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 pride, and  Thomas's  salvation  his  humility,  whereby he falls,  not  faithless  but  believing,  at  the  Saviour's feet  and  cries:  "  My  Lord  and  my  God."

Brethren, strictly  speaking,  rationalists  are  those who deny  the  existence  of  revealable  or  revealed truths. But more  widely  and  just  as  truly  the  name may be  applied  to  all  those  who,  while  admitting revelation, reject  from  the  word  of  God  whatever,  in their  private  judgment,  is  inconsistent  with  human reason. Thus, not  only  downright  unbelievers,  but  all Protestants and  in  general  all  non-Catholics  are  rationalists. They deify  reason,  claiming  there  is  no truth  necessary  for  man  to  know  which  reason  will not teach  him,  so  that  they  take  natural  rather  than supernatural science  as  their  way  to  the  truth  and  life everlasting. Catholics on  the  other  hand  hold  that since God  is  truth,  truth,  like  God,  must  be  infinite; and it  is  only  by  following  the  truth  that  a  soul  can come to  God. Now, on  its  way  to  truth  and  God,  the soul passes  through  three  stages,  the  state  of  nature, of grace,  and  of  glory;  through  three  antechambers before arriving  at  the  Holy  of  holies. Now, each  of these  states  has  truths  proper  to  itself,  and  the  darkness which  hides  these  truths  from  view  is  dense  in the  first  state,  denser  in  the  second,  and  densest  in the  third. But God  does  not  leave  the  soul  in  darkness. He gives  her  a  light  for  her  guidance  proportioned to  the  darkness  to  be  dispelled. In the  first, the state  of  nature,  He  gives  the  light  of  reason  to know  natural  truths;  in  the  second,  He  gives  her  the still stronger  light  of  grace  to  know  supernatural