Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/209



CHIEF DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS AS CITIZENS. 203

criticism either in regard to personal conduct or in refer- ence to opinions by him entertained about points of doctrine; but no private person may arrogate to himself the ofRce of judge which Christ our Lord has bestowed on that one alone whom He placed in charge of His lambs and of His sheep. Let every one bear in mind that most wise teaching of Gregory the Great: "Subjects should be admonished not rashly to judge their prelates, even if they chance to see them acting in a blameworthy m.anner, lest reproving what is wrong, they be led by pride into greater wTong, They are to be warned against the danger of setting themselves up in audacious opposition to the superiors whose shortcomings they may notice. Should, therefore, the superiors really have committed grievous sins, their inferiors, penetrated with the fear of God, ought not to refuse them respectful submission. The actions of superiors should not be smitten by the sword of the word, even when they are rightly judged to have deserved censure." *

However, all endeavors will avail but little unless our life be regulated conformably with the discipline of the Christian virtues. Let us call to mind what Holy Scrip- ture records concerning the Jewish nation: As long as they sinned not in the sight of their God, it was well with them: for their God hateth iniquity. And even. . . when they had revolted from the way that God had given them to walk therein, they were destroyed in battles by many nations.'^ Now the nation of the Jews bore an inchoate semblance to the Christian people, and the vicissitudes of their history in olden times have often foreshadowed the truth that was to come, saving that God in His goodness has enriched and loaded us with far greater benefits, and on this account the sins of Christians are much greater, and bear the stamp of more shameful and criminal ingratitude.

The Church, it is certain, at no time and in no particu- lar is deserted by God; hence there is no reason why she ' Reg. Pastor, p. iii. cap. iv. ' Judith v 21, 22.