Similiter ponitur in officiis caritas mutua, benignitas, liberalitas: non distrahitur in contrarias partes, pugnantibus inter se præceptis, civis idem, et Christianus: denique amplissima bona, quibus mortalem quoque hominum vitam Christiana religio sua sponte explet, communitati societatique civili omnia quæruntur: ita ut illud appareat verissime dictum: "Pendet a religione, qua Deus colitur, rei publicæ status: multaque inter hunc et illam cognatio et familiaritas intercedit." [372]
In the same way mutual charity and kindness and liberality become public duties. The man who is at once a citizen and a Christian is no longer the victim of contending parties and incompatible obligations; and, finally, those very abundant good things with which the Christian religion of its own accord fills up even the mortal life of men, are all acquired for the community and civil society, so that it appears to be said with the fullest truth: "The state of the commonwealth depends on the religion with which God is worshipped, and between the one and the other there is a close relation and connection." [373]
Eorum vim bonorun mirabiliter, uti solet, persecutus est Augustinus pluribus locis, maxime vero ubi Ecclesiam Catholicam appellat iis verbis: "Tu pueriliter pueros, fortiter juvenes, quiete senes, prout cujusque non corporis tantum, sed et animi ætas est, exerces ac doces. Tu feminas viris suis non ad explendam libidinem, sed ad propagandam prolem, et ad rei familiaris
Admirably, according to his wont, did Augustin in many places dilate on the power of those good things, but especially when he addresses the Catholic Church in these words: "Thou trainest and teachest children in childlike wise, the young with vigor, the old with gentleness, according as is not only the age of the body, but also of the mind of each. Women thou subjectest
societatem, casta et fideli obedientia subjicis. Tu viros conjugibus, non ad illudendum imbeciliorum sexum, sed sinceri amoris legibus præficis. Tu parentibus filios libera quadam servitute subjungis, parentes filiis pia dominatione præponis.... Tu cives civibus, tu gentes gentibus, et prorsus homines primorum parentum recordatione, non societate tantum, sed quadam etiam fraternitate conjungis. Doces reges prospicere populis, mones populos se subdere regibus. Quibus honor debeatur, quibus affectus, quibus reverentia, quibus timor, quibus consolatio, quibus admonitio, quibus cohortatio, quibus disciplina, quibus objurgatio, quibus supplicium, sedulo doces; ostendens quemadmodum et non omnibus omnia, et omnibus caritas, et nulli debeatur injuria." [374] to their husbands in chaste and faithful obedience, not for the satisfaction of lust, but for the propagation of offspring and the formation of the family. Thou settest husbands over their spouses, not that they may trifle with the weaker sex, but in accordance with the laws of true affection. Thou subjectest sons to their parents in a kind of free servitude, and settest parents over their sons in a benignant rule.... Thou joinest together, not merely in society, but in a kind of fraternity, citizens with citizens, peoples with peoples, and in fact the whole race of men by a remembrance of their parentage. Thou teachest kings to look for the interests of their peoples. Thou admonishest peoples to submit themselves to their kings. With all care thou teachest to whom honor is due, to whom affection, to whom reverence, to whom fear, to whom consolation, to whom admonition, to whom exhortation, to whom discipline, to whom reproach, to whom punishment, showing how all things are not due to all, yet charity is, and wrong to none." [375]
Idemque alio loco male sapientes reprehendens politicos philosophos: "Qui doctrinam Christi adversam dicunt esse reipublicæ,
And in another place, speaking in blame of certain political pseudo-philosophers, he observes: "Let those who say that the doctrine
dent exercitum talem, quales doctrina Christi esse milites jussit, dent tales provinciales, tales maritos, tales conjuges, tales parentes, tales filios, tales dominos, tales servos, tales reges, tales judices, tales denique debitorum ipsius fisci redditores et exactores, quales esse præcipit doctrina Christiana, et audeant eam dicere adversam esse reipublicæ; immo vero non dubitent eam confitere magnam, si obtemperetur, salutem esse reipublicæ." [376] of Christ is hurtful to the State produce an army of soldiers such as the doctrine of Christ has commanded them to be, such governors of provinces, such husbands, such wives, such parents, such sons, such masters, such slaves, such kings, such judges, and such payers and collectors of taxes due, as the Christian doctrine would have them. And then let them dare to say that such a state of things is hurtful to the State. Nay, they could not hesitate to confess that this doctrine, if it be obeyed, is a great safety to the State." [377]
