Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/483



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 477

Many are estranged from Jesus Chrst rather through ignorance than perversity; many study man and the universe around him with all earnestness, but very few study the Son of God. Let it be the first endeavor, then, to dispel ignorance by knowledge, so that He may not be despised or rejected as unknown. We call upon Chris- tians everywhere to labor dihgently to the utmost of their power to know their Redeemer. Any one who regards Him vnth a sincere and candid mind, will clearly perceive that nothing can be more salutary than His law, or more divine than His doctrine. In this, your authority and co-operation. Venerable Brethren, will marvellously assist, as will also the zeal and assiduity of the clergy at large. Think it the chief part of your duty to engrave in the hearts of your people the true knowledge, and. We might almost say the image, of Jesus Christ, and to illustrate in your letters, your dis- courses, your schools and colleges, your pubhc assemblies, whenever occasion serves, His charity, His benefits and institutions. About the "rights of man," as they are called, the multitude has heard enough; it is time they should hear of the rights of God. That the present is a suitable time, is shown by the good impulses of many which have already, as We have said, been awakened, and in particular by the many evidences which have been given of piety towards the Redeemer, a piety which, if it please God, we shall hand down to the next centurj'- with the promise of a better age. But as the matter in hand is one in which success can only be looked for through divine grace, let us with a common impulse and with earnest prayers invoke the mercy of Ahnighty God, that He would not suffer those to perish whom He has freed by shedding His blood that He would graciously regard this age, which has, indeed, been grievously remiss, but has suffered much and bitterly, too, in expiation of its sins ; and that He would, benignantly embracing all peoples and classes of men, remember the word which He spoke: