Lectures on reason and revelation, ...

Front matter

Lectures on Reason and Revelation.

LECTURES

Reason and Revelation,

Contents

Page lecture first.

The Office of Reason, 51

lecture second.

Introduction

Introduction.

N the following lectures it is the aim of the author to set forth, in a clear and concise manner, a simple argument whereby the claims of the Catholic Church are substantiated by reason alone. In the midst of the excitements of our day some of the plainest truths are forgotten, and men hold opinions or pass to conclusions without any logical grounds whatever. They even sometimes contradict the propositions which are self-evident to reason in their zeal for intellectual progress and emancipation from the thraldom of the past. That which is new is sought after,

Introduction.

even though it overthrow the belief of truths heretofore generally admitted. We are not believers in total depravity, and have, therefore, great confidence in the good which still remains in human nature. And as we know that God's grace is ever with man to assist him to the knowledge of the truth, and to lead him in the way of virtue, we have great hopes that the intellectual and moral movements of our day will guide the honest and sincere mind to the true light which is its only illumination. It is a great mistake to suppose that the Catholic Church requires of any man that he should do away with his reason, or cease to exercise those powers which God has given him for the proper appreciation of truth and goodness. To man's intelligence revelation is addressed, and every new light from above only serves to enlarge the thirst for knowledge. The

Introduction.

divine ways are ever harmonious, and the supernatural truth will never contradict the natural. The argument of these lectures depends upon the force of reason alone. We briefly explain the nature of human reason and the sphere of its operation. We show how the divine revelation gives its unerring evidence, to which a just intelligence must submit. We vindicate all the natural powers, and defend the exercise of their just prerogatives. God, speaking to man, is bound to give him unmistakable signs that He is speaking, and that no deceiver is imposing upon us. When these signs are given, then we are bound to believe the divine testimony, and entirely to accept truths which the veracity of our Maker vouches for. Private judgment has its full scope, as to it are clearly presented the tokens of every supernatural intervention. The extrinsic credi-

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bility of doctrines proposed to faith is thus assured to the full conviction of the understanding. If we go on to say that reason assured of a revelation cannot then be the judge of the intrinsic credibility of a dogma clearly revealed, we only say that reason must act in its own sphere, and that the finite must not venture to measure the infinite.

It seems to us that no logical objection can be made against such a restriction of private judgment. If man, by his unaided powers, could find out all necessary truth, there would be no need of a revelation. Of things beyond the scope of his understanding man can certainly be no judge, while it is equally certain that the word of God can never deceive.

It is also a great misunderstanding to suppose that Catholics are not allowed to use their reason, or that faith has taken the place of our ordinary intelligence. So far from the truth is this supposition, that the aim of the present work will be to show that Catholics alone are the followers of true reason, always yielding obedience to its just dictates, and never swerving in any way from its rigid conclusions. The Catholic faith presents all its unanswerable claims before the mind, and then, as it appeals to our natural sense of truth and justice, it cannot contradict itself by doing away with the very faculty which is made the judge of its pretensions. Reason, rightly understood, leads with certainty to the light of revelation, and that light does in no way extinguish the spirit or vitality of nature. There is full scope for the play of the highest intelligence, not in the contradiction of evidence clearly established, nor in doubting truth already manifest, but in the constant and daily increasing appreciation of the beauties of God's revelation whereby all our faculties are brought into perfect harmony. There is neither manliness nor wisdom in the state of perpetual doubt which appears to be chosen by many as the exercise of a precious liberty. The Catholic believes because he has evidence of the divine power and goodness, and in the very highest exercise of reason bows down to God and Him only. No human organization has a right to bind our consciences, and no body of men can form or direct our faith. God alone is our master, whose word is a law to our understandings and our hearts. The church is recognized by us because He has established it, and given to it authority to teach in His name, and we are ever ready to give to any honest mind a reason for the faith we hold and profess.

Introduction.

Such principles, united with the earnest hope of doing good, have led the author to prepare and deliver the following lectures. There is no one whose sphere of influence is so limited that he may not be of some service to his fellows, especially in a day like ours, when questions of the most vital nature are agitating mankind. The argument chosen has necessarily been placed in the most concise form and adapted to a popular discourse. Reason is first examined, that our ideas of its nature and office may be cleared from all obscurity, that we may have a just notion of its powers and the sphere in which they operate. It is secondly demonstrated that faith, properly understood, can furnish no contradiction to the reason, since it moves in its own plane and depends upon supernatural light. If we have no other teaching than that of pure nature, then there is no scope i6 for faith. If God has made a revelation, then He must also attest it by proofs sufficient to convince our understanding.

