Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-18


considered ii the most overwhelming argu-
ment for His divinity. For says he, the
direction of prophecy through so many
ages, it's final elimination, and the con-
vergence of all events upon one place and
one person evidently shows the wisdom and
the power of Cod Christ taught SUBJ
lime doctrine and incuicated d sublime NOR
ality, and all these are positive and con-
vincing proofs of His divinity; but when
all done He prayed that His disciples
might be one He and His Father were
one, and He gave charity as the sovereign
test and supreme proof of His mission by
this shall men know that you are my dis
ciples, If you have love one for another"
The reason for this is, my dear brethren,
that argument be met by argument
when l affirm, you may deny-and in such
argument there is always room for confu-
sion. Moreover, distance may lessen to
some degree the evidential value and force
of miracle. Not in itself, but in the per-
ception of it by the mind and the false
christs and false prophets would come and
do signs and wonders so as to deceive, If
possible, even the elect. Not that there is
any reason IN reality in this argument for
the historical, philosophical and relative
truth of the miracles of Christ cannot be
questioned. The historical truth-that is to
say that they actually took place; the phil
osophical truth-that is to say, that they
are really miracles and cannot be otherwise
explained; the relative truth-that they
trines which Jesus Christ preached All
this is true, and yet there was needed an
ever-present, palpitating undeniable reality
in proof of Himself and His mission. and
for this He chose charity.
Time has proven the wisdom of that
choice. For. If 1 argue against YOU you
may argue against me; If 1 affirm. you
may deny; and If seek by historical evil
dence TO establish the truth of the Christian
church clear as that is, you may follow me
through history and find argument against
the position l assume. But when l say TO
you. brother. Oh! my brother, God so loved
the world as to give His only begotten Son,
that those who believed in His name might
not perish. but might have life everlasting;"
and He, the Son. having loved His own
who were in the world loved them unto the
end" Not unto the end of time nor unto
the end of space, nor unto the end of eter-
nifty, but. as st. Thomas says. unto the end
OF love" That His love could not be great
er since it consisted in the gift of Himself;
and then .'Caritas Del diffusa est in cordi-
bus nostris, per inhabitationum spiritus
sancti. The charity of God is difrused in
our hearts by the indwelIng of the Holy
Ghost. This charity to live In the
world 1t was to be the ever-present proof
OF the mission of Jesus Christ the test of
His divinity. the final testimony of His d.
vine mission, and the badge of His disciples
by this shall all men know that you are
my disciples, If you have love one for an
other"
And yet. after the operation of this princi-
pie for two thousand years, the world is
filled with social discomfort. There never
was such discomfort in the world as now
class against class, party against party,
and to use words which really have no APP
plication in our country, the masses against
the classes and the classes against the
masses. The expression of this social dis
content is general. You find it in the daily
journals in the magazines. in innumerabie
books. In societies which are organized for
the propagation of IT, and even sometimes
In pulpits 1t is the all-abSorbinz and i'm
portant question of our time. Twenty-Five
years ago 1t was the question between re-
lgion and science. Then you could not