The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-04-19
THE MESSENGER

|
tend that the sublime and the absurd are one
and the same thing-that the terms are con-
vertible. But yet, if an absolutely perfect
| and sovereign being did not exist, the concep-
ton which we form of such being, instead
| of constituting the highest heaven of sublim-
| ity to which our thoughts can soar, would
constitute the lowest depth of absurdity into
which they could sink"
little pause followed.
"Do you, then" said Afer, with n subtle
smile, introduce to the novel doctrine,
that whatever is sublime must therefore be
true p
" If said yes" replied Dionysius, and 1
| am not little tempted, you would succeed in
drawing mo aside into a very long and dark
ling road. But 1 have advanced nothing to
that effect. My Inference depended not on
assuming that every thing which is sublime
must be true, but on the supposition that
nothing which is absurd could be sublime"
"Qute So" remarked Haterius q" and was
| there not yet another inference dormant in
what you saidf'
There was" said Dionysius but it looks
like subtilzing to wake it and give it wings:
and, as 1 am Greek, fear-I-in short, /
have tried to confne myself to the planest
and broadcast reasonings."
Fear not" said Germanicus; "learned
Greece, you know, has conquered her fierce
anquishers."
Tiberus guawed his under-lip; and the
Lady Piancina, glancng at him and then at
her husband Cneius Piso, who was listening
| attentively but i'll at ease, exclaimed,
"Enervated them, you mean :"
Germanicus threw back his head smiled
and remarked, Tomorrow the legions are
going forth to try against the Germans wheth
or the Roman heart beats of old what was
the further inference, Athenian ?"
"Snce there must" said Dion, "where
greater and smaller beings exist, be greatest,
we can all try to form some conception of him.
| Now, this conception must fall short of his
real greatness. Why 7 Because as have de-
monstrated that this being is the first force
from which all Others in the universe, in
clnding our minds, must have come, no
| idea contained in our minds can be
greater than the very power which made those
minds themselves. But, apart from this de-
monstration, every one of us can say, q being
may exist so great as to be incapable of non
existence. Such being is conceivable it is
his non-existence which then, by the very sup
position is inconceivable. Now, if there be
something the non-e1istence of which would
be iuconeeivable, while of the being himself
you possess notion, thinking of him as, for
example, and terming him, the first force,
eternal, boundless-giver of all, recipient of
naught-the certainty of his existence is es-
tablshed already for the heart !; for that faculty
which precedes demonstration in accepting
truth-for remember have shown, and have
tl,,t
to believe far more than any of us can ever
demonstrate"
"This, then" said Augustus, ais the dim
image of which you spoke; the reflection of
the star in waterP"
eyes, emperor" replied Dionysius; but not
always dim the deepest and the purest of all
the lights which that water reflects Often it
reflects no image, however; and often it ref cts
but clouds and storms. To say you truly con-
ceive thing, is to say you are certain of it in
the wdy yon conceire it.. If you conceive any
thing to be certain, you possess tho certainty
of it. You may be certain that thing is IN
certain in other words, you have arrived at
a clear notion of its uncertainty. To conceive
the contingency of an object, is to possess the
positive idea that it is contingent. To con-
ceivc necessary being, is to have the clear
luca not SIMPLY tnau ne Is, ONT mat ne must be
He could not be conceived at all, he could not
even be an object of thought, as both neces
sary and non existent. All conceivable objects
except one, are conceived as either possible or
actual. But that one alone is conceived as
necessary, and, therefore, necessarily actual
Either a necessary being is not conceivable
and which of us, should like to know, cannot
sit down and indulge in the conception 7-or,
if he be so much as conceivable then his reign
is recognized, because far more than his exist.
ence is inrolved-I mean the impossibility OF
his non-existence."
"Are all the Dreams" said Domitius Afer,
"of poets imagination truths because they
are conceptions ?"
few moments of silence followed, and
Paulus -Emilius looked at his friend with an
expression of terror which he had not exhibit
cd in his own contest with the Seian horse.
When the poet" replied Dionysius, % i'm
nr ;Srl,N Ia.-