The third lecture asks from reason the conditions of a revelation, on the supposition that God were to make one to man. For it is evident that the communication of new and important truth must be in accordance with the laws of reason and the principles of evidence. Having settled these preliminary points, we are prepared to determine if God has been pleased to make a revelation, and to examine closely the systems of Protestantism and Catholicity, that we may know which bears the stamp of divine authority. There are really no other systems which present themselves before us as claiming to represent the divine teacher who is the founder of Christianity. Those who reject our Lord Jesus Christ in His person and office can

Introduction.

scarcely be said to believe in any revelation at all, and, therefore, offer no proof to the reason for the belief in any thing supernatural. A revelation, then, being supposed, the question is between Protestantism and Catholicity. They are contradictory, and cannot stand together. If one be true, the other is false. So we are prepared to determine which of the two complies with the conditions which reason itself suggests, and, therefore, to which of the two the honest mind should submit. If it be shown that the Protestant religion does not meet with any of the necessary conditions of revelation, and that it cannot give any sure proofs of divine mission, then it is demonstrated that it is not of God. If, on the contrary, the Catholic Church answers to every test of reason, and satisfies every just demand, while it presents unerring signs of its divine origin, then every heart which iS

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seeks for light and peace should at once cast aside the chains of prejudice and follow where reason and conscience guide. We are quite confident that no other course can meet the approval of an enlightened understanding.

In the necessarily brief and rapid plan which has been marked out, it may appear to some that we have passed cursorily over important arguments, while we have been obliged to repeat many statements which recur in each lecture. These defects are hardly to be avoided, when, in five short and popular discourses, truths so fundamental are brought forward and principles so essential are explained. Every one will follow the bent of his own mind. We have sought to meet a class of difficulties which have stood in the way of the conversion of many, and to open a train of thought suited to the needs of mul-

Introduction.

titudes with whom our lot has been cast. It would be far from our intention to do injustice to any religious system, or to misrepresent any of its characteristics. The fair and conscientious reader may decide whether Protestantism be that which we have described it, since notorious facts alone have been the basis of our judgment. We believe that the general opinion of mankind will sustain our propositions. Two objections, however, may arise, which, for want of time in the delivery of the lectures, we desire to answer more fully in this place. It may be said that it is unfair to give to the Catholic Church the credit of the miracles of Christ and His apostles, and at the same time to refuse their testimony as in favor of Christianity in general, including Protestantism.

Secondly. It may be objected that the miracles of Christ are not sufficient to sub-

Introduction.

stantiate the claims of the Catholic Church, from which men should demand signs and wonders in every age. For the better elucidation of our subject, both these objections need to be considered at some length.

i. It cannot be denied that Jesus Christ came into this world to introduce a revelation whereby new and most precious truth was to be communicated to men. He came, therefore, to reveal a complete and harmonious system, which, for the good of the world, was to be preserved to the end of time. Any other view of His mission would be unworthy of His divine character, and inconsistent with the means He employed to found His system of religion. For He, the Son of God, not only became man, but humbled Himself to the most ignominious of deaths. In this view are, however, contained two things, either of which is fatal to Protestant-

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2 I ism. First, the doctrines He taught and for which He gave up His life must, of necessity, for mone harmonious whole, not to be broken or impaired without vital injury. A part of Christian doctrine cannot be called Christianity. It may be an approximation to it, and be true as far as it goes ; but it cannot be called the religious system introduced into this world by Christ. And sometimes the suppression of one doctrine neutralizes any benefit to be derived from the admission of another. Now, Protestantism delivers no system of religion, since, in its various phases, there is a tissue of contradictions which leave nothing for a result. We have said, and with all sincerity, that it witnesses to no doctrine whatever, because there is no doctrine, not even the divinity of Christ, which is not denied by one or more of the Protestant sects. It would be difficult, then, to see how the

Introduction.

