Re: RE: Pues yo aprovecho y le pido perdón al RANDY, que también anda por es.charla.enfermedad.misc
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that all existence is none other than the work of the God whom they adore.
But for those in whom this light is extinguished, and in whom we purpose to
rekindle it, persons destitute of faith and grace, who, seeking with all
their light whatever they see in nature that can bring them to this
knowledge, find only obscurity and darkness; to tell them that they have
only to look at the smallest things which surround them, and they will see
God openly, to give them, as a complete proof of this great and important
matter, the course of the moon and planets, and to claim to have concluded
the proof with such an argument, is to give them ground for believing that
the proofs of our religion are very weak. And I see by reason and experience
that nothing is more calculated to arouse their contempt.
It is not after this manner that Scripture speaks, which has a better
knowledge of the things that are of God. It says, on the contrary, that God
is a hidden God, and that, since the corruption of nature, He has left men
in a darkness from which they can escape only through Jesus Christ, without
whom all communion with God is cut off. Nemo novit Patrem, nisi Filius, et
cui voluerit Filius revelare.30
This is what Scripture points out to us, when it says in so many places that
those who seek God find Him. It is not of that light, "like the noonday
sun," that this is said. We do not say that those who seek the noonday sun,
or water in the sea, shall find them; and hence the evidence of God must not
be of this nature. So it tells us elsewhere: Vere tu es Deus absconditus.31
243. It is an astounding fact that no canonical writer has ever made use of
nature to prove God. They all strive to make us believe in Him. David,
Solomon
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solely from wickedness. Few are between the two.
In this I do not include those who are of truly pious character, nor all
those who believe from a feeling in their heart.
257. There are only three kinds of persons; those who serve God, having
found Him; others who are occupied in seeking Him, not having found Him;
while the remainder live without seeking Him and without having found Him.
The first are reasonable and happy, the last are foolish and unhappy; those
between are unhappy and reasonable.
258. Unusquisque sibi Deum fingit.[37]
Disgust
259. Ordinary people have the power of not thinking of that about which they
do not wish to think. "Do not meditate on the passages about the Messiah,
said the Jew to his son. Thus our people often act. Thus are false religions
preserved, and even the true one, in regard to many persons.
But there are some who have not the power of thus preventing thought, and
who think so much the more as they are forbidden. These undo false religions
and even the true one, if they do not find solid arguments.
260. They hide themselves in the press and call numbers to th
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"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord:
look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye
are digged. Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah that bare you:
for I called him alone, when childless, and increased him. Behold, I have
comforted Zion, and heaped upon her blessings and consolations.
"Hearken unto me, my people, and give ear unto me; for a law shall proceed
from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the Gentiles."
Amos viii. The prophet, having enumerated the sins of Israel, said that God
had sworn to take vengeance on them.
He says this: "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I
will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the
clear day; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs
into lamentation.
"You all shall have sorrow and suffering, and I will make this nation mourn
as for an only son, and the end therefore as a bitter day. Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of
bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And
they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they
shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
"In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. They
that have followed the idols of Samaria, and sworn by the god of Dan, and
followed the manner of Beersheba, shall
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justice.
All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means
they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and
of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different
views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the
motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.
And yet, after such a great number of years, no one without faith has
reached the point to which all continually look. All complain, princes and
subjects, noblemen and commoners, old and young, strong and weak, learned
and ignorant, healthy and sick, of all countries, all times, all ages, and
all conditions.
A trial so long, so continuous, and so uniform, should certainly convince us
of our inability to reach the good by our own efforts. But example teaches
us little. No resemblance is ever so perfect that there is not some slight
difference; and hence we expect that our hope will not be deceived on this
occasion as before. And thus, while the present never satisfies us,
experience dupes us and, from misfortune to misfortune, leads us to death,
their eternal crown.
What is it, then, that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but
that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him
only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his
surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in
things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can
only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by
God Himself. He only i
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rest in hurling no invectives against the persecutors and enemies of Jesus
Christ. For there is no such invective in any of the historians against
Judas, Pilate, or any of the Jews.
If this moderation of the writers of the Gospels had been assumed, as well
as many other traits of so beautiful a character, and they had only assumed
it to attract notice, even if they had not dared to draw attention to it
themselves, they would not have failed to secure friends who would have made
such remarks to their advantage. But as they acted thus without pretence and
from wholly disinterested motives, they did not point it out to any one; and
I believe that many such facts have not been noticed till now, which is
evidence of the natural disinterestedness with which the thing has been
done.
799. An artisan who speaks of wealth, a lawyer who speaks of war, of
royalty, etc.; but the rich man rightly speaks of wealth, a king speaks
indifferently of a great gift he has just made, and God rightly speaks of
God.
800. Who has taught the evangelists the qualities of a perfectly heroic
soul, that they paint it so perfectly in Jesus Christ? Why do they make Him
weak in His agony? Do they not know how to paint a resolute death? Yes, for
the same Saint Luke paints the death of Saint Stephen as braver than that of
Jesus Christ.
They make Him, therefore, capable of fear, before the necessity of dying has
come,
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had been received and taken back to China by the person who had
disposed of them. During the six years they had been the property
of two or three successive owners, and when I found them in Penang
they were still being detained with the original promissory note
hanging over them, though the sum had been paid over and over
again. On my insisting on accounts being produced by the
brothel-keeper, I discovered that for three years the girls had
been earning from 20 to 30 dollars each per month, all of which
went to the master, who was surprised when the girls were released
and himself threatened with the law." (!)
From this we discover that Mr. Pickering intends that we shall think
that the reason why he has a salary from the British Government,
is, among other things, to see that slave girls only need to redeem
themselves by hard earned money through unspeakable humiliation from
one, or two, or more owners, and then there is an end to the patience
of the "Protector" with the slave-trader, who will be surprised to
find himself "threatened"--not punished--with the law! But Cecil C.
Smith, formerly Protector of Chinese (Registrar General) at Hong Kong,
was knighted and made Governor at Singapore, and about a year later
than this, says, in reference to this very representation: "The
Protector of Chinese has no efficient means of dealing with the
accounts of the inmates of brothels, nor has he ever dealt with them.
The Government should hold itself entirely aloof from interfering with
such matters." We see, then, of how much account the representations
of Mr. Pickering were as to the usefulness of the "Protector" to the
women at this point, but incidentally he has revealed a shocking state
of slavery perfectly known and not in the least interfered with by the
"Protector."
Mr. Pickering co