Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/211



CHIEF DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS AS CITIZENS. 205

have charity, which is the bond of perfection} Yea, truly, charity is the bond of perfection, for it binds intimately to God those whom it has embraced and with lo\dng tender- ness, causes them to draw their life from God, to act with God, to refer all to God. Howbeit the love of God should not be severed from the love of our neighbor, since men have a share in the infinite goodness of God and bear in themselves the impress of His image and likeness. This commandment we have from, God, that he who loveth God, love also his brother.^ If any man say I love God, and he hateth his brother, he is a liar.^ And this commandment concerning charity its divine proclaimer styled iww, not in the sense that a previous law, or even nature itself, had not enjoined that men should love one another, but because the Christian precept of loving each other in that manner was truly new, and quite unheard of in the mem- ory of man. For that love with which Jesus Christ is beloved by His Father and with which He Him.self loves men. He obtained for His disciples and followers, that they might be of one heart and of one mind in Him by charity, as He Himself and His Father are one by their nature. No one is unaware how deeply and from the very beginning that precept has been implanted in the breast of Christians, and what abundant fruits of concord, mutual benevolence, piety, patience, and fortitude it has produced. Why, then, should v/e not devote ourselves to imitate the examples set by our fathers? The very times in which we live should afford sufficient motives for the practice of charity. Since impious men are bent on giving fresh impulse to their hatred against Jesus Christ, Christians should be quickened anew in piety ; and charity, which is the inspirer of lofty deeds, should be imbued with new Hfe. Let dissensions therefore, if there be any, wholly cease; let those strifes which waste the strength of those engaged in the fight, without any advantage resulting to religion, be scattered to the winds; let all minds be united in ' Coloss, iiL 14. ^1 John iv. 21. ' Ibid. iv. 20.