miracles wrought to prove the mission of our Lord and His Apostles could be adduced as evidence in favor of a religious system which, taken in the aggregate, has no articles of belief. And if it be said that every Protestant church should stand upon its own feet, and be judged on its individual merits, we reply that such a course, while it would be illogical, would not help the matter in any way conceivable. It would be illogical, in examining a great system held in common by a vast multitude of adherents, to exclude any of the members from the responsibility of evils directly flowing from the principles adopted by all. If the system destroys all unity in doctrine, then all who follow the system are involved in the common discord. It would not help the matter, because even if there be shown a body of consistent doctrine in any particular Protestant Church, that alone would not prove that the doctrines were true or that they were delivered by Jesus Christ. If the principle of Protestantism which allows each and every man to judge of the intrinsic credibility of all dogmas were eschewed, then there remains no need of argument against Protestantism. We do not deny that the miracles of Christ and His Apostles may be adduced to prove the truth of any doctrine really revealed by Him. And there are those among Protestants who accept many such doctrines which they have unconsciously received from the Catholic Church. The only question between us is regarding two opposing systems. Can the founder of Christianity be supposed to have introduced into the world such a complex of negations, in which there is no room for the defence of positive truth, and where unity of doctrine is an impossibility ? This is the only point of our argument. We do not go into the examination of articles of belief, some of which may be true and others may be false.

Secondly. If the true Christianity is not only one harmonious creed, but must necessarily have length of days and perpetuity of life, then the religion of Christ, for which His miracles may be called to give their sure testimony, must come down from Him, and be delivered to the world by His authority in unbroken succession. Here the novelty of Protestantism is destructive of all its claims. It was born of the convulsions of the sixteenth century, and shocked the whole earth by its strange features. The only way to articulate Protestantism to the Christianity of the Apostolic day, is, as we shall see, to assert that at the time of the Reformation the revelation of Christ had perished from

Introduction.

the earth, or, which is the same thing, had become utterly corrupt; and then to assert, without the slightest shadow of proof, and against all facts, that Protestantism is primitive Christianity, the favored but short-lived religion which about the year one hundred forsook the earth, and only returned after a lapse of fourteen centuries. This common assertion of so many, when stated plainly in this form, seems like sarcasm, so absurd is it in its very terms. Does not any honest mind see that it upsets the divinity of Jesus Christ whose promises cannot fail if He be God ? To what end did He come upon earth, if thus His great revelation was so soon to pass away?

It is quite evident that the system of religion which can be historically traced to Jesus Christ, is the only one which can claim the sanction of His divine promises, and wonderful miracles. And such is not Protestantism,

Introduction.

which found an origin in convulsions which tended to the overthrow of all faith, and in principles which are subversive of all revealed religion. We do not then refuse the testimony of the miracles of Christ to the support of Christianity in general, but only to the Protestant system, and w T e are prepared to prove that all that is received as Christianity among men is only part of Catholic doctrine, in other words, that Christianity is synonymous with Catholicity.

2. The miracles of our Lord and His apostles are sufficient to authenticate the Catholic Church, if it be once proved that that church was founded by Him; for whatever He did was in favor of that system which He established. In our fifth lecture, as the reader will see, we briefly endeavor to make it evident that such is the truth. The argument which we advance may be briefly summed up as

Introduction.

follows; Christ founded a Church for the principal end of teaching and preserving His Gospel upon earth. He promised that this Church should be upheld by His divine power and should continue to the end of time. That Church is the Catholic Church, because there is none other which descends from Him, and because it alone possesses the characteristics of the one body which was organized by the Apostles. So it seems to us that our argument is complete and unanswerable. One of two consequences flows from the denial of it, either that the promise of Christ has failed, together with the corruption or destruction of the religion He revealed, or that there has been a new revelation to take the place of the one made by Himself. It will not avail any one to deny that He ever established any Church, since this is contrary to all facts of which we have any

Introduction.

