Part I, Faith: The Apostles' Creed and the First Article

Besides the Apostles' Creed, which is repeated at Baptism, there is also the Nicene Creed (composed at the Council of Nicaaa, 325), and enlarged at the Council of Constantinople. Also the Creed of Pope Pius IV., which contains the teaching of the Council of Trent, and was published by the authority of Pope Pius IV. in 1564. Some additions have been made to it by the Vatican Council (1870). The Nieene Creed is repeated on certain days by the priest in holy Mass, and the Creed of Pope Pius IV. has to be repeated by a convert when he is received into the Church, and also by parish priests when they enter on their benefices.

1. The Apostles' Creed contains in brief. all that a Catholic must know and believe.

In its few words are contained all the mysteries of the faith. It is like the body of a child which contains the limbs of a fullgrown man, or like a seed that contains the tree with all its branches. It is called in Latin the symbolum, or distinguishing mark, because in early days the recital of it was the mark by which a man was recognized as a Christian. No one was admitted to be present at holy Mass unless he knew it by heart. It could not be divulged to any unbaptized person. It is called the symbolum, as being the watchword of the Christian warfare.

The Apostles' Creed is so called because it originated with the apostles.

The holy apostles, before they separated from one another, established a certain and fixed rule of their teaching, so that it might be the same in all the different countries where they preached. Yet it is only the outlines of the Apostles' Creed that date from the apostles themselves. Between their time 'and the year 600 a number of new clauses were added, in order to meet various heresies. Thus the words " Creator of heaven and earth " were added to meet the Manichean doctrine that the world was created by the principle of evil; the word Catholic was added to distinguish the Church from the sects around her, etc. The influence of St. Peter in drawing up the Creed appears from the fact that the principles which are developed in his speeches as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, are those which are found in the Creed. It was required before Baptism as an evidence of fitness for the reception of that sacrament.

2. The Apostles' Creed may be divided into . three several parts.

The first part treats of God the Father and of creation.

The second part treats of God the Son and of our redemption.

The third part treats of God the Holy Ghost and of our sanctificaHon.

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3. The Apostles' Creed may also be divided into twelve articles.

An article is a member belonging to the whole, as a limb belongs to the whole body. The articles of the Creed are so called because of their inseparable connection with one another. As you cannot take away one of the links of a chain without the chain being broken, so you cannot take away one of the articles of the Creed without faith being destroyed. There are various images in the Old Testament of the twelve articles of the Creed, e.g., the twelve precious stones on the breastplate of the high priest (Exod. xxviii. 17-21), and the twelve loaves of proposition (Lev. xxiv. 6). The articles of the Creed which we should wear on our breast, i.e., should believe and confess, should be like the stones in the high priest's breastplate : shining and spreading light around.

The number of the articles of the Creed is the same as that of the apostles of Our Lord, and is intended to remind us that they contain the doctrine taught by the twelve apostles.

Every Christian should know the Creed by heart. It should be repeated every day at our prayers, by way of renewing and strength ening our faith, and of confirming the covenant we entered on with God at our Baptism. It is the shield of faith, by the repetition of which we can extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one (Eph. vi. 16).

FIKST ARTICLE OF THE CREED: "I BELIEVE IN GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY."

1. The Existence of a Supreme Being

1. We can infer from the created world around us that there exists a supreme Being.

We cannot see the souls of men, but we can infer their existence by a process of reasoning; so it is with the existence of God.

The heavens and the earth could not have come into existence of themselves; nor could the heavenly bodies move through space by their own power.

We infer, when we see footprints in the snow, that some one has passed that way; so we infer from the things around us that there exists a supreme Being. The planets could no more have come into existence of themselves than a town could be built of itself. The astronomer Kirchner had a friend who doubted the existence of God. He had a globe made and placed in his study. His friend came to see him one day and asked where the globe came from. Kirchner answered that it made itself. When his friend laughed at such an answer, Kirchner replied, " It would be much easier for a little globe like that to make itself than the great one on which we live." A light cannot kindle itself, and after it is kindled it will go out in a few hours. But the heavens are lighted by the glorious light of the sun, which has burned for many thousands of years without

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losing any of its brightness. Look at the millions of the stars. Who made them all, and caused them to illumine the night ? The Psalmist truly says " The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth the work of His hands" (Ps. xviii. 2). The great astronomer Newton used always to uncover and bow his head when the name of God was mentioned. We may also infer the existence of God from the creatures on the earth. Thus Job says " Ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee ; and the birds of the air, and they shall tell thee. Speak to the earth and it shall answer thee; and the fishes of the sea shall tell. Who is ignorant that the hand of the Lord hath made all these things ? " (Job xii. 7-9.) If any one were to find a beautiful marble statue on a desert island, he would say without any hesitation that men had been there. If one were to say that the wind and rain had torn it from the mountain side, and given it its form, we should count him as a fool. A greater fool is he who asserts that this wondrous world had no Creator.

The wonderful arrangement and order of the world also leads us to infer that it has been framed by an Architect of surpassing skill.

If a ship sails on its way and arrives safely at its destination, we conclude that it had a clever pilot. To say that the stars of the heaven of themselves direct their course, is as foolish as it would be to say that a ship had started from New York, sailed round the world, and returned safely without any one to guide it. Cicero said long ago, " When we contemplate the heavens, we arrive at the conviction that they are all guided by a Being of surpassing skill." In all that is upon the earth we see traces of design and of a most wise Designer — in the construction of the bodies of animals, and of the bodies of men, in the -succession of the seasons, in trees and plants. The adaptation of means to ends in the human eye, the ear, and the various parts of the body, all imply an adapting intelligence, just as the adaptation of a watch to indicate the time, or the building of a house to shelter us, implies an intelligent constructor. As it would be impossible that the letters of the alphabet should be grouped together by mere chance in the order of the " Iliad," so it is impossible that the arrangements of the universe could have come about by chance, and without the knowledge and direction of a mighty intelligence.

All the nations of the earth have an inner conviction of the existence of a supreme Being.

Among all nations, even the most degraded, we find invariably the worship of some kind of deity. We find towns without walls, without a ruler, without laws, without coin, but never without some sort of temple, without prayer, without sacrifice. Now, universal consent is a mark of truth. The belief in God is an inner conviction, which may be said to be inborn, inasmuch as every one can arrive at it with the. greatest ease.

Only the fool says in his heart: there is no God (Ps. xiii. 1). Those who say that there is no God in spite of the glories of

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creation which they see around them, are those of whom Our Lord says that " seeing they perceive not, and -hearing they do not under stand " (Mark iv. 12). Such men are called atheists or infidels. They are invariably men who either are eaten up with pride or live vicious lives, or both. " He who denies the existence of God," says St. Augustine, " has some reason for wishing that God did not exist." Atheists, for the most part, use language which is at variance with their real convictions. Many of them are the first to cry to God for help when they are in some imminent danger. Their bold talk means very little. They are like boys who whistle in the dark to show that they are not afraid. God will take atheists at their word one day and will show Himself no loving God for them. So He took at their word those of the Israelites who doubted His power to give them victory over their enemies and possession of the Promised Land. They died before they entered it (Numb. xiv. 28-32).

2. The existence of God is also proved from revelation.

God has at sundry times and in divers manners spoken to men (Heb. i. 1), and has given them a knowledge of Himself. To Moses He appeared in the burning bush, and called Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; to distinguish Himself from the false gods, He gives to Himself the name of " the self -existent One," or " I am Who am " (Exod. iii. 14). So in giving the law on Sinai He says, " I am the Lord your God. Thou shalt have none other gods beside Me" (Deut. v. 6, 7). God also worked miracles at various times in proof of His existence, e.g., by sending down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice of Elias on Carmel (3 Kings xviii. 24, seq.), by saving Daniel from the lions at Babylon, and the three young men from the fiery furnace.

2. The Divine Essence

What God is in His divine nature or essence is known to us partly from created things, but more clearly from His revelation of Himself.

St. Paul tells us that, " The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Eom. i. 20). Creation is a sort of mirror that reflects the divine perfections ; thus from the beauty of things created we can infer the greater beauty of Him Who created them (Wisd. xiii. 1). So again from the order that prevails in the visible world we can conclude that He Who made it is a Being of surpassing wisdom, and from its vastness we learn the power of Him Who upholds and supports it. Yet the knowledge thus obtained is always imperfect and obscure. From a beautiful picture we do not learn much about the character of the painter. In creatures we see God only as through a glass and in a dark manner (1 Cor. xiii. 12). The heathens, before the coming of Christ, were sunk in the grossest vices, and this darkened their intellect and rendered them still less able to arrive at a knowledge of God from His works (Wisd. ix. 16). In order to enlighten this ignorance God revealed Himself to men, speaking to

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them by the mouth of the patriarchs and prophets, and above all by the mouth of His Son, Jesus Christ (Heb. i. 1, 2). It was Christ Who gave to men the clearest manifestation of the nature of God; all the rest spoke somewhat obscurely, for none of them had seen God face to face.

Even since God's revelation of Himself, man is not capable of a thorough or complete knowledge of the nature of God; the reason of this is that God is infinite, and man is only finite.

Just as we cannot inclose a boundless ocean in a little vessel, so we cannot take in the infinite majesty of God with our finite understanding. " Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge " (Job xxxviii. 26). "The things that are of God no man knoweth, but the Spirit of God " (1 Cor. ii. 11). We can neither express in words nor conceive in thought what God really is. When the sage Simonides was asked by Hiero, King of Syracuse, what God is, he took first one, then two days to consider the question; then he requested four days more; then eight; and finally said to the king that the longer he thought about the matter, the more obscure did it become to him. It is easier to say what God is not than what He is. He who attempts to fathom the majesty of God becomes profane. It is told of Icarus in the old mythology, that he fastened wings to his sides with wax, and attempted to fly up to heaven; but when he came too near the sun, it melted the wax and he fell into the sea and perished. So it is with those who seek to fathom the nature of God; He casts them down into the sea of doubt and unbelief. He who gazes upon the sun becomes dazzled; so is it with those who seek to penetrate into the nature of God. Even the angels veil their faces before God (Ezecb. i. 23). The most perfect of them cannot comprehend His majesty. They are like a man who looks upon the sea from some high point ; he sees the sea, but he does not see the whole of it. How can we expect to reach heights which even the angels cannot attain to ?

We can only give an imperfect and incomplete explanation of the nature of God, viz.:

1. God is a self -existent Being, infinite in His perfections, glory, and beatitude, the Creator and Ruler of the whole world.

When Moses asked almighty God His name, on the occasion of His appearing in the burning bush, God answered, " I am Who am " (Exod. iii. 14) i.e., " I exist of Myself, I derive My being from Myself." All other beings derive their existence from God, and there fore in comparison of Him are as nothing. Hence David says, " My substance is as nothing before Thee " (Ps. xxxviii. 6). God also possesses the highest perfection. We see how some beings upon the earth are more perfect than others. Some things have only existence without life, as stones and metals ; others have life, but without sensation, as trees and plants; others have sensation and movement as well, as birds and beasts ; man has a spiritual life, with intellect and freewill. Above man there are countless numbers of pure spirits, each with a special perfection of its own, and each increasing in virtue as

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it ascends towards the throne of God. But they can never arrive at infinite perfection, since the most perfect among them can always at tain to some higher excellence. Hence we must believe in a Being of infinite perfection, from Whom all other beings derive their virtues, Who possesses in Himself, and Who is infinitely exalted beyond, all existing or possible perfections that can be found in all other beings than Himself. Nothing greater than God can either exist or even be thought of. God is also infinite in glory and beauty. For if on the earth there exist so many beautiful things, how far greater must be the beauty and glory of God, since it is He Who gave them all their beauty. He could not have given it unless He already possessed it. He is like the boundless ocean, and the beauty of all created things is like a series of drops taken from the ocean. God is also infinite in His supreme happiness or beatitude. He lives in endless and infinite joy; no creature can interfere with the perfection of His happiness. None can either increase or diminish it (1 Tim. vi. 15). As the sun needs 110 light from other bodies, because it is itself the light, so God needs nothing from others, because He is Himself in possession of all good. We can only give Him what we have already received from Him. God is the Creator of the whole world, of heaven, earth, and sea. He is also the King and Lord of all, and has made all things outside of Himself subject to certain fixed laws. The earth is subject to fixed laws. It goes round the sun in three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days, and revolves on its own axis in twenty-four hours. All the heavenly bodies move according to fixed laws, so that we can foretell eclipses of the sun and moon, etc.; there* are laws which regulate all the material things on the face of the earth. Plants, trees, and animals have their growth and develop ment governed by stated laws. The actions of reasonable beings are also governed by laws, which, however, by reason of their freewill, they are able to disobey. The penalties for transgression are laid down by almighty God. God is the King of kings, the eternal King (Tob. xiii. 6). The majesty of the greatest of earthly kings is but a feeble and faint reflection of the majesty of God. Hence we are bound to obey Him, because He is our King and He will have all subject to Him, either willingly in this life, or against their will to their eternal misery.

2. We cannot see God, because He is a spirit, i.e., a being without body, immortal, possessed of intellect and free will.

Our Lord says : " God is a spirit, and they that adore Him must adore Him in spirit and in truth" (John iv. 24). It is because God is a spirit that the Jews were strictly forbidden to make any image of Him (Exod. xx. 4). God cannot be seen by man; there is a veil between us and God. We cannot see the stars during the day, but only when darkness comes on. So we cannot see God during the day of our life on earth, but only when the darkness of death comes over us. In this life God is a hidden God (Is. xlv. 15). He inhabits the in accessible light (1 Tim. vi. 16).

Yet God has often assumed visible forms. Thus He appeared to Abraham as a traveller, at the baptism of

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Our Lord under the form of a dove, and in the shape of tongues of fire at Pentecost. But the external form under which God appeared was not God Himself. In the same way we often read of the eyes, ears, etc., of God; but this is only to impress upon us the fact that God sees us, hears us, etc.

3. There is one God, and one only.

The most perfect being in the world must be only one. The tall est tree in the wood is but one. To say that there are more Gods than one is like saying that there can be more than one soul in a human body, or more than one captain on a ship. Even the pagan Greeks and Romans honored one god as supreme among the rest. The plurality of gods probably arose from the plurality of the forces of nature (such as thunder, lightning, fire, etc.), which filled the beholders with fear, and caused them to adore these forces as gods. Or it may have arisen from the deification of heroes, or from the power of the evil spirits which, having attracted notice, caused them to be worshipped as gods.

3. The Divine Attributes

We ascribe to God various attributes, because the unity of the divine perfection is reflected in different ways in creatures.

The sun is sometimes red, sometimes yellow, or a palish white. It is the mists around the earth that cause the variety in it as* it is seen by us. The attributes of God are therefore various manifestations of God's one and indivisible perfection or essence. In God they are all one and the same; His goodness is the same as His justice, His wisdom as His power, and His power as His eternity, etc. The divine attributes are also identical with God Himself ; God is wisdom, power, eternity, etc. God is a Being of the most perfect and absolute simplicity; there is no sort of multiplicity or obscurity in Him. There is no sort of division between His attributes; it is from our under standing that the distinction between them arises. In created things it is quite different; they possess attributes which are really distinct from each other.

The attributes of God may be divided into those which belong to God's essence, those that belong to His understanding, and those that belong to His will.

The attributes of the divine essence are omnipresence, eternity, immutability; those that belong to His understanding are omniscience, perfect wisdom, etc. ; those that belong to His will are omnipotence, goodness, holiness, justice, truth, and faithfulness.

