Prayer the affirmation of the link between God and man-affirms grace— Grace must coincide with the law of the Incarnation-An historical Christ does not satisfy the needs of man-Man needs a Christ immanent in the Church as an object of worship-This is also necessitated by the nature of the Incarnation-The Real Presence in every Christian—in all Sacraments in the Eucharist-Impossibility man labours under of avoid- ing localization of the Deity-Christ, as God, is everywhere present— as Man is localized-These ideas do not contradict one another, both are true-The worship of the localized Christ springs up at once-This doctrine in accordance with the law of the Incarnation-Eminanuel, Sacrifice the expression of Love-not necessarily involving an idea of pain -The dogma of original sin signifies the prevalence of opposition and contradiction-The Protestant doctrine, the negation of all good in man; the Catholic doctrine, the opposition of good faculties—The Incarnation the reconciliation of all oppositions-The Passion its neces- sary climax—Why suffering was necessary-Descent into the midst of every antagonism, sin and death-The Atonement is the restoration and reconciliation, completing the work of the Incarnation-Suffering touches a chord in man's nature-Justification the restoration of man by his co-operation-The Protestant doctrine different, the imputation of merits-The doctrine of vicarious suffering a Protestant theory-It The Holy Communion the application of the Atonement-The Resurrection of the body one result of the Atonement-The Eucharist not a com- memoration of the death of Christ only-The necessity man feels of offering Sacrifice-As the link between man and God is love, of which sacrifice is the expression, the restoration of love is the restoration of sacrifice-Love the motive of asceticism-Love the motive of action in the material order-also in the spiritual order-The love of man to God necessitates the Eucharistic sacrifice-That sacrifice identical with the sacrifice on Calvary Christ, as head of humanity, combined in His Passion the idea of sacrifice to God with that of sacrifice to man-The idea of sacrifice an enigma to those who do not love-The idea of com- pensation creates ritual splendour-The love of the Church for Christ The basis of Christian hope-Proofs of Immortality inadequate to give certainty-Future life of fame unsatisfactory-Future life desired by the suffering-It is a necessity of the soul-Because the soul cannot satisfy all its desires here-Because the capability of enjoyment is limited here-Contrast between what we have and what we hope for— The Christian heaven corresponds with the desire felt for it on earth- The blunting of the finer faculties incapacitates man for enjoyment- destroys his aspirations-and therefore limits his Heaven-The idea of Hell not necessarily one of pain but of low enjoyment—The idea of Purgatory one of gradual education-The idea of the Resurrection of Development, a subject ably treated by others-must be considered here— Were all the propositions of the Faith simultaneously or successively evolved? Probably by degrees-If development be denied, two other theories must be maintained-Scripture an absolute authority-This the Protestant theory-Its impossibility-Or that development was suddenly arrested—This the Anglican theory, unsatisfactory-Develop- ment apparent in the Bible-and in the history of the Church-De- velopment of doctrine of Christian art-of appreciation of nature—of science of constitutionalism-The limits of development-Conclusion CHRISTIANITY CHAPTER I THE UNIVERSAL ANTINOMY "When Being's jarring crowds, together thrown, Mingle in harsh inextricable strife; Whose spirit quickens the unvarying round, And bids it flow to music's measured tone?"-GOETHE'S "FAUST." Progress in Nature general-Its law the emancipation of individuality— The object of instinct-Animal instincts and Intelligence in man— Consequent Antinomy-Happiness the signal when the instincts are satisfied--The antinomy between reason and sentiment―The antinomy between faith and reason-Reason unable to act without axiomsAntinomy in morals and politics-and in religion-Natural religion inconclusive-The existence of God is incapable of demonstration-The inductive and deductive methods, are usually opposed-Opposition of analysis and synthesis-Science analytic and religion syntheticConciliation possible. THE HE law of Nature is progress, progress that is gradual, never abruptly transitional; so that Linnæus might well observe, "She never takes a leap." The mineral kingdom shades into that of vegetation, the plant graduates into the animal, and the instinct of the animal lightens slowly into human intelligence. The rock bears no resemblance to the flower, but there is a point at which inert matter and vegetable life meet and kiss, and A at which the plant loses itself in the animal. On a slope of red bolus, sprinkled with boiling water from a jetter in Iceland, I picked up some red slime, an algid,—vitalized clay. On my window-sill a shower has deposited an almost imperceptible atom, a dusky grain which the sun in drying has attached to the stone. Respect that granule of dust. It is a living being. The heat has suspended, but not extinguished, its life. Another rain-drop restores it; the diatom swells and revives. Myriads of these little creatures people the lakes, the sea, the springs. They are born, they breathe, they dart nimbly through their element, they die and drop their shells to accumulate in considerable masses at the bottom of the waters. Are they animalcules, or are they vegetables? Their agility belongs to the animal, but they attach themselves to the vegetable realm by one of its most essential characteristics ;--under the influence of light, they decompose carbonic acid. The method by which Nature proceeds is invariable. First she watches over the conservation of the individualities she has called out, then she takes care of the species to which they belong, and lastly, she assigns to all their places and their functions in the scale of creatures. Thus, she introduces into the world duration, stability, and unity. In the inorganic world matter is preserved by the laws imposed upon it-the laws of affinity and of gravitation; but in the higher classes individuals are made to participate in the execution of the laws. Nature, as it were, admits them to be her auxiliaries, calls on them to co-operate in the work of their own maintenance, and in the preservation of their race. Thus, a plant is not merely subject, like a mineral, to physical laws, but it bears within itself a force, a new principle, a higher law; it grows, protects itself, de velops itself by nutrition, and reproduces itself by seed. This double power has made it a living being. The little celandine that heralds in the spring screens itself from the icy blast: "While the patient primrose sits Like a beggar in the cold, Thou, a flower of wiser wits, Slipp'st into thy sheltered hold;" and the autumn colchicum retains its seed-pod under ground to mature its germs in darkness till the winter snows are past, when it will thrust them into light. The life of the animal is more complete than that of the vegetable, for it intervenes more spontaneously and more efficaciously in the double function of self-protection and continuance of the species. Inorganic matter submits passively to the law without, whereas the organism is regulated by a duality of laws, that law which rules all inorganic matter, and that which governs matter transformed into an activity. This duality explains the phenomena of life and death. The rudimentary being inspired with vitality, progresses; its fluid parts thicken, its soft parts become firm, membrane changes into cartilage, and cartilage into bone, bone hardens and is welded into neighbouring bones, the entire being advances towards solidification. One day a demonstration on this subject was made in the cabinet of M. Flourens. Some one asked the eminent physiologist at what point the process would terminate. "If we lived long enough," he answered, "we should be mineralized." This tendency of matter to agglomerate in masses always more compact from the moment that it is put in circulation in an organized being explains life, which is the perpetual 1 Wordsworth: To the Celandine. |