The Irish standard., 1894-06-16

was spoken and written to establish tn
fact that tho end 81 the century would
be the end Of all things At that time it
was the sentiment Of the whole Catholic
Church that there was no reason to look
for destruction; there was no evidence
that the Lord would annihilate matter.
What we believed then we believe now
The Church has never made any official
declaration on the subject, and the opin-
ion and learning of the Catholic Church
are that no man can know when the end
may come; our belief is expressed clearly
in st. Matthew xiv, 36 the day hour
knoweth no man; no, not the angels Of
Heaven, but my Father only We cam
not presume to have knowledge which is
denied even the angels of Heaven.
'The only present sign and one which
might possibly be construed into point
ing toward the end within few oeDtur-
les, is the weakening of faith which was
anticipated in st. Luke xiii, 8, where it
Is asked: Nevertheless, when the Son
of Man cometh, shall He find faith on
earth?" Agnosticism, scepticism, athe-
ism and all sorts of unbelief are certainly
growing, and faith is growing less; and
this fact, coupled with the sign given in
st. Luke, may account for some men
holding that the end is near.
''But this falling away from faith does
not show itself in the Catholic Church,
where the creed is very clear and definite
and where belief is just as it was CEN
turtles ago, and as it ever will be. But
in churches where there is no authority,
where no one leads and the people are
allowed to follow their own. inclinations
and form their own opinions as 10 the
Bible and it's messages to man, there has
been this falling away from faith, and
from those sources have come the re-
cruits in the ever increasing army OF un-
believers and agnostlcs. And thus,
faith, which in the beginning meant the
acceptation of belief on the authority
OF teacher, has now come to mean only
mans opinion of what the teacher
taught. Under these conditions it is but
natural that men of many minds should
misconstrue the meaning of the Bible
and it's teachings as to the second COM
ing of Christ.
Those who are reventilating these the
cries as to the end of the world believe
they are following advanced ideas, but
we must remember that development of
doctrine by the aid Of the light Of
science can never cause what YVES true to
be developed into the untrue. Science
may lead ue into new fields of truth, and
what was true beyond dispute centuries
ago is true to- day; what was beyond our
ken then and unknown even to the
angels, is equally far from us to-day.
Science holds the torch for man SO he
may the better see things that are to be
seen, but it's light does not illuminate
matters which are not intended for him;
science develops; thus biology is devel-
opmenG of science; but mathematics is
an old story, and what was true in the
days of Euclid has not been touched in
the slightest by modern Development
light of science will ever be able to prove
that the shortest distance between two
points has become curved line, nor that
twice two is anything but four.
$50 the Catholic Church teaches with
regard to all truths; and as in former
times it pointed TO mans complete ig-
norance as to how or when the end of
the world would come, so it believes to-
day, and 80 it will until the Son of Man,
as the Bible hints, reveals to us what is
now hidden even from the angels"