1. God is eternal, i.e., always was, is, and ever will be.

God's words to Moses "I am Who am" (Exod. iii. 14), express His eternity. There never was a time when God did not exist; He never began to exist. He existed before the world, as a builder must exist before the house that he builds, and the watchmaker before the

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watch that he fashions. God can never cease to live, as men do. Hence He is called the living God (Matt. xvi. 16) and immortal (1 Tim. i. 17). He existed before all time, and He will exist to all eternity. With Him there is no past or future; all is present with Him. The whole history of the world is and has ever been in His sight; there is for Him no succession of events; for Him there is no time. " One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Pet. iii. 8). Millions of ages are as nothing compared with eternity. If a bird were to carry away from the ocean one drop of water every thousand years, the time would come when the ocean would be dry ; but that immense period of time, which seems to us inexhaustible, is less than the shortest moment compared with the eternity of God's existence. " Dost thou desire eternal joy," says St. Augustine, " thou must be faithful to Him Who is the Eternal."

2. God is omnipresent, i.e., He is in every place.

After Jacob had seen, in the open country, the ladder reaching up to heaven, he exclaimed, " God is in this place, and I knew it not " (Gen. xxviii. 16). The same words are true of every place. God is not only present everywhere with His power, but He Himself fills and penetrates all space. " Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?" (Jer. xxiii. 24.)

1. God is everywhere present, because all created things exist in God.

All creatures exist in God, as thought exists in our minds. As mind is of more extent than thought, so God is of more extent than the world and all it contains. As mind penetrates thought, so God penetrates the world. " In. Him we live, and move, and exist " (Acts xvii. 28). God is at the same time quite distinct from creatures and from the whole world.

2. God is not circumscribed by any place, nor by the whole of creation, because He has no limits, either actual or possible.

In his prayer at the dedication of the Temple Solomon said: "If heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house that I have built" (3 Kings viii. 27). The infinite cannot be contained in measurable space. Only bodies are contained in space. Spirits indeed are not contained in space, but they cannot be in more than one place at the same time. " God is every where," says St. Bernard, " and yet nowhere. He is near us and yet is far away. All creation is in Him, and yet it is as if He were not in it."

3. Yet God is of more extent than space, and therefore can be in every place at the same time.

Though God is of more extent than all space, and His presence extends from earth to heaven and far beyond, He is not scattered over the universe, partly on earth and partly in heaven, but He is wholly everywhere and wholly in each separate place; wholly in Jieaven and wholly on earth. He fills heaven and earth. So the soul

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of man fills his entire body, but yet it is wholly in every separate portion of His body.

4. God is present in a special manner in heaven, in the Blessed Sacrament, and in the souls of the just.

God is present in heaven to the gaze of the angels and saints. He is present as the God-man in the Blessed Sacrament ; He is present in the souls of men through the Holy Ghost Who is given to them. A king is present in his whole palace, but is specially present in the chamber where he sits on his throne, and gives audiences to his subjects.

5. There is no place where God is not.

" The eyes of the Lord in every place behold the good and the evil" (Prov. xv. 3). We sometimes see in churches a large eye painted over the altar, to remind us that God is present every where. " No one can hide himself from God " ( Jer. xxiii. 23, 24). Hence no one can escape from God (Ps. cxxxviii. 7, 8). Jonas made the attempt, but with very poor success. Hence learn to avoid every sin. See with what unspeakable shame a man is filled, if he is detected by one of his fellow-men in a despicable action. Yet we are not ashamed to practise the most disgraceful vices in the presence of God (St. Augustine).

6. We ought therefore continually to bear in mind that God is always present with us.

Think, wherever you are, that God is near you. As there is no moment of time when we are not enjoying some benefit from the hand of God, so there ought to be no moment of time when we have not God in our thoughts. " He who always has God in his thoughts," says St. Ephrem, " will become like an angel on the earth."

The continual remembrance of the presence of God is very profitable to us. It has great power to deter us from sin, and to keep us in the grace of God; it incites us to good works and makes us intrepid in His service.

The remembrance of the presence of God gives strength in nme of temptation and holds us back from sin. Look at Joseph in Egypt. A soldier fights more bravely in the presence of his king. The remembrance of the presence of God is also the best means of remain ing in the grace of God. It is like Ariadne's clew, by means of which we, like Theseus, can find the way through the labyrinth of our life on earth, and remain unscathed by the Minotaur of hell. The remembrance of the presence of God increases our zeal in God's service and leads us on to the practice of all the virtues ; it makes us more careful in the performance of all our duties. The nearer the water is to the spring the purer it is ; the nearer one is to the fire the greater the warmth; the closer we keep to God, the greater our perfection. When the tree is closely united to the root, it brings forth plenteous fruit. The Christian brings forth good fruit to eternal life if he is closely united to God. The thought of God also renders us fearless.

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When the Empress Eudoxia threatened St. John Chrysostom with banishment, he answered " You will not frighten me, unless you are able to send me to some place where God is not." David says to God : " Though I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me " (Ps. xxii. 4). If a timid man has a companion with him, his fear disappears ; so we shall not fear if God, the all-powerful God, is with us.

3. God is immutable, i.e., He ever remains the same.

God never changes ; He never becomes better or worse ; He never breaks His word (Numb, xxiii. 19). Creation made no change in God; from all eternity He had decreed the creation of the universe. God changes His works, but not His eternal decrees. By the Incarnation humanity was changed, but the Godhead underwent no change, just as the sun is in no way changed when it hides itself behind a cloud. Our thoughts are not changed when they clothe themselves in words ; so the divinity was not changed when it clothed itself in the nature of man. God does not change when He punishes the sinner. When the heart of man is in friendship with God, God shows Himself to him as a God of infinite love and mercy; when the heart is estranged from Him, the sinner sees in the unchange able God an angry and avenging judge. When the eye is sound, the light is pleasant to it; but if it is diseased, light causes it pain : it is not the light that is changed, but the eye that looks upon it. When an angry man looks in the glass he sees a different reflection from that which he saw when he was cheerful and in good-humor; it is not the glass that has changed, but the man. When the sun shines through colored glass, its rays take the color of the glass; the sun does not change, but the light is changed by the medium through which it passes. So when God rewards, it is not God Who changes, but man, who performs different and better actions, thereby meriting the grace of God. When in Scripture we read that God repented of having made man, that God is angry with the wicked, the phrases used are accommodated to our imperfect comprehension.

4. God is omniscient, i.e., He knows all things, the past, the present, and the future, and also our inmost thoughts (Jer. xvii. 10).

God knew that Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit. Our Lord foreknew St. Peter's denial, the destruction of Jerusalem, etc. He knew the thoughts of Simon the Pharisee, and that he was angry at Our Lord showing such kindness to Magdalen the sinner. God sees as in a glass all men, and their every action (Ps. xxxii. 13). " He that planted the ear shall He not hear ? He that made the eye shall He not see ? " (Ps. xciii. 9.) God also foresees evil, but man is not thereby constrained to do evil. It is just as if we see from a distance a man who is committing some crime. God sees the deed because the man does it; the man does not do it because God sees it. When some past action is present to our thoughts, it did not happen because it is in our thoughts ; so when God foresees some future action, it does not happen because God has foreseen it, but He has fore-

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seen it because the man is going to commit it — the man is not com pelled to commit because God has foreseen it. When God foresees that some man will be lost forever, God's foreknowledge is not the cause of the man's damnation. The physician foresees the approach ing death of his patient, but his knowledge is not the cause of the man's death. The learned Franciscan Duns Scotus, once heard a farmer uttering terrible curses and begged him not to damn his soul so thoughtlessly. The farmer answered : " God knows everything. He knows whether I shall go to heaven or to hell. If He knows that I shall go to heaven, why to heaven I shall go; if He knows that I shall go to hell, I shall go to Lell. What, ihen, does it matter what I do or say ? " The priest answered, " In that case why plough your fields ? God knows whether they will bear a good crop or not. If He knows that they will bear a good harvest, the harvest will be good, whether you plough the land or not. If He knows that they will be unfruitful, why unfruitful they will be. Why then should you waste your time in ploughing ? " Then the farmer understood that it is not the omniscience of God, but the free action of man, that deter mines both our temporal and our eternal happiness or misery.

God also knows what would have happened under certain given circumstances; this is the reason why He sends us trials, in order to prevent greater evils that otherwise would have happened to us.

Thus Our Lord knew that the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon would have done penance if such wonders had been worked among them as He worked in Corozain and Bethsaida. God foresees that some of the just will be led astray by the seductions of the world, and sometimes in His mercy takes them at an early age to Himself. He foresees that some will be ruined by riches or by prosperity, and therefore brings them to poverty and to earthly misfortune. This ought to make us bear our troubles with patience. The trials of the just are an opportunity offered them to advance in virtue.

God, Who knows all things, will one day bring all hidden things to light.

Our Lord says, " There is nothing hidden that shall not be made manifest ; or secret that shall not be known and come abroad " (Luke viii. 17). God will, in the Last Day, disclose and make known our whole life. As the morning sun shows all things in their true light, so Christ, the Sun of justice, will at the Day of Judgment reveal all our actions in their true light. All prayers, alms, fasts, penances, that are done according to His will, will be made manifest to the whole world. Nothing is so small as to escape notice at the Last Day.

"We should think on God's omniscience, especially when we are tempted, that we may pass through our temptations unscathed.

A little boy who was in a strange house saw there a basket full of beautiful apples. As he could see no one in the room, he was much

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tempted to help himself to some. But the thought came to him of God's omniscience. " No," he said, " I must not take them, for God sees me." At that moment a man who was hidden from him by a curtain, called out to him, " You may take as many apples as you like." What a blessing it was for him that he had not taken them without permission. If we know that some one is watching us we are very careful what we do; if we remember that God sees us, we shall bestill more careful. Job took refuge in God's knowledge of his innocence, when he was mocked at by his friends; so did Susanna when falsely accused (Job xvi. 16; Dan. xiii. 42).

5. God is supremely wise, i.e., He knows how to direct every thing for the best in order to carry out His designs.

The design at which God aims is nothing else than His own glory, and the good of His creatures. If the farmer wishes for a good harvest, he ploughs his field, manures it, sows good seed, etc. Such a farmer is a wise man, because he chooses the means best qualified to attain his end. God acts in an exactly similar way. He prepared the world for the coming of the Redeemer by the call of Abraham, the sending of the prophets, etc. The wisdom of God shows Itself in the life of individuals, e.g., of Joseph in Egypt, of Moses, of St. Paul, and also in the history of nations and kingdoms. (Of. Eom. xi. 33).

1. The wisdom of God shows itself especially in the way in which He brings good out of evil.

The life of the patriarch Joseph is an excellent example of this. God's ways are not as our ways, or His thoughts as our thoughts. Man proposes and God disposes. A man inexperienced in war would be puzzled by the orders issued by the general, and would not be able to understand how they all could tend to insure victory. We shall understand God's ways in heaven, but we cannot understand them here. A child saw how the thorns tore away little pieces from the fleece of a sheep and wanted to remove the thorns. Presently the child saw how the singing-birds collected the bits of wool to make their nests, and no longer wished to remove the thorns. Many men are like this child.

2. The wisdom of God is also displayed in this, that God makes use of the most unlikely means for His own honor.

St. Paul says : " The weak things of this world God has chosen to confound the strong" (1 Cor. i. 27). God chose the small and despised land of Palestine as the cradle of Christianity; He chose a poor maiden to be the Mother of God, and a poor carpenter to be His foster-father. He chose poor, ignorant fishermen to preach the Gospel and spread it over all the earth. He often uses the most improbable means in helping His friends. St. Felix of Nola, when flying from his persecutors, took refuge in a hole in a rock. A spider came and spun its web at the mouth of the cave, and his pursuers, on seeing this, concluded that he could not be inside. A poor woman was summoned to pay some money which had already been paid by her husband, who was dead. She searched everywhere for the receipt,

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but in vain. The very morning when she had to appear before the court a cockchafer flew in at the window, and behind a press. One of the children wanted to get it, so the mother moved the press a little to reach it, and from behind the press the long-sought receipt fell to the ground. This was God's answer to the poor widow's prayers. It is God's law that all works done for God should meet with difficul ties and hindrances. " A work that begins with brilliant promise," St. Philip Neri used to say, "has not God for its author and protector."

3. Lastly the wisdom of God shows itself in directing- the course of the world to carry out His purposes.

All things in the world have a mutual relation to one another. If a man removes or displaces a single wheel in a watch, the watch stops ; so if anything were altered in the arrangement of the world, all things would be confused; e.g., without the birds the insects would soon destroy all vegetation. So the animals that serve us for food increase rapidly, while the beasts of prey breed but slowly. Nothing in the world is useless; the alternations of sunshine and rain, summer and winter, day and night, all serve some useful end. How useful is the uneven distribution of wealth, of the talents of men, etc. ! The smallest insect has its usefulness in the world ; the butterfly, going from flower to flower, carries with it the fertilizing pollen. Even the destructive agencies in the world, storms, earthquakes, and floods, serve God's purposes, and are intended by Him to help men to save their souls. How wonderful, too, is the orderly course of the heavenly bodies! The movement of the earth around the sun, and of the moon around the earth, serve to make this world a pleasant habitation for man. The beautiful arrangement of the universe compels us to recognize the wisdom and prudence of Him Who has created it. " How great are Thy works, O Lord ! Thou hast made all things in wisdom; the earth is filled with Thy riches " (Ps. ciii. 24).

6. God is almighty, i.e., God can do all that He wills, and that by a mere act of His will.

God can do things which appear to men impossible, e.g., the preservation of the three young men in the midst of the fiery furnace of Babylon. A thousand similar wonders occurred in the time of the persecutions of the Christians. Our Lord says " With God nothing is impossible" (Matt. xix. 26). Yet God cannot do that which is in contradiction with His own perfections. He cannot lie, and He cannot deceive. God could always have done more wonderful works than He has done. He could have created a more beautiful world than this and more creatures than He has actually made. When any of the creatures that God has made desires to do anything, he can only make use of the things that God has made, and in accordance with the laws that God has established. But God is bound by no laws save those of His own infinite goodness and truth. He has only to will a thing and what He wills happens at once. " He spoke, and the heavens were created ; He commanded, and they were created " (Ps. cxlviii. 5).

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The omnipotence of God shows itself especially in the creation of the world, in the miracles wrought by Our Lord, and in those miracles which before and after Our Lord's time God has worked for the confirmation of the true religion.

The earth is 24,899 miles in circumference; the sun is far larger, for its diameter is one hundred times greater than that of the earth. Some of the heavenly bodies are far greater ; some of them if they oc cupied the place of the sun and were to begin to rise at 6 A.M., would not have completely risen above the horizon by 6 P.M. Our earth is over ninety-one million miles distant from the sun. A body travelling from the earth to the sun at the ordinary rate of a cannon-ball, would take twenty-five years to reach the sun. The planet Neptune, accord ing to the latest information, is 2,794,000,000 miles distant from the sun. A cannon-ball would take eight hundred years to travel thence to the sun. There are stars outside our planetary system which are a million times further from us. Light which travels at the rate of 24,000 miles a second would take many millions of years to reach these stars. Around our sun there move eight larger and two hundred and eighty smaller planets. The nearest (Mercury) is thirty-six million miles distant from the sun, and the most distant (Neptune) over two billion miles. There are also in the heavens thirty million fixed stars, all of them real suns and mostly larger than our sun, and around these move many other heavenly bodies. All these God has created out of nothing. How infinite, then, is the power of God ! Think also of the miracles wrought by Christ, the raising of Lazarus, the stilling of the tempest, etc., the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, the wonders that are now being worked at Lourdes, etc. " Who shall declare the powers of the Lord, or set forth all His praises ? " (Ps. cv. 2.)

