to Him as our Creator; He can destine us for a happiness consisting in the immediate contemplation of His divine essence, while our natural end would be a knowledge of God obtained through the contemplation of His creatures. Now, man is not by nature fitted for the immediate contemplation of God. This is a gift of a higher order, which he cannot acquire by the exertion of his natural energies, a reward which he could not merit by the greatest efforts of his natural will. God's goodness alone can propose this reward to him, and, by supernatural aid, make it possible for him to obtain it.

A religion supernatural in substance is necessarily supernatural also in form, i.e., revealed; because its substance cannot be inferred from nature by the exercise of reason, but must be communicated by divine revelation. We shall show in the sequel that the Christian religion is supernatural in both these respects.

4. The science of religion surpasses all others in excellence. A mere knowledge of religious truths and obligations, such as every Christian is bound to possess, is to be distinguished from the science or more perfect knowledge of religion. Religious knowledge deserves the name of science then only when, after having proved the existence of a divine revelation, and, consequently, the truth of religion itself, it proceeds to demonstrate the various truths of revelation from their sources, establishes its conclusions one upon another, and constructs the whole into a harmonious system. Thus the science of religion has the same functions as any other, with this difference, that, while other sciences take their principles from reason, religion takes its fundamental truths from revelation.

The excellence of a science depends chiefly upon the certainty with which it establishes its conclusions; for certainty alone affords the mind full satisfaction. Next comes into account the dignity of the subject-matter, and, if it pursues a practical end, also the importance of its object. In each of these respects the science of religion excels all others, and, consequently, deserves to be called the queen of sciences.

1. The science of religion affords the highest and fullest certainty conceivable. For the truths upon which it rests are attested by the authority, that is, by the wisdom and truthfulness of God Himself, while the principles of other sciences rest upon the light of reason. As far, then, as God's intelligence surpasses the knowledge of man, so far does the certainty of the science of religion excel that of other sciences.

2. The subiect-matter of which the science of religion chiefly

treats is God; and everything else comes under consideration only in as far as it relates to God. Yet the subject-matter of this sacred science is still more perfect from the fact that it is presented to us, not only in the light of reason, but in a light that transcends all our natural powers. The science of religion unfolds truths which no finite intellect of itself can grasp. And it is in this chiefly that it excels all the other sciences. For, although the mind cannot penetrate those mysteries which go beyond its sphere, yet it is more ennobled even by the merest glimpse of them than by the result of all human sciences togetner.

3. The science of religion, in giving us precepts regarding our conduct, pursues the noblest of all objects, viz., our future happiness, consisting in the direct contemplation of God. Though pagan philosophers may have laid down laws of morality, and though they may have aimed at leading man to a state of happiness, yet they generally knew not that man's happiness consisted in the possession of God, or, if they did know it, still that happiness, consisting in the beatific vision of God which religion alone enables us to obtain, was unknown to them.

CHAPTER I.

REVELATION IN GENERAL.

5. Revelation may be natural or supernatural, either in form or in substance.

Py revelation in general we understand any kind of manifestation; by divine revelation, a manifestation made by God. The subject, or substance, of divine revelation may be anything which can be brought to the knowledge of man.

I. Revelation may be divided, first, according to its form, i.e., according to the manner in which it is communicated, into natural and supernatural.

1. Revelation is natural in form when it is communicated through nature, i.e., through the visible creation. From the created universe we infer the existence of the Creator, as well as His power, wisdom, and goodness. From conscience, which approves some actions as good, and condemns others as evil; which restrains us from the latter, and urges us on to the former; which rebukes us for these, and commends us for those, we infer the existence of a divine law-giver, judge, and avenger.

What reason thus teaches regarding God is matter of knowledge, i.e., of conviction founded upon intrinsic reasons, not matter of faith, i.e., assent on external authority.

2. Revelation is supernatural in form when it is communi cated, not through nature or creation, but in a higher, supernatural manner; that is, when God speaks to us, either of Himself or through His messengers. In the first case this supernatural revelation is direct; in the second, indirect. Thus God spoke to the prophets directly, to the Jewish people indirectly through the prophets. If man can manifest to man his thoughts and desires by words or other signs, God can, in like manner, hold intercourse with His rational creatures, and communicate to them truths, facts, and precepts.

