reipublicæ ne quid ab illis detrimenti capiat. Consentaneum erit, judicio singulorum permittere omnem de religione quæstionem; licere cuique aut sequi quam ipse malit, aut omnino nullam, si nullam probet. to be assigned, provided only that the social order incurs no injury from them. It is a part of this theory that all questions concerning religion are to be referred to private judgment; that every one is allowed to follow which he prefers, or none at all, if he approves of none.
Hinc profecto illa nascuntur; exlex uniuscujusque conscientiæ judicium; liberrimæ de Deo colendo, de non colendo, sententiæ infinita tum cogitandi, tum cogitata publicandi licentia.
Hence these consequences naturally arise; the judgment of every man's conscience is above law; opinions are as free as possible concerning worshipping or not worshipping God; and there is unbounded license of thinking and publishing the results of thought.
His autem positis, quæ maxime probantur hoc tempore, fundamentis reipublicæ, facile apparet, quem in locum quamque iniquum compellatur Ecclesia. Nam ubi cum ejusmodi doctrinis actio rerum consentiat, nomini Catholico par cum societatibus ab eo alienis vel etiam inferior locus in civitate tribuitur: legum ecclesiasticarum nulla habetur ratio: Ecclesia, quæ jussu mandatoque Jesu Christi docere omnes gentes debet, publicam populi institutionem jubetur nihil attingere.
These foundations of the State being admitted, which at this time are in such general favor, it easily appears into how unfavorable a position the Church is driven. For when the conduct of affairs is in accordance with the doctrines of this kind, to the Catholic name is assigned an equal position with, or even an inferior position to, that of alien societies in the State; no regard is paid to ecclesiastical laws; and the Church, which by the command and mandate of Jesus Christ ought to teach all nations, finds itself forbidden in any way to interfere in the instruction of the people.
De ipsis rebus, quæ sunt mixti juris, per se statuunt gubernatores rei civilis arbitratu suo, in
Concerning those things which are of mixed jurisdiction, the rulers of the civil power lay down the law
eoque genere sanctissimas Ecclesiæ leges superbe contemnunt. Quare ad jurisdictionem suam trahunt matrimonia Christianorum, decernendo etiam de maritali vinculo, de unitate, de stabilitate conjugii: movent possessiones clericorum, quod res suas Ecclesiam tenere posse negant. Ad summam, sic agunt cum Ecclesia, ut societatis perfectæ genere et juribus opinione detractis, plane similem habeant cæterarum communitatum, quas respublica continet: ob eamque rem si quid illa juris, si quid possidet facultatis ad agendum legitimæ, possidere dicitur concessu beneficioque principum civitatis. at their own pleasure, and in this manner haughtily set aside the most sacred laws of the Church. Wherefore they bring under their own jurisdiction the marriages of Christians, deciding even concerning the marriage bond, concerning the unity, and the stability of marriage. They take possession of the goods of the clergy because they deny that the Church can hold property. To sum up, they so deal with the Church, that, having stripped her in their own opinion both of the nature and the rights of a perfect society, they clearly hold her to be like other associations which the State contains, and on that account, if she possesses any legitimate means of acting, she is said to possess it by the concession and gift of the rulers of the State.
Si qua vero in republica suum Ecclesia jus, ipsis civilibus legibus probantibus, teneat, publiceque inter utramque potestatem pactio aliqua facta sit, principio clamant, dissociari Ecclesiæ rationes a reipublicæ rationibus opportere; idque eo consilio, ut facere contra interpositam fidem impune liceat, omniumque rerum habere, remotis impedimentis, arbitrium.
But if in any State the Church retains her own right with the approval of the civil laws themselves, and any agreement has been publicly made between the two powers, they begin by crying out that the interests of the Church must be severed from those of the State, and they do this with the intent that it may be possible to act against their pledged faith with impunity, and have the disposal of everything without anything to stand in their way.
Id vero cum patienter ferre Ecclesia non possit, neque enim potest officia deserere sanctissima et maxima, omninoque postulet, ut obligata sibi fides integre religioseque salvatur, sæpe sacram inter ac civilem potestatem dimicationes nascuntur, quarum ille ferme est exitus, alteram, ut quæ minus est opibus humanis valida, alteri ut valiodori succumbere.
But when the Church cannot bear that patiently, nor indeed is able to desert its greatest and most sacred duties, and, above all, requires that faith be wholly and entirely observed with it, contests often arise between the sacred and the civil power, of which the result is commonly that the one which is the weaker in human resources yields to the stronger.
Ita Ecclesiam, in hoc rerum publicarum statu, qui nunc a plerisque adamatur, mos et voluntas est, aut prorsus de medio pellere, aut vinctam adstrictamque imperio tenere. Quæ publice aguntur, eo consilio magnam partem aguntur. Leges, administratio civitatum, expers religionis adolescentium institutio, spoliatio excidiumque ordinum religiosorum, eversio principatus civilis pontificum Romanorum, huc spectant omnia, incidere nervos institutorum Christianorum, Ecclesiæque Catholicæ et libertatem in angustum deducere, et jura cætera comminuere.
So it is the custom and the wish in constitutions of this kind, which are now admired by many, either to expel the Church altogether, or to keep it bound and restricted as to its rule. Public acts in a great measure are framed with this design. Laws, the administration of states, the teaching of youth unaccompanied by religion, the spoliation and destruction of religious orders, the overturning of the civil principality of the Roman pontiffs, all have regard to this end; to emasculate Christian institutes, to narrow the liberty of the Catholic Church, and to diminish her other rights.
Ejusmodi de regenda civitate sententias ipsa naturalis ratio convincit, a veritate dissidere plurimum.--Quidquid enim potestatis usquam est, a Deo tanquam maximo augustissimoque fonte proficisci, ipsa natura testatur.