Since God is almighty, we can hope for help from Him in our greatest needs.

God has a thousand different ways of helping us. He can send an angel to help us, as He did to St. Peter in prison; or work a miracle, as He did to feed the multitude in the desert ; as a rule He makes use of the most unlikely means, and thereby shows the greatness of His power. He freed Bethulia from the Assyrians by means of a woman. He saved the Israelites from their enemies by making a path through the sea. It is easy for the Lord to save by many or by few.

7. God is supremely good, i.e., He loves His creatures far more than a father loves his children.

God loves His creatures and loads them with benefits. He is love itself (1 John iv. 8).

The spring cannot but send forth water and the sun light. The goodness of God differs from that of His creatures as the sun differs from the light shed upon a wall. His creatures are good, because God sheds His goodness upon them. Hence Our Lord says : " None is good but One, that is God " (Mark x. 18).

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1. The love of God extends to all the creatures that He has made (Wisd. xi. 25).

As the sun lights up the boundless firmament, so God extends His goodness to all creatures. Not one of them is excluded from it. " Not one of them is forgotten by God " (Luke xii. 6).

2. But God has an especial love for mankind. He imparts countless benefits to them and sent His Son on earth to redeem them.

What wonderful bodies God has given us ! He has bestowed upon us our senses, and the gift of speech. How many gifts He has conferred upon our souls ! He has given us understanding, free will, and memory. For our bodies He gives us food, drink, clothing, health, etc. How well He has provided for our necessities on this earth: light, warmth, the air, the plants, the trees, and their various fruits. How many powers He has implanted in nature, for us to use for our own benefit : coal, salt, stone, marble, precious stones, etc. He has, in fact, made man the lord of the whole world. He loves us far more than we love ourselves. His love for us is far greater than that of the fondest mother for her child. The love of all creatures for God is not nearly as great as the love of God for each one of us. But above all, God 'has shown His love for us in this — that He gave His only-begotten Son for us (John iii. 16). Abraham could not show his love for God in any more perfect way than this, that he gave to God that which was dearest to him, viz., his only son. God did just the same ; He gave us His dearest and best possession, His only-begotten Son. Our Lord says of Himself : " Greater love no man has than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends " (John xv. 13). He underwent His sacred Passion and death in order to prove the excess of His love for us. His attitude on the cross proclaims it. His head bowed, to give us the kiss of peace, His arms extended to embrace us, His Heart opened to admit us therein. In the Blessed Sacrament His love keeps Him in the midst of us, and seeks the closest union with us in holy communion. Finally He promised to grant all the prayers that we offer in His name (John xiv. 14).

3. Among men God shows the greatest love to the just.

"A perfect soul," says St. Alphonsus, " is dearer to God than a thousand imperfect ones." " To them that love God all things work together for good" (Rom. viii. 28). "0 how great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, O Lord, which Thou hast hidden for them that fear Thee" (Ps. xxx. 20). God rewards the good works of the just far beyond what they deserve. He repays them a hundredfold, even in this present life (Matt. xix. 29). He loves the just in spite of their sins and imperfections, just as a mother loves her child tenderly in spite of its many defects.

4. God manifests His love even to sinners.

God continues to confer graces and benefits upon sinners until the last moment of their life (Matt. v. 44). He sends them troubles to bring them to repentance. He finds some good in all, and He also

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loves them for what He hopes they may become. The love of God is like the powerful magnet that draws iron to itself. Sometimes there is an obstacle in the way, so that the piece of iron cannot reach the magnet, but the magnet continues to draw it all the same. So God continues to draw sinners, even though they do not come near to Him. God hates only the devil and the lost. Even in hell He shows His goodness by not punishing the lost as much as they deserve. It is because of God's love for men that hell will be so intolerable. The lost will say, " If God had not loved us so much, we should not be so miserable now." Since God loves us so dearly we should love Him dearly in return (1 John iv. 10). We should not be afraid of Him, but should draw near to Him with childlike confidence. Since God is so good to us we must also be good to our fellow-men. God has given us a command to love Him, to love our neighbors, to love our enemies, and also to perform works of mercy. God also wishes us to be kind and merciful to the brute creation.

. 8. God is very patient, i.e., He leaves the sinner time for repentance and a change of life.

Men are wont to punish quickly ; not so God. He endures long the rebellion of the wicked. It is not the will of God that a sinner should die, but that he should be converted from his wicked ways, and live (Ezech. xviii. 23). God often gives men long warning of coming judgments. He gave those who lived in the days of Noe a warning of one hundred and twenty years ; to the Ninivites of forty days ; to the Jews a warning of forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem. A storm does not break at once; we are forewarned by the gathering clouds and the darkness ; so God warns us of coming punishment. He does not at once cut down the barren tree (Luke xiii. 8, 9). God's manner of action is opposite to that of man. Man constructs slowly, and destroys quickly. God constructed the universe in six days, but He took seven days for the destruction of the little town of Jericho. Even man prefers to build up, rather than to destroy ; much more so God.

God is so patient with us because He has compassion on our weakness, and because He desires to make conversion easy to the sinner.

God deals with us as a mother deals with a peevish infant; she presses it closer to her breast and coaxes it to be good. " Knowest thou not," says St. Paul, " that the goodness of God leadeth thee to penance ? " (Rom. ii. 4.) God deals with us patiently for our sakes, not being willing that any should perish, but that all should come to penance (2 Pet. iii. 9). With many sinners God's patience has not been lost, e.g., St. Mary Magdalen, St. Augustine, St. Mary of Egypt, etc., but with others it effects nothing. The same sunlight hardens mud and softens wax. If God were not patient with us, no one could be saved, for we are all sinners who have been unfaithful to Him. But though God is so patient, it is dangerous to put off conversion. For the longer God delays His vengeance, the more terrible it is when it comes upon the sinner. It is just like an arrow from the bow ; the more the bow is drawn back, the greater the force

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with which the arrow flies. Compare the awful end of Antiochus Epiphanes (2 Mach. ix. 5 seq.}. We must not think, because God is so patient, that He has forgotten our sins. " Say not, I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me ? The Most High is a patient rewarder " (Ecclus. v. 4).

9. God is full of mercy and compassion, i.e., He very readily forgives our sins when we are sincerely sorry for them.

Our Lord gives a beautiful object-lesson of the mercy of God in the story of the prodigal son. See how quickly God forgave the sin of David (2 Kings xii. 13). It is a property of God to have mercy and to spare. His mercy is infinite; like the sea, it has no bounds. God requires of us that we should forgive seventy times seven ; how immeasurably merciful therefore must God be !

The mercy of God especially shows itself in the way in which He seeks out the sinner, seeking to win him both by benefits and by the sufferings He inflicts; and also in the love with which He receives again and again the greatest sinner, after his conversion showing him a greater good will than before.

God is like the good shepherd who goes after the lost sheep until he finds it (Luke xv. 4). God sent the prophet Nathan to David; He Himself sought out the Samaritan woman (John iv.). Often He sends troubles that through them the prodigal son may be brought to his senses. He is like a fisherman who tries every sort of device to entice fishes into his net. God is always ready to pardon even the greatest sinner; for He says, "If your sinr b<~ as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow; and if they be red like crimson, they shall be white as wool" (Is. i. 18). In fact, the greater the sinner the more lovingly does God receive him if he is willing to amend. Hence David says to God, " Be merciful to my sin, for it is great" (Ps. xxiv. 11). God is like a fisherman, who is more glad to catch big fish than small ones. No one is lost because he has committed great sins, but many are lost because they have committed one sin of which they will not repent. Even Judas would have received forgiveness if he had asked for it. God sometimes forgives the sinner in the last moment of life. He received the good thief on the cross. Yet this is no reason for putting off repentance till the last. " God justified one man at the last moment that none might despair; but only one, that none might presume," says St. Augustine. A death bed repentance is generally a very doubtful business ; the dying sinner forsakes his sins rather because he cannot help it, than because from his heart he detests them; he is like the mariner who throws his goods into the sea simply from fear of death, not because he wishes to get rid of them. Witness how rarely a conversion made in peril of death proves lasting if the sick man recovers. " It is absurd," says St. Bernardin of Sienna, " that a man who would not fight when he was well and strong, should be moved to the combat when he is sick and weak." God also receives the repentant sinner most lovingly. See how Christ received with tender compassion Magdalen, the woman taken in adultery, and the thief on the cross (Luke vii. 47;

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John viii. 11 ; Luke xxiii. 43). How kindly the father of the prodigal son received him ! God receives the sinner far more kindly than that. " Before he knocks at the door, it is opened to him ; before he falls on his knees before Thee, Thou stretchest out Thy hand to him" (St. Ephrem). Our Lord says that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance, than over ninety-nine just men, who need not penance (Luke xv. 7). The reason of this is that the sinner who does penance generally serves God more zealously and faithfully. God bestows upon the sinner after his conversion greater benefits than He did before he went astray. The father of the prodigal son killed the fatted calf, and made a great feast, with music and dancing. Sometimes the benefits God bestows on the converted sinner are external, more often they are inner consolations and graces. Witness St. Paul, raised to the third heaven (2 Cor. xii. 2). The Good Shepherd has more joy over the return of the one wandering sheep, than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

10. God is infinitely holy, i.e., He loves good and hates all evil.

God's holiness is nothing else than a love of His own infinite perfections. He is free from the faintest stain, and therefore desires that all should be like to Himself. How pure is the blue heaven on which there is no cloud! How pure is the white snow 011 which 110 spot is to be found ! Yet God is infinitely purer. Even angels are not pure in His sight (Job iv. 18). The purity of the angels as compared with that of God is like the light of a lamp compared with the light of the sun. " All our justice is like a soiled rag before Thee, O God ! " (Is. Ixiv. 6.) He says to us: "Be ye holy, because I am holy" (Lev. xi. 44). With this object He implants in our breast the natural law (conscience) ; with this object He gave the law on Mount Sinai; with this object He attached evil consequences to evil deeds. And to cleanse the just from the impurities that cling to them, He purifies them by suffering (John xv. 2). He also cleanses them by the fire of purgatory, since nothing unclean can enter heaven. Why is it that the saints and angels in heaven are represented as dressed in white garments ? Why is it that at Baptism a white robe is given to the newly baptized ? Be pure and holy, and then you will be a child of God.

11. God is infinitely just, i.e., He rewards all good and punishes all evil deeds.

God's justice is identical with His goodness. He punishes men to make them better, and to make them happy.

1. God punishes and rewards men partly on earth, but chiefly after death.

Good actions bring men respect, sometimes riches^ health, and a peaceful conscience. Bad actions bring just the opposite. Abraham, Noe, the patriarch Joseph, were rewarded in this life. Absalom, the sons of Heli, and Antiochus Epiphanes were punished in this life. But it is in the next life, and especially after the resurrection, that body and soul alike will receive their full reward. If all sins were punished in this life men would not believe in the Judgment Day.

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If none were punished here they would not believe in God's retributive justice (St. Augustine).

2. God rewards the least good action, and punishes the smallest sin.

Christ tells us that even a cup of cold water given in His name will have its reward. A mere look or gesture will meet with its due reward. Christ tells us that we shall give account for every idle word (Matt. xii. 36).

3. God punishes men for the most part in kind, i.e., in the same way in which they have sinned.

" By what things a man sinneth," says the Wise Man, " by the same he also is tormented." Absalom prided himself on his longhair and it caused his death. The rich glutton sinned with his palate and it was his tongue and palate that were tormented in the fire of hell. Antiochus tormented the seven Machabean brethren by tearing and maiming their flesh, and his own flesh was eaten by worms (2 Mach. ix. 6). Aman wished to hang Mardochai, and prepared a gallows for him, and on the same gallows he was himself hanged. The women of Bethlehem would not shelter the Mother of God and the divine Son, and their children perished at the revengeful and cruel hand of Herod. Napoleon I. imprisoned the Holy Father, and in his turn was imprisoned first in Elba, and then in St. Helena. In these and many similar events, the Christian sees the finger of God.

4. In rewarding and punishing, God has regard to the circumstances of the individual, and especially to the intention with which he acts, and to the talents that he possesses.

Men judge from the outward appearance of any action, God judges from the heart (1 Kings xvi. 7). The poor widow who threw in only two mites into the treasury of the Temple, had more merit before God than many of the rich men who gave large gifts (Luke xxi. 4). The servant who knows his lord's will and does it not, will receive more stripes than the servant who did not know the will of his lord (Luke xii. 47, 48). The more knowledge any one has of God, the more severely will God punish him for his sins.

5. God is no respecter of persons.

Many who are first in this world will be last in the world to come. The story of the rich glutton and poor Lazarus is an instance of this. Many who have their names in the mouths of men, and in the records of their country, will not have their names written in the book of life.

Because God is a God of perfect justice we have good reason to fear Him.

Christ exhorts us to fear God, Who is able to cast both body and soul into hell (Matt. x. 28). On account of one single sin, that of our first parents, millions of men have to suffer pain and death; and

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countless numbers will be forever miserable. Thence we gather how God hates sin. The same conclusion follows from the fact that Our Lord had to die an agonizing death to atone for sin. Who, then, can fail to fear God ? But our fear of God must be a filial, not a servile fear, i.e., we must fear not so much the punishment of sin, as the offence against God. A filial fear is the result of a great love of God. Yet we must try and avoid, from fear of punishment, those sins from which the love of God is not sufficient to deter us.

The fear of God is of great advantage to us; it keeps us back from sin, leads us on to perfection, and insures for us peace and happiness both in time and in eternity.

The fear of God keeps us back from sin. It was the fear of God that held back the aged Eleazar from eating swine's flesh (2 Mach. vi. 26). He who fears God knows no other fear. As the wind drives away the clouds, so the fear of God drives away fleshly lusts, and enables us to escape the snares of the devil. He who fears God casts aside all attachment to things of earth, as the mariner in danger throws overboard the wares that otherwise would sink his ship. As the needle pierces the stuff and makes way for the thread, so the fear of God prepares the way for the love of God and for every virtue. " The fear of God," says the Psalmist, " is the beginning of wisdom " (Ps. ex. 10). The fear of man is full of bitterness and makes a man a slave; the fear of God is full of sweetness, and makes him a freeman. The fear of God brings with it honor and glory; it is crowned with joy and gladness, it gladdens the heart, and gives strength and happiness and long life. " Blessed is the man that f eareth the Lord " (Ps. cxi. 1). The more we fear God now, the less we shall fear His judgments at the Last Day.

The fear of God is a special grace given by God to those who love Him.

The fear of God is a special gift of the Holy Ghost. God says of His people, " I will give My fear in their hearts, that they may not revolt from Me." Hence our prayer should be, " Pierce Thou my flesh with Thy fear" (Ps. cxviii. 120).

