Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/147

except that which he has given to things. For this reason, the universe, which signifies everything created by God, is the combination of all substance; and order, which signifies the form in which God has modeled all things, is the combination of all beauty. There exists no creator except God, there can be no beauty except in order, and no creature except in the universe.

If all beauty consists in the order originally established by God, and if beauty, justice, and goodness are the same thing, viewed under different aspects, it follows from this that, outside of this order established by God, there can be neither beauty, justice, nor goodness; and if these three things constitute the supreme good, order, which includes them all, must necessarily be the supreme good.

As there is no good except in order, everything not in conformity with order must be evil; nor can there be any evil which does not consist in a subversion of order; therefore, as order is the supreme good, disorder is the supreme evil, because outside of disorder there can be no evil, and outside of order no good. From what has been said, we deduce the inference that order, or what is the same thing, supreme good, consists in the preservation of all things in that connection in which God placed them, when he created them out of nothing; and that disorder, or what is its equivalent, supreme. evil, consists in breaking this admirable connection and this sublime harmony.

This connection could not be broken nor this harmony interrupted except by the exercise of a will and power which were, to a certain point and in a possible manner, independent of the will of God. No creature was endowed to such an extent, except angels and men, who