PUBLIC LIBRARY 257140A

STOR, LENOX AND LDEN FOUNDATIONS

VOL. XXXII.

IN MEMORIAM.

(J. T. L.)

Far into past but not forgotten years,
Again amid the dreams of youth to glide,

Thought hurries on, caught up by Mem'ry's tide.
Hope glimmers faintly thro' a mist of tears;
Each heart long still, illumin'd as it nears
Responsive heart, grows dull again, and wide
Love stretcheth forth its hands; it cannot bide
Another separation, and it fears

Night's closing in, when Grief sad vigil keeps.
Delay, young dreams! delay your swift return!
Reply not yet to one who knows and weeps ;
Yet linger ere you deck the funeral urn,—
Come softly back, and whisper that he sleeps
Mid friends of God, where Life's own planets burn!

THE HUMAN FORM DIVINE.

-G

The

CONDERFUL are the works of nature. various kinds of being, the striving of each for its own special end, the order and harmony by which all tend to a common end, the causes and reasons for so manifold yet convergent operations, furnish to the student of philosophy a vast and varied field for deep research.

Guided by the light of reason he must penetrate the depths that lie hidden from the naked eye, he must closely investigate every class of objects and their relations one to another. The operations of every class must be carefully scrutinized and experience must serve him in the solution of many problems.

When the student has done all this when every being in the vast sphere has been most earnestly considered, then surely is the most sceptical forced to exclaim, indeed there is a God and man is His most wonderful, most noble work.

When we reflect that the smallest grain of sand on the sea shore; the most insignificant flower of the field; the very worm of the earth are not without their purpose; what then must we conclude concerning the importance and destiny of man whom God has placed as master over all these things? St. Thomas the Angelic Doctor and patron of schools tells us; that every corporeal creature tends as far as possible to assimilation to the intellectual creature and thus the "forma humana" namely, the rational soul is said to be the ultimate end for which the lower nature was designed. But since every bodily creature is inclined to become similar to the intellectual creature, man, in turn, must tend towards some higher perfec

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tion of being, and this is found in the Creator Himself, the source of all perfection.

Man then, excelling as he does all beings of the mineral, vegetable, and brute kingdoms must possess some principle, some powers or faculties which they can never attain.

In every corporeal being there are two incomplete substances united to make one complete substance. These two incomplete substances are matter and form. Matter considered in itself, is called "prima materia" or first matter and is defined as "something which by itself is free from every essence or property, but is capable of receiving in itself any essence or property." This enters into the composition of man in common with all terrestrial beings.

Form is the first act of matter; it is the essence or that which constitutes a thing in its species. Hence there are as many different forms as there are different classes of beings. But in the living world this form constitutes the soul, and as there are three different species of being in the living kingdom, namely, the vegetable, the brute and man, so there are three different forms or souls corresponding to the three classes of beings.

In the vegetable kingdom we perceive operations which exceed the powers of matter in so far as they proceed from a principle intrinsic in the subject in which they are manifested, yet these operations are dependent on matter and its qualities, and such operations belong to the vegetable soul. In the brute, besides this life-giving principle, we perceive operations which are exercised by means of bodily organs, yet the source of such operations must be sought not in matter, for as such it is wholly devoid of action, but in some intrinsic principle which is the brute or sensitive soul.

But in man, the masterpiece of the great Creator, we perceive operations which surpass all corporeal nature; operations which are independent of matter or corporeal organs and such are the operations of the intellect and will which are faculties of the human soul.

Now all the vital acts of a being flow from one vital principle in that being. So in man the human soul is the principle whence flow all the operations proper to man. But since all the functions of life are subordinate to one another and cooperate harmoniously to one common end, there must be unity in the cause: and as the soul is the cause of all operations it must be the one vital principle in man and by consequence it must be different from the matter of the body, else, any body would live as long as it would be a body.

The union of body and soul in man constitutes one nature and one person and since this union is a substantial one the soul must be the substantial form of the body. But since the union of body and soul in