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Show tuFblessedncss of the virgin mother There Can be no Rational Concept of Christianity, Chris-tianity, if the Mother of Christ is Not Re-coginzed Re-coginzed as a Vital factor in the Divine tconomy If Christ is God, Mary Must be Honored as the Mother of God. ' ::( Ks. llcv. J. Lancaster Spalding D. J), in ihc ; Ave Maria.) ; The Christian religion is a system of doctrines ; ii'l a system of farts, and honor it is both deg-ir::,iic deg-ir::,iic :nn! historical. Its central idea is iho In-. In-. ,,r:i;)ti-ni. and ils supreme fact is iho manifest a- : 1 m "f the Son of God as t he Son of Man also. ? i 11. essence of Christianity is found in the person ; . ' .!-us Christ, lie Hot only founded the wor-: wor-: -iiip f Cod in spirit and in truth, but He brought I ' i'o the world a new principle of life, which is f Himself.' He is -forever the ideal Man and this . 1 :d is made possible to others only in so far as Ii'.v participate in the life of God's Son. He has jjmn n the secret and the method of the perfect way. and in Him alone can vp find the strength I walk therein securely t the end. JTe is the I Life, and the Life is the light of men; and to those i lio receive Him He rives power to become the j ..ns of God. He who believes in .Him has life I i-verhir-tiiifr : his faith is to hirn. an e.xhaustless j ."iintain of -immortal life. Christ is come into the 1 v."i-d that men may have a fuller and more i ; i".undiiir life. His commandments are life, and f ways are peace. Death is not an obstacle; for f lie i the resurrection and the life, above death and i beyond the grave. "Xow ibis is eternal life: that j !!iey know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus i Christ, whom Thou hast sent.' I Ileiice Christianity is not. at least, primarily, ; speculative: it is not a philosophy. God has not. 5 l"- 11 j (leased to save the world by dialectics. It is " .1 principle of life having- a concrete and historical j xistence; insinuating itself into the minds and ; h'-arts of men. enlightening and purifying them; ; ;.nd so unfolding- itself in higher and holier modes ; "f living, and propagat ing- itself on every side. . I lie preaching of the Word, the sacramental sys-i sys-i lent, the hierachical organization, the dogmatic creed, ihe ascetic discipline, are but the different, j t'-'nns through which this principle of the. divine. life works upon the souls of men, to purify them .nid prepare them for the .beatific vision. To oon-sidor oon-sidor any Christian doctrine or practice separate-i separate-i iv from its organism would be as misleading and ' unsatisfactory as to attempt to form a theory of j ili.- earth without, bearing- in mind its relations to ihc solar and sidereal systems. As in nature noth-i noth-i ii'C exists of itself nr for itself, so in the religion I r- Christ there is perfect and harmonious intcr-) intcr-) o'pendence of doctrines and disciplines. I The childish and ridiculous physics of the an cients is familiar to all who have paid any atten-tieii atten-tieii to such subjects. They did not observe na- ! in re 10 discover what really is and happens, but 11 icy gave themselves up lo vain and worthless rea- s" nines upon abstract notions and theories as fo hat nature is or docs; and as a consequence they I x.iuMied in iheir own empty thoughts. Argu-i Argu-i f Meios based upon theories of Christianity have ' 1-"I t. conclusions equally absurd. The. "chaos of I reliL'ioiis opinion and belief among the sects is iho ; Hi i-eci anil fatal consequence of this proceeding. hii-tianity is not a theory: it is a secular and ; v. Th! wide fact, with a definite and far reaching ' .-'-t. .ry. Its influence is felt in all the gToat con-l con-l t'i i- ;,nd struggles of mankind for now nearly two th-n-and years; it, has undergone the severest I tn.-.b. has kindled the. noblest enthusiasm, has ? - al ined the bitterest hate, has takvn part in the r furious controversies, and has withstood as- ' t from within and from without. It has 1 . i-.eained itself against -orruption, ignorance ! lawlessness. has reserv(Hl its organizalion ,' H-'hct in spite, of kings and parliaments and na-l na-l 1 ':! jeahiiisies. In the futf; of ihiloso)hers and j I archs it has, without faltering for a mo-; mo-; ariinned its right to teach in the name of ; r :,d has built upon the central fact of the 'rial union of the divine and human natures :- I. -i Clirist ihe most complete and faultless C-ii.tie system. I " raake. iIkj individual the measure of Chris-,: Chris-,: truth is as unreasonable as to make him the . I e...,irf, ,,f aws nf nature. Xo one believes I laws of nature or the facts of history are any man may choose to think them to be. j 'i n.o-t extreme idealist admits that for all ?"'' -at jjurposes the objectivity of the external ; ;,j mu'-t be assumed. It is, therefore, manifest ' to a.j.ly a purely . subjective test to an his-l his-l ! I -r.-ligion is absurd. The Christian religion ' ' what each man thinks it to be. It has an ' !;ce of its own and is what the facts of its ! 