Show LITERARY t J. The Mystery of Joan of Arc WHAT WHAI is the supernatural What are natural laws Are we to believe that that which we cannot now understand will never be that it is now and will forever remain a mystery I do not accord with this view To To me there is nothing nothing nothing no no- thing supernatural nor is there any miracle in the sense of an arbitrary infraction of Divine law I believe that everything that occurs ever has occurred or ever will occur is done by bya a fixed law but that much of it is beyond beyond beyond be be- yond our present conception and is therefore understood only by a superior intelligence An event is accounted for foron foron foron on natural grounds or by natural law I take it when the cause of it is obvious to every everyone one who has been educated to the standard or degree in which the law occurs The ancients believed that the earth was flat and that the sun moved around it This to them was natural law but our education and research has moved higher up in the scale and we have a different conception of the solar system whose workings we also attribute attribute attribute bute to natural law and refuse to accept the theory of the ancients But is not our natural law only the advancement in the scale so that it may be of the same degree as the effect we seek seek to explain by it The to me supernatural then is something working to to toa a law the operation operation opera opera- i tion hon of which is beyond our conception We e ca cannot not say that we have reached the summit of intelligence or that we can account for everything that occurs We must realize that there is something beyond our conception which coming generations perhaps who shall have attained the intelligence necessary to comprehend may readily explain This is a skeptical age prone to disbelieve that which appeals to our other self which cannot be accounted for by our method of reasoning Skeptical Skeptical Skeptical men of science have advanced theories which have been eagerly grasped by the multitude because the multitude have accepted for the most part without investigating very often simply to be bein bein bein in the fashion This reason has been given for the skepticism of the scientist I know of no better one The constant constant constant con con- stant minute and rigid application of the mind to the scientific analysis of sensations so absorbs and fascinates the attention of the scientist that nothing else seems real to him the increasing margin of darkness humiliates him and he presses forward with redoubled energy oblivious to all bes beside de Meanwhile Meanwhile Meanwhile Mean Mean- while his emotional nature at first neglected soon becomes torpid and finally reaches naches that state of atrophy so calmly depicted in the confessions of the greatest of our modern scientists scientists- a state as abnormal as the paralysis sis of the permanently uplifted arm of the fakir Have not all theories of science been modified and changed to suit the times in which they were discussed and did not each theory as it was evolved seem correct the ones false And shall we say then that the present day theories and beliefs are absolutely correct correct correct cor cor- all others wrong God forbid that we should be so egotistical for forwith forwith forwith with all our boasted learning with all our argument of natural law we wesee wesee wesee see things around us every day which science cannot explain Ask the philosopher philosopher philosopher philo philo- sopher or the scientist who has devoted p his time since childhood to research what life is He cannot tell you yet we know that it exists Its solution is of a de degree ree to which our natural law has not attained The despised little leaf wh which ich is blo bio hither and thither by the wind by the aid of the which it contains transforms during every day ay of its existence the elements which toss it about into the organic bodies of stable composition a feat which centuries of chemical investigation has been unable to accomplish What is the cosmic force by which in a few short weeks a atin tin tiny seed blossoms out into square feet of fragrance an and d beau beauty t or a small package of albumen and yolk inside a fragile shell is converted into the iridescent iridescent iridescent iride iride- scent plumage of the humming bird or ora ora ora a living mechanism of flesh and feathers t which is capable of producing the song t of the nightingale But there are others possibly others possibly in all r ages the majority of men men to to whom if fi you can prove that anything has happened happened hap hap- f according to natural law familiarly familiarly familiarly famili famili- arly functioning around them to-day to as yesterday the same it is as if it you shut shutout shutout out God from His universe They will only begin to admit the reality of His existence when startled by the occurrence occurrence occurrence occur occur- rence of something outside the regular and unwonted sequence of events The phenomenon of birth is more marvelous than the mere return of life to a body z from which the breath has departed but births birth's o occur cur so constantly under certain conditions as to enable them to tobe tobe be generalized in into to the working h hypothesis hypothesis hypo