In the light of these declarations, openly and persistently made by the self-styled Liberals—but really infidels—of Europe, it is easy to understand what is contained in the Encyclical, in condemnation of the assertion by them, "that the liberty of conscience and of worship is the peculiar (inalienable) right of every man, which should be proclaimed by law, and asserted in every well constituted society, and that citizens have the right to all kinds of liberty (omnimodam libertatem), to be restrained by no law, whether ecclesiastical or civil, by which they may be enabled to manifest openly and publicly their ideas (conceptus) by word of mouth, through the press,, or by any other means." This species of lawless liberty he rightly designates, with the great St. Augustine, "the liberty of perdition." To the extent to which it is maintained by the European infidels, it amounts, in fact, to anarchy and Jacobinism in politics, and to radicalism, rationalism, and infidelity in Religion. These European Liberals are so enamored of liberty, as to desire its monopoly for themselves; they wish to enjoy it all, without allowing any of its privileges to their neighbors. While they claim the freedom to attack the most cherished institutions of Religion and Society, unrestrained by any law, human or divine, those whom they assail are to be denounced as friends of despotism, if they dare open their mouths in legitimate self-defence!
Is it not fair and equitable, Venerable and Beloved Brethren, to understand in this sense only the solemn denunciation of the Pontiff? Is it not a sound canon of interpretation, to seek the meaning of a declaration, particularly if it be a solemn and official one, in the context and the circumstances which called it forth? Is it not evident, from the mere reading of the Encyclical, that the liberty of conscience and of worship is condemned only in the sense, in which it was asserted by its latitudinarian and infidel champions? These maintain it, on the ground that all religions are alike and equal before God, as well as before men, and that they are all alike superstitious and false, good enough perhaps for nervous old women and feeble-
