Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1855-05-23

hood The belief demanded is also essential to our
salva,ion for He that belcveth not shall be con-
demned" But it is equally repugnant to reason to
maintain that God Of truth who is truth can mako
belief in falsehood essential to salvation Therefore
the belief demanded, as to its object, is truth not
falsehood. The truth we are commanded to be-
lieve is the revelation which Almighty God has
made US through his Son, Jesus Christ, or in other
words, the truth ,Dhieh Jesus Christ taught or re-
pealed.
The belief in question is Christian belief, that
which makes one a christian believer, a follower Of
Jesus, member of his Church.
But all that Jesus taught was truth. Therefore
to be Christian believer, truly follower Of Christ,
i. is necessary to believe explicitly or mpIichly ell
the truth he taught
Hence the commission to the Apostles was To-
teach all nations and to teach them " observe" all
them ST. Mark, % ch.
But the truth which Jesus Chris, ,uugh. or re-
vealed appertans in part, a. least TO the superna-
tural order. BY which we understand the order
above that above the order Of creation. Ap
creatures, whether brute matter, vegetables, anI-
mails, men or angels, are in God, and without him
could neither be, live nor move. But God has crea-
ted them all "after their kind" and each with
specific nature.
What is included in this nature or promised by it,
although having its origin and first motion in God
is what is meant by natural.
Supernatural is something above this and super.
added. God transcends nature, and is supernatur-
al but, regarded solely as the author, upholder,
and governor of nature, he is natural, and hence
the knowledge Of him such is always termed NO.
tural theology. rs
Blu, as the author grace lie is strictly super-na-.
tural because grace, though having the same or-.
GIN is above the order Of creation, is not included in
it, nor promised BY it. II is so to speak, an excess
of the Divine funess not exhausted in creation, but
reserved to be supcr-added to it according to the
Divine will and pleasure. In this manner God may,
be said to be both natural and supernatural.
AS natural, that is, as the author, sustaner and
governor Of nature, he is naturally ineligible, ao-
cording to what St. Paul says, lst ch. Rom, For
the invisible things of God, even his eternal power
and divinity, from the creation Of the world are
clearly seen, being understood By the things that
are made"
But as supernatural, that is, rs the author Of
grace be is not naturally ineligible and can be
known only as super naturally revealed
The fact ,ha, he is the author Of grace, or that
there is grace is not fact Of natural reason, in
-trnsically evident to natural reason. 1t therefore
is not and connot be matter Of science, but must
be a matter of faith-beief. Hence. Heb. llth
ch., "IIe that comcth to God must believe that he
is and that he is rewarder OF them that seek him."
That he is as author Of nature we know-but that
he ia as author Of grace that he is rewarder Of
them that seek him. We beliere.
Now. the revelation Of Jesus Christ is pre-emi-
nenty the revelation Of God as the author and dis
penser of Grace, and therefore pre-eminen,ly the
revelation of the supernatural. Tho law was
given by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus
Christi John ch. is. Hence to believe the
truth and all the truth which Jesus Christ taughtis
to believe truth pertaining 10 the supernatural or
der. Among the truths which are not naturally in
telligible, or comprehensive, but which we are
bound to belieue, may instance remission OF snsr
the resurrection Of the dead and final beatitude.
To question these is to lose all right to the Chris
,ian name But these all pertain to the super-na-
tural order
Remission Of sins, means remission Of the penal
ty which God has annexed to transgression. To
assume that the order OF nature RENTS it, is to as-
sumo nature to be in contradiction with herself,
Remission is necessarily an act Of grace and there
fore super natural, and to believe this remission is to
believe in the supernatural order.
So of the resurrection Of the dead We will not
say that by natural reason we demonstrate future
continued existence, but that fact answering to the
term resurrection is naturally neither cogposcible
nor demonstrable. By no natural light that NC
profess can we come to the knowledge Of the fact
that our bodies shall rise again. Yet it is an article
Of the Christian creed belief faith as it is more
generally called. By what natural powers we pro-
ftss do we arrive at the fact that there are glored
bodies, much, more, that our vile bodies shall be
changed into glorifrd bodies And BY what process
of reasoning not dependent for its data on tho re-
velation can we, even now that are told it shall
be so, prove that il will be sol
So as to our final destiny, upon which we shall
not stop to argue.
The result thus far is, that in order to be chris
,ians to be saved to enter into e to receive the re-
wards Of heaven it ia necessary to believe the truth
which Jesus Christ taught, and that We can not be-
lere this without believing in that which is super
natural, and supernatural both as to the mode OF
communication and 20 the matter communicated.
The truth which Jesus Christ taught is in general
terms the Christian revelation and that the chris
an revelation is natural revelation, and in
part at least, a reoclation Of the supernatural.
This revelation and its contents VIC must believe,
or resign our pretcntons to the christians name.
To believe this revelation and it's contents is not,
admit all that is requisite to the christian char
actcr for faith without works is dead, and there
fore imperative Nevertheless faith is ndispensa-
ble For without faith (beli.f it is impossible TO
please Godn But fai,h or belief IS distinguished
from knowledge and science, rests on authority ex-
trnsc both to the believer and the matter believed
In it there is always assent 10 something proposed
ab crtra. That the sun is now shining, know by
my own senses; It is therefore fact Of knowledge,
that three angles Of triangle ase equal to two
right angles which know not intutively, but dis
cursivey, is fact Of science. The first know inn
mediately; the second can demonstrate from what
in contains in tself But in matters Of tho chris,
tan belief the case is different The matter assent.