The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-12-02
them.

notwithstanding them.
Hence the necessity Of revelation,
to supply reason with data of the SUI
pernatural. This revelation is an act
of God affirming something. This di-
vine affirmation is to you and to us
the highest possible criterion of certi-
tude as to the verify of things af-
firmed. For reason to attempt to ex-
whether they be true or not, is to i'm
peach the veracity Of God the Re-
vealer; to put itself above Him and
call Him to the bar to be judged by
it. Such a proceeding shocks reason
itself, and makes it contradict itself,
for once that it recognizes God as
Supreme and infallible truth, it cam
not without contradicting itself I'M
dertake to investigate the uterances
of God revealing, to see if they are
true.
I'VE must therefore know, first
that revelation has been made. Sec
ond, that it has come to US unmixed
with error. Third, that we apprehend
it's true meaning, that is, that the
meaning in your mind is a correct re-
production of the meaning in the mind
Of the Revealer.
Il. The fact that revelations have
been made is evidenced by the mira
cles which accompanied them. Those
miracles, though supernatural in their
cause, belong in their effects to the
natural order and are cognizable to
reason as historical facts. They DEM
onstrate the fact of revelation.
ION this point you and we agree.
"2. That the revelation has come to
us unmixed with error, and
"3. That you have the meaning the
Revealer willed to convey to you.
up to this we have agreed, but
here, at these two points, we come to
the parting of the ways.
I'VE must assume that when God
made a revelation to mankind He
willed that it should come to men in
all ages in it's purity as delivered by
Him. On this account the original
necessity for it becomes a permanent
necessity while the race sojourns here.
Here we part. The principle on
which you rely to secure certainty
that the revelation comes to men in
this age of the race in all its purity,
and that you have Its true meaning,
is radically different from the princi-
pie on which the Catholic relies. The
principle is called the rule of faith.
Your rule is that your individual rea-
son, or private judgment, confessedly
fallible, is competent to determine not
only the continuous purity of the rev.
elation, but also to determine the
meaning of it as it existed In the mind
of the Revealer.
This competency Of individual rea-
son, or private judgment, in revealed
things Of the supernatural order the
Catholic denies. He holds that GER
tainty as to the purity and meaning
of revelation cannot be attained ex-
cept through an immediate communi-
cation from the Divine Revealer, or
through an agent created or commits
stoned by Him to guard the purity Of
the revelation and interpret its mean
ing to mankind; that to make this
agent competent to the purpose He
inended in creating it, He guards it
from error by His omnipotent power,
makes it infallible in voicing His re-
vealed thought. That He created
such an agent is fact in the natural
order. cognlzable to reason and evil
denced by history. Being in the nat
ural order, the order Of human events,
reason is competent to identify this
continuously existing agent, to point
it out to the seeker after revealed
truth. Having brought the seeker into
the presence of this divine agent, rea-
son itself submits as to a higher au-
thority than itself in things super
natural, and bids us to hear and as
sent to it's teaching, because He who
created it has said to it: He that
hears you hears Me-
Reason has its place and its func-
ton. but that place is in the natural
order, and that function is not d.
vinely commissioned to teach super
natural, revealed truths, that have
been placed by the Revealer in the
safe keeping OF the divinely commits
stoned agent their guardian and in
terpretor-the Church of Jesus Christ,
the pillar and ground of truth, to
which it is the highest act of reason
TO bow with awful reverence and sub
mission. The Catholic rule of faith is
the authority of this divinely created
agent, who teaches by the authority
of God and is guarded from error by
Ills presence and omnir otence."
tn Coak Turkev