Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/155



HUMAN LIBERTY. 149

infrequently they deal with the same objects, though in different ways. WTienever this occurs, since a state of conflict is absurd and manifestly repugnant to the most wise ordinance of God, there must necessarily exist some order or mode of procedure to remove the occasions of difference and contention, and to secure harmony in all things. This harmony has been not inaptly compared to that which exists between the body and the soul for the well-being of both one and the other, the separation of which brings irremediable harm to the body, since it extinguishes its very life.

To make this more e\adent, the growth of liberty ascribed to our age must be considered apart in its various details. And, first, let us examine that liberty in indi\dd- uals which is so opposed to the virtue of religion, namely, the liberty of worship, as it is called. This is based on the principle that every man is free to profess as he may choose any religion or none.

But, assuredly, of all the duties which man has to fulfil, that, without doubt, is the chief est and holiest which commands him to worship God ^^ath devotion and piety. This follows of necessity from the truth that we are ever in the power of God, are ever guided by His will and provi- dence, and, ha\'ing come forth from Him, must return to Him. Add to which no true virtue can exist without reUgion, for moral virtue is concerned with those things which lead to God as man's supreme and ultimate good; and therefore religion, which (as St. Thomas says) "per- forms those actions which are directly and immediately ordained for the di\dne honor," ^ rules and tempers all virtues. And if it be asked which of the many conflicting rehgions it is necessary to adopt, reason and the natural law unhesitatingly tell us to practise that one which God enjoins, and which men can easily recognize by certain exterior notes, whereby divine Providence has willed that it should be distinguished, because, in a matter of such


 * Summa, 2a 2se, q. Ixxxi. a. 6.