knowledge ; and secondly, if He really did not found any church, then the organization of one afterward was not only an act of the most arbitrary power, but a radical corruption of primitive truth. We find in the earliest history of the Christian era a church existing, and claiming without question the very rights and prerogatives which have characterized the Catholic Church of later days. How did that church start upon its extraordinary career, and when did it begin its assumptions of power? Why was it that nobody was found to protest against its usurpations, during the lifetime of the very disciples of the Apostles ? In any other cause but that of religion, we are persuaded that no one would venture to advance so absurd an idea ; and why cannot men be as honest in doctrinal controversies as in all other disputations ? Whether then you say that our Lord Jesus Christ founded a church, or assume that He did not, he who denies the claims of the Catholic faith is obliged to confess in any case that Christianity became a failure. If the church became corrupt, then the gates of hell prevailed against it ; if the original Christianity embraced no idea of one infallible teaching body, then the unauthorized introduction of such an one was the most direct evidence of its complete destruction. If Christianity did fail in either of these ways, then no one can be expected to believe the divinity of Jesus Christ its founder ; nay more, it will be impossible to receive Him as a true prophet, and the consequence is, as we have pointed out, the logical rejection of all evidence, and the adoption of blank infidelity. So absurd and frightful a conclusion is sufficient to establish the falsity of premises by which it

Introduction.

is reached. God cannot deceive us, nor can the first principles of our reason be called in question. The objector is driven to the dilemma of admitting the authority of the Catholic Church, or of accepting the entire failure of Christianity, and with such failure, the overthrow of even natural religion. We hope that these conclusions will be made evident in the course of the present brief discussion.

Now if it be really so that the existence of Christianity is bound up with the Catholic Church, then we have done no injustice to claim all the miracles of Christ and His Apostles as evidence of the divine mission of that church. They proved that the system of religion taught by our Blessed Lord was from God, that He was God, and that He had full power to teach and to inspire teachers, to promise and to perform. If there is an identity between the Church which Jesus Christ founded, and the Catholic Church of our own day, then all the signs which authenticated the words of our Lord, and the Apostolic preaching, are plainly to be adduced in behalf of Catholicity. Prove a break in the line of succession, establish any corruption in essential doctrine, and our argument is overcome ; but alas ! when you have, to your satisfaction, brought forward such proofs, you look for Christianity and find it nowhere. So we justly reason to the unprejudiced and conscientious reader, that the miracles of the early days are good evidence for the truths they vindicated, for the religion of Jesus Christ and for none other. We argue that, if Protestantism be from God, it must in like manner show its unmistakable proofs of divine origin, and failing to find these, we are compelled to reject all its pretensions. It is not true, therefore, that we are obliged to continually give supernatural signs and to vindicate to every age, by miracles, the truth which, once clearly revealed, must, in the nature of things, stand for ever. In our closing lecture we give many proofs of the divinity of the Catholic faith. We show its wonderful progress and victory over enemies which have been arrayed against it on every side, and which no mere human power can vanquish. We show its supernatural life, not only in this remarkable vitality, but also in the purity and blessed influence of its doctrine. We demonstrate that it answers to all the conditions of reason, and satisfies every want of the soul. More than this cannot be asked of God. A revelation once well authenticated will stand until another equally well established shall take its place, and two divine revelations made at different times cannot contradict each other, any more than God can contradict Himself.

But we are willing to meet the question of the objector, and to speak of later miracles in this place for the better understanding of the whole subject. Let it be understood, then, that we do not admit that such miracles are necessary to the evidences of the Catholic Church ; and we are ready to affirm that supernatural signs have in every age been attendant upon that one body of believers which Christ organized and purchased by His blood. They confirm the faith of the good, sometimes they lead the doubting to conversion, and they are always to be found on the side of strong faith and high virtue. In regard to these miracles a few words will certainly be appropriate.

In the first place, being effects supernatural, they stand upon the same foundation as the

Introduction.

extraordinary facts we read of in Scripture. They depend upon evidence which in every case is to be rigidly sifted, that every possible care be taken to avoid deception. If the evidence be not good, then they cannot be accepted, while, if the proofs are satisfactory to the reason, they cannot be refused. No well-informed person. could say that Catholics are disposed to deceive themselves and their fellows by counterfeit signs and wonders. No greater misfortune can be conceived of than such deceit, and nothing but evil car flow from it. We demand for all later miracles the same confirmation which we ask for the wonderful works of Christ. We reason justly and consistently in both cases. There must be a fact evidently supernatural, and this fact must be attested by competent witnesses who have no interest to deceive, and no power to do so, even if such were their intention. Upon such testimony we are forced to believe, because we cannot refuse assent to sufficient evidence.

