Motives Internal and External—Intrinsic

Article I — Motives of Credibility in General

I. The necessity of proof. For the collective Faith of the whole Church there is at least a moral necessity that the fact of Revelation be proved. Certitude resting on universal opinion is, in the strict sense, sufficient of itself; but scientific proof — founded (1) metaphysically, on the probative force of the motives of credibility, and (2) historically, on the actual existence of such motives — is morally necessary, in the sense that such proof is highly suitable and useful. Its suitability appears a posteriori from the fact that objections drawn from philosophy and history must be answered, and a priori from the consequence that if the signs of Revelation are genuinely irrefragable, the Church ought to be able to defend the cogency of those signs irrefragably.

II. The existence and character of the proof. The Vatican Council declares that such proof is not only possible but actually exists. Scientific proof in the strict sense is drawn either a priori from cause or a posteriori from effect; but since in the case of Revelation both the cause and the effects are supernatural, strict scientific proof cannot, in that sense, be given. In a wider and more indirect sense, however, scientific proof does exist, drawn from the extrinsic signs wrought in confirmation of Revelation. It is a proof by reductio ad absurdum: the absurdity consists in supposing that God would work miracles to confirm a false doctrine. Even in mathematics the cogency of a reductio ad absurdum is commonly recognized and invoked.

III. Motives of Credibility, of Credentity, and of Faith. Motives of Credibility are the signs or marks by which revealed religion is made evidently credible to the judgment that precedes Divine Faith. The motive of Credentity is the divine right which constitutes the obligation of belief. The motive of Faith itself is the authority of God revealing. A motive of credibility, accordingly, must possess three qualities: (1) certainty in itself; (2) certainty as proceeding from the special intervention of God; (3) certainty as to its function of confirming Revelation.

IV. The different kinds of motives of credibility.

(A) The teaching of the Church. The Church appeals, first, to external signs of Divine Revelation — miracles and prophecy; secondly, to the wonderful life of the Church herself; and thirdly, to internal motives. But the Church has condemned the view that internal motives alone can be the basis of Divine Faith.

(B) Classification of the motives. All the motives of credibility fall under two broad heads:

• External motives, which fall short of the believer’s own consciousness, and which are in turn either extrinsic to religion (miracles, prophecy) or intrinsic to it (the sublimity of Christian doctrine, the wonderful life of the Church).
• Internal motives, belonging to the consciousness of the believer or of one seeking the Faith, which are in turn either universal (the aspirations common to human nature as such) or individual (the personal experience of a peace and joy which the world cannot give).

Article II — The Value of Internal Motives

I. The method of Immanence. Some writers — Blondel and Laberthonnière among them — favour a method which makes exclusive or predominant use of internal motives, arguing that Christianity corresponds to, and fulfils, the deepest aspirations of human nature. They allow miracles and prophecies only a symbolic value, not an ontological one: a miracle, on this view, is merely an extraordinary sensible symbol that attracts the unbeliever’s attention so that he may examine the Catholic religion and find it in conformity with the aspirations of his nature. Truth itself is redefined, on this view, as the conformity of the intellect with life, with the exigencies of nature.

Three criticisms may be made of this method: (1) it effectively reduces Divine Faith to religious experience; (2) it diminishes the probative force of miracles; (3) it exaggerates the natural desire for the supernatural order, treating what is in reality only a capacity and suitability for that order as though it were a strict exigency of nature.

II. Individual internal motives may produce probability, but not certitude, regarding credibility.

(a) They may produce probability. A man seeking the Faith and reading, “My peace I leave you, my peace I give you: not as the world gives, do I give unto you” (John 14:27), may find that peace so deeply in conformity with his higher aspirations, and so gratuitously offered, that it seems to come from God alone. So too with the sublimity of Our Lord’s teaching: “the multitudes were in admiration of his doctrine” (cf. Matt. 7:28). In such individual cases internal motives may genuinely manifest the credibility of the mysteries of Faith, and they always help when joined to external motives.

(b) Ordinarily, however, internal motives alone are insufficient. Internal peace and joy are not necessarily a supernatural effect; they may be purely natural. The three qualities required in a sufficient motive of credibility are, as noted above, not shown by internal motives taken alone. Only in accidental and extraordinary cases do internal motives suffice by themselves — and in such cases it is grace that is supplying the function proper to the external motives.

III. The universal internal motives, taken together, can produce moral certitude regarding credibility. These motives arise from the satisfaction, by revealed religion, of the whole range of humanity’s moral and religious aspirations; and to these universal internal motives there correspond, objectively, the external motives drawn from the sublimity of doctrine and the wonderful life of the Church.