12. God is a God of perfect truth, i.e., all that He reveals to man is true. *

God cannot err for He is omniscient; He cannot deceive for He is all-holy. " God is not as a man that He should lie, nor the son of man, that He should be changed " (Numb, xxiii. 19). Hence we must believe all that God has revealed, even though our feeble understand ing cannot comprehend it — e.g., the mysteries of the Christian religion, the Blessed Trinity, the Incarnation, the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

13. God is faithful, i.e., He keeps His promises and carries out His threats.

See how exactly God carried out His threat of death to our first parents, and His subsequent promise of a Redeemer. See again how exactly Our Lord's prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem was

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fulfilled; and how the prophecy of Daniel, that the Temple would never again be rebuilt (Dan. ix. 27) was accomplished; for when Julian the Apostate made an attempt to rebuild it, an earth quake destroyed the foundations, and flames issuing from the ground compelled the builders to fly. Promises and threats are necessary to move our feeble wills. Our Lord used the fear of punishment as an incentive to virtue. Ordinary men are more influenced by fear than by any higher motive. With them the fear of hell is a stronger motive for virtuous living than the hope of heaven. God threatens us out of mercy. The man who cries " Beware " does not want to strike. So God threatens punishment that He may not have to punish.

Hence all that Our Lord and the prophets have foretold either has already happened, or will happen in the future.

The time will therefore never come when the Catholic Church will be destroyed, or when the Papacy will cease to exist (Matt. xvi. 18). The Jews will all be converted before the end of the world (Osee iii. 5). Awful signs in the heaven and earth will precede the final judgment (Matt. xxiv. .29). If we trust our fellow-men they give us their promise on paper; how much more should we trust Christ, since He has left us whole books, i.e., the Scriptures, filled with His promises !

4. The Blessed Trinity

At the baptism of Jesus Christ all the three persons of the Blessed Trinity manifested themselves; the Father by a voice from heaven, the Son through His baptism, and the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove (Matt. iii. 16).

1. The Blessed Trinity is one God in three persons.

The three persons are called Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The number three is often found both in nature and in religion. There are three persons in the Holy Family ; three parts in the sacra ments (intention, matter, and form) ; Our Lord hung for three hours on the cross, and remained three days in the grave. He taught on earth for three years, and has the triple office of Prophet, Priest, and King. So in time there are past, present, and future; three kingdoms in creation, the nfaterial, the vegetable, and the animal worlds. The number four is also of frequent occurrence; there are four gospels, four cardinal virtues, four seasons of the year, four thousand years from the Fall to the Incarnation, etc. The number seven is also common ; there are seven days of the week, seven sacraments, seven works of mercy, seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, seven sacred orders ending in the priesthood, etc. Three is sometimes called the number of God, four the number of the world, by reason of the four continents, and seven represents the combination of the two.

2. We cannot, with our feeble understanding, grasp the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, and it is therefore called a mystery.

We are unable to comprehend that there are three persons in God, yet only one God. He who gazes at the sun is dazzled by it;

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if he continues to gaze at it he loses his sight. So is it with the Blessed Trinity; he who inquires into it is dazzled. He who refuses to believe in it because he does not understand it, is like a blind man, who will not believe in the existence of the sun because he cannot see it. How many things there are in nature that we cannot understand! We cannot understand the growth of plants, trees, and animals; we cannot understand the nature of electricity and magnetism. We cannot understand how the color red is formed by the vibration of the ether at the rate of one hundred and thirty millions of vibrations in a second, or violet by double that number. To count the vibrations of the ether that take place in one second in the forming of the color violet, we should have to go on counting for more than ten thousand years without ceasing either day or night. Much less can we understand what belongs to God. Jeremias says, " Great art Thou, O Lord, in counsel, and incomprehensible in thought" (Jer. xxxii. 19). "No one understands what Thou art, O God, except Thou Thyself." We can, however, understand something of the nature of the Blessed Trinity by comparing it with certain facts of nature which in some way correspond to and illustrate it. The flames of three candles placed together form but one flame; the white light can be divided into red, yellow, and blue rays, which, however, together form but one light. The orb of the sun, its light, and its heat, are three different things, which are at the same time really one. The soul of man contains memory, understanding, and will, which are but different manifestations of the same spiritual substance. Yet all these are but imperfect analogies, and cannot carry us very far in attempting to understand something of the in comprehensible mystery of the Blessed Trinity. Unbelievers sometimes say : " How is it possible that three can be one, and one three ?" They show that they do not know what the teaching of the Church really is. " They blaspheme those things that they know not " ( Jude 10) . The Church does not say there are three persons and one person, but there are three persons, and one nature or essence.

3. The nature, the attributes, and the works of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity are common to all of them.

There are therefore not three gods, but one God.

The Father is therefore different from the Son, because He is a different person ; but He has not a different being, because He has the same nature.

For this reason each of the three persons is, in exactly the same sense, omniscient, omnipotent, eternal, and absolutely perfect, as are the other two.

When Our Lord spoke of His return to the Father, He said, " My Father is greater than I " (John xiv. 28). Here He was speak ing of Himself as man ; else He could not have spoken of His return to the Father.

Hence the creation of the world, the redemption and the sanctification of men is wrought by all the three divine persons together.

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Yet we are accustomed to say : " The Father made the world, the Son redeemed it, and the Holy Ghost sanctifies it."

4. The three divine persons are divided only in their origin.

In a tree the trunk comes forth from the root, and from both comes the fruit. Such is the relation between the three divine persons.

God the Father has no origin and proceeds from no other person; God the Son proceeds from the Father; God the Holy Ghost proceeds both from the Father and from the Son.

In order to mark the order of procession, we name the Father first, the Son second, and the Holy Ghost third. But there is no succession in time; the Son proceeds from the Father from all eternity, and so does the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son. The Son is begotten of the Father before all creation. The Father produced, by an act of divine knowledge, the Son as an image like to Himself in all things, just as we, when we think, produce an intellectual image in our minds. We may illustrate this by the relation existing between fire and light. Light proceeds from fire, but is contemporaneous with it. If there were an eternal fire, there would also be an eternal light. The Son is the brightness of God's glory (Heb. i. 3), the unspotted image of His majesty (Wisd. vii. 26). Just as one torch is kindled from another, without the first losing any of its light, so the Son is begotten of the Father, without taking anything away from Him. The Son is called the Word of the Father (John i. 1). Just as the word formed in our minds (the thought) is made manifest by the external or spoken word, so the Word of God, dwelling in the bosom of the Father, was made manifest to the world when the Word was made ilesh and dwelt among us (John i. 14). As the Son has His origin in the knowledge of God, so the Holy Ghost has His origin in the love of God. The Holy Ghost is none other than the mutual love of the Father and the Son. He is the Spirit of love, who engenders in our hearts the love of God and of each other. The word spirit is well chosen, because by it we express the attractiveness and the force of love: The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son, as warmth proceeds from the sun and its light.

On account of the difference in their origin we appropriate to the Father the works of omnipotence, to the Son the works of wisdom, and to the Holy Ghost the works of love.

These various works have a certain correspondence with the attributes of the persons, that are connected with their origin. The Father begets the Son ; for this reason there is appropriated to Him the bringing of perishable things also, out of nothing, i.e., of creation. He is therefore called the almighty Father. He is also called the God of compassion, because He is ever ready to receive the sinner who comes back to Him in a true spirit of penance. The Son is the eternal wisdom of the Father. To Him therefore is appropriated the beautiful arrangement of the world. As the artist, through the work-

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ing of his reflective mind designs the plan of his work, so the Father, through His Son, produced order in the world. To the Son, too, is ascribed the restoration of order, as for this end He took upon Himself the nature of man. To the Holy Ghost, as the mutual love of the Father and the Son, are ascribed all the benefits of God to man; especially the bestowal upon him of his natural life in creation (the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters), and of his spiritual life by his sanctification through grace. To Him, as the finger of God's right hand, are ascribed all miracles, and above all the work of the Incarnation, as being of all miracles the greatest. The love of God has ever occupied itself with men, but the Incarnation of the Son of God by the operation of the Holy Ghost surpassed all other benefits wrought by Him. It brought mercy to sinners, truth to the erring, life to those who were dead, and hope and faith to the whole world.

5. We are taught the mystery of the Blessed Trinity by Christ Himself, but it was partly known in the time of the Old Testa ment.

We know, from the fact of creation, the infinite power, wisdom, and goodness of God, but it does not reveal to us the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. Nor is there any proof of this doctrine to be found in nature, though we may find certain analogies to it, some of which we have given. But the mystery itself can only be made known to us by revelation. " The Father no man knoweth but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal Him" (Matt. xi. 27). Our Lord revealed this mystery to His Church when He said to His apostles before His ascension, " Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost " (Matt, xxviii. 19). In the time of the Old Testament the Jewish priests, when they blessed the people, had to repeat the name of God three times (Numb. vi. 23). Isaias tells us that the seraphim in heaven cry, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts" (Is. vi. 3). Before the creation, God said, "Let us make man" (Gen. i. 26). David says, " The Lord said to My Lord, sit on My right hand." But before the Incarnation the mystery of the Blessed Trinity was veiled in a cloud which was only dispelled under the New Law. " The Church," says St. Hilary, "knows this mystery. The Synagogue believed it not. Philosophy understood it not."

6. The belief in the Blessed Trinity is expressed in the Apostles' Creed, in Baptism, and in the other sacraments, in all consecrations and blessings, and in the feast of the Most Holy Trinity.

The mystery of the Blessed Trinity is the foundation of our religion. Without a knowledge of this truth we cannot understand our redemption by the Son of God. We ought frequently to make an act of faith in this mystery, especially by the repetition of the Gloria PatrL We should repeat it whenever we receive any benefit from God, and also when He sends us any cross or trial.

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5. History of Creation

"We are instructed by the writer of the book of Genesis in the story of creation.

The account given of the creation in the book of Genesis is not a fable, but is founded on truth. The saqred writer was enlightened by the Holy Ghost, and his words are a part of the Word of God. Perhaps God gave him a vision of the course of creation. The story is in exact agreement with the conclusions of natural philosophy. All investigations into the crust of the earth show that organic life was developed in the order set forth in Genesis.

1. In the beginning God created the spiritual and material universe.

" In the beginning " — i.e., in the beginning of time, when there was nothing else existing except God. Time began with the world, so that before the creation there was no time. Holy Scripture does not tell us when the world was created. The world may have existed for millions of years before the creation of man. The fact that it takes millions of years for the light of some of the heavenly bodies to reach the earth, seems to show this to have been the case. " Created," i.e., made out of nothing. How God produced the materials out of which the world was made we know riot. Instead of the spiritual and the material world, St. Paul says, " things visible and invisible " (Col. i. 16). The words of Genesis are, " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The heaven does not mean the star-bespangled sky, the creation of \vhich is narrated subsequently (Gen. i. 6-8; 14-19). It means the abode of the angels and the saints. The material world is called the earth, because the earth is for men the most important part of the material world. The first words of the Bible, " God created heaven," are intended to remind man of his last end and future destiny.

The spiritual world consists of the angels, and the heaven where they dwell.

The angels are called the "Morning-stars" (Job xxxviii. 7), because they were created before this material world, and in the morning of the universe. Hell was not created at the beginning of the universe (Matt. xxv. 34), but at a later period, after the fall of the rebel angels (Matt. xxv. 41).

The material world includes all things which are found in the visible universe.

Men are a union of spirit and body, and were created later.

2. The material world was at first without form, without in habitants, and without light.

God first created the material elements out of which the world was formed. Natural philosophy tells us that the world existed first

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of all in the form of a vast mass of vapor, and that this vast mass gradually was condensed, under the influence of an intense heat, into the material universe. This is perfectly in accordance with the account of the creation given in Genesis.

3. God gave to the material universe its present form in the course of six days.

The days are probably long periods of time, consisting of many thousands of years; for the seventh day, the day of rest, lasts until the end of the world. Moreover four of the days were already elapsed before the sun was formed, and therefore they cannot have been days as we now understand the word. The word day is chosen because the week of creation was to be a sort of pattern of our present week.

On the first day God made the light.

We read in Genesis that God said, " Let there be light," and there was light. The expression, " Let there be," denotes that something came into existence which did not exist before. This was the luminous matter which is now gathered in the sun; it is not dependent on the sun, but the sun on it. The gaseous matter was at first unformed, i.e., it had no forces. God imparted to it the law of gravitation, by means of which the various particles of matter were set in motion and drawn together, and thus were condensed gradually into a solid mass. By this process warmth, and at last fire, were developed. On the first day fire, the main source of light, was produced by the movement given to the gaseous particles, and the existing vapor was condensed into masses endowed with fire and light.

On the second day God made the firmament.

The words of Genesis are, " God said, Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God called the firmament heaven" (Gen. i. 6, 8). On this day there was a separation, arrangement, and establishment of the created masses, which were divided into parts according to their constitution and magnitude, parted from one another, and arranged in the places that God had destined for them. This planting of the various worlds in their places in space constituted the "firmament," which God called " heaven," in which the sun and moon and stars pursue the course that was allotted to each. This firmament is the material heaven, as opposed to the spiritual heaven which is identical with the celestial paradise. The earth on which we live was one of the condensed masses which took its place among the other heavenly bodies. God at the same time divided off the planets that move around the sun, which forms the centre of their system from the fixed stars (v. 7).

On the third day God made the dry land and the plants.

Here the sacred writer concerns himself more especially with our earth. The earth, which was originally a fiery ball of gas, gradually lost its heat, as it cooled down in the midst of space. The great masses of mist divided themselves off into the sea and land. The

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solid elements were drawn together, and formed the crust of the earth, through which the water forced itself from within. Thus were made the various oceans or seas, and by this upheaval the surface of the earth as it exists at present was gradually formed, with its continents, and islands, its mountains and valleys. Under the influence of the warmth of the earth the moist surface was now ready for the development of organic life. This did not arise out of nothing, like the original primary matter; it was already implanted in the earth by almighty God, and was evolved therefrom as soon as circumstances favorable to its development presented themselves. No organic life can arise from mere inorganic matter. ~No possible combination of mere inorganic materials can ever produce any kind of organic life. The original germs out of which life arose were already existing in the vapor-cloud out of which the earth was formed, but were not able to develop themselves under the conditions of extreme heat and cold. They remained as undeveloped germs until the more moderate temperature enabled them to produce plants and trees under the influence of warmth and moisture.

On the fourth day God made the sun, moon, and stars.

On the fourth day of creation, the earth, which had been involved in darkness by the thick mist that surrounded it as long as it had not fully cooled down, began to have a clearer atmosphere, and only a few clouds floated over its surface, instead of the dense vapor that had encircled it. The shining bodies in the heaven became visible; the sun began to exercise an influence upon the earth, and produced the alternations of day and night, and the various seasons of the year. The sun had previously a feeble power of radiation, but during this fourth period it assumed its present form. We do not know whether there exist living beings on any of the stars ; if there are such, they must be of a very different nature from our own. We know that in the moon there is no atmosphere, no fire, no water, no sound, no rain, no wind, no vegetation, and a long night of three hundred and fifty hours.

On the fifth day God made the fishes and the birds.

On the sixth day God made the animals and, last of all, man.

The animals were next made in order to proclaim the power of their Creator by their number, variety, greatness, strength, and cleverness, and also to serve man, to nourish him, clothe him, and labor for his benefit. Man was produced the last of all the animals, and surpasses them all in dignity, and in the possession of reason and free will. Man is the crown of God's creation. God prepared the world for his reception, that he might enter and take possession of it as a king takes possession of his kingdom. The world would not have been complete without man; all else was made for his sake. In all the rest of the work of creation God simply said " Let it be," but before He created man He is represented as taking counsel with Himself. This is to show the importance and the dignity of man.

4. On the seventh day God rested from all His work that He had done.

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God's rest consists in this, that on the seventh day He brought nothing more into existence. It was the working out, without any further creative action on the part of God, of the order that He had established. The fact that God rested does not mean that He ceased from working (John v. 17). God must continue to work in the world, else it would cease to exist. As God rested after His work, so we shall one day rest in Him when our work is done.