Secondly, there can be no prejudice against miracles which occur in our own day, any more than against those of the Apostolic age. We have no reason to expect the same wonders which our Lord wrought, because at the beginning of a revelation such signs are more especially necessary. But there is no possible objection to the continuance of miracles whenever the Almighty power shall see just cause for them. The Christian religion is a divine system, altogether supernatural from beginning to end, and therefore it would be natural to look for the tokens of God's presence. Such tokens were constantly given in the old law, where the majestic ritual was only a figure of the graces of Christianity. Moreover, our Lord expressly declared that such signs should not be uncommon in His dispensation. " Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me ? Otherwise, believe for the very works' sake. Amen, amen, I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I shall do, he also shall do, and greater than these shall he do."* " These signs shall follow them that believe : In my name they shall cast out devils : they shall speak with new tongues : they shall take up serpents : and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them : they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover."t Now, certainly incredulity is a fault, and unwillingness to accept competent testimony is a sin against reason. Once admitting the great and stupendous facts which introduced Christianity, we shall not be disposed to deny

* St. John xiv. 11-12. f St. Mark xvi. 17-18.

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other facts relying upon indubitable evidence.

Thirdly. It is easy for any one to satisfy himself as to the genuineness of the later miracles by an accurate examination of them in detail. There have been many extraordinary occurrences which have obtained popular belief, and have enjoyed more or less confidence, but have never been subjected to any critical examination in order to receive ecclesiastical sanction. Miracles received and acknowledged by the church, after the severe tests to which they are applied, are certainly beyond all doubt, and command the assent of every reasonable mind. This is hardly the place to produce such cases, with their proofs, which would fill a large treatise. They may be found in the lives of the Saints, and in the history of the processes of their canonization. Our Lord raised persons to life who

Introduction.

had been dead, but the Gospels only record three cases ; His Apostles did the same. Canonized saints have been distinguished by the same gift ; such, among others, as St. Raymond de Pennafort, St. Dominic, St. Philip, and St. Francis Xavier, who raised from the grave five and twenty persons. We believe that the miracles wrought by this latter saint are generally admitted. They were instrumental in the conversion of thousands from paganism, yet no one can doubt that they were testimonies in favor of the religion which he preached. The Apostles on the day of Pentecost received the gift of tongues. We read the same of St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Lewis Bertrand. St. Peter walked upon the sea, as our blessed Lord had done ; and St. Peter of Alcantara crossed the Tagus as if it was dry land, and St. Benno the Elbe. St. Raymond de Pen-

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nafort crossed the open sea from Majorca to Barcelona on his cloak, which he spread upon the waters, and on which he sat as if it had been an ordinary boat. Nearly all the miracles of the apostolic day, as well as of the prophets in the old law, have been repeated over and over again by the same hand of God, in the person of His saints. No one can with reason deny these facts, which are found everywhere in the history of the Catholic Church, or refuse to apply to them the same tests as these which make evident the supernatural power of Christ and His Apostles. The first step is to examine well the fact reported, and to see if it exceeds the forces of nature, because no event which can be produced by natural causes is to be referred to a supernatural power. The second step is to assure ourselves by witnesses in every way reliable, that the fact transpired as it was reported. Here we believe that the authorities at Rome will be found far more critical and severe than the majority of mankind, and any miracle which can pass the test of their investigations can safely be considered as undoubted. Such miracles are an irresistible proof of the divinity of the religion which they attend and sanction, for surely God could not interpose in favor of any counterfeit of His revelation. For example, if St. Francis Xavier, one of the first and most illustrious members of the Society of Jesus, raised the dead to life, as the most unexceptionable testimony goes to prove, we have a right to conclude that the divine favor attended the faith which he taught, and for the extension of which he gave the whole strength of his life. We sincerely believe that there is as good evidence that he worked such a miracle, as there is that the Apostles wrought the wonders which are ascribed to them. Some Protestants have a very erroneous notion of the feeling of intelligent Catholics on this subject. They call us superstitious, and suppose that we are ever ready to accept any strange or remarkable thing which may be reported, without weighing either testimony or facts. The truth is very far from this. We are not called upon by our creed to believe in any miracle which has not every sign of authenticity; and to such belief, as it is nothing but the conviction of our understanding, every reasonable man is bound. As Catholics we must have faith in the supernatural, and in the power of God to work miracles when He shall see fit to advance by such means His own glory and the good of His creatures. But for the acceptance of any particular miracle we are guided by the principles of reason, and act

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not more as Catholics than as intelligent beings. There is no article of faith which binds us to assent to any such particular miracle, which, as a fact, must stand or fall by the weight of testimony.