Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-03-21
ADDRESS. or JOHN J. spLA1N
Before the Young Mems Catholic
 Literary Association

LlUer0ry A08OClat1On.
 The address of John J. Splain before the Young Mems Catholic Literary asso- citation last night, upon the subject Province of Reason in Religion" was one of the most interesting of the lec- lures delivered before the society
 After an introduction in which he laid down the proposition that reason and revelation are not incompatible. that the former holds and always will hold a quasi judicial position in defining and interpreting the latter, and that this position is clearly recognized and freely admitted by the Catholic church. which demands of no man that he should cease to exercise those powers winch his maker has given him for the proper ap- preciation of truth and goodness, the | speaker proceeded '" define reason in its generic sense as at natural and essen- | tial faculty of the ..uman mind, or that collection of faculties, by which man knows the truth, and is able to judge concerning it, in so far as that truth is contained within the powers of nature The investigation of the truths that are within the natural order is the field in which reason operates. Many such truths-as, for instance, the existence of supreme being, the spirituality and immortality of the soul, and even the idea of rewards and punishments as ln-
 
 prehensible by reason alone without the | lights of supernatural revelation. The power of reason to realize the existence of the supreme being whom in the light Of supernatural revelation civilized mankind has learned to call God was shown by the harmOnies of nature and the universe, the universality of its con- ception, in the human family and the | lmpossibllity of cOncelving of such thing as revelation without the certi- tude of Gods existence. In 8 clear and philosophical Vein the speaker contin- ued to trace the connection between reason and revelation, showing the pro- vince of the former in the cultivation of the soil upon which fall the gentle dews of divine communication, and demon strating that reason and revelation are not nor ever can be incompatible.
 The judicial position which reason holds in the interpretation of the sacred writings was next traced. Nounreason- able obedience being demanded either of the intellects or the hearts of men, req son has it's right in the investigation of miracles. prophecies and the hidden con- munications that are made between the creator and hls creature. The truths of revelation are addressed to our under standing. and the motives of credibility are within the range and rights of req son. ReaSCn cannot balance in its scales the essential nature of these truths, be- cause, being in the supernatural order, they are above reason; but men can as- sure themselves by reason that God has spoken through the inspired voice of his prophets and apostles. The church of Christ must come to men with evidence which satisfies their reason. AS God spake by patriarchs and prophets. and gave visible and unmistakaOle proofs of hls divine power as he sanctioned the law of Moses by wonders in heaven and on earth, and moved before the camp of Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and a column of fire by night, so must he, speaking in these last days of his Son, give the tokens of divine right and high knowledge such as belong to no created being. These tokens it is the right of reason to examine, constituting itself in measure the judge and interpreter of supernatural revelation.
 The speaker next proceeded to show that the Cath, lie church has never at tempted, nor even will attempt, to deny to reason its just province in religion. the lie to its whole history to make sport and jest ct its career of ages as the con servator of human intelligence. The church that kept the lamp of knowledge burning during the darkness of the middle ages, that preserved the arts and sciences for d thousand years, that for centuries on centuries has been the in splration and patron of every scientific and intellectual movement, that in every age and every land has had among it's members the most gifted geniuSes and the brigh est int.llects, tn; everywhere and at all times has been the beacon of intelligence, of education and of prog Tess - that church can nev,r bind tie shackles on human reason, C. Il yer enSiare the human mind, can never plunge the hun an intellect in the black night of slough and despOnd. It would be false to it's history and destructive of it's divine mission as tn mother of iutel- lectual freedom, the inspiration and guide Of human reason. In the pursliits of reason, Ill the advancement of every intellectual and scientific movement. in the promotion of every moral purpose, the Catholic church stand, where it has been through all tine ages since its di- vlne foundation, in the foremost rank of progress.
 The real province, then, of the indi- vidual reason in religion. the speaker sad, Is not one of absoutiSm, of su- prene. eX-cathedra authority: it is ratt- CT one of lnteedependence and agreement with supernatural revelation, of freq dom in the non-essentials and reverent submission to external authority in the | v"'eH'i'tl9 T ol lellSlouS Oelle1 ana practice. lhG visible, external and tangible au- thority that reason recognizes as neces- sary to supply those spiritual necessities and realities that are be> on l the limits of it's own powers IS the Catholic church, which alone claims the power and the right to supply those interpretations of the sa- cred writin IS that the human mind in | its individual capacity is unable to grasp. | Reason has It's legitimate province in | the investigation of the problems of re- lIglon, but it must be guided in the lines | Of truth by that external authority | whose existence and propriety it discov- CTS of its own motion And the mile. | stones of faith as disclosed to the inuuir- | ing mlnd point the way to the Catholic | religion where alone is harmony and | peace and truth, and the highest exer- else of reason