Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/34

 one and all in God's name. ''Give ear, you that rule the people, and that please yourselves in multitudes of nations; for power is given you by the Lord, and strength by the Most High, who will examine your works, and search out your thoughts;. . . for a most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule. . . . For God will not accept any man's person, neither will He stand in awe of any one's greatness: for He hath made the little and the great, and He hath equally care of all. But a greater punishment is ready for the more mighty.'' Should it, however, happen, at any time, that in the public exercise of authority rulers act rashly and arbitrarily, the teaching of the Catholic Church does not allow subjects to rise against them, without further warranty, lest peace and order become more and more disturbed, and society run the risk of greater detriment. And when things have come to such a pass as to hold out no further hope, she teaches that a remedy is to be sought in the virtue of Christian patience and in urgent prayer to God. But should it please legislators and rulers to enjoin or sanction anything repugnant to the divine and natural law, the dignity and duty of the name of Christian and the Apostolic injunction proclaim that one ought to obey God rather than men.

Moreover, the salutary influence of the Church, which redounds to the upholding of well-regulated order in civil society and promotes its conservation, the family circle itself (which is the starting-point of every city and every State) necessarily feels and experiences. For you are fully aware, Venerable Brothers, that the governing principle of family life has, in accordance with the requirements of natural law, its basis in the indissoluble union of husband and wife, and its superstructure in the duties and rights of parents and children, and of masters and servants towards each other. You are further aware that the theories of socialism would quickly destroy this