{"product_id":"2940013481176","title":"Certainty In Religion (1905)","description":"PREFACE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIN the following pages I have endeavored to give my strongest reasons for believing in the Catholic religion, and I hope that my non-Catholic readers will not be less inclined to weigh my arguments because I claim that cer tainty is attainable in religion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNaturally speaking, nothing in religion irri tates us so much as the idea of certainty; even the Ipse dixits of God Himself stir the old Adam in us to revolt. And when God chooses to have a human representative to declare them, it be comes still more aggravating.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut, dear reader, if you only view the matter calmly you will see that there is in such a dis pensation a Divine condescension which greatly honors us, His creatures, and makes His message all the easier io be understood and obeyed be cause the man who announces it has received it from a divinely established authority and has to obey it himself more submissively than others, and has often to suffer the imputation of being dictatorial above all other men, whereas in real-\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFIRST PRINCIPLES.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the title of my book indicates, I claim that there is a possibility of arriving at certainty in knowledge. By this statement I wish to be understood as meaning that certainty is at tainable in all knowledge but only so far as it is required for our well-being and happiness. It must not be supposed, however, that we can ar rive at certainty in everything; if we could, we should be omniscient; we have therefore to be satisfied with that degree of knowledge which is attainable by the right use of our limited faculty of understanding.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut if, on the contrary, it were not in our power to discern truths within the limits pre scribed by our reason, it would be useless for us to think about, or to compare, systems of thought and religion. Practically, however, as we know, a universal sceptic does not exist, and if theo retically one could be found, it would be hopeless to try to convince him of the truth of anything; yet, strange as it may seem, there have been so-called philosophers, who have claimed universal doubt as their starting-point, but they have in variably contradicted their first principles every hour of their lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe highest act of which the mind of man is capable, must be necessarily an act of his mind in reference to God, and his relation to God or religion, because God is the highest Being he can possibly conceive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe were brought into existence without being consulted, and in a state of dependence; hence we have to look to the Author of our being for knowledge of our nature, the meaning of our ex istence, and our destiny. We can know that there is a God because we can see the things He has made. The fact of a creation by an Omni potent Being is, therefore, taught us by reason, because a chain of finite causes presupposes a self-sustaining and all-controlling Power which has formed it and which keeps it in existence.","brand":"tbooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152646062320,"sku":"2940013481176","price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013481176_p0.jpg?v=1763581900","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013481176","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}