true. Meanwhile the Catholic Church resides among us as a living tangible proof of Christ's prophetic power. Her existence, teaching, character, and indefectibility supply the earnest inquirer with a sufficiently strong argument for the Godhead of her Founder.118 The historicity of the Gospel miracles cannot be brushed aside on Harnack's frivolous pretext that "what happens in space and time is subject to the general laws of motion, and that in this sense, as an interruption of the order of Nature, there can be no such thing as 'miracles.'" If the Gospels are authentic and genuine documents, and Harnack admits that at least three of them are,- the wonderful events which they record must be accepted as historic facts, because they are inseparably bound up with the narrative as a whole. The moral character of Jesus stands or falls with His miracles, to which He so frequently appeals in proof of His doctrine and mission.119 In matter of fact these miracles were wrought before the eyes of the whole Jewish nation, their genuineness is attested alike by friend and foe, and at least one of them was established by a searching legal investigation.120 Harnack arbitrarily disrupts the texture of the Gospel miracles when he says: "That the earth in its course stood still, that a she-ass spoke, that a storm was quieted by a word, we do not believe and we shall never again believe; but that the lame walked, the blind saw, and the deaf heard, will not be so summarily dismissed as an illu 118 This argument is well developed by O. R. Vassall-Phillips, C. SS. R., The Mustard Tree: An Argument on Behalf of the Divinity of Christ, London 1912. 119 Harnack, Das Wesen des Christentums, p. 17 (English translation, pp. 28 sq.) Cfr. Matth. XI, 4, 5; XII, 25 sqq.; Luke V, 23 sion." 121 The miracles of the Gospel cannot be divided off into credible cures and incredible interruptions of the order of Nature without destroying the harmonious unity of the sacred narrative. Furthermore, such unwarranted discrimination would cast a slur on the moral character of Jesus, who in His sermons constantly appeals to both classes of miracles. If some of them were unreal, Christ would be a contemptible impostor.122 And now to the final question: What attitude does modern Rationalism take with regard to the Resurrection, that pivotal miracle which constitutes the climax of our Lord's earthly career and the foundation stone of Christian belief? 123 Will Harnack here too make the reservation: "We are not yet by any means acquainted with all the forces working in it [i. e., the order of Nature] and acting reciprocally with other forces"? 124 It is here that the unbeliever meets with his final Waterloo. The hypothesis that the death of Christ was merely apparent, and that His disciples were impostors, has now been universally abandoned. The so-called vision theory is flatly contradicted by the facts.125 Therefore our Lord's triumphant Resurrection forms the pillar and groundwork of the Christian dispensation and the test and touchstone of true belief.126 121 Das Wesen des Christentums, p. 18 (English translation, pp. 30 sq.). 122 Cfr. Luke VII, 13 sqq.; Matth. VII, 18 sqq.; John XI, 43. 123" If Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." (1 Cor. XV, 14.) 124 Das Wesen des Christentums, p. 18 (English translation, p. 30). 125 The doubting Thomas was surely neither a visionary nor a day-dreamer. 126 The student will find this subject more fully developed in Tepe, Instit. Theol., Vol. I, pp. 97 sqq. He may also consult with profit: P. Hake, Handbuch der allgemeinen Religionswissenschaft, Vol. II, pp. 171 sqq.; F. Hettinger, Fundamentaltheologie, 2nd ed., pp. 368 sqq., Freiburg 1888; Fl. Chable, Die Wunder Jesu in ihrem inneren READINGS: -* St. Thomas Aquinas, Contr. Gent., IV, 2 sqq. (Rickaby, Of God and His Creatures, pp. 340 sqq., London 1905). ·Suarez, De Incarnatione, disp. 2.-* Prudentius Maranus, De Divinitate Domini Nostri Iesu Christi, ed. Wirceb., 1859.-P. Hake, Handbuch der allgemeinen Religionswissenschaft, Vol. II, §§ 30 sqq., Freiburg 1887.