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Excerpt from Sermons Delivered Before Mixed Congregations: Embracing Apologetics, Catholic Faith and Christian Morals, Intended for Infidels, Protestants and Catholics The second argument is taken from. Cause and effect. We find an order Of efficient causes in sensible things. That is, we see that by certain things being done, certain results will surely follow. I pull the trigger Of a loaded rifle and immediately there will go forth from the barrel with the greatest velocity a bullet. I apply a lighted match to powder and immediately there will ensue an explosion. I apply a lighted torch to straw and there will follow flame and smoke. Now these effects cannot be the cause Of them selves; otherwise they would exist before they existed, which is a contradiction. It would be the same as saying that the going'forth Of the same bullet caused the going forth of the same bullet; that the same explosion caused the same explosion: that the same flame and smoke caused the same flame and smoke. They did not exist until after the causes were placed. Now these immediate causes are again the effects of other causes, and the causes Of them are effects of other causes, and so on, until we reach a first cause which is uncaused. We cannot proceed into infinity with these causes and effects, and effects and causes, for the reason that in this series Of effects and causes there must be a first cause which is the cause Of the middle, and the middle the cause Of the last. If there be no first cause, there will be no middle, and if there be no middle cause, there will be no last, or no effect at all, which is false. Therefore from effects which we see in the physical world, we reason to a first cause who is uncaused, the cause Of all causes, the eternal cause whom we call God. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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