The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-03-30
FAITH VS.. INFIDELlTY
ON THE RESURRECTION

Continued from Page ~
perceive him and the gospel expresses it. their
eyes opened. and they knew him and he ya!
pushed out of their sight w. 81.
The gospels give eight different apparitons 81
Jesus and each time invariably he was met b. in
credulit'- on the part of the apostles He had to
give palpablc signs that he WIS their Lord and
Master and that He was truly risen. and to assert
in the name of honesty and sincerity that the an
nouncement OF the resurrection found easy ere
dence among the apostles Is to falsify the entire
historical narrative and shows bad faith on the
part of those who try to explain away the great
fact of the resurrection.
No number Of witnesses however reliable could
convince St Thomas Of the resurrection He was
honest and sincere in his incredibly. He did not
conceal it. Except | shall sec in his hands the
print Of the nails and pat my finger into the plac.,
of the nails and put my hand INFO his side | viii
not believe M, % No intdel OF modern times
could use any stronger language to give expression
TO their unbeef Jesus granted Thomas request
and then Thomas exclaimed My Lord and ny
God" Is
Thomas. who shall be ever held up as an ex-
ample OF Incredibly, will also be ever held up as
the strongest and most irrefutable witness of the
resurrection. At the same time whilst he was
among the last to yield. he the first to profess
and proclaim the divinity of Christ. MY Lord
and my God" IN this entire narrative is there
anything TO Justify infdelity in its charges that
May Magdaene's vivid imagination gave rise to
it, that the apostles were predisposed to believe CT
that any all slaves to religious fanaticism:"
Nothing the very contrary the reverse viz, that
all were incredulous and disinterested is the best
established fact in all history.
Therefore under the light of fair. candid and
honest Investigation, mbelievers when assailire
the Christian religion by impugning the witness
who testify, are either ignorant or unacquainted
with the historical narrativeref ~ blinded them
selves with prejudice and predsposition to not
believe that they would not believe if furnished
with same proof as were furnished by our Lord
himself to St. Thomas.
To reject it on the ground that ii belongs to
the supernatural order, in other words miracle
only presents more difficult problem for solution
to infdelity and that is the existence of the Chris
tan church, if the resurrection did not occur. To
explain the fact of the primitive church. founded
entirely on the resurrection would be to suppose
that Mary Magdalenes vivid imagination" extend
ed potent influence and electrified all the Chris
tians of the first century. To suppose all this
would be to say that all the early Christians noted
for their wisdom, prudence and reason. were intel
lectualy blind and lost to common sense and rea-
Add 10 this the change that took place in the
apostles. Their incredulity proverbial, their cow
ardce general. and all at once, without any motive.
but sheer conviction, they are full of faith and
courageous beyond measure, sealing their faith with
1ltlf DlOOd: because neN were convinced anu they
were convinced because they had seen. Such
faith, taking their previous record into considera-
tion would be as great a miracle as the resurrec-
ton if the resurrection did not take place and I'M
der the light of scientific investigation it is unex-
plcable.
Now ! answer the question first propoundcd,
was the address of Jesus to the Scribes and Phar-
esees an idle and pretentious one! Was st. Paul's
preaching vain and is faith also vain
Our Lords address was not vain boast ST.
PauPs preaching was not vain neither is our nor
the faith of Christians for the past twenty centu-
res vain: for there is nothing in the world so his
torcally evident and so obvious to reason as this
great fact that Jesus arose from the dead There
fore He was God and to Him do all men owe then
allegiance and as man is by nature religious be-
ing. and must of necessary have faith what more
reasonable than that he should profess the true
faith which alone will ensure his eternal salvation
This is the one great thought that should fill the
hearts of all on the anniversary of the resurrec.
ton Filled with this thought adopting as oul
guiding principle that of Jesus himself. viz "tha
true adorers adore the Father in spirit and il
truth" then that faith will give now and in tn,
future as it has in the past JOY, peace and consola
ton here below and ensure them eternal peace il
the life to come. f. d.
You don alters have tub speak out tub tell a lie