Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/149



HUMAN LIBERTY. 143

ixy, something be sanctioned out of conformity with the principles of right reason, and consequently hurtful to the commonwealth, such an enactment can have no binding force of law, as being no rule of justice, but cer- tain to lead men away from that good which is the very end of civil society.

Therefore, the nature of h uman lib erty, however it be considered, whet-heTlhlndlvTcluals or in society, whether â– ' in those who~cbihmand or in those who obey, supposes V/ the necessity of obedience^tcTsome supreme and eternal X^ "law, which is no other than the authority of God, com- manding good and forbidding evil. And so far from this most just authority of God over men diminishing, or even destroying their liberty, it protects and perfects it, for the real perfection of all creatures is found in the prosecution and attainment of their respective ends; but the suprem e end to wh ich human lib erty must aspi re iai— ~G5d^

These precepts of the truest and highest teaching, made known to us by the light of reason itself, the Church, instructed by the example and doctrine of her divine Author, has ever propagated and asserted; for she has ever made them the measure of her office and of her teach- ing to the Christian nations. As to morals, the laws of the Gospel not only immeasurably surpass the wisdom of the heathen, but are an invitation and an introduction to a state of hohness unknown to the ancients ; and, bringing man nearer to God, they make him at once the possessor of a more perfect liberty. Thus the powerful influence of the Church has ever been manifested in the custody and protection of the civil and political liberty of the people. The enumeration of its merits in this respect does not belong to our present purpose. It is sufficient to recall the fact that slavery, that old reproach of the heathen nations, was mainly abolished by the beneficent efforts of the Church. The impartiality of law and the true brotherhood of man were first asserted by Jesus Christ;