-* C. Gutberlet, Apologetik, 2nd ed., Vol. II, 2, §§ 5-10, Münster 1895.—* Fr. Hettinger, Apologie des Christentums, I, 1, Vortr. 14–18, 9th ed., Freiburg 1906. (English tr. by H. S. Bowden, Revealed Religion, pp. 130 sqq., 2nd ed., London s. a.) — J. Bade, Christotheologie oder Jesus Christus, der Sohn Gottes und wahre Gott, 2nd ed., Paderborn 1870.— L. Reinke, Die messianischen Psalmen, 2 vols., Giessen 1857-58.— IDEM, Die messianischen Weissagungen bei den Propheten, 4 vols., Giessen 1859-62.-M. Lendovšek, Divina Maiestas Verbi Incarnati Elucidata ex Libris Novi Testamenti, Graz 1896.— Endler, Apologetische Vorträge über die Gottheit Iesu, Prague 1900.— W. Capitaine, Jesus von Nazareth, eine Prüfung seiner Gottheit, Ratisbon 1904.-H. Schell, Jahwe und Christus, Paderborn 1905.-G. W. B. Marsh, Messianic Philosophy, an Historical and Critical Examination of the Evidence for the Existence, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, London 1908.- IDEM, Miracles, London 1906.— IDEM, The Resurrection of Christ, Is it a Fact? London 1905.- Devivier-Sasia, Christian Apologetics, Vol. I, pp. 33 sqq., San José, Cal., 1903.— Bougaud-Currie, The Divinity of Christ, New York 1906.-J. H. Newman, An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, New York ed., 1870, pp. 420 sqq.— Freddi-Sullivan, S. J., Jesus Christ the Word Incarnate, pp. 12 sqq., St. Louis 1904.- V. Rose, O. P., Studies on the Gospels, English tr. by R. Fraser, London 1903.– * H. Felder, O. M. Cap., Jesus Christus, Apologie seiner Messianität und Gottheit gegenüber der neuesten ungläubigen Jesus-Forschung, Vol. I, Paderborn 1911, Vol. II, 1914.-M. Lepin, Christ and the Gospel, Philadelphia 1910.-O. R. Vassall-Phillips, C. SS. R., The Mustard Tree: An Argument on Behalf of the Di Zusammenhang, Freiburg 1897; H. Schell, Jahwe und Christus, pp. 278 sqq., Paderborn 1905; L. Fonck, S. J., Die Wunder des Herrn im Evangelium, 2nd ed., Innsbruck 1907; H. P. Liddon, The Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, pp. 232 sqq., London, Ox- vinity of Christ, London 1912.— F. X. Kiefl, Der geschichtliche Christus und die moderne Philosophie, Mainz 1911.— P. Batiffol, The Credibility of the Gospels (tr. by G. C. H. Pollen, S. J.), London 1912.-H. Schumacher, Die Selbstoffenbarung Jesu bei Mat. 11, 27 (Luc. 10, 22), Freiburg 1912.—Jesus Christus, Vorträge von Braig, Hoberg, Krieg, Weber, Esser, 2nd ed., Freiburg 1911. Additional literature in Pohle-Preuss, The Divine Trinity, pp. 95 sqq., St. Louis 1912. CHAPTER II THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST In this Chapter we shall first demonstrate (Sect. 1) the reality of the human nature of Christ as defined by the Church against the Docetae (Art. I), and its integrity as defined against Arianism and Apollinarianism (Art. 2). Then we shall proceed to show the Adamic origin of Christ, qua man, from the Virgin Mary, as defined against Valentinus and Apelles (Sect. 2), and, finally, the passibility of His human nature, i. e., its capacity for suffering, with special reference to the atonement. (Sect. 3). GENERAL READINGS: -* J. Grimm, Das Leben Jesu, 2nd ed., 7 vols., Ratisbon 1890 sqq.-P. Didon, Jesus Christ, 2 vols., London 1908.-J. Duggan, The Life of Christ, London 1897.M. Meschler, S. J., The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, 2 vols., Freiburg and St. Louis 1909.-* J. Kleutgen, S. J., Theologie der Vorzeit, Vol. III, pp. 7 sqq., Münster 1870. – Alb. a Bulsano, Instit. Theol. Dogmat. (ed. a Graun), t. I, pp. 570 sqq., Oeniponte 1893.—* St. Thomas Aquinas, S. Theol., зa, qu. 5-6 (summarized in English in Freddi-Sullivan, Jesus Christ the Word Incarnate, St. Louis 1904).—* Suarez, De Incarnatione, disp. 2, sect. I; disp. 15, sect. I sqq.- Thomassin, De Incarn., IV, 1-11.-L. Janssens, O. S. B., De Deo-homine, Vol. I, pp. 240 sqq., Friburgi 1901.- Durand-Bruneau, The Childhood of Jesus Christ According to the Canonical Gospels, Philadelphia 1910.— H. J. Coleridge, S. J., The Preparation of the Incarnation, |