From the story of creation we learn that God made the world after a fixed plan.

God in creation proceeded from the lower to the higher. He first made all things that were necessary for what was afterwards to come into life, e.g., He made first the plants and then the animals that needed them for food. In the first three days He separated the various parts of the world from each other; in the three following days He developed and adorned creation. The three first days correspond to the three last ; for on the first He made light, on the fourth luminous bodies ; on the second He separated water and air from each other, on the fifth He filled the water with fishes and the air with birds ; on the third He made the dry land and on the sixth He filled it with animals.

From the account of creation we also learn that the world is not eternal.

The heathen thought that the world sprung from the accidental concurrence of a number of eternal atoms. But the present wonderful order could not possibly have arisen by chance, and the atoms are all dependent on one another, and therefore could not be eternal. The atoms, too, could never have put themselves in motion. Others thought that the materials of the world were eternal, and that God simply arranged them. Others imagined that the world was developed out of the divine essence (the Pantheists). But this would make the world indivisible and unchangeable, and we know that this is not so. God indeed is everywhere, but the world is not God ; it is something different from Him, and separated from His being.

From What, and for what End has God Created the World?

1. God made the world out of nothing, simply because it pleased Him to make it.

Man can only make anything out of pre-existing materials. God made the materials. Men have to employ implements, they have to labor, and require a certain time to produce their work. God spoke, and the world was made. He did not need even to speak ; all that was needed was that He should will what He desired done.

All that God created was very good.

God Himself commended His own works (Gen. i. 31). The world was very good, because it in no way diverged from the divine idea but was in perfect accordance with it. God praised His own works,

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because no one else could praise them sufficiently. We also should praise God in His works, as the three young men did in the fiery furnace at Babylon. Evil is evil, because creatures make a bad use of their free will. Nothing that exists can be bad in itself, but every thing must at least be in some way good.

2. God was moved to make the world by His great goodness.

His object was to make His reasonable creatures happy.

As a good father shows pictures to his children, to please them and make them love him, so God has manifested His works to His reasonable creatures, to make them happy and earn their love. God made all earthly things for our good; some for the support of men (plants and animals), some for their instruction, some for their enjoyment, some for their trial, as sickness, suffering, etc. " All things that I see upon the earth," says St. Augustine, " proclaim that Thou hast made them from love of me, and call upon me to love Thee." God did not need the world. He made it for our sakes.

3. The end of creation is necessarily to proclaim to men the glory of God.

In every work we have to distinguish between the end of the maker of the work, i.e., that which moved the artificer to make the work, and the end of the work itself, i.e., that for which the work is destined. In a clock, e.g., the end of the maker of the clock is his own profit ; the end of the clock is to indicate the time. In the world the motive of the Artificer is God's great goodness; the end of the work is God's glory and the happiness of His reasonable creatures. The motive of the countless number and variety of living and lifeless beings and the innumerable number of the stars, is that angels and men may know and admire the majesty of God. The end and object of the existence of angels and men are that they may unceasingly behold and praise God (Is. vi. 3). St. Augustine says, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and how unquiet is our heart so long as it finds not its rest in Thee !" Even the devils are compelled to contribute, in spite of themselves, to the glory of God; for by their punishment they show how holy and just God is, and God employs them also for the perfection of His elect through resistance to their temptations. Even the lost in hell manifest the justice and holiness of God and His hatred of sin. " God has made all things for Himself ; the wicked also for the evil day" (Prov. xvi. 4). Yet God did not make the world with a view to any increase in His glory ; for God is infinitely happy in Himself, and has no need of anything or any one outside of Himself.

Since we are made for the glory of God, we should in all our works have the intention of honoring God.

St. Paul instructs us that, " whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we should do all to the glory of God " (1 Cor. x. 31). Nothing is easier than to give glory to God, since we can direct our most minute actions to this end. When we wake in the morning, and often times during the day we should renew this intention.

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6. Divine Providence

We call by the name of divine providence God's preservation and government of the world.

1. God maintains the world, i.e., He preserves all creatures in existence as long as He wills.

A ball hanging from a piece of string falls to the ground as soon as the string is cut. So the whole world would sink into nothing if God were to withdraw from it His supporting power for a single instant. In order that creatures may continue to exist, He provides all that is needed for their sustenance : wheat, vegetables, the various fruits of the earth, etc. As soon as God wills it, they die. " When Thou shalt take away their breath, they shall die, and return again to the dust" (Ps. ciii. 29). If the sun were to cease to cast its rays upon the earth, all light would disappear from the world; so if God cease to support us in existence, our life at once fails us. When Our Lord says, " Heaven and earth shall pass away," He does not mean that they will be annihilated, but that they will be changed into a better. St. Peter says, " We look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth justice" (2 Pet. iii. 13).

2. God governs the world, i.e., He conducts all things in the world, so that they contribute to His glory and to our advantage.

What the engine is to the train, and the pilot to the vessel, God is to the world. He guides the stars according to fixed laws, so that the firmament proclaims His glory. He guides all nations (Dan. iv. 32). We see His guiding hand in the lives of the patriarchs, in the history of the Jews, in that of the Christian Church. Yet we cannot under stand God's arrangements at the first glance ; often we cannot under stand them at all, and never shall till we get to heaven. Yet in our own lives we can trace again and again the good providence of God. But as to the world generally we are forced to exclaim, " How incomprehensible are God's judgments, and how unsearchable His ways ! " (Rom. xi. 33.)

There is no one on the earth for whom God does not care, and provide for his welfare.

A mother would sooner forget her child than God would forget us (Is. xlix. 15). God cares even for the irrational creatures; for the beasts and birds and plants (Matt. vi. 25-30).

God has a special care for those who are in humble circumstances, and are despised by the world.

God has made small as well as great, and cares equally for them (Wisd. vi. 8). God loves to declare His glory by means of the little (1 Cor. i. 27). He chose poor shepherds to receive the first news of the birth of Christ ; He chose poor fishermen for His apostles ; a poor maiden for His Mother; it is to the humble that He gives His grace (Jas. iv. 6). "He raises the needy from the earth, and takes the

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poor from the dunghill, that He may place him among princes " (Ps. cxii. 7, 8).

Nothing happens to us all through our lives without the will or the permission of God.

Hence the patriarch Joseph says to his brethren, " Not by your counsel was I sent hither, but by the will of God" (Gen. xlv. 8). Our Lord says that the very hairs of our head are all numbered, i.e., the providence of God descends to the smallest details of our life. Hence there is nothing that happens by chance. There are indeed many things, the causes of which we are ignorant of, but all have some cause, and God guides all. There are many things in the world that God does not will, and of which He is not the cause, e.g., murder, theft, and every crime. "But God permits them, i.e., He does not prevent them. This is a consequence of His having given to man freewill. Moreover, God knows how to bring good out of evil, and all evil He employs for His good purposes.

Even the evil that God permits is for our good.

God, in His love for us, has in all that happens to us the intention to make us happy. He turns to our good all temporal misfortunes, the temptations of the devil, the sins of other men. " To those who love God all things work together for good" (Rom. viii. 28). We see this in the history of the patriarch Joseph; his imprisonment was the means of bringing him to high honor, and of saving Egypt from the horrors of famine. The captivity of the Jews was the means of spreading the knowledge of the true God among heathen nations (Tob. xiii. 4). The persecution of the early Christians in Palestine and in Home was the means of making known the Gospel in the countries to which they fled or were banished ; so, too, was the expulsion of the religious Orders from Italy, France, and Germany in modern times. So again the persecution of the Irish has done much to Christianize America and England. " The unbelief of St. Thomas," says St. Augustine, " has been more useful to us than the belief of the other apostles." The sin of Peter made him humble and forbearing towards others. The fury of the Jews against Our Lord was the instrument of the redemption of mankind. " How in scrutable are God's judgments and how unsearchable His ways ! " (Rom. xi. 33.) The very means employed by wicked men against the saints were the means of bringing them glory and honor.

3. For this reason a pious Christian should resign himself entirely to the will of God.

Christ teaches us to pray : " Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." St. Peter exhorts us to cast all our care upon God, for He cares for us (1 Pet. v. 7). Holy David says: "Though an army should stand in battle against me, my heart will not fear " (Ps. xxvi. 3). We must not allow ourselves to be troubled about the arrange ments of God's providence, which we cannot alter, but must resign ourselves to the will of God, e.g., in sickness, loss of money, the death of those dear to us, persecution, war, etc. Above all we must resign ourselves to the will of God in the hour of our death. " He who dies

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resigned to the will of God," says St. Alphonsus, " leaves in the minds of others the knowledge that he has saved his soul." In order to gain the friendship of men we adapt ourselves to their humors and fan cies; but we take too little trouble to win the friendship of God by adapting ourselves to His holy will.

The man who cheerfully resigns himself to the will of God obtains true peace of mind, attains great perfection, and will beblessed by God.

The soul resigned to the will of God is like the needle pointing to the North. The soul that submits itself to all God's arrangements has already begun to live the life of heaven upon earth. If trouble comes, its peace is not disturbed; every trial is extinguished, like a spark that falls into the sea; it loves sufferings, because it knows that they come from God's hand. A man resigned to God's will has his cross carried for him. He who renounces his own will in order to carry out the holy will of God, soon attains to perfection. Thus the resigning of our will to God's is the most perfect offering we can make Him. The man who is resigned is like a ship in the hands of the pilot ; he is sure to arrive safely into port. A farmer whose fields bore better crops than those of others was asked the reason for it. He answered that he always got the weather that he wanted. When asked to explain himself, he replied, " I am always content with the weather that God sends. This pleases God and so He blesses my crops."

Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemani is a beautiful example of submission to the will of God.

Christ's prayer was " Father, not My will, but Thine be done." He was obedient to His heavenlv Father even to death, the death of the cross (Phil, ii, 8). The holy angels find their happiness in the fulfilment of the will of God. St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi said, " I would bear with joy the heaviest troubles, so soon as I knew that they were the will of God." So also said all the saints.

How are the Misfortunes of the Good and the Prosperity of the Wicked to be Reconciled with the Providence of God ?

The answer is that these are only apparent, not real. Seneca says that the prosperity of those who ore clad in purple is often like the splendor of the actor, who is dressed up in royal purple. The sinner after a time loses all enjoyment from his sins.

1. ~No sinner has true happiness, and no servant of God true misery. For true happiness is impossible without inner peace and contentment; and this is possessed by the true servant of God, but not by the sinner.

The world, i.e., riches, honors, sensual pleasures, eating, drinking, etc., can never give us true peace (John xiv. 27). This can only be attained by following the teaching of Christ. True peace and hap-

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piness are the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The wicked have no peace; they are like the raging sea, which cannot rest (Is. Ivii. 20). Peace and happiness do not come of riches, or of a high position, or of bodily strength, or of intellectual vigor ; still less do they come from the wearing of fine clothes, or from the enjoyment of rich feasts, but from peace of soul and a good conscience. The beggar at the gate of the rich Dives was a happier man, even in this world, than Dives himself.

2. Moreover the good fortune of the sinner is for the most part only transitory.

The prosperity of the wicked is like the cedar of Lebanon, which in a few hours is cut down and is no more seen. It is a building built on sand: the storms and winds soon lay it low. How quickly Napoleon the Great fell from the height to which his vaulting ambition had raised him at the cost of so many lives !

3. The real ^ jcompense of man only begins after death.

Hence Our Lord says, " Many that are first shall be last, and the last first" (Matt. xix. 30). Many rich and distinguished men will be far below those who have been beggars at their door. God has provided for His friends in the next life an enjoyment and happiness far surpassing any enjoyments on this earth. This is the explanation of the apparent injustice of the present life. Our Lord says to His disciples, " Amen, Amen, I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, and the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John xvi. 20).

4. Sinners are rewarded on this earth for the little good that they have done-. The just on the other hand are for the most part punished in this life for the evil they have done.

Our Lord says, " Woe to you that are rich ; for you have your consolation," i.e., your reward for the good you have done is given you in this world (Luke vi. 24).

How is Sin to be Reconciled with the Providence of God?

1. It is not God Who is responsible for sin and its consequences, but man's wrong use of his free will.

God created man free, and therefore does not hinder even those free actions which are evil. There are also many reasons why He should not hinder evil. If there were no evil in the world, man would have no opportunity of doing what is good; he would not have the choice between good and evil, and would not be able to earn the reward of good accomplished. Compare the parable of the cockle among the wheat. " God," says St. Augustine, " would never have permitted evil if He had not intended to bring some greater good out of it."

2. God in His wisdom employs even sin for a good end.

The Apostles' Creed. HI

The patriarch Joseph very truly said to his brethren, " You thought evil against me, but God turned it into good" (Gen. 1. 20). God turned to good even the treachery of Judas; it contributed to the work of man's redemption. The bee makes honey out of poisonous plants ; the potter makes beautiful vessels out of dirty earth. God does something similar to this.

3. Besides, it does not become us to pry into the secret designs of God; we poor miserable creatures must adore His wisdom and submit ourselves humbly to what He ordains.

What is true of sin, is true of all the suffering that is the consequence of sin.

7. The Christian Under Suffering

Man can suffer in body or soul or both. The apostles, when they were scourged (Acts v. 41), suffered in body; Judas, when he threw down the pieces of silver in the Temple, suffered in his soul. Holy Job suffered in both. Suffering is either merited or unmerited. The sufferings of the prodigal son were merited, those of the patriarch Joseph were unmerited. Yet all sufferings are merited by original sin.

1. No one can attain to eternal salvation without suffering.

" No one is crowned unless he strive lawfully " (2 Tim. ii. 5).

Even Christ had to enter into His glory through suffering (Luke xxiv. 26). Our Lord says "He that taketh not up his cross and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me" (Matt. x. 38). The road to heaven is a rough one. In order to make the flax that grows in the earth into pure white linen, it must be rubbed, stretched, and thoroughly cleansed, and woven. The corn has to be threshed and winnowed ; the pure gold has to pass through fire. Not to suffer is a sign that no future happiness is in store for you. Suffering and holiness are inseparably bound up together. There is no good work that does not meet with obstacles, no virtue that does not have to fight and struggle.

For this reason God leaves no just man without suffering.

God treats us as a physician treats his patients; those of whose recovery he despairs he leaves alone; but to those whom he hopes to cure, he administers bitter medicines. As milk is the food of children, so are contradictions the food of God's elect. To His chosen God gives a sword on earth to pierce their hea'rt, and a crown in heaven to adorn their heads. Yet God mingles with the bitterness of suffering the sweets of consolation. We see this throughout the his tory of Our Lady, which consists of alternate joys and sorrows. So, too, we celebrate the seven joys and sorrows of St. Joseph.

2. All suffering comes from God, and is a sign of His love and favor.

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We find in the lives of the saints that the more good works they undertook for God, the more did suffering assail them, as in the case of Tobias, and of holy Job. Sufferings seem to be the reward of good works performed. They are a precious gift, which will avail us to all eternity. To suffer something for God is in itself a great privilege and honor. It is a better gift than that of performing miracles and raising the dead. Parents often punish their children to cure them of their faults. If they see the same faults in the children of others, they do not trouble themselves about them, because they do not care for them. So it is with God; the children whom He loves He often corrects. Hence Raphael said to Tobias, " Because thou wast pleas ing to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee" (Tob. xii. 13). St. Paul says, " Whom the Lord loveth He chastiseth; and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth " (Heb. xii. 6). "Gold and silver are tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of tribulation" (Ecclus. ii. 5). The greater a saint, the greater were in most cases his sufferings. Our Lady was the Queen of martyrs. The apostles had to suffer much, especially St. Peter and St. Paul (Of. 2 Cor. xi. 23, seq.}. To be free from suffering is a bad sign. St. Augustine says : " There is no greater misfortune than the good fortune of sinners. He who does not suffer now will have to suffer hereafter."

