MODKKNIS.M AM) 'I'll A D I T K >X A I, ( ' I f IUSTI AX IT V. 



67 



(or consciousness)." It is "the cause of all the things which 

 have ever been, or ever will be, in any religion." This senti- 

 ment, being " vague at the best/' needs illumination. In it 

 "God indeed presents Himself to man: but 80 darkly and 

 confusedly that He may scarcely, or not at all, be recognized by 

 the believer." It has consequently to be made clear. "This is 

 the office," the Encyclical proceeds, " of the intellect, whose 

 function it is to think and analyze," and to form into concepts 

 the " vital phenomena " as they take rise, and to express them 

 in words. " Hence the maxim common among Modernists that 

 a religious-minded man should think his faith," that is, "the 

 intellect must work upon it as the painter brightens the faded 

 impression on his canvas to make the figures stand out more 

 clearly." 



The secondary formulas, thus acquired, become dogmas, which, 

 the Modernists say, "are intermediate between the believer and 

 his faith." In regard to the latter they are "mere symbols;" 

 in " regard to the believer they are mere instruments." 



Dogmas must, they contend, be merely tentative and subject 

 to frequent changes, and thus must exclude anything of a fixed 

 character. In the process of " thinking his faith " the religious 

 mind cannot " suffer a dualism to exist in him, and the believer 

 feels within him an impelling need to harmonize faith with 

 science." " This is to be achieved by subjecting the former to 

 the latter." The Modernist makes theology to be an adjust- 

 ment of the religions sentiment with the intellectual demands 

 of science, which latter being progressive demands a continuous 

 harmonizing. The principle of immanence, according to which 

 the religions sentiment is the final judge of what is true in the 

 plane of religion, effects the reconciliation with Science by intro- 

 ducing Symbolism. This symbolism is tentative and is subject 

 to continuous restatement. 



The law of immanence rejects the idea of the historical Christ 

 having done anything involving superhuman authority. The 

 Sacraments were not instituted by Him, but developed later 

 from the felt need of giving to religion some sensible manifesta- 

 tion. They are mere " symbols and signs," having no other 

 kind of efficacy than historical phrases, " which, having had the 

 good fortune to impress minds, have proved to be powerful 

 instruments for propagating certain great and impressive 

 ideas." 



The Holy Scriptures are to the Modernist a " collection of 

 experiences, not indeed of those that may come to anybody, but 

 of those choice and extraordinary experiences which may have 



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