Proofs from Scripture that the Divine Locutions, though always true, are not always certain in their causes.

It is necessary for me now to show why Divine visions and locutions, though always true in themselves, are not always so with regard to us. This depends on the motive on which they are founded; and it is to be understood that they are always true, while the cause remains, which determines God, for instance, to inflict chastisement. God perhaps says, ‘Within a year such a kingdom shall be visited with ‘pestilence.’ The ground of this denunciation is a certain offence against God committed in that kingdom. Now if that offence ceases or is changed, the punishment will not be inflicted, or it will come in another form. The denunciation was true, because grounded upon actual sin, and would have been verified if the sin had been persisted in. This is a threatening or conditional revelation.

We have an instance of this in the story of Ninive. God

sent Jonas to it to prophesy its ruin: ‘ Yet forty days and Ninive shall be destroyed.’* The prophecy was not fulfilled, because the-reason of it had ceased. The people did penance for their sins; but if they had not done so, the prophecy would have been accomplished. King Achab committed a great sin, and God sent our Father Elias to threaten him and his house and his kingdom with a most grievous chastisement. But when Achab ‘rent his ‘garments, and put haircloth on his flesh, and fasted and slept in sackcloth, and walked with his head cast down,’ and was humbled, God said to the same Prophet, ‘ Because he hath humbled himself for My sake, I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son’s days will I bring the evit upon his house. ft Thus we see that, because of the change in Achab, there was a change also of the threatening and sentence of God.

It follows, then, from this that God, having once revealed distinctly to anyone, that he was about to bless or punish either that person or any other, may still change his purpose more or less, or cease from it altogether, according to the change in the disposition of those to whom the revelation referred, or the cessation of the cause in view of which the revelation was made. And this being so, the word that He spoke will not be fulfilled according to the expectation of those to whom it was known, and that very often without its being known why, save to God only. God is wont to speak, teach, and promise, many things at different times, not to be understood, or accomplished then; but that they may be understood afterwards, when the time is come, or when they are effectually fulfilled. It was in this way our Lord conversed with His disciples. He spoke to them in parables

and dark sayings, the meaning of which they perceived not till the time came when they were to preach them to others.

* Jon, iii. 4, +t 3 Kings xxi. 27—29,

This time arrived when the Holy Ghost descended upon them, of whom our Saviour had said: ‘ He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you.’* §S. John, speaking of our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem, says: ‘These things His disciples did not know at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him.’f Thus, then, many Divine communications, most distinctly made, may be received by us without being, understood before the proper time, either by ourselves or by our spiritual directors. condt- God was angry with Heli the High Priest of Israel, be- Heli. cause he knew that his ‘sons did wickedly, and he did not chastise them.’t He sent a prophet to him to admonish him. ‘I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should minister in My sight for ever. But now saith the Lord, Far be this from Me: but whosoever shall glorify Me, him will I glorify: but they that despise Me shall be despised.’ § Now the priesthood was instituted for the honour and glory of God, and for that end it had been promised by God for ever to the father of Heli on the due fulfilment of his functions. But when Heli ceased to be zealous for

God’s honour—as God Himself complains—preferring his children above Him, conniving at their sins that he might not be compelled to punish them—the promise also ceased to be observed; though it would have abided for ever, had they to whom it belonged persevered zealously in the true service of God. We are, therefore, not to imagine that the words or revelations of God, though most true, will be infallibly verified in their obvious meaning; for they are, by the disposition of God Himself, bound up with human causes, which are liable to fluctuation and change. All this is known unto God, but He declares it not. He sends forth

* S. John xiv. 26. + Ib. xii. 16. { 1 Kings iii. 13. § Ib. ii. 30.

His word, and at times makes no mention of the condition; as in the case of Ninive, when He declared distinctly that after forty days the city would be destroyed. At other times He declares the condition, as in the case of Jeroboam, saying, ‘If then thou... wilt walk in My ways... keeping My commandments and My precepts, as David My servant did; I will be with thee and will build thee up a faithful house as I built a house for David.’*

But after all, whether God declares the conditions or not, we must not trust to our understanding of His words; for we cannot comprehend the hidden truths of God, and the manifold meaning of His words. He is high above the heavens, speaking in the ways of eternity; we are blind upon earth, and cannot penetrate His secrets. This is the meaning of Solomon when he said: ‘God is in Heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.’ f

Here, perhaps, an objection may be made: If then we cannot understand the revelations of God, nor enter into their meaning, why does He send them? I have already met this difficulty. Everything will be intelligible in the time appointed by Him who hath spoken, and he whom He hath determined beforehand shall understand: and then all will see that it was right and fitting it should be so: for God doeth nothing but in truth and equity. It is, therefore, most certain that we cannot perfectly understand nor grasp the full meaning of His words, or determine the sense of them to be what it seems to be, without falling into shameful delusions. This truth was well known to the Prophets to whom the word of the Lord was sent. To prophesy to the people was to them a grievous affliction; for, as I have said, much of what they said was not fulfilled in the letter, and this proved an excuse to the multitude to ridicule and mock

* 3 Kings xi. 38. + Eccles. v. i. VOL. I. L

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the Prophets. ‘I am become,’ saith the Prophet, ‘a laughingstock all the day, all scoff at me. For I am speaking now this long time, crying out against iniquity, and I often proclaim devastation; and the word of the Lord is made a reproach unto me, and a derision all the day. Then I said: T will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name.’*

Here the holy Prophet, though he speaks with resignation and like a frail man, unable to endure the ways and secrets of God, teaches us clearly the difference between the true fulfilment and the apparent meaning of the word of God. The people treated the heavenly messengers as deceivers, whose afflictions, on account of their prophecies, were so great that Jeremias cried out: ‘Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare and destruction.’t Jonas fled when God sent him to preach the destruction of Ninive, because he did not perceive the truth, nor wholly comprehend the meaning, of the words of God. He fled, that he might not become an object of derision to the people when they saw the prophecy not fulfilled. He further stayed outside the city for forty days waiting for the accomplishment of his prophecy, and when he saw that it remained unfulfilled, he was greatly affected, and complained, saying: ‘I beseech Thee, O Lord, is not this what I said, when I was yet in my own country? Therefore, I went before to flee unto Tharsis.t In his vexation, therefore, he prayed God to take his life from him.

Is it then surprising that the revelations are not fulfilled in our sense? For if God makes known to anyone good or evil, relating to him or to others, and if the revelation thereof be founded on the obedience or disobedience of that person or the others, and if the facts continue the same, no doubt the prophecy will be fulfilled. But it is not, however, certain

* Jerem. xx. 7-9, t+ Lam, iii, 47, t Jon. iv. 2,

that it will be fulfilled in the letter, because the reasons of it may change. And therefore we must not trust to our own understanding of these revelations, but to faith.