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Show Uncle lack and Ris nephew feSSSt"- In reply to his nephew's interruption interrup-tion "if people can, with the church, lose their faith and their virtue, I do not see what mighty "advantage she Is ; to : mankind" Unle Jack reminded ; Dick that he was thinking only of good or evil in' relation to the natural and temporal order, and did not at all take into account the supernatural ; providence of God and man's super-j super-j natural destiny in the world to come; also that Dick had no conception of free will, and therefore could not un-i un-i derstand the immense superiority of a t being endowed with a free will over a creature that acts solely from intrinsic in-trinsic necessity, Uncle Jack made his argument particularly strong on this point. Not, however, to the satisfaction satisfac-tion of his listener, who begins the conversation this week with a request for further enlightenment.. CONVERSATION VI Continued. "Still I want something more." "Probably you want the impossible j or the absurd." "I want the church. If the church I am to have, not merely to enable men to save themselves, but actually to save them." "That is you want the state of probation pro-bation or trial should be u state of re ward and beatitude. You want an order or-der in which men can be free, do as they please, and in which they cannot can-not go wrong, can make no mistake, commit no sin, and suffer no pain. You must go out of this world to find such an order, and seek a human nature different from ours. What you ask is impossible with man's present state. The church has never promised the world anything, except on condition of obedience. She teaches us the truth, tells us what is our true good, points out the way that leads to its poses-sion, poses-sion, entreats us with material affection affec-tion to walk in that way, and affords us all the help we need in order to do so: but the act of doing it must be out-act. out-act. She does not carry us without our concurrence, without our active assent, in spite of ourselves, and against our will. If she did, you would be the first to cry out against her, as violating the. freedom and dignity of human nature. She does all that can be done with respect for our dignity, dig-nity, or without violence to our free will, which would not be free will if it did or could suffer violence. This is all she has ever promised, and her promise she ha alway kept. If then there are moral evils in Catholic nations, na-tions, if men reared Catholic have abandoned their faith or lived as heathen, and run to fearful excess of vice and crime, it is not owing to any weakness or inefficiency of hers, but to the perversity of their own -wills, to the malice of their own hearts." "Still I do not see, if your church really imparts the light and strength you pretend, what . could induce men enlightened and ."strengthened by her to abandon her, tq act against her precepts, pre-cepts, and to become vicious and criminal. crim-inal. They have neither Ignorance nor weakness to plead their excuse." "That only proves the depth of their malice. You do not seem to have any conception of such a thing as malice, and you imagine that no one can do wrong against his better knowledge, unless through weakness. Hence you have no conception of sin, and your own mind really denies its 'possibility. In your philosophy, sin is an excusable error, an amiable weakness, a pardonable pardon-able mistake, and, therefore, you revolt at the idea of its eternal punishment. But sin is. not. -a, mere imperfection; It is something involuntary, but always "free,, deliberate act, and, in so far as it is sin, an act of malice. The man had both the light and the strength to avoid it.. It is impossible for us to estimate the degree of malice every mortal sin implies, and you will never have any adequate conception of its turpitude till you have learned at what cost the incarnate Son of God has made satisfaction for it. . You are very much mistaken in supposing that men always act as well as they are able, or know how." "But I suppose their knowledge and sense of their own interest would nre- vent their fall." "You are a very young man, or you would not say that. Men are surely not incapable of going contrary to what they know is for their own interest, in-terest, both here and hereafter. They do it every' day, almost every hour." "But if I recollect aright, your St. Thomas teaches that the good is the object of the will, and that the w'ill is aptitive only." "The will has for it3 object good, and wills an object only because It views it as good, of some sort, I admit; but not, therefore, does it never will that which is never true good. St. Thomas teaches that every man naturally desires happiness, hap-piness, which is true. But he may will that which he knows is contrary to his happiness, .not precisely because it is contrary to it, but from aversion to that which it is necessary to do in order or-der to gain it. A man wills evil because be-cause he hates good, and to refuse what one hates has itself some reason for happiness, inasmuch as it affords a cectan gratification. To contradict that which is hateful is always a greater or less pleasure, and nothing is more hateful to the malicious than genuine virtue, although they well know its superiority to vice, and that they would be better and happier if they were themselves virtuous. The malicious call evil good, the good evil, not from mistake, but from sheer malice. mal-ice. You yourself would say with satan, . 'Better to reign in hell than serve In heaven.' . "The perverse mind makes to itself a sort of good in its refusal to obey j God. Did you never observe how Mammon Mam-mon works out his thought In Milton's Paradise Lost?' The fallen spirit would dissuade his associates from fur- tner prosecution or trie war against the Almighty, as utterly vain. They cannot can-not 'heaven's Lord supreme o'erpower,' and thus regain their lost glory. But . "Suppose he should relent And publish grace to all. on promise made Of new subjection; with what eyes could wc Stand in his presence humble, and receive Strict laws impos'd, to celebrate his throna With warbled hymns, and to Ms Godhead God-head sing Forced hallelujahs; while he lordly sits Our envi'd sov'reign, and his altar breathes Ambrosial odors and umbrosial flowers Our servile offerings? This must be our task In lieav'n, this our delight; how wearisome weari-some Eternity so spent in worship paid To whom we hate! Let us not then pursue pur-sue By force impossible, by leave obtained Unacceptable, though in heaven, our stays Of splendid vassalage, but rather seek ' Our own good from ourselves, and from our own Live to uorselves, though in this vast recess, re-cess, Free, to none accountable, preferring Hard liberty before the easv yoke Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear ap-pear Then most conspicuous, when great things, of . . . Useful or hurtful, prosperous or adverse We can create; and, in what place what- so'er Thrive under evU, and work ease out of pain Through labor and endurance." Milton had a happy knack of Interpreting Inter-preting the thoughts of devils, for le. was himself a superb rebel, and a spirit kindred to Satan. You, my dear Dick, if you will search your own heart, you will find yourself sympathizing sympa-thizing with the devilish sentiments put into the mouth of Mammon. Now Mammon knew perfectly well that he ought to love God, and that those who j do love him, what he calls a weari-I weari-I some task is the highest bliss. But i he preferred hell to heaven, because he hated God, and was too proud to submit sub-mit to bear his easy yoke. So it is with men. The pride, the malice for their hearts is such, that to do what they will, to have their own way, and to feel that they resolutely refuse to acknowledge a superior, though bringing bring-ing with it all the pains of hell, is good, and for them less painful than humble submission. It is so with you. and with all the chiefs of your party. Even you, with all your gentle manners, man-ners, ; warmth of feeling, and amiable-ness amiable-ness of disposition, can say, and do say to yourself,' with Satan, at this moment: "All is not lost; th' unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate And courage never to submit or yield And what is else not to be overcome; That glory never shall his warmth or might Extort from me; to bow and sue for grace With suppliant knee, and deify his power. That were low indeed. That were an ignomony and shame beneath be-neath This downfall." Through salanic malice, evil is changed to good, and good to evil: for nothing can seem a greater evil than to bow the suppliant knee and sue for graee to one we hate, and hence it is the will can be appetitive of evil without with-out changing its nature, which is to be appetitive for good. j (To be continued.) |