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and to believe with explicit faith, the Apostles' Creed, the Our Father and Hail Mary, the Ten Commandments, and the commandments of the Church, and such of the Sacraments as they are required to receive.

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WE are bound to elicit internal acts of faith:
1. As soon as we come to the use of reason,
instructed in the truths of revelation.

and are

2. When we have to perform any duty for which an act of faith is a necessary disposition; for instance, when we have to receive a Sacrament.

3. When the exercise of faith is practically our only means of resisting and overcoming temptation.

4. We are also bound to make acts of faith frequently during our life. To omit this duty entirely for a long time would be a grievous sin. The obligation, however, of making acts of faith is fulfilled as often as we pray, or assist at Mass, or perform other religious duties with proper dispositions.

5. Finally, we are bound to elicit acts of faith at the hour of death.

Besides this interior exercise of faith, we are also bound to make an external profession of our faith. This obligation implies that (1) we should never, under any circumstances, deny our religion, even in appearance; for our Blessed Lord has said, "He that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven" (St. Matt. x. 33). But though it is never lawful to deny our faith, we are not bound to parade it before the notice of others. If we have any good reason, we may conceal our religion, provided we use no improper means to accomplish our object.

(2) The obligation of professing our faith requires us openly to avow it as often as God's honour, our own or our neighbour's good demands it. "Every one that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven" (St. Matt. x. 32). Thus

we are bound to confess our faith when interrogated by tyrants and persecutors; when by our silence wicked men are encouraged in blaspheming the faith; when we know our example is necessary to prevent our neighbour from denying the faith or committing any grievous sin; and finally, when we are obliged to choose between openly avowing our faith, or doing something which our conscience condemns.

CHAP. V. Sins against Faith.

WE have seen in the last section that we are bound inwardly to believe and outwardly to profess the faith and law of Christ, and the particular occasions have been pointed out in which we are bound to exercise this faith. To neglect to make acts of faith under the circumstances which have been enumerated would therefore render us guilty in the sight of God. These are the sins against faith which are committed by persons who still remain members of the Church. The sins of which we are about to speak, for the most part imply a separation from the Church. The meaning of this will be more clearly apprehended by explaining that the sins here spoken of are committed not so much by neglecting the exercise, as by neglecting to obtain or preserve the possession of faith. The various sins which the absence of faith implies are all included under the general name of infidelity or unbelief, and may be classified under three distinct species, viz. Paganism, Judaism, and Heresy.

1. There are some persons to whom the truths of faith have never been sufficiently proposed. They have never had the opportunity of knowing the true religion, nor has the obligation of searching into the truth or of entering the Church been brought home to their conscience. Such persons as these are not accountable for the absence of faith, because, as we are supposing, their want of faith as such is accompanied with no moral fault. The truth of this statement is implied in the words spoken by our Lord in reference to those among whom He had preached and wrought His miracles: "If I had not come and spoken to

them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin" (St. John xv. 22).

2. There are other persons to whom the truths of religion have been so far manifested as to render them inexcusable, like many of the Jews of whom our Saviour spoke in the passage just cited. They have received sufficient light to know the truth, or at least to understand the danger of their position, and the obligation which is incumbent upon them to continue their inquiries and to seek further instruction. It is clear, then, they will be accountable to God, if, through religious indifference or sloth, through the fear of any temporal loss, or the hope of any temporal gain, or through any other motive, they refuse to follow the guidance of the light which is given them. And here it may be observed that ignorance of the truths which we are commanded to know is a sin which is committed by those who are members of the Church as well as by unbelievers. Its guilt is incurred (1) by parents and superiors who neglect to procure for their children, or those under their charge, the necessary religious instruction; and (2) by all persons who through their own fault grow up in ignorance of the truths which they are bound

to know.

3. Again, there are persons who not only neglect to clear up their doubts, and to coöperate with the light which they receive, but who still persist in their errors, and refuse to embrace the truth after they have been sufficiently instructed in the faith.

These three different states of mind must be carefully remembered in estimating how far persons are culpable who do not actually possess the true faith. Whatever may be the kind of unbelief to which they belong, if the obligation of embracing the true religion has never crossed their minds, they will not be answerable for the simple absence of faith, but they will be judged according to the light of reason and conscience which has been implanted within them. If, however, they belong to the second or ⚫ third class of persons spoken of, that is, if through their own fault they have neglected to discover the truth, or if after finding it they have rejected it, they are

guilty in the sight of God, and answerable for the consequences.

It has been already stated that there are three kinds or species of unbelief, viz. Paganism, Judaism, and Heresy. By Paganism we understand the state of those who are altogether without faith, both in reality and profession. To this class belong Atheists, who deny the existence of God Idolaters, who worship false gods: Deists, who believe the existence of God, but deny His providence and reject all revelation, and Mahometans, or the disciples of Mahomet.

Judaism is the religious system of the Jews, who cling to the Mosaic law, and admit the Messiah in figure and prophecy, but refuse to acknowledge the reality.

Heresy is the rejection of one or more revealed truth by one who has been baptised and has professed the Christian religion. It has been implied in the observations already made, that the errors against faith contained in the different classes of sins just enumerated are only imputed as sins when they are in some way wilful. How far the particular persons who are living in Paganism, Judaism, or Heresy, have had the opportunity of knowing better, is a question of fact which will not at present be considered. It may, however, be well to state two general principles applicable to them: 1. Where there is no wilful fault, there is no sin; and consequently when the obligation of believing has been in no way made manifest, a simple error of judgment will not be visited as a crime. 2. If, however, the truths of revelation have been sufficiently made known, to refuse to believe them is one of the greatest sins which we can commit. To reject what we know has been revealed by God is not merely to cut ourselves off from the benefits of religion, but it is virtually to call in question the divine veracity. If men consider it an unpardonable offence to have their own truthfulness called in question, what must it be to question the truth of God?

The one foundation on which all revealed truth rests is the divine veracity; and hence, if we reject any single revealed truth, we in reality reject the foundation of all faith.

Wilful heresy on any one point, therefore, destroys all faith, in the same way as every mortal sin, of whatever kind, robs the soul of charity or the state of grace. Hence we infer that the sin of apostasy, or the renunciation of the Christian religion by one who has been baptised, differs only in degree, and not in its nature, from the sin of heresy. We may also infer that doubts in matters of faith imply the guilt of heresy; for to doubt is to hesitate, and to suspend our judgment between two opposite statements. But if we wilfully doubt the truth of what we know has been revealed by God, we in reality question His knowledge or His veracity, and so are guilty of heresy.

CHAP. VI. Mysteries of Faith.

IT has already been stated that God is the principal object of our faith. Now God is an infinitely perfect Being;-He is infinite in all His attributes, and consequently must be incomprehensible to our finite minds. Religion, then, or faith, which is to teach us about God and His divine attributes, must necessarily contain things which we cannot understand. These revealed truths of religion which surpass our comprehension are what we call the Mysteries of Faith. If, then, we have faith at all, we must believe in mysteries. Nor is this unreasonable; for if those who are ignorant of law or medicine act reasonably in following the professional opinions of lawyers or doctors, how much more reasonably do we act in believing on the testimony of God, who knows infinitely better than we do, and who can neither deceive nor be deceived!

The difficulty which many persons have respecting the belief of mysteries arises from a mistaken idea of the nature of mysteries or of faith. They sometimes imagine that a mystery is contrary to reason and experience, whereas, in reality, it is simply something above reason and beyond our experience. Reason and experience do not contradict mysteries, but are simply silent on the subject. The meaning of this assertion will be more clearly understood by an illustration. Suppose a person has been

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