The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-06-12

His will, He can give men the knOWl-
edge which He wishes them to have.
OF course, He can also make use of
Intervening means to give men knowl-
edge, if He SO wishes. He can speak
to men through the voice Of their CON
science, or through the material world
about them. When, in some quiet mo-
ment, we look up to the stars and the
whirling planets In space, and the
sight of them strikes in upon us the
thought of the majesty and power Of
God Who made these tremendous,
cycling suns, it is God Who speaks to
us through His creatures. When re-
morse over sin lays hold upon us, and
a "stilI small voice" within accuses
u.s.. urges us to repentance and amend
ment, it is God Who speaks to us
through that wordless voice.
The sort of revelation is only an
indirect communication. We say that
God speaks to us through these
means, but we use the word fspeak"
in loose manner In reality, God
does no more than put before us facts
from which we can, by our own reason
ing, learn certain truths about Him.
1t is as if, when | did not wish directly
to tell my friend some factor in.
stance, that I had lately gone into his
Office left my gloves or book
there, from which he might readily
gather the fact of my presence. have
not really told him anything. l have
merely put him in the way of finding
out something for himself. We call
this indirect sort of revelation natural
revelation. 1t is quite due to man.
Since he is bound by his nature to
worship God, he has a right to the
natural means of knowing God.
1t is not this revelation which POUNDS
faith. Our belief is based upon a
direct communication or revelation of
God with man. And by a, direct COM
munication or revelation we mean an
act which has for its proper and inn
mediate end to impart knowledge.
Thus it is direct revelation when God
produces certain ideas of Himself, of
His attributes, of His actions, in my
mind, say, of one of the prophets. He
may do so by writing, as when He
wrote on the wall at Baltasar's feast;
or by producing the sounds of a human
voice, as he did at the baptism of
Christ; or by Immediately impressing
the knowledge upon some persons
mind. He may also reveal Himself by
appointing some man as His legate or
representative, giving him credentials
to prove his Office (such as miracles,
great holiness in life, the gift of proph-
ecy), and empowering him to tell to
other men. the. truths he has received
| Immediately from God. In that case
God also reveals Himself to those other
men to whom His legate speaks. And
that is a true revelation, though
mediate, not immediate. That also
corresponds with what we ourselves
may do Instead Of speaking immedi'
ately to another person, we may send
him messenger, whom we accredit
| by some proof that he comes from US.
His message then will really be our
communication with that other, and
will readily be accepted as such.
We call this direct revelation of God
supernatural because it is. something
mot due to our nattiTe. We have Of
ourselves no claim to this special sort
of knowledge about God. 1t is favor
which He must grant freely, If at all;
which only His own love and good
ness induce Him to give.
So that Gods revelation resolves
itself into as easy a matter as talk be
tween men: even into an easier mat
ter, because of Gods infinite power tc
use means for giving men knowledge
of Himself. And the revelation upo1
which Faith rests is any act of Cox
which has for its proper and direc
aim the communication of knowledge
about Himself, whether that communi
cation be made Immediately or through
the medium of .diYinely appointed
representative.
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