The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-02-25
our consciousness that the nature OF
mind and soul can be discovered

mind and soul can be discovered.
mo genius can afford to neglect the
patient labors OF the worlds great
est thinkers and strike out for him.
self Mr.. Edison, like many another
great man, has not recognized his
limitations. The greatest mortals
are finite, very finite. None OF us
knows everything. But | said there
are philosophic proofs for the splr-
itual nature of the soul and its sur
vival after death. Let the reader, II
he wishes, study such a work as Ma
hers Psychology, beginning at the
the end. 1t is a most able book and
satisfying in my judgment, and in
teresling as we'll.
"Thosc who persevcre to the end
| may be saved-by philosophy? But
the world was never governed by
philosophy; it has never wanted to
be, and it never will be, Christianity
knows the nature OF a man; ii has Il
far deeper wisdom than WAS ever
dreamed OF in the philosophy Of the
great thinkers"
Proof of Immortality.
Your Eminence. how would you
prove that the soul cndures after
death?" the Cardinal was asked
"Fractically?" he. replied, "by re
vealed religion. LcS a man study
earnestly The life OF Jesus Christ, let
him try to form a complete concep-
/ tion Of His work, His teachings and
His personality; lei him not, like SO
many nowadays, Mi. Edison among
them, pick out one Or two doctrines
and refuse to listen TO the rest; lei
him not imagine that he knows so
thoroughly the laws of the universe
and the power of God as to he in Il
position 10 scout the idea OF mira
cles.
Then he will see that Chrjst's life,
His works, His doctrines, His per
sonality, are divine. Nothing short
OF that explains HIN All other en-
plantations are as changing, as passing,
as the figures in Kaleidoscope. Each
decade swarms Win them, one dc,
vouring another aI I'll in turn dc
voured by new explanations. Only III
the full Catholic doctrine about Christ
can the restless mind and heart OF
man find satisfaction. but the hearts
of many are rebcllious 10 the Trui
and they do not wish to have their
minds controlled by the teachings OF
Christ.
Nov, Christ brings to humanity the
certainty of eternal life. lie proved
it by His own resurrection, and Il
anyone thinks the evidence tol
Christ's resurrection is weak, ask
him to study and think deeply ovel
the fifteenth chapter of First Corin
thians. No scholar, remember, de
nies that we have here the testimony
of st. Paul himself, nor that st. Pau
is honestly setting down the tcstl
mony OF those who claim TO have seer
our Lord after Ills death.
"One thing am glad Of is that Mr.
Edison recognizes the existence Of q
Supreme Intelligence. TO me The
whole world tesllies this, and | can
not understand low any man today
can conceive of this worl1 as the re
suit Of blind forces. How many, how
varied, how intricate are the laws O
nature; yet how harmonously al
work together and what marvellous re
suits they produce! Mr. Edison sees
Supreme Inteiligt nee directing the for
nation of the human ear. Here HI:
testimony is OF great value, because
he speaks on a subject which he has
studied directly
ut is good 10 see that he canno
conceive of blind evolution as account
ing for it, nor for other wonders Q
nature. Mechanism ai0ne, as he says
} cannot explain this world; only Su
preme Intelligence could produce it
rule it. and bring it to it's perfection
: There is one point can hardly under
stand; Mr.. Edison admits Il Supreme
Intelligence with the will and th'
power to direct the forces of nature
Philosophers, / believe, would Cal
such a being a person; yet Mr.. Ed
, son refuses to believe in persona
God, without telling us what he mean
by person. trust he does not, witt
some, consider that a personal God
is a sort of magnified man, with ;
| vague, magnified body.
Like many others today, he fear
to. use the term personal God al
though his ideas and observation
; should lead him to believe in Him-i1
, that adorable being with the suprem
! intelligence directing the world and in
dependent of it. This idea is tn