Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/118



112 CHRISTIAN CONSTITUTION OF STATES.

of enemies and in face of overwhelming obstacles; the witness of the martyrs, and the like. From all these it is evident that the only true rehgion is the one established by Jesus Christ Himself, and which He committed to His Church to protect and to propagate.

For the only-begotten Son of God established on earth a society which is called the Church, and to it He handed over the exalted and divine office which He had received from His Father, to be continued through the ages to come. As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you} Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world? Consequently, as Jesus Christ came into the world that men might have life and have it more abundantly^ so also has the Church for its aim and end the eternal sal- vation of souls, and hence it is so constituted as to open wide its arms to aU mankind, unhampered by any limit of either time or place. Preach ye the Gospel to every creature.*

Over this mighty multitude God has Himself set rulers with power to govern; and He has willed that one should be the head of all, and the chief and unerring teacher of truth, to whom He has given the keys of the kingdom of heaven.^ Feed My lambs, feed My sheep.^ I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not."

This society is made up of men, just as civil society is, and yet is supernatural and spiritual, on account of the end for which it was founded, and of the means by which it aims at attaining that end. Hence it is distinguished and differs from civil society, and what is of highest moment, it is a society chartered as of right divine, perfect in its nature and in its title, to possess in itself and by itself, through the will and loving kindness of its Founder, all needful provision for its maintenance and action. And just as the end at which the Church aims is by far the

^ Matt, xxviii. 20. ^ Matt. xvi. 19. ' Luke xxii. 32.
 * John XX. 21. * Mark xv-i. 15. * John xxi. 16, 17.


 * John X. 10.