Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/193



CHIEF DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS AS CITIZENS. 187

selves able to banish from social life the authority and em- pire of God. Led away by this delusion, they make over to human nature the dominion of which they think God has been despoiled; from nature, they maintain, we must seek the principle and rule of all truth ; from nature, they aver, alone spring, and to it should be referred, all the duties that rehgious feeling prompts. Hence they deny all revela- tion from on high, and all fealty due to the Christian teaching of morals as well as all obedience to the Church ; and they go so far as to deny her power of making laws and exercising every other kind of right, even disallowing the Church any place among the civil institutions of the State. These men aspire unjustly, and with their might strive, to gain control over pubUc affairs and lay hands on the rudder of the State, in order that the legislation may the more easily be adapted to these principles, and the morals of the people influenced in accordance with them. Whence it comes to pass that in many countries Catholicism is either openly assailed or else secretly inter- fered with, full impunity being granted to the most per- nicious doctrines, while the public profession of Christian truth is shackled oftentimes with manifold constraints.

Under such evil circumstances therefore each one is bound in conscience to watch over himself, taking all means possible to preserve the faith inviolate in the depths of his soul, avoiding all risks, and arming himself on all occasions, especially against the various specious sophisms rife among non-beUevers. In order to safeguard this virtue of faith in its integrity. We declare it to be very profitable and consistent with the requirements of the time, that each one, according to the measure of his capac- ity and intelligence, should make a deep study of Chris- tian doctrine, and imbue his mind with as perfect a knowl- edge as may be of those matters that are interwoven with rehgion and lie within the range of reason. And as it is necessary that faith should not only abide untarnished in the soul, but should grow with ever painstaking increase,