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Show ik SUPERNATURAL A REQUISITE RE-QUISITE EACTOR NATURE tie Religion Mast be Supernatural in It's Origin It is Continuous-Thc Natural Presupposes Pre-supposes the Supernatural Natural Laws the Eminatioi of the Divine Will. ( Writ 1 ii fr tin? Intcrniountsuii embolic.) I;i no ago was leligion more universall v dis-cn--ed than it is in tin- present, hi aV, llbii-.-ii..ii. from tlic daily newspapers tip to the usr-ii usr-ii !! reviews. In'1 they religious .r secular, certain -pace is set apart fur the loiigiov.s problems lh;it daily presenting ihemselvo. Keason and Kev-. Kev-. hi cm. tin' natural and lb" supernatural, ;ire i-.ies-t j. im that are uppermost in men's minds. Kevealed -t. ri'S ei faith are meisuvod cud weighed by , man's intelligence, which is I'mito, under the fal.;o supposition tleit man".-, natural reason should be able in penetrate divine mysteries., understand ami discuss them like any other truths, scientific ir philosophical, phi-losophical, liut this kiiov.-Je l-i-r, which the unbeliever unbe-liever claims as his "iuht before he will j:iv r.is im-M im-M iit to any religious -log.ui. would be an infrin.ro-,:,.iit infrin.ro-,:,.iit on divine Unowl?d wbi :-h transcends man's limited knowledge, ami, r.s Cardiiul Newman (X- prcs.-os it, "It is impvi-si'Jo that the Almighty I should reveal to the natural mind thai, which is. j above tin' natural mind, save either as a mystery j id be believed, or by a direr, miracle, operating en ' tin- intellect." Viewing the Christian religion from ' ii origin, and aerepting it as ilivine. its essential characteristic must be ;h" supernatural, (!) :n its origin, or founder, and K-) in all its worKtngs lor -In- pat twenty eeiituries. In its origin we go iack 1o Xazareih. when the great mystery of. the Incarnation Incar-nation look plaee. Tins ineffable mystery is the. J uniting link between G-.-d and man. Its ( ll'eets vre in Doihbhem vho.i desus was born. The mys-i. mys-i. ry of tho lmarnation, whieh unites the creature with his Creator can never be severed. In ihe'de-sitnis ihe'de-sitnis of Infinite "Wisdom the same reasons that demanded de-manded supernatural testimony for the divine mission mis-sion of his only lK-gotten Sou. rciuire a contiuu- anee of that testimony from time to time as the centuries pas by. Our Divine Lord gave sntri-ient' eideneo of his divine nature and Mjpornatural .liaraeter during ihe thirty-three years lie spent on earth, and as he promised to remain till the end of time, we reasonably conclude that from time to lime his presence should, in some measure, be made manifest; or. as an English Protestant judge ex-piesed ex-piesed it : "1 do not see how Jesus Christ can be divine if there is to ! no manifestation of Him for two thousand years; we want the occasional dimpsos of his nresem-e as much as the disciples wanted the full siplit ; the Catholics, therefore, are li-lit in their conviction that the supernatural inii-t .metimes illumine the earth, as the sun soine-1 soine-1 inns breaks through the clouds."' This conclusion i- evident from the fact that man. because of his natural inheritance "darkness of the understanding understand-ing " unless he is supernaturally assisted, and from lime 10 time intellectually convinced by ilivine evidence evi-dence will lapse into paganism. The history of the f -enlile apostasy proves ibis. After ihey separated from the svnagogue. unaided and undirected by th? supernatural, they fell into the grossest superstt-li-ns and the farther removed were, they, m tune, r,.,.,,,' ,h true source of spiritual enlightenment, il. yro.T and more, degrading were their moraU and ideas of the Deity. lu.-redulitv ohioets to divine evidence on the c round lhat. human reason is incompetent to pass a,,Lmr,it on supernatural events, because, the ivit-nral ivit-nral bv its own inherent light, is unable to bear :-tjm,;nv to the supernatural, which belongs to a hiuber plane. Hence the conclusion that for a su-A su-A perualural fact supernatural witness is required. Men.-e the testimony bearing on ihe divine charae-;. charae-;. r of the Divine Founder of Christ ianity being hu-vn,u. hu-vn,u. i as nationalists ,roelaim, insuincient. But .b-,s did not rest his elaims'as a Div.ne Teacher o ,is own testimony, lie always appealed to his - rks -If vou believe not me. believe my works. Whe,,', he Baptist, a prisoner, sent two disciples to I,;,,, ,.. inquire whether he was ihe .Wuih expeet-, expeet-, from the beginning of ihe world, or was 1hr- real i;.,i.