ieve in the existence of God, if they are to be consistent
and not ridiculous, will, of necessity, understand that the different
methods of divine worship involving dissimilarity and conflict, even on
the most important points, cannot be all equally probable, equally good,
and equally accepted by God. 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, indeed, a good in
which human society may rightly rejoice, but, on the contrary, a fount
and origin of many ills.

Liberty, in so far as it is a virtue perfecting man, should be occupied
with that which is true and that which is good; but the foundation of
that which is true and that which is good cannot be changed at the
pleasure of man, but remains ever the same, nor indeed is it 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 things it is not right to place in
the light before the eyes of men, far less to defend by the favor and
tutelage of the laws. A well-spent life is the only path to that heaven
whither we all direct our steps; and on this account the State departs
from the law and custom of nature if it allows the license of opinions
and of deeds 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. A well-regulated
State cannot be when religion is taken away; more than needs be,
perhaps, is now known of what sort of a thing is in itself, and whither
tends that philosophy of life and morals which men call _civil_. The
Church of Christ is the true teacher of virtue and guardian of morals;
it is that which keeps principles in safety, from which duties are
derived, and by proposing most efficacious reasons for an honest life,
it bids us not only fly from wicked deeds, but rule the motions of the
mind which are contrary to reason when it is not intended to reduce them
to action. But to wish the Church in the discharge of its offices