Roy + Faith 19 wey O83 CHAPTER ‘THE FIRST VATICAN COUNCIL AND RATIONALISM The Fst Vaan Counc en onal, the bier fate of Foti. Pangapil ad fe pelos to he etn ‘el ins tn dee fal ewopn fe prices Wick reason at well as mje which sarpar taser. By he word” Go, we ‘ont dertand His existence, Hi atte ae ae inmate eof the three Persone, Ad by the word dere we met Sndertand those which concen the cretion and natal goverment of the word, ax wel ar thre which concert our cease ie hg ‘spear order, the Incamation, Redenpon cl f he elt The human rce nfs ener the Seneca of i reetio, ic as tive a ston el, {THE PST VATICAN COUNCIL AND RATONALIM 261 F. The text of Scripture, according to Msgr. Gasser! only confinms this doctrine ofthe fac of revelation and marks the progress from one covenant to the other. The quotation, closely bound up ‘with the text gives sto understand that revelation is conceived, by the fathers of the Council, asthe word of God addresed to humanity. Dew egret ts hee win mules for he uy and continuity between the two. covenants, the one and only word of God, the word of the Son being the contincation and fulfillment of the word for which the prophets were God's Instruments af ald. ‘The revelation of the Old Testament was successive, fragmentary, poly ‘morphous that of the New Testament is uniqu, total, and definitive. On the one hand, there is = multiplicity of inspiced prophets; on the ‘ne and only Son of God282 ‘TtroLocr oF aeveLaTon tind.” The Council is treating the same object as in the preceding paragraph, but this time considered under ix appect of proportion of Aisproportion with natural reason. 3. A word ike revelation alwaye calle to mind the activity as well the objective terminus of thie activity, that ‘aking up once again the words of the Councll of ‘Trent, sre the ‘written books. and. the tradions which, “having the apostles from the mouth of Jesus Christ in been handed doven, from hand to hand so to speak, Fr a HE themselves, to whom the Holy Spirit had dicated them, have come down to our own day” (D 1787). But, with « precsion that dd not appear in the wording of the Council of Trent, the Vatian Counel ‘explicitly uses the word revelation to designate the content of the Se sgh es Pore prt reo, Ths word eaten by God, the subject of Scriptre and tradition, is the our faith. That is why the Counell declares, in the thd chapefnat we rust believe “everthing that is contained in the word of God ‘written of handed down by tradition" 4 Mage. Martin ‘connects the shied chapter on fsth with the preceding chapter, which weats of revelation, pointing out that "faith i ‘The first paragraph recalled fst of all the foundation of our obligation to belleve in God who reveals The general foundation Is to be found tn the fact that “man depende ently upon God at his Creator and Lord”; the special foundation ts the fact that human Br cet gem ble to ence ah (© 1799). Creation ‘is the basis for the homage of intelligence and al which man owes to God; created reason must how ‘before tuncreated Teuth The frst canon on faith states, aginst the ra. onal, that reason isnot autonomous and that Cod an command faith (D' 1810). Man, in so far ae he te 9 creature, must acoopt this indirect way of knowing, no. matter how mortijing itis to. hie tendencies towards ‘complete “emancipation!” ‘The rest of the paragraph declarer that che motive for faith isthe 7 : sod ‘very eror and every deception, The StLinowing God can nether be mistaken nor deceived, the allah. fal God cannot deceive ts. He has the authori’ of an lantely ied wis, woes ced deers teal sad defi ace. a thus contrasting fall snd scence, natural evidence and the ase of faith, the Councll says equivalently (for the precise werd docr not pear) that the word of God comes under th speciosa testimony. ‘A word which commands a reaction of fat that iy a word Which tovtes man to pve credence on the sole authority of the one who speaks, ab guarantee of tut, is, properly speaking, 3 txtinony. ‘The Councl, taking pin’ cum the osntad lementy of the