Yet God never sends us any suffering that is beyond our powers of endurance.

St. Paul says " God is faithful ; Who will not permit you to suffer above that which you are able" (1 Cor. x. 13). The peasant knows how much his beast of burden can carry, and does not load him beyond his strength. Will God, the all-wise, the all-merciful, lay more on us than we can bear? The potter does not leave his vessels too long in the fire lest they should crack. He who plays on an in strument is careful not to tighten the strings too much, lest they should break; nor too little, for then they would produce no sound. The physician apportions his remedies to the power of his patient; so the heavenly Physician sends us sufferings in proportion to our power of bearing them. There are some people who make sufferings for themselves, because they find fault with what gives no cause for complaint. Even in real sufferings much complaining is a sign of f aint-heartedness and makes us more sensible to suffering.

3. God sends suffering to the sinner to bring him back into the right way and to save him from eternal death.

How many have been converted by means of sufferings, e.g., Manasses in the prison at Babylon (2 Paral. xxxiii. 12, 13), Jonas, the prodigal son, even the wicked Achab (3 Kings xxi. 27). God is like a surgeon, who cuts away the diseased flesh that it may not cause death. Sufferings also bring about a disgust for earthly things and make the sinfnl plensures of the world bitter; they destroy our dependence on earthly things, and take away the desire for the enjoyments and the pleasures of this valley of tears, and turn our thoughts to heaven. Sufferings again impress upon us our own helplessness, compel us to have recourse to God in prayer. They teach us a knowledge of

TJie Apostles Creed. 143

ourselves and o^ our own sinfulness. As the trees, after the winter, flower and bring forth fruit, so does man after suffering bring forth works pleasing to God. " Sufferings," says St. Teresa, " though very hard to bear, are the surest way to God."

God frequently sends bodily sickness to the sinner for the healing of the sickness of his soul.

How many there are who have been converted to God through the means of bodily sickness, e.g., St. Francis of Assisi and St. Ignatius of Loyola. The Wise Man says, "A grievous sickness makes the soul sober" (Ecclus. xxxi. 2). In sickness God knocks at the door of the heart and asks for admission. " I am always glad," said St. Ignatius, " when I see a sinner fall ill, for sickness brings back to God." How foolish it is then to regard sickness as a mark of God'sanger, when it is really a mark of His compassion.

4. God sends suffering to the just man to try him whether he loves God most or creatures.

Job, who had always lived a God-fearing life, lost all his property, his children, and his health, and was derided by his wife and his friends. Tobias had buried the dead at the peril of his life and given most liberal alms. God took away his sight, and left him poor and unable to earn anything for himself. Thus God tries His friends. As the storm tests the tree, whether it is firmly rooted, so suffering tests the just, whether they are firmly established in their love of God. As the wind separates the chaff from the wheat, so trouble marks off the sinner from the just. Sweet herbs smell the sweetest when they are bruised ; so the just are most pleasing to God in the time of tribulation. God often takes away from us what we love best, and that which is injurious or dangerous, just as a father takes from his little child a razor or sharp knife.

At the same time the sufferings of the just man are a great advantage to him; they serve him as a penance for his sins; they cleanse him from all imperfections ; increase his zeal in the practice of good, in the love of God, and in the love of prayer; they also increase his merit in heaven, and often, too, his happiness in this world.

By sufferings the punishment due for sin is cancelled. Hence St. Augustine prayed, " In this life, O Lord, burn, scorch, and wound me, only spare me in the life to come." " Think yourself happy," said St. Francis Xavier, " if you can exchange the agonizing pains of purgatory for sufferings in this world." Sufferings also purify the soul from its imperfections. Gold is tried in the fire; so the soul is purged by suffering. " Every branch that bears fruit God purges, that it may bring forth more fruit " (John xv. 2). A sharp file cleanses iron from rust. As soap cleanses the body, so suffering cleanses the soul. Suffering also increases our strength, just as the blows of the hammer make the iron stronger and harder. Toil strengthens the body ; suffering strengthens the soul. The vessels ^that the potter places in the fire come out hard and strong. Suffering also adds to

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our love of God. As the ark of Noe was raised nearer to heaven by the floods that overspread the earth, so we are brought nearer to heaven and to God by the floods of suffering. As the gold leaf is spread out by the blows of the hammer, so our love of God is extended by suffering. Sufferings detach us from the love of earthly things, and destroy our love of this world. Hence St. Augustine prayed, " Make all things bitter to me, that so Thou alone mayest appear sweet to my soul." Sufferings also increase our gratitude to God, for the loss of health and other gifts of God makes us value what we have lost. Sufferings also make us humble. The just must be tried by evil, that so they may not grow proud of their virtues. Sufferings also increase the earnestness of our prayers. They compel us to pray. We see this in the case of the apostles in the storm-tossed boat. The prayers of David under persecution have become the prayers of the Church. Long peace makes us careless and slack. The ox that is not stirred by the goad becomes lazy. Sufferings are often the means of bringing us to prosperity even in this world. Witness Job, the patriarch Joseph, and Tobias. " The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; He humbleth and He exalteth" (1 Kings ii. 7). "You shall be sorrowful," says Our Lord, " but your sorrow shall be turned into joy " ( John xvi. 20). Lastly, sufferings increase our eternal happiness. Our present momentary and light tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. iv. 17). The just are ripened for heaven by suffering, as ears of corn are ripened by the heat of the sun. Jewels are rendered more beautiful by being ground and polished. " When God sends us some great trouble," says St. Ignatius, " it is a sign that He designs great things for us, and desires to raise us to great holiness." Nay, the more we suffer in this life, the greater will be our reward in the life to come. " To those who love God all things work together for good" (Rom. viii. 28). Give yourself up, then, to God's guidance, for He allows nothing to happen you which will not be for your advantage, though you may see it not. What pruning is to the fruit-tree, suffering is to men.

5. Sufferings then are no real evil, but are benefits from the hand of God.

They are the means of bringing us both to temporal and eternal happiness.

God, Who loves us tenderly, has no other object in sending us sufferings but to make us happy. What we count as an evil is the bitterness of the medicine that is necessary for the health of our soul. There is really no evil in the world except sin. Sufferings can never really make us unhappy; men can be happy in spite of all kinds of sufferings. We see this in Job, in Tobias, in Our Lady. St. Paul says, " I am filled with comfort ; I exceedingly abound with joy in all our tribulation" (2 Cor. vii. 4).

6. For this reason we should be patient under suffering, and should resign ourselves to the will of God.

Nay, more, we should rejoice in suffering, and thank God for it.

Tlie Apostles' Creed. 145

We should say with Job, " As it hath pleased the Lord, so it is done; blessed be the name of the Lord " (Job i. 21), or with Our Lord in the Garden of Olives, " Not My will, but Thine be done." We should behave as a sensible man behaves when he is sick ; he willingly obeys the injunctions of the physician. God has lightened our sufferings for us, not only by His own example, but also by the promise of an eternal reward. See how the apostles rejoiced in their scourging (Acts v. 41). The Christian under suffering should rejoice as a workman rejoices who labors much, and looks forward to good pay, or as a tradesman, who amid the toilsome monotony of 'his business, thinks of the delightful holiday that is not far off. We must grasp sufferings as men grasp stinging nettles if they do not wish to be stung, firmly and boldly, not lightly and timorously; then they will do us no harm. In suffering we should repeat again and again the Gloria Palri. Men too often grumble and grow impatient under their sufferings. If a man asks the return of something he has lent us, we give it back with thanks; but if God does so, we grumble and are discontented. This want of patience increases our sufferings, besides offending God. The impatient are like oxen, who kick against the goad and only wound themselves the more. Yet it is no sin to be sorrowful and troubled under suffer ing; for Our Lord in the Garden of Olives was sorrowful even unto death. We must never despond in evil days, for after sorrow and suffering come joy and gladness.

By patience under suffering we quickly attain to a high degree of perfection, and lay up for ourselves a great store of merit.

When we resign ourselves patiently to the will of God amid contradictions, we are like a ship carried on by a strong breeze, and sail rapidly to the haven of eternal rest. " Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive a crown of life which God hath promised to them that love Him " ( Jas. i. 12).

From our willingness to suffer can be ascertained how far we have advanced in perfection.

The courage of a soldier displays itself, not in peace, but in war. The sinner murmurs under suffering ; the beginner is troubled, but is sorry for his impatience ; the man more advanced in virtue is fright ened, but takes courage and praises God; the perfect man does not wait for suffering, but goes boldly to meet it. The perfect do not ask God that they may be free from temptation or from puffering. They desire it, and value it as highly as men of the world value riches and gold and precious stones. Hence the prayer of St. Teresa was either to suffer or to die. " He who is able," says St. Francis of Sales, " to thank God equally for chastisement and for prosperity, has arrived at the summit of Christian perfection, and will find his happiness in God."

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8. THE ANGELS. 1. The angels are pure spirits. They can, however, take a visible form.

The angels are pure spirits without bodies, whereas men have both body and spirit. Yet the angels can take to themselves a bodily form, as did St. Eaphael (Tob. v. 18), when he undertook to accompany the young Tobias on his journey. At the sepulchre of Our Lord, after the resurrection, the angels appeared in the form of young men, and the same was the case after Our Lord's ascension (Mark xvi. 5; Actsi. 10).

The nature of the angels is nobler than that of man; they have greater knowledge and greater power.

The angels excel all other beings that Our Lord has created. Our Lord says that not even the angels know when the Day of Judgment will come (Matt. xxiv. 36), thereby indicating that their knowledge is greater than that of men. So also is their power. An angel destroyed all the first-born of Egypt. Another angel caused the death of one hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers of the King of Assyria, who had blasphemed God (Is. xxxvii. 36). An angel protected the three young men in the furnace at Babylon (Dan. iii. 49).

God created the angels for His own glory and service, as well as for their own happiness.

Among all the creatures that God has made, the angels resemble Him the most, and therefore the divine perfections shine forth the most brightly in them. They also glorify God by ceaselessly singing hymns of praise to Him in heaven. The angels also serve God. The word angel signifies messenger. " Are they not all ministering spirits," says St. Paul, " sent forth to minister to them that shall receive the inheritance of salvation?" (Heb. i. 14.) Even the bad angels promote the glory of God, for God turns their attacks on us to His glory and our profit. Goethe rightly describes Satan as " a power that always wills evil, and effects good."

The number of the angels is immeasurably great.

Daniel, in describing the throne of God says : " Thousands of thousands ministered to Him; and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him" (Dan. vii. 10). Holy Scripture calls them the heavenly host. In the Garden of Olives Our Lord said that if He were to ask the Father, He would presently send Him twelve legions of angels (Matt. xxvi. 53). The number of the angels is greater than that of all men who ever have lived or ever will live. " The number of the angels," says St. Dionysius the Areopagite, " is greater than that of the stars in heaven, or of the grains of sand on the seashore."

The angels are not all equal; there are nine choirs or ranks among them.

The Apostles' Creed. 147

The rank of the angels is determined by the amount of the gifts that God has given them, and according to the office assigned them. Nearest to the throne of God are the seraphim, who burn more than the rest with the love of God; next to them are the cherubim, who are distinguished by the vastness of their knowledge. We also read in Scripture of thrones, dominations, principalities, powers, and also of three archangels, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael. There is also a corresponding division among the fallen angels.

2. All the angels whom God created were, at the beginning, in the grace of God and well pleasing to Him. But many of the angels sinned through pride, and were cast down by God into hell forever (2 Pet. ii. 4).

When God created the angels, He created them all in His grace. But none can be crowned without a struggle (2 Tim. ii. 5), and God subjected the angels to trial, that so, according to the universal law of the universe, they might earn their reward of eternal happiness. In this trial a large number of the angels fell. They desired to be equal to God, and refused to submit their will to His (Cf. Is. xiv. 12-14). They did not abide in the truth (John viii. 44). Hence arose a great war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. The dragon was cast out and all his angels with him (Apoc. xii. 8, 9). They were all cast down to hell; not that they were confined to any local hell, for they are allowed to wander about the earth tempting men, but they carry their hell with them wherever they go, inasmuch as they everywhere suffer the torments of hell. Their leader was Satan, or Lucifer, for this was his name before he fell, and he is said to have been the highest of all the angels. The number of the fallen angels is less than that of those who remained faithful. The fall of the angels was the more terrible, because they had previously enjoyed such a high estate. The higher the place from which we fall, the worse the fall. At the Last Day the evil angels will be judged, and their wickedness and its punishment will be made known to the whole world ( Jude 6 ; 2 Pet. ii. 4). To deny the existence of the evil angels is a grievous sin against faith.

3. The evil angels are our enemies; they envy us, seek to lead us to sin, and can, with God's permission, injure us in our bodies, or in our worldly goods.

The evil spirits are our enemies. With all their spite they can do nothing against God; so they vent their fury against men, who bear the image of God. Many theologians have asserted that the places of the angels who fell will be filled in heaven by men. " The knowledge that a creature of earth will occupy his place in heaven," says St. Thomas, " causes the devil more pain than the flames of hell." It was the devil who led our first parents to sin, and also Judas (John xiii. 27). The devil can also, so far as God permits, injure the bodies and the goods of men, as in the case of Job and the possessed in Our Lord's time. The devil's great object is to effect the ruin of the Church, which he knows is to be the means of destroying his power

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on earth (Matt. xvi. 18 ; Luke xxii. 31). He also knows that he and his angels will one day be judged by the saints (1 Cor. vi. 3). Many believe that as God assigns to each child at its birth a guardian angel, so the devil assigns to each a special devil to tempt it. Hence we must imitate the Jews when rebuilding the Temple (2 Esdr. iv. 17). We must work with one hand and with the other defend ourselves against the foe.

Yet the devil cannot do real harm to any one who keeps the commandments of God and avoids all sin.

The dog that is tied up cannot do any harm to those who keep out of range of his chain. The devil is like this dog. He can work on our memory and our imagination, but he has no power over our will or our understanding. He can persuade us, but he cannot compel us to evil. We must therefore energetically and promptly repel all bad thoughts that the devil puts into our heads. " Resist the devil," says St. James (iv. 7), " and he will fly from you." Our Lord dispatched the devil very promptly when He said " Begone, Satan ! " It is a great thing to treat the devil and his temptations with great contempt, and also to turn our thoughts to other things, and not allow ourselves to be disturbed or troubled by his suggestions. He who allows himself to dwell on evil thoughts draws near to the dog who is chained, and is almost sure to be bitten by him. If the devil were allowed to use his full power against us we could not resist him, for when he fell he did not lose any of his natural powers, though he lost eternal happiness.

God gives the devil special power over some men:

1. God often allows men who are striving after high perfection, whom He especially favors, to be tried by the devil for long years in some extraordinary way, in order to cleanse them from their imperfections, and thoroughly humble them.

