The Irish standard., 1898-11-12
PREACHED BY ARCHBISHOP IRE
LAND IN HIS CATHEDRAL.
RELIGION IS BASED On THIS DOCTRINE
DEFINED AS SOMETHING: CAUSED ny
SUPERNATURAL POWER.
The lN1ERvEA1I,N OF ALMIGHTY GOD.
THEY MUST BE AUTHENTIC ArED TO
HAVE ANY VALUE.

Archbishop Ireland preached last Sum
day at the cathedral on Miracles" He
said in part:
I'm the gospel read to you there are
narrated two miracles wrought by our
blessed Savior, /, few out of the many
miracles that marked The passage of
Jesus over the EARTH Numerous mira
cles are recorded Of him by the cvunge
lists, but st. John adds that If all he
had said and done had been written the
volumes would almost cover the earth.
The final miracle of our blessed Lord,
the one indeed which he himself al
ways marked out as his chief miracle,
and the one upon which tho apostles,
more than upon any other, based their
preaching, was his resurrection. When
tho miracles of our blessed Lord are
looked into as proofs of his divine mis-
sion, they are to be taken together.
Their force, SO to speak, is cumulative.
He appeared on earth, gave Himself to
His own directly by the Eternal Father,
whose son He proclaimed Himself to be,
His supernatural power was, so to speak
to His natural; and it went forth from
Him at every step of His march through
Palestine, and whenever an occasion Of
fered through which He could benefit
humanity He spoke as one from heaven
and things were done which could be
done only by one from heaven.
Il mention the miracles of Christ in
order to emphasize this one great fact
regarding the Christian religion, that
the Christian religion is built upon
miracles, that miracles are It's rounda-
tion. Take away the miracles the whole
, edilice falls. Tho great evidence given
by our blessed Lord of His divine au-
thority was the miracle What is Il
miracle? A miracle is 4 sensible, Wis
ible act which transcends created DOW
er, and consequently denotes a divine
agent. miracle is something which
no man through his own power or
through the powers of nature can do. II
is something which demands sllpelnatu-
raj and divine agency. H. must. when
the miracle is taken as an evidence of
religion. be visible, tangible fact fall
ing under our senses in such Il manner
that such can be proved, that il can
be established according to the rules of
moral evidence. Christians believe that
Almighty God constantly, as it were.
lnterfcres in the supernatural life of
souls: that He gives answers to- pray
crS IN manifold methods, and SO far as
his action in those cases is a sllpcrnatu-
raj direct intervention, we might say it,
is miraculous, but when the miracle
strictly taken is invoked a, an evidence
of divine mission ii must be tangible
visible, material.
But how can We know that any
given fact is Il miracle? Have we not
the understanding OF causes existing or
possible? Can VIC not trace back results
to causes? And if at times We are not
able to discover the natural causes to
results which we observe we do not
rush without reason to tho conclusion
'hhl lhc cause is one above nature, is
divine? But let there be supposnbIc
cases, where the result is so obviously
separated from al natural causes, DOS
sble or imaginable. May We not know
ana must we not confess that the cause
is supernatural one? Human reason
| knows that in certain clear, manifest
cases the result of power is not from a
human, or a created cause That we do
not know all the powers of nature is
true, as it is that persons who know less
of the powers of nature than VIC our
selves might be willing to attribute to
supernatural agencies results which we
know to be natural, but If there l.; any
doubt hold to natural power Il
there is any act on the part of him who
| produces the result that would Indicate
the least possible jmgglcry with natural
energies suspend your Judgment, give
| all due sway to known and to possible
human energies. But when it is evil
dent to thinking men that no created
| energy is invoked or could have been in
voked then say the cause is from above.
"Of course the facts must be proved
| historically. 1t Is not enough for one
! to say so many years ago this miracle
was wrought. We take the assertion as
given and submit 1t to all the rules of
historical criticism and we abide by the
| verdict. DO we doubt facts of the past
when history according to approved
rules narratcs them? No. We confess;
to political results, We confess to wars,
battles and victories, to The lives of men
! noted on the pages Of history, and in the
| same manner and under the same rules
Of criticism we examine the life of
| Christ.
| at is objected that miracles are
! spoken Of in all rcligions-in those re-