A manifestation which is supernatural, at least in form, is called simply a revelation, or a divine revelation, and all that is thus communicated, though it may have no special bearing on God, is therefore called divine truth. Divine truth thus communicated is matter of faith, i.e., to be accepted on the authority of God; for, to believe is to assent to another's statement upon his authority, and not on account of the knowledge of the thing itself; or to hold a statement as true because another has uttered it. To believe God, therefore, means to accept a truth upon the authority of God, i.e., because He, the All-knowing and All-truthful, has revealed it.

II. Revelation is divided also, according to its substance, into natural and supernatural.

1. Revelation is natural in substance if it extends only to such truths as are expressed in creation and are, consequently, knowable from nature. God can also, by a positive revelation, communicate to man what man of himself could learn from the contemplation of nature, just as one man can impart to another by words what the latter might find out, or may have already found out, by reflection. Those truths which man can know from the consideration of created nature, by the mere light of reason, constitute the subject-matter of natural religion (3); and thus divine revelation, if it only communicated such truths, though supernatural in form, would be natural in substance.

Truths which may be inferred from nature, or discovered by the mere light of reason, are called natural truths. These natural truths, which are matter of knowledge inasmuch as they are known by the contemplation of nature, become matter of faith when they are communicated by the word of God. Since faith is the submission of the intellect to the authority of God, it follows that the revelation also of natural truths is salutary, and, therefore, suited to the nature of man, affording him opportunity of submitting his understanding to God's sovereign truthfulness. Hence the Vatican Council (de fide II can. 2) defines: "If any one assert that it is impossible or unbecoming that man should be taught by divine revelation concerning God and the homage to be paid to Him, let him be anathema.”

2. Revelation is supernatural in substance when it embraces truths which are not expressed in creation and, consequently, cannot be known from nature, or by unaided reason. If there are truths which God has not manifested through creation, He is as free to reveal them as He is to reveal those which man could find out by his own reasoning. And if these truths should

contain mysteries, man, indeed, will not compass their intrinsic nature; he will nor, for instance, understand why in God there should be three persons, or how there can be three persons in one substance; but he will understand the meaning of the proposition: In God there are three persons. A man can understand the meaning of a geometrical proposition without understanding its intrinsic nature and its proof.

The very fact that God is infinite makes it probable that there are truths which He has not manifested through the creation of the universe. The deist, therefore, irrationally denies that there are truths in God which can be known only by revelation. At least he must admit chat in God there are free acts of the will, of which man has no knowledge; for who can say that he knows all the free acts of another's will? What reason teaches us as at least probable, namely, that God's infinite being contains truths which man of himself could never know, revelation, as manifesting such truths, proves to be a fact. Hence the canon of the Vatican Council (de fide II. can. 3): If any one assert that man cannot be raised by God to a knowledge and perfection surpassing nature, but that he can and must of himself, by continual progress, finally arrive at the possessior of all truth and goodness; let him be anathema.

66

6. To gain a suitable knowledge of the natural truths of religion, a supernatural revelation was morally necessary for the human race.

In order to disprove the existence of a revelation, rationalism asserts that man is self-sufficient, and, therefore, needs no revelation. But, granting that man by the aid of reason could easily and infallibly arrive at the knowledge of natural truths, the conclusion that there is no revelation would be false; for, in the first place, there is this advantage in revelation, that by believing it man will have an opportunity of submitting his understanding and his will to God, and thus rendering Him homage. For, if man believes a revealed truth, he accepts it, not because he understands it, but simply because God, the Sovereign Truth, has revealed it; and thus he humbly submits his understanding to God's word. Secondly, God may have decreed to require of man the knowledge of truths, and the fuifilment of duties, which can be known only by revelation. In this case, faith on the part of man, as well as revelation on the part of God, is indispensable. For the present, however, we are concerned only with the supernatural revelation of those truths which belong to the natural order.

We call that morally necessary which cannot without great difficulty be dispensed with, or that which as a means to a certain end is so necessary that without it the latter can dardly, or only imperfectly, be attained. A supernatura