Natural reason itself convinces us that such opinions about the ruling of a state are very widely removed from the truth. Nature herself bears witness that all power of whatever kind ultimately emanates from God as its greatest and most
Imperium autem populare, quod nullo ad Deum respectu, in multitudine inesse naturâ dicitur, si præclare ad suppeditandum valet blandimenta et flammas multarum cupiditatum, nulla quidem nititur ratione probabili, neque satis habere virium potest ad securitatem publicam quietamque ordinis constantiam. Revera his doctrinis res inclinavere usque eo, ut hæc a pluribus tamquam lex in civili prudentia sanciatur, seditiones posse jure conflari. Valet enim opinio, nihilo principes pluris esse, quam delectos quosdam qui voluntatem popularem exequantur: ex quo fit, quod necesse est ut omnia sint pariter cum populi arbitrio mutabilia, et timor aliquis turbarum semper impendeat. august fountain. Popular rule, however, which is said to be naturally in the multitude, without any regard to God, though it may excellently avail to supply the fire and attractiveness to many forms of covetousness, yet rests on no probable reason, nor can have sufficient strength to insure public security and the quiet permanence of order. Verily, things under the auspices of these doctrines have come to such a pass that many sanction this as a law in civil jurisprudence, that sedition may be raised lawfully. For the idea prevails that princes are really nothing but delegates to carry out the popular will; from which it follows of necessity that all things are equally liable to change at the people's will, and a certain fear of public disturbance is forever hanging over our heads.
De religione autem putare, nihil inter formas dispares et contrarias interesse, hunc plane habet exitum, nolle ullam probare judicio, nolle usu. Atqui istud ab atheismo, si nomine aliquid differt, re nihil differt. Quibus enim Deum esse persuasum est, ii, modo constare sibi, nec esse perabsurdi velint, necessario intelligunt, usitatas in cultu divino rationes, quarum tanta est differentiæ maximisque etiam de rebus
But to think with regard to religion that there is no difference between unlike and contrary forms, clearly will have this issue--an unwillingness to test any one form in theory and practice. This, if it differs from atheism in name, is in fact the same thing. Men who really believe in the existence of God, if they are to be consistent and not supremely ridiculous, will of necessity understand that different methods of divine worship involving
dissimilitudo et pugna, æque probabiles, æque bonas, æque Deo acceptas esse omnes non posse. dissimilarity and conflict, even on the most important points, cannot be all equally probable, equally good, and equally accepted by God.
Sic illa quidlibet sentiendi litterarumque formis quidlibet exprimendi facultas, omni moderatione posthabita, non quoddam est propria vi sua bonum, quo societas humana jure lætetur: sed multorum malorum fons et origo.--Libertas, ut quæ virtus est hominem perficiens, debet in eo quod verum sit, quodque bonum, versari: boni autem verique ratio mutari ad hominis arbitrium non potest, sed manet semper eadem, neque minus est quam ipsa rerum natura, incommutabilis. Si mens adsentiatur opinionibus falsis, si malum voluntas adsumat et ad id se applicet, perfectionem sui neutra consequitur, sed excidunt dignitate naturali et in corruptum ambæ delabuntur. Quæcumque sunt igitur virtuti veritatique contraria, ea in luce atque in oculis hominum ponere non est æquum; gratia tutelave legum defendere, multo minus. Sola bene acta vita via est in cælum, quo tendimus universi: ob eamque rem aberrat civitas a regula et præscriptione naturæ, si licentiam opinionum praveque factorum
And thus that faculty of thinking whatever you like and expressing whatever you like to think in writing, without any thought of moderation, is not of its own nature a good in which human society can rightly rejoice, but on the contrary a fount and origin of many ills. Liberty, as being a virtue perfecting man, must have for its sphere the good and the true; but the true and the good cannot be changed at the pleasure of man, but remains ever the same, and is not less unchangeable than nature herself. If the mind assent to false opinions, if the will choose for itself evil, and apply itself thereto, neither attains its perfection, but both fall from their natural dignity, and both lapse by degrees into corruption. Whatever things, therefore, are contrary to virtue and truth, these it is no right to place in the light before the eyes of men, far less to defend by the favor and protection of the laws. A well-spent life is the only path to that heaven wither we all direct our steps; and on this account the State departs from the law and the ruling of nature if it allows license
in tantum lascivire sinat, in impune liceat mentes a veritate, animos a virtute deducere. Ecclesiam vero, quam Deus ipse constituit ah actione vitæ excludere, a legibus, ab institutione adolescentium, a societate domestica, magnus et perniciosus est error. of opinion and of evil doing to run riot to such a degree as to lead minds astray with impunity from the truth, and hearts from the practice of virtue. But to exclude the Church which God himself has constituted from the business of life, from the laws, from the teaching of youth, from domestic society, is a great and pernicious error.
Bene morata civitas esse, sublata religione, non potest: jamque plus fortasse quam oporteret, est cognitum, qualis in se sit et quorsum pertineat, illa de vita et moribus philosophia, quam civilem nominant. Vera est magistra virtutis et morum custos Ecclesia Christi: ea est, quæ incolumia tuetur principia unde officia ducuntur, propositisque causis ad honesti vivendum efficacissimis, jubet non solum fugere prave facta, sed regere motus animi rationi contrarios etiam sine affectu.
A State cannot be well regulated when religion is taken away; and by this time more perhaps is known than need be of that philosophy of life and morals which men call civil--what its nature is, and what its results are. The Church of Christ is the true teacher of virtue and guardian of morals; it is she who keeps in safety the principles of duty, and by proposing most efficacious reasons for an honest life, bids us not only fly from wicked deeds, but rule the motions of the mind which are contrary to reason even though no act should follow.