Fuit aliquando tempus, cum evangelica philosophia gubernaret civitates: quo tempore Christianæ sapientiæ vis illa et divina virtus in leges, instituta, mores populorum, in omnes reipublicæ ordines rationesque penetraverat: cum religio per Jesum Christum instituta in eo, quo æquum erat, dignitatis gradu firmiter collocata, gratia principum legitimaque magistratuum tutela ubique floreret: cum sacerdotium atque imperium concordia et amica officiorum vicissitudo auspicato conjungeret. Eoque modo composita civitas fructus tulit omni opinione majores, quorum viget memoria et vigebit innumerabilibus rerum
There was once a time when the philosophy of the Gospel governed States; when the power and divine virtue of Christian wisdom had penetrated into the laws, institutions, and manners of peoples--indeed into all the ranks and relations of the State; when the religion instituted by Jesus Christ, firmly established in that degree of dignity which was befitting, flourished everywhere, in the favor of rulers and under the due protection of magistrates; when the priesthood and the government were happily united by concord and a friendly interchange of offices. And the State composed in that fashion produced, in the opinion of all, more excellent fruits,
gestarum consignata monumentis, quæ nulla adversariorum arte corrumpi aut obscurari possunt. the memory of which still flourishes, and will flourish, attested by innumerable monuments which can neither be destroyed nor obscured by any art of the adversary.
Quod Europa Christiana barbaras gentes edomuit, easque a ferocitate ad mansuetudinem, a superstitione ad veritatem traduxit: quod Mahumetanorum incursiones victrix propulsavit: quod civilis cultus principatum retinuit, et ad omne decus humanitatis ducem se magistramque præbere cæteris consuevit: quod germanam libertatem eamque multiplicem gratificata populis est: quod complura ad miseriarum solatium sapientissime instituit, sine controversia magnam debet gratiam religioni, quam ad tantas res suscipiendas habuit auspicem, ad perficiendas adjutricem.
If Christian Europe subdued barbarous peoples, and transferred them from a savage to a civilized state, from superstition to the truth; if she victoriously repelled the invasions of the Mohammedans; if civilization retained the chief power, and accustomed herself to afford others a leader and mistress in everything that adorns humanity; if she has granted to the peoples true and manifold liberty; if she has most wisely established many institutions for the solace of wretchedness, beyond controversy it is very greatly due to religion, under whose auspices such great undertakings were commenced, and with whose aid they were perfected?
Mansissent profecto eadem bona, si utriusque potestatis concordia mansisset: majoraque expectari jure poterant, si auctoritati, si magisterio, si consiliis Ecclesiæ majore esset cum fide perseverantiaque obtemperatum. Illud enim perpetuæ legis instar habendum est, quod Ivo Carnutensis ad Paschalem II pontificem maximum præscripsit: "Cum regnum et sacerdotium inter se conveniunt, bene
No doubt the same excellent state of things would have continued, if the agreement of the two powers had continued, and greater things might rightfully have been expected, if men had obeyed the authority, the teaching office, and the counsels of the Church with more fidelity and perseverance. For that is to be regarded as a perpetual law which Ivo of Chartres wrote to pope Paschal II.: "When kingship and
regitur mundus, floret et fructificat Ecolesia. Cum vero inter se discordant, non tantum parvæ res non crescunt, sed etiam magnæ res miserabiliter dilabuntur." [378] priesthood are agreed, the world is well ruled, the Church flourishes and bears fruit. But when they are at variance, not only do little things not grow, but even great things fall into miserable ruin and decay." [379]
Sed perniciosa illa ac deploranda rerum novarum studia, quæ sæculo ævi excitata sunt, cum primum religionem Christianam miscuissent, mox naturali quodam itinere ad philosophiam, a philosophia ad omnes civilis communitatis ordines pervenerunt. Ex hoc velut fonte repetenda illa recentiora effrenatæ libertatis capita, nimirum in maximis perturbationibus superiore sæculo excogitata in medioque proposita, perinde ac principia et fundamenta novi juris, quod et fuit antea ignotum, et a jure non solum Christiano, sed etiam naturali plus una ex parte discrepat.
