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Show FAITH IS TH HIGHEST ACT Or THE INTELLECT Arguments Presented By Rationalists Disputing Dis-puting Catholic Position That faith Is a Supernatural Oitt. (Wriiten for lntcrmountain Caiholic. ) i ' Faith." wrote St. Paul, "is ;; gift of God." Re tt 5ng a supernatural gift, it must necessarily be, in H tli Caiholic sense, the highest act of tho inlelleci, ij Imm -a use God, who bestows ibis j i f i . becomes the I guarantee for tho intelligence.' Rationalists, who II deny tho supernatural, or intervention of. Provi- 11 cleuer, deny that faith N an aoi of ihe intelligence. 1 1 That it depends entirely on education and environ- inputs. and is simply transmitted from father to f I 'child wiihoiit any exorcise of reason. Thi ohjoe- !! lion to faith which lacks certainty, i. c. infallible j . authority, holds p-ool. Hence 1 hose who may hold, like tho Catholic church, that faith is rational and j supernatural, cannot convince Kal ionalisls that in I i their diversity of religious opinions they are ;! guided by the divine intelligence, because the di- vine inielloet excludes all error. It is in this sense I that St. Paul speaks. Suit1 Ixrel. one- faith, one j,. hriptism." Ilenee to ihe mind of the nationalist, i varieiy and contrariety of creeds, claiming the I '- guidance of God. or faith as a supernatural gift, f i is an absurdity, because it would be holding God, or ' ? the divine intellect, sponsor for an admixture of - trtiih and error. f v 'How refute this impregnable objection '. Im- i possible, in the sense that man's private judgment, ; j in religious matters, is the exponent or measure of i God's intellect, since with God there can be no cou- ! tradietion. To meet the objection and maintain villi consistency and logical precision that faith is supernatural, and as a necessary consequence the I highest intellectual act. the Catholic faith, which ' demands for all doctrines of faith and morals an infallible authority, which alone can give certain-. ; ly. is a necessary condition. In this sense alone, say the Rationalists, could it he admitted thai faith is supernatural. For if we must believe what ' God wills, we should and must have unerring ex it poncnls of lb'- divine will. Hence 1o call a belief..... which is the outcome of one's own opinions of God's will, a supernatural gift, is, as viewed by reason, irrational, for how affirm that faith is supernatural, su-pernatural, that is, sanctioned by the divine intellect, intel-lect, and say at the same time that one may believe what lie pleases about particular doctrines '. A ;' holds that baptism is necessary for salvation. B J '. holds ihe contrary. Both A and B hold their par- I tienlfir faith in this one point is supernatural. t " therefore sanctioned by ihe divine intellect. The i x nationalist seeing the . logical absurdity of the. :' claim made by A and B says, no, faith is not su pernatural; it is simply natural, because the human mind naturally inclines to sonic form of belief. Only in the Catholic sense can reason be con-) con-) vinced that failh is. supernatural, because its de mand of an infallible teacher for a certain and un-j un-j changeable failh harmonizes with the divine intei- ! leet. which is one and unchangeable. To call faith that is changeable, or contradictory creeds super- natural, that is, sanctioned by the divine intelli-; intelli-; 1 pence, would be equivalent to saying that God's ' I will is changeable and acecpls that homage and worship, regardless of reason, which come? from man's inner consciousness, as sufficient. This contradicts con-tradicts the very idea the mind forms and reason ; demand? of a Supreme Being; for God is the tir. t , j 1ruth. or truth itself. Then it is impossible for God. in spcakinc. to lie. He can neither deceivi? iK'i- be deceived, for he knows all things, and in knowledge, which is sanctioned by reason, he is the principle of all truth. To divorce1 failh and reason, and make the for-y for-y liier what inner consciousness proclaims il, is re-1 re-1 ' ducinjr religion to a mere sentiment, and making f infinite intelligence subservient to the whims. 1 I caprices and mutable ideas of individuals. We I tind thi- verified in George Fox. who founded a iu'w J creed in England in the middle of ihe seventeenth ? c ntury. He felt a qnMcn impulse which he con- J sid-rcd a ;vcial motion from the Holy Ghost. His I impulse was that all men were bad from the era d hi I to extreme old atre, and in ihe end had nothing to j give to God. The senses were dead, and only sec ond childhood was reserved for the Creator to whom 4 ihe creature owes all he possesses. At Derby, Enc- I I land, he was brought before the magistrate for tho I I elTeeis of his mental aberrations, and was impris- i oncd for six months in the hotisc of correction. I During bis examination n1 -ourt he said that I I Spiaking and IremMinc were necessary disposi- lions to hoar ihe word of God with profit." Tn his ? p'eaching bo always unked and trembled. Hence t the name Quakers was given to his followers, who still teach thai mankind receive this inner light, ,j 1 vbieli i- suthcient. Avithout the writlen word, to at- ' tain salvalion. But they always distinguish the ! I special motions of this inner light from the nat- ur.il light, natural reason, which they regarded, if ' i:1 entirely false, at least deceitive. Pint without reason" there can be no religion. Sensible emotion is not rational faith. The mere ' filling of religion is not in any sense supernatural. lliat is. sanctioned by divine intelligence, because h ignores reason which is essential to man's na-v na-v ture. Set aside reason anel lelicve as you will, not as you should, then there is no intellectual apprehension appre-hension of Christian mysteries; faith is blind and ceases to be an intellectual act of the mind, i So say the Rationalists, and truly. But the oh- I joetion. when applied to the Catholic system which makes reason the preamble of faith, does not hold ( i pood. She presents te ihe unbeliever the motives of credibility, viz.. ihe life of Jesus, as narrated in sacred and profane history. He established his divine authorily by miracles. The church wil-- wil-- nessed those miracles and accepted them as vouchers of ihe divinity of Christ and his infallible j-' authority to teach divine truths which are the .1' foundation of faith. Having organized the church, j'i V . Jesus conferred the same infallible authority on ihe aposiles and their successors. This authority is ' the reason for believing. It is not dimply order- r ' k I - i - ing man's will to believe, but it gives reasons to man's intellect why ho should believe. Bedicf, without an infallible authority, or reasons rea-sons that will convince the intellect, is blind and-irrational, and-irrational, and cannot rise higher than mere credulity. cred-ulity. With Christ, the apostles and the church, faith is an intellectual act. founded on the motives of credibility which reason sanctions. It is in no sense a blind faith, because it demands reasons that are sufficient to convince the understanding. The only question,, then, that remains of any great import is, what church is the successor of the apostolic church? This is so historically evident, evi-dent, that no proofs are needed to identifv tjie Catholic Cath-olic church with the apostolic churcju We have in the long line of Roman pontiffs the." same certainty that Pius X is the successor of St. Tcter as we have that President Root-eve t is the successor of George Washington, the popes asserting their ' authority whenever or wherever the faith was impugnpd, just as the presidents asserted their authority when the rights of the state were not recognized, or -law and order were not observed. F. D. V |
