, so is there a likeness between the
truth of God naturally known and that known only by revelation.

"As there is an appetite in the human heart which not all the
treasures, honors, joys of nature can satisfy, so there is a void in
the mind which all the truth within reach of the unaided natural
faculties leaves unfilled. When a man without guile is brought face
to face with truth he spontaneously desires union with it. Appetite
proves the existence of food, and the food affirms itself by
satisfying the appetite.

"Where there is question of a principle there is a class of minds
which must study the part a principle has played in history, and is
mainly influenced for or against it from its effect on former
generations of men. This class follows the historical road. Another
class is so profoundly moved by the truths of revelation as soon as
known, assimilates them so readily and perfectly, becomes so absorbed
and lost in them, that the history of revelation is not of primary
importance; it is only necessary in order to establish necessary
facts, such as the divine institution of an external society, and of
other external aids. But with this philosophical class of minds the
truth stands sponsor for itself and is its own best witness. The
impression produced by revelation here and now upon the soul without
guile is one of the best probable proofs to that soul of the
historical claims of the society to which God entrusted it. 'The
Church Accredits Itself' was the title of one of the most powerful
articles Dr. Brownson ever wrote for this magazine.

"Both the historical and the philosophical processes are necessary,
but each is more so to one class of minds than to another. To the
philosophical mind, once scepticism is gone and life is real, the
supreme fact of life is the need of more truth than unaided reason
can know. The more this need is felt, and the more clearly the
deficiencies of natural reason are known, the better capable one is
to appreciate the truths of revelation which can alone supply these
deficiencies. In such a state of mind you are in a condition to
establish revealed truth in a certain sense _a priori,_ and the
method _a posteriori_ is then outranked. The philosopher outranks the
historian. In minds of a speculative turn the historian is never
considered of primary importance. The principles which its facts
illustrate are furnished him by human reason in philosophy, and by
the divine reason in revel