Worshippers of the letter, they wish to force grown men to exist
upon a diet fit for infants, which diet grown men refuse. They do
not understand that though God be infinite and unchangeable, man's
conception, of Him grows ever grander from century to century, and that
the same may be said of all Divine Truth. They are responsible for a
fatal perversion of the Faith which corrupts the entire religious life;
for the Christian, who by an effort, has bent his will to accept what
they accept, to refuse what they refuse, believes he has accomplished
the greatest thing in God's service, whereas he has I accomplished less
than nothing, and it remains for him to live his faith in the word of
Christ, in the teachings of Christ; it remains for him to live the
_'fiat voluntas tua'_ which is everything. Holy Father, to-day few
Christians know that religion does not consist chiefly in the clinging
of the intellect to formulas of truth, but rather in actions, and a
manner of life in conformity with this truth, and that the fulfilment of
negative religious duties, and the recognition of obligations towards
the ecclesiastical authority, do not alone correspond to true Faith.
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