(A) The universal internal motives produce, of themselves, moral certitude of the fact of Revelation, since men cannot easily and without error acquire, unaided, a knowledge of all the truths of natural religion; hence, if a system of religious belief satisfies all the legitimate aspirations of our nature, even its highest aspirations, this is a sign of that religion’s divine origin. Three conditions, however, are required for this moral certitude: (1) the ontological validity of first principles — for instance, of efficient and final causality — must be granted, otherwise no valid inference from effect to cause is possible; (2) the conformity between doctrine and aspiration must be so extraordinary — a kind of moral miracle — that it seems to come from God; and (3) the argument must be drawn from the whole body of aspirations, negative and positive together.

(B) These internal motives give true moral certitude, but they must not be separated from the correlative external motives intrinsic to religion; joined with these, they constitute an irrefragable argument.

Article III — The Value of the External Motives Intrinsic to Religion

I. The teaching of the Church. The Vatican Council teaches that the Church herself, by reason of her wonderful propagation, her extraordinary sanctity, her inexhaustible fecundity in every good work, her Catholic unity, and her unshaken stability, is herself a great and perpetual motive of credibility, and an irrefragable witness to her own divine mission. The Church is, in this sense, a moral miracle that only God could produce: (1) from the standpoint of efficient causality — her wonderful propagation — arises the mark of Apostolicity; (2) from the standpoint of formal and material causality arise the marks of Unity and Catholicity; (3) from the standpoint of final causality arises the mark of Sanctity. The Council further names the Church’s “unshaken stability” as a sign of the perfection of the whole work. Divine Providence has thus provided the Church with marks that appeal equally to the learned and the unlearned, and that suffice to produce the fullest certitude of credibility.

II. The external-intrinsic motives, taken together, constitute an irrefragable argument.

(A) Negatively considered, these motives secure the Church’s immunity from error, fraud, and immorality, and so create a strong presumption of the divine origin of the Christian Faith.

(B) Positively considered, they imply: (1) the purity and sublimity of Christian doctrine; (2) the sanctity of its Founder, Apostles, and Martyrs; (3) its wonderful propagation; (4) its fecundity in results; (5) its Catholic unity; (6) its unshaken stability. Each of these six notes is examined in turn.

1° Purity and Sublimity of Doctrine

(a) The doctrine in itself. Harmony is the perfection of order, and one of the qualities of the beautiful, which has three notes: integrity (from the standpoint of the whole, at least virtually, being present), suitable proportion or harmony (from the standpoint of unity of order), and clarity (from the standpoint of the manifestation of order among a plurality of parts). The sublime appears especially in the closest union of things widely separated: the association of infinite mercy with human misery, the union of infinite justice and mercy, the union of heroic fortitude with perfect meekness in a martyr. St. Paul speaks of this sublimity of the Church’s doctrine: “Being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth: to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge” (Eph. 3:17–19).

The divine origin of the Christian Faith is shown by the fact that the supernatural mysteries are in perfect harmony with the attributes of God known to reason and with the aspirations of human nature. Pascal notes that the argument gains strength from the fact that both the misery of man and the nobility of his desires are explained together, and a remedy is provided for the misery. From the standpoint of natural truth, Christian doctrine surpasses all systems of philosophy, proposing nothing contrary to reason concerning God or the relations between God and man; it is in harmony with all the difficult natural precepts. Zigliara writes that it is morally impossible for man, relying on his own powers alone, to reach the truth in all things, since he falls into error and is often torn between contradictory opinions; but where the truth is found consistently, without opposition, among many who claim to speak by divine inspiration, that constancy is itself a sign that the doctrine comes not from man but from God — especially when the teaching concerns the highest mysteries of God.

(b) The doctrine as preached. The preaching of the Faith manifests an extraordinary power of illumination, whereby the highest mysteries are taught with authority, simplicity, and humility; it possesses an unction that attracts hearers even while proposing the most difficult precepts; and it has had an efficacy that is itself extraordinary, moving multitudes of the simple and the learned alike, and maintaining its influence across the centuries.

(c) The doctrine considered as to its origin. It is a historical fact that Christian teaching appeared without human preparation. St. Thomas ranks it above physical miracles as something still more marvellous that simple men — the Apostles — filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost, attained the highest wisdom and eloquence instantaneously; moreover, the preachers of the Faith suddenly began to speak in languages previously unknown to them.

2° Sanctity of the Founder, the Apostles, and the Martyrs

(The character of Our Lord himself is considered later.) Sanctity is a virtue implying a soul untouched by earthly fault, close union with God, and the direction of every act of virtue to God; it appears in the heroic exercise of all the virtues together. Benedict XIV teaches that four conditions are required for the proof of heroic virtue: (1) the work achieved must be difficult, beyond the ordinary capabilities of men; (2) it must have been done promptly; (3) it must have been done with evident joy; (4) there must be frequent instances of such acts. Heroic sanctity in particular requires the exercise of virtues that are naturally unlike one another — fortitude together with meekness, for instance — since mere natural temperament might dispose a man toward one such virtue but not toward its opposite. It may be objected that even irreligious men are capable of heroic natural endurance; true, but supernatural fortitude is accompanied by charity, humility, and prayer for one’s persecutors.