God allows His elect to be constantly besieged by the devil for years, and to endure temptations of extraordinary violence. Sometimes the devil appears to them in visible form; sometimes he assails their ears with hideous sounds ; sometimes he is permitted to strike them and to throw them on the ground. God protects their life, but allows the devil to torment them with bodily pain and with sickness. They suffer the most terrible temptations against faith and against purity. The evil one has no power over their souls, but sometimes God allows him power over their bodies, so that they do and say the most extraordinary things in spite of themselves, in order that so they may be humbled in the eyes of men. Sometimes they even pour forth blasphemous words, and have no power to prevent themselves from doing so. These assaults of the devil are called obsession. Holy Job was assailed by the devil ; and so was Our Lord in the desert; so were St. Anthony, St. Teresa, St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, the Cure d'Ars, and many other saints. These holy persons knew that God would never allow them to be tempted beyond their powers of resistance, and that God permitted these temptations for their greater sanctification. They were perfectly resigned to the will

The Apostles' Creed. 149

of God, and at length drove away the devil by their fearless resistance to his assaults. Thus when the devil threatened the life of St. Catha rine of Sienna, she answered, " Do what you can ; what is pleasing to God is pleasing to me." St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi said to him, " You do not seem to know that you are preparing for me a glorious victory." St. Anthony in the desert defied him, saying, " How feeble you are ! I suppose that is why you are bringing such a crowd of devils to tempt me." When those who are tempted meet the devil with the courage of a lion, he has no more power against them than a startled hare, but when they fear him, then he comes on with all the force and boldness of a lion. He can always be driven away by the means of grace provided by the Church; by the sign of the cross, by invoking the name of Jesus and Mary, by holy water, by earnest prayer, by the use of relics, etc. The more violent the assaults of the devil, the greater will be the protection afforded by almighty God to His servants; often during times of trial they have revelations from God, or saints and angels appear to them to console and strengthen them. Those who deny the reality of these occurrences, of which we so often read in the lives of the saints, show very little acquaintance with the spiritual life. Yet it is the spirit of the Church to receive all accounts of these preternatural and super natural occurrences with great caution, as there is always a danger of illusion or deceit. Nor need ordinary mortals fear such special attacks of the evil one ; they are reserved for the special friends and favorites of God.

2. It also sometimes happens that God allows men of vicious lives, or those who sin against faith, to be punished or led astray by evil spirits.

God sometimes permits that the bodies of men who have given themselves over to the indulgence of their passions be possessed by evil spirits, as a town is occupied by a general who has conquered it. This state is called possession. In the time of Our Lord there were many thus possessed, and who in consequence were dumb (Matt. ix. 32), blind (Matt. xii. 22), and exceeding fierce (Matt. viii. 28). God permitted that then there should be many such, that He might show the power of the Son of 'God and the feebleness of the devils in His presence, and that He might drive them forth from those whom they tormented. Yet it does not follow that all who were possessed were necessarily so through their own fault. Some children were possessed from their birth (Mark ix. 20). Sometimes God allowed even holy men to be possessed for a time; but more often it was a punishment for grievous sin, and especially for a deliberate friend ship with the devil, as was the case with the witch of Endor (1 Kings xxviii. 7 seq. ; Cf. Acts xvi. 16). Such cases are not unfrequent now in pagan countries. God also permits the evil spirits to mislead those who practise spiritualism, which consists in the invoking of the spirits of the dead in order to discover things secret, or that are taking place at a distance. The devils personate the spirits invoked, and by their superior knowledge are able to reveal many things, by which they delude those who deal with them into thinking that they are really conversing with some departed relative or friend. On

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these occasions the spirits will sometimes take a material form. Spiritualism leads to the loss of faith or of morals, or at least to the ruin of the peace of mind of the person practising it. Very often it is mixed up with a great deal of imposture.

4. The angels who remained faithful to God behold the face of God continually and sing His praises.

Our Lord says of our guardian angels, " I say to you, that their angels always behold the face of My Father Who is in heaven." The angels at Our Lord's birth sang the praises of God. Their songs of praise are different, just as their knowledge and their love of God are different. The angels are sometimes represented as children, because they are immortal and therefore ever young ; sometimes with wings to express the swiftness with which they pass from place to place, and their promptness in carrying out the will of God; sometimes with lilies in their hands to show their perfect spotlessness ; sometimes with harps to signify that the praise of God is their constant employ ment; sometimes without any body, but only a head and wings, to show that they are intellectual beings. The holy angels also possess exceeding beauty and splendor. If an angel were to appear in the firmament of heaven in his full glory, the sun would disappear before his brightness, just as the stars now disappear before the brightness of the sun. When St. John saw an angel in all his glory, he thought he must be God Himself, and fell at his feet to adore him (Apoc. xxii. 8). In appearing to men the holy angels hide their glory. The angels will be our companions in heaven. This is why they take so great an interest in us while we are on earth, and rejoice over the sinner doing penance. They often intervene to help us in our spiritual and temporal needs, if we do not, by our resistance to grace, put obstacles in their way.

5. The holy angels are also called guardian angels, because they watch over us (Heb. i. 14).

Jacob saw a ladder reaching up to heaven, and the angels ascend ing and descending (Gen. xxviii. 12). This was to signify that they come down on earth to protect us, and ascend back to heaven to sing praise to God. The guardian angels watch over us, as a shepherd over his flock. They count it as their happiness that they are appointed to watch over the servants of God, and promote the welfare of souls, and no wonder, when we remember that the King and Lord of all things came " not to minister, but to be ministered unto." The service they render us causes them no trouble or anxiety, but rather joy and happiness, for their one desire is that the will of God should be done, and they rejoice in contributing to this. The general opinion of theologians is that every one has a special guardian angel, who watches over him all through his life. The dignity of the angels given to us depends on the dignity of the persons to whom they are assigned. Ordinary Christians have one of the lower orders of angels ; priests, bishops, kings, etc., have nobler spirits to guard them. Cities, coun tries, parishes, religious houses, have each their guardian angel.

Our guardian angels help us in the following ways:

The Apostles' Creed. 151

1. They put good thoughts into our minds, and move our will to what is good.

The angels who appeared to the shepherds at Bethlehem, and who were seen at the tomb of Christ, and after His ascension, made themselves visible and spoke to men; 'but generally they influence us without being seen or heard by us. They move us to some step that is conducive to the welfare of our souls or bodies, and often save us from some impending danger by a secret impulse, without which we should have incurred death or misfortune.

2. They offer our prayers and our good works to God.

Thus St. Raphael offered the prayers of Tobias (Tob. xii. 12). The angel in the Apocalypse offers the prayers of the saints in a golden censer (Apoc. viii. 3). This is not because God Himself does not hear our prayers, but the angels mingle their prayers with ours, and so make them more acceptable to God. " In" all the benefits we receive from God," says St. Thomas, " our guardian angel takes part, because he helps in obtaining them for us."

3. They protect us in danger.

Thus. St. Peter was delivered from prison by an angel (Acts xii. 7 seq.}, Daniel was kept safe in the den of lions, and the three young men in the fiery furnace (Dar.. vi. 22; iii. 49). We read stories sometimes of children being run over, or falling from a height, and escaping unhurt. We can scarcely doubt that this was owing to the intervention of their guardian angels. God has commissioned the angels thus to help us. " He hath given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone" (Ps. xc. 11). But the chief office of our guardian angel is to preserve us from the snares of the devil; the holy angels have powers over the evil spirits, who flyaway at their approach (Cf. Tob. viii. 3). We must therefore commit ourselves to the care of our guardian angels in all times of danger, and before undertaking a journey, or any new enterprise, and we should wish our friends when they start on a journey, the good wish of Tobias when his son was leaving his home, " May the angel of God accompany you ! "

4. They often reveal to men the will of God.

Instances in point are the sacrifice of Abraham, the message of the angel to Zacharias and to Our Lady. The appearance of an angel sometimes causes fear at first, but it soon changes to consolation and joy. It is just the opposite with the appearances of the evil angels; they give consolation to begin with, but this soon changes to confusion and fear.

If we desire the protection of the holy angels, we must try and imitate them by a holy life; we must also honor them, and often invoke their aid.

Experience teaches us that innocent children enjoy a wonderful protection from the angels. Innocence attracts them, and sin drives

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them away, as smoke drives away bees. We cannot expect our guardian angels to take care of us when we are doing what we know is displeasing to God. We must also beg for the aid of our guardian angel ; we must congratulate him on his faithfulness to God ; we must salute him when we go out and when we come in; we must thank him for all his benefits. We must say with Tobias, " What can be worthy of his benefits, and what can we give him sufficient for these things?" (Tob. xii. 3.) The Church honors our guardian angels on the second of October ; in some places on the first Sunday in September.

9. MAN. The Creation of Man.

The account of the creation of man is found in the beginning of the book of Genesis. Nothing is said about the time when man was created, but the general belief fixes the date at 4000 B.C. The four weeks of Advent seem to indicate that the Church adopts this view.

1. God made the body of man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into him a living soul.

The soul of man is a spiritual substance. The materialist who denies the existence of the soul because it cannot be perceived by his senses, might as well deny the existence of human reason because he cannot see it. The soul is endowed with the two faculties of reason and free will. Some have supposed that there are in man two souls, on account of the different inclinations which strive for mastery in him, and the struggle that takes place between the leaning towards sensual enjoyment and the reason that condemns it. But this struggle only proves that the soul has different tendencies, in virtue of our nature being partly material and partly spiritual. The relations between the body and the soul of man are as follows : the body is the dwelling-place of the soul. As the nutshell to the kernel, as the dress to the man, as the hut to the hermit, such is the body to the soul. The body is also the instrument of the soul, whereby it may attain to eternal happiness. What his tools are to the carpenter, his brush to the painter, the organ to the organist, such the body is to the soul. The soul is the guide of the body, as the driver of his steed, or the captain of his ship. Too often the soul allows the evil desires of the body to lead it astray, to the ruin of both. The body is a good servant but a bad master. The soul also is the life of the body; as soon as the two are parted, the body soon returns to the dust from which it was formed. The souls of men are essentially different from those of the lower animals ; and have different faculties and capabili ties. The souls of animals are incapable of striving after perfection, or of searching into the causes of things; hence they can have no knowledge of their end ; they are led by instinct, not by reason. They have no craving after a higher happiness and are quite satisfied with the enjoyment of sense ; they have no spiritual nature, but are essentially dependent on matter.

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It is an error to think that the bodies of men are developed out of those of the lower animals.

Many think that men aj«sprung from the lower animals by a process of gradual development This is the theory advanced by the English naturalist, Darwin, who believed that the first man was a highly developed kind of monkey. There is an essential difference between the shape of the body of a man and an ape, and between the form of their skulls. The brain of man is far larger and heavier than that of an ape. Man has the gift of speech, the ape has not. Man has the power of forming abstract ideas, the ape has not. Man has a long period of growth, and a gradual development of his faculties; the ape shoots up very quickly to its full development. The ape only lives about thirty years; man can attain to the age of eighty or even one hundred years. Man is capable of the highest cultivation ; the ape is not. No bones have ever yet been found which bridge over the impassable gulf that separates men from apes. There is no difference between the bones of men in the present day and those of men who lived thousands of years ago. Tradition and language bear witness to an early period when men enjoyed a higher cultivation, from which they afterwards fell away through sin and vice. The apes which bear the greatest resemblance to man in bodily form are stupid and without intelligence, and seem to have been created in order that we may see what man would have been if God had not breathed into him an immortal soul, and made him like to Himself. To those who trace the origin of men from apes may be applied the words of Holy Scripture, "Man when he was in honor did not understand; he hath been compared to senseless beasts, and made like to them" (Ps. xlviii. 21).

2. The first human beings that God created were Adam and Eve.

Eve was made from a rib of Adam while he slept, and from Adam and Eve all the millions who now cover the face of the earth were descended. Hence all are members of one and the same family. The differences of color and of the shape of the skull are the result of differences of climate, food, and way of living. We find that animals gradually change their shape and color under a different climate. All men have certain common bodily characteristics, and also the mental facul ties of will, memory, and understanding. The oldest legends of all existing peoples tell of a primeval happiness from which man fell, of a deluge over all the inhabited portion of the earth, etc., and so bear witness to a common origin.

Yet all men derive only their bodies from Adam; for the soul of every man is created by God.

It is not man, but God, Who communicates to each of us his soul when he comes into existence. " The Lord f ormeth the spirit of man in him" (Zach. xii. 1). Just as the Holy Spirit in Baptism or in the Sacrament of Penance descends into the soul of man, and gives it spiritual life, so God gives natural life to the body of man when formed, and places the soul in it. So He did with the bodies of Adam

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and Eve at their creation. God creates each soul and at the same moment places it in the body which He has prepared for it. It is therefore an error to suppose, as Tertullian did, that the soul of the child is sprung from the soul of its parent, as one flame is engendered from another. Some have foolishly asserted that all men have one and the same soul, others that God created the souls of all men when He first created the world. This was the doctrine of Plato and Origen, and is entirely false.

10. The Soul of Man

1. The soul of man is made in the image of God, since it is a spirit like to God.

Before the creation of man God said, " Let us make man to our own image and likeness and let him have dominion over the beasts and the whole earth" (Gen i. 26). Man is made in the image of God; his likeness to God is to be found in his soul, which possesses reason and free will, and thence has the power of knowing what is beautiful and good, and of loving it. He, moreover, through these two faculties has dominion over the visible world, as God has dominion over the whole universe. In the words spoken before the creation of man, God joined together the likeness of Himself and dominion over the earth. Man attains to a perfect likeness to God only when he is in the grace of God, for in this case he is made a " partaker of the divine nature " (2 Pet. i. 4). The just man is truly the lord of the whole earth and of all creatures upon it, whereas the sinner is the slave of creatures. Man, through his likeness to God, has not only the power of knowing the true and the beautiful and the good, but he has also the power of knowing, loving, and enjoying God in His divine majesty. Just as a globe has a feeble resemblance to the earth, so the soul of man has a feeble resemblance to God. The soul is also an image of the Blessed Trinity, in virtue of its three powers, memory, understanding, and will. In its memory it resembles the Father, in its understanding the Son, and in its will the Holy Ghost. As these three powers are united in one soul, so the three persons of the Blessed Trinity are united in one and the same nature. Notice the words used at the creation : " Let us make man," thereby indicating the plurality of persons in the Blessed Trinity. It is its likeness to the Blessed Trinity that gives to every single soul its priceless value ; it is this which explains the Incarnation. The soul of man is worth more than all the stars of heaven. The body of man is not made in the image of God, for God is a pure spirit, but yet the likeness to God stamps itself in some way on the body, as being the in strument of the soul, both in its upright bearing, and in the dominion it exerts over the irrational animals (Cf. Ps. viii. 5, 6). "What is man that Thou art mindful of him ? Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast given him dominion over the works of Thy hands."

2. The soul of man is immortal, i.e., it can never cease to exist.

The soul can never cease to exist, but it becomes spiritually dead when it loses the grace of God by mortal sin. It cannot lose con-

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sciousness, but it can lose God. A branch that falls from the tree continues to exist, but is nevertheless dead. Sinners are thus dead, even while they live; the just on the other hand live even after they are dead.

That the soul of man is immortal we know from the words of Jesus Christ.

Our Lord says, " Fear not them who can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul " (Matt. x. 28), and to the good thief on the cross He says, "To-day thou shalt be with Me in paradise" (Luke xxiii. 43). He teaches the same truth in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke xvi. 19). " God is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; and is not the God of the dead but of the living " (Matt. xxii. 32).

We learn the same truth from the numberless appearances of the dead to the living.

