Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/472



466 CHRIST OUR REDEEMER.

in fine the constitution and supreme law of human Ufe, and the end to which all must tend, that as we came from God so we should one day return to Him. From this beginning and on this foundation consciousness of human dignity was restored and lived again ; the sense of a common brotherhood took possession of men's hearts; their rights and duties in consequence were perfected or established anew and virtues beyond the imagination or conception of ancient philosophy were revived. So men's purposes, tenor of life, and characters were changed, and the knowl- edge of the Redeemer having spread far and wide, and His power having penetrated into the very life-blood of nations, expelhng their ignorance and their ancient \'ices, a marvellous transformation took place, which, origi- nating in Christian civiUzation, utterly changed the face of the earth.

In recalling these things, Venerable Brethren, there is an infinite sweetness experienced, but at the same time, a serious warning is conveyed â€” namely to return thanks with our whole heart and soul and to see that others, so far as in us lies, return thanks to our divine Saviour.

We Uve in an age remote from the inception and begin- ning of our redemption; but what matters it, since the power of redemption is perpetual, and the benefits thereof are abiding and everlasting. He who once restored our fallen nature, preserves, and will continue to preserve it. He gave Himself a redemption for all; ^ in Christ all shall be made alive;^ and of His kingdom there shall be no end.^ Thus, according to the eternal counsel of God, the salva- tion of all and each wholly depends on Christ Jesus ; those who forsake Him, in their blind fury, seek by that very act their own personal destruction, and at the same time as far as they can, make society in general fall back into the very abyss of evils and disasters from which the Redeemer out of His love had delivered mankind.

' Tim. ii. 6. Â» 1 Cor. xv. 22.

â– Luke i. 33.