The effects of this sanctity may be traced in the individual, whose passions have been subdued and whose will has been strengthened against the corruption of the world; in the family, where the dignity of woman has been vindicated, the protection and education of children secured, and slavery gradually abolished; and in society, where the authority of government has been founded upon God while liberty, charity, and the rights of nations have at the same time been secured. From the beginning, works of mercy have been the visible fruit of Christianity — and in these holy effects the end of religion is shown, and with it the divine origin of religion itself, in keeping with the axiom that the ordering of agents corresponds to the ordering of ends.

Martyrdom, among all virtuous acts, most perfectly manifests the perfection of charity, for life is man’s dearest possession, and the sacrifice of life amid horrible torture is a sign of the highest charity (John 15:13). The word “martyr” itself means witness, for the martyrs were witnesses of the Christian Faith.

3° The Wonderful Propagation of the Christian Faith

There was an absolute disproportion between the wonderful conversion of the world and the human instruments employed to bring it about. St. Paul states the fact: “the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong; and the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, hath God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his sight” (1 Cor. 1:27–29).

4° Fecundity, Unity, and Stability

5° Catholic unity. Another argument is drawn from the catholicity, or universality, of the Church — considered from the standpoint of her members, the material cause — together with her unity, considered from the standpoint of the formal cause. Notwithstanding every diversity of language, character, custom, and government, men of every time and nation are united in one Faith, one Hope, and one Charity, in one ecclesiastical government and worship; and this fact requires the intervention of God. St. Thomas writes that the Church is Catholic “because it has been accepted by men of every condition” — not because it embraces every individual of every class, but because it embraces every class under which individuals are placed.

6° The unshaken stability of the Christian Faith. Nations, forms of government, philosophical systems, and false religions all appear and disappear, “for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor. 7:31); only one form of religion has remained indefectible, unchanged in belief, government, and worship — a characteristic that is itself a sign of divine origin, a participation in the divine immutability: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:35). False religions, by contrast, persist either in the immobility of death, as with Islam, or vary with the exigencies of the age, as with Protestantism.

Conclusion. If a Faith in which all six of these characteristics are united together is not from God, there would be an effect without a cause; the characteristics are themselves extraordinary and postulate the extraordinary intervention of God, for real effects manifest a real cause, and supernatural effects a supernatural cause. Richard of St. Victor could write: “Can we not say to God with all confidence: Lord, if there is error here, we have been deceived by Thee; for this doctrine has been confirmed by such signs and wonders as could have been wrought by Thee alone” (De Trinitate, Bk. I, c. 2).

Modernists concede that these characteristics cannot be fully explained by the laws of natural evolution alone — “something unknown,” they admit, “is hidden” — yet they refuse to acknowledge that this something is supernatural, treating it instead as perhaps only the highest product of religious evolution. The answer to this evasion is that Modernists deny the ontological and transcendental value of first principles; but on those terms even the existence of God, the Author of nature, could not be established. The supernatural is thus ruled out from the start, and refuge is taken in some vaguely “hidden natural element” to explain what are, in fact, supernatural effects.

Corollary — The Unity of Apologetics

By the unity of the science of Apologetics is meant the organic unity of all the motives of credibility. The true order of the argument is determined by the end to which the science tends — the evident credibility of the mysteries of Faith as revealed by God. Priority of value therefore belongs to the method that approaches nearest to that end, namely the external method; but it is quite possible, and often advisable in practice, to begin with the internal method, which is thus given priority of time.

Those who favour the method of Immanence hold, by contrast, that internal motives come first not merely in time but in value, since they reject the ontological force of miracles altogether. Traditional apologetics rejects this inversion. Internal motives, divorced from external ones, give rise to illusions; it is true that they often dispose an inquirer to consider the external motives, and in that sense have priority of time, and it is true too that they help to confirm the other motives once these are found — but the supreme criterion of truth is objective, not subjective, and internal motives must accordingly be subordinated to external ones.

The resulting order is therefore: (1) the internal motives drawn from human aspirations; (2) the external motives intrinsic to religion — the excellence of Christian doctrine and the wonderful life of the Church; (3) the external motives extrinsic to religion — miracles and prophecy; (4) the confirmation of all these by the experience of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, in the interior peace and joy of the believer.

It should be noted, finally, that the external-extrinsic motives, though more easily recognized by us, are not therefore higher in themselves than the external-intrinsic ones. Aristotle observed that the truths most intelligible in themselves are often the most difficult for us to know, since our intellectual knowledge proceeds from what is sensible. From our own standpoint the external-extrinsic criteria — miracles above all — are easier and safer to recognize; but the wonderful life of the Church, being a moral rather than a physical miracle, is in itself the higher sign, even though less easily grasped. For those living today, in particular, it is the perpetuity and the wonderful life of the Church that carry the highest apologetic value, for in these qualities the effects of the Resurrection continue to be manifest: Christus vivit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat — Christ lives, Christ reigns, Christ commands.