hypo- po- po thesis which we call law of nature whereas the raising of a body from the dead dead although although it also might had we r but sufficient data be reduced to its r proper place among phenomena naturally naturally naturally ally recurring under certain conditions at present unknown unknown has has occurred so seldom and is so opposed to the working working working work work- ing which w we call laws that it has usually been the supreme advertisement advertisement advertisement adver adver- of the founders of f new re re- re I believe then that these effects which we do not understand are understood by an in intelligence which is of the degree of advancement necessary to understand them and that this Intelligence or Being does exist The most beautiful lessons ever taught to mankind in any age or in in any land are those taught by that Jesus of N Nazareth Nazareth Nazar Nazar- azar- azar j eth who suffered death on Calvary's j cross Because we cannot explain the marvelous things which He performed which have been handed down to us as miracles shall we refuse to believe them Why not be as charitable to effects the causes of which we cannot comprehend comprehend compre comprehend compre- compre hend as we desire others to be to the things which are clear to us ues but which a athey they cannot accept accept because of their i lower degree of education I do not doubt for a moment that our Savior performed performed performed per per- formed most of the miracles which we attribute to Him but I do doubt that there was aught miraculous about it to Him He possessed a knowledge of cause and effect not possesse possessed by the people of His time nor by the people of a athe the present day Hence to them to us His acts are miracles though they were not so to Him Does it stand to reason that this living living liv liv- liv ing breathing thinking being this 1 creation of a supreme Creator J exists but a few short years on this earth and then passes forever into j oblivion Every fibre of our nature every thought though t at our command rises up J to crush the base illusion Because our i degree of intelligence has not yet reached 1 the plane where we can understand the law pertaining to our future existence shall we say that such a is isa a myth or a fancy of the imagination j If we do are we then better than the J ignorant who refuse to believe that a 1 which they do not understand but which j is perfectly clear to us If we cannot understand the why or wherefore of our existence here or hereafter do not let lef lefus letus letus us condemn as false the belief that such an existence is a fact for if we do we but as truly place ourselves open to the ridicule of beings beings' of of au intelligence superior to our own as the ignorant place themselves open to our ridicule If then there is a future state of existence existence existence exist exist- ence is it unreasonable to believe that the beings in that state have a more infinite mind than we possess or that they understand causes and effects which are mysteries to us On this ground do I account for the miracle of the Maid of Orleans The Review oj of Reviews says this of herShe herShe herShe her She lived and died in the constant presence of the invisible world hearing the voices of angels and of just men and women long deceased She had the gift of prophecy and she worked miracles mira mira- cles not des not less miraculous because she never shrank from the use of human means to accomplish her end Was Joan a stone cut without hands from the mountain side sid for the purpose of being used in the hands of the Almighty to accomplish His chosen ends and manifest manifest manifest mani mani- fest His omnipotent power by her very weakness and natural unsuitability for forthe forthe forthe the task or was she a woman of genius whose achievements were the natural result of the application of her native unaided powers to the accomplishment of a a. a task that lay within range of mortal capacity Was Vas her career a proof of the existence of a higher power of an Invisible Intelligence operating apparently apparently apparently from outside the material visible universe a power with volition apart from our own a power not ourselves and yet a power which makes for righteousness Let us consider whether Joan of Arc is not sufficient to prove the existence of a higher power in c communication communication com com- m- m with mortals whose presence is is not cognisable cognizable by the ordinary senses II The story of the Maid of Orleans has long been recognized as one of the most fascinating and enthralling of all the tragedies of history not inferior in pathos to any narrative in any literature sacred or profane and the whole drama pivots upon one single point the point the reality of the voices heard by Joan oan De Deny y that and the whole narrative becomes simply incredible And these voices issuing from the dusky expanse of the past century ask What now think ye of the maid Explain th the miracle by your psychology and your sciences sciences Say how was the deliverance of Orleans effected and France freed from the English English English Eng Eng- lish yoke by a lass of eighteen years Who taught her the art of war and enabled her to transform a huddled mob of sheep into wolves of war so that the victors