But that dreadful and deplorable zeal for revolution which was aroused in the sixteenth century, after throwing the Christian religion into confusion, by a certain natural course proceeded to philosophy, and from philosophy pervaded all ranks of the community. From this spring, as it were, came those more recent propositions of unbridled liberty which were first thought out and then openly proclaimed in the terrible disturbances in the present century as the principles and foundations of the new law, which was unknown before, and is out of harmony, not only with Christian, but, in more than one respect, with natural law.
Eorum principiorum illud est maximum, omnes homines, quemadmodum genere naturaque similes intelliguntur, ita reapse esse in actione vitæ inter se pares: unumquemque ita esse sui juris, ut nullo modo sit alterius auctoritati obnoxius: cogitare de re qualibet quæ velit, agere quod lubeat, libere posse: imperandi aliis
Of those principles this is the chief: that as all men are understood to be alike in birth and nature, so they are in reality equal throughout the whole course of their lives: that each is so completely his own master as not to be subject in any way to the authority of another; that he is free to think what he likes on every subject, and to do what he
jus esse in nemine. His informata disciplinis societate, principatus non est nisi populi voluntas, qui, ut in sui ipsius unice est potestate, ita sibimetipsi solus imperat: deligit autem, quibus se committat, ita tamen ut imperii non tam jus, quam munus in eos transferat, idque suo nomine exercendum. In silentio jacet dominatio divina, non secus ad vel Deus aut nullus esset, aut humani generis societatem nihil curaret: vel homines sive singuli sive societati nihil Deo deberent, vel principatus cogitari posset ullus, cujus non in Deo ipso causa et vis et auctoritas tota resideat. pleases; and that the right of ruling over others exists in no one. In a society founded upon these principles, the ruling power is only the will of the people, which as it is under its own power alone, so it is alone its own proper sovereign, but chooses to whom it may intrust itself, only in such a way that it transfers, not so much the right, as the function of government, and that to be exercised in its name. God is passed over in silence, as if either there were no God, or as if he cared nothing for human society, or as if men, whether as individuals or in society, owed nothing to God, or as if there could be any government whose whole cause and power and authority did not reside in God himself.
Quo modo, ut perspicitur, est republica nihil aliud nisi magistra et gubernatrix sui multitudo: cumque populus omnium jurium omnisque potestatis fontem in se ipso continere dicatur, consequens erit, ut nulla ratione officii obligatam Deo se civitas putet; ut religionem publice profiteatur nullam; nec debeat ex pluribus quæ vera sola sit, quærere, nec unam quamdam cæteris anteponere, nec uni maxime favere, sed singulis generibus æquabilitatem juris tribuere ad eum finem, dum disciplina
In this way, as it is clear, a State is nothing else but a mob which is mistress and directress of itself. And since the people is said to contain in itself the fountain of all rights and all power, it will follow that the State deems itself bound by no kind of duty towards God; that no religion should be publicly professed; nor ought there to be an inquiry which of many is alone true; nor ought one to be preferred to the rest; nor ought one to be specially favored, but to each alike equal rights ought