The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-18

universe and the power of God as to
be in a position to scout the idea
of miracles. Then he will see that
Christ's life, His works, His divine
doctrines, His Personality, are divine.
Nothing short of that explains Him.
All other explanations are as chang
ing, as passing, as the figures in a
kaleidoscope. Each decade swarms
with them, one devouring another and
all in turn devoured by new explana-
tions. Only in the full Catholic doc
trine about Christ can the restless
mind and heart Of man find satisfac-
ton; but the heart of many the VEN
lious to the truth: and they do not
wish to have their mind controlled
by the teaching of Christ. Now, Christ
brings to humanity the certainty Of
eternal life. He proved it by His
own resurrection; and if anyone thinks
the evidence for Christ's resurrection
is weak, 1 ask him to study and think
First Corinthians. No sane scholar,
remember, denies that we have here
the testimony of st. Paul himself; nor
that st. Paul is honestly setting down
the testimony of those who claim to
have seen our Lord after His death.
If so many sane men, apostles and dis
ciples of Christ, are mistaken, if they
own eyes, If delusion can keep such q
firm hold on so many different charac-
ters for so many years and become the
basis of all their beliefs and the trans
forming power of their lives, then no
human testimony is of any value; then
let us close our courts of justice for
no case is proven by so many trust
worthy witnesses. Nor the Cardin-
al said, in the tone of deepest con-
viction, "Christ is risen; and His res
direction is the pla1nest evidence of
mans Immortality
But, Your Eminence, are there no
proofs for those who refuse to accept
Christianity?
Eyes, plenty of them; and good
ones. They are to be found in a
thorough course of philosophy; and
they can be really grasped only by
those who have made such course.
Philosophy is perhaps the most alb
struse and difficult branch of knowl-
edge: it is the. crown Of liberal ed
by very few, exceedingly few. Most
students are averse to philosophy. be-
cause they have not the patient ca
pacity of mastering it. The readers
of your publication are intelligent
men, no doubt: but they will not
oblige me to believe they are trained
philosophers. Perhaps not more than
one person in five thousand or ten
thousand has a philosophic education
Or a truly philosophic mind. One
might as we'll discuss a1gebraic prob
lens in a popular lecture. If Mr..
Edison were a better philosopher, he
would have realized that. But his
is an intuitlve mind, one that makes
brilliant guesses of truth (and some
times proves them) and brilliant blum
ders; butt can say this without Of
fence am sure, for 1 acknowledge
his genius in other lines-his is not
at all a philosophic mind. No phil
osopher, 1 may even say no scientist,
who had undergone the drill of uni
versity, could ever have given to the
public such an interview as this in
my hand.
'sNo genius can afford to neglect
the patient labors of the worlds great
thinkers and strike out for himself.
Mr. Edison, like many another great
man, has not recognized his limita-
tions. The greatest mortals are fin
lite, very finite. None of us knows
everything. But I said there are
philosophic proofs for the spiritual
nature Of the soul and it's survival
after death; let your readers, if they
wish, study such a work as Makers
Psychology beginning at the begin
ming and working slowly up to the
end. 1t is most able book and very
satisfying, in my judgment; and very