At Our Lord's transfiguration Moses appeared, who had been long dead (Matt. xvii. 3). At the time of Our Lord's crucifixion many who were dead appeared in Jerusalem (Matt, xxvii. 53). The prophet Jeremias and the priest Onias appeared to Judas Maccabeus before his victory over Nicanor (2 Mach. xv. 11 seq.). Our Lady has constantly appeared to saints and to others, and so have many of the saints as well as those who are suffering in purgatory; sometimes to console and encourage the living, sometimes to warn them, and in the case of the holy souls, to ask for prayers. The lost rarely (and some think never) appear to men, unless it may be in some rare cases to warn the living. It is unlawful to invoke the appearance of the dead, and those who do so are tricked by the devil, who takes the form of the person invoked, or indicates their supposed presence by sounds, raps, etc. All true appearances of the dead are wrought by the instrumentality of the angels. We must be very cautious in accepting such appearances as real, but yet we ought not to reject them altogether. Many reject all such appearances, because they know that, if they acknowledged them to be true, they would have to change their way of living, and this they are not willing to do.

We can also prove from reason that the soul is immortal.

Man has a longing after a perfect and lasting happiness. This longing is common to all men, and is implanted in them by their Creator. Such happiness can never be attained in this world — and therefore if man possessed the desire for it, without any hope of its being satisfied, he would be more unfortunate than the brutes who have no such desire, and God, in implanting it in his breast would be, not good, but cruel. If man had no immortal soul, the wicked who do evil all their lives long would go unpunished, and the just, who by self-sacrifice have robbed themselves of the enjoy ments of life, would go unrewarded. This would be an injustice impossible to a God of perfect justice. We are also conscious of an individual unity in each one of us, which is independent of our body, which perseveres in spite of all bodily changes, and continues from childhood to old age. It is present during sleep as well as during waking hours, and is active when all our bodily senses are wrapped in

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repose and inactivity. St. Augustine tells a story of Gennadius, a physician of Carthage, who would not believe in the immortality of the soul. One night he had a dream, in which he saw standing before him a beautiful young man, clothed in white, who said to him : " Dost thou see me ? " He answered, " Yes, I see you." The young man rejoined, " Dost thou see me with thine eyes ? " " No," answered Gennadius, " for they are closed in sleep." " With what, then, dost thou see me ? " "I know not." The young man continued : " Dost thou hear me ? " " Yes." " With thine ears ? " " No, for these too are wrapped in sleep." " With what then dost thou hear me ? " " I know not." " Are you speaking to me ? " was the next question. " Yes." " With thy mouth ? " " No." " With what then ? " "I know not." Then the young man said : " See now, thou sleepest — and yet thou seest, hearest, and speakest. The hour will come when thou wilt sleep in death, and yet thou wilt see and hear and speak and feel." Gennadius woke, and knew that God had sent an angel to teach him the immortality of the soul. No particle of matter is ever lost. Matter takes different forms, but the same amount of matter remains throughout. If matter never perishes, is it possible that the soul, which belongs to a far higher order, is destined to perish ?

All nations of the earth believe in the immortality of the soul.

When Jacob heard of the death of his son Joseph, he expressed a wish to go and join him in the nether world (Gen. xxxvii. 35). The Jews were forbidden to call up the dead or hold intercourse with them (Deut. xviii. 11). The Greeks and Romans believed in Tartarus and Elysium. The Egyptians believed that the soul wandered about for three thousand years before finding rest. In other nations the offerings for the dead, and the cultus of the departed spirits or Manes, testify to the same belief. There are only a few, and those men who are in mortal sin, who declare that they think that death is the end of our existence. Most of those who put an end to their lives do so, not with the idea that after death they will cease to be, but because they imagine life is intolerable — not realizing the consequences of their act.

11. The Supernatural Endowments of Man

Our first parents before the Fall had a happiness almost equal to that of the angels when first created. Hence the Psalmist says of man, " Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels ; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor" (Ps. viii. 6). Heathen nations have legends of the happiness of the first man; they termed it the golden age. Hesiod says that men lived then like gods, in perfect happiness.

1. Our first parents were created in the grace of God, and there fore possessed singular perfections of soul and body.

" Adam was created," says the Council of Trent, " in justice and holiness; he was a partaker of the divine nature." This justice and holiness he did not have of himself, but God gave it to him; just as the eye does not possess light from within, but absorbs it from without.

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The special privileges granted to the soul of man at his first creation were as follows: An enlightened understanding, a will free from all weakness, and the possession of sanctifying grace. Through means of these he was the child of God, the heir of heaven, and well-pleasing in the sight of God.

" God filled them with wisdom and the knowledge of understand ing," says the Wise Man (Ecclus. xvii. 5, 6). He gave Adam an in sight into the inner nature of things, so that he was able to give appropriate names to all the animals. He also knew by inspiration the indissolubility of marriage. The will of man was weakened by no sensual desires. Adam and Eve were naked, but felt no shame, because in them there was no rebellion of the flesh against the spirit, no struggle necessary to avoid sin. They also had the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, and His sanctifying grace; they were like to God, full of love for Him, and children of God ; and because children, also heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.

The special perfections of their bodies were that they were immortal, and free from all liability to sickness and disease; they were in paradise, and had dominion over all the creatures around them.

God created man immortal (Wisd. ii. 23). Death only came in as the punishment of disobedience (Gen. ii. 17). The death threatened was bodily as well as spiritual death, for the punishment of their sin was "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" (Gen. iii. 19). Man had indeed to work in paradise, but this work was part of his happiness, and caused him no fatigue. He had no sickness, for sickness is the forerunner of death. Paradise was a lovely garden, full of noble trees and lovely flowers, and the fairest fruits ; many beautiful animals were there, who were perfectly obedient to his behests. There was also a river in paradise divided into four branches. In the midst of the garden was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and close by it the tree of life, the fruits of which were a protection against disease and death. Paradise is said to have been situated between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Man had also a complete dominion over all the wild beasts. Not that their nature was then different from now, but the grace and dignity of man rendered them submissive to his will, and made them fear and obey him (Ecclus. xvii. 4). Something of this power still remains to man; it is said that 110 wild beast can look a man steadily in the face. We see the same thing in the natural order now, in the wild beast tamers; and in the supernatural in the power that many of the saints possessed over the wild beasts, e.g., St. Francis of Assisi, and many of the martyrs before whose feet the fiercest of the animals in the Roman amphitheatre lay down in prostrate homage. This was due to their great purity and freedom from sin.

2. These special perfections of our first parents we call super natural gifts, because they are something altogether beyond, and were added to, human nature.

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Thus a rich man out of compassion provides a poor orphan with food, clothing, lodging, instruction in a trade. These would correspond to the natural gifts given by God to man. But the rich man in his bounty goes further; he adopts the orphan, clothes him as if he were his own son, gives him a room in his own house, and the education of a gentleman. These would correspond in some way to the supernatural gifts given by God to man. The first of natural gifts bestow upon the orphan a sort of likeness to the giver, but the second impart to him a far closer likeness. So the supernatural gifts of God to man impart to him a far closer likeness to God than the natural. Or to take another illustration; a painter can trace the portrait of a man with a few strokes in black and white. But if he takes his brush and colors the drawing, if he paints the eyes blue, the cheeks red, the hair brown, etc., the likeness becomes more beautiful and corresponds more closely to the original. So it is with the natural and the supernatural gifts of God. When God at man's creation said, " Let us make man in our image and likeness," the image refers to the natural, the likeness to the supernatural gifts of God.

12. Original Sin

The story of the Fall of man is a true story, not a mere fable. This is the general opinion of theologians.

1. God imposed on man in paradise a precept; He forbade him to eat the fruit of one of the trees which stood in the midst of the Garden of Eden.

The fruit of the tree of good and evil was not bad in itself, for God did not place anything that was evil in paradise ; it was only badand injurious to man because it was forbidden.

By obedience to this precept God intended that Adam and Eve should merit eternal happiness.

It was the intention of God to bestow upon our first parents eternal happiness — an inheritance that was to be theirs as children of God. But as a happiness that is earned is a greater happiness, and one of greater value than if it were bestowed without any action deserving of it, God in His goodness decreed that man should earn it as a reward of obedience. If man had not transgressed the command of God, he would have passed without pain and without death from the earthly into the celestial paradise. The posterity of Adam would have come into existence, like him, in a state of original justice. They would have died as Adam died if they had sinned like him, but the sin would not have passed on to their children, for Adam alone was the appointed head and representative of the human race.

2. Man allowed himself to be led astray by the devil, and transgressed the precept of his Creator.

The devil was envious of the happiness of our first parents. " By the envy of the devil death came into the world" (Wisd. ii. 24). " The devil was a murderer from the beginning " (John viii. 4). He

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deceived Eve by a lie. Hence Our Lord calls him the father of lies (John viii. 4) . He took a visible form because a mere internal suggestion would have had no power to influence the mind of our first parents in their state of original justice. He took the form of a serpent, because God would allow him to take no other and the serpent was a fit emblem of his cunning and poisonous wickedness. St. Augustine tells us that Adam and Eve had already admitted the beginnings of evil by thinking little of God and allowing themselves to be distracted by visible and palpable things. This was the occasion of the temptation. Their great happiness had made them unwary, and Eve foolishly lingered near the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and listened to the serpent, instead of turning away at once. The common tradition among the Fathers is that Adam was created on a Friday and fell on the following Friday, at the same hour at which Our Lord on Good Friday died upon the cross.

3. The transgression of the precept of God had disastrous consequences; man lost sanctifying grace, and all his supernatural gifts, and also suffered injuries both in soul and body.

The disobedience of our first parents received this severe punish ment, because the law given them was one that it was easy for them to obey, and because they had such a high degree of knowledge. The sin they committed was a mortal sin, else it would not have been necessary for God Himself to die upon the cross in order to expiate it. From the cost of the remedy we may judge of the deadly nature of the wound. Just as the man who fell among the thieves on the road to Jericho was robbed of his goods, and also sorely wounded, so man was robbed by Satan of his supernatural gifts, and was sorely wounded in his natural gifts. In other words, the supernatural likeness to God was lost, and his whole nature, body and soul alike, was disfigured and weakened.

Original sin injured the soul of man in the following ways: His understanding was darkened, his will weakened and made prone to evil; lie lost supernatural grace and thus became displeasing to God, and could no more enter into the kingdom. of heaven.

His understanding was darkened, i.e., he had not the same knowledge of the nature of God, of the will of God, the end of life, etc. His will was weakened, for by sin the harmony between his spiritual and his sensible faculties was destroyed, so that the inclinations of his senses no longer submitted without revolt to the dominion of his reason. The flesh rebelled against the spirit in punishment for man's rebellion against God. Hence St. Paul says, " I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind " (Rom. vii. 23). " The flesh lusteth against the spirit " (Gal. v. 17). Hence forward man's nature was drawn towards the things of sense, as iron is drawn by the power of the magnet. Many other evil tendencies also arose in him. Doubt in the goodness of God, in His truth and justice; vanity and pride, etc. Eve, who had fancied that she was going to become like to God, condemned herself and her posterity to

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a foolish curiosity, to a love of dress, and ill-timed loquacity. Man has not lost the freedom of his will by original sin, else he would not have that consciousness of being able to exercise choice, or that feeling of remorse when he had yielded. Our first parents also lost sanctifying grace, the justice and holiness in which they were created, and the friendship of God which accompanied it. He who dies still burdened with original sin cannot see the face of God in heaven, but he does not suffer the pains of hell unless he has committed grievous sin himself. Children who die unbaptized are excluded from heaven, but it does not follow that their existence is one of pain or misery.

Original sin did injury to the body of man in the following ways: He became subject to sickness and death; he was shut out from paradise and had to labor and to suffer. Woman became subject to man; the forces of nature and the lower animals had power to injure man; lastly the devil had permission from God to tempt him to sin, and to injure him in his temporal posses sions.

Man was condemned to die in consequence of original sin. God said to Adam " In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread, until thou return to the earth from which thou wast taken; for dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return " (Gen. iii. 19). Of these words the Church reminds us on Ash Wednesday, when the priest places the ashes on the heads of the faithful. Death is the worst consequence of original sin. But the death of the body is but the sensible image of the terrible and eternal death of the soul, from which man canonly be delivered through the redemption of Christ and by penance. The exclusion from the earthly paradise also had its meaning, and was meant to remind man how sin excludes him from the celestial paradise of heaven. Man had also to labor hard. God said to Adam : " Cursed is the earth in thy work. With labor and toil thou shalt eat the fruit thereof all the days of thy life" (Gen iii. 17). Because of this curse the Church makes use of various blessings on material things. Woman had to be subject to her husband, because she had led him into disobedience, and had to bear children in sorrow because she had involved them in sorrow through her disobedience. The lower animals also received power to injure man. He had revolted against God, his Master; so it was only just that they should rebel against him. The devil has also a great influence over man, in accordance with the saying of Holy Scripture : " By whom a man is overcome, of the same also he is made the slave " (2 Pet. ii. 19). He can tempt them more easily and lead them to mortal sin; he can also injure them in their worldly goods (Cf. Job). He is the prince of this world, and has the empire of death (Heb. ii. 14). A heavy yoke lies upon the shoulders of the children of Adam from the day of their birth to the day of their death (Ecclus. xl. 1). The punish ments that God sent upon man were a valuable medicine to counter act the effects of sin. Sickness, death, the necessity of labor, and the subjection of men one to another were intended to check pride and sensuality. Man was driven out of paradise lest he should

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eat of the tree of life, and so live forever in this valley of tears. His banishment was also an effective means of leading him to penance.

4. The sin of our first parents with all its evil consequences has passed on to their descendants.

Not merely the consequences of sin, but the sin itself, has in some sense passed on from Adam to his descendants, so that it is true of all of them that they have sinned in Adam. If it were not so, God could not with justice have visited that sin upon them. We are all by nature children of wrath (Eph. ii. 3). But we partake in the sin of Adam, as the members of the body partake in the sin which the soul commits through their agency, by putting them in motion to perform the sinful act. Suppose a king bestows an estate upon one of his servants, on the condition that the servant remain faithful to him. He is unfaithful, and thereby loses the estate — not he only, but also his whole posterity. So it is with original sin. We must also remember that original sin and all its consequences are not any thing positive, but are the absence of that which would otherwise be present. It is the absence of the supernatural grace of God; of original justice, with all the privileges and perfections that it carries with it. When we say that we have sinned in Adam, this does not mean that we have imitated Adam's sin by some positive act of our own. All children have sinned in Adam, even though absolutely free from any personal act of sin.

The sin that we inherit from Adam is called original sin.

We are already tainted with sin before we draw our first breath, or see the light of day. We are conceived in sin (Ps. 1. 7). Even the children of Christians are born in sin. Not only the seed of the wild olive, but also of the cultivated olive comes up as a wild plant. So is it with the children of Christian as well as of heathen parents.

Only Jesus Christ and His holy Mother were free from original sin.

All mankind save Christ and our blessed Lady were conceived in sin. St. John the Baptist (Luke i. 15) and probably the prophet Jeremias (Jer. i. 5), were born without sin, having been cleansed from sin in their mothers' womb, but they were not conceived without sin. Some believe that St. Joseph was also born free from sin. All other men were cleansed from sin in baptism. The history of man is unintelligible to those who do not believe in the doctrine of original sin. Oh, how great is the misery that original sin has brought into the world ! Yet how few there are who are conscious of their misery ! Men are like children born in slavery, who laugh, and play, and enjoy themselves, as if they were free. It is only the saints, who know the emptiness of the joys of earth, who lament over the misery of sin.

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