New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-05-02

vine Faith; it is free act of the intel
lect illumined by grace, by which. under
the command of the will inspired by
grace, it fully and unhesitatingly assents
to divinely revealed truths, because God
has revealed them. The sole motive or
reason of divine faith is the authority of
God. When we make an act of divine
faith in any doctrine the mind assents to
the doctrine not because reason convinc-
es US of its truth, not because the, senses
and their experience supply us with evi-
dence of it's truth. not because, as it may
hcppen, it is the. unanimous teaching of
the most learned among men, NOT because
it is the teaching of any church but
simply and solely because God revealed
it. NJ other authority is sufficient for
an act of divine Faith. Now Gods
authority excludes even the possibility
of error in all that He reveals, for His
knowledge and Veracity are infinite He
can neither deceiven or be deceived. Con-
sequently there can be no reason for
| doubt or distrust or reserve, no reason
for wavering in an assent once given. 1t
will be seen from this that Faith demands
of the believer firm, unhesitating, an
absolutely unwavering and irrevocable
assent.
And now that we know what an act of
Faith is, let us see what is the object of
such an act, how far it extends, where
are it's limits; in other words let US mark
out with precision the province of Faith
All truths formally and expressly reveal
ed: all truths formally and implicitly
revealed and all truths deduced from re-
vealed premises, are the subject matter,
the scope and province of divine Faith.
| We have the common name, Revelation
to designate these truths taken as whole
for Revelationis synonym for the scope
of divine Faith. There are two sets of
truths composing Revelation, one set
termed mysteries, and our certitule of
them depends on the authority If God
alone who revealed them; they may be
called the primary truths of Revelation.
| The other set, or secondary truths are
deduced from the primary, and our GER
titude of them depends on two distinct
factors. Faith which supplies the prem
ises, and Reason which draws the con-
clusion. The primary truths are found
in the Catholic creed; the others in the
decisions of Councils and in Theological
Science. What does Faith accomplish?
The celebrated English scholar, Cardinal
Newman, replies: ''It is the chosen in
strument connecting heaven and earth, a
novel principle of action most powerful
in the influence which it exerts both on
the heart and on the divine view of US
it is an instrument of knowledge and &C.
ticn, unknown to the World before, a
principal distinct from those which ma
ture supplies, and in particular independ-
ent of what is commonly understood by
Reason.That Faith is independent of the
processes of Reason is plain from their
respective subject-matters; for accord
ing to Saint Paul Faith cometh by hear
ing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Faith therefore, simply accepts testi-
mony. AS then testimony is distinct
from experience, so IS Faith from Reason.
Again, various instances are given us in
Scripture of persons making an acknow-
ledgment of Christ and his Apostles up
on Faith which cannot be considered as
rational conviction upon evidence; nor
can any act of divine Faith be rightly so
considered"
But before proceeding farther in the
comparison of Faith with Reason, let us
pause moment and see what reason is,
"AN LIN ouo VIC PAON1ACC ~"Ho1CAu IL
may legitimately act. Plainly stated,
Reason is that faculty of our mind, by
the exercise of which we attain truth. It
acts and can act only on evidence To
bring its subject-matter within the
sphere of it's action it employs the senses,
sight, touch, etc. On these senses it de-
pends for evidence and its action is CO.
extensive with the range or scope of these
senses. Wherever the senses can get
evidence there Reason can gain truth.
Reason assists the senses in various ways,
directing the application Of them and
arranging the evidence they supply. It
makes use of the facts subjected to them
and to all unlimited extent deduces con-
clusions from them, fortells facts which
are to be ascertained and confirms doubt