Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/97

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BOOK II.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS IN REGARD TO ORDER IN GENERAL.

CHAPTER I.

Of free will in man.

Aside from the action of God, there is nothing but the action of man; and, aside from Divine Providence, there is nothing but human liberty. The combination of this freedom with this providence forms the rich and varied web of history.

The free will of man is the master-piece of creation, and the most extraordinary, if it were permitted so to speak, of the divine wonders. In relation to it, all things are invariably ordained, and in such a way that the creation would be unintelligible without man, and man deprived of free will would be an unfathomable mystery. His liberty explains man, and is at the same time the interpretation of all things; yet who can explain this most high, inviolable and holy, freedom-so high, inviolable and holy, that He who bestowed it can not take it away-and which is able to resist and vanquish Him who gave it, opposing an invincible resistance and obtaining an overwhelming victory? Who can explain in what way, notwithstanding this victory of man over God, God remains the conqueror and man the conquered; while the victory of man is a real victory, and

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