of a hundred years were humbled in the dust before the standard of a p peasant maid and the leopards of England were chased before the maid bearing the white standard of the lillies of France And I can only answer to this appeal by admitting that Joan was the agent in inthe inthe inthe the hand of invisible powers and that her miracles were ac accomplished by the agency of spiritual forces whose potency and range cannot be measured by the dynamics of material s science All that we can say of a certainty is that the Maid of Orleans was endued with gifts and graces and capacities which were not natural to the shepherdess shepherdess shepherdess shep shep- of Domremy nor indeed could be acquired by an unlettered peasant girl any more than the apostles could have attained by aid of the grammar and the dictionary the gift of tongues which they received at Whatever else else is uncertain this at least is clear military clear military genius the supreme gift of great commanders the technical mastery of the art of directing artillery fire tire of planning campaigns and the gift of foreseeing their exact duration and result these things can by byno byno byno no theory of psychology be supposed to tobe tobe tobe be latent i in the mind of an enthusiastic village girl who had neither learnt to tore re read d to write nor to before she wa was launched against the English to their utter undoing It may be said that these were superstitious superstitious superstitious super super- days and Ind that a reputation for sorcery was easily established But Joans Joan's reputation was established not by magical incantations or any occult pretensions but hut by the of matter-of-fact method of driving conviction into the national heart the heart the simple but effective method of ot chasing the English armies in headlong rout whether they fought in inthe t the e open or sheltered themselves behind all but impregnable rem parts Two nations her own and the enemy's agreed five hundred years a ago o in believing believing believing ing that loans Joan's capacity and Joans Joan's achievements could not possibly be due to any but a supernatural source France held that they came from God England from the devil Both agreed in believing that they were not and could not be the natural endo endowment ment of a Domremy shepherdess If we desire to know the position taken by any person we naturally go goto goto goto to that person for an explanation and andin andin andin in lieu of anything better or more plausible ble accept the statement Let us then be just as chari charitable table to the poor girl who was burned for delivering her coun coun- try II Ask Joan and hear what she says Joan has no doubt no indecision Joan knows And she never ceased to affirm that she received all her knowledge and andall andall andall all her capacity direct from St. St Michael and the other saints And as no one to this day has ventured to suggest any other possible hypothesis to account for this incredible phenomenon is it unreasonable unreasonable unreasonable un un- reasonable to ask that in this matter we should believe Joan I do not say that it is necessary that we should believe that Joan was correctly informed as to the identity of the invisible guides who gave her the counsel which enabled her herto herto herto to baffle the sagest of the English cap cap- All I say is that it is evident seeing Joan had not the knowledge in herself she must have received it from someone else and as there was no visible visible visible ble being who could communicate it are we not of necessity ty driven by a strictly scientific process of induction to believe that she must have received the information from invisible beings Joan believed that she could identify them and named them with the utmost dence They were not she declared either or intangible to her She heard them first as voices but then she saw them as persons and afterwards embraced embraced embraced em em- braced them as friends But I am not concerned to demonstrate the accuracy of her nomenclature All I ask is that it should be admitted d that hat some power not her own and not discernible by the five senes serves of mortal man did communicate cate to her the capacity by which she astonished the world i iThe The argument in favor of this co conclusion conclusion con con- is much strengthened when we come to consider not merely the capacity capacity capacity capa capa- city of Joan to do but the ability of Joan oan to foresee Here we are on firm ground It is admitted by no one more than the most confirmed materialist that the gift of prophecy is not innate in the human mind But Joan undoubtedly undoubtedly had the gift of prophecy She prophesied prophesied prophesied sied not after but long before the event and her prophecies came true true with with one or two exceptions Nor did she prophesy probable things To state the fact in vulgar parlance no noone noone noone one would have been so mad as to risk riska a bet on the chance of their fulfillment even at a hundred to one When she was a child by the spinning wheel she foretold her journey to the king and her mission to deliver France When she was not eighteen she foretold that she would she would deliver Orleans and conduct the king to Rheims to be crowned Before Before Before Be Be- fore |