-emer vet to come; "or look we for another :,swer' is very significant. ".o and vela e to .ioh,, what vou have heard and seen Ihe blind see :!, Ian,- walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear ., : ii,,. ,,,or hexe the gospel: ,-, a, he,l to them.". As a witness of his divine au-,,,nv au-,,,nv ,e ,loes not fall back on his men- test. inonj, i,r , ;,abli.sbes his cr.libility by appealing to his vorks. u: lv miracles, which are supernatural ef- produced on natural objects, and which, n - , verv nalure, are within the compass of m-reason m-reason to dc-ide whether they H-tWalI, tok ,: ,,. , not Did Jesus eloanse the Icprr, gc , : blind, hearing t the re the , i Jn ,if, an,l give life to his own body after be ., ,,,-losed in the tomb for Hiree d..vs. JU; v. ,,. ...blj, fncts within the reaeh of Innmn pm ,, , , ,nil -h human testimony is eora-,.. eora-,.. nt to pasi judgniHiil. The records of ihr JM a. ,,d and profane, tradition and the man clous .to uh, ,v. "Yes." Then ihey establish the - sio,; ,d authority of the bounder oi Chus- : , in Thev establish his ered.bihty. be, aue : J. Li ,:: irLv the fact that fiod vouehc. for 1.0 ir .r his testimony. This dispenses jith the ..i,.i,(,ion ,b,t there is nred of a to testify to the credibility of the tead e ho l.iui, a divine comniission, and W' b.-anse , miracle, or supernatural f.ct, WT lb- t,'.-e?,i,y of a supernatura ?X ?i Jd-on!, Jd-on!, means by which God could sustain i ihe cred ilah.v of the Teacher hom He JVn a.: He did in the part of II lb. assures man, through the 1'; He speaks through the Pson -ho oiw W mimW Here, is to be found the dm ongn n ?t l liriMianitv. vhicU has for twenty ccntunes con ! the Wt r-lound inkers c ent s Philosophers of its truth. e ha , in t 9 , vorks of Jesus ample proof of tlic .ui-iru for, as Nieodemus said: "Xo man can do those miracles which thou docst, unless, dud be with him.'' i -2) The divine origin of Christianity once es-I es-I teblished, it. will follow that in its workings for I twenty centuries supernatural manifestations are needed from time to time to confirm the faith, i As viewed from Christian standpoint and the Old Testament, which lakes its back to the root of the, human race, this becomes evident, and natural, too. As there could be no effect without a cause, so there could be no creature without a Creator. The eternal must precede all that is begotten in lime; J Ibereforo, the ctornal mind must have preceded all I ir.llligen.-e, human ..or otherwise. The mind exploring explor-ing the .shores of eternity must come to a point, where it beholds (iod. alone infinite in all his at-tributes. at-tributes. What is termed creatures or creature-ship creature-ship existed before this world began, but (iod, who is alone eternal, antedates all that was. .is or yet may spring into existence. "He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." This idea of the Creator, dating from Paradise and transmitted trans-mitted through the patriarchs and t he synagogue is essential before the question of belief in the supernatural su-pernatural can be answered; i. e., we must first admit ad-mit that all nature owes its existence to (.iod, that whatever is is His, and being shaped, formed and given existence by His divine will, He can vary or change what may be termed the natural laws which guide the movements of heaven and earth. What is termed natural is supernal ural, since its first cause is above nature and is simply an effect from a supernatural cause. The natural presupposes ihe s-upernatural, without which it could not exist. -Hence it follows that nature, depending on the will of the Creator for its existence, is supernal u.rally 1 produced. Some of the most profound thinkers and greatest philosophers saw in the smallest blade of grass or tiniest creature the effect of a supernatural superna-tural cause, and would say, "(iod caused you, then arc you in a sense supernatural." All nature is supported, sup-ported, directed ami 'moved by Providence. The laws which govern these movements, and which are termed natural, emanating from the living God, are supernatural loo. The laws of motion, gravitation, gravi-tation, etc.. originated in the dhine will and are perpetuated by Providence. They could not be produced pro-duced by matter itself, or be spontaneous. Therefore, There-fore, ihey must be ordained by infinite intelligence. Even human intelligence, which has been experimenting experi-menting on perpetual motion as far back in time as whereof the memory of man runneth, not otherwise, other-wise, has not. yet succeeded; yet we see in ihe heavens heav-ens and the earth ihe most exquisite systems of perpetual mot ion, which are simply the laws of (iod. ho contiguously perpetuates those laws, whose Providence is so essential that'if withdrawn for a second of time, there would be a standstill, . and nothing but chaos and disorder. P. D. (To be continued.) - |