Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/117



CHRISTIAN CONSTITUTION OF STATES. Ill

and practice â€” not such religion as they may have a prefer- ence for, but the reUgion which God enjoins, and which certain and most clear marks show to be the only one true religion â€” ^it is a public crime to act as though there were no God. So, too, is it a sin in the State not to have care for religion, as a something beyond its scope, or as of no practical benefit; or out of many forms of reUgion to adopt that one which chimes in with the fancy; for we are bound absolutely to worship God in that way which He has shown to be His will. All who rule, therefore, should hold in honor the holy name of God, and one of their cliief duties must be to favor rehgion, to protect it, to shield it under the credit and sanction of the laws, and neither to organize nor enact any measure that may compromise its safety. This is the bounden duty of rulers to the people over whom they rule. For one and all are we destined by our birth and adoption to enjoj^ when this frail and fleeting hfe is ended, a supreme and final good in heaven, and to the attainment of this every endeavor should be directed. Since, then, upon this depends the full and perfect happiness of mankind, the securing of this end should be of all imaginable interests the most urgent. He nce civil society, establishe d for the co mmon welfare, should not only safeguard the well- being j^~th(? community, but hav e also at heart the inter- est s^ of its indJAddual mem bers, i n such mode as not in an y way to hinder, but in every manner to render as easy as ma y, be, the possession of that highest and unchangeable gQod-JQLJv faich all should seek. Wherefore, for this pur- pose, care must especially be taken to preserve unharmed and unimpeded the religion whereof the practice is the link connecting man ^vith God.

Now, it cannot be difficult to find out which is the true religion, if only it be sought with an earnest and unbiassed inind; for proofs are abundant and striking. We have, for example, the fulfilment of prophecies; tniracles in great number; the rapid spread of the faith in the midst

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