The Irish standard., 1891-01-03

and in brief you have in the world river
of benedictions without source; di-
!, vine religion without a founder; the
downward tendency Of the human race
reversed without a lever, an innumerable
army of martyrs without reason and
effects the most prodigious without a
cause. Yet since We have it in our power
to avert our gaze from the contempla-
tion of these truths or to seek in divers
ways imp1ously to obscure their force
we could st IL, f W so wished, obstinate
ly withhold our assent and our allegiance
to the Divine Child. Let us not be
scandaIized then that learned men have
misused their talents in combating the
evidence of Christ's divine origin. What
all men can do some men will do, These
have put out the light, they are wilfully
in the cold and in the dark.
Now what is it the unlearned possess
that gives them n cl aser insight into
the meaning of Scripture than the WISE?
What is it the le armed lack that their
gaze is enfeebled and fails to re 'ch as
high or pierce as deep as that of the un-
let'ere!? It is the pr celess gift of
Faith. Faith clears the mind and touch
es the heart Under its influence we
not only see CLEARER but we wish to see
clearer, and bursting th' ough The bonds
of earth, our gaze g ~ this divine im-
pulse strengthened so as 10 discern be-
meath Christ's human form the scintilla-
tions of His divine nature. As the faith
ful read the gospels breath of lie, the
Influence It an unseen power is behind
each word aud the nobl~r the p G. u1e
they present If the Saviour the surer 1t
will strike ,e~pon- i've chord in the
iunernost depths of their soul. Under
the warmth OF Faith the SOUL expands
past huma linn ts and becomes mold
capable of admitting to degree ,he In
finite and Divine. In this iu;oxica ion
OF spirit we take up this Holy Book and
We see clear.y that if those poor fisher
men who &iejneated hero SO Wise, SO
gentle, 20 con tant in >uff ring, s. sub
lime in sp ech, 20 G dl he in &C io". so
consistent wi b III mssit and His cl Inns. !,
with His lucal surroundings and with
the most remote and casual bearings
on the history of His 'imt 8, We see clear
" [ repeat that they who deiineated
such g t.ero must have written what
they "heard and saw and touched with
their hands, Otherwise they must
have been g1itel With divinity them
selves to write SO divinely. Therefore
Christ as depicted in the SCRIPTURES
existed in ali reality. H., did not grow
under the n OF the Ev tlgelists. that
was utterly impossible. He was not an
outgrowth oi tue ha.lucina i ms or vaga-
RES OF an imaginative p, ople. People
are simply incapable Of eu:h l,ty con-
ceptions. But il He existed as described
then He Was divine. For G ID evidently
was with him. God was with HIS
orks, sin He walked on The wat>r,
cured the sick, tAe hat and tue blind
aud raised the dead to life. God was
With Ills docsrlne, far it SURPASSED all
the Wis iom of mn. Col wds with His
mission t I it Was carried OUT with super
| human ,nstau>y anu strength. There
fore God was with His oIalms, because
all else Wa, for this one purpose to cor
roborate His testimony. Now Christ
elaine 10 be the Son of G d, of one
nature with Go so much so that He
was in the Father aud the Father in
HIM. Tneref,re H.. Was Goo and God
is Ills witness as Gle rly in His life, in
HIS d. ctrine and in His works as in that
voice from Heaven. 'This is my beloved
Son in Whom I am Well pleased" Be-
hold iu this ray of Chrisl's divinity.
But the faithful need not such cogent
reasoning to convince them of Christ's
divinity. For them His divinity is clear
in his omnipresenoe to men. His reign
began thousands If years before He was
bonn and it will CONTINUE to the end of
time. No one else exis e before his
own birth and no other man lives a
lengthy period q t'r his own death.
Yet the vision OF Christ thr He'd the
souls of the prophets a ID the -hope Of
His coming kept The world from despair,
and since His G. m ng He has reigued in
the hears of millions With the most ab-
solute sway Brbo'd another ray from
the Go1head of Ca,ist. The faithful
aee scinlillations of His divine nature in
HIS every action durlng life, IN His most
profound sorrow in d a,h. But as lumi~
nous as any a,gu uent is The light
that shone ar r'uud His very bi'th
He as OF born in Alexandria Or A hens
or z me, the centers of Ii tratnre, specu
latlon and the arts. No; He was to
bring E email truth, while ph losophers
are full If m-re theories as ephemeraJ as
they are vain. He VAS not born in the
palaces of the great, for there regns sin.
which He came to destroy. No; but out