Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 414

390

UNIVERSALITY OF THIS PRINCIPIUM

§ 72.

same applies rule, the

to tlie special principium.

communion

own

in our

and permanent only when

this

in the similar conviction of

this also, as a

consciousness can be strong

communion This

others.

As one

does not always hold.

With

[Div. Ill

finds a support rule,

however,

sane person, because of a

strong mind, might be able in entire isolation to maintain his self-consciousness, it is possible for one person to experi-

ence the inworking of the special principium, and live by it, even though in his entire surroundings there should operate nothing but the natural principium. At first, intleed, this had to be so, in order that the working of this special principium might become manifest. It could not begin its work except in single persons. As a rule those individuals were men of strong minds, and to support their isolated faith the Lord gave them signs, mostly in the material world, which kept them from falling away from the power which had taken hold of them. Heroism of spirit is here called into play.

When

Christ, forsaken of

all,

even of His

disciples, battled

alone in Gethsemane, this struggle in loneliness became so

came to break His isolation, in order to So long, then, as revelation is still in process

fearful, that angels

support Him. of completion,

we

see again

and again the manifestation

extraordinary powers, by which the maintenance of faith

of is

rendered possible, and these signs only disappear when Revelation has reached its completion, and the special principium finds a circle, in

which

faith can

assume such a communal

character, that the conviction of one supports that of the other.

working of the which to exert itself organically, this circle becomes still more indispensable when a scientific account is given of what this special principium is and offers. Science demands universality. Not If thus, like the natural principium, the

special principium requires a broad circle in

in the sense, of course, that nothing

is

established scientifi-

world until every individual has agreed to it, but in the sense that all men of sound understanding can readily be brought to perceive the truth of it. The same applies to the special principium. The law of univercally in the natural

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