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Show hj j Agnosticism and R I Deism Explained bp ;j : - : - Tj rJ j immortality of the Soa! and the Existence of a Supreme j I f Be,n9 feId as Truisms by the Best '3 l. j j Alinds of Nineteen Centuries i, i 4 1 I U 1 1 y (Written for Intermountaln Catholic.) n I W the verdict as to the immortality 1 I t the soul and the existence of a su- J r- preme being to left to the decision of (j men 01 im-euecuiai eminence and pro- jj found learning, in every age, 99 per I CfP.t of the greatest minds, be they i Tts- Philosophers or men of science 1 vould decide in the affirmative. Th i, bold deniais of the atheists have ceased : I and for a substitute we have to eon- j I tmd against the cold indifference of the j I agnostic, whose many queries are a U contradiction not only of common M Fense' but of the I'eht of reason. Rous- l Byron, Voltaire and others N whose writings charm, would in their J flights of fancy lead humanitv up to i ! universal lawlessness and the denial of J a Supreme Being, but after mature de- ! liberation, and having tasted of all the ' pleasures which the senses crave, their f judgment changed, and for true con- i isolation and happiness they were obliged to retrace their steps and come back to the original creed, namely, God g , Napoleon, when a prisoner in St. HrO- I lna, reflecting -n his past success and , J I final defeat, was better witness of f I IJ truth, power and greatness than he ft 9 vas when crowned with glory and !t l elated by his many victories. As the I i victor of many battles his daring spirit I fiU cat aside the teaching of St. Paul: j fit' "There is no power but what comes '; I rom God." As a prisoner in the bar- f j I rpn rock of a little island, seeing his J-l I "vn impotency, he confessed not-only I that there was a Supreme Being who ;f ruled the destinies of nations, but that Jp?us, the "Man of sorrows and the 1 vietim of the cross.' was truly the Son j "f God and conquered the world. Lord i j Byron, whose ridicule of religion,- cy- f 1 racism and sentimentality produced so H n,urh skepticism .and infected English ; 13 society, was truer to his own inward t reelings when he said that "the dif- ji ference between a religious and irre- tjj lieious man is that the one sacrifices l the present to the future, and the other ,t the future to the present;" than when J leading a double life he, inflamed by 3 passion, excite-d by intoxicants, penned i 4 hispoetical effsuions. Experience had f I ' 'aught him that the passions subject 1 4 ? to no restraint will lead to conclusions ! that are opposed to common sense and 1 f reason. Voltaire, whose genius, fur- ! ! nished men of science with many in- ; tertsting and hitherto unknown facts, I vas as unreasonable as he was un- j f scientific when treating of God, immor- , j ality and religion. The latter he ac- ijj tj ounted for as "the invention of priests j and crafty and ambitious statesmen." j y Statesmen may use or abuse exist- !-1 M ing popular creeds or superstitions, but f j they do not invent them as a means N H tn govern men. A priest, if wicked. "i may pervert the religious beliefs of j S mankind and use that perversion for i sinister purposes, but he could not in- I ; 1 vent or originate the primitive belief B in the supernatural, and the very office 1 A B ff priest must be subsequent to the he- L li-f. The fakir of India who pray3 for IT I months with uplifted hands, did not J v I invent that form of worship. It came i$ from parent to child, and when traced I y to some original or common source will a f he found to be a corruption of the T if primitive deposit of faith. Is i Other philosophers of unbelief attrib- t uted faith in its origin to fear and the If passions. Lucretius, a Roman pholo- 4 f sophiral poet who Jived before the P j modern agnosticism when he wrote, I "Ffar mail the Gods." None of -our y I modern philosophers have improved on I his theories advanced in that greatest if I "f didactic poems "De Rerum Natura," f regarding the origin of the universe, f I 1'nlike Herbert Spencer, he boldly I maintained the atomic theory of the 4 B univprsp, and strove to prove that in I ihf history of the universe there was a i:othing which required the creative act an nifoten- His theory was that an objects may be formed by the union t,,r elemental Particles governed by na-I na-I turai laws, and that from all eternity. now rear or the passions could originate orig-inate a belief in the supernatural Lucretius Lu-cretius does not explain. His mere assertion, as-sertion, like that of modern unbelievers, unbeliev-ers, he considered sufficient. Neither rear nor love is a passive sentiment to be developed at will. Reason, the senses or faith, be it true or false, must co-operate in the development of ,that fear , to which the poet alluded. Tracing the faith of the human family back to its origin, it must be conceded that they believed in the existence of a Supreme Being, before we can suppose that what moved their passions was God. Man, it is historically true, has m the past and even in the present, identified belief in God with wood, stone, heroes, the elements and even, animals. But this very identification presupposes their belief in the existence exist-ence of a Supreme Being. Belief in God. pure and simple that is faith in a being infinite in duration, omnipotent in power and omnipresence, in space existed prior to any or al lthe superstitions supersti-tions of which there is any mention in the history of the human race. That was the faith of the human race at all times. During the patriarchial dispensations, such was the faith as traced to the very root of humanity. In the, synagogue syna-gogue we find the same. But this faith, which St. Paul terms "a gift of God," was not always preserved in its purity, because man is governed more by the senses than by pure reason. Daily experience teaches that. In the moral order the ideal life, which pure reason points out, is not pleasing to the senses, : and reason yields to the cravings of the appetite as manifested through the senses. "For ' the flesh lusteth against the spirit; and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary one to another: so that you do not the things that you would." St. Paul Gal. v. 1". This is the universal univer-sal experience of mankind, and shows that the very best persons fail to do all the good which they propose to themselves. In the battle of life are two opposing powers which meet at every step man takes. They serve as two mighty engines en-gines working in opposite directions. These contending forces are the spirit within us, which is guided by reason and religion, and the flesh, which is subject to the dominion of the senses. In the perpetual contest we must view man not in an ideal spiritual sense, but in the crocrete, i. e.. with passions inflamed in-flamed and encouraged by the senses. He realizes what is good, wishes to do it, but fails because the contending power is stronger. "For I do not that good which I will," says St. Paul (Rom. vii, 15), "but the evil which I hate, that ! I do." Viewing man in the concrete, enlightened en-lightened by reason, yet subject to pas- j sions and ruled by the senses which for each individual become the living realities of life, it can be easily understood under-stood why religion in its purity was not preserved ; also, having faith in some supreme being, why the senses clamored for some divinity, even god3 fashioned by man's own hands. It explains ex-plains the rude forms of African fe-techism fe-techism as well as the poetical and polished pol-ished mythologies of ancient Greece an Rome- it evnlains. too. the Incar nation that is why infinite wisdom, seeing the fraiities and vagaries of human nature and how man is controlled con-trolled by the senses, sent his only begotten be-gotten son in the flesh, that man might see him, hear hi mand adore him in the blessed eucharist, partake of him In holy communion and have him ever present in a visible form to our senses in the sacrament of the altar. (To be continued.) |