tormented} Then truly will the majesty of the law meet with the dutiful and willing homage of the people, when they are convinced that their rulers hold authority from God, and feel that it is a matter of justice and duty to obey them, and to show them reverence and fealty, united to a love not unlike. that which children show their parents. Let every soul be' subject to higher powers? To despise legitimate authority, in whomsoever vested, is unlawful, as a rebellion against the divine will, and whoever resists that, rushes wilfully to destruction. He that resisteth the power resisteth thej ordivMnce of God, and they that resist, purchase to themselvesi damnation.^ To cast aside obedience, and by popular! violence to incite to revolt, is therefore treason, not against- man only, but against God.

As a consequence, the State, constituted as it is, is clearly bound to aot up to the manifold and weighty duties linking it to God, by the public profession of religion. Nature and reason, which command every individual devoutly to worship God in holiness, because we belong to Him and must return to Him since from Him we came, bind also the civil community by a like law. For men living together in society are under the power of God no less than individuals are, and society, not less than indi- viduals, owes gratitude to God, who gave it being and maintains it, and whose ever-bounteous goodness enriches it with countless blessings. Since, then, no one is allowed to be remiss in the service due to God, and since the chief duty of all men is to cling to religion in both its teaching

' Wisd. vi. 7. ^ Rom. xiii. 1. Â« Ibid. xiii. 2.