Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/186

 ON THE CHIEF DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS AS

CITIZENS.

Encyclical Letter SapienticB Christiance, January 10, 1890.

From day to day it becomes more and more eAddent how needful it is that the principles of Christian wisdom should be ever borne in mind, and that the life, the morals, and the institutions of nations should be wholly conformed to them. From the fact of these principles having been disregarded, mischiefs so vast have accrued that no right- minded man can face the trials of the time being without grave solicitude, nor contemplate the future without serious alarm. Progress, not inconsiderable indeed, has been made towards securing the well-being of the body and of material things; but all natural advantages that administer to the senses of man, while bringing in their train the possession of wealth, power, and limitless resources may indeed greatly avail to procure the comforts and increase the enjoyments of life, but are incapable of sat- isfying the soul created for higher and more glorious bene- fits. To fix the gaze on God, and to aim earnestly at becoming like Him, is the supreme law of the life of man. For we were created in the divine image and likeness, and are vehemently urged, by our very nature, to return to Him from whom we have origin. But not by bodily motion or effort do we make advance towards God, but through acts of the soul, that is, through knowledge and love. God is, in very deed, the primal and supreme truth, and truth the food on which alone the soul is nourished; and God is holiness in perfection and the sovereign good,

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