The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-03-03
POPULAR APOLOGETICS,
Adapted from the German of Rev
Peter Mikes, S. j., by Rev.
James Watcher.

LINK. Created Against Ones Will.
Objection: Why has God created
me against my will? Had He first
asked me, l would have answered:
| No! | would rather not be at all than
be eternally miserable.
Answer: You need not be eternally
miserable Your irritation and dis
satisfaction last only as long as you
want. Instead OF playing the naughty
and headstrong child, and thereby
could, as a contrite child, subject your
self to God and then be His good child
and have in Him an infinitely loving
/ Father. That is in your power.
only the sinner quarrels with Cod"
says Lacordaire (f1S6D, the great
French pulpit orator. Moreover, this
complaint is proof of the truth of the
saying stupidity and pride grow on the
same twig. How can God ask you be-
fore He has created you, before you
exist at all? And since when does the
| Master have to ask the servant what
He is to do? God is the highest Sow
ereign Master.
| But He is also good and tender
Father, and has created an eternal
happiness for ALL who by humble serv-
ice and the help Of His grace will sure.
| ly attain it.
Xxx. Deism.
| On. B.-Deism is "belief in the eX-
istence of a personal God, accompa-
MED with the denial of revelation and
of the authority of the Christian
| Church Century Dictionary); it
also denies divine providence govern
ing the affairs of men" IbidD.
Objections: God is too exalted to
bother about us little creatures. Why
should He, the Infinite Being, care
whether we honor Him or not? He has
| His infinite happiness in Himself and
does not need our incense and serv-
ice.
Answer: GD Certainly, God does
not need us to make Him happy; but
we need Him to make us happy. The
| SCIN1CS vi NOu 10 W DC low al uCu WI
nally, and since God is love, He de-
mands this service of us in order that
He may be able in justice to reward us
with eternal happiness.
GU According to your idea ruler
would be the more exalted the less he
cared for the laws and order of his
empire. Your ideal would most likely
| be a grandfather doing in his easy
chair, whose grandchildren i'll the
meantime would have perfect liberty.
| For many a society man or lady the
| thought of such a God would be very
quoting, and no doubt the wish is here
also the father of the thought. But
every reasonable man sees at once
| that God. as the God of order and sane
tity, must want the right order be-
| tween Himself and the creature and
again between the creatures them
selves. And this order consists in this
that the lower serve the higher: ma.
ture must serve man, the body the
spirit, and the spirit God.
,(3) 1t seems at times that God does
not care for the world and men; ii
seems the same to Him whether the
Spanish or the Americans, the Beers
or the English, the Russians or the
Japanese, the Entente or Central Pow
ers are victorious; whether the anar-
chist or the state rules; on the whole,
whether the good or the wicked tri-
umph.
1t is true, God does not visibly inter
fere every moment in the general run
of the world; still, He guides it all
with wisdom and power. Gods mills
grind slowly but surely, and He sees
to it that the mighty should be curbed
and that there is a limit to everything.
A wanderer once entered church
| Just after the evening twilight and
| thought that the windows were paint
ed with blood and SCOT. But when he
/ saw them at daylight he could hardly
admire them enough. SO the dispen
sations of Divine Providence often ap
pear to us anything but wise, but when
we once see them in the light of eter
nifty, we shall admire the wisdom and
/ justice of God.
Another example: The history OF
the world and of our individual lives
lis like many-colored carpet: on the
Hover side. which we mostly. see now,
1.-The threads Of different colors run in
all f1irncfinns in great confusion, but