Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/163



HUMAN LIBERTY. 157

extolled, and in which the germs of safety and glory were supposed to be contained. The hope has been disappointed by the result. The fruit, instead of being sweet and whole- some, has proved cankered and bitter. If then a remedy is desired, let it be sought for in a restoration of sound doctrine, from which alone the preservation of order and, as a consequence, the defence of true liberty can be con- fidently expected. Yet, with the discernment of a true mother, the Church weighs the great burden of human weakness, and well knows the course down which the minds and actions of men are in this our age being borne. For this reason, while not conceding any right to any- thing save what is true and honest, she does not forbid pubhc authority to tolerate what is at variance with truth and justice, for the sake of avoiding some greater evil, or of obtaining or preserving some greater good. God Himself, in His pro\adence. though infinitely good and powerful permits evil to exist in the world, partly that greater good may not be impeded, and partly that greater e\'il may not ensue. In the government of States it is not forbidden to imitate the Ruler of the world; and, as the authority of man is powerless to prevent every evil, it has (as St. Augustine says) to overlook and leave unpunished many things which are punished, and rightly, hy divine Providence} But if, in such circiunstances, for the sake of the common good (and this is the only legitimate reason), human law may or even should tolerate evil, it may not and should not approve or desire evil for its own sake; for evil of itself, being a privation of good, is opposed to the common welfare which every legislator is bound to desire and defend to the best of his ability. In this, huj man law must endeavor to imitate God, who, as St. Thomas teaches, in allowing"evii to exist m the world, " neither wills evil to he done, nor wills it not to he done, hut mils only to permit it to he done; and this is good." ^ This

' St. Thomas, 1 q. xix. a 9 ad. 3.
 * St. August., de lib. arb., lib. 1. cap. 6, num. 14.