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Show -- ; : . X With' a Refutation of the Errors Which It Condemns Translated from the Italian of L'Falconi. Moderate Rationalism. Eighth Error. Er-ror. "Reason being on equality with religion itself, theology and philosophy should be treated in the same manner." man-ner." Refutation. Revealed religion has raised man to a supernatural state. God has manifested to him the supernatural super-natural end for which he was created, ! that is to see God, not in the abstract, but face to face in the plentitude of ' His infinite perfections. Therefore He ; supplies man with an abundance of graces, which illuminate his mind and direct his heart, thus enabling him to ' so regulate his actions that he may reach that supernatural state. In the fulness of time, Jesus Christ, the long expected of nations came to perfect His church, to establish a firmer bond of j unity than had existed under the old dispensation, and to appoint!, teacher, to whom none can refuse obedience without endangering eternal salva- j tion. He clothed the church with the prerogative of infallibility, made her j the custodian of all truth, com- manded her to teach all nations, con- i stitlltpd her TTis rpnrospn tx Hv-f linon earth and gave her the assurance that He and the Holy Ghost would abide with her throughout all time. "Behold I am with you all days even unto the consummation of the world. I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever. He shall abide with you and shall be in you." j Reason intrudes upon the rights of the church and claims an equality with religion itself, though differing from it as the finite does from the infinite. What a strange and absurd pretension! And what presumption on the part of rationalists to endeavor to substitute reason in place of the church in contravention con-travention of the disposition made by her divine Founder. Christ intended that His church should be the sole custodian and interpreter of the truth. They, who in their arrogance, dare to oppose His will, are but preparing pre-paring the abyss into which they will inevitably be plunged; for as St. Peter says, "it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice." Reason should not then be placed on a level with religion, nor must theological the-ological be treated in the same manner man-ner as philosophical science. Ninth Error. "All the dogmas of the Christian religion without distinction distinc-tion are the object of natural science or philosophy, and human reason, illumined il-lumined solely by the light of history, can, by its own natural strength and principles, arrive at a true science of all dogmas, even of those most enveloped en-veloped in mystery; provided that these dogmas be proposed to reason as an object of study." j. Refutation. The dogmas of religion may have for their object either truths which are within, or mysteries which are beyond the capacity of reason to understand. We have already sen that God did not wish to confide the truths which He revealed, 'to' the care of weak human reason; in like manner He did not wish to expose wretched humanity to the attacks of. revilers and calumniators, who, with no other object than to belie the worf of God, might seek like Lucifer in the garden of Eden, to constitute themselves the interpreters of the divine utterances. "No, you shall not die the death. For God doth know that in what day soen.-r you shall eat of the fruit of the tree, your eyes shall bo opened, and y.m shall be as goda, knowing good and evil. The high sounding promise of the serpent brought about the fall of our first parents and their consequent expulsion ex-pulsion from Paradise. But, let leave this aside for the present, and even granting that there are certain dogmas, like the existence of God. His. providence, goodness. omnipotence, etc.. which are not superior to reas u and may therefore be presented as an object for its study; still we ask, lnv,v -can the mysteries be the- abject of natural science or theology, since they , are manifestly without the sphere of these branches and entirely beyond their power to explain. Reason, by ;i process of ratiocination mounts from effects to the discovery of a supreme cause; it also discovers effects from their causes, when these causes operate oper-ate in a necessary manner, or at least it conjectures them with a certain de gree of probability; it may also descend de-scend from principles to their last consequences, con-sequences, if it possesses sufficient intellectual in-tellectual vigor to keep in view th- connection between principles and the remote results deduced therefrom. Bat in the domain of mysteries, this rule does not obtain, because in the examination ex-amination of them, reason cannot perceive per-ceive the connecting link which exists between the subject and the thau' predicated. The various interpreta- . j tions which they have given to the doctrines cf religion verify the ancient saying: "Quot capita tot sentenfi.ie." Reason and experience alike, therefore, there-fore, forbid us to suppose that all dogmas without exception are the object" ob-ject" of natural science or philosophy. The advocates of reason, as a religious guide, have been driven to. desperation, and in Gineva they went so far as prohibit in the schools any discussion of those questions which were a subject sub-ject a dispute in their church, viz.: the two natures of Christ, original sin. grace, predestination, etc. This is the final outcome of all attempts to explain ex-plain the mysteries by the aid of , reason, which grapples in its pride with these obstruse dogmas, but finds itself in the end hurled from its lofty pedestal and compelled to acknowledge its own insufficiency. And yet the.. t ministers of Gineva who originate'! that prohibition, were men of learning learn-ing possessed of great historical and biblical condition, and vested in the are of criticism as ivell as in the science J of theology. Their only fault was their entrance upon a field of labor to which they had not been called. "Non eeran: de genere illornrn per quos salus fat t:i est Israel." The true course for reason to pursue pur-sue is to demonstrate that though th..-mysteries th..-mysteries of faith cannot be understood, under-stood, they do not on that account imply any contradiction. As for us. . I let us always hold firmly to th . J teaching of St. Peter that no propiieev 1 of Scripture is made by private hi- i terpretation, and obey the precept St. Paul, which bids us allow our intellect in-tellect to be led captive in the service of Christ. (To be continued.) |