The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-09-26

Conversations last week. Against their
argument Diefenback opposed: There
} is nothing between the eternal being
of God and existence but his crea tive
act, and nothing but his creative act
between them and nothing, and hence
they are really his being, mediante
his creative act, and through that act
vitality joined to it,"
CONVERSATION XII (Continued)
But to avoid another error of pam
theism," said WinSlow, I'VE must
understand that the creative act which
creates existcnces and uniteS them to
Goa as his acts. creates them not as
modes or affections of his being. but as
active orIsecond causes, able in the or
der of ! second causes to initiate
or copy his creative act. He is
lmmanent or present in this act,
but as first cause, creating second
causes. So great is his creative energy
that it makes its effects, themselves, a
sort Of creators in their own order, in
relation to their own effects or phe-
nomena'
Hence" said Diefenbach. the
ground of moral and political obliga-
ton. The creatures of God are created
activities and man AMI those above him
are created free. activities, free agents
and capable, though in a feeble sense,
of initiating his free activity as first
cause. But as they are made such only
b. hls creative act. they owe even this
| tree activity to him and are bound to
Irender it to him freely and Voluntarily
| As he owns our voluntary activity, he
has the right to its product. Through
| MS creative act he becomes the law to
us, our sovereign, and we his subjects.
| As our law he is our final cause, as by
| his creative act he is our first cause.
AS we proceed from him by his free.
| voluntary act as first cause, 81 we must
return TO him as our first cause by our
own free, voluntary act or obedience.
! He is our first and our final cause, cur
! first beginning and last end, Hence, we
! have and can have 10 rights before
! him: rights, l mean. which We can
! plead against him; we have before him
only duties, and what we call our
rights before him are only the excess
of his goodness, the rewards he freely
offers us"
THE only right man has before God"
said Father John, 'or can pretend to
have. is, that since he has willed us to
| be free agents, he must have us free
agents as long as he wills US to exist,
and govern us accordingly. But this,
| i. reality, is his right not ours: for il
- o4IIIply lliS - III III man " DC NIldl
he is, and not to contradict his own es-
sental nature. Being created activities.
free moral agents, we have rights in
regard to one another, but only duties
before God"
''Ae We are bound to obey God be-
cause he is the law or our final cause,
said Winslow, land as he is our final
cause only by virtue of the fact that he
is our first cause or creator. his DOM
inion is, and must be, founded on his
creative act, and we are his and bound
to serve him, because he is our creator,
and. therefore our final cause. His
right to govern us is IN the fact that he
has created US and owns us. In obey
ing him we are giving him only what
we owe him, only discharging the debt
strictly his due
In this we see" said Father John,
that both atheism and pantheism deny
all moral conceptions. for denying the
creator they can assert no sovereign,
and unable to assert d sovereign, they
can assert no law, no justice, there
fore no rights on the one hand, or du-
ties on the other. We see, Also here,
the real atheism of thOse-and they are
many-who sco1n to serve God from a
sense OF duty, or because commanded,
but profess to be willing to serve him
a debt TO God. which they are bound in
strict justice to pay him, but are viii
ling to make him, from their boundless
generosity, a donation to the same or
even a greater amount. This sort of
love, so attractive to our superficial |
immoral, unbelieveing, sentimental age, !
is no service of God at all, because it |
contains no act of obedience, no recog- |
milton of the divine dominion or SOW
ereignty, of his right to US and to all !
we can do. In it there is no acknowl- |
edgment of his proprietorship and it |
implies no act of submission to him as |
the law or final cause of the will. 1t is
the invention of a heart capable of |
feeling indeed. but too proud to
acknowledge its dependence, too proud
to own superior-a master-even
though that master is its maker. Ger
tainly we are commanded 70 love God
with all our heart, mind, soul and
strength, but not with a sentimental |
love that excludes, but with the ration
al love that includes. the sense of JUS
tice, of stern duty. We love and adore
God for what he is in himself; we
give him thanks for what he has done
for US, both in creation and redemp-
ton; we hope in him and confide in
his promises, as our supreme good, but
ereign lord and master. Not to obey
him because he is our sovereign lord.
and we are his by his right of prop
erty, is not to obey him at all, and we
only follow our own sentiment and i'm
pulses and obey ourselves. 1t is to
deny his relation to US as our begin
ming and end. and to set ourselves up in
his place. The morality based on SEN
tinent, impulse. or interest, is no real
at all, and is, in the last
only self-love, or the adOra-
ton of self. We are moral, only in so
far as we act in obedience. to the will
Of our sovereign, and irf1 acting, ac-
knowledge his right or authority to do
with US as he pleases-to command us
what he chooses"
Hence" said Winslow, they who do
wen the things commanded by the law,
I they do them not because the law or
iains them, fail TO honor the law
,iver In order to give God his due. we
must keep the commandments because
hey are his commandments. so that in
he act of keening them, there shall be
IN Acknowledgement of his dominion,
md Of our subsection to him. We
must in it perform an act of real,
downright submission, and make full
md unPeSerVed confession of the truth
hat we are his, and not our own. 1t
$ this not the thing commanded. that , !
makes obedience so humiliating or so
istasteful to our pride It is far
leasanter to be generous than it is to
e just and sacrifice is less humiliating
han obedience. In obedience we deny
urseIves, In generosity. in sacrifice.
kept sacrifices made for the sake of =
iOd we assert ourselves. We may be
from i1tda CON no