Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/157



HUMAN LIBERTY. 151

States, because the marks of truth are, as it were, en- graven upon it. This religion, therefore, the rulers of the State must preserve and protect, if they would provide â€” as they should do â€” with prudence and usefulness for the good of the community. For public authority exists for the welfare of those whom it governs; and although its proximate end is to lead men to the prosperity found in this life, yet, in so doing, it ought not to diminish, but rather to increase, man's capability of attaining to the supreme good in which his everlasting happiness consists: which never can be attained if religion be disregarded.

All this, however, We have explained more fully else- where. We now only wish to add the remark that liberty of so false a nature is greatly hurtful to the true hberty of both rulers and their subjects. Religion, of its essence, is wonderfully helpful to the State. For since it derives the prime origin of all power directly from God Himself, with grave authority it charges rulers to be mindful of their duty, to govern without injustice or severity, to rule their people kindly and with almost paternal charity; it admonishes subjects to be obedient to lawful authority, as to the ministers of God; and it binds them to their rulers, not merely by obedience, but by reverence and affection, forbidding all seditions and venturesome enter- prises calculated to disturb public order and tranquillity, and cause greater restrictions to be put upon the liberty of the people. We need not mention how greatly religion conduces to pure morals, and pure morals to liberty. Reason shows, and history confirms the fact, that the higher the morality of States, the greater are the Hberty and wealth and power which they enjoy.

We must now consider briefly liberty of speech, and liberty of the Press, it is hardly necessarj^ "to say thai" there can be no such right as this, if it "be^hoT used Tfi^od- eration, and if it pass beyond the bounds and end of all true liberty. For right is a moral power which â€” as We have before said and must again and again repeat â€” it