The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-03-21
HUBERT LARKIN AND MIRACLES.

HUBER LARklN ANU MlRRCLES.
When, Hubert Larkin, in the explanatory cor
respondence which we publish this morning. writes
that miracles are the foundation of faith" VIC
believe that he is logically and theoogically wrong,
Faith is the free gift from God and is given to the
soul when it receives the Sacrament of Baptism.
We are persuaded that the real and only ground
of gertrude in the supernatural order is Faith
Did our knowledge of the supernatural rest for its
validity on the evidence of Miracles, it would be
difficult to see why St Paul should assert Faith tc
be the evidence of things not seem No evidence can
prove miracle to any one who did not previously
believe the existence of Supreme Being possess
ing supernatural power. To man destitute of the
gift Of Faith a miracle has no more value than e
mathematical demonstration to man destitute of
the gift of Reason. Faith is to the supernatural
life what Reason is to the natural life.
Faith is free gift from God, fitting us to re
ceive supernatural truths. Without it. are in
deed imperfect and in view of what is our proper
end, our being IS in a distracted. To the
supernatural man without Faith stands in tho
same relation as the idiot does to the Natural
Hence ST. Paul. in his first episte to the Cornth
not understand the things that are of the kingdom
of God; they are foolishness unto him
But to the man in whose soul is implanted the
germ of the gift of Faith the evidence Of miracles
is of the highest value. not indeed teaching him
the existence of the supernatural but as afording
him proof of the authenticity of the message which
the miracleworker delivers to him. and of his com
mission or authority to deliver it.
That this is the real proper office of miracles
seems to be shown from the second chapter OF the
Episte to the Hebrews, where St. Paul tells them
that their faith was confirmed: by signs and won
ders and divers miracles" SO Likewise in the facts
of our Lords ministry. Probably the greater num-
Der of His mighty works performed-though
most Of them are unrecorded by the Evangelist
in those cities where He specially says the
greatest and least excusable unbeief obtained.
"Woe unto thee, Chorazin Woe unto thee. Beth
saida for if in Tyre and Sidon had been done the
mighty works which have been done in you, they
would long ago have done penance In sack-cloth and
ashes"
These miracles were done by our Blessed Lord
proofs that He was what he claimed to be. and
that being the Messiah, he ought to be believed
frmations of the faith of the Disciples. And it is
noteworthy that miracles succeeded the calls of the
Apostles. For instance, st. Peter followed Christ
long before he had seen any miracle: and afterward
when the miracle on the Lake of Gaee was worked
in his presence, it confirmed his faith indeed but
that faith he had before exhibited not only when he
followed our Lord at Jordan, but when in obedi-
ence to His command he thrust out from the
shore "and let down the net for draught."
Again, what does St. John mean when. in the
fourth chapter of his Epistle he warns us: "Bc-
lieve not every spirit but try the spirits whether
they be of God" For unless we already had faith.
how could we distinguish the miracles of the goo6,
spirits from the wonders performed by devils or by
mediums acting as the agents of devils?
A miracle then, is the manifestation of the Su
pernatura and is no violation of the natural law
but is above it. There is no antagonism here be-
tween the Natural and the Supernatural. The mi
race is simply new fact, a bringing in of an adj
ditiona agency and it is the introduction of this
element that clears the miracle from the charge
of being violation of Natural Law. But Faith
first, then Miracles Miracles are not tbe only
manifestations of the Supernatural. The miracu-
lous is the extraordinary way in which the Creator
of all manifests the Supernatural to his creatures
but the Sacrifcal and the Sacramento are the or
binary methods
1t is the province of Reason to Judge of the Nat
ural; with the Supernatural it has nos rightto in,
terfere. There, Faith is guide standing in the