Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/165



HUMAN LIBERTY. 159

lavish liberty on all in the greatest profusion, they are utterly intolerant towards the Catholic Church, by re- fusing to allow her the liberty of being herself free.

And now to reduce for clearness' sake to its principal heads all that has been set forth with its immediate con- clusions, the summing up is this briefly: that man, by \Cl a necessity of his natu re, is wholly subject to jhe,5ifiSi P'-^ faithfuT and""ever-enduring^ I>ower of God; and that as a conÂ»eque1ice^ny liberty, except that which consists in submission to God and in subjection to His will, is unintelligible. Todeny the existence ,of this authority m God, or to refuse to submit to it, means to act, not as a fr ee man, but as one who treasonably abuses his liberty; and in such a disposition of mind the chief and deadly vice of Liberalism essentially consists. The form, how- ever, of the sin is manifold; for in more ways and degrees than one can the will depart from the obedience which is due to God or to those who share the divine power.

For, fn rp]pp|. t.TiP RimrPTjn^^pi^^t^^'-j^y ^f tZr.A and tO Cast

off all obedience to Him in public matters, or even in pri- vate and domestic affairs, is the greatest perversion of liberty and the worst kind of Liberalism: and what We have said must be understood to apply to this alone in its fullest sense.

Next comes the system of those who admit indeed the duty of submitting to God, the Creator and Ruler of the world, inasmuch as all nature is dependent on His will, but who boldly reject all laws of faith and morals which are above natural reason, but are revealed by the authority of God; or who at least impudently assert that there is no reason why regard should be paid to these laws, at any rate publicly, by the State. How mistaken these men also are, and how inconsistent, we have seen above. From this teaching, as from its source and principle, flows that fatal principle of the separation of Church and State; whereas it is, on the contrary^ clear