The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-12-23
49, = = ~ -
THE RARAL 977LlABQg.
With Recitation Of the Errors Which it Condemns
TRANSLATED front heIta L. Falconi)

First Error: Pantheism.-There ex-
lists no Divine Being, no Eternal Provi-
dence, omniscient and supreme, dis
tinct from the universe; God and ma
ture are identical, and consequently
God is subject to change; all things are
God, and their substance is His sub
stance; God is identical with the world,
and. as a necessary consequence, spirit
with matter, necessity with liberty,
truth with falsehood, good with evil,
what is just with that which is I'M
just.
Refutation-The first proposition.
which confounds God with the universe,
is palpabIe absurdity, for since no
single part of the universe is necessary,
or self-existent, the universe in its en-
tirety cannot be necessary or self
existent; therefore all things are not
God.
Such a God would possess contra
dictory and mutually destructive at
tributes. viz, thought and extension.
Thought is simple and individual,
whereas extension admits Of division.
Moreover. in the hypothesis, that God
and the world are identical, all the ex-
istences in the world would be mere
notifications of the Deity. Now these
different notifications. aside from the
fact that they import contradictory at
tributes in the same subject, would
likewise add to the number Of Gods
projections, inasmuch as they would
impart to Him new qualities, new cog
nitions, and new forms of being. They
are therefore repugnant to the Divine
Nature, which is in its very idea, in
fnitely perfect, and can admit neither
increase nor diminution. Pantheism is
consequently an impudent and brazen
absurdity which laughs reason to
scorD-
Moreover, as all things in the uni
verse are not necessary. but contin-
gent, that is. Indifferent to their exist
ence or their non-existence, the queE-
ton naturally arises: Who determined
their existence? They did not them
selves determine it, before commencing
to exist, because action presupposes ex-
istence; nor after they came into being,
because they were then already in ex-
istence. This existence could not, there
fore, be determined except by a cause
other than and entirely distinct from
themselves. If, accordingly, as is mani
festIy the case, there exists contingent
being, that is, being Indifferent as to
its existence or non-existence, we must,
in order to avoid. the absurdity of adj
hitting a thing which exists and has
not in itself the reason of its exist
ence, or, in other words, an effect with
out a cause, seek some other cause,
which determined its existence, rather
than its non-existence.
Now, unless we wish to admit an in
finite series of beings producing one
another, which is absurd. we must ad-
nit a first cause, itself without a
cause-a being who exists by necessity
of its nature, and who possesses the
plentitude of existence, which we call
God. living by his own life and sub
stantially distinct from ali created
things.
The God of Pantheism is not a per-
sonal God. as is evident from the prop
osition above quoted and condemned
by the Sovereign Pontiff, and cannot
be considered a God at all, since he is
continually undergoing the transforma-
lions in nature and humanity Such a
God, moreover does not and cannot
adequately account for either nature
or humanity when reason, in the asser-
ton of it's legitimate right, inquiries
into their origin and demands an ex-
PLANTATION of their constant action and
uninterrupted development in space and
throughout time.