The New Zealand Tablet WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1925. RELIGION: HISTORICAL PHASES

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 7, 18 February 1925, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1925. RELIGION: HISTORICAL PHASES

lIUUAUAVJU • IAAL/JI V All VIIM * AAtAMMao BEFORE dealing with the Christian religion revealed by God and imposed on man, we mast call attention to the fact, attested by so many historical documents, that there has always been on earth, from the beginning of man’s history, a religion which was supernatural and revealed by God. It went through various stages of development in the course of the centuries, and its phases are called the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the Christian religion. This week we shall devote ourselves to giving a clear idea of these great historical phases, treating them from a historical viewpoint, without going into, for the present, the question of their divinity. * * * Primitive or Patriarchal Itdifjion.—Almighty God imposed on our first parents at the beginning of their existence a religion which contained doctrines revealed and supernatural. It included, for example, the existence of good and bad angels, and, after the fall, the hope of a Redeemer; it also contained certain precepts, such as the observation of the Sabbath, and the manner and nature of sacrifice. This religion was binding upon all men; until Christ came it was sufficient for the human race to enable it to attain its end, with the exception of the Jewish people who from the time of the revelation made to Moses were obliged to practise the Mosaic religion. Conscience and tradition were the safeguards of the Patriarchal religion. The Natural Law was inscribed on the consciences of men, and by tradition, passed from generation to generation," the knowledge of truths and precepts revealed by God was to be maintained. However, owing to vice and disregard of conscience the Natural Law became obscure in the hearts of men, while at the same time the tradition of revealed truth was altered and corrupted as centuries went by.

Then, God chose Abraham and his posterity to preserve religion amidst so much corruption. Through the patriarchs he confirmed previous revelations and added new truths and precepts. Thus it happens that the primitive religion is sometimes called patriarchal.

Mosaic Religion. Man continued to rebel against God and to despise His laws. Vice and idolatry became, common. The belief of the future Redeemer often lost its importance for sinful generations. In His mercy God chose Moses and the prophets who came after him to revive the knowledge of the Natural Law and to impose new and necessary precepts. Bible history tells us how the revelation was made on Mount Sinai in a most striking manner, and how the Ten Commandments were.promulgated amid thunder and lightning, calculated to impress them on the hearts and minds of the people. The patriarchal religion was thus revived, amplified, and perfected for the Hebrew people. It contained the doctrines and precepts revealed through Moses and the prophets who succeeded him. It was designed to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah, cr promisee! Redeemer, j rid it was to last only until He came. It was not a perfect religion; for it was meant to be a shadow of the substance yet to come ; a figure of the perfect fulfilment under Christ.

The Christian Religion. —ln the fulness cf time Christ was born, coming into the world to save mankind, and to establish a religion which would elevate them and make them fit for the dignity of being adopted children of God and heirs to His Kingdom. The religion founded by Christ is the Christian religion. It fulfils and perfects the Mosaic and Patriarchal religions, and embraces a complete collection of truths, precepts, counsels, and supernatural aids. As Christ died to save all mankind, so His religion is for all men and for all time unto the end of the world. All are bound to belong to it, and no man who refuses to embrace it, once he knows it, can be saved. The believers are called the members of the True Church, that is, “The whole congregation of faithful Christians who believing the same truths, receiving the same sacraments, professing the same faith, are united under one visible Head on earth, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Pope of Rome, who is successor of St. Peter.”

It will readily be seen that all three phases are one and the same religion developed and perfected by God during the course of time. God is the author of them all; they all aim at the same supernatural end, the happiness of Heaven ; the Redeemer—to come, or having comeis the' centre of them all. The development is like that of the plant from the seed and of the full grown tree with its beautiful spreading foliage from the plant.

The account we have given is supported by history and by the traditions of nations. Apart here from a long reasoning, we may say that just as the Christian religion which bears the name of its Founder is divine, so, too, the voice of the ages and of the peoples proclaim the divine origin of the patriarchal and Mosaic religions also. Religion then has

a supernatural origin. And as all religions,' even pagan, are . derived by traditions, however corrupt they may bo, from the primitive religion, they are all, vaguely and incoherently perhaps, a recognition of the existence of God. It is asserted by historians and travellers that there exists no nation so barbarous that it has not an idea of God and us a rule of a future life, together with notions of right and wrong. Undoubtedly this testimony of the whole human race is at once an argument against Atheists and a proof that Atheism is unnatural and inhuman.