1 ' I'rove it. to be. The central fact in tlfis 1, 1 -t e y- ;c s alraly statel. the manifestation in lU vf r;H (, 1nc y0'n ()f God as the Son of man 1 power and wisdom of (iod arc shown forth ivation of tjie world, and His infinite love ' - "'. ;.er in the redemption of man. And thus 1 prehlcni of religion and that of human life re- '''' -heir final solution. Christianity is the ab- ! ' lig-ion. which whosoever refuses to accept ;; 'li.e,, finally l0 atheism or to pantheism. A i 11 ; - of the universe which would make any other ' .!, possible is not even conceivable. J , -:-mi: ihe fact of Christianity is before-and : I f'!,,-v- iu documents. Its significance and feach- i ; s- a;, to be sought in its history, of which the I I V'v"' u Word is but a small 1'arl. It is itself its Si' -nftieieni wilness. 13y ihe union of a divine j ! with human nature, man has been brought j ;i new ami mysterious relatifdishi) .with God; 'i I ' '"' ''.v 1 lie. indwe lliiig of 'the Holy Spirit in ihe i I niatiiral creation which flows from the T!bod l. rlriM. a new and mystic source nf.trulh and "'-lity is opened to ihe liurnan race. As Christ. ' ''i-'"ri-al and divine Person. His Church is I f JViMr"ical and divine fad. The Person of Christ r I ?trmiiies the value, of the apostolic minist 5 1 ' . J-lJ ; ' ' ' "' - Nv A4 " - ' ' itfr ' - M f-t V5v l V - i'&'Vt vs ?l V W " Vv - A h "0 Virgin Mother, daughter of H l' J,- . t ' l" t Fr in thy Wmb rekindli thy Son. p'l U s :;: Bhone the love Created beings all in lowliness ; !; ?Vj'jf f. s "' Revealed, whose genial influence Surpassing, as in height above L: K , . " f I u! i makes now them all; H " I ' This flower to germin in eternal Tenn by the Eternal Council : 1 i 1 " i peace; preordained; cj ' ' I'll - 1 Here thou to us, of charity and Ennobler of thy nature, so ad- I-i-t V' J f i hvt, vanced iil - " ' -'I il lJj I I Art as the noonday torch; and f ; L I tl I In thee that its great Maker did f L " -J H 1 art, beneath not scorn ?t $ .,? - ' J To mortal man, of hope a living To make Himself His own crca- i 1 V ' ' ! . 'c ? spnng." Dante. . I - i - H , .-) i tion; IV . 4 4 .f f; 1 r;; : ; . ' - 'j m - - '7 - -1 - t fill -v, ? V'-.r ,W:vW i,. U i- v- v. WW i. v. . ... . .TrTTT. 'T'.Tii 1 r ,'-, - ; , L , . . . , ' x .il, ihe sacramental system, and of the inspired Scriptures. Scrip-tures. By l(oaring these principles in mind we phall easily perceive the position which is assigned to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in the divine economy for the salvation of man. Mary mediates between the divine and the human natures; she is the channel through which they flow to form ihe personal union; she is the only human wilness to the Incarnation. Her fate is for evermore associated with the person and life of her Divine Sou. Since He is the God-Man, she is the Mother of the God-Man; since He is the highest, the holiest, the purest being who has ever 'walked the. earth, she is the Mother of this majesty ma-jesty and holiness and purity. Mary is the most beloved Daughter of the Eternal Father, the most dear Mother of the Eternal Eter-nal Son; the immaculate and virginal Spouse of the Eternal Spirit of holiness, of Truth and of love. She stands apart from her whole race, and her position is her own for evermore on earth and in heaven; and its inviolable strength lies in the fact that it canned Ik assailed except through her Son. To think of Mary as only a good woman implies a doubt of the divinity of Christ; and to. think of Christ as only a great and wise philosopher philoso-pher implies a doubt, of the goodness of Mary. They are united in (iod and it is not in the power of man lo put them asunder. To the mere reason, the Incarnation is an unfathomable un-fathomable mystery, and it is not surprising that this should have been the central point of dispute dis-pute in all the early conflicts of the Church with j heresy. Already in the second century St. Ire- naeus affirmed that heresies universally begin or : end with the denial of the Incarnation of the Divine Di-vine Word in ihe womb of the Virgin Mary. In -the Arian controversy the divinity of Our i Ijord was the subject in dispute; and in the Apjl- j linarian and Monophysite heresies. His manhood ! was called in question; while Xestorius denied the j unity of person in Christ. To defend ihe true j doctrine of the Incarnation against all these here- j sies, the Church could discover no more certain ! and effectual means than to declare the Blessed J Virgin Mary to be the Mother of God. The divine di-vine maternity of Mary witnesses bolh to the Godhead God-head and the manhood of Christ, and to His personal per-sonal unity. It: the sixteenth century heresy look an opposite course. The true doctrine of the Incarnation In-carnation was. maintained, but the position and office of the Blessed Virgin were denied, at least by implication. The event, however, has again shown that they only-who honor and love Mary can. think rich t ly of Jesus. Protestants shrank from calling- Mary the Mother of God, and' the force of logic has driven them in large numbers to deny that Christ is (iod; and even in the more orthodox sects their is no longer found an explicit, and definite defi-nite belief in the Incarnation. The Catholic devotion de-votion to the Blessed Virgin has grown from tho contemplation of the supreme and central fact of Christianity; the Protestant notion concerning her has been formed from texts or einniissions of Scripture. (JL'o be continued.) ... |
